Chapter Twenty-Three
Utah stood rooted to the spot long after Michelle had picked up the discarded towel and locked the door behind her friends.
He waited until she turned to face him before speaking. “That really just happened.”
Her face appeared pale and drawn. “It did. I have a headache. I think I’ll go lie down for a while.”
His stomach clenched at the forlorn sound of her voice.
She trailed past him and disappeared into her bedroom.
Utah didn’t know whether to give her some space or follow. He decided on the latter.
He appeared in her room to find her lying on her side in the center of the bed. “I’m sorry for everything.”
She didn’t look at him. “I’m supposed to help you to leave me.”
“You don’t know that for sure.” Utah slipped around to the side of the bed and dropped to his knees before her.
“I do know that. And so do you.”
His heart squeezed. “I don’t have to leave, Michelle. I can stay here until it’s time for you to leave. We can go together.”
“I can’t do that to you. It’s wrong. Everything inside me screams that it’s wrong.”
He stood and climbed onto the bed. “Don’t think about it today. Time changes everything, Michelle. Nothing ever stays the same. Who knows what the future holds?”
They lay quietly, facing each other for long moments.
Michelle broke the silence. “There were shifters in my house. Shifters and familiars. Do you realize how crazy this all seems to me? I had supernatural beings in my living room. And I’m lying here talking to a ghost. Albeit a gorgeous ghost, but a ghost nonetheless.”
To hide his pain at her words, Utah smiled. “It could be worse. You could be lying here talking to a hideous ghost.”
Michelle’s lips twitched. “That’s true. Thank God for that.”
She reached up and laid her palm against the side of his face. “Make me forget, Utah. Even if for a short time.”
Though he ached inside from her admission, his body reacted to her words. He wanted her, plain and simple.
Without thinking, he sat up and jerked his shirt over his head. And then it hit him. He’d removed his shirt for the first time since his death.
Michelle’s smile held a wealth of pain and sorrow. “See, I told you.”
“Making new memories,” he whispered, reaching for his belt.
Utah had his clothes off in no time, including his boots, yet his gaze remained on Michelle as she undressed in front of him.
God, but she was beautiful. How would he ever leave her when the time came? He didn’t know, but for now, he would love her breathless.
Love? his mind whispered in surprise. Was he falling in love with Michelle?
Her voice brought him out of his turmoil. “Don’t hold back with me, Utah. I need you. All of you.”
Utah stared back at her for a brief moment, fighting the raging lust rising inside him. It felt hot, urgent, and animalistic.
She seemed to read his thoughts. “Yes. Do what it is you’re thinking. Do it.”
Gripping her thighs, he suddenly flipped her over, jerked her onto her knees, and buried his face in her from behind.
Michelle gasped, grabbing onto the headboard for support, and spread her knees wider for him.
Utah growled against her, bringing his hand up to penetrate her with a finger.
She moaned, her hips tilting higher for deeper penetration.
He licked and sucked her, slowly pumping his finger into her depths.
Rolling to his back, he slid his face beneath her and opened his mouth over her once more.
She cried out at the sensation, telling him without words she enjoyed his oral play.
He inserted another finger inside her, never slowing the onslaught of his tongue.
A third finger joined the others to sink into her again and again.
Her hips began to move in time with his thrusting fingers and tongue.
“Utah!” she gasped, her vaginal walls beginning to tighten around his ever-moving fingers.
He quickly backed off, gripped her hips, and practically yanked her to the side of the bed. “Don’t move.”
Michelle groaned in protest. “You stopped. I can’t believe you stopped.”
Snagging the small wooden chair from the corner of her room, Utah situated it at the foot of the bed with the back of the chair facing the footboard.
He rounded the bed, took her by the arm, and led her to the chair.
Michelle’s eyes were luminous and hooded. She held completely still, waiting to see what he would do next.
Utah slowly sat, opened his knees, and tugged her around to the front of him. “Put your legs over mine and hold on to the footboard of the bed.”
Michelle did as she was told, straddling his lap and gripping the footboard.
He spread his knees wider, inserted the same three fingers into her depths, and circled her swollen nub of nerves with his thumb. “I want to see those beautiful eyes when you come.”
Her breathing grew uneven once more, and her head fell back on shoulders.
Utah slowed his movements. “No. I want you looking at me.”
She brought her head up, her lips parted in pleasure. “Jesus, Utah. You’re driving me mad.”
He pulled his fingers from her, gripped his erection, and drove in deep.
Michelle cried out, but she didn’t look away. Her thighs tightened over his, and her hips began to buck.
Utah had to hold on to her to keep her seated on his thrusting shaft.
She was wild and passionate, taking him to the verge of hell only to bring him heaven.
“Come for me,” he demanded between clenched teeth. Fire raced up his spine, sending him into a frenzy he had no control over.
Michelle’s mouth opened without sound. Her breath came in short, quick bursts to fan out over Utah’s face. But she didn’t look away. No, she held his gaze as if he were the only thing anchoring her to reality.
An overwhelming feeling of ecstasy consumed Utah. He had no control of his body, mind, or heart in that moment.
A shout burst from him with the feel of Michelle’s inner walls contracting around him. He exploded inside her hard enough he nearly bucked them both off the chair.
His body continued to seize the longer he remained beneath her, staring into her passion-glazed eyes.
“Are you okay?” he managed between rounds of greatly needed oxygen.
Michelle rested her forehead against his, shuddering one last time. “Better than okay. My God, Utah. That was hot as hell.”
A satisfied smile touched his lips. He kissed her nose, tightening his arms around her. “I can’t begin to tell you how incredible you are. If you would have told me a few days ago that I’d be sitting in this chair, buried inside you like this, I’d have thought you were crazy.”
“I am crazy,” she teased, kissing him back. “Haven’t you figured that out by now? My closest friends are vampires and shifters. And I’m falling for a ghost that no one can see but me and the damn vampires and shifters.”
Utah stilled, wondering if she realized the meaning of the words spilling from her lips. “You’re falling for me?”
She raised her head, backing up enough to gaze into his eyes. The corner of her mouth lifted. “Well, I certainly hope you don’t think I have sex with every ghost I meet.”
He reached up and cupped the sides of her face, his heart swelling with emotion. “Oh? Just how many ghosts have you slept with?”
“Only the good-looking ones.” She chuckled, the sound wrapping around him in a warm haze.
Covering her mouth with his, Utah pulled her against him. He could feel himself rapidly growing erect inside her once again.
She moaned into his mouth, her body growing pliant in his arms.
The sound of a car pulling into the drive penetrated Utah’s euphoria. He broke off the kiss and met Michelle’s questioning gaze. “Someone’s here.”
Michelle groaned, obviously not wanting to move any more than Utah wanted her to.
A knock at the front door took the decision from them. With more than a little regret, Utah lifted Michelle and gently pulled from her warm body.
She quickly grabbed her robe that hung on the back of her bedroom door and had it on in record time.
“I’ll be right there!” she called, pulling a pair of sweatpants from the dresser drawer and tossing them to Utah. “Put those on.”
Utah pulled on the sweats in wonder. He really was making new memories.
Following Michelle to the living room, he stood back as she looked through the peephole and tugged the door open. “Cassie. Malik.”
“We wanted to come sooner,” Cassie murmured from the porch. “But…”
“You had to wait for the sun to set,” Michelle finished with a tinge of sarcasm.
With a flourish, Michelle spun around, leaving the door standing open. “You might as well come in. I know what you are.”
Cassie stepped over the threshold, her gaze narrowed in Utah’s direction. “Big mouth.”
Utah opened his proverbial big mouth to set the vampire straight, but Michelle beat him to it. “Don’t blame him. He had no idea that I didn’t know. Because really, who doesn’t clue their closest friends in on the fact that they’ve grown fangs?”
Cassie appeared contrite. Malik on the other hand looked ready to rip Utah’s ghostly head off.
Michelle blew out an exasperated breath. “You might as well sit down. Both of you,” she stressed when Malik simply stood there.
Utah waited for Michelle to sit and then moved to stand next to her chair.
Malik and Cassie took a seat on the sofa.
“I’m sorry, Cherokee,” Cassie admitted, her shoulders slumping. “You’re right. I should have told you. And I was going to…eventually. It just never seemed the right time.”
Cassie shifted her gaze to Utah, and humor sparked in the depths of her eyes. “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything?”
Utah liked the pretty blonde. She had a genuinely funny personality. “Your timing could have been better.”
She grinned. “I knew the sense of urgency I felt was for a reason.”
One of Malik’s fangs abruptly appeared, and a faint glow of red swirled in his eyes.
Utah recognized it as jealousy. Which he could understand. He felt a pretty powerful possessiveness toward Michelle, also.
“Carly informed us of your refusal to allow Psycho to hang around. I really think it would be wise if you did. He was my familiar for many years, and he ended up saving my life.”
The red in Malik’s eyes grew brighter. Once again, Utah could relate. He didn’t want the damn cat hanging around Michelle, either.
Cassie glanced up at Utah, sincerity shining in her eyes. “I know you want to protect Michelle. And I have no doubt that you can. But what happens if you fade away tomorrow, a week from now, or in a month?”
A faint noise echoed through the room. Soft and full of pain.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Cassie was saying, but Utah no longer listened.
There it was again, so low he barely heard it.
A feeling of terror washed through him with enough power it took him to his knees. Screams exploded inside his mind to mingle with that one small cry for help.
Utah gritted his teeth against the pain, his hands coming up to the sides of his head.
“Utahhhhh!” Michelle cried, her voice coming from far away. He felt her grab on to him, knew that she pleaded with him. Yet, not even Michelle could hold him there. Not with the urgency of the cry begging for help.
His eyes slid shut, and the floor beneath him began to spin. He felt ripped apart as his body faded from the room, spinning through a myriad of colors and sounds in no particular order.