Ice Blue - Anne Stuart [68]
She tried to run then, too late, scrambling off the bed. But he caught her before she hit the floor, hauling her back under him, pinning her there. She closed her eyes, averting her face. “Stop it,” she said.
“Stop what?”
Her eyes flew open, filled with rage and betrayal. “Stop pretending. You made your point this morning—you don’t have anything more to prove. You don’t want me, you can make me do anything you wish, and I’ll be pathetically grateful for your attention, while you won’t feel a thing…”
“You idiot,” he said, his voice savage. “How blind are you?”
“Leave me alone.”
He pulled her legs apart, pushing between them, fully clothed, the rigid length of his cock pressed up against her. Her eyes widened in shock.
“You can feel that, can’t you? It’s been like that all day. It’s been like that almost since I first touched you. You make me crazy with wanting you, but right now doing what I want could get us both killed.”
“No,” she said. “You’re lying. This morning you didn’t—”
He rocked against her, and she shivered in unwilling response. “This morning I was so turned on that I came without touching myself. And five minutes later I was hard again. I need you. I need to be inside you, now, and it’s too dangerous.” He thrust against her, feeling the tremor of response wash over her, and he knew he couldn’t stop, not until he made her come again, over and over…
She kissed him then, full and deep, wrapping her legs around his hips to bring him closer still, and the heavy material between them was maddening. He’d reached down to unzip his pants when he heard the sound of someone moving through the bushes, and he froze.
16
She felt the change instantly. He lifted his mouth from hers, his soft, beautiful mouth, and barely breathed the words. “Someone’s out there. Stay very still.”
He rolled off her, landing on the floor silently, and her body was hot and aching. Then she heard the sound as well, someone moving through the overgrown shrubbery outside. Someone was coming, and whoever it was would be even more dangerous than Taka.
“Get down!” he said, yanking her off the bed and onto the floor, shielding her body with his as something came crashing through the multipaned window. She could smell smoke, acrid, burning, filling her lungs with fire. She heard him whisper in her ear, “Get out of here!” before he leaped up, away from her.
She tried to sit up, but she couldn’t stop coughing, and the smoke was too heavy to see more than a shadow play of violence. Taka moving among them, the battle a silent, deadly dance. She placed her hand on the bed, trying to pull herself to her feet, but her knees buckled beneath her and she went down again. With smoke billowing around her, she began to crawl slowly in the direction of the door.
There was a roaring in her ears, one she couldn’t identify, and then she felt hands grab her—rough hands. And though her eyes were streaming from the thick smoke, she looked up and recognized one of the brethren, even dressed in uncustomary black like some bizarre ninja. He was immensely strong, and hurting her, and there was nothing she could do but let him drag her, until suddenly his face went blank, wiped clean of any expression at all, and he released her, unmoving. He collapsed in front of her, and Taka kicked him out of the way, reaching for her.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry and howl and run, with death and fire all around her, but instead she simply let him take her hand, pull her from the smoke-filled room, out into the rainy night.
The car was parked where he’d left it, with two men lying in the dirt and mud beside it. They didn’t look as if they’d been touched, but they were