Page 47 of Path of the Dark
15
Consumed
RYANA’S HEART WAS beating so fast she was starting to feel lightheaded.
Hand trembling, she unlocked the door, pushed it open, and led the way into the chamber.
Elias followed her in. The door thudded shut behind them.
Ryana turned to him. Her stomach was now pitching as if she stood on the deck of a rolling ferry crossing The Wash in rough seas. She’d been proud of how calm she’d been downstairs, how she’d taken control of the situation. But now they were alone together, her courage suddenly vanished.
She felt out of her depth. It was as if she’d never before lain with a man and hadn’t the slightest idea what to do.
Elias was too much for her. She wasn’t sure she could handle him.
He moved toward her now, and instinctively Ryana shifted back. The wall brought her up short.
A smile curved Elias’s lips although his gaze was predatory. “Having second thoughts?”
Ryana swallowed the lump in her throat, raising her chin slightly to meet his gaze as he stepped close. “No,” she whispered, her voice suddenly hoarse. “It’s just that I—”
She never finished her sentence.
Elias pulled her hard against him, his mouth slanting over hers.
Shadows, what am I doing?
The thought flashed through Ryana’s mind and then dissipated like smoke. Lust slammed into her with such force that she gasped against his mouth. She’d spent the past two days trying to forget her desire, yet his kiss—searing and possessive—made want arch up inside her like a bow ready to loose its arrow.
There had been few moments in Ryana’s life when she released her hard-won self-control. Occasionally, while singing she let herself go. Some songs touched her, and it was so much easier to release hurt, loss, longing, and loneliness through music.
But not since Gael had she truly given herself to a man. There had always been a part of her she’d held back.
Elias wasn’t the best choice, she knew that, and yet the feel of his mouth plundering hers, of his hands exploring her body, was so ‘right’ that insanity seized her.
She had to have him. She would die if she didn’t.
They collapsed against the wall, tongues tangling, and heat pulsing between them.
Elias reached up then and began unfastening the tie of her robe. He stripped the garment off her before unfastening the soft leather vest she wore underneath to keep the fullness of her breasts confined.
Naked from the waist up, Ryana sank back against the wall. Reaching out, she started to unlace Elias’s silk shirt. Her fingers fumbled, such was her eagerness, but she persevered. And all the while he watched her with a melting gaze that turned Ryana hot with need.
If he kept staring at her like that she’d burst into flame.
Pushing off his shirt, Ryana’s hands roamed across the muscular planes of his chest. Her fingertips traced the whorls of crisp dark hair that tapered down to his belly.
“Ryana,” Elias rasped when she reached for the ties of his leggings. “You have no idea what you do to me.” He cupped her head with his hands and kissed her once more. This kiss was different to the ones they’d explored so far. It was a slow exploration of her mouth, her lips—and so masterful that Ryana sank against him. If he hadn’t been holding her up, she would have crumpled to the floor.
Moments later he tore his mouth from hers and trailed hot kisses down the column of her throat. However, when he reached the base of her neck, Elias halted.
His fingertips brushed the bruise that had formed there. “Did I do that?” he whispered.
Ryana nodded. She stared up at him, surprised to see concern in his eyes. “It looks worse than it feels,” she assured him.
“I didn’t mean to be so rough with you.”
“It doesn’t matter … I wanted it.”
