“It has been quite an adventure, my
“Yeah.” I’d sent my inner girls on a mission to knock on al the doors of my mind. If anyone who wasn’t supposed to be there answered, I just might have a nervous breakdown. But so far… no demons anywhere. I was beginning to accept the fact that Brude was gone forever.
“I found my children.”
“And they are unique.”
“Helena is a wonder as wel .”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “About her.”
He took my hand and led me to the bathroom, where he slowly began to peel off my torn and bloody clothes. Whenever he found a scratch or bruise he paused to lay a kiss on it as he explained,
“Yes. She is your ancestress. And yes, I have looked after your line ever since I adopted her. For the most part I have kept a respectful distance, so that the good fortune that has befal en your family members has seemed to be just that. And it seemed that the same would be true of you. I had never even seen you until after Matt died. But your circumstances demanded that I come closer. I felt you needed protection from something, though I could not pinpoint what that was.”
“Because it was myself,” I whispered, as I began to unbutton his tattered shirt.
He nodded. “The moment I saw you, everything changed for me.” He wrapped his hands around mine and I looked up into his eyes. “I had never felt for a woman the way I did for you then. I loved you instantly.” He raised my hands to his lips, his ring glinting in the soft glow of the single light we’d left on as he brushed them softly against each knuckle until I could feel the tingle of his touch down the backs of my thighs and into my feet. “You are part of my soul.” I waited until he had thoroughly kissed each finger, then I freed my hand so I could part the front of his shirt and slowly pul it down his arms so I could enjoy each new bit of skin and muscle it revealed. His chest, as broad and curl-covered as it had been the day he was turned, rippled under my fingers as I swept them across it and down to his flat, hard stomach. I looked up into his emerald eyes as I began to undo his belt. “I never wanted to be this close to you. But you’re irresistible, you know.” As I freed the leather band and dropped it to the floor, I wrapped my arm around his waist and pul ed him so close I could feel already that I’d excited him in the extreme. “You’re like air to me now. Without you, I couldn’t breathe. I wouldn’t want to.”
I raised my lips. Instead of dropping his head he lifted me in his arms, holding me effortlessly while I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips, pressing my breasts into his chest.
“I love you, Vayl,” I said between multiple kisses along his jaw and neck.
“And I love you, Jasmine.” Long pause while we shared a kiss so phenomenal that when it was finished I had to think for a minute before I could remember where in the world we were standing.
“Are you stil cool with me spending more downtime with family? Because, you know, that would mean you’d have to hang out with them too.”
He took another moment to kiss my forehead. “I relish the thought. Perhaps, one day,
I regarded him seriously. “I don’t know. Do you think we could pul that off?”
“Perhaps. We are becoming so… different. Also, I hear I am a wonderful father.” I threw my arms around him. “You are. Which is a good thing, because it’s entirely possible I’d suck as a mother.”
“I doubt it.”
“You know,” I whispered in his ear, “it’s also entirely possible we may never find out.”
“I do not care,” he said earnestly. “We wil be together. And think of the fun we wil have trying!” I snorted. Then I stopped. Because I
“Eeeeewww!”
“The last one in the shower has to unwrap the hotel soap.”
“Get outta my way!”
extras
meet the author
JENNIFER RARDIN began writing at the age of twelve. She penned eight Jaz Parks novels in her life.
She passed away in September 2010.
introducing
If you enjoyed
THE DEADLIEST BITE,
look out for
TEMPEST RISING
Book 1 of the Jane True series
