Her hands lifted to grip his back. “Do it, Zee.”
She felt the touch of him against her slick opening, then the press of flesh as he sought entrance. He was too big. For a brief moment, she panicked. He’d never fit inside her!
“Juli, kiss me.” He bent his head and took her mouth, sweeping his tongue inside. Pleasure rushed through her, stealing her fear and opening her body. And suddenly he was in, sliding freely without causing her any pain, only a thick, welcome pressure.
“Okay?” he gasped.
“Yes. Oh, yes.”
He began to move, pulling back, then pressing forward again, slowly at first, then more quickly as her body softened and opened farther. Her own passion lifted, urging her to drive her hips against him, to seek more. Closer. Faster. Harder.
She gripped his shoulders, holding on as he plunged into her body over and over. Passion swept her up, spinning her in a tighter and tighter arc like a cyclone gaining strength and speed.
She was gasping, meeting him thrust for thrust, the climax nearly upon her when her blood began to fizz like champagne.
“Zee!” But it was too late. The storm broke over her, broke over them both. As Zeeland shouted, his voice low and triumphant, she cried out her own release, a brilliant, exquisite orgasm that ripped her from herself and sent her spinning into a million pieces.
Literally.
She could feel her body turning to mist.
Chapter Eleven
Zeeland felt the moment Julianne began to change. The shift wasn’t immediate. The body beneath him began to turn soft, began to shimmer. He felt himself sinking. Into her. Into her.
A frisson of panic bolted through him. His instincts told him to vault off the bed, away from her. But within her shimmering eyes he read the fear that he would do just that. He fought the instinct, his body still pulsing from the most incredible release he’d ever had.
Amazingly, instead of dimming, that incredible pleasure only seemed to grow as he slowly sank into the shimmering, insubstantial form of the woman he loved. He felt as if, in merging with her, she wrapped him in the very essence of her warmth and beauty. And love.
“Am I hurting you?” he gasped. He could be crushing her. Destroying her.
“No.” Her voice was filled with the wonder rushing through him. “It feels…wonderful. As good as the sex, but in an entirely different way.”
He kept his head lifted, peering down into her shimmering, beautiful face and saw the tears in her eyes.
She laughed softly, and he felt the ripples of pleasure caress him inside and out. “I’ve heard the term becoming one, but I think we’ve taken this to a whole new level.”
He grinned at her, then sobered. “Just don’t go solid with me inside you or we’ll be one in a way we never intended.”
Julianne’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Maybe we’d better not press our luck.”
“I agree.” Zeeland pushed himself up and off her, feeling the loss, then turned and sat facing her as she rose to sit beside him.
He looked at her, really looked at her. Her body, so petite, so beautifully ripe, yet perfectly proportioned, shimmered like an angel’s come to Earth. But he was ready for her to reclaim her corporeal form. He didn’t like that he couldn’t touch her.
How could he protect her if he couldn’t touch her?
In her eyes, he saw glimmers of the same worry. He’d promised her she wouldn’t stay this way, but neither of them had ever experienced anything like this before. Neither of them knew anything for certain.
Zeeland rose and pulled on his pants. Maybe the book…
An odd breeze blew through the room, scented with pine.
Julianne gasped, her insubstantial face whitening as her gaze stabbed the space behind him.
He whirled. Behind him, near the end of Julianne’s bed, floated a petite, blond woman, her misty body outlined in a red glow. Anger blazed from eyes the color of sapphires. An Ilina’s eyes.
“You’ll come with me. Now,” the small blonde snapped. “Both of you.”
“Like hell.” Zeeland strode to the bed to stand beside Julianne, putting his arm out to protect her, accidentally passing it right through her shoulder. Hell.
He faced the Ilina. “We’re not going anywhere with you. None but a true Ilina can survive in the Crystal Realm, and we know it as well as you.”
Melisande’s face darkened with anger. “How dare you reveal yourself to him!” She lifted a hand and pointed two fingers at Julianne. To his horror, Julianne gasped, doubling over with pain.
“I didn’t mean to,” Julianne cried, her voice little more than a whisper.
“Leave her alone!” How in the hell was he supposed to protect her when he couldn’t touch her? When he couldn’t touch either of them?