Forbidden Craving(95)

"And I thought you were the thing I needed most in my life."

His words acted with the heady intoxication of a caress. She licked her lips, then bit into them to tamp down a loud, long scream of pleasure when his shaft pressed into her opening.

"So tight," he praised.

"More. Hard and fast, like you promised."




 

 

He gave her another inch. "Is this enough?"

"No! Give me more."

Another inch, but it still wasn't enough. "And now?"

"More, more, more."

With a roar, he pounded all the way in. She gasped. He groaned. But he didn't move, just left them both at the edge.

"Hard! Fast!"

He ignored her, saying, "Do you know the most erotic place on a man's body, Moon? His heart," Valerian said.

His heart...

She had an orgasm in that moment, exploding, throbbing, throbbing so hard. Screaming and sobbing. The force of it raked her, causing bone to vibrate and hum against muscle, every part of her affected.

Valerian slid out and pounded forward. Over and over, driving hard and deep, just as she'd commanded.

He rode her until another orgasm caused her spirit to leave her body. An out of body experience. She was raw sensation. A phantom forever climaxing.

"Shaye," he roared, shuddering into her a final time. "Love. You." His hands dug into her hips. Gripping, bruising deliciously. "Love you so much."



"TALK TO ME," Valerian said a long while later. He lay on the bed, Shaye had wiggled out from under him a few minutes ago and though she hadn't gotten up, she maintained stiff and distanced on the bed. "Tell me what's wrong."

"You said...never mind."

What? "That I love you?"

She nodded but didn't look his way.

And the emotion bothered her? "I vowed to always be honest with you."

"Yes, but... I feel like I need to protect you from yourself. Love feeds your soul to someone else."

"You're wrong. Love feeds your soul. Period."

A tremor swept through her, and he pulled her against him. After a minute, she sighed and cuddled against him.

Much better. They were both naked, and he was tempted to remain that way for the rest of eternity.

He loved her, and he loved the way her curves fit against him. As if she were the last piece of a puzzle, and they were perfectly matched.

"I'm being rude to my guests," he said a little while later. 

She yawned. "What guests?" she asked, her breath fanning his chest.

"Vampires. They helped us with the dragons and bought us a bit of a reprieve."

"Vampires." She shuddered. "I should run screaming from this room, but I'm too tired to be afraid of bloodsuckers."

"No one will be sucking your blood but me."

She chuckled. "Do you regret being rude to them?" Her fingertip slid along the ridges of his stomach.

"I'm with you. I regret nothing," he said roughly, aroused by her touch and her words. She was adapting to life here. Maybe even coming to love it as he'd always craved.

Her finger looped through his nipple ring, and she chuckled again. "Such a naughty boy. The bad boy mommas warn their daughters about."

He liked the sound of her laughter and realized he'd never really heard her amusement before. "How old are you?" he asked, wanting to know everything about her.

"Twenty-five. Way too young for you."

He frowned.

"Are you going to live forever? Do you never age?"

"I age, just slower than humans."

Her entire body tensed. "Wait, wait, wait. I just had a thought. I'm going to grow old while you continue to look like that. No! Absolutely not!"

"You are in Atlantis now, love. Your aging process will slow, as well."

"Oh." Little by little, she relaxed. "That's okay, then. Unless I still end up aging faster than you. The moment, the very second, I can pass as your mother, I'm out of here."

Too bad, so sad. I'm never letting you go. "Do you miss your surface life as intensely as you did before?"

She released another sigh. "That's a tough question to answer."

"Quite easy, actually. A yes or no is all that's required." He didn't want her to miss her old life. He wanted her happy, completely, with him. If she did miss it...

What would he do? His two greatest desires would be at war with each other-the desire to keep her with him and the desire to see to her happiness, always, no matter the cost to himself.

"I'm not sure if I miss it or not. I mean, I'm not close to my family. I never have been, really, but closure would have been nice."

"Why exactly were you not close with them?" He couldn't imagine such a thing with his brother if Verryn had lived.