top of her. Pushing up on his hands, he looked down fiercely. Against her breasts, she felt the silk hairs of his chest rub against her, heard the rapid drumming of his heart.
Emotions filled her. She hooked her hands around his neck, wrapped her legs around his lean hips.
“Do it,” she breathed. Lucien gave an experimental push of his hips and then slid deep inside. She gasped, holding herself still, becoming accustomed to the fullness.
Tenderness shaded his eyes as he gazed at her. “You okay?” he asked in a rough voice.
Mara nodded, words escaping her.
He pumped his cock into her, hard and hot. Need pummeled her with greedy fists as she lifted her hips, urging him onward. Lucien angled his hips, his body sliding over hers, possessing her fully. She felt drunk with pleasure as the hairs on his thighs rasped against her limbs.
The delicious torment continued as he stroked deep inside her. As Lucien’s tongue swirled in her mouth, his hard cock pumped into her body. She caressed the firm muscles of his back and toyed with the damp strands of his hair.
The sweet pressure built higher and higher. Lucien ceased kissing her, angled his thrusts. Mara threw her head back, her mouth gasping. Almost there. Almost.
Lucien fisted his hand in her hair, forcing her to look at him. “My name on your lips, Mara. Say my name when you come. Let go and open yourself to me.”
She shook her head wildly back and forth, nearly sobbing with the need. Her body was no longer hers, it sang and hummed. Her back taut as a bowstring, she dug her heels into the mattress.
Shimmering on the edge of a climax, she opened all her senses. The darkness hummed, rising up to push through with each shudder of pleasure.
She opened herself, and the tension blasted out of her core, shattering her into a million pieces, something dark and delicious bursting from her. Lucien threw his head back, shouted her name as he bucked against her. Warm seed jettisoned into her. He kept pumping inside her until his muscles quivered and he collapsed atop her trembling body.
Boneless with pleasure, Mara fell back, gulping down several deep breaths. His lungs bellowing for air, Lucien pillowed his head beside her. Their mingled heartbeats gradually slowed until they beat in unison. She listened, wondering if he controlled that.
Lucien lifted his head with a sleepy, adorable look. Sweat dampened his dark hair. “Yes, I matched my heart’s rhythm to yours.”
The sweat-dampened sheets began to cool. He pushed off her, watched her with a guarded look. The space between her legs felt wonderfully sore, her muscles ached.
She felt well-loved.
Loved?
What kind of starry-eyed B.S. was that? Lucien didn’t love her. He couldn’t love her. He hadn’t even shared a small part of himself, while she’d poured herself open and given him everything.
Everything… Mara groped for her demon powers. Nothing.
Her gaze whipped up to see him study her with a speculative look.
Stunned realization pushed past the languid pleasure thrumming in her veins. “You seduced me,” she breathed.
Ebony hair mussed, Lucien propped himself up on one elbow. Splendid in his nudity, honed muscles glistening in the light.
“I warned you would be mine, Mara.” A wicked gleam shone in his onyx gaze. “You did not say no. Had you disagreed, I would have stopped.”
“I need to protect myself! Were you there in the basement when Jones beat me? Taunted me, wanted me to beg for my damn life? All because he condemned me as dangerous, when he didn’t know me at all. You think sex with you will stop me from going after Jones?”
She swung her legs over the bed’s edge and tried to stand. Weakness shot through her limbs and she fell back.
“It wasn’t merely sex, Mara,” he said quietly. “I weakened your demon.”
Sitting up, he stretched out his long fingers. Inky blackness danced along the tips. Lucien regarded his hands with a solemn look. Then he inhaled deeply, and the