Chapter Seventeen
Bernie
“You’re still hurt,” Bernie whispered as she eased his shirt up and over his head.
“Then you’ll have to be gentle with me.” Tyler grinned at her. “Won’t you?”
Bernie rolled her eyes at him but returned his grin. She pressed a very gentle kiss to his mouth, then peppered more over his face. The adrenaline of the fight was still pouring through her and she found herself wondering if it was going to be possible to control herself. Her heart slammed into her chest over and over again.
I could have lost him. Then, Tyler’s voice spoke in his mind as though he had developed telepathy. Don’t think about it.
Very carefully, Bernie took all of her fears and tucked them away. Yes, it had been terrifying, but he was with her now. They were both here, bodies stretched out together, tongues tangling. She explored the contours of his chest, memorizing the heat of his skin and every hill and valley of his perfectly sculpted muscles.
She kissed him again and he teased her mouth open at once. She delved deeper into the kiss, turning her head first this way and then the other, not surfacing until she was gasping for air. She straddled his lap and ground herself against him gently. He smelled of smoke, like he always did, but it was clean and fresh. The smell of his soap was almost as strong. Droplets of water clung to her fingers as she ran her hands through his hair.
Tyler undid her robe and pushed it to either side, exposing her to him. Her back arched and her head fell back. One of his hands cupped her left breast, squeezing gently, while he kissed the right one. Her grinding against him shifted his robe out from under her. He pressed hard against her thigh and Bernie sighed with desire.
“I want you,” she moaned. “I want you now and forever. I want to be your mate, Tyler Freeman, and I want you to be mine. I want this to be the first time we make love as mates and I want there to be hundreds of hundreds of times that we make love after this. In beds, in cars, in tents. Here, in Canada, in Peru, in Egypt. Wherever our lives take us.”
Tyler smiled up at her. “Good. Because that is what I want, too, Bernice Gardener. You and me, forever against the world. Your mate, Xavier’s dad. The dad to all your kids.”
Bernie caught his face in her hands and gave him a deep, passionate kiss that lasted several minutes. “You will be.”
She pressed her hands to his shoulders, encouraging him to lie down. He did so and she removed her robe entirely to drop to the floor. Next, she undid the belt of his and knelt back. He was already hard but she knew she could make him harder. With a saucy grin, she took him in her hand. Tyler moaned, rolling his hips gently, as she bent over him.
He tasted a little of smoke and a lot of man. Bernie sucked up the taste eagerly, loving the soft sounds coming from his throat. She felt him growing bigger and harder. Heat rushed through her in anticipation as she imagined having his size inside of her. Building her pleasure.
Tyler half sat-up as she worked on him and gripped her thigh. She moved with him as he tugged gently, bringing her backside closer to him. Using his hand, he focused in on her target. Bernie couldn’t stop a gasp as pleasure shot through her. It made her legs tremble already and her eyes widened. Tyler, seeing the effect, laughed and moved in with his tongue. Bernie arched to him. She increased her own efforts, determined that she wasn’t going to lose this friendly little battle.
Her lover’s tongue did wicked things to her and at times she forgot what she was doing altogether. The consolation was that she could tell she was having the same effect on Tyler. Every so often he collapsed back on the bed and a loud moan erupted from him.
When he pushed his fingers inside of her and stretched them apart, making shudders take over her whole body, she couldn’t stop herself from crying out. She squeezed him, eliciting the same cry but knew that she wasn’t going to last much longer.
Panting, she pulled away from him. Her core was already so tight she wasn’t sure how much she could take, but she grinned at him. His eyes were dark with desire as he smiled back. Slowly she straddled his hips and guided him inside.
“Bernie,” he moaned as she got him fully in.
She started grinding at first, making sure that they were both ready for more intensive things. Tyler sighed, his hands on her hips. Then she rose and fell, bouncing gently. His eyes widened and his mouth became an ‘o’. All the memories of when she’d been on top rushed back to her, filling her inside out with fire and warmth.
“I love you,” she whispered as she thrust down on him, harder and harder.
He was already too far gone to reply. All his muscles taut. His head pressed into the pillows, his face red as he grunted. Her own pleasure increased to the point where she was crying out with every thrust. Tyler’s hands suddenly latched onto her hips. He brought her down firmly and held her there. His one hand slipped between her thighs as she ground against him. Fingers found their target.
Everything came undone. Bernie’s head flung back. She braced herself against his legs as the tension inside of her exploded. Galaxies and stars spun around her head, blinding her. She was hardly aware of what her own body was doing as first a cry and then a scream tore from her lips. She was falling, pitching to the side and suddenly Tyler was on top of her. His mouth was over hers and he grunted again and again. Fires burned between them, joining them together.
When they were both spent, they laid on the bed with their arms wrapped around one another. Bernie smiled as she panted. Her fingers tangled in his damp hair as they traded soft kisses.
“I think I got my touch back,” Tyler sighed. “I’m pretty sure I saw the stars in your eyes.’
“I know I did.” Bernie cuddled into his chest. She was glad. Even though she hadn’t been disappointed, per se, by their last time, she was grateful that there was still that intensity that they could hold onto. A grin spread over her face. “There’s something else I need to say.”
Tyler rose his brows, waiting for her to continue.
“I love you, Tyler.”
He kissed her shoulder and then her cheek. “I love you, too. God. I thought my heart would explode when you first said that. And then I thought, what if I never hear you say it again? I kept thinking of you in those twenty-four hours that I was locked away.”
Bernie shivered and tried to bury herself deeper into his heat. “I didn’t sleep. I cried the whole time. They let me come home to Xavier, but didn’t let me tell Polly anything. I can’t believe that you consider them friends.”
“Leopold’s an asshole. And most of them aren’t what I’d call friends.” Tyler frowned. “But they were there for me when it was just me. I do have friends in the group.”
She looked up at him and wet her lips. “If we do end up running around the world on archeological digs—”
“There’s no if. You’re not giving up your dreams, Bernie.”
“But it’ll mean that you won’t be there anymore. You won’t have your club or be near your friends. I don’t want to make you give up—”
He cut her off with another kiss and rolled over her again. Impossibly, he was hard against her stomach once more. “You’re not making me give up anything, my beloved one. I’m choosing what I give up and what I keep. And what I keep is you and Xavier.”
“Beloved one?”
He kissed her again, a hand slipping between her legs.
***
Bernie knew that Polly was waiting for answers, so as soon as she could walk, she showered again and dressed. Tyler cleaned himself up, avoiding getting the bandages wet and held her hand as they headed downstairs. Halfway down they heard voices. Bernie’s eyes widened as she recognized them.
A grin broke over her face and she charged down the stairs. Tyler yelped as she pulled him off balance, but he managed to catch up with her quick enough. In the entrance hall were a couple of large suitcases.
Polly stood holding Xavier in the living room, facing two newcomers, a man and a woman. Bernie rushed in and grabbed the woman. Kayla let out a squeal but it quickly turned to laughter when she saw who it was. The two started to jump up and down several times before finally stilling enough to actually hug. Kayla squeezed her tight and stepped back. She looked her up and down and then glanced at Tyler, who was standing nearby.
Kayla grinned. “Pots and pans?”
“More like cauldrons and cast iron,” Bernie quipped. “Because they’re bigger.”
Shane frowned at her. “I don’t need to know that.”
“Me either,” Polly added.
Tyler smiled and slapped Shane on the back. “What are you doing here anyway?”
Shane rolled his eyes. “This is my house, Tyler. You’re just a freeloader.”
“Actually,” Bernie said as she narrowed her eyes, “Tyler is a sensitive soul who happens to be very, very good at being a dad. And, if the position is still available, the two of us have worked it out that I can still work at the dig. Everything I was worried about is negated if Xavier has his dad around to help out.”
Xavier clapped and blew bubbles through his nose.
Bernie took her son back and nuzzled him gently. “My beautiful little baby boy.”
Kayla embraced her again. “We’d love to have you back. Honestly, things have been so boring without you. And my Shane is building a lab in town for radiocarbon dating and other things, so we’re going to be much, much more efficient. Oh! There is so much to tell you. Esther and her friend Dominique are both talking about getting a new dig going off the coast of Belize. An underwater dig. And Esther’s twins are getting so big and they’re so cute!”
It was a bit more than Bernie could take in all at once, but she still nodded excitedly. She and Kayla started talking rapidly about the dig and everything else that was happening. They were so engrossed with each other that Bernie almost missed Shane putting an arm around Tyler.
“So, you finally found your mate, did you?”
Bernie glanced over. Her gaze met Tyler’s and they both grinned. Tyler nodded. “Yup. I guess I did.”
*****
THE END