Beautiful Oblivion (37 page)

She lurches forward and takes a breath.

“Really?” She lifts her chin, her eyes still locked with a challenge. “Is that the best you can do?”

“You little wench.” I withdraw my hand and unbuckle my belt, releasing myself from my trousers. I hold myself out between us, erect and daunting—if it’s a punishment she wants, she’ll more than get it here. “I think this fits the bill.”

“Good God, I don’t think that fits anywhere.” A brief look of terror crosses her features.

“You know what they say.” I pick her up by the waist and land her gently over me. “You play with the bull, you get the horn.”

“Marshall, wait.” She grips me by the shoulders just as the tip of my erection finds that warm home it’s been begging to take refuge in for so long.

“What’s that?” I can hardly get the words out. If she doesn’t want this, then it’s done, we won’t do it. I’ll wait until the future, a very long dry season will ensue, but, nevertheless, I’ll wait for Skyla.

She grips my face in her hands and pulls me toward her. “I want to say, I love you.”

“You love me?”

“I’ve always loved you.”
Somewhere in my heart, Marshall, you’ve always had a home.

She nods into me as she waits for the reciprocation.

I don’t say those words often. Humans abuse those three little words—I find the phrase borders offensive on occasion, especially since the sentiment has become so lax.

“I know.” I close my eyes and press her over me.

“Wait.” She seizes her tiny hands over my shoulders once again.

“Dear God, woman, are you not aware of what’s happening?
What
?” I bark it out harsher than intended.

“What do you mean, you
know
?”

“I know that you love me,” I say it slow and measured, my temper rising along with my testosterone.

Her eyes steady over mine like a dare. “Don’t you have something you want to say in return?”

She’s testing me, and, strangely, it only intensifies the surge of pleasure pulsating through my body.

“There is something I want to say in return.” I drill my gaze into hers unrelenting. “Do you want this slow or fast?”

“Oh, fuck.” She snaps her head back in frustration.

“Yes, that.” I dig my fingers into her hips as I try to sink her over me, and she locks her elbows, restraining the effort once again. I try to press on, but she’s impossible to move. “Are you using your Celestra strength against me?”

“Are you using your Sector
Stupidity
against me?” She grips me by the collar and pulls me in with violent intent. “Say the words I want to hear, Dudley, and be done with it.”

My lips twitch—anger—joy—it can go either way right now. “You do realize I’m about to fill you with all of my glory—that the size of my celebrity is going to astound you to the point of screaming hysterics.” I pull her in until we’re nose to nose as I try not to let my temper get away from me. “You, my love, are about to take a seat on the throne of pleasure like you have never known before.” My jaw grinds as I dig my fingers into her waist in lieu of shaking her. “So might I advise you, Ms. Messenger, to sit back, enjoy the ride, and if I’m so moved to inform you of how I
feel
, trust me to do so.”

Her thighs quake, her stomach quivers.

Her pale aqua marine eyes drill into mine. “Say it.” She spits it out with venom.

“I”—I sink her over me another inch and her mouth opens, a cry strangles from her throat—“love”—I plunge her lower still another inch, then progressively lower ignoring her menial resistance—“to infuriate you.”

Her eyes open wide. A fresh rage brews in them.

“Because I love you.” A simple smile glides up my cheek then slopes right off. “Now—you never answered my question.” My fingers dig into her soft hips as I continue to press her over me, filling her slowly as her eyes roll to the back of her head.

Her neck arches as she expires a breath into the dusty room.

“I can’t hear you.” I sink her lower, and she gives a little cry. “Almost there, Ms. Messenger. Now which is it, slow or fast?”

She comes to for a moment out of her sexual stupor, her blonde mane spilling around her face as she rocks her neck from side to side. Skyla is a sensual goddess, a vixen of desire—all without trying. It’s the sweetest part of her that envelops me, her utter innocence with just a touch of that barbed tongue that matches me stride for stride. And now I’m in her, and never before in my entire existence have I ever felt so complete.

She runs a finger down the side of my face. “Is this a pop quiz, Mr. Dudley?”

A dry laugh thumps through me.

“I heard hard.” My lip curls with the dare.

“That wasn’t an option.”

“It is now.”

She glowers into me never breaking my gaze.

Skyla eases over me the rest of the way, and my head knocks back as I take in a measured breath. It’s heaven like this with Skyla, her sex clenching over mine, strangling me with her tight body.

Her body quakes as I secure my hands over her hips, plunging her over me again and again. Her hips rotate over mine as she rolls her neck over her shoulders letting out one glorious moan after the other. I bring my finger down over her, and her nails claw into my arms, encouraging me as she stiffens. Her lips quiver as she struggles to formulate the words on her mouth.

“Right there.” She pulls my face to hers, and I land a wet kiss to her lips for a moment. My body shakes, and she continues to ride me, pumping fast and hard as I plunge into her. My finger moves over her at a quickened pace, and she lands her hot mouth over my ear, panting, hardly able to hold out a minute more.

“Take it, right now, Skyla.” I press a series of hard circles over that tender part of her. “Catch it,” I bark it out like a command, and she shudders in a series of spasms as I release all of my affection into her. I hold her down, hard over my waist, with enough strength to snap the bones in both our bodies as I let out a roar that vibrates through the building.

“Skyla—I love you.” I touch my lips to hers and taste the salt in her tears. I pull back, panting, as I inspect her beautiful face slicked with tracks that stream from her eyes. Dear God, if she regrets this I’ll hate myself. “Did I hurt you?” I mean that in the emotional sense as well, but I take it she knows.

She shakes her head. “You made me happy.” She looks up at me from under her lashes, and a fire heats my belly just like the first time we met—the night we shared a kiss in the deep end of the Pacific.

“You make me happy, Skyla.” I cup her face in my hand. “And I love you higher than the heavens and deeper than the sea.”

She leans in and buries her tongue in my mouth until I’m moving below her again, rousing to life under her willful command.

“Smoking.” She pulls back barely breathing, her eyes heavy with lust.

“We were smoking, weren’t we?”

She blinks to life, a renewed sense of panic rife on her face. “I mean the room is smoking.”

I take a deep breath, and the scent of fresh soot infiltrates my nostrils. A grey plume curls in from the under the door.

“Oh, shit.” She jumps off and bunches her dress with her fists. “The Counts.”

I pull myself together and rise beside her. “Looks like they’re ready to play. Are you ready, love?”

“With you by my side?” A small dimple presses over her cheek. “Always.”

I pull her into a kiss as the room billows with a necrotic white cloud.

“Next time”—I brush my lips over hers once more—“we take it slow and easy. I’m going to make love to you.”

“In a bed?”

“Let’s not get carried away.” I open the door, and the handle scalds through to my bones. “I say we try the barn.”

“I’ll bring the champagne.”

“I’ll bring the whip.”

A slew of screams echo through the inferno-filled structure.

“The Counts await,” I hold out my hand.

The fire reflects in her eyes as she steps boldly toward the flames like she did once so long ago.

She gives a little laugh. “They will never know what hit them.”

“Time is running out, Skyla.”

“It never was my friend.”

Skyla and I herd the women to safety. She gathers a handful of Counts and locks them in the basement only to have them break their way out before death arrives.

We watch safe from a distant hillside as the structure burns to a glowing pile of lumber while men transfer buckets amongst themselves like a keystone comedy.

“You think the Counts learned a lesson tonight?” She wraps her arms around me tight, her head resting over my chest.

“The Celestra women that were in that building won’t go to trial—although others will. Rina’s cousin, Clara, lives to monster through another day, so if you call that a victory, you win again, Skyla.” I plant a kiss over her head. “Know this, I’m proud of you.”

“You are?”

“You’re making a difference in people’s lives.” We turn our backs to the burning building. “Rina needed you, and you didn’t hesitate.”

“I didn’t change the past, Marshall.”

“No, but you were a vital part in how it played out. Fate has interwoven you through the fabric of time, and now it’s your responsibility to fill in those gaps.”

Her eyes narrow, her features darken. “And if I don’t?”

“It all unravels one fiber at a time.”

She takes a breath and flattens her hand against my chest. “And what does that mean for the outcome of the war?”

I meet her hard stare and let her surmise the truth on her own.

“Oh, God, Marshall. We’re going to be fighting these damn battles forever aren’t we?”

“Not forever.”

“It’s going to be like holding up a granite wall.” She pounds her hand into me. “This isn’t fair.”

“Welcome to life, Skyla.” I snatch her wrist and lean in, nose to nose. “It never is.”

She slips out of my grasp and wraps her arms around my neck. “Will you be there with me?”

“Always. You will never go alone.”

“So what was this?” She glances back at the carnage brewing around the once upon a whorehouse. “Some kind of test my mother dreamed up?”

“No, love. It was simply the beginning of a new chapter in your life. Consider it a secret mission assigned to just you and me.”

“Great.” She closes her eyes, incensed. “Let me guess...the code word is
let’s get it on
?”

“I believe the decision council refers to it as Celestra in retrograde, but I like where your head is at.”

“Funny, I figured you’d like my head in more interesting places.” She raises a brow. “So, are you going to tell me?”

“You mean the younger you, the one that nearly clawed my eyes out over my unwillingness to aid in the homicide of your mother-in-law?”

She belts out a laugh as we make our way down the dirt path while Salem smolders behind is.

“Of course.” I pull her body close to mine as we meander back through time. “I can hardly wait for you to try and keep this from Jock Strap.”

“You know I hate keeping secrets from Gage.”

“I know.” I give her hip a squeeze. “I know everything about you, Skyla Messenger.”

“That hasn’t been my name in a very long time.” She looks up, her cheeks filling with color.

“You’ll always be Skyla Messenger to me.”

I pull her in under the tangerine moon bewitching the night and seal my mouth to hers.

Skyla and I fight a fierce battle with our heated kisses, wrestle for dominance with our tongues for hours in this stolen sliver of time.

The dawn breaks, and time regurgitates us back to where she found us, with me safe on Paragon and that version of Skyla locked away further down in time.

Skyla and I were meant to be together, just not at this juncture. For now I’m relegated to friend, confidant, counselor, teacher. I’m nothing more until destiny unites us in the future—unless, of course, she visits.

And, if she’s good, next time, I might even find her a bed.

BIG thank you to my awesome readers who have been so kind and supportive. I cannot tell you enough that you are like family to me.

Thank you to Christina Kendler you really do save me time and time again! Hugs and kisses for that. I think it warrants an extra gift at Christmas.
Rachel Tsoumbakos, your proofreading superpowers astound me. You are word ninja that demands honor. Sarah Freese, where to even begin? I love that you push me to go further and fix scenes that need adjustment (read murderous hacking sprees). And in the event I never tell you, I think you’re always right. No, really, I do.

To my family, I’m just glad that most of you remember what I look like. Also, thank you for letting me use the dining room table as my office. It makes it totally reasonable for me to snack All. Day. Long.

And finally, to Him who sits on the throne; worthy is the Lamb. Your word is manna for my hungry soul. I owe you everything.