Shadows and Silk (2 page)

“I know you’d rather tell me what I can’t or shouldn’t do than get me naked
and writhing beneath you
. Maybe you’re not man enough after all.”

Darcy tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp, but he held on to her like a vise. The
war raged across the harsh planes of his face as his lips hovered just over hers,
their breaths mingling.

“Well, sugar. I guess we’ll find out.”

His mouth crushed to hers and she let out a savage
moan
as she finally tasted him
—and after years of dreaming, nothing could even come close to reality
. Heat sizzled across her skin and her sex moistened with anticipation. He tasted
like decadence and sin and she opened her mouth wider and let him plunder. His tongue
teased and tormented, and she could taste the wild hunger inside him.
And, God, how she wanted that hunger to devour her.

“Christ, Darcy,” he said, yanking up her sweater and pulling it over her head. He
tossed it to the ground, and his eyes darkened as he reached out to skim a finger
over the flesh above her bra. “Beautiful,” he whispered, and leaned down to replace
his finger with his tongue.

Darcy leaned back and let him taste, not feeling the cold that surrounded them
any longer
. His fingers kneaded at her back, and he expertly released the clasp of her bra.
His lips trailed between the valley of her breasts and her bra slipped off her shoulders
and dropped to the ground to join her sweater.

“Stop teasing me,” she demanded.

“Patience is a virtue, baby.”

“So is chastity. Virtues are overrated. Let’s stick with the vices.”

Brant laughed, and her head dropped back on a moan as his mouth fou
nd her nipple and suckled greedily
. Her pussy throbbed, and her hips unwillingly arched against him, seeking release.

Desperate hands grasped at his shirt and pulled it up and over his head so she could
feel the hard flesh beneath. Hi
s skin
burned beneath her touch, and she ached for that heat to be inside of her. She pressed
herself against him so they were skin against skin and raked her nails across his
shoulders.

“This will be over before it gets started if you keep that up,” he said.

His fingers tore at the snap of her jeans, and he kissed a wet trail down her stomach
as he pushed them down her hips to pool at her feet.

“You’ll just have to make it up to me. Again and again.”

“I love that smart mouth of yours,” he said, twirling his tongue around her bellybutton
and nipping his way down south.

“I promise you’re going to love it a lot more a little later. I’ve got an awful lot
of fantasies stored up, and my mouth plays a big part in all of them.”

“Jesus,” he whispered.

Darcy didn’t know if it was her words or the sight of her in nothing but the black
lace thong that caused such reverence, but he sat back on his heels and stared at
her with enough heat to make her go up in flames. His hands skimmed up her legs, and
he brought his face to her
cloth covered
mound, inhaling the scent of her desire even as he placed small kisses over her swollen
flesh. His fingers slid beneath the lace and she parted her legs as he probed along
the creamy folds.

“So wet,” he said, jerking her panties down and burying his face against her, not
giving her a chance to catch her breath.

Darcy screamed and her
legs almost buckled as he licked inside of her, taking the taut bud of her clit in
his mouth and sucking her into a maelstrom of pleasure. He didn’t take her easy
,
but shot her straight into delirium as tongue and teeth tortured the sensitive flesh.

Her fingers clenched in his hair and she writhed against him as her body tightened,
just on the edge of release.

“Brant,” she panted. “God, please.”

Her eyelids shuttered and closed as he slipped two fingers inside of her,
stretching her inner walls and probing against a spot that had flashe
s
of light dancing behind her closed eyes.

“That’s it, sugar. Come all over my fingers. Show me how much you want me.”

She cried out at his words and clamped around
him
. T
he pulses started deep in her
womb
, spiraling like bursts of electricity through her entire body,
as
the orgasm rocked through her. Wave
after wave of pleasure shook her body with tremors as he drank in her release.

“Fuck,” Brant hissed, kissing his way back up her body. His cheeks were flushed with
need and his lips swollen and damp with her desire.

“Yes, please,
”
she said shakily.

He picked her up and Darcy wrapped her legs around him. He started toward the house,
his fingers kneading her ass and his tongue wreaking havoc against the sensitive spots
on her neck.

“I want you in bed.”

“It’s too far,” she panted. “We’ll never make it.”

She ground herself against the bulge behind his zipper and tightened her legs around
his waist, causing him to stumble on the first step leading to the wide covered porch.

“You’re right,” he said, propping her against the railing and ripping at the button
of his cargo pants. “We’ll never make it.”

Darcy watched, mesmerized, as the button popped open and the zipper spread easily.
His cock sprang free—long and thick—the darkened crown flared and swollen, the tip
moist with desire. He reached into his pocket and took out a condom, ripping the packet
open with his teeth and rolling it on hurriedly.

“Pretty presumptuous of you,” she said
cheekily
.

“I’ve been carrying
it
around for three fucking weeks. Wanting you so much
it was everything I could do to not bend you over the nearest surface and claim you
like I wanted
.”

Love and desire for this man brought tears to her eyes, and she buried her fa
ce in his neck so he wouldn’t see
the raw emotions.
She’d wanted him for what seemed like her whole life, and now to hear he wanted her
just as much was like a dream too good to be true. She loved him
with everything she was—with the memories of a young girl and the darker desires
of the woman she was now—
and now that he’d touched her she knew she’d never feel for another like she felt
for him.

She watched in fascination as h
e pushed
the head of his cock
inside her
. T
he time for control
was
long forgotten, and she sucked in a breath as he stretched
her to the limits of pleasure
. He pulled out and pushed in again, working his way in until he was buried to the
hilt.
He pulsed inside of her
and she clasped around him, milking his cock while he held still and tried to get
control.

“Fuck,” he swore savagely. “You’re killing me.
I’m trying to make this last.
”

“It’s lasted for years. Stop being a martyr.”

He laughed and
began to move, hips bunching and flexing as he plunged in and out of her with undisciplined
ardor. Darcy’s nails dug into his shoulders and her mouth opened on a silent scream
as the fight for control disappeared and all that was left was
the feel of the two of them, joined together in the most intimate of ways,
as
a thousand exposed nerve ending
s
sizzled like light
n
ing and shot from one body to the other
.

Perspiration dampened their skin and steam rose from their bodies as it evaporated
into the cold. She arched against him,
skin slapping against skin, as he pummeled inside her with fierce strokes and an urgency
she’d feel in her muscles for days to come.
Her head thrashed as he rode her hard and fast, and her hips pumped in equal fervor
to the rhythm he set.
She was determined that he’d feel her just as much in the following days—that he’d
remember the magic they’d shared.

Darcy opened her eyes and got caught in the heated green of his gaze, lost in the
need she saw there. She wanted him to love her, to remember this moment and know that
no other woman would love him as she did. He shook his head as if he’d heard her plea,
trying to clear his head from the spell she’d cast on him.

“Darcy,” he whispered,
almost apologetically. He took
her mouth in a fevered kiss, his tongue thrusting in time with his cock. Her pussy
pulsed with the need to climax, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before it came.

She pulled away from his kiss and closed her eyes, pushing away the love she yearned
for and trying to harden her heart against the pain. Wishing wasn’t the same as getting.
If all they could have
was
soul shattering sex
this one time
, it would have to be enough.
She’d be damned if she’d ask him for more.

“Harder,” she panted. “Fuck me harder.”

His eyes flared in surprise at her demand and his fingers dug i
nto her hips.
And then he did as she commanded and colors exploded behind her eyelids as she screamed
out his name. Her body went taut like the string of a bow, and then sensation washed
over and through her as pleasure ripped her apart. Her pussy tightened around him
and she
shattered
, drenching him with her
sweet syrup
. She’d never had an orgasm so intense—that it whipped through her body like a raging
storm and left her heart and soul in tatters.

Darcy thought she heard him curse in the far of
f
recesses of her mind, and then he thrust once more against her, stiffening in her
arms as his release tore through him. She didn’t know how long they held each other
up during the aftermath of the storm, but when she finally had the strength to open
her eyes, she saw it was full dark and the wind had died down.

She tried to think of something the old Darcy would say—something sassy or wicked—but
nothing came to mind that wouldn’t give her true feelings away. The cold of the night
air finally penetrated through the heat they’d produced and she shivered in his arms.

“We should go inside,” he said against her neck, nibbling at the sensitive flesh.

Her legs relaxed from around his waist, and she tried to push away from him, determined
to keep a certain distance between them so it wouldn’t be so hard when he left.
But
Brant shifted and slid back deep inside her, still hard, and she gasped as the need
ignited in her once more.

“I’m not done with you yet,” he said, kissing her gently.
“Not by a long shot.”

He wrapped her legs back around his waist and picked her up, carrying her into the
house and crunching over broken glass until they reached a bedroom at the back of
the house that hadn’t been damaged.

“It’s a good thing I kept my shoes on,” he said.

“You’re also wearing your weapon. I coul
d have shot you during the throe
s of passion.”

“It’d be a hell of a way to die.”

Brant kissed her again, building the heat in slow increments, making love to her mouth
with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes. Kissing her as if she were the only
woman on Earth—a kiss of claiming—a kiss of promise. He laid her back on the bed and
proceeded to love her once more, this time slowly, savoring every inch of her as if
he were committing it to memory.

Maybe he was.

Because after they’d found satisfaction once more and she’d fallen asleep wrapped
in his arms, she felt him shift away from her and rise from the bed. His finger touched
her cheek gently, and it was then she knew he was leaving. And he didn’t plan on coming
back.

She waited
a few minutes
until she heard the front door close, then slipped out of bed, pulling on a robe
and sliding into a pair of shoes as she made her way to the front room
. She parted the lace curtains and watched
as he
picked up his scattered clothes and finished dressing
.

Her heart thudded wildly. She’d known he’d try to leave, but she hadn’t thought it
would be so soon—with her skin still reddened from his beard and her body still tingling
from his touch.

He tossed his duffle bags into his Jeep and got in without looking back.
He hadn’t even said goodbye, and the girlish dreams she’d
once
cherished shattered like the glass at her feet.

Four
Years Later