Find Me in Darkness by Julie Kenner Page A

his hands tucked into his pockets and his eyes full of heat and power and promise.
    “You heard me.” The corner of his mouth quirks up. “Or you could just bolt.”
    I narrow my eyes, because now he’s thrown down a gauntlet and I have no choice. “All right,” I say. And then, before I can talk myself out of it, I take the hem of my sleep shirt and pull it up and over my head. I do it fast, like tugging off a bandage, and then let it drop to the floor.
    I’m naked now—no socks, no underwear, no bra. And though my instinct is to cross my arms over my chest, I don’t. And my bravery is immediately rewarded by the look of pure adoration that I see on his face.
    “Christina… lover, you are exquisite.”
    The endearment washes over me, making me shiver.
    “Cold?” he asks.
    I start to say no, then realize that would be idiotic. Instead, I say, “Warm me?”
    It is an invitation he doesn’t hesitate to accept, and he moves quickly to me, then gathers me in his arms. “Dear god, how I’ve wanted to feel you again. To touch you again.”
    “It was just last night,” I say with a laugh.
    “Was it?” He tilts his head to meet my eyes. “To me, it feels like forever.”
    “Oh.” The word is as tremulous as I feel. As if the simplest touch or the sweetest kiss could send me over the edge.
    And when he does kiss me, there is no denying that I’ve missed this, too. Maybe it was only last night, but I am hungry for him. Starved.
    “Please,” I beg. “Touch me.”
    “Where?” I hear the tease in his voice.
    “Everywhere.”
    He grabs me by the waist and lifts me to the counter, then gently spreads my legs.
    “Mal.” There is a tremor in my voice, and I gasp when a wave of pure pleasure crashes over me as he brushes his lips up my inner thigh, then kisses me intimately, his tongue teasing my clit so that I squirm, wanting more than just this soft tease. And when he thrusts his tongue deep inside me, I feel the pressure of passion building inside me.
    “More,” I beg. “Please. I don’t care if it’s fast—we can go slow later. I just want you. Wild and hard and now.”
    “Anything you want,” he says, rising up and kissing me as my fingers find the button of his jeans and slowly ease his zipper down.
    I ease his cock free, holding and stroking its long, hard length. That velvet steel that I crave, so much so that my sex is throbbing in anticipation.
    “Do you have a condom?” My words are barely breath.
    For a minute, I think he looks surprised, then his expression clears and he reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and extracts a foil-wrapped condom. Which, I’m happy to see, looks like it’s been tucked in there for quite a long time.
    He sheathes himself, and I can stand it no longer. “Now,” I beg, shifting on the counter to get close to him, then sighing in pleasure as he clasps his hands on my hips and roughly scoots me to the edge. He thrusts inside me and I arch back with the movement, taking him in, wanting all of him. Wanting him as deep as he can go.
    I hook my legs around him, and he groans as the motion forces him even deeper inside me.
    “I can’t hold back. I have no strength to hold out for you. I want you too damn bad.”
    “Then don’t,” I say. “Please. I want to feel it. I want to feel you explode.”
    He pounds into me, each motion finding that sweet spot in my core, sending me spiraling higher. Until it is not just him who will explode, but me as well. Because I swear I am going to come with more force and passion than I have ever experienced before.
    There is power and wildness, electricity and pyrotechnics building inside me. A wild force. A goddamn electrical storm. And it’s spinning and spinning, higher and higher. And my entire body is heating and—
    “Mal! Oh, god, Mal!”
    Even as the orgasm takes me, I feel the weight of it drain from me, the heat, the sparks, everything dissipating, as if a balloon has popped inside me.
    It was like nothing I’ve