“What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking how beautiful you are.”
“I was noticing the same thing,” she whispered as her fingers traced the trail of soft blond hair over his chiseled belly and below where his pants had hidden. Looking down, she eyed his rigid cock, even more than what she’d expected from a man so large. As she wrapped her hand around it and fisted its girth, she looked up to see the calm look he wore so often slide from his face, replaced by one full of desire.
“You like?”
Nodding, Amon glided his tongue over his lips until they glistened. “I do—very much.”
Thea slid her hand from base to tip, noting with pleasure how thick he sat in her hand. A tiny smile crossed her lips as he spoke.
“You like?”
She looked down and then looked up again, as if she needed to inspect it before making her decision. In a voice far sweeter than she felt, she answered, “I do—very much.”
He dipped his mouth to hers, and she tasted herself as his tongue slid over hers. Even more, she smelled the scent she’d loved since the first time she was close to him. His smell was masculine, but now it mixed with desire to produce an incredibly seductive scent.
Amon slid up her body until his fit perfectly with hers, and he positioned himself at her entrance. Cradling her face in his hands, he said, “Thea, I’m your destined one, the man meant for you. Your pleasure is my pleasure. Everything I am I give to you.”
His words thrilled her. The man meant for you. Kissing him deeply, she opened herself to him to become one with the soul she’d always wished for. Finally, she’d been given a destined one.
Before entering her, he said in a voice hoarse with desire, “Let me show you what it feels like to be with the one meant for you.”
As she looked into his eyes, he slid into her, filling her like no other man had in any of her lifetimes. All she could think of was how perfect he felt as he slid in and out of her. Each time he entered her, he touched her somewhere no one ever had, as if he were created to fit into only her. With each thrust, his powerful body slid lightly over hers as Amon kept all his weight in his arms. Never had she thought he could give her the perfect mix of strength and tenderness she’d dreamed of for so long in a lover.
Thea wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him into her even closer, her arms around his strong back drawing him to her. As much as she loved how thoughtful and considerate he was, she wanted to feel all of him. His strong, muscular legs pressing against hers. His abdomen pushing against hers, the muscles contracting and releasing with each thrust. His powerful chest against hers. She wanted him so close to her that she couldn’t breathe. Even an inch away was too far.
More than the physical pleasure was the emotional connection of Amon with her. Just as she’d heard all those times over and over, now, for the first time, she felt that bond between herself and him that had never been there with any other person.
*
For Amon, the feel of Thea around him was sublime. Each time he plunged into her, she fit him like a glove. After thinking of her fantasy, he’d fantasized about something else and yearned to have her that way, though.
“Thea, roll over,” he said as he changed her position from under him to on top of him.
Amon looked up at the woman riding him and saw a goddess. Blond waves fell toward her waist and bounced in time with her breasts as she lowered herself onto him. Half-closed eyes stared down at him, and her pink tongue drew a quick swipe over her lips, swollen from his kisses. His large hands sat on her waist guiding her and setting the pace.
Thea placed her hand on his and nudged it lower. “Amon, touch me, please,” she begged in a keening voice.
As she rode him, he slid the pad of his thumb over her tender nub and rubbed in slow circles. The effect was immediate. She bit her lip and moaned as she began to buck wildly on him. Amon knew her release wasn’t far off and thrust upward to meet her movements.
“Come for me, Thea,” he ordered, and with one last thrust into her, she came as he watched in wonder. She became more beautiful than he thought possible in those moments of sweet surrender as her body released its passion onto him, and he felt his own climax rage through him and into her, flooding her with warmth.
She fell onto him, exhausted, her damp hair blanketing the two of them, and breathed heavily near his ear. He reveled in the pleasure of bringing her satisfaction in addition to enjoying his own. As he softly caressed her back, she kissed his ear.
“Mmmmm, that was wonderful,” she cooed.
Amon slowly removed himself from her and placed her next to him on the bed. Turning on her side, she looked at him and smiled sweetly. She looked like an angel with her hands folded under her head and her hair splayed over her body.
His angel.
“I wish I didn’t have to wait all those lifetimes to finally meet you,” she said quietly with a look of sadness in her eyes.
Smiling, he leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “I don’t think you would have liked me before.”
“I never had a choice, so it wouldn’t have mattered.”
Amon was struck by the truth of her statement. As Aeveren, they never had a choice of their destined ones. But she wasn’t entirely correct.
“Just because I’m your destined one doesn’t mean it was certain you’d like me or want me.”
Thea sat up and looked down at him. “You don’t understand. I don’t love you because you’re my destined one. I’m called to you and sexually drawn to you because of Aeveren biology, but that isn’t why I love you. Trust me. I have forty-five lifetimes of experience with love.”
Raising one eyebrow, he leaned close to her. “Now I think I’m jealous.”
“I could say something about them being practice,” she teased, “but I won’t.”
“How nice of you.”
“What if I told you that I’ve never felt like I do for you with anyone else in all my lifetimes?”
“I feel my male ego improving by the second,” he said with a smile.
Thea leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. “How could you be jealous of any man I’ve ever been with? You’re an ancient of our race and a tempuster who can teleport into places, avoiding actually being guilty of breaking and entering.”
Thea placed her head on his chest, and in the gentle silence that grew between them as they lay in each other’s arms, Amon decided this was the moment to tell her about his other abilities. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to end up apologizing and ruining their first lovemaking.
“Thea, I need to talk to you about something. There is something I haven’t told you.”
Snuggling closer to him, she buried her face in the crook of his neck and mumbled, “You don’t have to be jealous. I was just teasing about having that much experience.”
“I have other abilities in addition to those you already know about,” he began.
Thea lifted her head and looked up at him with a look of confidence on her face. “Like being able to communicate mentally with Gethen?”
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
As he stroked her hair, he continued. “My ability to communicate with Gethen without speaking is more because of him than me. Because he’s a Sidhe, he can understand what I’m thinking.”
“I’m confused. How do you communicate then?”
“That’s where my mental abilities come in. I can know what people are thinking sometimes if I focus. It’s easier with some people than others. I’ve never really been able to master my mental powers.” Then, after a long pause, he said with hesitation, “In addition to that power, I can do other things.”
“Like?”
“I can plant ideas into people’s minds,” he confessed.
Thea grew very quiet. “Have you ever done that to me?”
Amon considered how much to tell her and decided against a full confession. “Yes, at Kiril’s to calm you.”
“That
explains why I suddenly felt okay there.”
“Yes.”
Thea remained silent for a few moments. “Amon, I need you to promise me you’ll never use your powers on me, except to help me.”
With a twinge of guilt from knowing he’d already used them on her for his own selfish benefit, he agreed. “I promise. Never, unless I think you need my help.”
A sly smile crossed her face and her stare drifted down his body. “Any idea what I’m thinking of now?”
Amon watched as Thea slid down his body, her hands following her mouth to his cock. Already hard, it jumped when her tongue flicked over the head.
Looking up at him, she grinned. “Seeing anything good in my mind?”
“Definitely,” he groaned as she began to take him into her mouth, the guilt from not telling her the absolute truth about when he’d used his ability on her dissipating with every touch of her lips and tongue on him.
When Thea returned to his side, he kissed her, more in love than he believed he could be. Somehow, he’d been blessed with her, a happiness he knew he didn’t deserve. Deep in his heart, he knew he was a different man because she’d rescued him from himself, though. As they drifted off to sleep, he could think only of the happiness she brought him.
Chapter Thirteen
Amon lay peacefully next to Thea listening to her breathe softly in her sleep. Her head rested on his chest, and he lazily stroked her hair as he let the joy of being in love sink in. Everything about Thea with him felt right. It was more than she was meant for him. It was the way she made him feel love again. Since his time with his last destined one, he’d only loved two women. Callia had brought him back from lifetimes of loneliness, but she hadn’t loved him without his manipulation of her. But the woman he’d loved before her—lifetimes earlier—had loved him with all her heart.
Victoria.
The name haunted him still. The guilt of what he’d been as Riordan Blake and what he’d done to her was never far from his mind, no matter how much he worked to bury it. Now, as he began a new life with Thea, he was reminded of Victoria, another woman who’d cared for him all that time ago.
He entered the dance with Frederika on his arm, prepared for yet another uneventful night in Bedfordshire. As a member of the landed gentry, balls like this were part of his social responsibilities, no matter how much he detested them. Frederika, his wife and destined one for seventeen lifetimes, adored social affairs, so at least half the couple presented a pleasant face at such functions.
To the vast majority of those he interacted with in the sleepy hamlet of Hinwick, where his manor Hinwick Hall was located, and the slightly less sleepy county of Bedfordshire, he was Riordan Blake, part of the landed gentry, husband to Frederika, and father to James and Simon. He tended to his business and lands as every other gentleman and lived a generally comfortable life punctuated by frequent social duties, such as the one he found himself attending this August evening.
Inside, however, he yearned for the excitement of his previous lifetimes. As an ancient Aeveren, he’d lived many lifetimes before his reincarnation as an English gentleman, with quite a few ranking higher in interest than his current one. From a Roman in the third century Empire to his lifetime as a Nordic marauder to his time in a position high in Aztec society before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, he’d lived lives of daring and action. Now he spent his days doing little more than watching over his fortune.
Worse yet, his destined one for the past seventeen lifetimes and he had grown apart in this lifetime, at least in small part due to his unhappiness with the life he’d been given. For her part, she’d always yearned for a life of stable luxury, so being Frederika Blake of Hinwick Hall was the perfect fulfillment of this wish.
As Riordan made his way through the crowd, smiling through his obligation to play the content husband, he scanned the faces of his fellow Bedfordshire residents. One blended into the next; from men to women, they all shared a bland common look, no matter how wealthy they were. Even the Aeveren seemed happy to be nothing more than staid English society dictated. Riordan wondered if they might all by some wild coincidence be in their first lifetimes and simply didn’t know any better. Whatever their excuse was, he couldn’t forgive his kind for their seemingly eager acceptance of such a banal existence.
Dance after dance, he performed his duties knowing at least his destined one would have no quarrel with him on this issue. An hour into the gathering, he spied a face in the crowd that was unfamiliar to him. She stood on the opposite side of the hall, immediately noticeable by her blaze of red hair. Next to her stood a man Riordan had only met on a few occasions but had quickly written off as a complete bore.
Mr. Harold Adams was a fellow Aeveren and from what Riordan could judge, he was one of the worst offenders in accepting his lot in this lifetime. Perfectly happy in his life as a landed gentleman, he’d moved to the county recently and appeared to gleefully enjoy every job of his social position, if his endless prattling about grounds and tenants was any indication. Riordan had made a solemn pledge to himself after their second meeting to avoid him as much as possible.
Now as he watched the beautiful woman standing next to him, he wondered if an adjustment to that idea was in order. Unable to gain her attention through the throng of people who stood between him on one side of the hall and her on the other, Riordan began to make his way through the crowd, his gaze never wavering from her face.
As he inched closer, he saw that distance had not improved her looks. She wore a pale blue dress that highlighted her pale, white skin and stunning green eyes. Blessed with an ample décolletage, this beauty made the odious Harold Adams all the more a beast and certainly unworthy of such a woman.
He finally caught her eye and saw he had the same effect on her that she had on him. As he approached her and Adams, a pink blush colored her cheeks and told him of her interest.
“Harold Adams, a delight seeing you here,” Riordan announced with a strong pat on the man’s shoulder, knowing it would take only these few words to begin a conversation.
“Riordan Blake. How have you been? I haven’t seen you since before I left for London.”
“Very well, thank you. Do your responsibilities call you away from Bedfordshire often?”
“Yes, it looks like my time away from here will be increasing in the near future. How about you?”
“No, I find few reasons to leave the county.”
As he spoke, he kept an eye on the woman who now looked at him intently with those pale green eyes.
“Mr. Blake, please let me introduce my wife, Victoria. Dear, this is Riordan Blake of Hinwick Hall.”
Riordan bowed and let his gaze settle on the lovely area of milky white skin just above her dress’s neckline when she curtsied. Even before she’d spoken a word, he knew he wanted her.
“Mr. Blake, I believe I met your wife earlier in the other room with Lady Russell.”
“Yes, Frederika enjoys her time at these balls.”
Hearing the music end, Riordan turned to Harold Adams. “Would you mind, Adams?” he asked as he indicated to Victoria his desire for the next dance.
“Please do. My poor wife would never dance if she relied on me,” Harold Adams said with a tone of relief in his voice.
Riordan led Victoria to the dance floor and despite his almost total disinterest in dancing, waited in anticipation for the music to begin again. She stood across from him in her line and after curtsying, reached out to place her hand gently in his to begin the intricate steps of the chosen country dance.
He noted how small her hand felt in his as he completed the first pass of the dance. She barely touched him, but her effect on him was tremendous. He struggled to keep his composure in the room full of his country neighbors while his mind raced with ideas of what he hoped to enjoy with her in the future when it would be just the two of them.
“I haven’t seen you smile much tonight, sir. Do you not enjoy gatherings like this?”
&nb
sp; Her words brought him out of his fantasy, and he was pleased by the sound of her voice.
“No, I do not. And I’m afraid I leave much to be desired as a dance partner.”
His attempt at being self-effacing was successful, and she smiled warmly at him. “Not at all. But perhaps I’m a poor judge as I rarely have the opportunity to enjoy events like this either because I cannot attend or because my husband dislikes dancing.”
Riordan pressed his palms to hers and turned away before the dance returned them to face one another. “Perhaps we should make a pact to entertain one another as you seem to be tolerant of my abilities.”
As the music ended, Victoria looked into his eyes as she leaned in to a respectful distance and whispered, “And what do you get out of such an agreement?”
Remembering where he was, he pushed aside the plans he had for her and grinned. “The pleasure of spending time with you, Victoria,” he said quietly as they walked back to her husband’s side.
Riordan knew he’d taken a great liberty by using her first name, but the result was exactly what he’d hoped for. The enchanting blush from earlier returned to her cheeks but extended to the skin above her lovely breasts, a clear indication that his flaunting convention hadn’t offended her in the least.
As he returned her to her husband, he thanked her with a bow and planted a subtle idea of his desire for her in her mind before he turned to walk back to his original position next to the hall’s opposite wall. By the time he’d turned around, he knew she’d watched him cross the room. With little effort, he entered her mind and enjoyed finding the idea of him uppermost in her thoughts for the rest of the night.
Amon wished he could keep his memory of his time with Victoria confined to a single dance at a ball, but his conscience, which seemed in the last year to enjoy a renewed power to affect him after many lifetimes, pressed him to relive his compete memories of her.
Within weeks of his meeting her, Riordan had made sure to find ways to see Victoria. The constraints of eighteenth century English society made approaching a married woman difficult, but in that area, Harold Adams had been quite helpful. A chance meeting with him permitted Riordan to pry concerning his travel plans, and he happily allowed the man to extract a promise from him to look in on Victoria and his young daughter in his absence.
Destiny Redeemed Page 13
