way,” Claire whispered into his ear.
He grinned and complied as she pushed against his massive shoulders and rolled them over. His body was beautiful. Young and strong, the best kind of lover. Tall with muscles earned by surfing the sparkling turquoise waters only feet outside her back door. His sun-kissed blond hair and brilliant blue eyes made him stand out like a red umbrella on a rainy day among the dark-haired, dark-skinned inhabitants of their island. His smile promised so much more than a one-night stand.
His smile lied.
He gripped her hips, his expression already growing hazy. “Fuck me, Claire.”
“Shh…don’t talk. I promise this will be a night you’ll never forget.”
She leaned forward, her dark hair dropping like a final curtain around his head as she gave him her breast. Greedy lips tugged on her nipple, contracting muscles inside her. Dormant needs ignited like a fire stirred, reminding her of the delicious night they had in store. In his petty little mind, he believed he was the predator, but in the end, she’d walk away with his dark power.
She’d leave the goodness inside him for the next woman he loved and take the destructive need to own women and use them. He’d be a better man, and she’d feed that phantom pain inside her. If only for a while.
She pulled from him, her breasts tingling, begging for more as she positioned him at her entry.
Already his eyes failed to focus. But she didn’t need him to see her. Didn’t need to wonder any longer if a man could truly love her. She’d known for years now that would not be in the cards for her.
She encircled his hard length as it pulsed, begging for her to release him from the overwhelming ache he must be enduring by this point. The nameless dark desire she carried inside her burned her as well.
She inhaled as though it would be some time before she could breathe again and impaled herself on him.
They both cried out in ecstasy.
Heated sensations overtook her, removing her from the cruel existence of her world. She danced in the flames of desire, taking from her lover a power that could fuel her for days. His passion filled her soul, igniting the orange ball of light that seemed to dim so easily.
She could sense her body, sense the friction his rock-hard shaft created inside her as her breasts bounced in the sultry heat of the night. But she was not with him in that tangled mass of silk. She’d moved beyond their atmosphere, flying toward the sun burning bright somewhere in the heavens.
A shifting of the earth beneath her physical body knocked her from flight, like the unexpected splash of a chilled ocean wave. A silent voice whispered to her, but she couldn’t make sense of the words through the haze and shock surrounding her.
The power she feasted on ceased, and she was sucked back to her room. An invisible hand extinguished all but one flickering candle, leaving the space much darker than before. Her lover still lay beneath her, his face contorted in extreme pleasure.
“Was that an earthquake?” she whispered, hoping for a logical explanation.
“Don’t stop,” he panted and moved beneath her.
A terrible fear whipped through her, leaving disbelief trailing behind. She’d lost the one-way current running between them. If she failed to use her ability to take, she’d surely die. If not from lack of strength, then certainly from loneliness.
He gripped her tighter. “Please.”
She started to move, unwilling to let her lover suffer as she did. There was nothing between them now, no exchange of power, at least not for her. Worse, everything she’d taken from him had vanished.
When her lover finished convulsing beneath her, she climbed from him, distraught that she’d been cheated when he’d found his release.
“I love you, Claire,” he said, staring at her as if she was a goddess.
“No, not me,” she said, the brief flash of expected pain ripping through her. This was always the hardest part, ignoring the look of devotion radiating from their faces. She’d believed it the first time she’d taken a man, and it had cost her precious love his mind.
She’d reacted by plowing her way through several men until she realized there was no man who could survive her love for long.
He stood and walked toward her, taking her by the shoulders. “But I need you. I want to make you as happy as you’ve made me.”
“Then leave whatever cash you have on the table by the door as