Huntsman by Cambria Hebert
28
Virginia
I was bundledinto the corner of my bed, sitting up against the wall.
I didn’t see or hear the door open even though I wasn’t watching the drama playing on the screen in my lap.
Instead, I stared down at the moving people and scenes, vision slightly blurred, looking without seeing. The earbuds jammed into my ears made it easy to hear the music and dialogue. Still, I wasn’t listening.
I was lost inside my own head, replaying the few brief moments I’d had with Earth before he left without a good-bye. He rushed in so fast but rushed out at the same pace. I’d barely had time to feel his presence despite the way he overwhelmed me.
I had no idea what there was between us or even if there was anything at all, but I craved him unlike anything before. He was the one who left me unsettled, but he was also the one who could put me at ease.
Lost in my own world consisting only of him, it took a moment to notice the long fingers snake across the top of my screen. When at last the movement registered, I jolted farther back into the corner, a small shriek befalling my lips.
The iPad was wrenched out of my lap, the earbuds popped out of my ears, and both were tossed aside. Pressing a hand to my pounding heart, I looked into the shadows, recognizing him immediately.
“Earth!”
“You called me.” Oh, his voice was deep and rough, the words ripping out with intensity that made me shiver.
My answer was breathless. “Yes.”
“After what he said, you called me anyway.”
“Yes.”
I didn’t know it was possible for black eyes to glimmer this way in the dark. Almost like there was fire within them, lighting up their darkest depths with the sole purpose of letting me see just how dangerous this man truly was. “Why?”
“Because I wanted you.”
He growled, rumbly and deep, and pounced. Jean-clad legs straddled mine, and his hands slammed into the wall on either side of my head.
The second our lips locked, he inhaled deep as if he could fuse us tighter together, as if the only air he needed was me. Surrendering wholeheartedly, I turned boneless against the wall, lifting my chin to offer full access to everything he might want.
One of his hands cupped the back of my head, supporting it as he ravaged my mouth, kissing so deep all I could do was moan.
The thickness of his tongue moving against mine created this looseness in my middle, and when he sucked my upper lip between his to tug and pull, I arched up.
My skin was hot, heart erratic, and my lungs burned for air he refused to let me have. Reaching up, my hands delved beneath the leather jacket, smoothing across the fabric of his T-shirt before shoving at the coat, trying to get it away.
Our ragged breathing filled the room when he finally pulled free. His chest heaved as he rose above me, knees on either side of my legs. The jacket disappeared, and I barely had time to register the holster-like straps at his shoulders before they were gone and so was his shirt.
Nervous excitement skittered along my nerves. I was inexperienced and unsure, but I was also filled with want. The shoulders I’d clung to many times before looked as strong as they’d always felt, and his chest was smooth and defined. Earth wasn’t overly muscular, but he radiated the kind of energy that declared it didn’t matter. His natural strength was commanding and deliciously ominous, making me forget my nerves to stretch out my hand. Before I could make contact, he gently pushed my hand away to crawl down my legs, moving farther out of reach.
I made a sound of protest, which turned into a gasp when he grabbed my ankles and pulled, my entire body going flat against the bed.
My stomach dipped and tumbled when he rose over me again, lips descending once more onto mine.
I kissed him back, effort slipping when my palms finally slid over the warm, smooth skin along his sides, fingertips exploring the surface of his back. Vivid sensations stole over me, and I marveled at the way he felt above me, how the pads of my fingers and the palms of my hands tingled from just touching his skin.
My head fell to the side, and he dragged his lips across my jaw, nose nudging at my ear before his lips closed around my lobe. I gasped, eyes flying open as chills raced over my body. Suddenly, I felt like an exposed wire, overcome by electricity and heat.
The air felt cold against my damp earlobe when he released it, adding another layer of awareness as he nudged behind my ear before diving into the side of my neck.
My body went taut and then melted into the mattress. Sounds I’d never made before echoed off my lips, making me sound wanton and offering enough awareness to prick me with embarrassment.
I was reluctant to pull one hand away from him, but I did so I could cover my mouth just in time to moan into the palm as his teeth dragged over that same spot.
I shuddered and wiggled insatiably. If my lower half worked, I probably would have managed to wiggle away. But from my lower trunk down, I remained still, which oddly added a layer of allure because I couldn’t get away. I was almost trapped here underneath his ministrations, a willing victim to every ounce of pleasure he decided to give.
His hand covered mine, gently tugging it away from my mouth. “Don’t you dare keep those sounds from me.”
“E-Earth.” My voice shuddered around his name.
He groaned and licked across my neck, making me arch up into him again.
“Fuck,”he ground out, pulling back and leaving my skin shivering from the loss of his heat.
My finger hooked through a belt loop on his jeans, curling around the strip of fabric “Don’t stop,” I whispered, giving a small tug.
And then we were kissing again, one of his hands curling around the side of my waist, pushing between my body and the mattress, holding me against him as the kiss ravaged us both.
The faint flavor of metal bloomed across my tongue, and I realized his split lip was bleeding again, his blood swirling between us. A sense of rightness tightened my chest, perhaps an odd reaction to the taste of someone’s blood, but it was my reaction all the same.
It seemed completely fitting to have his blood across my tongue. I didn’t know the details, but I knew enough to understand that Earth was not a gentle man, that any kind of life with him might always be tinged with blood.
He pulled back just enough to disconnect our lips, and when I followed him blindly, he made a sound. “I’m getting blood on you.”
His voice was hoarse, as though he hadn’t spoken in months, and the rough, uneven tone made my stomach bottom out.
Catching his face between my palms, I dragged the width of my tongue across his lower lip. Lick. Lick. Liiick.
He went still, and the way he froze only accentuated the erratic way he breathed. Onyx eyes stared through slim half-moons, somehow making me feel wholly seen. Latching on to that gaze, I did it again.
Lick. “I like it,” I confessed.
Something shifted around us, and a primal light beamed through his slitted stare.
I watched the tip of his tongue slip out, swiping up the newly welling blood from the bottom of his lip. Scarlet smeared across his tongue as he leaned down and kissed me again.
This time, the kiss was deep and slow. The kind that broke me apart and rearranged me according to his law. The blood was salty, but the kiss was sweet, creating an intoxicating combination.
When his hand closed around my chin and jaw, I sighed deeply, loving how possessive he was, wanting desperately to be possessed.
I was a girl who always thought I was half. A girl who assumed she would likely always be alone. I thought kisses like this were made up in books, watched dreamily on dramas, and yearned for quietly in a lonely heart.
I realized then, as my fingers curled into my palms against his back, that even though I fought for independence, deep down, I still wanted to feel owned.
This was probably the most languid kiss he’d ever given me, and even though it still tasted of metal, the gentleness overruled all.
He kisses me like I am his.
Like even though he owned me, he wanted me too.
The pad of his thumb brushed across my cheek, and he abruptly lifted his head. “You’re crying.”
I blinked, feeling the wetness on my cheeks for the first time. “I am?”
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, a look pinching his features. He sat back, but I grabbed his belt loop again, keeping him close.
“No!” I quickly swore, shaking my head, realizing I felt dizzy. “I never thought anyone would ever kiss me like that.”
He studied me a moment, silently assessing, but what, I wasn’t sure. Then he made a gruff sound. “If anyone else ever kisses you like that, I’ll kill them.”
I used to think he was joking. But now I wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t want anyone else’s kisses,” was all I said.
“Stop looking at me like that.” He was gruff, averting his gaze. “I can hardly control myself as it is.”
This was him in control? Dear heavens, what would it be like when he wasn’t? Without thinking, I allowed my eyes to travel lower, across his chest and to his navel where a line of dark hair disappeared into the waistband of his jeans.
It was the only hair on his body, and my finger itched to touch it.
“Earth?” I whispered, still staring.
“No.”
My mouth fell open. “You don’t even know what I want!”
“The answer is no. I’ve already given in way too much.”
The finger still curled around the beltloop slid free and started reaching for that trail of hair.
A rough sound ripped out of him, and he caught it, giving me a hard look. “I said no.”
“I trust you.”
A silent exhale moved his shoulders and chest. Watching his body react to my words was satisfying in a way I didn’t realize it could be.
The hard light in his eyes gave way to something that honestly looked like wonder, and he pinned me with it as he slowly carried my captured finger up to his lips to press a kiss against the tip.
“You shouldn’t.”
“I do.”
He lowered my finger from his lips. “How much did Neo tell you?”
“Hardly anything at all. He threw out some major accusation and then sent me off to physical therapy.” I accused Neo. Then to myself, I muttered, “Big jerk.”
The hand holding mine slipped away. “You’ll change your mind.”
“Hand me the first aid kit. You’re still bleeding,” I instructed, pushing up into a sitting position.
When he left the bed, a part of me mourned, but I consoled myself by staring at the way the muscles shifted in his back. Then my stare slid down to the way his jeans hugged his butt.
What? I was in a wheelchair, not dead.
“Can you turn on the lamp?”
“So you can get a better view of my ass?”
How’d he know?
“So I can see your lip!” I retorted.
He chuckled like he knew better and turned on the light. After a quick glance to make sure the door to my room was closed, I peeked back at his butt.
It was pretty nice, and I felt sorry I hadn’t grabbed it earlier.
With the kit beside me, I tugged my legs in, folding them closer to my body so Earth could sit close.
He watched quietly, and when I looked up, he spoke. “Did I hurt you before?”
“No.” I assured him. “I—” My voice faltered. I didn’t like this conversation.
“Say it. Say everything to me.”
My eyes flashed up to his. “I couldn’t feel you straddling me.”
His eyes stayed on mine. “I could hurt you without you knowing.”
“Sit down,” I said, breaking eye contact and patting the mattress.
I worked quietly cleaning up the split in his lip and wiping away the blood. When it was clean, I dabbed on some antiseptic, making him hiss. “Ow!”
I added more.
He growled.
Smiling softly, I leaned in, blowing across the area to soothe it. His eyes went soft again, bestowing upon me a look that I somehow knew was one he didn’t share often.
“Poor baby,” I murmured, blowing again.
“Baby, my ass,” he grumped.
Clearly, pain made him ill-tempered. Ignoring the way he glared and grumbled, I pecked a lingering kiss beneath his lip, just below the injury. I heard his intake of breath, but I didn’t acknowledge it, instead turning his head to kiss the forming bruise on his jaw and then another on his cheekbone.
“I really wish you and my brother wouldn’t fight.”
He stayed silent, but his stare was so loud. Finally, I gave in, tilting my head back to open my stare to him completely.
“Did you not believe what he told you?” His eyes searched mine.
“Part of me didn’t want to. But I know my brother wouldn’t just lie about something like that.”
“Why didn’t you demand more explanation?”
“I told you I got called to PT, and he was gone when I came back.”
“You could have called him. You could have demanded he stay tonight to tell you.”
“I’d rather hear it from you.”
“You’ll be sorry you let me kiss you like that.” As he spoke, his eyes shifted to the bed and the blankets still rumpled from where we lay.
“Are you sorry?”
His eyes flew to my face. “What?”
“Do you regret it?” I forced myself to ask again. Be brave.The ugly truth is better than a pretty lie.
“Why would you ask me that?”
“You asked me first!” I exclaimed, completely self-conscious. Then, realizing how loud I’d been, I slapped a hand over my mouth and glanced at the door. I frowned. “How did you get in here anyway?”
“The security in this place sucks. Might as well leave the door wide open and plug in a neon sign.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Virginia.”
My shoulders slumped. “I’m different from other girls.”
“Definitely louder and more annoying.”
I gasped.
He chuckled.
“I’m not as responsive,” I whispered, glancing at my lap.
His laughter was gone, and pungent silence filled the space for the span of a few heartbeats. He grasped my chin, forcing my face up. As much as I reveled in the same act earlier, now it made me insecure.
“You mean because you can’t move or feel your lower half.” It wasn’t really a question because we both knew what I meant.
I nodded against his palm. “I… I—” Oh, there was a lot that wanted to pour out, but it was so embarrassing and also scary.
What if, after kissing me that way, Earth realized what I might never be able to give him? What if he didn’t like me?
“Everything.” He reminded me, his voice soft but made of steel.
I pushed his hand away from my chin, lowering my gaze once more. “I’ve never had sex before, Earth.”
“Obviously.”
I gasped, face flaming. “That was the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me!” I yelled, launching my fist, which he easily caught.
“Easy,” he murmured, lifting me into his lap, wrapping me up in his embrace. “I didn’t mean it because it wasn’t good. I meant because of your condition and because Neo stands over you like a snarling rottweiler.”
I half smiled because my brother was totally like that. “So you liked it?” I asked, voice small.
He grabbed my hand and pushed it down between us, tilting his hips up against my palm.
I gasped, snatching my hand back, ears nearly on fire. “Earth!”
“I’m still hard even after you put that burning crap on my face.”
“I blew on it,” I protested.
“Yeah, another reason I’m still like this.”
I made a choked sound.
His lips brushed against my ear. Feeling them against me as his hushed words traveled into my ear made me shiver. “I more than liked, sprite.”
Collapsing into his chest, I tucked my head just under his chin to stare across the room. “I can’t wrap my legs around you. I can’t rotate my hips. I-I…” he stroked my head, and it somehow loosened the rest of my words. “I don’t even know if I’ll be able to feel it. I mean, I think I might in some way. I mean, everything down there still works.” I paused to worry my lip. “At least I think it does. The doctors say it does. I just… The nerves are blocked so I can’t feel or move.”
He stroked my head again, pushing my cheek a little closer into his chest. I sighed, realizing he still wasn’t wearing a shirt and my skin was against his and he was so warm. Lifting my hand, I pressed the pads of my fingers against his chest, feeling the muscle there, feeling the erratic beating of his heart.
He was nervous too.
“No one wants to have sex with half a woman,” I whispered.
An angry sound ripped out of him, and then I was on my back again, blinking up at his glittering, ominous expression as he stared down at me without blinking.
“You are not half a woman,” he declared. “And don’t ever say that again. Don’t even think it.”
“You can’t control my thoughts.”
A dark eyebrow quirked. “Is that a challenge?”
I started to answer, but he kissed the words away, tongue slipping inside me easily like it had already memorized the way. Without breaking the kiss, he lowered, this time giving me more of his body weight, pressing against me with his bare chest.
Breath shuddered through me, and beneath my shirt, my nipples hardened instantly. I gasped, feeling the way they puckered tight, shooting little zings of pleasure and pain all through my chest and into my stomach.
He took advantage of my distraction to kiss deeper and delve his hand beneath the hem.
“This okay?” he asked, not even lifting his lips.
I mumbled an agreement, practically vibrating from feeling his fingertips drag over my ribcage toward my chest.
He tugged my lower lip, making it snap back when he released us from the kiss. I had no time at all to think because, at the same time his hand closed over my bare breast, his palm ground down against the hardened center.
I cried out and arched into him, body trying to move closer, but his weight pinned me down.
“Not responsive, you say?” he murmured, his voice sounding drunk.
Or maybe it was me and the buzzing in my ears.
“I think you can feel this.” He plucked my nipple, and I gasped, tingles of pleasure racing across my skin.
“And this,” he murmured, kissing my lips softly.
“And this.” He continued, dragging his mouth over my jaw and making my body go taut as it remembered the way he’d kissed my neck before.
The tip of his tongue swirled inside my ear, his fingers still rolling and playing with my nipple. My stomach felt funny like that time I’d gone on a crazy rollercoaster when I was fourteen.
I shifted subconsciously, trying to get closer, trying to shift away.
Teeth dragged lightly down my neck, the ends of his silky hair tickling my cheek and beneath my jaw.
“E,” I gasped out, unable to say the rest of his name. My fingers found the back of his head, burying themselves in his hair.
He continued to work my breast, lips clamping down on that spot on the side of my neck.
I cried out, probably pulling his hair. My heart rate was accelerated, my breathing shallow and quick. My entire head tingled with pleasure, but beneath it all, something inside me throbbed.
He lifted his head, backing off my breast.
“Oh, baby,” he murmured. “Don’t ever tell me you aren’t responsive, because you are.”
I was still panting as he shifted, covering my body with his once more, resting his elbows on either side of my head.
He did that thing where he rubbed his nose against mine, and my heart felt like it was going to explode. A small kiss to the corner of my mouth. Another nudge from his nose. A brief kiss to my cheekbone. Another caress with his nose. Kiss. Nudge. Kiss. Nudge.
By the time he pulled back, everything was blurry. My body yearned for something I didn’t even know if it could have, and my brain was nothing but empty buzzing.
“There are a thousand places on your body that are capable of knowing my touch,” he murmured right beside my ear.
I moaned in response, which would have embarrassed me if I could think at all.
“You have erogenous zones in more places than between your legs.” He went on, his voice pure seduction, the promise in his words addictive. “Like here.” He licked over that spot on my neck.
I shuddered.
“Maybe here,” he said, pinching my nipple.
“Oh, sweetheart.” He kept talking, making me feel like maybe just the sound of his voice was enough to make me burn. “I’m going to enjoy mapping out this body, finding every single spot that I can use to wring pleasure out of you until it won’t matter at all that you can’t feel your legs because everything above them feels double.”
A tear slipped free, sliding down the side of my face and disappearing into my hair. I was so overwhelmed by him that the emotion literally had nowhere else to go.
“I’m a greedy, bad man, sweetheart,” he confessed. “I want every last ounce of pleasure you have, and I will do anything to get it.”
Okay, so maybe the idea that I couldn’t orgasm wasn’t accurate because if he kept on talking to me like this, I might seriously just come on command.
Pushing up to straddle me, Earth lifted the hem of my shirt, exposing my waist to his stare. “You are so small. Don’t worry. I won’t break you.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from asking him to. What the hell is wrong with me?
His laugh was husky as if he knew exactly. Choosing not to point out that he clearly had me in the palm of his hand, he dragged a single finger down the center of my waist, stopping to circle my belly button.
Gasping, I pushed up on my elbow, staring down at where he touched.
“Can you feel that?”
I nodded. “My paralysis starts below my belly button, my lower waist.”
Smirking, he pushed the finger just touching me against my lips. “Suck.”
I obeyed instantly, not even knowing why his finger was in my mouth but licking around it anyway. When it was wet, he made a grunting sound and brought it back to my waist. Circling the small hole in my waist once, he delved inside.
I collapsed against the mattress, eyes wide as I stared at the ceiling.
It was just a belly button. It didn’t go that deep. But my God, feeling the tip of his finger delve into it, feeling it massage inside, made every single muscle in my body clench.
I made a sound, a cross between fear and pure pleasure. He backed out, easily swirling around it again and then wrapping both hands around my waist to hold.
I shuddered again, the pads of his thumbs playing with the flesh beneath my belly button.
“I think I found another spot you like,” he murmured, cocky pride dripping from his tongue.
I panted, and he backed off a little.
Cracking open an eye, I peeked up at him. “My doctor told me once that the skin around the neurological level of where I lost feeling could have heightened sexual response, and some found that area to be extremely erotic and pleasurable.”
“I love it when you talk doctor to me.”
I laughed, but it sounded more like a breathless whisper. My entire body was still trembling, feeling bereft of something it didn’t have. Hungry and somewhat unsatisfied.
“Are you making fun of me?”
“Oh, baby, never.” He shifted, moving farther down my legs. Hooking his fingers in the waistband of my shorts, he tugged them down, not all the way but just enough to expose more of my lower stomach. “So… about here?” he asked, caressing my waistline. It was the area above my injury.
I nodded.
In one graceful move, he lowered, trailing kisses along my belly. As he kissed, both hands delved under my shirt again, settling on my breasts.
I could barely believe this was happening. How it seemed like I’d just been resigning myself to a life I would need to fill on my own to lying in this bed with Earth over me, making me feel things that scared and excited me.
It was a brief moment of marveling because his hands started to move, kneading and massaging my breasts, rolling my nipples between his fingers.
I let out a small whine, and his tongue delved into my belly button. I arched up, my breasts flattening against his palms. Earth pressed me back down, holding me gently but with enough force to keep my body flat. He laved and licked at my belly button as I panted and tried to squirm.
He kissed all around my waist, right in the area above my injury. Tension built and built inside me. So did anxiety and the unknown.
I felt like I might snap at any moment, and I didn’t know if that was good or bad.
“Earth,” I said, putting enough force into my voice to make him pause and look up.
“Too much?”
“I don’t know.” My eyes filled with unshed tears, making his angular features seem soft.
Gliding up my body, he settled his weight on mine, my exposed stomach meeting the skin of his. He brushed some hair off my face, kissing my forehead gently.
“I’m afraid,” I confessed, wrapping my arms around his shoulders to bury my face in his neck.
He let me pull him in, his weight not at all encumbering but somehow reassuring.
“I got you, sweetheart,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you.”
I felt the words against my ear and subconsciously turned, tilting so my neck was exposed.
“I want,” I whispered, not sure what to ask for.
He kissed the side of my neck, and I clutched at him for more.
“Tell me stop and I stop,” he said and then dove in.
Both his arms slid between my body and the mattress, wrapping me tight against his chest. My head fell back, arching my neck more, and he rumbled low in his chest, latching on almost instantly.
My head swam.
A fine sheen of sweat pebbled my forehead.
Tension strung so tight in me that I dug my nails into his back, practically begging for release.
His nose slid along my neck, and then his lips latched on to that spot.
That perfectly weak spot.
I cried out, and then one of his hands found my waist, dragging lightly across it, a finger dipping into my belly button.
Pleasure rose. From that line of absolute injury, something else was born. Like a beautiful flower blooming impossibly from inside a sunless, wrecked building. My upper body went taut and then melted like hot butter, dripping over the arm still holding me as I literally came undone against him.
I shivered and shook, my lips quivering under the assault.
I thought I might never experience an orgasm. I thought if I did, it might hurt.
Oh, how wrong I was.
It was as if all the denied pleasure that had built up in my body for the last seven years was finally released, and it poured over me endlessly.
My whole body was boneless, my skin sensitive and hot to the touch. My nipples were still erect even though he hadn’t touched them for long minutes. My neck felt wet from his mouth, and my stomach trembled.
Earth pulled back, the triumphant smile on his face giving way to worry. “V,” he murmured, brushing at my cheeks. “You’re crying. Did it hurt? Did I hurt you?”
“I honestly believed that wasn’t possible,” I whispered. “I was even too afraid to try on my own.” More tears fell. My breath hitched.
“Oh, baby,” he crooned, pulling me in.
I snuggled so tight against him, squishing in until I could barely breathe. Earth rolled, pulling me along with him so I was draped over his chest and he was supporting my weight.
I sniffled all over his chest, feeling my tears drip onto his skin.
“I’m so s-sorry.” I hiccupped. I was completely overwhelmed and couldn’t stop the tears.
“You promise it didn’t hurt?” he pressed, worry still edging his tone.
“I swear,” I vowed. “That was… It was so good.”
His chest expanded with pride, and if I wasn’t so overcome, I would have told him not to be so cocky. All I could do was cling tighter, half shocked, half awed… all of me completely sated.
“It’s okay, then. Cry all you want. I got you.”
I didn’t know if he completely understood. As I lay in his embrace, all I could think about was how maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t half a woman. And that maybe, just maybe, I was capable of being everything he could need. Obviously, this one time wasn’t enough to completely make me believe.
But a flower that bloomed in an impossible place offered hope.
And once there was hope, anything was possible.