The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3)(62)
Author: Gena Showalter

True. All that she’d said was true. "Yet here you are, in my bed." And here I am, unable to let you go.

"Yes." Both her voice and her expression softened. "I’m trusting you. With my family. My body. Don’t make our eventual parting any worse for me. Please."

Please. The word echoed in his mind. Reyes met her heated gaze with his own. For the briefest of moments, he was transported to the heavens. To the past. In his mind, he saw himself standing beside Aeron, Torin, Paris and Galen.

Galen. Until Danika, Reyes had not thought of Galen in centuries. Galen had pulsed with life; his mere presence somehow made them feel stronger, better. Reyes hadn’t known the warrior plotted against them every time their backs were turned.

And seeing the image of his carefree friends, so unburdened then by life and sins and suffering, he had to fight the urge to shout a warning he knew they would not hear.

They’d been celebrating that day, he recalled. The night before, a horde of Gorgons had sneaked inside Zeus’s chamber, intending to awaken the god and turn him to stone. A single glance would have done it, and the king would have been unprepared, too surprised to cast his gaze downward in time.

Paris, ever the ladies’ man, had been sleeping with one of the females – blindfolded, of course, to prevent turning to stone. The besotted female had blurted out her sisters’ plans, and Paris had immediately alerted the Guard. Together, they’d ambushed the Gorgons, defeating them in minutes and with hardly any bloodshed.

We are unbeatable, Galen said proudly.

Torin nodded in agreement. Is it wrong that I wanted to take one of those snake-headed females as my prisoner?

Reyes rolled his eyes. You are as bad as Paris. The thought of being bitten and clawed during sex… He shuddered.

You just haven’t been bitten the right way, Paris said with a grin.

I prefer my women sweet and tender, thanks, Aeron countered.

"Reyes," Danika said, drawing him back to the present.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. If I had only known what awaited me. "I want to give you anything and everything you ask for, Danika."

Relieved, she sagged against the mattress. "Thank you."

"But making myself forgettable for you," he finished, "I cannot do. You’re going to haunt my dreams for all of eternity. I have to know I meant something to you."

"You do," she said, tortured. Her gaze dropped to her legs as she drew up her knees. "And that’s the problem."

"Resist me if you must, but do it later. After. I’ll even help you. Here, now, give me everything." He unsnapped his jeans, pushed them down and kicked them off. Except for his weapons, he was bare underneath. "Look at me."

She did, her eyes going straight to his erection…staying. A tremor slithered down her spine.

"I am cruel and I am selfish, but this need I have inside me, this need for you and no other, is stronger than anything else I’ve ever encountered. I doubt two years of lockup would dull it in the slightest."

"I – I don’t know how to respond to that."

"Then don’t." He didn’t need to hear her confirm that he’d made an impact on her and that her defenses were crumbling. The rosy flush darkening and spreading over her entire body told him plenty. "Just give. Take."

One by one, he discarded his blades. Only when he was stripped to his skin, nothing between them, did he climb onto the bed. Her pupils dilated as she watched him, and goose bumps spread over her, joining the flush.

He trapped her feet between his knees and reached up, his fingers curling around the waist of her panties. Slowly, so slowly, he dragged them down, revealing the paradise between her legs.

"The Darkest Pleasure"

She didn’t try to stop him. No, she encouraged him, raising her hips to allow an easier glide. He fisted the material, its dampness teasing his palm as his gaze drank her in. Her thighs were lean, the small patch of hair guarding her femininity as sunny as the hair on her head. Tiny as she was, her legs seemed to stretch for miles.

"Exquisite," he told her.

"Th-thank you."

He leaned down and braced his palms beside her hips. "Shall I continue?"

"Yes." A plea, desperate and needy.

His c**k jerked in reaction. "I’ve dreamed of this moment, of having you." He lifted one of her legs and placed a soft kiss upon her ankle. The skin was smooth, cold chased away by heat at the moment of contact.

Another tremor moved through her.

With his free hand, he gently pushed her other leg into the mattress, parting her thighs. Wider…wider…

He growled low in his throat, the sound primal and wild. Pain pawed from one side of his mind to the other, eager but content for the moment. Already Danika glistened with arousal. He kissed her calf, and she gripped the sheets.

"Do you want me to…Should I…"

"Hurt me?" he asked.

A tentative, "Yes."

"No." Holding her like this and not being buried deep inside her was a physical agony all on its own. "Not you."

She frowned. "Will you find pleasure without it?"

"Oh, yes." He hoped. This time, he kissed the inside of her thigh. His tongue flicked out, tasting, gliding over the smooth skin.

A moan escaped her as she raised her hips.

His fingers trekked up her other leg and stopped a whisper away from her curls. "Continue?"

"Reyes," she breathed.

"Continue?" he insisted.

"Yes. Please."

He brushed past those moist folds – sweet heaven – and buried a finger inside her. She was hot, tight, deliciously wet. "I knew you would feel this way." In. Out.

"Yes! Like that."

Taste.

He didn’t know if the urging came from deep inside his mind or from the demon and he didn’t care. Shaking, he leaned down and traced his hot tongue over her center. Heaven, he’d thought before. Ambrosia, he realized now. Her sweetness coated his tongue, filled his mouth. She tangled her hands in his hair, nails digging into his scalp.

Yes, he nearly shouted.

He licked and laved her, worked another finger inside, and began pumping in and out again. In and out. So good. So damned good. The pleasure of having her underneath him, spread for him, was intense, undeniable, and a moment passed before he realized his wounds had begun to close and his enjoyment…had not diminished. It was shocking. Something he didn’t understand. Why?

If he did nothing, would the pleasure fade? Would his demon spring up and demand he hurt his lover? Would his demon begin to influence Danika, making her into something she did not want to be?