Fearless, Flynn thought, even now. Or perhaps it was more a thirst for all the times she’d denied herself a drink. When she turned her face to his, her eyes brighter than the jewels, brighter than the stars, he spun her in dizzying circles.
They landed in a laughing tumble to roll over the soft cushion of grass by the side of his blue waterfall.
“Oh! That was amazing. Can we do it again?”
“Soon enough. Here.” He lifted a hand, and a plump peach balanced on the tips of his fingers. “You haven’t eaten your supper.”
“I wasn’t hungry before.” Charmed, she took the peach, bit into the sweetness. “So many stars,” she murmured, lying back again to watch them. “Were we really flying up there?”
“It’s a kind of manipulation of time and space and matter. It’s magic. That’s enough, isn’t it?”
“It’s everything. The world’s magic now.”
“But you’re cold,” he said when she shivered.
“Mmm. Only a little.” Even as she spoke, the air warmed, almost seemed to bloom.
“I confess it.” He leaned over to kiss her. “I stole a bit of warmth from here and there. But I don’t think anyone will miss it. I don’t want you chilled.”
“Can it always be like this?”
There was a hitch in his chest. “It can be what we make it. Do you miss what was before?”
“No.” But she lowered her lashes, so he was unable to read her eyes. “Do you? I mean, the people you knew? Your family?”
“They’ve been gone a long time.”
“Was it hard?” She sat up, handed him the peach. “Knowing you’d never be able to see them again, or talk to them, or even tell them where you were?”
“I don’t remember.” But he did. This was the first lie he’d told her. He remembered that the pain of it had been like death.
“I’m sorry.” She touched his shoulder. “It hurts you.”
“It fades.” He pushed away, got to his feet. “All of that is beyond, and it fades. It’s the illusion, and this is all that’s real. All that matters. All that matters is here.”
“Flynn.” She rose, hoping to comfort, but when he spun back, his eyes were hot, bright. And the desire in them robbed her of breath.
“I want you. A hundred lifetimes from now I’ll want you. It’s enough for me. Is it enough for you?”
“I’m here.” She held out her hands. “And I love you. It’s more than I ever dreamed of having.”
“I can give you more. You still have a boon.”
“Then I’ll keep it. Until I need more.” Because he’d yet to take her offered hands, she cupped his face in them. “I’ve never touched a man like this. With love and desire. Do you think, Flynn, that because I’ve never felt them before I don’t understand the wonder of knowing them now? Of feeling them now for one man? I’ve watched my mother search all of her life, be willing to risk heartbreak for the chance—just the chance—of feeling what I do right at this moment. She’s the most important person to me outside this world you’ve made. And I know she’d be thrilled to know what I’ve found with you.”
“Then when you ask me for your heart’s desire, I’ll move heaven and earth to give it to you. That’s my vow.”
“I have my heart’s desire.” She smiled, stepped back. “Tell me yours.”
“Not tonight. Tonight I have plans for you that don’t involve conversation.”
“Oh? And what might they be?”
“Well, to begin…”
He lifted a hand and traced one finger down through the air between them. Her clothes vanished.
8
“OH!” this time she instinctively covered herself. “You might have warned me.”
“I’ll have you bathed in moonlight, and dressed in starshine.”
She felt a tug, gentle but insistent, on her hands. Her arms lowered, spread out as if drawn by silken rope. “Flynn.”
“Let me touch you.” He kept his eyes on hers as he stepped forward, as he traced his fingertips down her throat, over the swell of her breasts. “Excite you.” He took her mouth in quick, little bites. “Possess you.”
Something slid through her mind, her body, at the same time. A coiled snake of heat that bound both together. The rise of it, so fast, so sharp, slashed through her. She hadn’t the breath to cry out, she could only moan.
He had barely touched her.
“How can you…how could I—”
“I want to show you more this time.” Now his hands were on her, rough and insistent. Her skin was so soft, so fragrant. In the moonlight it gleamed so that wherever he touched, the warmth bloomed on it. Roses on silk. “I want to take more this time.”