Yearnings: A Paranormal Romance Box Set by Amber Scott, Carolyn McCray

senses. The music reverberated through her limbs and ribs. The kiss on her palm traveled up her arm, resting, licking at her inner elbow, nudging for her to open her eyes.
    Shivers tickled up her arm, down her belly as the mouth suckled and caressed her skin. Hot and wet.
    Elijah .
    His erotic tongue flicked circles against her palm again , then changed course. Over instead of up. Pleasure and anticipation coiled in the depths of her stomach, waiting to feel his mouth there.
    “ Sadie. Open your eyes.” Elijah. Whispering to her soul. “Sadie. Love. I need you to see me.”
    No. Seeing would hurt. No more hurt. She wanted only to feel his kisses to trail up her belly, over her throat. To claim her mouth and make her his. All and only his. He paused. His breaths hit her belly skin. He waited, she knew, for her to open her eyes. NO.
    Instead she reached for his face and pulled him to her. He obeyed, dragging sweet sensation up her stomach, over her sternum licking the hollow at her neck. Tickling the spot behind her ear. Her breaths came in stuttered pants.
    “ Don’t stop,” she mumbled, pressing the length of her body to his. Such perfection, the way his hard thighs met hers, the way he rolled her to her side and drew her leg up to his hip.
    “ Sadie, please. I am lost without you.”
    Oh, the sweet ache his words gave her.
    Another tantalizing, wet caress along her collarbone, hot breath pushing gusts of need through her. Her thighs tingled. Her belly flashed. Need sprang to life, deep down. She couldn’t look but, oh, how she could feel him. His body moved away to hover just above hers, his heat radiating to her skin. She whimpered. So close. If only she could make her arms move again, to reach for him.
    Perhaps then she could trust opening her eyes. But her arms, her legs, wouldn’t cooperate beyond a limp shift. She tried to tell him , “Stay. Come close again. Please.” But her mouth wouldn’t form more words.
    Her body craved more. Her hips begged to press to his. His mouth teased desire to life. He kissed her throat, suckling, breathing raggedly. Shivers. Up her neck, against her hairline, to her temple. His lips were hot heaven. Her body tightened, she breathed in his scent. He smelled like the wind after rain.
    Elijah. She couldn’t say his name. Somewhere inside, she worried. His lips made fire, sending hungry flames through her. She couldn’t move, torn, craving more , but fearing it as well.
    “ I need you to see me. Know me. Know us, Sadie, my sweetest sin.”
    A new shudder coursed through her. His mouth grazed her jaw, stoking the heat through her body. Her lips parted. Oh, please, just one kiss. She could drown in one kiss and a keen frustration began to build in her as he lingered so close to her lips , but never reaching them. He seemed to hold what she desired most out of reach, like a reward, if she would succumb and open her eyes. Open her eyes and see him.
    The worrisome fear expounded. A thought, a memory she couldn’t define, held her back. His mouth caressed down her belly. Drawing closer, so close to the apex of her hunger. Her heart slammed inside her chest , making it ache. Or was it her breathing? His tongue, so wet, so soft, down lower, on her thigh, upward. So close to giving her what she wanted.
    Her hands found his head again, her fingers wound into his hair. Then she remembered what she didn’t want to see. A wave of shame washed over her, extinguishing some of the fire. Sorrow built within her, aching in her chest alongside her heart and panting.
    If she opened her eyes…? His heat shifted. His kisses fell away. Her body clamored for more , but her limbs wouldn’t obey.
    Her pulse pounded. She fought to recall what exactly she feared. His heat evaporated and her heart plummeted. “Don’t go,” she managed to whisper. Her hands twitched, now empty. Her chest burned.
    She opened her eyes. Her vision oriented to the darkness around her. She realized she was in her own room,