He watched her with a slight frown and no small amount of heat in his eyes.

“I actually never imagined anyone else.” He finally shrugged, confusing her further. “Though I can tell you aren’t exactly pleased.” And why did it seem to bother him so much, that she wasn’t pleased?

So where was the man who decided he needed more of a woman than she was? His attitude wasn’t making sense to her. Unless it was just the hormone or whatever the hell it was driving her insane. The thought that a drug, no matter how natural, was their only bond broke her heart.

“Not exactly pleased would be a little mild for my reaction.” She made certain her smile was all teeth and no warmth. Her pussy was hot enough to make up for it, though she had no intention of letting him know that any time soon. The adrenaline thundering through her system seemed intent on building the arousal that much higher. “Where are my clothes?” She ignored the cramps building in her womb as she turned away from him.

She didn’t even have a home now, and she couldn’t allow herself to believe that anything she could have with Taber would last longer than it took for her to become pregnant. Where would she be then? She had to leave, had to run, or she would never be free of him. Taber sighed heavily behind her. “I know you’re scared, Roni.”

“I’m not scared.” She fought back a shudder of pure sensation as heat sizzled between her thighs. Then

made sure the look she gave him glittered with her need for retribution. “I’m mad. So get the hell away from me before I take your head off like I should have done when you put this damned mark on me. Where the hell are my clothes?”

She re-entered the bedroom, determined to ignore the man stalking behind her. She could feel him and he wasn’t even touching her.

“Your clothes are being washed,” he told her, his voice too soft, too carefully controlled as he came up behind her. “Roni, you’re in pain. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Roni stopped at the bottom of the bed, gripping the footboard with desperate fingers as her stomach clenched almost violently. She closed her eyes, fighting the man, fighting the knowledge of what was happening to her with everything inside her. God, she was so weak, because she knew that despite the unnatural height of the arousal, she would have still found it hard to resist him, to maintain her fury. His voice was soft, regretful, reminding her of the years he had always been there for her. Reminding her how much she had loved him, how much it had hurt when he suddenly wasn’t in her life any longer. Even the fear of conception couldn’t dim the needs rising in her body like a flashflood of sensations. How was she supposed to deny him? How could she fight her body, its needs and her heart as well?

“I’m fine.” She forced the words between clenched teeth. “Find me some clothes. I want out of here.”

If she could just get away from him, she thought desperately. It hadn’t been this bad, this intense, until he showed up in her life again. If she could leave, maybe it would ease; settle back to the mild irritation it had been before.

“It won’t go away, Roni.” His hands settled heavily on her shoulders, his thumbs smoothing over the taut muscles as she fought the shivers of pleasure his touch evoked. The calloused pads of his thumbs rasped over her skin, heating her flesh, making her moan with the pleasure that streaked through her body. It was exquisite, his touch, the scent of him wrapping around her with a warmth that seared her to her soul.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered, fighting the tears that thickened in her throat. She had needed so much more from him. “Everything’s happening too fast.”

“You don’t have to do anything, baby,” he promised her gently, his lips whispering over the mark he had made so long ago. Making her shiver in longing. “I’ll take care of everything, Roni. I promise.”

Every cell in her body screamed out in pleasure when his tongue stroked over the small wound. She would have denied him, she assured herself, if she could have fought past the web of arousal and need that tightened about her, leaving her breathless beneath his touch. How could he do this? How could nature have been so cruel as to give him this advantage over her?

“I can smell your heat,” he whispered at her ear. “Like warm, sweet cream. It draws me, Roni. I want nothing more than to go to my knees, draw the gown to your hips and bury my tongue in your hot pussy.”

She shuddered violently at his words, a whimper of longing escaping her throat as he drew the robe from her shoulders. She felt weak, dazed, unable to fight him when she wanted him with every breath in her body.

“You’re so warm, so soft and tempting, you make me lose any semblance of control. You make me desperate, Roni, so hungry for you I can barely think of anything except tasting you.”

His tongue licked over her shoulder, raspy, slightly roughened, drawing a gasp of pleasure from her lips at the sensation. His hands drew the thin straps of the gown over her shoulders as his lips trailed hot kisses down the slope of her arm.

“I lost control before.” The gown slipped over her hardened nipples, but she had no chance to miss its dubious warmth.

Taber’s hands covered the swollen mounds, his palms cushioning the elongated points, rasping them gently as she moaned in rising pleasure. That was good. Too good. Too hot. She stared down at his hands, amazed at the contrast between his dark skin and her paler flesh. It was so erotic, watching him touch her, seeing the differences between his hard, muscular body and her softer one.

“I won’t lose control now. I’ll show you how good it can be, baby.”

His voice was rough, a sensual caress to her senses as the gown slid to her hips, caressing her as it slipped lower and finally pooled at her feet.

“See, all you have to do is relax,” he assured her, his voice at once soothing, stroking her senses as carefully as his hands stroked her breasts. “Let me show you what we missed out on all those months ago.”

“You left me.” She fought to breathe, to find the strength she needed to refuse him. But it wasn’t there. Her body was overruling her mind, stealing her objections, her fears.

“You left me no choice, Roni.” His hands cupped her breasts, his finger and thumb gripping her nipple, making it hard for her to think, to speak.

She left him no choice? She had loved him, needed him, until the sheer intensity of those needs had nearly destroyed her. And yet he claimed that she had left him no choice? She wanted to rage, to scream at him, but it was all she could do to breathe beneath his demanding touch. The pads of his thumbs rasped over the tops of the swollen peaks, then with the help of his index fingers, gripped them with firm, exact pressure as he tugged at them slowly.

“Taber.” She cried out at the sharp, streaking pleasure that arrowed from her nipples to her vagina, causing her to arch against him, her hands to reach back and tighten on the outside of his hard, muscled thighs.

“Do you like that, baby?” He did it again, and Roni thought she would explode from the building heat.

“I’ll use my teeth next,” he whispered at her ear. “As I grip and pull, I’ll stroke them with my tongue, suckle with my mouth and make you come from that sensation alone.”

And he could. She knew he could. Her climax was already building, the pleasure threatening to peak inside the tormented depths of her pussy. Then he stopped. Roni whimpered at the loss of sensation on her tormented nipples. Then she groaned in pleasure as his teeth nipped at the mark on her neck a second before he placed his mouth over it and began to suckle, much as he threatened to do to her

nipples.

Her head fell back against his chest. She was distantly aware of the fact he was undressing behind her, removing first his shirt, then his shoes and jeans. His chest caressed her back, making her shiver with the sensation of the tiny, almost invisible hairs that covered it. She had noticed those years before, but had forgotten how sinfully sexy they felt against her skin.

“That’s right, baby,” he whispered, his breath sighing over the mark, making her shiver in reaction. “Just enjoy. Feel how damned good it can be. You’re so sweet and soft, so tight and hot when I thrust inside you. Just touching you is the most pleasure I’ve ever known in my life.”

“You’re killing me.” Her chest was tight with emotion, aching with the need for more than just his physical touch. “How will I stand it when you’re gone again?”

He growled, a fierce, animalistic sound that nearly made her climax from its impact on her senses. God help her, how could something so feral sound so damned sexy?

“There’s no way in hell I’ll let you go now, Roni,” he told her, his voice dark, his hands gripping her hips and pulling her tightly into the cradle of his thighs.

His cock was strong and thick, hot and hard. It felt like warm steel as it pressed against the crease of her ass. She ground her buttocks against it, her hips moving, forcing the shaft to part the rounded globes and press deeper between them.

Behind her, Taber breathed in sharply a second before a rueful chuckle vibrated through his chest.

“Don’t tempt me,” he warned her, his voice vibrating with arousal. “I’m already at the edge of my control, Roni.” She could almost imagine that sexy grin she heard in his voice. The one that made her heart clench at the wicked thoughts it inspired. The little quirk to the side, the flash of teeth as his green eyes sparkled with humor and warmth.

“Why should you have control?” She fought to breathe, to hold back her pleas that he take her now, fast and hard, as he had before. “You haven’t cared about stealing mine.”

“Ah, baby.” He moved slowly, his arms coming around her thighs, her shoulders, as he picked her up.

“But my control will bring you more pleasure than you could ever imagine.”

She gasped, her arms circling his neck as she stared up at him in surprise. No one but Taber had ever carried her in his arms. She had missed that. It made her feel too feminine, too desired to have him hold her like this now, though. His eyes were dark and glittering with hot, naked lust as he carried her the short distance to the bed.

He had no problem holding her as he maneuvered them both into the bed. But he held her close, secure, until he lowered her slowly to the mattress beneath them.

“I want to lick every inch of your body,” he growled. “But I don’t know if I’ll make it past your lips before I’ve got to have you.”

He knelt beside her, his gaze possessive, brilliant with his rising needs as it raked over her. His body was a work of art. His chest and arms flexed with power, his tight abdomen rippled with strength, and his cock… She swallowed tightly as she allowed her hand to smooth along his thigh toward it. Like

silk-encased steel, the dark head throbbed with life. The sight of it had heat and moisture spilling from her hungry cunt.

“No.” He caught her hand before she could touch him. “Touch me, Roni, and I’ll lose all control. Just relax. Let me show you how good it can be.”

Chapter Thirteen

It was too damned good. Roni’s hands clenched in the sheets beneath her as Taber lay beside her and drove her to the edge of madness. His lips were at one breast, toying delicately with the hard peak while his hand tormented the other.

His tongue stroked confidently around the sensitized nub, the rough rasp causing her to cry out at the building sensations weaving through her body. When his mouth covered it, drawing on it with deep, hard pulls of his wet mouth, she nearly climaxed in reaction. Her womb spasmed with such force she flinched from it and nearly screamed out her pleasure.

“Yes!” he hissed, his voice rough as he moved over her, settling between her thighs, his mouth continuing to torture the swollen tip. “Let it go, Roni. Let me have it all.”

He moved to her other breast, repeating the caresses there as her hands clutched at his shoulders. How much more could she stand? She writhed beneath him, her hips arching as she pressed the aching mound of her pussy against the hard planes of his stomach. Oh, now that was good. Her clit throbbed in pleasure as it raked across his flesh.