Elemental Desire Read Online Free Page A

well cash in his chips and leave her to play at someone else’s table, as promised. His pecs twitched, and he fought the urge to snarl at no one. And nothing.
    Red studied him but kept her mouth shut.
    Wise woman.
    He wondered if she’d comply or go for more physical resistance. Part of him craved that—the physical act, and art, of dominance. He waited. When she didn’t move, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Three.”
    One corner of her mouth curled.
    The minor response whipped his passion higher. When she moved casually to assume the commanded position, he stepped in behind her and kicked her feet so wide her hips were forced to take her weight. Lying across her, he pressed the length of his cock into the seam of her sex. Short-stroking her, he rubbed forward and back. His hands closed over her wrists and stretched her out even farther. The head of his cock nearly breached her sheath with his next forward thrust. Seth struggled to hold his tongue. All he wanted to do was praise her, to lose himself in her body and find mindless release.
    His element roared in his head, loud and demanding. Possessive.
Mine.
The moment Seth acknowledged the feeling, his element settled to a simmering burn.
    Not this. Not now. She couldn’t be his
El Nar
, or Flame Keeper. “Oh, gods.”
    His broken whisper had Red turning to look at him. “Do
not
tell me you’re going to puss out on me.”
    The sound of his molars grinding together was amplified in the silence of his head. “Puss. Out.”
    “Just sayin’.”
    Stroking his middle finger through her wet heat, he grasped the back of her neck and ignored her soft mewl of need. The first crack of his hand on her ass, gentle as it was, made her gasp, the shuddering breath escaping her quickly. She focused on something Seth couldn’t see. The second swat quickly followed the first, but was stronger. Her skin pinked as beautifully as he’d anticipated.
    He raised his hand again, but instead of delivering the third, stinging blow as promised, he found himself tracing the outline of his handprint. Such diametrically opposed sensations. The imprint radiated heat while the as-yet untouched globe of her other ass cheek was cool.
    She couldn’t be his Keeper.
    She just couldn’t.
    * * *
    Eden drifted, conscious but barely aware of what was going around her. The first swat had startled her, the sting immediate. Relaxation had set in before the second swat, endorphins flooding her system and rendering her entirely passive. She really should think about the why of it, and she would. Later. Right now? Her only thought revolved around the heated silk of his shaft as it moved against her. Light touch, sleek skin, branding heat—all combined to form the opening of what she wanted to be an erotic mélange of epic proportions.
    Need curled through her core. Her sex ached. She craved him like a drug.
    Fingers traced her ass, drifting slowly toward unmarked skin. “Beautiful.”
    The reverence in his voice surprised her, pulling her out of subspace enough that the stinging became more pronounced and a bit less alluring. “What’s beautiful?” When he didn’t answer, she looked over her shoulder. “Seth?”
    “You’ll call me ‘sir’ and nothing else.”
    “I like your name better.”
    The gentle yet stinging slap to her untouched ass cheek made her jump. Her eyelids slid closed. Such a radical response to his touch. If only he’d… “Please, sir.” Words heavy with innuendo, she found herself pushing her sex against the heated length of his arousal.
    “You need more.” Another question disguised as a statement. He was good at those.
    “Yes.” Gripping the desk, she lifted her hips.
    “Son of a bitch.”
    His snarled curse ripped through her, white-hot and scarring. She’d be marked for anyone who came to her bed after him.
After.
The idea made her stomach pitch and roll.
No. No one but him. Never again.
    Disbelief struck her like a Taser set to incapacitation, shocking her so