“I want you, Bailey.”
She slowly opened her eyes. “And right there, that want will always be between us. Because I need more than that.” Funny thing was, she would have settled for “want” hours ago. Not anymore.
Pain decorated his face, only one part of an emotional collage. “I...” He dropped his hands.
“That’s what I thought.” Whirling, she started for the door, the crowd parting before her as if they were stage curtains lifting for the final act. How appropriate. She looked back at Seth, never slowing down. “I quit.”
Unforgiving fingers gripped her upper arm. “Get your hands off me, Seth.”
“I don’t want you to ever call another man’s name,” that voice growled in her ear. “Ever.” He tried to turn her around.
Griff. She couldn’t move.
He stepped in front of her and bent his knees to get below her downturned face. “Fine. I’ll come to you. Again and again, Bailey. It’s always been you.”
His hard mouth crashed into hers, fierce and unyielding. The kiss lifted her up and swept her away against her will. He tasted like fine whiskey, smelled like sin, felt so right. Griff. Her arms went around his neck.
He picked her up, encouraging her legs around his waist.
A deafening cheer went up from the crowd she’d all but forgotten.
Breaking the kiss, he looked at her. “I need you, Bailey.”
She buried her face in his neck, the ache in her chest filled with bitter regret.
“Come upstairs with me?”
“I can’t.”
He set her down very slowly. “I don’t understand.”
“I have to feed,” she whispered, shame burning in her cheeks. “You said—”
“If I said I found a way around that? Would you come with me then?” His voice had taken on a detached distance she hated.
“Yes.” The word was hardly out of her mouth before he grabbed her hand, hauling her through the bar, down the hall and into his private elevator.
Griff pounded on the close button. “C’mon, c’mon.” The doors closed and the car began to rise. Then he rounded on her, a wild look in his eyes. “I sent you away because I couldn’t see you go through this, couldn’t watch you feed and die a little every day. I swear I didn’t know until late this afternoon that we could be everything to each other. You have to believe me.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “Why check now?”
“I had no idea it was possible. And why now? You. Feeding from you and how I felt afterward. But it was you.” He ran a shaking hand across his chest and gripped his shoulder. “I spent lifetimes looking for you. Letting you go isn’t an option. Not really.” He dropped his chin and snorted. “Who am I kidding? It was never an option.”
“Yes.”
His head snapped up. “What?”
“I said yes. Before, out there. And now, in here. Yes, to all of it. Yes.”
“I need you, baby. Need and want. It’s always been both when it comes to you.”
Her trembling fingers worked at the buttons on her shorts.
He mirrored her motions with hands that shook just as badly.
They finally stood before each other, brutally bare in every way.
“C’mere.”
Taking his hand, she stepped into his embrace. Those familiar, capable arms lifted her again. This time, he hooked them under her knees.
She shivered. A sigh of satisfaction escaped her as he slid home.
Pure strength facilitated long, slow thrusts as he gripped her waist. He leaned in.
Bailey met him halfway.
The kiss was nearly her undoing. Tender yet hungry. Patient yet desperate. It spoke to her soul in ways words couldn’t. It said he was hers and she was his. It validated months of lusting after him, years of craving what she thought she couldn’t have, a lifetime spent needing this very thing. It delivered redemption and sought absolution, all in an embrace that had nothing to do with had been before them and everything to do with what might be between them.
He broke away far too soon.
With her hands laced behind his neck, her gaze slid down their bodies. She watched their coupling, watched his slick cock slide in and out of her as his abs flexed and released with exquisite control. His corona raked across her G-spot. A sense of fullness and pressure settled low in her pelvis. An uncontrollable shiver raced through her.
“I need you to see me.” His voice quavered with something she didn’t recognize.
“I do see you.”
“Really look.”
She lifted her eyes to meet his.
He paused, holding her tight against him, buried to the hilt. “I love you, Bailey.”
Hope, so elusive only moments ago, came forward on the breath of promise. There was so much she wanted to say, but one thing mattered above all else. “I love you, too.”
Griff closed his eyes, and his mouth thinned.
“You okay?” She punctuated the question with soft kisses.
“So damn lucky. I never thought...” A hard shudder wracked his frame. “Never thought I’d end up here, with someone to love, someone who loved me in spite of what I am. With you.” Steady thrusts replaced words.
A shaken breath threaded through her chest. “You’re so much more than what you see.”
He shook his head.
“Yes, Griff.” She gripped his chin. “Look at me. Really look.”
All movement stopped. His eyes fluttered open, and he took her in.
“What do you see?”
“I see you.” His voice, tight with emotion, broke. “Just you.”
“And that’s what I see when I look at you. Any transgressions you think you have are gone. They aren’t part of this, of us, unless you put them in our way. You’re the man I love. That’s enough.” She watched understanding pass through him, deliberate and unhurried.
“But—”
The only way to reasonably silence his self-doubt had her pressing her lips to his. Instinct took over. Rocking her hips, she slid up and down his length. Not as smooth as he’d managed, but she got what she wanted when he began to move.
An appreciative moan escaped her, and he swallowed it down. A symphony of love’s sounds filled the elevator—skin on skin, heavy breaths, whispered encouragements, words of passion.
Her need to feed rose. What she was sought his prana as orgasm became imminent. His neck became her fulcrum, and she pulled against him to meet his pounding thrusts. She pushed him to near-violence, encouraging him with her own fervor and demanding he hold nothing back. The first flutters in her pelvis stole what remained of her control. The first wave of release crashed over her. Spread through. Burned her alive. She screamed his name.
Bailey thought she might shatter in his arms. He held firm, kept her whole and followed her into depths of pleasure she’d never known. She fed from him as he fed from her. Knew him with an intimacy that had been lacking before.
He pulled her closer as they came down, nuzzling her neck. “If this is what we have to look forward to? I’m so in.”
“For the long term?”
“Forever.”
She relaxed in his arms, the fissures of grief he’d caused healed. And their individual pasts? They’d conquer those together. But there was no rush. Not anymore. Because they truly had forever.
* * * * *
About the Author
From stable hand to a name on the door of a corporate American office, Denise Tompkins has been many things. (Never a waitress, though. Thank-you cards for her sparing the unsuspecting public from this catastrophe can be sent in care of her agent.) Writing has always been her passion, though. And writing romance? An absolute dream come true. Her theory is that a kiss should be meaningful regardl
ess of length, a hero can say as much with a well-written look as he can with a long-winded paragraph and heroines are meant to hold their own. She’s no Cinderella, and Shakespeare wrote the only Romeo and Juliet, so Denise sticks to women who can save themselves and tortured heroes who are loath to let them.
Denise and her husband live in the South, where all foods are considered fry-able and bugs die only to be reborn in bloodsucking triplicate. Visit her online, at www.denise-tompkins.com, anytime.
ISBN-13: 9781460325261
IMMORTAL DESIRE
Copyright © 2013 by Denise Tompkins
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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