Hour of the Dragon - Heather Killough-Walden Page 0,150

of her body against his when he was fully clothed was heady. It served to further intensify her vulnerability to him. I’m going to get you through this and finish it. His words in her mind were meant to comfort her, in direct contrast to what his body was doing to her.

His fingers found the button on her jeans and she tensed, suddenly afraid that he planned to do the same thing with her jeans that he’d done with the shirt. His laughter in her ear was all fury and reckless desire, more monster than man. “You can take it, little dragon. You know you can. Now do not let go. You don’t move.”

This time, the denim bit into her before it tore away, ripping a cry of surprise and pain from her lungs. But the pain was deadened by the knowledge that the spell they both wore would protect their bodies from any real harm – and by the pleasure he heaped on her as he destroyed her belongings.

She tried very hard not to make the kinds of desperate sounds that were trying to escape her throat. There was still some fragment of the woman inside her that had been strong in the face of his power, and that fragmented woman didn’t want to let on how much he was getting to her. But as she held on to the headboard and her fingernails dug ineffectually into the smooth, un-giving rock and the cool air kissed her exposed flesh, she was well aware she’d already lost. This was the heated moment in which every lust-torn lover recognized that they were slaves, and their lovers’ control over them was absolute.

Anna felt drugged when he laughed again, his lips brushing her ear, the dark and sexy sound as effective as opium and aphrodisiacs. He snaked one strong arm around her chest, locking her against him. She sucked in a breath when his hand curled over the top front of her panties, and his arm kept her from pulling away. He waited just long enough to lean in and place a gentle kiss to the side of her neck before ripping the small shred of material from her heated body. She was so slick-wet at her core, the underwear stuck to her for a beat before peeling away to expose her to the air and Ares’ hungry graze.

She clenched her teeth harder and closed her eyes. But his lips remained by her ear and his arm continued to cage her as he rid her of her bra in much the same manner. She gasped at the sharp pain again, and this time when she exhaled, her breath was shaking. Her breasts were exposed, her nipples hardening painfully, her longing making her want to curl in on herself. But Ares wouldn’t let her. His embrace stretched her out in front of him, and his view was clear straight down her body.

Damn you’re hot, woman, he growled in her head. I fucking love it when you’re horny.

Anna bristled, opening her eyes to look at him over her shoulder. But whatever she’d been planning on saying to him, it died on her tongue when he caught her chin with his fingers and held her gaze with his own.

“That’s my little dragon,” he told her softly. She got lost in him again, staring up at eyes that searched hers and reminded her that he was her best friend. The same one she’d given herself to fifty years ago.

He gave her a soft smile, leaned in, and gently brushed his lips over hers in a whisper of a kiss, a touch so soft it was at painful odds to the cage of his arm around her and the way he’d ripped off her clothes.

When he pulled back, his thumb lovingly brushed the cleft of her chin. As he watched her so tenderly, Anna’s tension melted a little, her body relaxing ever so slightly in his embrace. Then he lowered his head to peer at her through the top of a very cruel gaze and Anna’s eyes widened. Her hot, wet core suddenly contracted painfully with need, her clitoris and breasts throbbing to the point of rendering her breathless. She tried to move, to escape the blatant flood of arousal that was far stronger than any she’d experienced through Sterling’s spell. But this was all Ares, and he wasn’t letting her go anywhere.

How… cruel are you? she wondered mindlessly as she struggled to breathe. A low keening climbed