Driven Read online

  They made it down four flights of stairs before he admitted he needed to rest. They hadn't spoken for a while, both needing to concentrate on their journey. Now, Linna led him to a spot in the corridor and helped him sit. He heard the rustle of a wrapper and smelled the protein bar she'd opened.

  "Here, have a bite of this."

  "You need it more than I do," he said. "Keep yourself fueled."

  Linna made a soft, annoyed noise. "We both need to keep up our strength. I have no idea how many more stairs we have to go down, or when we'll get to eat again. Don't argue with me, Del."

  He felt something brush his lips and he opened his mouth to take a bite of the protein bar. His lips closed around the food...and the tips of Linna's fingers.

  He heard her quick intake of breath. He sucked the crumbs from her fingers before he chewed and swallowed. The taste of her flooded his tongue and sent his cock into full erection.

  "That's good," he said, and didn't mean the chalky-tasting bar.

  "Have some more."

  Her voice had gone low and husky. She brushed the edge of the bar against his mouth again. He opened for it, nibbled the crumbly bar, and licked her fingers.

  In the darkness, every sound and smell had become heightened. He heard her soft sigh of arousal and it sent a bolt of desire through him. He should stop. He didn't want to stop. He wanted to taste her, lick her, and kiss her.

  "There's only one more bite," Linna said.

  This time Del captured her wrist with his hand when she offered the food. He held her fingers to his mouth, bypassing the protein bar entirely, and feasted on her fingers. They were chocolaty from the food and salt-tangy with her essence. He suckled the tips of them all, then let them slide out of his mouth to lick and suck her forefinger. He took it deep in his mouth, his lips caressing the tender space between her fingers.

  She shuddered beside him. Her free hand pressed onto his shoulder. He let go of her finger and kissed her palm, traced the contours of her skin with his tongue, nibbled at the soft flesh of her inner wrist.

  His cock was on fire...hell, his entire body was on fire. Somehow the darkness made it easier to ignore the danger of what he was doing. He ought to stop, but ah, harah, he didn't want to. He wanted to keep kissing her. He wanted to find her mouth and plunge his tongue into it, the same way he wanted to put it inside her pussy, to put his cock there and fill her. He wanted to feel her contract around him when she climaxed.

  Fuck control, he thought. Fuck the wanting and never having. Fuck his solitary pleasure. He wanted Linna, and he wanted her now.

  The pain in his ankle was nothing compared to the throb in his crotch. His cock strained against his pants. He was rock hard, hard as concrete, as steel, as titanium.

  With a sigh, Linna pulled her hand away from his mouth. He couldn't see her face, so he couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling. The darkness gave him free rein and made it easy to ignore what he knew was right. Made it easy to pull her close to him, onto his lap, have her straddle him.

  His mouth found hers even without benefit of the light, and she was open for him. Ready. She moaned against his lips as his tongue swept inside and stroked hers.

  His hands fit just right around her waist. Del pulled Linna closer to him, the heat of her center tangible on his belly through her jumpsuit. Her firm, tight ass nestled against his straining erection, and he moved her gently until she settled on him with an agonizing, wonderful pressure.

  Damn, she felt good there. He ran his hands over the curve of her ass, then up her back to find the tangled ends of her hair. He buried his fingers in it, never breaking their kiss. Her breasts crushed against his chest. He wanted to feel them.

  He slid his hands from the glory of her hair to the treasure of her breasts. They fit perfectly in his palms, the nipples taut and stiff, and Linna made a low cry when he pinched those tight peaks lightly. He found the front closure of her jumpsuit and opened it, exposing her bare flesh to his mouth and tongue.

  She tasted like honey, like smoke, like salt and sweet all at once. His cock throbbed as she ground her ass against it, threw her head back at the touch of his lips on her bare skin. His mouth found the peak of one nipple. On instinct, he suckled the flesh as he'd suckled her fingers. He rolled her nipple gently on his tongue and imagined it as her clit. The thought made his dick leap against her and he groaned.

  Her back arched under his hands as he roamed them up and down, up to the soft fall of her hair and down to the wonder of her curves. He settled on her ass and snugged her even tighter as Linna rolled her groin against his belt buckle.

  She gave a low murmur, maybe his name, and the sound sent a tremor through his entire body. He'd never been this hard. He thought he might die from the pleasure of her body pressing back and forth against him, or at the very least, explode. He was going to come without even getting his dick out of his pants.

  Everything had become the woman in arms, that quivering, sighing, writhing female. He moved his mouth from one nipple to the other, back and forth, his saliva wetting her skin and bringing him the taste of her.

  With his hands on her hips, he rocked her against him. He slid her along the trapped bulge of his erection, stroking it with the pressure of her ass and thighs while he pressed his buckle against her clit.

  She nuzzled his temple, his face, then her breath puffed into his ear and she licked and nipped his neck. Linna buried her face into the curve of his neck. Her teeth clamped on him through the fabric of his shirt, hard enough to hurt, but Del didn't care. He couldn't care. He was so close to coming bright flashes of light pulsed behind his eyes like fireworks.

  She tensed in his arms and her thighs tightened on his waist. The heat between her legs burned against him. Linna gave a low cry, then another, louder. Her body shook. She bit down hard enough to make him cry out. His cock pulsed with need.

  She cried out his name and went stiff against him, her body shuddering and bucking as she climaxed. Del groaned against her breasts, unable to do more than that. He couldn't speak. Could barely think beyond the demands of the flesh between his legs insisting on release.

  Linna shuddered again, less violently this time, and relaxed. She slid back a little, taking herself away from him. Without realizing quite how he'd done it, Del unbuckled his belt. His cock sprang free from its confines. The softness of her jumpsuit brushed against him, then the tickle of her pubic hair, and he realized he'd pulled her jumpsuit all the way open down the front.

  In another moment, he'd slid his hands beneath her ass and lifted her as he moved forward, ignoring the flare of pain in his injured ankle. Then she was on her back and he was on top of her.

  Just an inch more, change the angle, and he'd slide inside her. She was hot and wet. He could feel it. She'd be tight, she'd be so hot and wet, his cock would slide right in her all the way to his balls--

  "No!"

  His sex-fuzzed brain didn't register her protest at first. He felt heat and slickness on the tip of his cock. He tilted his hips, ready to enter her.

  "Del, I said no!"

  In the next moment, more bright lights exploded in his vision, this time accompanied by the pain of Linna's fist to his jaw. She threw him off her and he rolled to the side, head and ankle both exploding with agony. He let out a curse and got to his hands and knees.

  He shook his head to clear it. Shame flooded him. He sat up, pushed himself back into his pants, and buckled the belt. He was an idiot. Worse than that, he'd almost forced himself on Linna. Arousal turned to nausea, cramping his gut. Sweat broke out all over him, and chills made him clamp his teeth closed to prevent them from chattering.

  He heard the shuffle of her closing her jumpsuit and another wave of shame washed over him. His cheeks and ears burned with it. Miserably, he pushed himself back against the wall.

  Neither of them spoke for a long time. He heard her breathing, still as rapid as his. It gradually slowed. He could smell the tang of her arousal and, he imagined, the bitter sce