The palm of Diego’s hand was hot against mine as we stepped into the bedroom. I was exhausted and yet . . . I knew there was not much time left with these four men of my dreams and I didn’t want to waste another second of it. We’d both died; we’d seen the other side of death and come back.

“Diego.” I spoke his name softly. He turned to me, his dark eyes full of unfathomable mysteries that I would not have the luxury of spending years deciphering. I stepped up to him, lifted my head and pressed my lips to his.

He kissed me back, his hands slowly rising to settle against my lower back, holding me tightly to him. “I know you’re tired,” I whispered as our lips parted for breath, “but I don’t want to lose this moment.”

“Nor do I, my heart,” he whispered back. I put my hands to either side of his face and held him to me, relishing the taste of his mouth—like a spice I couldn’t get enough of even though it heated me from the inside out.

He groaned softly as the kiss deepened and I fought not to just rip his clothes off . . .I pulled back, made myself take a few steps backward.

We were both breathing hard and his eyes were dilated with his desire for me, his need. I had no doubt mine were the same seeing as my panties were already soaked, my body clenching with anticipation of the feel of his cock inside me.

I bit my lower lip and began to strip my clothes off, slowly, peeling each one away. “You know about the scars.”

He nodded. “They are not what you think they are. Auralee was trying to find your power.”

“I know now,” I pulled my top off and looked down. My mouth dropped open and I stared at my skin, smooth and scar free.

“How is that possible?”

He shook his head. “Unless she was killed by your hand, the scars would not have left . . .”

I blinked up at him, feeling the horror of what I’d done, of killing Auralee. She had been one of their mentors, perhaps even a lover.

“I did kill her.” I whispered my secret.

“Thank the goddess.” He stepped toward me and caught my hands. “Dominique, do not be ashamed. She was corrupt, twisted, and I don’t think there would have been any way to stop her short of death.”

I closed my eyes, “I didn’t want to kill her, but she attacked me.”

“I have no doubt.” His hands skimmed over my shoulders and down my back to the strap of my bra but he didn’t unclasp it. “We do not have to—”

I shook my head. “I want you, Diego. I feel something missing and you are part of that. I need you to love me hard and deep.”

“My heart,” he murmured, his mouth on the side of my head. “Your wish is my command.”

With a flick of his fingers, he unclasped the bra and it fell to the floor between us. His lips pressed into the soft spot just under my neck, sucking on the skin, nipping at it with his teeth as he made his way down to my collarbone. Each brush of his mouth on my skin sent shivers of anticipation shooting out from wherever his lips touched. His fingers tightened on mine, holding my one hand tightly to my side as he wrapped the other around my waist. With ease, he picked me up and carried me to the oversized bed, laying me down.

“Not bad for a previously dead man.” I grinned at him.

He laughed softly. “We shall see if all my skills returned, yes?”

I reached up and brushed my fingers through his long hair, marveling at the silky soft texture. How could it be that I’d not thought these men were real? And if they weren’t, if I was in some sort of mental fugue, I was staying. I was not going back to reality.

I drew a breath as his mouth worked over the top of my breast and to my nipple. He caught it gently in his mouth and then gave a long, slow suck of it, curling his tongue around the sensitive nub. He pulled back, lifting my breast and sending a shower of sensations along my nerve endings. I couldn’t catch the groan that slid from my lips, or the way my hips lifted to his, begging without a word for him to go further.

“I cannot believe we are here, that we have survived this far,” he mumbled as he kissed his way along my belly, pausing at the top of my jeans to flick his eyes upward. I stared down at him between my breasts, breathing hard. He raised his other hand and laid it against the base of my throat, then trailed it down over my chest, between my breasts to the top button of my jeans.

“I’d like to keep surviving,” I whispered. “But even you have to admit our chances have not improved.”

He winked up at me. “No more shop talk.”

I laughed and nodded. “Agreed. Just fucking, yes?” I mimicked his accent and he gave me a lopsided grin.

With a snap of his fingers my pants disappeared and I was fully naked while he remained clothed. “Don’t worry, I’ll get naked soon enough, my heart.”

“Sure, sure. You just want me at a disadvantage.” I crinkled my eyes and nose at him and he shrugged.

“You call it a disadvantage. I call it a perfect moment.” He gripped my thighs, slid his hands down to my calves and then positioned them so they were hooked around the back of his neck. I couldn’t help the flush of my skin with the provocative position. The exposed position. He gave me that wicked lopsided grin as he slid his hands down the backs of my thighs. His eyes never left mine as he began a slow perusal of my pussy, running his fingers through the folds, gathering the slick heat into his palm and rubbing it over the entire region begging to be touched.

I tried to arch my hips higher, using my leverage around his neck, but he already had me high as I could hold myself off the bed. I clenched my fingers into the sheets as I struggled to breathe around the growing shivers that he induced with each swipe of his hands, each touch of a fingertip.

“Close your eyes. I want you to only feel, to let the sound and sensations fill you.” Diego spoke with the gentlest of commands. I let my eyes flutter closed and focused only on what I felt.

The press and roll of the pads of his fingers as they worked over my clit, driving my need higher as I gasped and moaned his name. The sounds of the slick skin as he swirled his hands over my pussy and when I felt the tingle of magic, I realized he was cheating.

I gasped, and groaned as his magic slid into me. “Cheating.” I managed to breathe the word as his power pressed inside me, touching my G-spot, making my pussy throb with a need that I’d not thought possible. I’d have never imagined.

“Should I stop?”

“NO!” I yelled the word as my orgasm crept closer, like a stalking panther as it eyed up its next meal. “I want you inside me. I want you to fuck me.” I opened my eyes as I spoke, unable to keep them closed any longer. “I want you, Diego.”

He snapped his slick fingers and his clothes disappeared in a flash of his magic, leaving only the hardened body of a warrior tested for years against the flames of battle. He held onto my legs above the knees, positioning me so the tip of his cock was against my pussy. I squirmed as if I could pull him in myself but he had me at his mercy.

And I loved it. I wanted more. I wanted to feel him inside me, to fill me, and let me come with him, to find that joining that only a true connection could give. Diego was trembling, his eyes strained as he slid an inch into me.

“All of you,” I commanded and he groaned as he drove into me in one hard push, filling me, stretching me wide to take him in. I pulled at the sheets and thrashed my head from side to side as he began to move, pumping in and out, his magic still inside me like some sort of perfect vibration.

I couldn’t stop myself from gasping, panting, and moaning. There was no control left in me and I knew there was no judgment. Diego wanted all of me, no matter how noisy I was. His hips kept up a steady rhythm that had me doing all I could to speed him up.

“Patience,” he whispered.

I couldn’t even speak, the pressure of his cock inside me combined with the magic tugging and pulling on my clit and G-spot was too much. The orgasm grew, growing with each thrust, easing each time he pulled out. Over and over, it built on this slow growing ebb and flow until the sweat slicked us both, until I thought I would die once more, this time from the sheer pleasure that rippled through and around me.

“Dom,” he groaned, “Come for me, my heart.”

His words unleashed something in me as his magic spiked and his thrusting went wild, driving into me with a frenzy of a man possessed. I screamed his name as I came, my pussy convulsing around him, my body arching and dancing like a puppet on a string unable to control any movement myself.

The orgasm went on and on, cascading over and over, throwing me into a pool of pleasure I was sure I would drown in. Slowly I surfaced, the weight of a body drawing me upward. I blinked slowly, not truly sure where I was.

Diego lay on me, his breathing out of sync, his eyes dazed. “That was . . .amazing.”

“You did all the work,” I laughed softly.

“Ah, but you don’t understand. Our magic won’t work on just any woman. Only on the one . . . we are meant to stay with.” He kissed me gently, and rolled to his side. “We need to sleep.”

I had to agree and already the fatigue of the day and the release of the multiple orgasms were dragging me down into a darkness I welcomed. Diego wrapped his arms around me.

“Sleep, Dominique, and when we wake, we will face the new day together. No matter what happens, I will not leave your side.”

I kissed him gently and tucked my head against his shoulder. His arms were strong, his body was warm and with a flick of his fingers the blankets pulled up around us. I sighed softly and let myself fall asleep.