The Devil and I by Kay Alastor
Chapter Five
Rayna
The heat that rushes over my trembling body nearly steals the breath from my lungs, finding all the cold places inside of me and filling them with warmth. Our bath water is so soothing that I can't help but go lax in Lucas's arms, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me that none of this is normal. I'm sitting in a bathtub with a nearly naked stranger after attempting to kill myself out in the woods. I still feel a little dazed, like something is keeping most of the intense emotion at bay.
I close my eyes and rest my head back against his shoulder, letting myself feel everything around me. The mint candy melting against my tongue is almost too overwhelming, but the sugar is making my head feel a little less foggy. The warmth of the water pales in comparison to the heat radiating from the massive man at my back. His chiseled torso is so incredibly hard, and he nearly dwarfs me in this tub.
Surprisingly, that isn't the only hard thing I take note of. As I shift my body slightly in his embrace, I can feel an impressively lengthy hardness pressed along my spine. The fact that this man is hard as stone right now should be triggering some kind of flight or fight response in me, but it doesn't. He isn't trying to use it or force it on me. He's had plenty of time to take advantage of me, and he hasn't. Maybe I am naïve, but I can't help feeling safe with him. He saved my life, and has done nothing but reassure me and try to take care of me so far. That has to count for something, right?
At the end of the day, nothing that happens to me even matters at this point. I'm supposed to be dead. If he wanted to kill me, I imagine he wouldn't have stopped me from knocking on death's door. If he wanted to rape me, he could have done it a dozen times already. I'm not pretending I don't see the shadows in his eyes, but I just can't bring myself to really care.
When he shifts slightly behind me, the only light I can sense through my closed eyes suddenly dims. I open them in time to watch Lucas set a small remote on the ledge of the bath tub. With the dim lighting, the heat of the water, and the comfort of this stranger's arms around me, I find myself wanting to sleep. I want to drift away and disappear inside the muscle, sinew, and bone that holds this stranger together. It's been forever since anyone has really cared about me, and for the first time in what feels like a lifetime, I feel safe.
I hold on to that feeling and let it wash over me, and through me, to warm the coldest parts of me. The feeling of safety wraps around me, cocoons me, and brings with it a surge of raw emotion. Tears fall unbidden from my eyes again, and a hiccuping sob ruptures the silence settled around us. Without hesitation, those thickly muscled arms surround me and press me closer to his body.
“Shhh. Don't cry. I've got you now. I won't let anything happen to you.” His voice, that beautiful distant thunder, rumbles in my ear and soothes my battle worn nerves. His voice feels like coming home, it's just so deep and soothing that it comforts my frayed soul.
“Why did you save me? I'm not worth it. You don't even know me.” I sob, my shaky voice causing tension to wind itself through his big body. I've been drowning in hopelessness for so long. There was no way the universe would throw me a life raft at the last minute like this.
“I don't know what happened to you, Rayna, but you are worth it. Nobody deserves to die, everyone deserves justice,” he rumbles, his lips brushing along the shell of my ear. The sensation causes a ripple of pleasure to light up along the nerves at the back of my head. His voice does amazing things to my body. I wish he'd just keep talking. Pleasure has been a stranger in my life for so long, it feels good to finally feel something other than pain and loneliness.
“The world may have failed you, but I won't.”
I don't know what he means, but as he says those words, he tightens his hold on me. His fingertips dig in gently, as though he is trying to anchor himself to me as I drift through the frantic, stormy seas of my mind.
This is crazy. I cannot fathom how I even got here. I found the note back at my house and made the decision to end my life. Then I walked out to the forest and took a razor blade to my wrist. Now, here I am sitting in a bathtub with the attractive stranger that saved me and brought me back to his home. I don't even know where this man lives. I know nothing but his name and what he does for a living. Despite it all, something deep within me tells me I should latch on to him and let him do whatever he will with me. What's the alternative? Go home and let Mark find me, and deliver on his threat? I have nothing to live for, nothing to lose. I don't want to keep going back and forth in my mind, contemplating the insanity of it all. I'm so incredibly tired, and I just want to find salvation.
The thought of going home causes panic to well up inside of me, threatening to burst through whatever has been holding it back. I can't let Mark find me again. Now that Lucas has bandaged me up and stabilized me, is he going to send me away? “Oh, god, please don't take me home,” I whimper pathetically, “I can't let him find me.”
The arms around me suddenly move, water sloshing against the side of the bath tub as he lifts me and rearranges my body so that I am seated across his lap and pressed sideways against his chest. He tucks my head under his chin, wrapping one arm back around me while the other keeps my wrapped arm above the water. “You're not going anywhere. You'll stay here with me, where I can keep you safe and take care of you.” His voice is so firm, so sure, but I cannot fathom why he would take on a charity case like me.
“Please,” I whisper against the wet heat of his neck where my lips press tightly to his skin, my body working involuntarily to tuck as closely to this man as possible. Whether he is an illusion of safety, or the real thing... my heart is desperate for somewhere safe to fall. I'll take my chances with this terrifyingly imposing stranger who saved me from the brink of oblivion.
“I promise.”
The words soothe me enough to put an end to the trembling of my body, exhaustion spreading through me like a warm blanket. We sit like that for the longest time, though exactly how long is lost on me. A few times, Lucas reaches forward around me to add some more hot water into our bath, or to slip another candy into my mouth. I don't say anything else, even when he grabs a washcloth and soaps it up. My body and my soul are so damn tired; I have nothing left in me. All I can do is exist in his embrace and allow him to do whatever he will.
Lucas props my injured arm on his shoulder and begins to slowly, gently, wash whatever exposed skin of mine he can reach. The act of having someone bathe me is almost enough to make me cry again, but I stamp those feelings deep down where they cannot reach me. I close my eyes and focus on his large hands roaming my body, cleaning away the dirt I acquired from this disaster of a day.
Once he is done with his task, he gives himself a quick once over with the soap and then shifts us forward so he can unplug the bath. I watch as the water begins to drain, soapy swirls chasing each other towards the drain.
Lucas stands up without releasing me from his hold, which is incredibly impressive, considering that I am not a thin girl. I have a curvy hour-glass figure, and I grew up with a mother who always told me I could stand to lose some weight. Despite thinking of myself as too heavy, Lucas holds me effortlessly in his arms. As carefully as he can, he sets me on my feet inside the tub and reaches overhead to grab a fluffy white towel from the shelf.
“Do you want to go to bed like this?” he asks me, motioning with his hand to my soaked bra and panties. “I can get you one of my shirts to sleep in.” I think about it for a moment before I shake my head. I'd feel pretty crappy if I managed to get his bed wet and damaged his expensive looking mattress. He nods and tosses the thick towel over his shoulder before reaching behind me to unclasp my bra. He pauses for a moment, his gaze locked on mine, before he lets the black material fall to the bottom of the tub. Heat spreads through his beautiful pale grey eyes, but he still holds my gaze.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, sighing deeply as the cool air in the room touches my damp skin. With that, Lucas drops to his knees slowly. With both of us still standing in the bath tub, his face hovers near my softly rounded belly. Wisps of hot breath explode across my stomach as he lets out a few shaky breaths, his hands lifting to my hips to gently tug the wet panties down my thighs.
Lucas bows his head, as if in prayer, as his hands pull my underwear down to my feet. The dark material floats in the remaining bath water, and I carefully step out of them. After sighing raggedly, he lifts his piercing grey eyes to mine. I feel trapped in his stare, the intensity I find there sending warmth spiraling through me. As he watches me, I feel something deep within me spark to life, like a small fire igniting in the cold, dark depths of my being. That warmth continues to spread through me, and I can't help but lift my hand to tentatively brush my fingertips along his lips.
“Rayna...” he groans in response to my shy touch, allowing my fingers to make contact with his sinfully beautiful mouth. I watch the tension erupt across his heavy shoulders, blooming among the impressive contours of his powerful chest. This is the first time I've ever been in such an intimate situation with a man, especially one as attractive and powerfully built as Lucas. The desire to let my fingers roam every dip, curve and bulge is strong.
“This is crazy,” I whisper as my hand travels across his slightly parted mouth, along the hard line of his masculine jaw, and down the thick column of his neck. My eyes drop to his lap, where his seemingly oversized cock strains against the still wet boxers hugging his hips. The sheer size of him makes me swallow hard. Not that I've seen a lot of dick in my life, but his is definitely way bigger than I imagined was average for most men. Those embers burning deep in the core of me spark higher, and a warm throb settles itself between my thighs. The fire within burns through the heavy fog I've been in since I found the note under my door, and I find myself desperate to let the flames turn everything inside of me to ash.
“Lucas...” I whisper weakly, shifting slightly to rub my thighs together and ease the ache that has settled at the junction. “I want to feel good. Please.”
I haven't felt arousal since the day of my trauma, and the delicious burn is beginning to eclipse the agony that has taken up residence beneath my skin. Like a newly awakened addict with that first obliterating hit, I want to drown in the ecstasy and forget about the suffering. So, I beg. I beg this stranger to make me feel something other than the torment that is destroying me from the inside out.
Before the plea can fully escape the cage of my lips, Lucas moves. My body surges upwards as he positions himself between my thighs, hoisting me up on to his shoulders. A surprised gasp leaves me as his powerful arms lift me up and hold me steady. As though my begging unleashed the beast within him, he carefully steps out of the tub and carries me out of the bathroom towards his big, dark bed.
Before I can think too hard about what I just asked of him, I'm falling. Cradled by his forearms, my back hits the incredibly soft bed. The air in my lungs rushes out of me in a moan as Lucas drops back to his knees between my thighs. The blaze at my core bursts into a cataclysmic wildfire, lighting up all the dark places in me. My hands grip the soft, dark bed sheets beneath me as his arms hook around my hips. He drags me to the edge of the bed with a deep, rumbling growl, and I cannot help but toss my uninjured arm across my eyes as emotions burst through the fire. Nobody has ever seen me like this, and the shock of the sudden intimacy with this stranger is almost too much to bear.
“Look at me, Rayna.” His voice is so impossibly deep, rumbling with unrestrained lust. I slide my arm from my face, peering down at him from where he is settled between the valley of my thighs. His eyes are hooded; the intensity I find there takes my breath away. The raw hunger is on exhibition all over his face, as though he wants me to see the madness there, see how badly he wants to devour me whole.
A shiver sparks at my toes and burns all the way through me as he exhales across the sensitive place between my legs, his hot breath sweeping across the folds of my sex and making my body tense with anticipation. A harsh breath shudders out of me as I feel the faintest brush of his lips sweep up towards my clit, the feather light touch of his mouth becoming a new kind of torture. A torture that makes me hot and wet where it counts most.
“Oh, god, Lucas... please...” I plead, my back bowing slightly up off the bed as the wires in my brain start to short circuit from the overwhelming need to soothe the ache low in my belly.
“God isn't here, baby. This is devil's work,” he growls, a wicked grin spreading across his brutally handsome face, the faint vibrations of the sound making me whimper and writhe on the bed. The sinister words from his mouth only make me burn hotter. Desperate for what seems to be his own personal brand of darkness.
His strong hands hold my body in place as his mouth descends on me, his tongue sweeping up along the lips of my pussy and leaving little detonations of pleasure in its wake. With my eyes locked on his, I watch his pupils dilate... a black void swallowing up the humanity of his piercing silver gaze. His darkened stare is almost unearthly, and the animalistic moan that leaves his lips and paints itself across my most intimate flesh makes my hips buck wildly. The sight of him, a ravenous beast desperate for more, pulls a heavy fog of lust over me and leaves me panting wildly.
He kisses me there with more passion than has ever been offered to my mouth, his lips and tongue making love to me like the taste of me is his new favourite addiction and he'll die if he doesn't drown in it. Each swipe of his tongue across my pussy forces a moan from me, and when he wraps his lips around my clit and sucks, I nearly come undone.
My body writhes desperately beneath his hold as his mouth drives me closer and closer to the edge, beckoning my orgasm to the very brink. He keeps me there for longer than I can stand, tasting and devouring me like I'm the first real meal he has ever had. His skillful tongue is driving me to madness, and I'm desperate for him to put me out of my misery and let this fire burn me until there is nothing left. Like an expert, he keeps me right there at the edge until my lust is at a fever pitch. He holds me there until I cannot handle a single second more, with indiscernible pleas falling from my lips like a prayer to him.
“Come for me, baby. Right fucking now,” he growls against my impossibly wet slit, the forceful command shoving me over the edge to plunge deep into the ocean of my release. I cannot breathe as the fire rips through my body, pleasure exploding up from my pussy and roaring through me until I shatter into a thousand bright pieces. I cry out, losing control of myself. His hands hold me steady through my devastating climax, and in that moment I am certain I would be lost without his hands to anchor me.
“That's my good girl,” he groans, his mouth leaving reverent kisses between my thighs as I come down from the intensity of my release, shuddering and shivering from the power of it. I barely register movement as he stands, his massive body towering over me. My eyes flutter open, drawn to the massive bulge still straining against his boxer briefs. His cock pulses where it remains confined, the heavy weight of it seeming to threaten to tear through the thin material without any assistance from the man wielding it. From this angle, Lucas looks even more like a monster of a man. His massive chest is rising and falling with barely controlled breaths, the line of his defined abs disappearing with a sharp v-shape into the black material shielding the steel length at the apex of his thighs from my eyes.
My eyes lift to his to find a frightening darkness there, his big body shadowed from the only source of light pouring in from the bathroom to flood around him. His hand lifts to his mouth, two fingers wiping at the moisture there before dragging them between his lips to his tongue.
“You taste like heaven for a devil like me, baby,” he admits, his voice so damn deep from lust he sounds nearly inhuman. I shiver at his words, heat spreading across my cheeks under the scrutiny of his shadowy gaze. He rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck before taking a step towards me, scooping me up in his arms and carrying me around to the side of the bed. My body is almost completely limp in his embrace, the energy completely drained from me. Between this hellish day and his skilled mouth, I've got absolutely nothing left.
I don't protest as he lowers me down onto his bed, pulling the sheets down and up until I am blanketed in the thick, soft bedding. Without another word, he turns and walks away from me towards the bedroom door, a fresh surge of panic breaking through the fog of pleasure that had settled over me. “Wait, please don't leave me alone,” I call out into the dark room, my voice rattling out of my throat. I feel so weak, but I can't face the night alone. I'll end up tearing myself apart until I'm dead.
“I'll never leave you,” he promises. It's then that I notice the mass of dark ink sprawling across his muscled back. It's difficult to see the details in the dark, but the tattoo is huge. It covers his entire back and seems heavily black. Before I can make out any defining features, his body shifts slightly away from my curious gaze.
I watch as Lucas closes the bedroom door and walks over to the bathroom, flipping the switch to the already dimmed lights and flooding the room in darkness. I glance up to see the moon peeking out from behind the clouds through the windows overhead.
Lucas's footsteps echo through the darkness until I feel the sheets shift back slightly, his massive form slipping into the bed and settling in beside me. His hand finds the wrist of my bandaged arm and he holds it as his other arm pulls me in to tuck against his body. My ass settles against him, his massive cock tucked between us. He must have lost his damp boxers before getting into bed, because there is nothing between us now. With one arm wrapped around my middle and the other gently supporting my damaged arm, he exhales deeply and relaxes against me. “It's late, baby. Let's get some sleep.”
A hundred questions bounce around between the walls of my mind. Part of me wants to ask what happens next, and the other part wants to ask if he needs help taking care of the uncomfortably hard erection wedged between our bodies. With the lights out, drowsiness grips me so powerfully that with my next breath I forget every question I have. I press closer against him, hoping to absorb the heat radiating from his body. In response, his embrace grows tighter.
“You're safe. Get some sleep.” And I do. I drift away almost immediately, exhaustion sucking me under until I'm so far gone that my senses don't register what the words spoken to me mean. “I can't ever let you go now, Rayna, and I am not even a little sorry.”