Haunted by Your Touch by Jeaniene Frost, Sharie Kohler Page B

star points in their gazes, and it wasn’t out of lack of love but too much dilution of bloodlines.
    “You’re wrong about me, Rafael. Your eyes prove it.”
    I glanced away as I spoke so I wouldn’t dosomething humiliating, like cry. For a few seconds, I’d felt happier than I had ever been at the idea that the man I’d secretly longed for since I was a teenager was really mine. Now that happiness turned to crushing disappointment when I realized Rafael’s very gaze proved that he wasn’t.
    A low laugh rumbled from his chest even as he pulled me into his arms.
    “I see you were taught the innocent version of what prompts the claiming metamorphosis.” His tongue traced my ear, making shivers break out over me. “Your eyes changed only
after
you climaxed with me. I haven’t had the chance to share the same pleasure with you, but I intend to correct that. Now.”

Chapter Eight

    Any hesitation I’d had over him being a Fallen vanished at the surge of need his words elicited. I slid my arms around him, letting my head fall back under the insistent demand of his mouth. His tongue teased me, probing my galloping pulse, teeth gently nipping. I traced over the hard sinews of his shoulders to his back, fingers brushing over the unusual ridges as I brought our bodies closer.
    He arched and a groan came from him that sounded almost pained. Startled, I snatched my hands back, pulling away to look at him.
    “Did I hurt you?”
    “No.” His voice was hoarse. “Those are… very sensitive.”
    Then he kissed me, backing me against the side of the pool to press his body fully along mine. Hisarms caged me while his warm, muscular chest, stomach, and legs lined up with my own, the delicious hardness of his erection prodding me even through his soaked leather pants. I moaned into his mouth as I arched against him, feeling my loins greedily clench at the increased contact, the buoyancy of the water allowing me to curl my legs around his waist as I did it again.
    His hands traveled down my back to my ass, firmly kneading and pulling me tighter against him. Each twist and rub sent shocks of aching pleasure through me, building in intensity, until I hazily realized that I’d come if he didn’t stop now.
    “Not like this again,” I gasped, tearing my mouth away. “I want you inside me. No, make that I
need
you inside me.”
    His mouth curled into a sensual smile as he unhooked my bra. “I’ve waited a long time for you, Mara. Too long to rush this.”
    My loins twisted in protest at the thought of delaying. How could he expect me to be patient when that bulge in his pants clearly showed he wanted me as much as I burned for him? He looked even more staggeringly gorgeous, too, with beads of silver water clinging to his bodyand making his skin silkier to the touch. Wait? What idiot invented
that
concept?
    I slid my hands beneath the water to his pants, enjoying his intake of breath as I unzipped them. His mouth crushed over mine when I reached inside to clasp him, more heat slamming through me as his length filled my hands.
    Oh
hell
no was I waiting, no matter that he wanted to take things slow.
    “Mara,” he moaned against my mouth when I began to stroke him with firm pumps, each slide of his flesh making that tightening in my loins almost painful. He might have enough control for extended foreplay, but I didn’t. What was that he’d said in the carriage? That he could keep from taking me right then, as long as I didn’t keep doing what?
    That’s right, touching his
back
, because he had all those “sensitive” ridges running on either side of his spine. Triumph flared in me.
You’re mine now!
    His mouth slid down to my breast, closing over a nipple with enough passionate intensity to clear my head of all thought. A cry wrenched out of me even as I tried to ignore the continued sharp throbs of pleasure that sought to undo my intentionswith mindless bliss. Before I got lost in the sensations, I let go of his amazing