“Because of the way we parted.”
She returned her gaze to his.
“I couldn’t let you think that what happened between us was part of my job.”
Lyssa was so much shorter than he was, she had to tilt her neck back to study his features. “Thank you.”
Her quiet dignity was too much for him. Closing the distance between them, he tossed her hat aside. Then he cupped her nape and kissed her. A hard, quick kiss. “I made love to you because I couldn’t bear not to. Because I wanted to more than anything. I don’t regret it, and I don’t want you to regret it, either.”
Her small hands circled his wrists. “I don’t.”
He rested his forehead against hers and breathed in her scent of soft flowers.
“I feel as if I’ve known you a long time,” she whispered. “As if I’m saying good-bye to an old, dear friend.”
“I will miss you, too,” he admitted, before taking her mouth and kissing her deeply. A kiss that was meant to say farewell, a memento to last him an eternity. Then her taste, sweet and heady like wine, flowed over his tongue and intoxicated him.
“Lyssa.” He groaned his misery and need into her mouth.
Her slender arms tried valiantly to encircle his broad shoulders, then gave up and slid down to embrace his straining back. All the while he drank the flavor of her, stroking his tongue between her parted lips as he wanted to do with his cock, sliding his callused hands down the smooth skin of her sides.
His eyes closed, Aidan tilted his head, fitting his lips to her softer ones, swallowing her whimpers with a shudder that wracked the length of his frame. She gave as good as she got, her hands sliding beneath his shirt, caressing his bare skin, her hips arching into him, the invitation blatant and tinged with the same desperation he felt.
When her tongue tangled with his, he pulled away with a curse, every muscle on fire with tension. He nibbled her jaw, licked and bit at her neck, distracted her as he cupped her full breast, kneading it, feeling it grow heavy with her desire. Impatient, he shoved away the fabric that intruded, and caught her nipple with his fingers, rolling it, tugging it, squeezing it with varying pressure.
“Yes…” she breathed, urging him to take all that he wanted, failing to see how starved he was for her, starved for the feeling of connection he had found with her.
Lowering his head, he took her in his mouth, her nipple a hard, silken delight. He suckled her with hunger, his cheeks hollowing with every drawing pull, his tempo rhythmic and designed to make her cunt clench for him, to make her ache as he did.
She cupped his ass, squeezed, urged him against her. Through the thin fabrics between them, he felt her heat, and he squeezed his eyes shut, his nose pressed to her skin so that every breath he took was Lyssa, a scent that would forever be imprinted on his memory.
Sadness welled within him, and he lifted his head. How much worse would his attachment be if he took her again? Already all other women had lost their ability to entice him.
Her eyes fluttered open. With her ravished mouth and swollen nipple, she was a picture of wanton abandon. He could lower her to the sand, and free his cock. A quick tug would pull her swimsuit aside, allowing him to sink into her creamy depths. In all his life, he had never wanted anything as much.
“I’m afraid of what will happen,” she breathed, her chest rising and falling with her labored breathing, “if we make love again. I want more, Aidan.”
Pulling her tight against him, Aidan rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I’m sorry I can’t give it to you.”
He forced himself to release her, to relinquish her warm, curvy body. Forever.
She righted her swimsuit and looked at him with big, dark eyes. “I’m happy you came, even though you can’t stay.”
His thumb caressed the curve of her cheekbone. “Goodbye, Lyssa.”
“Good-bye.”
Turning on his heel, he left her.
He felt her watching him all the way until the door shut and became an impassable barrier between them.
Chapter 4
“You have broken one of our most sacred laws, Captain Cross.” The sea of gray-shrouded faces before Aidan nodded as one. “We do not choose the assignments given to Guardians lightly. It is not your place to reassign yourself and others to suit your own needs.”
He stood impassive, his hands laced at his back, his stance wide as if prepared for a blow, which he was. He’d known the risks when he went to Lyssa. He had accepted them in return for a few moments with her, and the price was worth being able to hold her as he had.
“You set the example for others,” the Elder continued. “Any transgressions on your part can start a chain of disobedience. Because of this, you will spend the next fortnight at the Gateway.”