Forever As One (7 page)

“Protection? You have no need of such a
thing! I will protect you! No harm shall ever come to you. Ever.
They’d have to go through me first.”

His chest tightened, pushing pecs into her
breasts, while everything on her supplanted to make room. He was
pure male. Dominant. Primal. Angered. And fully ready to defend,
guard, and protect.

“I…mean
protection
.” Her voice
dropped on the word, and if he made her say it, she was going to
die of embarrassment.

“I don’t follow.”

Figures.

Vangie pulled in a breath from the space he
gave her, shut her eyes, and still couldn’t suppress the blush.
“Rubbers, Dane. You know…prophylactics. Why isn’t this as easy as
they show in those stupid videos? I’ve never had a-a-a one-night
stand. But I know I’m supposed to ask these things.”

He snorted. Her eyes opened although she kept
them narrowed. After saying the most embarrassing statement of her
life, he laughed?

“It’s not funny.”

“Ah…
Frja
. You are adorable! You
call this a one-night stand? I have not been succinct! There is no
boundary to us! You do not understand, and if I had the talent for
rendering, I’ve forsaken it. You are the epitome of my reason. The
eternity to my forever. The treasure to my search. The universe to
my scope. The height to my elevation. The amazement to my wonder.
The air to my world. The quintessence of—”

“How old are you again?”

“You see? I’ve no talent for speech, even
when I try. I do better with action.”

“If we do this, Dane, I’m not just having sex
with you. I’m having sex with everyone you’ve had sex with. And
that’s probably an astronomical number.”

“What do you mean
if
?” he asked.

Madmen came in all shapes and sizes. And
ages. And looks. The one she faced was a prime example; all brute
strength, amazing handsomeness, and demonstrating a pretty
extensive vocabulary, too. He still had to be mad. She was
Evangeline Harper. Staid. Uptight. Somber. Dispassionate. All
business. Critical and Logical.

“I’m serious, Dane.”

“Do I not appear serious, as well? I must be
rustier than I thought.”

“How many women are we talking?”

“What else did you say? We are having sex? Oh
no, my sweet. It will not be sex. That I guarantee. We will be
making love...for hours. Or what is left of the night, anyway.”

“That many women, huh? Any men?”

He rolled his eyes. “There is no amount,
Frja.
There is just you. Only. Don’t you listen to one
thing I say?”

“You’re telling me you’ve been celibate? Is
that it? And you actually expect me to believe it?”

One side of his lip lifted, revealing sharp
teeth again. Fangs. That was ridiculous, too. She flicked a glance
there and then back to eyes that were sparkling with what looked
like moisture atop them. But that was even more ridiculous.

“I’m saying the woman I’ve waited an eternity
for is here…in my arms, and in my life. The one woman who can grant
me perfection. Bring life back to my essence. Make me whole again!
I’m talking ecstasy! Fulfillment. Bliss. I cannot continue! All I
know is that if I don’t get you into my bed, and shortly, then I’m
going to be ruining a very expensive chess set over on that table.
I don’t know what you’re hearing, but this is what I’m saying.”

He maneuvered her chin up, so her view was
paneled ceiling, while what could only be his mouth touched against
her jaw started the most delicious shivers to reach out and enwrap
her. Vangie panted for breath as he lightly sucked, sliding his
mouth along her jaw line. To the sensitive skin right below an ear.
She tilted her head, allowing him access.

Pain flashed through her throat, followed by
fire, and then the most amazing sensation of pleasure took its
place. Owning her. Claiming her. Sucking her into a vortex that
seemed to gain speed before her eyes. She told herself she was
seeing things. It was impossible. Completely outside the realm of
reality. As if they were spinning in place. It didn’t help. She
slammed her eyes shut on a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that
meshed into a blur and the next moment got the sensation of cool
air about her shoulders and neck. As if her jacket had developed a
mind of its own and left her. The release of her skirt buttons
wasn’t far behind.

“Dane?”

“Darling.”

The murmured endearment made her heart
stutter. As well as the motion of his mouth at her neck,
alternately sucking and licking and sending ecstasy that seemed to
increase in volume and content with every passing second.

“You…must stop. I mean we. We…must stop.”

“Command me something easier to accomplish.
Like…existing. Command me to cease that.”

“Dane.”

“I know. I sound mad. But you don’t
understand, and despite all my years and wasted effort, I’ve yet to
develop enough talent with words to explain it. I’ve got just this
one chance…for what’s left of the night. To convince you. That’s
all the fates have decreed, blast them, anyway!”

“Convince me…of what?”

“My love.”

The word was whispered and yet sought out
every corner of the space. It carried reverence and something else.
A sob of sound. Her heart palpitated as his entire frame began
shaking. She rolled a breath through her lips that was supposed to
portend an argument, but instead it sounded needy and grasping and
desirous. And nothing at all like her.

“You see what I am up against? And you ask me
to stop? Pray ask something I can grant.”

Vangie slit an eye open. They weren’t in his
study. Or whatever that cabin was called. The sight of more
paneling met her eye, lit by a myriad of candles, and then a huge
four-poster bed. And if she turned her head to check, she knew
she’d see red satin sheet. The sensation of cool fabric met her
back, chilling for the barest moment before turning warm. Heated.
Slick. Against naked skin.

Hers.

“How did we get here?”

“I have a great gift of dexterity, my
love.”

“Where are my clothes?”

She was pulling on the sheets trying to cover
herself, and he was there at every move to stop her, showing off
his dexterity, and then he lowered his head, took her lips, and
turned it to complete exposure. Vangie writhed on the sheets, her
legs wrapping about his denim covered lower limbs, while her hands
delved beneath his shirt, sliding along the muscled smoothness of
his belly. Chest. Back to his waistband. Again. Her palms created a
friction of sparks wherever they touched. And then he moved,
getting to his hands and knees, separating from her kiss as he
crawled back off the mattress, taking the top covers with him.

“Don’t leave me!”

“Are you crazed? I’d as soon hammer a stake
through my own heart.”

“Then give me back some cover.”

“I cannot do that, my Evangeline. I wish to
see. I want to worship. Adore. You are beautiful, you know that? So
beautiful. So warm! So sweet. Your smell! Your…taste! I cannot
explain how it feels.”

“Dane—.”

“Pray, do not stop me. I’m on a roll. Oh!
I’ve a glib tongue when it matters. At least, that’s what Percy
used to accuse. And trust me, my love. Right here and right now –
it matters. More than I can describe.”

“Percy?”

He yanked the t-shirt off, displaying
glorious muscle that wasn’t as tanned as the rest of him. That was
odd. Sun worshipping surfer dudes usually wore nothing but swim
trunks. Tan lines like his had to be a complete faux pas on the
beach. But then he cancelled out every errant thought by putting
his hands on his hips, lowering his jaw, and sending a look at her
that made her jerk visibly.

“Oh…wow.” Her sigh carried every bit of
feminine appreciation. There wasn’t any way to hide it.

“What?”

He reached upward, putting definition to all
that muscle, as if preening for her. And if she hadn’t already
thought him the best looking man on the planet, she was blind.

“What? Come on, Dane. You’re stunning. And
you know it.”

“It’s all for you, Baby. All. Forever.
Yours.”

He flipped the top button of his denims open
and pulled until the zipper trailed apart. Her mouth dropped open.
He had the most cut lower abdomen she’d ever seen, too. Even on an
Olympic swimmer.

“How did you get so…ripped?”

“You like?”

“Dane.”

He grinned and lifted his jaw. “You have a
way of chastising with just the mention of my name. I adore it,
too. Never change. Okay?”

“Are you going to answer the question?”

“Oh. Yes. I look this way because I didn’t
spend my growing years on my ass playing video games as they do
now. Things were a bit different. And I was the active sort.”

“You played sports?”

“Not played, exactly. It was more
like…work.”

“Work? Did you grow up on a farm? You tossed
a lot of hay or something?”

“Actually, I misspoke. It was more like play.
But with competition. I spent a lot of years rowing. A lot.”

“Rowing?”

“Yes. Rowing. With oars.”

“You were on a rowing team? That explains a
lot.”

“Once I earned the position, yes. But first I
had to successfully learn how to dodge things.”

“What…like dodge ball?”

“More like spears and javelins. Once I
learned how to dodge, then it was catching and tossing back. I got
very good at it. Very good. I already told you of my dexterity. I
don’t have many scars. I was the youngest to earn a position at an
oar.”

“How young?”

“Twelve.”

Her eyes went wide to match her mouth. “What
kind of childhood did you have? And where on earth were you raised?
And who would do such a thing?”

“We will have to discuss that later, too.
Fair?” And without awaiting her answer, he shoved his pants to the
floor.

Fair?
Hell no. The man was
completely unfair. He knew that, too. It was in the look on his
face. Vangie wasn’t an innocent, but Dane was more than she
expected and entirely more than she knew how to handle. But oh! How
she wanted to try! She licked her lips, trembled with what had to
be yearning and longing and craving and desiring, and everything
she’d once fantasized about. She looked up at his face.

“What?” He wasn’t just preening. He was on
full display. And proud of it.

“You! And uh…you. Oh my stars. You’re
so…uh—”

He lunged onto the bed beside her, denting
the mattress with his weight as well as making the entire structure
shake with the force of his entrance.

“I am your mate,
Frja
. I will not
harm you.”

“Harm me?”

The man wasn’t just a failure with words. He
didn’t read expressions well, either. As for body language? Her
entire being seemed more concerned with texture and sensory
experience. It wasn’t a need; it was an all-consuming hunger of
need. Want. Ache. To hell with words and explanation. A well-spring
of desire spread luminous wanton through her limbs.

“I swear it. It would be akin to desecration
when I wish only to worship.”

“Worship?”

“You are impossible to convince with words!
Someone has made you mistrust everything said to you. I shall just
have to resort to my heritage.”

With that, he pulled her right against him
and seized her mouth with his.

Skin of an impossible texture and feel
touched all along her, absorbing every minute lunge she made
against it. Tendrils of scented warmth laced about them, binding
them together with invisible strength. Inflexibility. Completeness.
The sensation of a bed disappeared, replaced by a meshed web of
support that braced her every breath, captured her every sigh, and
pressured her every pore…fully against him. Vangie couldn’t get
enough of the sensation!

It was her legs entwining about him, her
throat the one moaning, her arms the ones stealing beneath his to
clasp behind his back, mashing her breasts against his chest.

Vangie melded with him, her entire being
crying out for a joining with him. Fully. Completely. Her legs
moved upward with little lurches, going up past his buttocks to his
lower back, wrapping about him to press her apex against his.
Willing their consummation. Begging for it. Careening toward it.
She felt his chuckle of amusement, a sting at her mouth, and then
the taste of blood…and with it came a spectacular lightning flash
of complete light and joy and bliss.

She pulled away to cry aloud with joy at it,
not even noting how he’d moved to her neck again, piercing, before
sucking and pulling at her flesh. A red haze washed about them,
filling the enclosure with more than warmth. Burning fire.
Scorching heat.

“My love! My mate! My
Frja
!”

Whispers accompanied the movement of his
mouth along her neck, back to her mouth, and with the kiss, he
shoved his rod fully into her womanhood, impaling her on such
strength and size that fireworks might as well be exploding
throughout the chamber, lit from the fuse he started. The eruption
of sensation was more than she could believe. It consumed her,
taking her to another realm of existence that was too beautiful to
contain. Vangie pulled away from the kiss, arching her head back in
order to allow the cry of ecstasy space for sound, loud and with
perfect clarity. It didn’t quit until her breath ran out. She’d
never felt such abandonment, such fulfillment, such satiation, such
joy. Wonder. Amazement. There wasn’t one thing frigid about any of
it.

Blue eyes were waiting for her when she
brought her head back down, the lashes shadowing them into dark
pools of depth. Mystery. Secrecy. Thrill.

“Wow.”

She whispered it, and got a crooked smile in
reply. Her heart contracted in a painful beat before going back to
a ratcheted degree, seeming to fill her ears with a thumping that
added to the cacophony about them. Vangie was the one lunging back
to connect her lips to his again, and this time, it wasn’t blood
she tasted, but pure nectar. An aura filled with light, and joy,
and complete delight cocooned them. It added to the melee of sounds
and images and sensations, and through it all, Dane continually
moved; lifting onto his arms in order to gain better positioning,
hammering his loins against hers, his shaft filling her over and
over, his essence melding with hers. Deep and intense. Hard and
full. Faster. Thicker.