The Call of the Desert

Desperately she tried to remember the awful excoriating pain of the moment when he’d coolly informed her that all they’d shared had been a summer fling, that he had a life of responsibilities that didn’t include her. But it was like trying to hold onto a wispy cloud. All she knew was the exhilaration rushing through her blood, the heightened awareness of desire.

Through the silence of the apartment she heard a crash somewhere and a colourful curse. They were sounds that should have been restoring her sanity, making her more determined to leave. But instead they were only firing her desire. She heard a movement and saw flickering light. This was it.

Kaden came back into the room, and in the soft glow Julia could only look at him and marvel at the shadows which made his face seem even more mysterious, his eyes two dark pools. He put down the candle and came closer and closer, until his body was just inches away from hers. His heat enveloped her, along with his exotic masculine scent. It made her think of hot nights in the desert, and of even hotter things.

“Julia, I don’t want to analyse why this has happened like this. I don’t want to discuss the past … I just want you.”

She looked up at Kaden. So many feelings were rushing through her like a torrent, but one above all others. She wanted him too. She’d dreamt for years of seeing him again. He’d cast her out without a moment’s hesitation, and when she’d heard about his nuptials something in her had died. So she had given in and accepted John’s proposal, believing it was futile to love a ghost.

But he wasn’t a ghost any more. He was flesh and blood and standing right in front of her. And then he reached out a hand and cupped her jaw, his thumb stroking her cheek. She was undone. When he pulled her closer she didn’t resist. Because she couldn’t.

CHAPTER FOUR

KADEN found himself relishing the other-worldliness that enforced darkness imposed, surrounding them in this cocoon. Julia’s eyes were huge, her breaths coming short and rapid, and as he lowered his head so that his mouth could drink from hers he felt an inalienable sense of rightness. It was too strong to deny or question or rail against. His mouth settled over Julia’s, his arms pulled her close, and when he felt her breasts crushed against his chest he was lost.

The outside world—the lashing rain against the windows and the intermittent thunder and lightning—all faded into the background as flames of heat started licking around them.

After what seemed like an aeon had passed Kaden pulled back. Julia was stunned, her limbs jelly-like. Her mouth felt swollen and her heart was hammering as if she’d just run half a marathon

. Her hands were around Kaden’s neck, his breath was harsh, and she could feel the hard ridge of his erection against her belly.

He just said coarsely, “Julia.”

She didn’t stop him when he shifted slightly so that he could pick her up into his arms. “Take the candle,” he instructed roughly.

Half in a daze, Julia looked down to see the flickering candle on a table. She reached down to pick it up in its stand and then Kaden was striding out of the room, the soft light guiding their way to a door which he all but kicked open. In the shadowy half-light Julia could pick out a huge bed and unmistakably masculine furnishings. Kaden’s bedroom.

A sliver of sanity returned, and Kaden must have felt her tense, because he looked down into her face and said implacably, “There is no going back from here.”

Her breath was suspended for a long moment, and then the enormity of meeting Kaden again struck home. How fleeting this night would be. The weight of her yearning for this man was heavy on her shoulders, and it was too strong to deny, much as the tiny sliver of sanity she had left might be urging her to. Slowly. Fatefully, she shook her head. “I don’t want to go back.”

He carried her over to the chest of drawers, where she put down the candle, then let her slide down his body, his hands touching her from shoulder to waist to hip. He pushed some of her hair back over one shoulder and bent his head to her neck, pressing a kiss there. Julia’s head fell back. It was too heavy to hold up. Her blood was hot as it pumped through her veins.

Kaden’s fingers came to her shirt and he started to undo the buttons in the slippery fabric. She shivered slightly when the air whispered over her bare skin. Soon her shirt hung open. Kaden drew back and stood to his full height.

He was downright intimidating in the dusky light, with no help from an obscured moon, but he was also thrilling. He was a big man all over. Julia watched with a drying mouth as he coolly started to open his own buttons. Part of her wanted to be as bold as she’d once been and brush his hands aside so that she could do it. But this wasn’t the past. She was more cautious now, no matter how time seemed to be blurring here tonight.

His shirt was open, and with an economy of movement he pulled it off, revealing his awe-inspiring chest. It was broad and tautly muscled, and he had filled out since she’d seen him last. Coarse dark hair covered his pectorals, leading downwards in a dark line to just above his belt.

A finger to her chin lifted her face back up and Julia flamed guiltily. She’d all but been licking her lips at the prospect of seeing him fully naked for the first time in years.

Instead of pushing her shirt off her shoulders and arms, Kaden’s big hands came to her waist, spanning it easily. His action pushed the shirt off her breasts, revealing them to his incendiary gaze. She could see a pulse throb in his neck and her belly quivered. Hot, wet heat moistened her sex in readiness.

Kaden breathed out. “So beautiful … you’re so damn beautiful.”

He cupped one fleshy weight in his hand and a thumb moved back and forth rhythmically over the tight peak. Julia moaned, and didn’t even realise she was pushing her breast into his hand to increase the friction.

With a languorous movement he brought his thumb to his mouth and sucked it deep, before moving it back and repeating the action, moistening the hard tip. Julia moaned even louder, her breath coming short and fast. Excitement was building, ratcheting her inner tension upwards.

“Kaden … please.”

“Please what?” he asked, almost casually. “Do you want me to put my mouth on you? Do you want me to taste you?”

Julia was almost weeping. “Yes …”

Kaden’s head came down and his mouth closed unerringly over her already deeply sensitised nipple. Silky hair brushed the hot skin of her breast, adding to the exquisite sensation. He sucked so hard that Julia cried out, her fingers arrowing through his hair, holding him in place. His other hand was moulding and cupping the flesh of her other breast, readying it too for his ministrations.

His mouth moved to the second peak and Julia’s legs all but buckled. Ruthlessly, with an arm around her waist, Kaden clamped her to him, not letting her fall, all the while subjecting her to something on the knife-edge of pleasure and pain.