Oberon Boxed Set (Books 1-3) Welcome to Oberon

by P. G. Forte

  And then they were rocking together, lost to everything except the rhythm that was building between them. The room, the night, the world, all contracting around them. Shrinking into a dark, hard, tight point of power and light and life. Shrinking down and down and down until it could no longer contract, and could only explode. Hot, sweet, ecstatic. Catching them both up and flinging them, gasping, against each other.

  Slowly, Nick felt awareness returning. His breathing slowed, and then his heartbeat. He could feel Scout beneath him, and where their bodies were still joined he could feel her shuddering softly. He bent his head to look at her, curious to discover her mood. She raised damp eyes to his.

  “You won’t leave?” she asked, softly hopeful.

  He shook his head.

  “Not ever?”

  Ever? He hesitated for the smallest fraction of a second, and then shook it once again.

  “Never,” he promised as he gently, reluctantly, pulled out of her, and then reached down to pull the blankets up around them both.

  “Never,” he murmured as he kissed the curve of her shoulder and felt himself drifting toward sleep.

  Her head nestled against his shoulder and he was aware of her soft, contented sigh, of her eyes falling shut.

  “Never,” he whispered it softly, once again, with his lips against her hair, though he didn’t think she still could hear him. And then his own eyes closed, and he knew nothing more.

  * * *

  When Nick awoke several hours later, he was lying on his back with one arm still clasped around her shoulders. She was on her side, the entire length of her body pressed tight against his own. One arm lay draped across his chest. Her head rested in the curve of his arm. He sighed happily into the darkness. He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up here tonight, but sweet Jesus, it felt good.

  Dazedly, he reviewed the events of the evening. One thing was certain: he’d probably never be able to figure out where he stood with this woman. One moment she’d been cold and distant, glaring as if she hated him, as if she’d just watched him murder a puppy, or something equally heinous. And then the next – No, he’d never be able to figure that one out, not if he had the rest of his life to try.

  Jesus. The rest of his life.

  He smiled at the thought. It sounded good. He could take this for the rest of his life. No problem.

  But then the palest shadow of a doubt crossed his mind. Okay, problem. Possible problem, anyway. Possible big problem.

  You won’t leave? she had asked. But what had she meant by that? What could she have meant, when she’d just spent the whole day telling him how much she couldn’t wait to leave town?

  And since when had he been the one to leave, anyway?

  Had she changed her mind then? Did she mean to stay? Again, he heard the words she had said at lunch, as they echoed in his memory. I can’t ever live here. She’d sounded pretty sure of that.

  Presumably she had a life in... LA, wasn’t it? Would she really give that up? For him? When he hadn’t even been a reason for her to come back in all that time, not even once? What did I have to come back here for? she’d asked. Not him, apparently.

  But she has to stay! Despair swamped him. He couldn’t stand to lose her a second time. It was one thing to have gone without her for all these years – hell, it might even have been for the best. If she’d unleashed all that passion on him twenty years ago, it would most likely have killed him. But now? Aww, hell. Now, it would kill him to let her go.

  She has to stay.

  He turned to her then, pushed himself up on one elbow, pulled back the covers so he could look at her. So that he could make certain that this time, at long last, it had not been a dream. He nuzzled her neck, her ear, kissed her softly, reverently. Kissed her ever so gently awake.

  Her eyes fluttered open. She looked startled at first. Uncertain, but so lovely. She reached one hand up and softly touched his cheek, her mouth curving in a small, hesitant smile. “It’s really you, isn’t it?” she whispered. “You’re really here? With me?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. I think so.” Oh, God, I hope so. Please don’t let this be just another dream.

  “I was so afraid. I thought we wouldn’t ever…”

  “It took us long enough, huh?”

  “It was all my fault.” Tears shone suddenly in her eyes.

  He shook his head. “No. It wasn’t. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It’s just the way it was, is all.”

  “But if I—” she broke off on a sob, the tears sliding down her cheeks, and when he bent to kiss her, he could taste their salt on her lips.

  “Shhh,” he whispered as he continued to kiss her tears away, kissing her cheeks, her eyelids, her mouth. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. It doesn’t matter now. None of it matters. Let’s forget all about the past, okay? And just... enjoy the present.” He didn’t want to dwell on the past. And he couldn’t bear to contemplate his future, either. But the present. Ah, now, that he could handle. The present was just about perfect.

  She nodded and kissed him back for several minutes, her sobs growing quieter and quieter and then, just when he thought his heart could not contain any more happiness, she looked up at him again. And smiled.

  It started at one corner of her mouth, and spread, slow and sexy and certain until it had covered her face and flamed in her eyes. A rapturous smile that held love and wonder and desire.

  A smile that held the promise of forever. A smile he recognized from the depths of his soul.

  “Oh, God,” he groaned, as he wrapped his arms around her. “Oh, I have missed you. I’ve missed you so much!”

  Scout’s fingers raked through his hair as she pulled his face down to hers, and a deep throaty chuckle erupted from her throat. “Good.” she said, just before she kissed him again. “Me, too.”

  Nick felt desire stir to life again, along with a nagging sense of guilt. They were acting like kids, which was certainly understandable given the circumstances, but even when he had been a kid, he’d known better than to act as irresponsibly as this. Never in his entire life had he allowed himself to get this swept away, to lose control like he’d done tonight.

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” he groaned against her lips.

  “I know,” she giggled slightly as she returned his kiss, and then gently bit his lip.

  “It’s crazy,” he muttered, grasping her head in his hands. Kissing her harder. Not wanting to think about anything else. But thinking about it anyway. “Crazy.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” She kissed him again. And then, again. “Absolutely.”

  “It’s so irresponsible. Really, I’ve never—”

  “Shhh!” Scout laid fingers against his lips. She felt a sudden chill as his meaning finally got through to her, as she finally understood what he was saying. He wanted to stop. They lay still for several moments, neither one speaking.

  He sighed. “Look, it’s not like – I mean, I’ve always been careful. So, you know you don’t have to worry or, or anything, but...” his voice trailed off into silence.

  Her cheeks burned. “I know. Me too,” she whispered hoarsely, and then cleared her throat and tried again. “I don’t usually... that is, I’ve always... but tonight, well, it was you! And everything was so weird, and—”

  Weird? “Right. But there are other issues, too, you know.”

  He was right. Scout knew he was right, but for once, oh God, she didn’t care. No. If she were honest, there was more to it than that. She remembered her conversation with Marsha and Lucy. Remembered how their faces changed when they talked about their children. She knew exactly what Marsha meant when she spoke about Jasmine. She wanted to have that, too.

  A tiny part of him that would always belong to her. An unbreakable bond between them.

  A piece of the magic.

  It wasn’t fair. She knew that. And it probably wasn’t right. It was, in fact, incredibly selfish. Not to mention absolutely insane, given their situation, and their history, their lifestyles, and
all the craziness going on right now. But all the same. . .

  She sighed and stroked her fingers lightly over his arm. “Would it really be so terrible?” she asked at last, in a quiet, sad, little voice.

  Terrible? Nick felt a thrill of surprise run through him. To have a child with her? To see that smile of hers reproduced in miniature? And to know that there was a part of him there, too? Unbidden, an image of himself holding a newborn appeared in his mind. Their baby.

  Could that possibly be what she was thinking? It seemed extremely unlikely. Even more unlikely than the idea that this one night could prove that fateful. But if it were the case? “Nothing that comes of this could ever be terrible.”

  He gathered her back into his arms and took her mouth with such fierce possessiveness that Scout felt her breath go. She shuddered as an answering thrill surged through her as well.

  Mine. Mine. Mine. The thought chanted in her brain, accompanied by an intoxicating feeling unlike anything she’d ever known. He was hers, if only for this one night, or this one moment. She knew beyond all doubt they belonged to one another, as surely as if their images had been seared into each other’s souls. She didn’t know if he felt it too, But oh, how could he not?

  Tiny ripples of excitement ran through her as she thought of the days and weeks and years of wanting him and all the glittery danger she had sensed in him. And now, finally, finally, at long last, they were together. And he was kissing her again, with those sweet, leisurely kisses that always made her lose her mind. He lay beside her, his arm cradling her neck. His free hand stroking through her hair, then tracing the line from her cheek to her throat, down over her breast to her waist, to her hip, the top of her thigh, and then back up again. His thumb grazed her nipple and she gasped as she felt it harden again in response to his touch.

  He moaned softly and slid his mouth down to her breast while her hand clenched in his hair and she shuddered at the warmth of his mouth against her skin. She felt his lips tugging gently at her nipple, and then his tongue sliding across the tip. And she was arching against him, again. Mindless with pleasure. Again.

  She slid her own hand down between their bodies, her knuckles and the back of her hand trailing against his belly – over hair and skin and muscle, all of it shuddering under her touch – until she found the hard shaft of his penis where it lay pressed tight against her thigh. She curled her hand around it, grasping and stroking the length of it. Thrilling to the smooth slide of his skin through her fingers, his deep rumbling groan of pleasure, and the heat of his breath against her wet nipple as he panted “Oh. God. Yes.”

  She wanted to feel him deep inside her again, filling her and stretching her, but before she could tell him so, he had moved up to kiss her mouth again, his tongue licking deep into her, his breath coming harder and louder than before. The very sound of it excited her. Once again, she felt his hand slip down and down the length of her body. She let her legs fall open and his hand slipped between them to cup her gently, his touch stroking fire into her flesh, one finger sliding deep inside her, and out and then two fingers, again and again and again.

  His lips were warm and wet against her neck, and then behind her ear, kissing and licking. His warm breath sent shivers skittering across her skin. She heard herself moan beneath the pressure of his hands and his lips and his tongue on her and in her. She clutched at him more tightly, her hands moving more rapidly over his body, delighting in the feel of him. His skin was damp with heat now, his muscles sliding and bunching underneath. She dug her nails into his shoulder, pressing herself against him, desperate to feel all of him all over her, everything everywhere, all of it at once.

  And then his hand was cupping her face. “Look at me,” she heard him say with quiet urgency, and she opened her eyes and found him staring down at her.

  Her breath caught in her throat. He looked deeply, searchingly into her eyes, while she stared back into his. As though they could read each other’s souls, in their depths. And everything she read there was open and trusting and true – as if there had never been a single lie between them.

  He bent his head and kissed her mouth, softly, with such sweet passion. And she knew, in the instant before her mind spun away, what it was that made her fall in love with him all those years ago. It hadn’t been the lure of the danger after all, although that had certainly fueled the fire. It was this underlying sweetness, this purity, that had gotten to her, made her mindless with desire. Made her want to give him nothing less than everything. Anything he could think to ask for. Anything at all. Just for the chance to belong to him like this.

  She pulled him close and lifted her body against him. She felt him pushing against her and again she opened for him. Again she felt him stroking into her – deep, deeper, more deeply. And she was overwhelmed once more with the sense of how right it was. How good he felt.

  She had known it would be like this between them. She had always known. Today, yesterday, twenty years ago, a hundred years ago, a thousand years, forever.

  She moaned low in her throat as she wrapped herself around him, longing to take him even deeper into her, to take all of him, to claim him for her own. To make him hers. Her breath came faster, in hard, sharp, gasping breaths. She writhed to feel him so hard against her. Her toes curled as everything inside her spiraled out of control, faster and sharper. She heard herself cry out as her body clenched and clenched and clenched around him. Heard him echo her cry as he drove himself into her one last time. Felt him convulse in her arms as she shuddered for breath.

  In that moment she had no doubt but that they had been created for each other in the same fires, and by the same Power, that had brought the universe into being.

  They belonged together, they had always belonged together. She felt the entire universe coalesce around them, a golden, glistening benediction.

  And knew herself to be healed, whole, complete.

  * * *

  Afterwards, they lay together amid the tangled sheets. She sprawled across his chest while his hand traced idle circles against the small of her back. Scout sighed happily as she ran her fingers through the hair on his chest, brushing it first one way and then another.

  “What are you thinking about?” Nick asked, his voice dreamy and quiet.

  She ducked her head shyly and tugged at the hair beneath her hand. “This. It’s different then I remembered. I think there’s more of it. Isn’t there?”

  He chuckled sleepily. “I guess. Maybe.”

  Giddy, curious, she had to ask. “Am I different?”

  “Mmm.”

  “How?”

  He yawned. “You’re more beautiful now.”

  “Liar.”

  “Nope.” He rolled over on his side and smiled into her eyes as they lay face to face. The look in his golden brown eyes made her so dizzy; it was all she could do to make sense of the words he was saying.

  “You were beautiful then, too, of course. But it wasn’t real. It was all just... some kind of lovely fantasy. I mean, if it was so obvious to everyone else how young you were, how could I have missed it? If I didn’t see it, it could only be because I didn’t want to see it. I wanted so much to believe you were who you said you were.”

  He shook his head. “I think a part of me must have known, or at least sensed, the truth. I was not exactly famous for my patience back then – I think I even told you that once. But there I was, taking it slow as hell... well, as slow as I could, anyway. And for no reason I would admit to. But this, now.” His hand stroked down her back, and he was smiling as he pulled her tight against him, belly to belly. “This is real. You. Me. This. I don’t need that fantasy anymore.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “And you are so beautiful now. And every bit as sexy as I remembered.”

  “Mmm. So you’re saying it was worth the wait?” she asked teasingly.

  He didn’t answer for a moment, but she felt his warm breath feather the hair at her temple. And then he rolled over onto his back again, taking her wit
h him, closing his eyes and wrapping both arms around her. Holding her very, very tightly, as though he feared she’d slip away if he gave her half an inch of space. His voice when he answered was quiet and ragged. “Oh, hon. I guess – I guess you’d be worth waiting a hundred years for. But to tell you the truth, I really could have done without most of the last twenty. Why’d it have to take you so long to come back to me?”

  “I don’t know.” Scout sighed. “Life is strange, isn’t it? Marsha says things always work out for the best, eventually. You think this is what she meant?”

  “Maybe. I guess. Could be it’s just as well we didn’t get to do it all back then. If I’d known what I was really missing all these years, I don’t know that I’d have been able to stand it. Just the fantasy of you was hard enough to live without.”

  They lapsed back into a thoughtful silence and Scout found herself thinking about what he’d said. Maybe he’d wanted the fantasy all those years ago, but she never had. It had come at too high a price. Sure, she’d been able to lie to him and to everyone else, and steal a few precious hours of bliss, but her happiness had been tempered by the knowledge of how easily it could all be taken away. And how much she’d have to give up to get it.

  But things were different now. Now, anything was possible. Wasn’t it? Anything at all?

  * * *

  Hours later, Scout awoke to sunlight streaming through the windows and the bed beside her empty. She sat up in a state of near panic, searching the room with frantic eyes. Had it all been a dream? “Nick?”

  He stepped out of the bathroom, adjusting his clothes. Her heart slipped back down her throat and into her chest. He smiled at her bemusedly and shook his head. “I have to go to work.” He sounded almost astonished. “I completely forgot about it. I wish I didn’t, but I called in to see if anything was happening, and... I’m sorry, Scout, but I really do have to go.” He sat back down on the bed, his eyes hungry and hot on her. “Dear God, you’re beautiful.”