Page 104 of White Hot Kiss

Or was it because I simply wanted Roth?

The moment that question formed in my thoughts there was no denying the truth behind it. A chill started in the middle of my back and spread to my legs and arms. It was more than just being able to kiss him. There was something about Roth that spoke to me, all of me. Something I wasn’t sure I’d felt before.

My hand was moving before I even knew what I was doing. I placed it on his stomach, just below his chest. I was still. Roth was still. Both of us were staring at the movie, and I knew he was like me in that moment, not really paying attention.

“Layla...”

The low growl in his voice sent shivers through me. I started to pull my hand back, but he caught it in a grip that was firm but gentle.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Air caught in my throat and I couldn’t answer, couldn’t put forth the words explaining what I was doing, what I wanted. Another deep sound came from Roth and then he moved lightning quick. A heartbeat later, I was on my back and he was above me, his muscles flexing under the shirt he wore as he held himself up.

His eyes crashed into mine, and they were like two citrines. He read something in my gaze. He had to, because a shudder rolled through his body. “I’m a demon, Layla. What I see in your eyes and what I sense from your body is something I will take. Make no mistake. I’ll give you one chance. Close your eyes, and I’ll let this go.”

I felt weak under his consuming stare, but I didn’t close my eyes.

“Layla.” He said my name as if it hurt him.

And then he kissed me. Not like the first time in the park. Not like the other time on this very bed. He captured my lips in a lingering kiss. I moaned at the first taste of him, sweet like chocolate. Little shivers of pleasure and panic shot through me when he deepened the kiss and I felt the coolness of the bolt in his tongue. My body sparked to life; my heart swelled and thundered. The rush of sensations crawling across my body was maddening, beautiful and scary.

I dug my hands into his hair, not at all surprised to find it soft to the touch. Roth pressed down, hooking my leg around his waist. I gasped against his mouth. His hand slipped under my shirt, his fingers skimming over my skin, sending a rush of blood to every part of me.

I wanted to touch him the way he was touching me. Roth moaned when I wiggled, slipping my hands under his shirt. His stomach was hard, dipped and rippled in all the right places. He broke away long enough to tug his shirt over his head. He hovered above me for a moment, powerful and strong. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him shirtless, but I still marveled at his beauty. Even Bambi, who covered his arm, and the dragon rising across his stomach were beautiful to me. I wondered what he thought of me, but we were kissing again as he eased me back down, dropping a kiss against my cheek, then my eyelids while I tried to get control of my pounding heart.

Roth cradled my face then, our lips barely touching again and again. My sweater came off in a heady tug and pull. I ran my fingertips down his chest to the button on his jeans. He had the same thing in mind, because he was between my legs, and I was swimming in raw sensations. Pleasure and uncertainty spiked together. I had no experience in any of this.

For a brief moment, Roth froze above me. His eyes squeezed tight and his head thrust back toward the ceiling. I didn’t realize that he was exercising any control until it broke.

His arms tightened around me, crushing me against his chest as his hips rocked against mine. We were skin to skin in some areas, tangled together, and each breath we took, the other seemed to inhale. Our chests rose; our hearts pounded. His skin was hard and smooth under my clenching fingers. He gripped my hips, tilting me up and bringing us closer together. When he kissed me again, it was that deep, scorching kind of kiss that pushed me to the edge of the cliff. I was ready to jump off headfirst, to finally feel everything I’d always believed to be denied to me.

My fingers dug into the smooth skin of his biceps as his free hand trailed down my stomach, fingers circling my belly button and then lower, under the band of my jeans. Every muscle in my body locked up in a strange way. Not a bad way, but it was intense, too much and not enough. “Roth, I...I don’t know...”

“It’s okay,” he whispered against the corner of my lip. “This is about you. Yeah, this is totally about you.” He sounded surprised by his own words, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse as he pressed his forehead against mine. “You undo me. You have no idea how you undo me.”

Before I could process what that meant, his hand started to move and his wrist twisted and the cells in my body tightened to an almost painful point. I couldn’t control it. My body moved of its own accord, my back arching. A rush of sensations hit me all at once. That edge I’d been teetering on? I toppled right over as those cells seemed to scrabble out in every direction. Roth knew the moment to kiss me, his lips silencing the sounds I would be embarrassed over later.

He held me through it. Hours passed while I slowly pieced myself back together. Maybe it was only minutes. It didn’t matter. My heart thundered. I felt glorious. Alive. Better than after tasting a soul.

Our eyes met, and I smiled a little. Something fractured in his gaze as his fingers trailed over my cheek. “What I would give...”

Roth didn’t finish the thought, and my brain was still too fuzzy to figure out his meaning. He pressed his lips to my flushed forehead and slowly rolled over onto his back. I followed him, not as graceful. My leg ended up tangled with his.

Roth held up a hand, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “I need a minute.”

I opened my mouth and then clamped it shut. Flushing, I started to pull back, but his arm snaked around my waist, holding me in place.

“Okay. Maybe I need more than a minute.” His voice was tight and strained, thick.

I may have be inexperienced, but I wasn’t completely naive. “Why...why did you stop?”

“I don’t know.” He gave a short laugh. “I really don’t know, but it’s all right. Yeah, it’ll be all right.”

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and then I let myself relax against his side, taking comfort in the steady rise and fall of his chest. I felt his hand smooth over my cheek, tucking my hair back behind my ear. My breath hitched in my throat, and when I opened my eyes, he was staring at me in a way I didn’t understand.

Unable to hold his gaze, mine flitted down over his bare chest and stomach. The detail on the dragon was as amazing as Bambi. Iridescent blue and green scales glimmered in the natural light streaming through the window, its body rippling over the dips and hard planes of his stomach. As Roth breathed, it seemed like the dragon took a breath. The dragon’s eyes matched Roth’s, a beautiful golden hue that glowed within.

“If you keep staring down there like that, it’s not going to be all right.”