She stared back at him, eyes wide, trying to force her brain past the shock to actually make a decision as to whether or not she was still sleeping. Because this had to be some kind of screwed-up nightmare. That was all there was to it.

"Let me get this straight." She edged farther back from him, simply because she was becoming so wet her panties felt damp and his eyes were getting darker. "Your tongue has glands. That have a hormonal aphrodisiac in them?"

He nodded as he advanced on her. He didn't say a word, just nodded his head as he inhaled deeply. She trembled at the knowledge that he was actually smelling her.

"If you kiss me, we go into heat?"

"You go into heat." He smiled, a tight, hard curve of his lips that denoted way more male intent than she was comfortable with.

She cleared her throat. "What do you do?"

"I put out the flames."

She moved back.

Okay. She was retreating. So f.u.c.king what? He was stalking her across the room like the d.a.m.ned Lion he was. And the closer he got, the hotter she got.

"Tarek..." She jerked in surprise as her back came up against the wall, staring up at him in shock as he stopped, only inches from her, his hand lifting.

He touched her. The backs of his fingers brushed against her throat before trailing down to her collarbone, his eyes tracking each movement his hand made as her b.r.e.a.s.t.s began to swell and throb.

"You're running out of time." His guttural whisper had her womb clenching furiously, the breath locking in her chest.

This was a side of Tarek she wasn't accustomed to. A side she knew should not be turning her on as it was. He had barely touched her. In nearly six months of confrontations, arguments, and snapping debates, he had never touched her, never kissed her, and she was going up in flames for him.

She could feel it in every cell of her body, every hard pulse of blood through her veins.

"How long does it last?" she finally asked. "The heat stuff?"

His eyes narrowed as his head lowered. He was going to kiss her, she knew he was. But he didn't. His lips moved to her neck, burning a heated caress to the sensitive flesh where her shoulder and neck met. There, his lips opened, his tongue stroking her skin a second before the incisors sc.r.a.ped against it.

Her hands flew to his arms, her hands gripping his wrists as her knees weakened.

"It lasts forever." Bleak, bitter pain filled his voice. "From now until forever, Lyra. Always mine."

He bit her. Not hard enough to break the skin or to cause her undue pain. But he bit, his teeth clenching in the tender muscle as she arched on her tiptoes, a sizzling bolt of electric pleasure pulling a strangled cry from her lips.

Her c.l.i.t pulsed, her v.a.g.i.n.a wept, her nipples became so hard, so tight, they were a near violent ache as a lethargic weakness left her gasping rather than fighting for freedom.

"Always?" She should have been alarmed. Always was not supposed to be in her vocabulary. She had no desire to be under a man's thumb, just under this man's body.

His lips moved back up her neck, his tongue licking at her flesh as a rumbling growl broke from his chest.

"Just a taste," he whispered as he reached her lips, his arms lowering from the braced position against the wall beside her head. "Stay very still, baby. I just need a taste."

His lips ghosted over hers as she stared back at him, her gaze locked with his, seeing the hunger, the aching, soul-deep need he had kept hidden beneath lowered lashes or behind mocking humor.

But now it was laid bare to her, as clear, as desperate as the aching hunger for him that pulsed low in her stomach.

She trembled as she felt his hands at the front of her robe, his lips, nipping at hers, parting them, retreating, only to come back for more as she held on to his wrists with a death grip.

The b.u.t.tons on her robe gave way, the edges falling apart as they both breathed harshly, the silence of the kitchen broken only by their gasps of pleasure.

"You're so wet. I can smell how wet you are. How sweet," he whispered as he stared back at her, his fingers working on the b.u.t.tons of her gown. "Like the fragrance of summer, heating me, reminding me of life, of living."

His words shook her to her core.

"Do you know what the smell of your sweet p.u.s.s.y does to me?" He smoothed her gown apart, the cool air brushing against her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she whimpered in an arousal so sharp, so desperate, she wondered if she would survive it. "It makes me hungry, Lyra. Hungry to take you, to hear you screaming beneath me as I bury every inch of my c.o.c.k as deep inside you as possible."

She cried out sharply, unable to contain the sound. Could a woman o.r.g.a.s.m from words alone? His explicit language was driving her over the edge, earthy and l.u.s.tful, filled with a desire no man had ever shown her before.

He grimaced, showing the incisors at the side of his mouth as his gaze moved to the rapid rise and fall of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"Look how pretty." He took her hand from his wrist, spread her fingers, and then wrapped it around the lush mound.

She stared back at him in shock, her eyes flickering to where she cupped her own flesh, her hand surrounded by his.

"Feed it to me," he whispered then, his voice wicked, filled with l.u.s.t. "I want to taste it."

She shuddered, a whimper escaping her throat at the pure eroticism of what he was doing to her.

His hand moved back hers. "Give it to me, Lyra. Press that pretty, hard nipple into my mouth."

She couldn't believe she was doing it. That she was lifting her breast, leaning forward as he bent his knees, lowering himself to allow the straining nub to pa.s.s his lips.

He licked it first.

"Oh G.o.d, Tarek." She was shaking like a leaf, pinpoints of explosive pleasure detonating through her body.

He licked it again, his tongue, rasping roughly, like wet velvet gliding over the sensitive tip.

Then he growled. A hard, savage sound as his lips opened, parted, to envelope the hard point into the wild, wet heat of his mouth.

She climaxed.

Lyra's hands shot to his head, her fingers tangling in the rough strands of his hair as something exploded deep within her womb. Pleasure rushed through her s.e.x, drenching her, spilling to her thighs as she lost her breath.

He hadn't even kissed her yet.

His head rose from her nipple, his hands lifting, pulling hers from his hair as he settled them against her sides.

He laid his against her shoulders, smoothing the unb.u.t.toned gown and robe slowly from her arms as she shook before him.

Lyra swallowed tightly, small whimpers pa.s.sing her lips as she stood naked before him. Naked-she never wore underwear beneath her gowns-while he was fully clothed, watching her with glowing gold eyes, his expression predatory, savage.

"Sweet little virgin," he whispered, his gaze moving down her body, finally coming to rest on the bare, slick folds between her thighs. "Naughty little baby." His eyes moved back to hers.

"Imagine how my tongue is going to feel there. Sliding through all that hot, sweet syrup. Will you come for me again, Lyra? Will you cry for me again?"

He took her hand, moving it to the snap of his jeans as he watched her with savage eyes.

"Make your choice now, Lyra. Accept me."

Good Lord, what was she supposed to do about him? She was standing there naked in front of him, and he still could not reason out that she had already accepted him? Even with all the weird Breed mating stuff, she couldn't imagine not accepting him.

"Kiss me," she demanded roughly, her fingers moving to the metal snaps of his jeans, releasing them slowly, the hard heat of his erection beneath making the task difficult.

"G.o.d." He snarled the prayer as he shuddered against her, his hands gripping her hips as his eyes clenched shut for long seconds.

"Kiss me, Tarek," she whispered, reaching for him, her lips brushing his as his head lowered, his eyes blazing with hunger, pain, and need as he watched her. "Make me crazier."

The front of his jeans parted beneath her trembling fingers, the hard, generous width of his erection rising from the material, flushed and desperate as she glanced down nervously.

She licked her lips.

"I hope you know what to do with it." She finally swallowed lightly. "Because I don't have a clue."

And he didn't bother with explanations.

In that second his head lowered, his lips slanting over hers as his tongue licked and then pressed demandingly between her lips.

Immediately the taste of spice exploded in her mouth. Heat sur-iounded her, whipped through her mind, then cell by cell began to invade her body.

She thought the clawing, driving hunger for his touch, his kiss, couldn't get worse.

She was wrong.

Exploding fingers of sensation began to tear through her nerve endings. Her womb clenched, knotted. The already aching flesh between her thighs began to burn with a spasming, violent need.

She screamed into his kiss, rising on her tiptoes for more, pressing against him, trying to sink into the heat emanating from beneath his clothing.

He tore his lips from hers, his breathing rough, harsh as she tried to claw up his body and capture his lips again.

"That f.u.c.king pill." His voice was animalistic, rough, hungry.

"No. Kiss me again." She pulled his hair, dragging his head back down until his lips covered hers again, a groan tearing from his throat as her tongue pushed between his lips.

It was wildfire. It was destructive. She could feel the flames licking over her body, pinpoints of electricity sensitizing her flesh. And pleasure-the pleasure was overwhelming.

She felt him pick her up. Lifting her from her feet as she lifted her legs, bending them to clasp his hips as the fiery hot length of his erection suddenly seared the folds of her c.u.n.t.

He was moving. Walking. Sweet heaven, how was he walking?

He pulled his lips back again, his movements jerky as he braced her rear on the kitchen island and jerked open the small plastic container.

He pushed the pill between her lips.

"Swallow it," he growled. "Now, Lyra."

He was moving against her, his c.o.c.k sliding in the juices of her s.e.x as he stared down at her fiercely, raking the tender bud of her c.l.i.t, sending spasms of sensation ripping through her belly.

She swallowed the pill before her gaze dropped to her thighs.

She whimpered.

"Do it," she whispered, watching the bloated head of his c.o.c.k part her and then slide up, raking against her c.l.i.t.

"d.a.m.n," his voice was filled with l.u.s.t, with a strengthening demand as his fingers caught in her hair, pulling her head back to force her gaze to his. "I told you. I'm eating that sweet p.u.s.s.y first."

"I can't wait, Tarek," she whimpered, her hands pulling at his shirt, amazed as the b.u.t.tons tore free, revealing his golden chest. "Now. I need it now."

"You can wait."

But he wasn't about to.

Her eyes widened as he pushed her back, spreading her thighs as he lifted her legs and buried his head between them.

The first swipe of his tongue through the sensitive slit of her c.u.n.t had her screaming. He licked at her, lapping at the juices spilling from her v.a.g.i.n.a as he groaned against her flesh.

She had never imagined such agonizing pleasure. She writhed beneath him, twisting, bucking against his mouth as he circled her c.l.i.t, only to move lower to lap at her again.

He nibbled at the sensitive lips, parted her, and then suddenly, astonishingly, drove his tongue inside her. She exploded in a firestorm of blazing pleasure as his tongue f.u.c.ked inside her with hard, blistering strokes. Her muscles clenched, shuddered, and more heated liquid spilled to his greedy lips.

And still, it wasn't enough.

She was gasping, tears dampening her face as she shuddered a final time, staring up at him as he straightened between her thighs.

"Tarek?" She sobbed his name beseechingly. "I need more."

She was exhausted, but the fire burning in her womb was never-ending.

"Shh, baby." He lifted her quickly in his arms. "I refuse to take you on the kitchen counter, Lyra. I won't do it."

He stumbled as her legs wrapped around him, clasping his hips tight, her c.l.i.t rubbing against the shaft of his c.o.c.k as he began to carry her to the stairs.

"I won't make it upstairs." She was riding the thick wedge, the agonizing pleasure ripping through her mind.

If she could just get the right position. Just a little higher...

She felt the thickly crested head part her, lodge against the tender opening before his first step onto the stairs forced it inside her.

He stumbled, growling, one arm locked around her as he braced his hand to the wall, breathing harshly.

"Not like this," he breathed roughly. "Oh G.o.d, Lyra. Not like this. Not your first time..."

Regret, remorse. She saw it in his expression, heard it in his voice. But stretching her entrance wide, teasing her, tempting her, was the head of the instrument she needed to relieve the agonizing l.u.s.t clawing at her p.u.s.s.y.

She shifted in his embrace, feeling him slip farther inside her before coming to a halt against the proof of her virginity.