younger than Iestyn then. Dylan’s determination to grow up, the time he spent away from the magic of Sanctuary, had quickly aged him beyond the others.
Stil , it had been a shock, Iestyn recal ed, when he learned the sul en youth had been made a warden on the human island of World’s End.
He could practical y hear the
“Lucy Hunter.”
Her smile broke like dawn. “But that’s wonderful!
You’re almost there. We’re almost done.”
“We’re not done.”
She nodded seriously. “Of course not. We stil have to find him. Her. But . . .”
“We’re not done,” he repeated. His heart pumped, panicked for the first time by the end of a journey. “I’m not finished with you yet.”
When she stared at him, wide-eyed, he crossed the room to her and pul ed her into his arms.
18
H e wa s d e s pe r at e f o r h e r .
Her taste. Her smel . The wide, soft curve of her lower lip.
The fine, shining core of her, like tempered steel.
He pressed his lips to her shoulder and felt her tremble, pressed a kiss to her throat and heard her sigh. The quiet exhalation stirred his soul like wind on the water, moving him to the depths.
“Lara.” He stopped, at a loss for words.
But he wanted to make them.
“Ssh.” Her fingers winnowed his hair, brushed his jaw, her touch as light as air. “Kiss me.”
How could he think when she looked at him from under those dark winged brows, her big eyes shining with trust and need? How could he speak?
So he kissed her, hoping that would be enough, trying to tel her without words al the longing that bloomed in F o r g o t t e n s e a 235
his heart, soft, tender kisses to her temple, her cheek, her mouth.
When her fingers found the edge of his shirt and the hot skin underneath, he stepped back and ripped it over his head.
Her eyes widened and then narrowed. She reached for the burn that stil throbbed below the hol ow of his throat.
But he didn’t need her healing now. He needed her with him, in this room, in this moment, al of her with him.
Catching her hand, he pul ed her to him, coaxing her shirt up, inch by inch.
Her skin had the thick, creamy texture of lilies. Her scent swam in his head. He pushed her jeans down, frowning at the faint shadows that marched along her hip. Bruises.
He’d bruised her with his hands, his fingertips.
Sinking to his knees, he kissed each careless mark and then the curve of her bel y and then the silky dark thatch between her thighs. Her legs trembled. Her hips arched in silent invitation. He pushed her back to lie on the bed, licking into her, sipping from her skin, drinking her heady response. She moved with him and against him, against his mouth and hands, her body fluid and restless as water, until everything that was in him gathered like a flood, and he surged from the floor, rising over her, crawling to get to her, dying to be inside her.
He dug a condom from his discarded jeans—
She lay back, watching him, as he nudged her thighs apart and found his place between them. Everything he was, everything inside him, he gave to her, pleasure flowing through him, tenderness brimming inside him, and it almost didn’t matter where they went from here, what they 2 3 6
V i r g i n i a K a n t r a
did, who they found. If this was love, he was fathoms deep and drowning.
When he sank into her, he was already home.
*
*
*
She wanted to take him inside her, hold him inside her, absorb him through her skin. Every kiss, every stroke, pul ed her deeper into something sacred, something holy, a sacrament of flesh and love. She loved him.
But she would not force her words on him and risk his puzzled disbelief. He did not want her guarantees.
And so she gave him herself instead, her body, loving him with everything in her, everything she’d held inside, pouring herself into their union, feeling his pleasure rise and build and crest. Until the wave that took him swamped them both, carrying her away, leaving her heart stranded on an unfamiliar shore.
She hugged him tightly while their ragged breathing smoothed, while their rapid heartbeats slowed, while their bodies cooled, sealed together by sweat and sex.
A finger of sunset stole through the pretty white curtains and lay across the bed.
