because it was
His lips and tongue teased my nipple until it was aching and tender. Then, he switched breasts, giving my other nipple the same adoration. Fire flared through me again, along with the silvery sweet high of his life energy. With it came his feelings—his love and passion for me—and the combination of it all was intoxicating. I cried out softly, and he slid me down so that our mouths could meet again, this time in a kiss so deep and crushing, it made the parking lot seem chaste.
As we kissed, I felt him slide a hand down the side of my body, moving toward my inner thighs. His fingers moved deftly as they explored me, slowly moving farther and farther until they slid inside of me. I exclaimed again, but the cry was swallowed in the kiss, which was so deep I felt as though I could hardly breathe. Patiently, those fingers danced around, testing me until he found the place that got the biggest reaction. Starting slowly, he stroked me over and over, playing with how wet I was, while intense pleasure lit all my nerve endings. I could easily put off my own climax as long as I needed, but there was no need tonight. I wanted to lose myself in him and let my body do whatever it wanted. What it wanted, as it turned out, was to come quickly. Seth and I had been apart too long, and my body has missed his touch.
A few more skillful touches, and I felt my lower body explode with bliss, the sensation so overwhelming that I wasn’t certain I could handle being touched anymore . . . even though I craved it. Seth continued teasing me until my orgasm finally subsided, and only then did he remove his fingers. He finally broke the kiss too, and we both gasped for breath, our eyes locked on each other.
“Come here,” I said, pulling him back toward me. Like me, Seth could’ve easily dragged out more foreplay . . . and like me, he didn’t want to. I guess this was the cost of “rationing.” It didn’t leave much room for patience.
His body pressed against mine, and I felt him push inside me, hard and ready. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again as he began to thrust in and out of me. I wanted as much of him as I could get, wanted to make contact with as much of his body as I could. As we made love, though, I had the same sense I always did: even with him in me, pushing as hard as he could, he would never be close enough to me. I always wanted more of him. Our bodies were meant to be together, I decided. There was something so wonderfully, agonizingly right about the feel of him inside of me.
“Georgina,” he gasped, as his motions grew faster and more intense. “You’re amazing. Beyond amazing. . . .”
If any more sentiments were there, I never found out. His face transformed as his orgasm seized him, his body surging forward into mine with a new intensity. He let out a soft groan as he came, still thrusting as he took every last bit of pleasure that he could. And as he came, I felt the full surge of his stolen life force. It was glorious and heady, and I tried to accept it as part of the rest of the experience. I didn’t want to ruin this moment with guilt.
When Seth’s body finally slowed, he collapsed onto me, resting his head on my chest. He exhaled heavily and planted a kiss between my breasts. “Did I mention that you’re amazing ?” he asked.
I sighed contentedly and ran my hand through his hair, which was now even more messed up than usual. “Not that amazing,” I remarked. “I feel like you did all the work.”
He kissed me again. “That’s what’s great about you, Thetis. You don’t even know when you’re being amazing.”
I felt a smile creeping over my face, and it had nothing to do with the compliments.
“I love you,” I said, because it seemed the only adequate response.
“Mmm.” He snuggled closer. “Let’s not wait so long next time, okay?”
I laughed softly. “We’re going to wait even longer. I don’t think monthly sex is going to work if we ration for a lifetime. It’s still too frequent.”
He groaned. “Come on. I don’t mind the risks. It’s worth it. I could be content with biweekly sex. Tonight was proof you can’t hold out very long either.”
“Biweekly! That’s definitely too frequent. You only got it tonight because I suddenly had a moment of crisis.”
He chuckled, though it was soon lost in a yawn. “If I got sex every time you had ‘a moment of crisis,’ then I’d probably be getting it every night.”
I gently elbowed him. “That’s not true.” I thought about it. “Much.”
He laughed again and wrapped his arms around me, keeping us close. “Oh, Georgina. You make everything we go through worthwhile. Everything.”
Chapter 11
It was hard leaving Seth’s side in the morning. We’d had too few nights together recently, and each day that passed only served to remind me I was that much closer to the transfer. Lying in his arms, watching him sleep in the early sunlight, I thought back to what he’d said about Andrea getting better. If that was true, if she was healing, then there was a chance the ties keeping Seth here might lessen. I felt selfish even thinking that way, but surely it wasn’t too terrible a thing to wish we could all get a happy ending.
After a leisurely breakfast, Seth and I went over to the Mortensens’. He was on babysitting duty while Andrea went to a doctor’s appointment, and I was there to pick up Brandy. Chaos met us at the door, and Brandy practically flew outside, breathless and laughing.
“Don’t go in there,” she warned me, after I gave Seth a quick kiss good-bye. She and I headed toward my car. “It’s crazy. Mom and Dad slept in, and Grandma let Kendall and the twins ‘help’ with breakfast.”
“What are they making?”
“Waffles,” she said. “From scratch. I don’t know which was scarier: Kendall mixing the batter or Morgan and McKenna on duty with the waffle iron. They set the smoke detector off twice.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I pulled out of the driveway. “And you and Kayla didn’t help?”
“No way,” Brandy replied. “I stayed away from that mess, and Kayla was in one of her silent moods today.”
“Aw.” I kind of wished now that I’d taken a moment to go inside. Tiny Kayla had a special place in my heart. Though she was better than she used to be, she still had a tendency to simply watch her world without a word, and it could be difficult coaxing conversation from her. Some of this was shyness, and some of this—I suspected—was from the fact that Kayla was psychic. Her skills were still undeveloped, but she was sensitive to the workings of the supernatural world, which I had to imagine would make anyone of any age silent at times.
“She’ll be fine. She loves waffles.” Brandy smiled, and I was happy to see her so upbeat for a change. She shouldered just as much stress as the adults. “If any actually get made.”
We drove downtown, and I quizzed Brandy about what she was looking for in a dress. She had little to offer, which was both charming and kind of heartbreaking. Brandy wasn’t a tomboy, but with all of her family drama, dresses had been understandably off her radar. In fact, when her face lit up at all the downtown lights and decorations, it became clear that family had really been the only thing in her life recently.
“I haven’t seen any of the holiday stuff this year,” she told me, gazing out the windows. A pang in my heart reminded me that this would be my last year to see Seattle in all its holiday finery. “We usually always come down here so that the girls can see Santa. There’s been no time.”
“The girls haven’t seen Santa?” I asked, snapping out of my moment of self-pity. “That’s not fair, especially considering I see a little too much of him.” It made me wonder how many drinks it would take to coax Walter into a house call. It also convinced me more than ever to make this a special day for Brandy. I couldn’t expect her not to worry about her mom, but today, with Andrea on the mend and Seattle’s shopping wonderland ready to explore, Brandy was entitled to worry just a
I took her on a whirlwind tour of designer stores, chastising her for looking at price tags. I wanted this to be about more than the dress itself. I wanted her to have an experience, to feel like a princess. I made sure the
