The water on the lake was like glass. Emeline had never been on it, or even on the dock around it. She found it was peaceful and gorgeous. All of her life she’d been drawn to the night – until she’d gone into that underground city and realized that monsters were lurking in every shadow. Walking hand in hand with Dragomir gave her back a sense of peace and serenity to the night. He kept her tucked in close to him, her fingers threaded through his, and he took her straight to the lake.
She loved the way the moon appeared silver in the dark sky. Stars were scattered overhead as if thrown haphazardly, yet they formed unique patterns. The sounds of insects and frogs added to the beauty of the place. “I can understand why Tariq chose this place to build,” she said. “He has everything. The lake and the woods, yet he’s close to the city.”
“It’s also easily defensible. Maksim owns the property to the south, and I told him we’d buy up as much of the property toward his east as possible.”
“You need a lot of money for that,” she cautioned.
“I have lived centuries. Even before I entered the monastery, I had wealth. Most Carpathians do. You learn what is needed and you acquire it.”
“Good to know. I don’t have a penny to my name. Not really. I work, so I have a bank account. Or rather I did work before all this vampire nonsense, but I didn’t acquire actual wealth.”
He looked down at her, waited until she looked up and smiled. “You’ve acquired it now. You can have anything you want. Go anywhere you want.”
“I want to go out on the lake. In a canoe or the rowboat. Or the paddleboat. I’ve never done either one and the minute I saw the lake and the boats, I knew I wanted those experiences.”
“I think we can do that tonight. How is little Carisma feeling? She making you sick?” He stopped abruptly and took a step in front of her, forcing her to stop as well. He put both hands over her tummy.
“She’s feeling good,” Emeline said. She couldn’t help but smile. The baby seemed happy and content. She kicked and stretched a little, the feeling as if butterfly wings brushed her insides, but there was no sickness at all.
Good evening, little Miss Carisma. This is your father talking to you. I hope all is well. I am going to take your mother out onto the lake and I would prefer that you didn’t make her sick. You’ll like the feeling – it is almost like the rocking chair your mother says you enjoy.
Emeline laughed, the sound shocking her. It was carefree. She’d never been carefree. She hadn’t known what it was like not to worry where her next meal was coming from or where she could safely lay her head down at night. Those fears were ingrained in her and stayed with her even after she could work and rent an apartment.
“I love that you talk to her.”
He looked a little embarrassed if that was possible with his too-male features and his expressionless mask. She couldn’t help smirking. “You’re so caught, Dragomir. You only pretend you’re a tough guy.”
He caught her arm at the elbow and began walking along the dock, back toward the small canoe tied up there. “You worry me, Emeline, that you choose not to see all of me. You have never looked into the things I have done for my people.”
“The things you were forced to do to keep our world safe?” She stole a quick glance at his face.
“The things I chose to do. I was born a predator, sívamet. I am still a predator, and I will go into the next life a predator. You cannot mistake me for anything else.” He stepped into the canoe with complete balance and reached up for her.
His grip was strong and comforting as he put her on the end close to where the canoe had a backrest. It curved at the top in the traditional sense, but clearly Tariq had designed the canoe for comfort.
She worried a little that Dragomir kept insisting she wasn’t seeing everything about him. Of course, she wasn’t, but she did see what mattered most. He was kind and courageous. He devoted himself to her. He accepted her baby without hesitation. What was he referring to over and over?
She settled on the floor of the canoe and watched him settle opposite her and take the oar in his hand. One strong pull had them gliding fast out over the water. The sensation took her breath away. She loved the quiet of it and the feeling of moving over the wide expanse of the lake. The color of the water was different depending on where the sliver of moon shone, or the depth and the darkness. The farther out they got from the lights of shore, the darker the water appeared.
“This is beautiful,” she whispered, looking up at the stars, one hand trailing in the water. “Thank you. You’ve given me so many experiences I never thought I’d ever have. I appreciate every single one of them.”
“I love giving you things you want, Emeline.” Another powerful stroke took them gliding farther away from the shoreline.
Her gaze jumped to his face and then drifted over his chest and arms. He was hers. All that unadulterated male beauty was hers. “I love knowing you’re mine.” She felt a little shy telling him, but at the same time, she wanted him to know. That was more important to her than revealing her embarrassment. He deserved to know what he meant to her.
“Do you feel safe with me?”
“That’s an odd question. Of course I feel safe with you.” She wrinkled her nose at him, wondering where he was going with that line of questioning.
“Then why are you gripping the edges of the canoe until your knuckles have turned white?”
She looked down at her hands. He was right, she was gripping the edges and her knuckles were white. She absolutely loved the teasing note in his voice. “I’m hedging my bets.”
His eyebrow shot up. “You do know I could float us out of the water, turn upside down and still keep you from falling.”
She didn’t like that matter-of-fact way he asked. “I am certain you can, but I prefer that we stay in the water, exactly as we are meant to.”
“Humans are meant to. They don’t fly. We fly.”
“This part of ‘we’ is just trying out canoeing and enjoying it. Flying can come later. I watched the children on their dragons and was a little envious, I won’t lie.”
“The beauty of being Carpathian is you can do both. You can fly by yourself in any form you choose, and you will be able to fly a dragon if you really want to do that.”
“I do.” She drew up her knees cautiously and one by one pried her fingers from the side of the canoe so she could wrap her arms around her legs and settle her chin on her knees. “Do you remember the first time you ever flew?”
Dragomir shook his head. “Memories faded over the centuries. Even after getting my emotions and colors back, I don’t remember much from my childhood. I can remember every vampire and how they fight, what their preferences are in lairs and safeguards, but I can’t remember my mother’s face.”
He sounded crushed by that, but his expression hadn’t changed. She realized he often refused or more likely didn’t recognize an emotion that was sad or negative. He didn’t dwell there. He felt them, but he didn’t identify with them. Emeline couldn’t make up her mind whether she thought that good or bad.
“I don’t think about my parents much,” she said, needing to give him something back. “I didn’t really have family. Maybe that’s why I fought so hard to keep Carisma. I heard her screaming in pain and I just couldn’t hate her. She was an innocent caught in Vadim’s ugly world.” She rubbed her chin on her knees and then put her head down, staring out at the water. “He does that, you know – he hates innocence and does his best to strike at it.”
There was a small silence. Two more powerful strokes of the canoe sent them parallel to the shore. “I hadn’t thought about that, but you’re right. That’s exactly what he does.”
“He’s determined to kill the children, Dragomir. All of them. He targeted them for some reason as well. It wasn’t just because he knew it would draw me into the underground city, either. He had a reason he went after those children. I tried to find out about their talents, but then I realized if I knew them and Vadim was in my head, then he would know their talents as well, so I stopped asking. They don’t let others in easily, but Blaze, Charlotte and I are closer to them than anyone else here. Probably I have to include Tariq in that as well. Still, I don’t think anyone knows what they can do.”
“Valentin would know. Liv, the little girl, is his lifemate. What is in her mind, he knows.”
“I didn’t think of that. I thought he left.”
“There was that trouble with the lightning when we were converting you. He came back to protect Liv.”
“I don’t understand how he would know she was his lifemate. She’s too young. I thought it had to do with sexual maturity.”
“That plays a huge part,” he admitted. “Sometimes being in close proximity over time can make a man aware his lifemate is near. His colors fade but don’t altogether leave him. His emotions don’t completely disappear and he has a sex drive. One that won’t go away. I’ve heard all kinds of things that tip off the male. Most don’t have those luxuries. Valentin most likely discovered it when Vadim brought the child to him to take her blood. Vadim had kept Valentin starving for so long, he thought when he gave him a child, Valentin wouldn’t be able to resist killing her. It was Vadim’s poor luck that he handed Valentin’s lifemate to him.”
“What will Valentin do?”
“He will watch over her until she is of age. What else can he do? She’s too young to claim, nor would he ever consider it.” Dragomir shrugged his broad shoulders and gave more powerful strokes of the oar so that the canoe slipped over the water easily.
Emeline realized he was keeping along the shoreline for her, recognizing that, although she loved the water and what they were doing, she was nervous. She licked at her lips. “I don’t know how to swim. I never had the chance to learn. I was more of a dancer.”
Dragomir’s look wasn’t one of shock or judgment. His eyes had gone soft and his incredible mouth curved in that sweet smile that always shook her. “Now you don’t have to worry about it, sívamet. You are Carpathian. You can swim, fly or dance up to the stars.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She loved dancing. She lost herself in dance. “Blaze’s father paid for dancing lessons for me. I was homeless, crawling in his daughter’s window at night, and he paid for my dance lessons. That was better than eating regularly, although he let me raid their fridge and cupboards whenever I wanted.”
“But you didn’t.” He set the oar across his lap, his focus completely on her.
She shook her head. “I didn’t trust easily in those days. He was a really good man, but I didn’t dare wear out my welcome. At first I was very young, and the streets were intimidating. Then I grew up and there was an entirely different set of obstacles.”
“You still don’t trust easily.”
“It’s difficult to believe you’re for real,” she admitted, her hand moving in and out of the water, as if she were dancing on the surface with her fingers. She’d given him her body and her heart. She was fairly certain she wouldn’t survive without him, but he was right. There was a part of her that didn’t trust that he’d stay. Maybe she’d never be able to trust that he’d stay.
“I’ll stay. And if you really want to dance in the stars, we’ll do that, too.”
“Any time you want to go dancing in the stars, or the clouds, or on the pier, I’m ready,” she assured him.
The sound of childish voices drifted on the wind and made Emeline smile. She hadn’t seen the children yet and she missed them. She turned her head toward the sound. The boat glided over the water as the oar cut through it, powered by Dragomir’s strength. She made out Danny with Lourdes on his back. Bella ran beside them, calling out to him that it was her turn. The scene was familiar to her. Danny gave the youngest ones rides all the time. It was the two littlest ones’ favorite pastime.
Liv had a book in her hands and walked with Amelia, talking softly; the sound carried on the slight breeze, but the words were lost. She was animated as she talked to her sister, occasionally stopping to make a point. Amelia took the book from her when Liv’s wild gestures threatened to send the book skittering across the lake.
Amelia indicated the ground, and Liv crouched low, searching for a moment. She picked up a rock and sent it skipping across the surface of the lake. Amelia followed suit. Both girls laughed.
“I love to see them like that,” Emeline said. “Sisters are so wonderful together. Do you want more than one child, Dragomir?” She rubbed her palm protectively over the place the baby was nestled and safe.
He frowned, and her heart clenched hard in her chest. “As many as you want.” His gaze remained on the children rather than on the lake.
She sat up straight, her hand going protectively over the baby. “Dragomir? Do you not want children? Because if you don’t…” She trailed off. She was having a baby. If he didn’t want children that was a big problem. Huge.
“Of course I want children. Why would you ask me that?” He dipped the oar in the water and they went soaring over the glassy surface.
He’d frowned, and she’d panicked. That was another testimony to the way she felt about herself. Unworthy. Not good enough for him. For someone to really love her or want a life with her. She was going to be the problem if she didn’t watch it. What man liked a woman who was afraid every minute that he was going to leave her?
“Emeline.” He said her name softly and her gaze jumped to his. His eyes had gone that molten gold she loved, as if it was melted and hot. “I want you any way I can have you. Children. No children. You’re always going to be my world. There is no other and there never will be. I know you have a difficult time understanding the concept of lifemates, but you’ll get it eventually. I would tell you to stop worrying, but I can see that won’t help.”
“I’ll try, Dragomir,” she promised. “It’s just that for a moment I thought maybe you didn’t want children, and I do. I want it all. The family, the home, the man who adores me just as much as I adore him.” She ducked her head, her gaze going to the water, anywhere but facing that penetrating stare. “I want you to want that same thing. Especially the children.”
“I want the same thing,” he assured. “The more girls we have, the more lifemates we give to the Carpathian people.”
She rested her head back, letting the gentle sway of the water lull her. “I never thought about that. How a child we have might save one of the males of the Carpathian race. All those women…” She broke off and closed her eyes, shaking her head as if to get the sight out of her mind.
“Those women?” he prompted.
“In Vadim’s underground city. They were psychics. He told me they were, but not strong enough for his purposes. The bodies were piled up, and I could see half-formed babies, some fully formed, all dead. When those women died, they were lifemates, weren’t they? Lifemates to some of the hunters waiting.”
“More than likely. The loss was felt deeply. The souls will be reborn but there is no way of knowing if the hunters can hang on that long. That was part of Vadim’s plan. If he takes the lifemates away, destroys them, more hunters will turn, helping him to create a larger army.”
“If they know they’ll be reborn…”
“There is no way of knowing when they will be reborn. What century. Where. The world is a big place, and some of these hunters have held on for centuries. When there is nothing to hold on to but honor, it can be very difficult.”
She studied his face. He had suffered. It was there in his harsh male features. Dragomir would never have been called handsome in the traditional sense of the word – his features were too angular and male. Almost brutal. But he was beautiful and sensual. The scars on his face and body added to his appeal. He looked dangerous. Walking into a room, she knew he would command attention and scare most people. Maybe all of them.
“I hate that you had to wait so long.”
“You are worth every moment of that wait.” Sincerity rang in his voice.
She turned her head toward the shore where the children were playing. “Listen to the frogs. So many. It sounds like they’re gathering for a frog concert.”
“Noisy little things,” he observed. “If I’m going to take you dancing in the stars, we need better music.”
She liked the sound of dancing in the stars. For the first time, she allowed herself to fully relax. She tipped her head up and studied the constellations scattered overhead. The sky looked beautiful, so dark it was nearly blue, the stars and sliver of moon hot and glowing against that backdrop. There were a few drifting clouds, but they looked inviting rather than threatening.
More childish laughter caught her attention, and she turned her head to see the Waltons standing with Danny, talking to the two youngest. Mary Walton carried something cradled in her arms. Her husband, Donald, had a large gun slung around his shoulder. She sat up so fast she nearly spilled into the water.
“What in the world?” She stared at the couple as they laughed and talked with Danny. “Dragomir, they’re carrying guns. Both of them. They’re the sweetest couple. They live in the boathouse. I’ve never been in it, but the children tell me it’s really nice and homey. Why in the world would Mary be carrying a gun? Or Donald, for that matter. They could hurt themselves.”
“My understanding is they know how to use them. They’re both efficient at it.”
“I suppose they’re protecting the children. I hate that Bella and Lourdes have to see that. And poor Liv. She’s only ten, and she had those terrible creatures of Vadim’s tearing at her, eating her alive. If it weren’t for Valentin, she never would have made it out of there. I couldn’t have saved her, nor could Blaze. It was Valentin.”
The sound of the frogs increased and, along with them, the crickets started. She found herself laughing softly. She almost couldn’t believe anything could make her laugh, not when she’d been thinking about Vadim’s underground city and the atrocities he’d committed on men, women and children there. The frogs and crickets added a magical reality to the night.
“Listen to them. Any minute I expect them to burst into song.”
“They are singing,” he said. “Dance with me, sívamet. I believe I have pulled enough information out of your mind to lead you in a waltz.” He put the oar down and the canoe glided by itself over the water to the dock nearest the Waltons’ boathouse and away from the children. It was darker and more secluded.
He stood up, balancing easily, and held out his hand to her. She hesitated. They were still in the canoe and if she moved wrong, they could both fall into the water. He might be right – that she could swim – but she didn’t want to test his theory there in the dark.
His white teeth flashed at her and his lower lip curved into the soft, intriguing smile she found herself watching for. “Emeline. Really? You think I would allow you to fall into the water? Especially since you’re afraid. That would be cruel. I’m capable of great cruelty, but never to the woman I love. Give me your hand.” He held out his hand to her.
Her heart went crazy, for him or out of fear, she wasn’t certain which, but it beat like a drum out of rhythm. She placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. The canoe didn’t so much as rock. That was all him. Looking out for her.
He moved then, shifted his feet, took them into the air so that her sandals hovered just above the canoe. His arm went around her back and he brought her hand up. His frame was superb, as good as any of the professionals she’d danced with. She put her hand on his shoulder and allowed him to pull her into his body. Close. Closer than she would ever have allowed any other dance partner.
His body felt wonderful. Strong. Male. Pure Dragomir. No other man could ever make her feel the mixtures of things he did. Or give her the intensity of emotion he gave her. She felt safe and sexy, beautiful and intelligent. He listened to every word she said. Gave her strength and made her hope – believe – even if it was just for a few minutes.
Dragomir enfolded Emeline into his arms, guiding her body into the shelter of his. If dancing was what she loved, then he would be an expert dancer, guiding her up through the air toward the stars. The song that was playing over and over in her head played in his as well. He brought the music to life, hearing the beat in her head, feeling it in his body.
Below them, on the ground, the children continued to play together, Liv and Amelia skipping rocks on the lake, Danny and the little girls talking with the Waltons and Genevieve, who had joined them. The scene seemed surreal. He didn’t care about any of them right in that moment. Only Emeline and her happiness.
They moved together in perfect rhythm. Dancing was like making love, he decided, his body guiding hers through the intricate steps as they danced up unseen stairs, going higher and higher until the clouds drifted past them.
He allowed her to step on one, ensuring that to her it appeared a fluffy white floor. He whirled her out and brought her back into him. All around them the stars shone brightly. Their cloud drifted across the sky as they danced to the music, her body moving in rhythm with his. He always was in control, yet when he was with Emeline, his body refused to listen to his commands, taking over, rebelling. Swelling with urgent need. She couldn’t fail to feel his cock, hard and aching, pressed so tightly against her stomach.
“I love that you want me, Dragomir,” she whispered. Her head was against his chest, her ear over his heart. “I want that always. I want to know when I walk into a room, you’re aware of me. I’m always aware of you.”
The sound of her voice whispering against the immaculate suit jacket he wore ratcheted up the hunger beating through him.
“From the first time I saw you in the yard with the others, I thought you were the sexiest man alive.” She turned her head so her chin dug into his chest and her eyes were on his. “I daydreamed of you. I fantasized about you. I dreamt of you at night. Before Vadim’s attack and certainly after, I never thought about sex. After I saw you, it was all I could think about.”
She pleased him with her admission. She didn’t have to tell him, but she gave that to him. Just handed him that gift as if it were nothing. She was very shy about their relationship, more so than about their sex, yet she gave him a piece of information that was a little embarrassing to her.
“You didn’t share your dream with me.”
Color crept into her face. Her long lashes fluttered. “Well. No. That was private. I wasn’t about to share the kinds of things you did to me.”
“Good things?”
“In my dream they were good things. In reality, I’d be afraid. We already went up in smoke together. Can you imagine if you were getting creative?”
“I plan on being very creative. Do you have a problem with that?” He nuzzled her neck. His teeth tugged on her ear.
“No. I’m just saying we could set the world on fire.”
“Show me.” His voice had lowered to a sinful, wicked temptation.
She shook her head. “We’re dancing.”
“We have this cloud to ourselves, sívamet,” he pointed out.
She couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. Of course they had the cloud to themselves. No one danced in the clouds. No one danced surrounded by stars. Leave it to Dragomir to give that to her.
“We have too many clothes on for me to show you anything,” she said. Already her blood had gone hot and rushed through her veins like a torrent of fire. Her center had gone liquid with need. She tasted him in her mouth and wanted more.
Immediately, just as she’d known he would do, their clothes were gone in a blink of an eye. The hand that had been on her back slid down to cup her buttocks. His fingers kneaded and stroked, sending heat waves through her.
“Show me,” he commanded.
She would have done anything for him. His cock was heavy against her stomach, and she wanted it inside her. Right that moment. Her hand slid up his hip to find that thick girth. She wrapped her fingers around him and bent her head so she could lick at the pearl drops leaking there. He tasted as good as she remembered. She stepped out of rhythm and then had to straighten to keep in step.
He never stopped dancing with her, keeping up the rhythm of their bodies moving together. It was not only beautiful to her, but sexy. With every movement, her nipples slid across his chest, sending streaks of fire aimed straight to her center.
His hands cupped her buttocks, pressing her mound tightly against him. She couldn’t stop her hips from riding his thigh. It felt so good. He always felt so good. She was lost in the sensations his body created.
“If you don’t show me, little rebel, I am going to have to wake you up.”
“Mmm.” She wouldn’t mind him waking her up. She let the various ways he could do it play through her head. She didn’t have a lot of experience, but she read books. Tons of them, and there were many books that had erotic relationships, ones that intrigued her.
His hand came down hard on her bottom, startling her out of her fantasy. His palm rubbed and heat spread through her center. She pressed closer to him. “All right. Before you get too comfortable, I’ll show you.” She pushed the image into his head.
He was behind her, hands on her hips, taking his time, controlling her completely. She couldn’t move or she’d fall. He held her up with one arm, forcing her body over his forearm, so her head was down and her bottom up in the air. He teased her, first with his hands and then with his cock, making her plead for him, making her so needy and hungry for him she had gone mindless. She wanted mindless. She wanted sexy. She wanted him to make her feel out of control.
At once he spun her around, his hands hard on her body, the sheer strength and speed making her heart clench hard and fear pound through her body straight to her sex. Excitement and trepidation mixed together. She knew he could read her emotions and that he monitored them, but she hoped he would realize this was what she wanted, this mixture of emotions.
His arm was an iron band around her waist as his other hand slowly pushed her head down so she hung over his arm. She should have known Dragomir would take creative license. She found her upper body hanging over a padded bench. Her breasts swayed in the air and her hair spilled to the soft cloud. She stared through the layers of cloud to the lake far beneath her, her heart pounding. The position left her feeling very exposed and vulnerable.
Biting her lip, she started to pull up. Instantly his hand came down hard in warning on her bottom, a stinging pain that morphed into heat as he rubbed her buttocks. Then his hand was between her legs, fingers sliding over her clit, circling, tugging and then moving away. Her breath came out in a ragged burst. He repeated the entire sequence, started with a swat on her other cheek. His fingers were relentless, moving in her. Around her. Then his tongue with there, lapping at the cream spilling from her body.
She couldn’t catch her breath. There was no way to know what he would do next. Hit her bottom with his hand? Devour her with his tongue? Use his teeth? His fingers? She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the wicked, sinful sensations he created. She hadn’t known anyone could feel so much or so intensely.
The tension in her built and built until she knew the tsunami was going to overwhelm her. She would get close, so close, right on the edge, and his fingers went away. He took his mouth from her. She couldn’t help the whimper escaping, or pushing back with her hips, trying to reach his hands. His mouth. His cock. She craved his cock. She needed his touch. Oh. God. His mouth. She absolutely needed his mouth. She’d take anything from him, but he had to do something. She moaned and bit out his name between her teeth.
His hands came back, but not on her sex. He was under her, his mouth on her left breast, pulling strongly, sending waves of fire sizzling and crackling through her veins. His finger and thumb were on her right nipple, tugging, rolling, dancing in a kind of rhythm with the pull of his mouth. So hot. So incredible. She could barely think with the sensations pouring through her.
It didn’t stop. His mouth was on her breasts, but she felt his hands moving on her bottom again, that quick hard swat, the rub that spread the heat, the sensation of his finger pushing into her tight folds. His mouth. Tongue devouring her. Teeth scraping along her clit. Then there was his mouth at her breasts. The twin sensations took her right up fast.
She screamed in frustration when everything stopped. Only her harsh breathing could be heard, a loud ragged dragging of air into burning lungs. He caught her hair and pulled her head up; at once his cock pushed into her mouth. Grateful for something, anything to distract her, she closed her mouth around him and she suckled hard. Her tongue danced and stroked. He held her head still, following the images in her head, his hips pushing into her.
“That’s it, sívamet, take me all the way.”
His voice was harsh with need. The sound encouraged her and she poured herself into the task of making certain he felt as much urgency as she did. She tried to reach his cock with her hands, but found she couldn’t move them. Somehow they were pinned under the bench. His mouth was at her breast, pulling strong, teeth tugging on her breasts, his cock pushing into her mouth. Then she felt his mouth at her sex, tongue and teeth driving her right back up.
The tsunami hit hard, sweeping her over the edge, her entire body feeling the ripples, her breasts, her mouth, her thighs, and her sex all rippling with the powerful quake. It seemed to go on and on. She opened her mouth to scream, but his cock was there, demanding she keep suckling. She couldn’t catch her breath, especially when she felt him, the broad, flared head pushing slowly into her entrance, forcing the invasion when her tight muscles tried to prevent him. She was slick, dripping with her need of him, and nothing could prevent her greedy body from not only accepting him, but pulling him deeper. It didn’t matter that she was tight, her muscles gave way.
Then he was everywhere. Dragomir behind her, pounding into her. Below her, his mouth on her breasts. In front of her, filling her mouth with heat and fire. With the addictive taste of him. It was too much, overloading her. She came and came. Over and over. One orgasm ran into the next.
Honey. You have to stop. I can’t. Not again. But that was a lie. Her body tipped over the edge again, gripping and milking his cock, determined to take him with her. She didn’t want him to stop, but if he didn’t she’d lose her mind. The pleasure was too intense.
The grip in her hair tightened until there was a bite of pain. Reluctantly she lifted her eyes to his. His hips surged forward, burying his cock in her scorching-hot channel. Burying his cock in the heated depths of her mouth. Look at me. See me. I’m in you. Surrounding you. Yours. Always yours in every way. I will bring you pleasure beyond your imagination. I will keep you safe. You will have the things you want in life because I love you that much and I can give them to you.
She felt the swelling of his cock in her sheath, pushing at the tight walls, creating a friction that sent fire coursing through her. In her mouth, his cock matched, pulsing and throbbing, and then she felt the hot release jetting into her, deep, so deep it splashed along the walls of her sheath, triggering another hard orgasm. In her mouth he erupted as well, pouring down her throat, giving her that taste that was only his, only for her.
She lay over the bench, unable to move, completely worn-out. He was behind her, his hands on her hips, his cock still buried deep, gliding gently, soothingly. She found she could move her hands and she put them out in front of her, stretching while she licked at her lips, feeling as if they were coated with him.
“Why do you always taste so good?”
His hand rubbed her bottom and then he slowly, with obvious reluctance, pulled out of her. “I taste the way you imagine me to taste. Let me help you sit up.”
She didn’t want to move. “You took creative license. Big-time.”
“I put my own stamp on it. I gave you those sensations, each of them, and chose where I would be and where you would feel me. It can make our sex life interesting.”
“If it gets any more interesting than that, I won’t live through it. That was crazy sexy.” She felt his hands on her waist and she let him lift her onto his lap. She looped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. “I think you wore me out.”
“You’re Carpathian. Breathe, sívamet.”
“How did we not fall through the cloud to the lake below?” She stared down. Through the cloud’s thin layer, she could see the that little sliver of moon shining invitingly on the lake’s surface. It didn’t seem possible that such a short time had passed. She was certain they had been having sex all night, but everything was the same. The lake. The moon. The children. Only she was different.
She lifted her face to look up at him. To trace those beloved scars on his face. He’d given her so much. Nothing had prepared her for this night. Canoeing on the lake. Dancing up to the stars. Sex in the clouds. Wild, crazy sex that shook her to her core. Not because it was wild and crazy – and it had been – but because she felt love in every touch. Every stroke. Hard, gentle, brutal, exquisite, it had been a beautiful declaration of love. For her. She knew it. She felt it in her heart. He’d filled her with him. Surrounded her with him. He meant what he said when he’d told her he was in her.
“I’m so in love with you,” she admitted softly, her eyes burning with tears. “So very much in love with you I can barely think straight with it.”
He framed her face with his hands. “That’s a good thing, Emeline. Your heart is in safe hands.”
“I know.” She was beginning to know, daring to start to believe.