Velvet Haven

all over her skin. She wanted him above her, taking her hard. She should be afraid of this, of these foreign emotions inside her, yet somehow she knew that Bran would not hurt her.
    “I want to make you feel pleasure, bliss ,” he whispered as he brushed his lips along her collarbone.
    He pulled her shirt and bra up and over her head, dropping them on the floor. Then he cupped her breasts as he stood behind her. Pressing them together, he kneaded, watching her expression in the mirror. He knew she liked it, and he teased her by skimming his fingertips over her nipples, making them harder. She wanted to beg for his mouth on them, but then he released her and moved his hand down between the valley of her breasts, his skin so dark against hers. His palm slipped lower, to the buttons of her jeans. Deftly he undid them and pulled them down, along with her panties. She stood before him completely naked, watching in the mirror as he looked her over, and yearned for his hands to travel along her body.
    Without a word he hooked her thigh up over his, exposing her fully to the reflection of the mirror. Her breasts bounced and he caught one in his hand. Sliding the flat of his palm along her nipple, he teased her until she was arching up and digging her nails into his leather- clad thighs. With his other hand, he spread her sex. Wetness glistened between the pink folds, reminding her of the orchids. And suddenly, she knew exactly what he had meant by them.
    “You’re beautiful, Mairi. And I want you. Everything that’s begging for release inside you, I want it.”
    Mairi suddenly found herself lying on the bed. Above her was Bran, his long, dark hair cocooning them, and his mismatched eyes glowing in the dim candlelight. A five- o’clock shadow crested his chin and upper lip, making him look dangerous . . . and desirable. Her gaze strayed lower, from his full, hard lips, down his neck and the thick cording of his throat, to the twining lines tattooed there, gold and pewter with touches of green. She traced them to where they disappeared beneath his shirt.
    He overwhelmed her a bit with his intensity, with his hard body, with the tattoos and leather. Yet she had never been more turned on. She wanted him, and in ways that she had never wanted her other boyfriends. But most important, she trusted him.
    He traced her mouth with the tip of his calloused finger, the roughness arousing. Mairi watched as his gaze followed the path of his finger down her body. His eyes, fathomless in their depths, left no part of her unstudied. She squirmed beneath that gaze, fearing every aspect of her was being scrutinized and judged.
    “Easy,” he whispered, his thumb brushing her bottom lip in a fluttery sweep. “Let me commit you to memory.”
    “Why?” she asked breathlessly.
    “Because I want to remember you this way for eternity.” God, he was perfect. Not even her dreams were this hot. She could actually feel the moist heat growing thick between her legs.
    “It would be a beautiful thing to see the moonlight illuminate your body as you lie naked beside me. You’d look so right in the forest, beneath the trees . . .”
    Mairi was completely undone by what she saw shining in his eyes.
    “Let me give to you. Take from you,” he whispered darkly. His mouth covered hers and he kissed her, nipping at her lips as his hand cupped the side of her neck. Gently he eased her back against the pillow and slipped his tongue inside her mouth, licking, caressing, teasing, but his desire was banked. Mairi felt the tension in him as she slid her hands up his arms and over his back. The black cotton of his shirt shifted and stretched over the thick muscles. She felt their shifting beneath her palms and found herself wishing she could be caged by him and his strength. She wanted him to let go, to unleash all that raw power she sensed in him. Instead, he was holding back.
    Why?
    He continued to kiss her until she could no longer think. Over and over his mouth moved atop hers as his hand slowly slid down her neck, till his palm came to rest against her heart. Lower still, sliding over the crest of her breast until it lay flat over her nipple. She caught her breath as the heat from his hand swamped her. The vibration in his body hummed, pitching higher and higher, and she arched into his hand, her nipple tightening as he ran his thumb over it. He plucked at it, taking it between his thumb and forefinger, alternating between rolling it and pulling it.