Beyond Temptation

~ I realize some people do not review until they finish a story, and I have become aware most readers aren’t even members. However, this is a WIP with the author working to finish the project for a summer release. I really appreciate and need the impetus chapter by chapter feedback provides. On my Runboard sites every reader reviews after every chapter. It will always benefit me to post my work on them. AFF is proving considerably different. It also requires reformatting, so it takes extra time and effort to post.



Readers have defended their lack of voice because they have not joined. I absolutely cannot understand enjoying a writer’s hard work and not even throwing them the occasional bone. I have also been told that some readers consider rating the same as a review. While they are nice, they don’t tell you what you did right. My email is available in multiple places here. (MsKristinaDalton@aol.com) Non-members could email me. I would honor that contact just the same as a public post.



I’m here for reader contact. Period.



If it’s to prove worthwhile for me to first, give away what will earn profit on the retail sites, and second, spend extra time to do it, the feedback must equal, or at least become proportionate to the hits. It’s ridiculous to see over 3000 hits with only 75 reviews. It’s downright depressing when you realize half or more of those are my replies.



If the established pattern of low reader return continues, it’s much easier to email update chapters directly. That mailing list would only include the readers who have so kindly taken the time to ‘talk’ to me, even if was to complain. If you reviewed privately or publicly before now, you would receive the rest as I wrote, and with my hearty thanks for the input.



I get paid to write. Most authors here only get ‘paid’ in reviews. Please think about that when you read their work. Keep in mind your quick comment could make their day, and get that update chapter front and center by the time you come home from school or work.



Thanks for reading.



Now get to the important stuff … the smut!



:)



KD







CHAPTER TWENTY



Avery closed her eyes as Brom carried her to his room. He bent to lock the door behind them. Already she smelled the fire he must have kindled before joining her in the shower. In the night, Malec had worried about her getting cold and lit a blaze for her. These two men, though so different, seemed shadowy reflections of each other.



She expected him to toss her on the bed right away. Instead he carried her to sit before the fire where they had their picnic before. He sat her down and went to bring her leave-in conditioner and wide-toothed comb.



Avery sat, moaning in bliss at having him apply the spray and drag the comb through her thick, unruly hair. As if by magic, her curls smoothed. He held out sections toward the hearth, allowing the heat to slowly dry them. As he worked, he paused to kiss her, slow and lingering.



“I saw you pull in behind the car at Prayer Park.” Avery heard the almost slurred quality of her words.



“Wanted to stay close so I’d respond faster if you called.”



By the time her hair dried, she felt filleted. Her brain seemed to have gone to sleep, drawn into it by pleasure. “I’m hungry,” she murmured.



“I’ll feed you afterward.”



Avery let him scoop her up and carry her to the bed. “I thought you’d toss me here first thing,” she confessed.



“Sweetheart, I think too much of you to rush.”



She melted, reaching up for him. “Kiss me, Brom.”



He rumbled low in his throat. Her recent emersion in experience had taught her about that male sound. His mouth covered hers with fierce possession. Avery found herself whimpering and rubbing herself against his hard, wide thigh for stimulation.



“Let me get these denims off.”



She mourned the loss of his touch, but felt combustible while she watched him take off his jeans. She wanted him inside her. And, she feared it. “Brom?”



“I already told you, Avery, not until you invite me.”



“Just hands and mouth,” she managed.



He returned to the bed, naked, gloriously male and potent. It occurred to her in that moment that while Brom projected strength, Malec embodied power. Brom represented safety, Malec, courting the edge.



Brom replied, “Whatever you want.”



He kissed her skin an inch at a time as he moved down to her suzy. Then, he turned her onto her front and placed all the pillows beneath her pelvis. Wanting his touch, she tilted her hips to give him access.



Brom’s voice went directly to her core. “Darlin’, you’re so beautiful I hurt.”



She laid there like an offering, knowing he could see everything in her privacy act. “You make me feel beautiful.” Her eyes closed as his fingers courted her clit and his mouth played with her labia.



His lips lifted. “I keep looking at your bottom, Avery. Would you let me touch you there?”



She rubbed her jaw against the smooth flat sheet on the bed. “Will it hurt?” She groaned as his tongue pushed in and withdrew from her very receptive vagina.



His tongue swirled her swollen clit. “If it does, tell me.”



His finger delved into her, taking the wetness to use on her other opening. She whimpered as he eased his finger inside of her bottom. It felt full and foreign.



“Like it?”



Avery gasped, “Yes.”



“Wait for me then, darlin’”



She did, savoring the wait and feeling her pelvis lifted for his and her enjoyment. Moments later, his two fingers pressed her bottom. Slippery with some lubrication beyond her own, and welcome, they sank inward.



Avery keened in pleasure.



“Let me make you feel wonderful,” he enticed.



She almost sobbed, “Yes.” Closing her eyes, she gave herself to sensation.



His two big fingers fluttered strongly in her bottom and his tongue played with her hot button. Big fingers eased gently into her suzy and it caused the hair on her nape to stand up in reaction. It seemed her entire body held him, that he filled her full of sex.



Brom’s very talented tongue worked her clit and the hungry labial flesh around his submerged fingers. She began to shake violently.



“Climax for me, darlin’.”



Stimulation overwhelmed her. The satisfaction erupted inside her, buffeting her skin as the only barrier holding it in. His fingers withdrew from her bottom and she realized he brought himself to peak. He swept aside her hair. Hot release rained upon her back.



In the groaning tone of a man dying, Brom promised, “Don’t move. I’ll fetch a cloth, Avery.” He breathed heavily. “If you haven’t killed me.”



Avery swallowed hard. “I didn’t really do anything.”



“Having an up close view of your beautiful pussy and sweet ass as you came almost stopped my heart.” He moved away. “Wait there, sweetheart.”



It surprised Avery how quickly she’d adapted to hearing such graphic language, especially in association with sex. Yet, somehow with both men, it never seemed dirty or derogatory. She felt very heavy sprawled there. Eyes still closed, she savored the waves of pleasure. He returned with a dry cloth to wipe her orgasm-drenched suzy, and a warm wet wash cloth to clean her back.



Brom kissed her neck and shoulders.



Avery rolled over to lie flat on her back. Sexual delight continued to hum in her blood. “You did make me feel wonderful.”



He smiled, jaunty and white, as he stood wearing just buttonfly jeans. “Good. Call that flaming friend of yours who favors me, and invite him to join us for lunch at that bistro in town that puts on airs.”







Malec awoke furious.



She’d let that human become more intimate with her.



He seethed as he waited for sunset. Courtesy the winter weather, that came early. Knowing he need not cause a stir with snatching her again, he had Evens drive him to the inn.



Malec entered the common room, sensing her approach. He stood, waiting. A woman he assumed in charge approached him. His mood must have proven answer enough to whatever she had intended to ask. She went away without a word.



In a few moments, Avery descended the stairs with Ramsey close behind. She already wore her coat. As did he.



They must have intended an outing. Malec extended his arm. “Come with me.”



Ramsey growled, “At least let her pack a bag.”



She looked at the human, and then to him. “Will you give me a few minutes?”



Malec’s heart twisted. She sounded so uncertain. “Of course,” he answered. She retreated upstairs to pack. He turned his attention to the mortal. The man’s green eyes blazed with aggression. To his disgust, Malec experienced a moment’s sympathy for the man. “Have you something to say?”



The man held quiet for a moment. Then, he spoke. “My promise stands. And if you upset her, I will go beyond broken bones. I’ll rip tendons out through your skin.”



It tempted Malec to bait Ramsey to fight, let him do some damage just to see the mortal react to the rapid closing and mending of wounds. Providing an opponent didn’t cut through a vampire’s spine, all else could rectify itself in minutes. Malec found his brief sympathetic response had vanished. “You need only fear the pleasure I give will keep her exclusively in my bed.”



Ramsey took a step forward. As she turned the corner of the stairs, Avery called, “Brom, no.”



Malec smiled at him, wishing he could flash his blood teeth. At this juncture, he knew better. The time would come, and for that satisfaction he could exercise patience.



When Avery’s small hand curved around his bicep atop his shirt, Malec turned his regard from the human male, and escorted her outside.



She held quiet during the ride and he allowed her privacy with her thoughts.



Malec watched her face as she stared out the window. As they pulled through the gate, he queried, “Aren’t you even a little glad to see me?”



She looked at him. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”



“Then come kiss me, ma chère.” He took her into his arms, his body responding instantly to the feel of her bottom in his lap. He groaned at the taste of her mouth, delving deep to caress her tongue with his own.



Evans lowered the partition separating the front and back seats. “Taylor’s waiting out front, sir, and he seems upset.”



Malec reluctantly placed Avery in the seat beside him. As soon as the car halted, Taylor opened the door.



The majordomo didn’t even greet him. “Sir, Sinclair has arrived in London.”



Avery let him help her out, asking, “Who?”



“Archard Sinclair,” he replied. The last time he and the vampire who made him had come within a hundred kilometers of each other, Heidelburg Castle had burned.



He could not risk Avery falling into Sinclair’s hands. To Taylor, Malec said, “You know the protocol.” He placed his hand at the base of her back to escort her inside.



“Is this guy dangerous?” The fear and concern in her voice made him consider just going to meet Sinclair and end this once and for all, Vampyre Council protocols be damned.



Malec used the same words he had before with her. “Not to you.”



“What? He wouldn’t hurt anyone but you?” She gazed back over her shoulder at him as he assisted removing her coat. “I don’t understand.”



He hung her outer garment, and then clasped one of her hands in both of his. “You have me, Avery. You are safer with me than anywhere else.” It became a powerful moment of realization for him, accepting how much he had come to care for his lover. “I would shed the last drop of my blood protecting you.”