Free Darkling by Em Petrova Page A

steps.
    His cock hardened further, threatened to spill his seed
without him laying a single hand on her. But could he touch her? He shouldn’t,
that was for damn sure. Yet she wasn’t truly his case. Just a personal
obligation he’d taken on.
    At that moment, she felt far from a responsibility and more
of a need. A drug that had trickled into his system, anesthetized his brain,
but jolted his heart to life.
    The front of her thighs came up against his bed. He stared
at the tantalizing space between them, tracing the arcs of her inner thighs
with his gaze. Bands of blue light wrapped around her body at precise
intervals—breasts, belly, hips—like a lover’s fingers wrapped around her
womanly parts. Niles wanted to be that lover, to slip his arms around her
mounds and the curve of her waist, and let his hips nuzzle hers.
    “Sweetheart—”
     
    “Niles, I need you.” A harsh breath left him and she thought
she’d never heard such glorious music in all the heavens. The uneven rasps told
her he was far from immune to her dance—the dance of passion. Of lovemaking. Of
seduction.
    She lifted one knee to the edge of the bed and placed a palm
on it, prepared to crawl across it to him. The man had been driving her crazy
since she found herself in his company, but when the stars had risen, so had
her raw sensuality. She’d lain in the living room for hours, wanting him,
aching for him. The slick heat between her thighs was unbearable, and she’d
spent long minutes working over the erotic folds and peaks of her new body.
Shocking waves of pleasure had rushed over her, but they did nothing but
ratchet up her need.
    She ached to be held, caressed, kissed. And filled.
    “Niles, make love to me. I’m asking you for this wondrous
pleasure.”
    “My God, Vega.”
    The cotton sheets were cool beneath her knees as she inched
toward him. The long lines of his muscular legs drew her attention to the V of
his groin, where a thick bulge pushed against his shorts. Intense desire
dizzied her as she stared at the rounded tip stretching the cloth. She ran her
tongue over her lower lip, no longer thirsty but hungry. So hungry for his
body.
    “Baby, we can’t. I mean, we shouldn’t.”
    “I need it. I want it. You do too. I can see you like this
body.”
    His hands convulsed and he jammed one through his hair,
sending the dark locks into spikes. Warm musk rolled off him in waves, drawing
her nearer with every inhalation she took. Shocks of need stabbed her lower
belly. Her sex gave a tight squeeze and released a flood of juices. A wild
smile broke over her face as she ran through the other names for these secret
body parts—names in all the languages she’d picked up during the lonely nights
spent in the heavens.
    Tonight she wasn’t alone. She had a gorgeous man before her,
a human body and enough desire to set fire to the city block.
    “Vega.” He threw out a hand to stop her from climbing up his
body. “Darlin’, you’re not ready for this.”
    Oh yes, she was. The tight buds of her nipples said so, and
the slippery heat between her legs screamed it. Yep, absolutely ready.
    She hovered over him, delighting in the warmth of his body a
hair’s width away. She fixed her gaze on his hard mouth. “We’re both ready.”
    “We haven’t known one another long enough.”
    “What’s to know? Your heart is pure, and my body craves your
touch.”
    The corner of his jaw fluttered. She felt his breath wash
over her throat. And suddenly, she could hold back no longer. She relaxed her
arms and brought their bodies together. Flesh to flesh, pore to pore.
    Electricity exploded in her synapses as she learned the feel
of him. Roped biceps, hard abs, thighs of stone…and that cock.
    He curled his fingers into her shoulders and tried to hold
her away. His brows knitted with distress. “Vega, you can’t. We…can’t.”
    She rubbed against him, needing to feel the rough chafe of
his chest hair against her nipples. “Can. Aren’t I