Chapter 53 53
The bodice gaped and Alana wiggled. The satin fabric whispered down her body to her ankles.
Stefan swallowed. "My imagination didn't come close."
She smiled, lifting the gown from the balcony floor and tossing it onto a lounge chair. There was something decadent about being on a balcony in nothing but her lingerie, she thought. And even more decadent with Stefan eating her alive with his eyes.
"Man, oh man." His hand coasted up her side, over her iridescent lavender stockings, the thin strap of her thong. Her breasts were cupped in the sheerest fabric edged in lace. He met her gaze. "I'm done for."
"Liar, you never give up. And is that any way for a detective to behave?" she said, tugging his T-shirt from his trousers and backing him into the room.
She peeled his shirt off over his head, flinging it aside with a smile too seductive for words. Stefan's mouth went dry. He stilled and looked into her eyes. Her brows knitted ever so slightly, her gaze probing. Suddenly he cupped her face in his palms and kissed her, long and leisurely. Alana felt it, the tender mercy of it, the electricity they'd always shared tempered with something new.
"Stefan."
"You're mine, Alana . Mine."
There was something in the way he said those words, something so possessive, so certain that it left her shaking. Then she realized he was trembling a little.
"I want you," he said. "All night, all day, forever."
Alana swallowed thickly, feeling confused and cherished and needed all in the same breath. She could feel his heart beat, hear his erratic breathing that matched her own and knew this moment had changed something in him.
Stefan reached to pull her close, but she batted his hands aside and tugged at his belt buckle. Her smile was feline wicked and her gaze never left his as she opened the buckle slowly, kissing his mouth, his throat, bending a bit to lave his nipple. The air hissed out of him between clenched teeth. Then her hand dipped inside his trousers, closing over him. He growled, his fingertips digging into her waist, his body aching for her in every cell, every pore.
Alana watched the play of emotions skip over his features, felt his shuddering breath vibrate down to the floor. His hands were busy, drawing her against him, forcing her to release him and hold on. He cupped her breast and she moaned in response, touching him everywhere. He bent and hooked a finger in the cup of her bra, pulling the sheer fabric down. Her nipple spilled into the heat of his mouth, and he bent her back over his arm.
He suckled warmly, his touch growing stronger, then easing, stronger, then delicate. It drove her wild and she plowed her fingers into his hair, crying out, holding him close. "Oh, Stefan."
He cupped her buttocks, pulling her against his heat, then his fingers slipped beneath the band of the thong, following the line of it curving her hip and lower, then pushing it aside. He slipped a finger between her legs and she gasped over and over.
He absorbed each sound, his groin tightening. She mewed softly and he kept stroking her as he laid her on the bed, hovering over her. Alana felt everything in her yank and twist, the pulse hot and quick with lush desire. "Oh, Stefan, not yet."
"Look at me," he growled, and she did. "We're just starting. Don't you remember, baby? We belong together now."
His motions quickened and he watched her eyes flare, her body erupt with her climax. Her muscles flexed and clawed and a little shriek escaped her as she bowed back, rocked against his hand and took her pleasure. She cried out his name again and again, and it made him smile.
He kissed her gently and she sank into the bed boneless. "Catch your breath fast, baby. I mean to have more of you."
She managed to lift her head off the bed and look at him, but he was already in command. He hooked her panties and pulled them off, mapping the contours of her legs with his lips and teeth, gently nipping at her calf, her thigh and higher. He rolled the stockings down, tasting each inch of flesh revealed, then with her leg propped on his shoulder, he stripped off his trousers.
Alana let her gaze lower over him as he kicked the white slacks aside. He was a wall of muscle, a warrior, his waist lean, his abs rippled with definition. Just to look at him made her body quiver with want. To touch, to taste.
Stefan watched her look and felt himself harden to near painful proportions. She was open to him, bare and uninhibited. She had no fears, only need in her green eyes, and when she clapped her legs around his waist and drew him down, he wanted only to give her pleasure, to make her as delirious as she was making him.
His arousal brushed her center and she arched, the move hungry with demand. But he didn't give her what she craved, and laid a moist path over her mouth, her cheek, down her throat.
"I want you now," she moaned.
"Did I ever tell you that one time in training, we had to stand in water for twelve hours in the dark?" he said casually, then his lips closed over her nipple and he drew it deeply into his mouth.
"No. Ahh, Stefan."
"I love it when you say my name like that." He tasted her other nipple, feeling her writhe with each pass of his tongue. "We learned patience." He slid lower, taking his time tasting her soft, smooth skin. "No food, no water, but we can see it. It's on the shore. It makes the need worse. To see it, smell it and not be able to have it. So your patience has to be greater than your need."
"Yeah, I…oh, yes…"
He kissed her belly, then slid lower. Running his hands under her spine, down her buttocks, the backs of her thighs, he nipped and licked, his mouth circling her abdomen, yet never touching where she craved.
"The feast is in plain sight and we can't have it."
"Uh-huh." She knew she should be paying attention, but it was useless. Her thoughts were swimming in pleasure, her nerves and body tingling with anticipation. His mouth passed over her skin, leaving a burning trail of want, for more, much more. She could scarcely breathe. And why was he even talking?