Free Dalliance in Darkness ( Dalliance #1) by Kayla Kissler Page B

under his embrace I looked up at him and then my sight drifted downwards and to the left, briefly caught on the legs of the coffee table. “I wasn’t there for someone.”
     
    James put a finger to my cheek and brought me back to his eyes.
     
    Suddenly I was aware of the weight once again on my shoulders. “I mean,” I caught myself trying to find the right words. “I wasn’t there for anyone,” I nodded. “Friends, family, lovers,” there was a coldness and an emptiness to my words, “myself especially.”
     
    James pet the side of my face with his thumb comfortingly.
     
    I leaned in to his touch. “I just promised someone that I would start doing for me, even if I never got to tell them that.”
     
    “It’s okay,” he assured. “You don’t have to give me the details.”
     
    I wanted to say thanks but I couldn’t find the strength.
     
    He pulled away his thumb, a moment passing before he grabbed his glass between his fingers and drank. “Ya know you made him break the rules for you.”
     
    “What do you mean?”
     
    “Never give second chances,” he paused. “Or thirds and fourths,” he continued, gesturing slightly with his head. “Not sure what he sees in you,” he said in a wry voice.
     
    “I see plenty of things to like about myself in the mirror,” I said. “So what do you see.”
     
    James sipped from his cup. “In?”
     
    “In me.”
     
    “Well,” he started, ignoring what I said. “When I look at myself in the mirror,” he paused considering his words. “Every day, mind you, every day before I go to work – or well, I go to my second job.” I perked up at hearing that, but didn’t know what he meant. There was no way a man of his position needed or could work a second, I was surprised enough he had time enough now.
     
    I watched James carefully as he continued. “And when I go to shave or to comb or to see how I’m presenting myself, I smile.” James chuckled. “I smile darlin, from ear to ear I see just how picture perfect I can get it.” He turned his glass in his hand. “Tell myself that ya had to do it once for trust and twice for that line ya made in the sand. That line? It keeps me smiling, it’s what makes these people want to trust me and is my absolution no less than a prayer to the faithful.”
     
    He sighed. “But that’s enough,” he placed his fingers on my chin. “Are ya really wondering what I see in you?”
     
    I pulled away playfully from his touch. “Maybe.”
     
    James brought a firm hand back to my jaw.
     
    Shadow of the Black Heron II
     
    I looked up at him and held my gaze for a moment before moving upwards and kissing his lips. They were soft and warm and inviting. There was a hunger to my attack, and he responded kindly with a fierce display of power – pinning me down on the couch a growl escaping him.
     
    It was in that moment that everything came together in a hot crescendo. His eyes locked on my own, his hands forced against me and the lightning between us unyielding like nothing I’d felt before. He pressed his lips against mine, this time exploring my mouth with his tongue.
     
    I welcomed him freely while exploring his mouth myself, basking in the taste as my body responded with little pinpricks all around. I could feel warmth pulsing between my legs and a need growing more and more with every heavy breath. We moved to strings unseen, my hands gripping him tight as they moved all around his back – like I was trying to map out every line of his body against his clothes. I needed them to be off. I needed to feel his bare skin against my flesh.
     
    That was when he sunk his teeth into my neck. Glorious. So fucking good. To feel that painful bite I couldn’t help but squeak as he did that. It all seemed so animalistic, the way he growled under a breath as I squeaked. But it turned me on even more. Already I could feel my lower lips anticipating the feel of his hard cock slipping inside the tightness of my wet pussy.