Heart of Darkness by Lauren Dane Read Free Book Online Page A

her eyes, needing to see him, needing to know if she was alone or if he had, indeed felt what she had.
    The pale green gaze she found locked on her face told her she wasn’t alone, which sent heat through her anew. His eyes darkened. The flutter of his pulse at the base of his throat caught her eye and she licked her lips.
    With a soft intake of breath, he banded her waist with his arm and hauled her against his body. His mouth covered hers and the sweetness of his desire bled through her, saturating every single cell. Need ravaged through her as he drove out all the emptiness in a way she was certain only he was capable of.
    She swallowed his ragged moan and dug her nails into his biceps. She’d never wanted anyone before with such raw power, such craven greed. Her skin itched with it, her insides melted as the flames of his energy licked through her.
    He tore his mouth away, chest heaving as he strained to breathe. His cock burned into her lower belly where it was quite clear he felt the same way she did.
    “I can’t be your bond-mate.” The statement was laced with desperation, but he knew it wasn’t true.
    She laughed. “You are and you know it. But it’s sudden. I get that. I can wait until you’re ready.” He would be. It’d just take time. He’d need to get to know her before he could commit. In the meantime, there was no reason at all why they shouldn’t be together, get to know each other. And, um, have sex and stuff. A lot of it.
    But not right away. Sex would only make the need grow, only strengthen the connection they had. And there was no way she wanted him to ever wonder if he rushed into things or if he’d been swayed by the scorching-hot sex. And she knew without any doubt at all it would be just that.
    She cleared her throat after her mouth had gone dry at the very idea of what they’d be like in bed. “I need to break the circle, all right?”
    He nodded, his arm still banded around her waist, making it absolutely clear he had no plans to let go. Yum . Gooseflesh worked over her. She loved an in-charge male and this one spilled magick and testosterone until she drowned in it.
    Even when she broke the circle, the intensity of their attraction still made it hard to think straight.
    “Just so you know this, whatever else is happening between us, I need you.” He pressed his mouth to the place where her neck met her shoulder and took a long, deep breath.
    Swoon.
    “I plan to need you more than once.”
    His voice made her nipples harden to the point of pain. Yep, not just a bonding of like powers. This was a deep, DNA tingling, supercharged fuckfest of a bonding. Two lives united to heighten power was a given of the magick bond. But Dominic Bright was her heart’s mate as well as her magick’s mate, even if he wasn’t ready to know or accept that part yet.
    But she was certain. If he was simply a magickal mate, their connection wouldn’t have been sensual or sexual at all. But it sure as heck was sexual. All her parts paid attention in an oh-let’s-make-babies sort of way when their energies mixed.
    That knowing appealed to the organizer, the control freak within, satisfied her in a way she’d been totally surprised by.
    She shivered when his lips brushed over the outer shell of her ear as he whispered, “Six blocks. I live six blocks from here. I’d take you right here if I didn’t know the door would be pounded on sixteen times in the next hour. I’m in no mood to be interrupted.”
    “I’m across the lake in Bellevue.” She tried to move back but he held her in place. “We need to take this slowly. We can talk at your place. Unless it’s all stunk up with other women.”
    He laughed, taking two handfuls of her ass and snugging her against him even tighter. “I don’t play with women at my apartment. But I’m going to play with you there.”
    “Play?” She swallowed. What had she gotten herself into and could she get there faster? No! No, she needed to keep her mind above