But now here was this man eager to give her as much as he could.
“You’re so hot and wet for me. You’re driving me crazy.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes. She brought a hand up to wipe them away before Darien could see them there. She didn’t need or want his sympathy. Not now. Not ever. She just wanted him.
After pressing an openmouthed kiss to just above her sex, Darien made his way up her body and settled in beside her. She could feel the hard length of him pressing against her leg. He smiled down into her face and lightly traced his finger over her mouth.
“Are you ready for me?”
Too overcome with emotion to form any words, she just nodded. She was more than ready for him. For a thousand years, she’d been waiting for him.
Standing, Darien quickly pulled his shirt off, and then his pants and shorts. He lay back down beside her. Bringing his hand up, he cupped her cheek, then leaned down and kissed her. It was a beautiful, beguiling kiss. A fairy-tale kiss.
Koori moaned into his mouth and trailed her hand down his body. She needed to feel him in her hand. He was hot and heavy against her palm, like silk and steel meshed together. She stroked him once, then twice, until he broke the kiss and gasped.
“I want you bad, Koori,” he groaned, “I have to be inside you now.”
“Yes,” she breathed, “yes, I want that, too. I want you.”
Crazy with the need to have him, she rolled him onto his back and lay on top of him. Purring low in her throat, she pressed kisses to his chin and neck. She trailed her tongue over his pulse points and up to the lobe of his ear to suck it into her mouth. All the while she continued to stroke him. “I’m hungry for you, Darien. It’s you who I have been waiting for, for so long.”
Still gripping him, Koori moved down his body until she was straddling his thighs. Leaning forward, she flicked her tongue over the tip of his hard length. Darien clamped his eyes shut and moaned as she took him into her mouth. She licked and sucked him until she could feel his legs quivering. He was close to cl**ax. To prevent him from coming too soon, she gripped him at the base of his erection and squeezed.
“Koori, I can’t hold on,” he panted.
She held him still until he softened a little and retained his control. Then she licked down the length of him wanting him to lose it all over again. “Yes, you can.”
His eyes were dark and hooded. The muscles ticked along the rugged line of his jaw. She loved that look about him. Dark, fierce, barely holding on. She’d remember that look for the rest of her days.
After one final stroke of her tongue, she moved up his body to straddle his hips. The wait was destroying her. She’d waited long enough to find bliss. She held him firmly in her hand as she lowered herself. Inch by exquisite inch, he filled her. He was a big man, but still the perfect size for her. When she was fully seated, she held herself still and looked at him.
She dreamed of finally being set free. And he’d been sent to her. Darien was her ultimate salvation.
She rubbed her hands up and down his chest, enjoying the way his hard muscles felt under her palms. Watching his face, she contracted the muscles of her sex, squeezing him tight inside her. Every flicker and grimace of emotion that flashed over his handsome face gifted her some of the power she’d lost over the years. She didn’t feel so helpless or hopeless any longer. Even if she never escaped these icy walls, Darien had at least given her that back.
As she started to rock her hips, Darien reached up and molded her br**sts in his hands. He squeezed and flicked his thumbs over her ni**les. Waves of pleasure swept over her and she arched her back to catch them cresting. Up and down, back and forth, she moved on him, finding a rhythm, squeezing her muscles with every stroke.
She watched his beautiful face contort with strain as she quickened her pace. She knew he struggled for control and that he was quickly losing it as she took him up and over. There was a sense of power in that, and she reveled in it.
“I can feel you burning up,” he panted. “So damn hot.” Darien moved one hand down to where they joined. He circled his fingers into her slick core, finding her pleasure point with expert ease.
He stroked her, as she stroked him. Firmly, pushing her toward cl**ax. Biting down on her lip, she tried to stop from screaming out his name.
Grabbing hold of his shoulders, she picked up her pace, moving faster, harder, taking them to the edge. As the first crest of orgasm mounted inside, she dug her nails into his flesh. With a loud drawn-out moan, she pushed down on him, filling herself completely with his hot male flesh.
He pressed down on her sensitive bundle of nerves one more time and flipped her over that edge. She collapsed forward onto his chest as she spiraled toward her cl**ax. He wrapped his arms around her, burying himself deep, soaring over into ecstasy with her.
He found her mouth and kissed her hard as the delirious passion drowned them. Everything went white behind her eyes and she thought she’d pass out. Everything was clearer, everything brighter in her mind’s eye. And she knew deep down inside that everything she’d ever wished for would come true.
Chapter 10
D arien didn’t know how long they had lain there on the bed; arms and legs tangled together, the scent of sex still heavy in the air. It could’ve been a few minutes or two hours, he couldn’t tell. Time failed to mean anything anymore. He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been in the ice palace.
He thought about what it would mean if he was stuck here in this strange reality for an eternity. Rubbing a lazy thumb down the soft skin of Koori’s arm, he considered that it may not be a hardship after all. He wouldn’t lack for anything—he had clothing, a bed to sleep in, food would be provided, and he had her. He could think of worse fates to stumble into.
But still he clung to the hope that there was a way out. There was something different about the icy walls in the past couple of days. They’d changed somehow. He didn’t think they were as solid as they once had been. And he knew it had something to do with him.
When Koori stirred beside him, he pulled her up onto his chest. A sigh of contentment escaped his lips.
She nuzzled into him and smiled. “You seem very satisfied.”
“Yeah, I guess I am.” He rubbed her arm, reveling in the fact that her skin was not nearly as cool as it had been before.
“Good. Because I am, as well. You’re very good at sex.”
He laughed. “Well, thank you very much. I’ve been practicing.”
That made her laugh.
Darien loved the sound of her throaty chuckle. It provoked a surge of desire to rush over him. Wrapping both hands around her waist, he pulled her up to his mouth. She was still giggling when he covered her lips with his. The laugh was quickly replaced by a long satisfied moan as they kissed.
He nipped and nibbled at her bottom lip, enjoying the little mewls she made each time he did it. Trailing just the tip of his tongue over her lips then into her mouth, he stroked her jawline with the tips of his fingers. He loved kissing her.
And that’s when the room started to shake.
Like before, the floor and walls trembled. A sound like thunder echoed through the room. Cracks started to show in the ice.
Koori clutched Darien as the bed rocked back and forth, and not in a good way. The quake seemed to be a hell of a lot more violent than before. Furniture upended and crashed to the floor. Some pieces shattered on impact.
“What’s happening?” Koori asked, her voice quivering with fear.
“I don’t know. I was just going to ask you that.”
Darien didn’t quite know, but he was starting to suspect how Koori was attached to the palace, her prison. Each time she touched him or he touched her, the world around them seemed to protest. And now that they’d made love, it was having a temper tantrum. Maybe afraid that its hold on Koori was slowly slipping away.
He couldn’t really explain it or understand it in any other way.
“I think the walls are coming down.”
She looked at him then, her eyes wide, hope and questions in them. She understood what he was insinuating. Maybe he really was on to something and not wishful thinking.
As the room moved, vibrating and shaking violently, pieces of ice fell from the walls and ceiling. At first they were small pieces, the size of oranges and baseballs, breaking apart and sliding around the floor where they hit.
One small bit cracked Darien in the shoulder. It smarted where it hit. He imagined if it were any bigger it would’ve definitely left some damage. That was when he saw the enormous crack in the ceiling near the four-tier chandelier.
In seconds, he was off the bed, pulling Koori with him. She looked around the room in panic, as the walls and ceiling continued to crack and break apart. The noise was deafening, and Darien had to yell over the clamor.
“We need to get somewhere safe. If that ceiling comes down it’ll crush us.”
He felt odd dashing around the room stark na**d, but there really wasn’t any time to consider it. If they didn’t get out of the room, one or both of them were going to get hurt.
Hand in hand, they ran to the door, dodging the rain of ice chunks. Darien twisted the doorknob and went to yank the door open, but it wouldn’t come.
“It’s locked.”
Koori shook her head. “Impossible. This door has no lock.”
He tried it again, turning and pulling on it as hard as he could. Still it wouldn’t open. Maybe the shifting walls had inadvertently crushed down on the door. They were stuck in the room without another exit.
Darien turned and examined the room, looking for something they could hide under or near that wouldn’t shatter and break. He had visions of the air being filled by flying ice shrapnel as things inside continued to shatter.
A thunderous cracking resonated through the room. He could actually feel the sound waves rolling over his skin. It was difficult to discern where it originated from, but Darien raised his head and looked at the ceiling.
Without a doubt, it was coming down.
Crouching, he pulled Koori to the floor and covered her with his body. He hoped they were close enough to the wall that the ceiling would miss crushing them. He didn’t really want to go out this way.