Department 57: Rubies of Fire (28 page)

“Marry me?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

Even then he didn’t drag her down as she expected. Instead, he stared up at her, and she felt him enter her mind. His tentative entry almost made her weep. Unsure of his welcome, unsure if he could trust her answer. Not because he didn’t trust her, but because he didn’t trust himself. Deep down Andreas felt unworthy. Under all that male arrogance, his certainty of purpose, dwelt a small boy abandoned on the streets of New York to fend for himself, bewildered by his strange desire to take blood, scared by the powerful fangs that shot out of his mouth when he smelled blood or even thought of it.

“Andreas, I love you. I want to try to have a family with you, but if we don’t succeed, I don’t really care. You’ve given me the two most precious things I’ll ever have. My life and your love.”

Then he did draw her down to take her in a deep, loving kiss. Still, he was gentle with her, as though afraid she might break. She supposed if she’d been through the experience he’d just suffered, she might feel the same, but he should know she’d recovered; he should feel her health. His mind was joined to hers.

With a powerful surge of muscle, he pushed off the bed, taking her with him. “I want to get the debriefing over with so we can have our leave. Is that okay with you?”

“I guess.”

He wouldn’t let her walk but carried her to the shower. Was he planning to coddle her from now on? He must know she couldn’t bear that. He wasn’t the only one with a libido.

Andreas’s shower was a walk-in tiled area of a huge bathroom, with a half-height wall separating it from the rest of the room. Half of it contained the shower, and the other half contained his bath, sunk half into the floor. He touched a pressure switch, and the shower came on like sweet April rain, cascading gently on to the tiled floor, tilted slightly so the water ran straight to the drain against one wall. The off-white tiles gave a softer glow than stark white would have done. He set her carefully on her feet under the water, and she tilted her head back so the shower could shield her face and hair.

“Oh, this is lovely!” she exclaimed. Nothing like a near-death experience to make a person appreciate the simple things in life.

He smiled, reaching for a bottle of shower gel. He hovered his hand over a washcloth, but passed over it. Instead he squeezed a puddle of gel into his hand. She shuddered in anticipation.

He washed her. Every bit of her skin and her hair, from her head to her feet. Resting in his mind, she felt his need. He wanted to touch her, make sure she was completely healed, that no mark remained on her. She could have told him, but he needed the reassurance this gave him. And she relished his exploration.

At first he skimmed over her more sensitive parts, but when she drew closer, licked his wet skin, lapped drops off his chest like a cat tasting cream, he gave in. Lifting her breasts in his hands, he stroked her nipples gently until they began to crinkle and peak for him, then bent his head and took a nipple between his teeth. She moaned, hoping the sound would encourage him. “Andreas, don’t stop. You need reassurance? Well, so do I, but I don’t want it the same way. I want to feel us together, joined. Make love to me, Andreas.”

He released her nipple, letting it slide out of his mouth slowly, lingering to savor the texture and taste. “I don’t think I have much choice,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with longing. “I’ll die if I don’t love you now.”

His erection swelled hard between them, pressing against his belly and hers. She slid her hand up his back, tracing the groove of his backbone, cupping his buttocks in both her hands, teasing, relishing the feel of this man under her palms before sliding one hand around to take his straining cock in a firm grip. With her other hand, she cupped his balls, lifting them, sliding them from one side of her palm to the other under their layer of soft skin, fuzzed with dark hair.

“How long do you think you can last?”

“Not long.” His voice had sunk to a whisper of breath, hotly touching her forehead with yearning.

“Let’s see.” Need overcame her. She had to know he belonged to her, lay her claim for all time. Sinking slowly to her knees, she opened her mouth and took him in, letting the downward momentum of her body impel her forward. While her hand moved over the lower part of his shaft, she caressed the sensitive head with lips and tongue, tickling the tiny slit in the center until he moaned her name, over and over.

He groaned, and the sensations she felt in his mind were delicious. She wanted it all, wanted to do more than taste him, wanted to take all of him.

He bent and slid his hands under her armpits, dragging her up his body while he took the step that brought them to the tiled wall.

One part of her mind registered surprise that the wall wasn’t cold. They must have been in the shower longer than she’d thought. But she had no more time to think, because with an animal growl he pushed her up against the wall and drove into her.

“Ah God!”

“No, just Andreas Constant needing to be inside you. You can do that again another time, but now, I want
this
!” He shoved hard, driving himself deep, and deeper still. She shattered, came apart around him, sensation forcing everything else out of her mind, everything but the reality of this moment. He withdrew, drove in again, and she flung her arms around his shoulders, lifted her legs to curl around his back, her heels resting on his buttocks as she let her lover take control and guide her, stroke by stroke, into ecstasy.

At the peak of her climax, she threw back her head and howled, past words, past anything but sheer awareness of this man and their love. Dimly she heard his answering growl, then his shout as he released everything into her.

She didn’t know how long they stood there, the warm tiles against her back, warm water trickling over their coupled bodies, but eventually she lifted her head from his shoulder and opened her eyes. “Will it always be like this?”

He smiled, a smile of possession, pride, and love. “You’d better believe it.”

Loose Id Titles by Lynne Connolly

Texas Heat

* * * *

The SERIES NAME Series

Cat’s Eyes

Topaz Delirium

Liquid Crystal

Chemistry of Evil

Crystal Captive

Treasure Laid Bare

Crystal Tides

Jewel of the Dragon

Griffin’s Treasure

Bloody Crystal

Rubies of Fire

Lynne Connolly

Lynne Connolly lives in England with her family and her mews, a cat called Jack. She spends her time writing and filling her collection of doll’s houses. After acceptance by her first e-publisher she hasn’t looked back. She has over 30 books out, and plans for more. She writes in the paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and historical romance genres and she likes to add a lot of steam!

Go to
http://lynneconnolly.com
to read up on the latest news about Lynne.