Spicy Unedited Excerpt from:

Jared

Copyright © Sarah McCarty 2009
All rights reserved Berkley Heat.

She shook her head, fighting his hold. “You have to hurry.”

Buttons flew everywhere, hitting the floor in little pings of excitement, as she tore his shirt open. “Why?”

“You have to hurry before it’s over.”

He had to think on that a second. “Sunbeam, are you worried about coming too soon?”

“Not me, you.”

Now she wasn’t making sense. “If that’s the problem, why are you rushing?”

“I don’t want to lose the feeling.”

He needed another second. “If you lose it, I’ll help you find it again.”

She shook her head, leaning forward to lick at his chest. “Oh no. I know how that works.” Her mouth skated to the right, finding his nipple with unerring accuracy, lapping it lightly when he wanted her to bite. “You fall asleep, and I’m left watching you snore.”

No way in hell could he ever fall asleep on her. “I think you’re safe.”

“You don’t fall asleep?”

He put an end to her teasing by simply lifting her up while tilting her head back. “I don’t snore.”

“Like that’s some comfort.”

He caught her lower lip between his teeth, pulling at it gently, measuring her response by the increase in her respiration, the increase in her heartbeat. “Rai, it’s been a long time for me, so even if I’m quick off the mark the first time around, I guarantee you I’ll be ready to go again before you get to missing the feeling.”

She had one hand nearly free of the tatters of her shirt. “I’ve heard that before.”

Anger cut through his patience. “If you don’t want me taking you like a barbarian, you’d best not raise the beast by talking of other men.”

“Raise the beast?”

She twisted so her nipple brushed his lips.

“My vampire side doesn’t like being reminded he’s not the first.”

She rubbed her breast against his mouth in a blatant invitation. “If he performs really well, maybe he’ll get to be the last.”

His laugh buffeted her nipple. The small peak drew diamond hard. He touched his tongue to the flat tip, drawing her taste back into his mouth, savoring it before answering. “That, my little vamp, is a given.”

He caught her under the arms, lifted her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. Her squeal made him chuckle. Her fists thumping him on the butt had him slapping hers. Another squeal and then he gave her a toss onto the mattress.

She landed awkwardly, her hands stretched over her head, her torso arched, her feet hanging toward the floor. He ripped his shirt off and let it drop to the floor. Her eyes opened wide as she took in his chest. Her tongue came out to play over those pouty lips. His cock jerked within the confines of his jeans. He ripped them open and shoved them down, barely remembering to kick off his boots as she parted her legs suggestively. All the while those hands remained anchored above her head in a visible sign of submission to his need. “Hurry.”

He came down over her, stepping between her legs, lowering his hips to hers, his stomach, his chest. Everywhere her skin touched hot embers burst into flames.

Lowering his head, he kissed her cheek, her ear and whispered, “All of a sudden, I’m not in that much of a hurry.”

“Darn it!”

“No swearing, sunbeam.”

“That wasn’t a swear.”

“It’s about as close as you get, and if I have to watch my language, you have to watch yours.”

“I’m not teasing you.”

He caught her wrists just as she was about to slip them free, pining them to the bed. “But you are rushing me.”

“I just want to feel good, too.”

The truth hung between them. “Too? Sunbeam, hasn’t this ever felt good to you?”

“For a bit, but then it’s over.”

Had her lovers been idiots? “Well, tonight it’s not going to be over.”

Not when he had such a hot, willing woman panting beneath him, one who aroused his sense of humor as much as his passion.

Two slashes freed her from the constriction of her pants. He ripped them down and off, along with her underwear. His cock fell onto her stomach in an erotic little spank. She gasped and arched up. “We’re a long way from that, baby.”

That got her attention. She shook the hair out of her eyes and asked, “We are?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve got a lot of tasting, touching, and sipping to do before then.” She eyed him warily. He grazed his lips along her neck, just above her jugular. She tensed. “That doesn’t interest you?”

She tucked her chin in, blocking his progress. “Of course it interests me. I’m just trying not to get my hopes up.”

“Is that why you’re blocking my efforts to get closer?”

She nodded. “That always is what puts an end to it.”

From “that,” he gathered, she meant taking her blood. It was easy to understand why previous lovers had lost their heads. Raisa was the sweetest woman and bound to go to a man’s head.

“You’re with me now.”

“What does that mean?”

With a push of his finger and a smile, he lifted her chin, tucking his mouth into the hollow beneath. “Go ahead, baby, get your hopes up.”

He removed the shirt from around her arms. Her fingers flexed. He could imagine how they’d feel on his skin. Firm. Caring. Teasing. He smoothed his fingertips over her upper arms, trailing them over the inside of her elbow, over the roundness of her forearm, to the sensitive inside of her wrist, encircling it, and bringing her arms down over his shoulders before turning his attention to the her. Her skin was so clear—cream with the slightest hint of peach undertone. Her lips, full and pouting, had that same peach tinting their full curves, and above the Slavic cast to her cheekbones, those incredible eyes. Eyes that looked at him with hesitation, passion, and hope. A hell of a lot of hope.

“No need to look so anxious, Rai. This is going to be fun. For you especially.”

“Why especially me?”

“Because I’ve spent every minute since I met you contemplating which spots on your body would be the most sensitive.” He took her earlobe between his lips and sucked carefully. Her shudder and gasp were exactly what he was looking for. “Which would make you shake. Which would make you sigh.” He bit down. “And which ones make you cry out loud . . .”

“That’s a good one,” she gasped and arched up.

“Yup. I’d say it’s got you warming up nicely.”

Her legs came up around his hips and the warm, soft nest of curls cuddled against his groin. “What else have you been thinking about?”

He skimmed his lips down her neck. “Your breasts. I’ve had many a fantasy about those pert little breasts.”

“What about them?”

He smiled. Talking turned her on. “I wonder how they’ll feel against my tongue. Whether you prefer a light touch, or hard.”

He closed his lips over the left nipple and sipped lightly.

Still holding his face with her hands, more following than guiding, she gasped. “Hard. Definitely hard.”

He shook his head, not releasing her breast, letting her experience the new sensation before saying, “I think it’s too soon to tell.”

Her fingers curled into his hair. Urgency rose along with lust as she pulled on his hair, begging for the harder touch she thought she needed.

“Such an impatient lover,” he whispered against the peachy-pink of her aureole, kissing around the puckered surface, smiling as it drew up tighter, as her nipple prodded his cheek in a potent little demand. He took it into the heat of his mouth, supping, then sucking, and finally settling in to suckle in earnest, drawing from her an intangible nourishment that spiked his passion, his emotions, and his need. A sexual need to be sure, but also a need for something else. For her. To bind her to him, mark her, possess her. To own her laughter, her spirit, and that sassy little tongue that could either make him laugh or moan, depending on how she used it. Rai groaned and arched. He took more of her breast into his mouth, applying a bit more suction. Her thighs convulsed around his hips, pulling him closer.

That’s it, baby. Welcome me.

Hurry.

No way.

There was no way in hell he was rushing this first time.

Her heels drummed on his back. This is not my first time.

It’s our first time. Her frustration came at him in a curl of energy, tinged with anxiety. She really was worried he’d leave her behind.

Relax. You’re going to be with me all the way. All you have to do is stop worrying and concentrate.

On what?

This.

He lashed her nipple with his tongue. The spark of sensation shot through her in a bright sparkle. Her attention focused inward with a single-mindedness that might have scared him if he hadn’t understood her. She wanted it to be right between them with the same fervor that he wanted it for her.

“Oh . . . Do that again.”

He did. Following the sensation into her center, feeling the explosion of pleasure that radiated outward as it found its mark, the echoes reverberating against his own desire, throwing him off center. He’d never been with a woman who could slip in and out of his mind. Never anticipated the havoc all that hot feminine need pouring over his desire would wreak on his self-control.

She gasped. A flick of pain came from him to her. He was holding her too tightly. Easing his grip, he gentled the moment of panic, moving up so he could kiss her slowly and leisurely, rubbing his lips over hers, ignoring the parted invitation of her lips for thorough investigation of the edges, lingering in the corners when she flinched, touching the sensitive flesh with his tongue when she arched her neck, enabling more of the caress. Giving her tenderness when she thought she needed demand. Smoothing his tongue over the narrow dents left in her lower lip by her teeth. Replacing pain with pleasure until, with a broken gasp, she lifted, forcing a connection he was only too willing to maintain. She tasted sweeter than wine, more potent than whiskey, addictively perfect. He needed more, so much more. The line of her jaw beckoned, then the hollow beneath her ear, the dip between neck and collarbone, the high curve of her breast. Her right nipple was still puckered, but the left, not so much.

He cupped the small mound in his hand, plumping it to his attention. “Poor neglected baby. She needs some attention too.”

Raisa’s enthusiastic “Yes” caught his vampire’s attention and brought it roaring forward. Her palms cupped his cheeks, smooth where his were callused, so small and yet capable of holding him in ways no amount of strength could maintain. He went with her direction, fighting his vampire’s selfish demand that he take the step back from the edge of the bed that would bring his aching cock into alignment and just rut on her until he exploded.

Resisting was harder than it should be with the erotic images pouring from her mind to his, images of his mouth on her breasts, between her legs. And behind each image the secret desire she didn’t want known. Ah, hell, that one might just be the nail in his coffin.

He dropped his forehead against her breast and slowly squeezed off the connection of their minds, enduring the protests of her vampire along with his. He couldn’t give her what she needed if she kept bombarding him with her joy at each caress. Not when his own pleasure was about to detonate. “I’ve got this, sunbeam.”

The start that went through her bounced his chin on her chest. She was very on edge, in more ways than one. Her hands jerked open. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry.” He cupped her right breast, surprised to see his hand was shaking. Shit, if he wasn’t careful he’d be coming at her like a green kid. A brush of his thumb over her sensitive nipple had her arching into his touch. He opened his mouth, letting her be the one to press her nipple in.

“This is good,” he murmured before closing his lips around the hungry little bud. Very good, better than anything he’d imagined or dreamed.

Her breasts were small but highly sensitive. Every lap, brush, and tap had her breath catching in her throat, her hips working against him, her energy straining to entwine with his.

More.

The desperate little thought slipped past his shields. He glanced at Raisa’s face. The same desperation was etched there. He released her nipple with a little popping kiss. “I’ll give you all you can take. Just relax and let me.”

Her lower lip slid between her teeth. “Promise?”

“Absolutely. Now close your eyes and let me build on this little feeling.”

Her “It’s not little” brought forth his smile again along with a tidal wave of lust. For a second he went under, his fingers pinching her nipple in hard pulses that fed into the lash of his tongue on her other breast. Her gasps did nothing to deter him; rather they inspired a hot, glittering incentive to inspire more of those groans that rolled over him in the hottest of compliments.

“Yes.” Yes, yes.

She wanted more. He wanted to give it to her, but his control was shaky this first time. He kissed his way down her torso, over the concave hollow of her stomach, skimming the well of her navel, finding the downy soft hair beneath, catching a few strands in his teeth, smiling when she yelped before moving down further, letting her scent roll over him in potent encouragement before he parted the full outer lips and touched his tongue to the spice within.

“Oh my God!”

That was his reaction, too, as her flavor spread through his mouth. An addictive, honeyed spice. More.

Her hand came down and wiggled between his mouth and her pussy. The growl welled from his core. Nothing would keep her from him. Her hand jerked back. “Jared?”

“Mine.”

“I’m not sure.”

“I am.” He snuck another taste, which led to another and another. His tongue glided across the moist flesh, gathering the rich cream in a heady feast. Her heels gouged into his buttocks. Her breath came in hard pants that echoed the hard thud of his heart. He parted her folds and found her little clit. It was engorged and as eager as the rest of her. Eager for his touch. He homed in on it, letting her cries and her tension feed his desire. He tested her with a finger. Her snug little sheath clamped down on him immediately. A few flutters of his tongue and her sheath rippled. She was close. So was he. It was going to be a close call getting her to the finish line ahead him.

He laved her gently, holding her put when she would have jerked away under the initial slash of sensation. And then she was pulling him to her, her fingers sinking through his hair, her talons into his scalp.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God.”

He was right there with her. Cradling her in his arms as she shattered, kissing her once, twice before climbing up over her, nudging her tight sheath with his cock, then easing it in past the hard contractions. Fighting for control, restraint, determined to make this the experience he’d promised. A second orgasm crashed over her, catching him by surprise. Barreling through his barriers, her energy wrapped around his, pulling him in physically and mentally, until he couldn’t tell where he ended and she began.

Come with me.

The warm entreaty dragged him into the storm. Raisa’s pleasure magnified his, blending, mixing, escalating until there was nothing but the two of them.

The need hit him as hard as the pleasure. He leaned down, the rhythm of her pulse pounding in his ears, calling to him. He scraped his teeth over her artery. Her head fell back.

“Yes.” Yes. They needed this to complete the cycle. Needed the joining. He bit down. Her scream echoed around them as he came hard and deep, filling her with his seed as she filled him with her essence. His. The thought rode through him as he marked her. Irrevocably, forevermore his.