Reckless In Love(56)

"You're teaching me that. Teaching me that we aren't my parents and we  don't have to drag each other down. We don't have to be toxic to each  other even if we're not exactly the same, even if some of our passions  and hobbies are different. I should have learned a lot more from Susan  and Bob than I did from my parents."

She nuzzled his hair. "It just took longer to understand that you could break the cycle your parents were stuck in."

He nodded so slightly it was barely there.

"Love goes wrong because of the two people involved," she told him. "It  doesn't have to be that way for us, not if we're willing to work at it."         

     



 

He stroked beneath the fall of hair at her nape. "Loving you isn't work.  But I don't know if I'll be able to stop trying to help you in any way I  can."

She held his face in her palms. "You wouldn't be you if you did. And I  wouldn't love you so much if you weren't true to yourself the way I need  to be true to who I am. I didn't see us as a partnership before, but  now I do. And partners support each other. They share the cost, both  physical and emotional."

"I will share anything and everything with you. You tell me what you  need. I'll tell you what I need. Then like you said, we'll figure it  out." He spread his hands. "All those parties, the people...I like to  play there, but you, the Mavericks, Bob and Susan, that's my world. So  if you want to attend a party with me, then you'll come. If you'd rather  stay home to work or catch up on lessons or whatever, then that's what  you'll do. I want you to be happy. We're not joined at the hip. I just  want to come home to you."

"Home," she whispered. "I like the sound of that."

"You pick and choose your commissions. If it doesn't inspire you, don't do it."

"Or maybe when they ask for a cherub, I'll tell them they need a pterodactyl instead."

He laughed. Truly the most beautiful, wonderful man she'd ever known.

"God, I love you." She threw herself into him, hugging hard and tight, with all her breath, with everything in her.

"Then move in with me for good. Tonight. Now. Share my bed. Fall asleep  in my arms every night. Wake up beside me every single morning."

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes to tonight. Yes to now. Yes to every night. Yes to every single morning."

Then she kissed him. Tasted his lips, then took his mouth, played with  his tongue, and opened herself fully. She was ravenous for him, ripping  his shirt off his shoulders, popping the snaps of his jeans. She gasped  as he pulled down the top of her sundress and took her nipple in his  mouth. She arched, moaned, tangled her fingers in his hair to hold him  tight against her as pleasure spiked deep in her center.

His fingers caressed sensuously down her belly, pulling up the dress so  he could slip beneath the elastic of her panties. "Marry me, Charlie.  Marry me and be mine forever."

"Wait. Stop. What did you just say?"

But Sebastian didn't stop stroking her with sweet, hot patience, pushing her even higher. "Marry me."

"Sebastian." She writhed against him, struggling for breath, panting,  everything a blur of sensation, his fingers inside her, his body  plastered against her, his words. Marry me. She couldn't seem to say  anything more than his name.

"Say yes, Charlie. Say you'll marry me."

She cried out then, a full-body explosion, an earthquake shuddering  through her, breaking her apart, tearing her down. Then she grabbed  Sebastian by the hair and pulled his face to hers. "Yes," she whispered  again. "Yes, yes, yes."

And she devoured him with a kiss that said she'd never let him go.

* * *

They tore off the rest of their clothes in a flurry of madness.  Sebastian wanted to be inside her, needed it so badly he could barely  stop long enough for protection. Charlie's fingers trembled as she  helped him. When the deed was done, she pushed him down and took  control.

And it was so damn good to give everything he was over to her.

"Marry me," he rasped as she buried him deep inside her.

She rode him, slowly, tantalizingly, then leaned close over him. "I already said yes."

"I thought that was the orgasm talking." It was probably the last coherent thing he could get his mouth to say.

"That was an I-love-you-want-you-need-to-spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you yes."

He planted his hands on her hips and moved her, needing so much more  than the sensuous slip-slide of their bodies. "God, thank you, yes."

He filled her until she gasped out his name. She filled him just as  deeply, claiming his heart. "Take me, Charlie," he begged. "Take  everything."

They came together, split apart, moving as one, over and over, stealing  his sanity, giving him his soul. Her hands on his chest, her eyes so  green, glittering like jewels, her lips plump from his kisses.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I'll always love you." There was no other way. "I'd have loved you forever even if you never came back."

"I'll always come back, Sebastian." She made the vow even as her body contracted with pleasure around his. "Always."         

     



 

He lost it all then, gave her everything, joined her in ecstasy, riding the perfect wave of release with her.

A while later, they lay sweaty and replete in each other's arms. He  kissed her forehead softly. "You're my gorgeous Zanti Misfit." She  laughed, the throaty sound that never failed to make him tremble with  desire. He tipped up her chin with a finger. "I'm serious. You're my  unexpected."

"Don't make me cry," she said, her voice already full of tears. Then she  gasped and sat up, her eyes sparkling with that vision he so loved to  see. "Oh my God, that's it."

"What?" He loved her gasps. They were either pleasure or inspiration.

"The gate!"

"The crusty old thing you found at the construction sale?"

"Yes." She bit her lip, her eyes sparkling. "I know what to do. We need  to put it on the slope below the terrace with all the Zanti Misfits  behind it. Whenever we need something unexpected, we'll let one out."

"Brilliant. That's what the Zantis are-all the unexpected things to come."

"I love you." Her smile lit the room like a moonbeam.

"And I love you." He disentangled their limbs. "So here's the first test of our new plan."

She sat up as he climbed off the bed, reaching over to turn on the lamp.  They'd never slipped beneath the covers, and the light falling across  her set her radiant skin glowing.

"What kind of test?" She narrowed her eyes playfully.

"You'll see." He retrieved the box from the closet and laid it on the  bed. He'd had it wrapped in blue, with a dark blue ribbon around it. "A  present."

Charlie tore into the paper with gusto, the way she did everything, from  making love to welding her stallions to loving him. Then she pulled off  the lid of the box.

After a long moment, she reached out to stroke the silk velvet. "The pearl dress."

"I bought it the same day you tried it on. I wanted you to wear it when we unveiled the stallions."

"Sebastian."

He put his finger over her lips the way she always did with him. "You  know exactly how much it cost. I have money, and I'll always want to buy  you pretty things without looking at the price tag. I'll want to spoil  you. You just have to decide whether you want to take it."

She pulled the dress from its box, holding it up, touching the strands of real pearls. "It's so beautiful."

"You're what makes it beautiful."

She held it against herself, then gave him the gentlest of smiles.  "Thank you. I love the dress. I want to wear it for you. Especially when  we show everyone the chariot race."

"The chariot race?"

"It needs a name. Like a Rodin statue. The Chariot Race."

He pulled her close to kiss her. "It's perfect."

"And actually," she said when he finally let her up for air, "our first test has two parts."

"Anything, Charlie."

She let out her breath in a sigh as if she were preparing herself. "I'd  like to frame your drawings of me working on The Chariot Race and hang  them on the lobby walls for the grand opening. I want your work to  complement mine." She dropped her voice to a plea. "To complete mine."  She waited three beats of his heart. "And I want the world to know we're  a team."

His body felt hot and cold, but he'd said he could change. He thought of  all the nights she'd exposed herself for him, all the nights he'd  paraded her through crowds of people. And the truth was that she'd shown  him something special in his own work. She'd shown him the magic with  that reflection in her face shield and the halo of sparks around her  head.

"We're a team," he said. "How many drawings do we need?"

Charlie threw herself at him, crushing the dress, the box, and him.  Giving him everything he'd ever wanted, all the love he would ever need.