I feel, never knowing that you felt the same way.”
“You didn’t need to know this. I’m just trying to give you perspective.”
Her hold on him tightened. “How do you deal with it?”
“I just remind myself that the man I knew as my father was already dead, and that’s what he would have wanted.” He drew her away so he could look at her. “And that’s what you have to remember. Lou was already gone. You didn’t kill Lou. You killed that demon. Lou would be proud of you.”
“You and I are so much alike. I never saw it.”
He slid his fingers under her chin. “I did. And maybe that’s part of why I said what I did back in Florida.”
“What do you mean?”
“Keepers’ mates are vulnerable, Mandy”
Her eyes widened. “You thought … oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I can take care of myself, Michael. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not a housewife who’s going to be slaughtered while you’re off fighting demons.”
He closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. Stupid, he knew, because his mind had gone there.
“Oh, my God. You thought that, didn’t you? About you and me.”
“Maybe.”
“That’s a pretty broad jump. From sex to forever.”
“Is it? In our line of work, hello to forever could be just days. We never know how long we have. I don’t like to waste time.”
She blew out a breath. “You scare me sometimes, Mike.”
“You infuriate me sometimes, Mandy. But you intrigue me, and you excite me, and I really like being with you.” And he knew now why he found her so irresistible. Beyond her beauty and her courage, she was just as lost as he was. He pressed his lips to hers, drawing strength from the way she kissed him back, moved into him to draw closer.
He’d prided himself on remaining aloof for years. Like Mandy, he’d lost so much.
But maybe it was time to fight back against the Sons of Darkness, and to take solace in someone else.
Maybe strength came in unity, not solitude.
He deepened the kiss, for the first time in years feeling that strength filling him. With Mandy at his side, he felt more powerful than ever.
They only had a few short hours until night fell. Isabelle felt the clock ticking even louder, the pounding echoing in her heart, tightening her throat like a noose. She tried to stay busy at the cabin as she watched the time click down to the zero hour, grateful at least that Dalton had brought her back here after telling Michael and the others that she needed a few hours’ rest before the big event. She needed to be away from the main house, felt claustrophobic around the sympathetic looks and gestures of Dalton’s friends and even her own sister. She couldn’t handle it.
Before they’d left the others, they’d gone over the ceremony with Georgie, outlining every possible scenario, though they realized that no one could predict what might really happen once things got under way. And playing the “what if” game with Isabelle’s destiny-with her and Dalton’s lives-had only ratcheted up her tension to the nth degree. By the time Dalton had called a halt to things and dragged her out of there, she’d been ready to explode.
She stared out the front window and watched the sun move over the water, every inch of its descent reminding her that time grew closer for tonight’s event. She dreaded it, didn’t look forward to it at all, wanted to just be a normal woman in love with a normal man.
She hated having no control over her own destiny, being unable to make her own choices regarding her future and what she wanted. She wanted Dalton in her life, and that wasn’t going to happen.
So unfair. She closed her eyes, and for the first time in a very long time, she whispered a prayer for his safety. If she couldn’t have him, she could only wish that he got what he wanted. No matter how things turned out for her, it was about time that she thought about someone else’s needs. Dalton had paid a severe price over so many years for doing something so incredibly noble.
His time for redemption had come. She could only hope she was the catalyst. Maybe after all the bad things she’d done in her life, all the selfish ways she’d tried to serve herself and her own desires, she could finally do something good for someone else.
When Dalton’s hands came around to encircle her waist, she melted into him, needing this more than she needed to breathe. His touch, being near him, was a balm to her psyche. She leaned against him, resting her head against his chest, wishing she could freeze this moment in time. She’d be perfectly content to stay like this, with Dalton’s hands around her, the feel of his heart beating against her back, his chin resting on the top of her head. She’d never felt so relaxed.
“Our time is running out, Dalton.”
He turned her around to face him. “Then let’s not waste a minute of it.” He kissed her, his lips barely a feather brush against hers. She sighed in utter bliss, swept off her feet from the sheer romance of his mouth sliding against hers. She poured everything she had into touching him, tasting him, knowing this would be the last time she would ever be close to him.
He led her into the bedroom and took his time removing her clothes. She was torn between wanting to hurry up and taking each moment in slow motion, wishing she could capture every second in her memories so she’d never forget. As he peeled away her shirt he pressed his lips to her neck, her shoulder, the touch of his lips so reverent it brought tears to her eyes. She sensed this moment was as special to him as it was to her, that he knew as well as she did that they would only have this time together, and then it would be gone.
He turned her around and drew her hair to the side, placing his lips against the nape of her neck. She shivered, goose bumps prickling her skin. He tilted her head up and pulled her against him so he could reach around her to touch her breasts, sliding his thumbs over the piercings, tugging them with gentle pulls that made her whimper. She felt the sensation between her legs. So incredible, so erotic, he knew her body like he owned it.
He did.
How would she ever live without him?
She did-everything. His touch, his hands on her nipples, the ecstasy of his familiarity with her, the way his body felt against hers after he pulled off his shirt. The smoothness of his chest against her back, the heat, the possessiveness as he drew her shorts down and pressed a soft kiss to her right hip, then turned her around and claimed her sex with his mouth. She widened her legs and let him take her, threading her fingers through his hair, watching him while absorbing every wild sensation and committing it to memory. He loved her slowly, sliding his tongue in tantalizing fashion over her until she lost the ability to think coherently. She gripped his hair and held him to her while she rode the crest and fell, rocking against him in unabashed frenzy.
He rose and took her mouth again in a tart kiss that told her she belonged to him and only him.
As if she could ever hope to experience this with anyone else again. She was his, always would be, no matter if they were separated.
When he lifted her and carried her to the bed, she wrapped her arms around his neck, staring at his face, sliding her fingertips along his jaw. There was so much she wanted to say, but she said nothing. Neither did he. She understood.
There was nothing they could say to each other now. They could only show, without words, the depth of their feelings.
He rolled her to her side to face him, lifted her leg over his hip and slid inside her. Slow and easy, he rocked in and out, letting her feel every inch of him. Her body gripped him in utter pleasure, and now it was her turn to claim him, to tell him that he was hers, and always would be.
She watched the tension on his face, the way he clamped his lips together and concentrated on their bodies gliding back and forth as one. She pulled up and kissed him, rimming his lips with her tongue. He opened for her and she found his tongue, sucked it, and he groaned, curling her toes at the extreme pleasure of his response. He tunneled his fingers in her hair and gripped tight, tilting her head back to kiss her hard as he quickened his movements with harder thrusts.
