Yes, my father had technically died at that base. Luckily for all of us, he hadn’t stayed that way for very long, thanks to Raphael’s intervention.
I looked out the front window as Lance’s Jeep reversed out of the driveway, then turned back toward Gideon, who stood a few feet away. He must have touched the wristband he wore while I wasn’t looking, since now he looked like his normal self.
“Well, that was depressing,” I said.
At once he came to me and folded me into his arms. I leaned against his chest, glad for the pillow of muscle, the comforting sound of his heartbeat. “I know, and I’m sorry. But I did not see the point in uttering platitudes. Your father and Lance — and everyone else — need to know what we’re up against.”
“You’re right, I know.” I took in a breath and let it out again, the sound too soft to be a sigh.
He passed a hand over my hair, then said, “Why don’t we walk down to the creek? It looks like a beautiful day outside, and I know that being by the creek comforts you.”
That did sound like a good idea. I could go outside, get some sun, try to shake the cobwebs loose from the corners of my brain. I tilted my head so I could smile up at him. “How do you know me so well?”
“Because you make it so easy.” He squeezed my hand, then let go of me so we could head out through the kitchen and down the back steps, then on through the backyard and onto the path that led down to the creek.
Yes, it was a beautiful day. A few lazy clouds moved overhead in a sky so deeply blue it looked as if we were standing inside a hollowed-out Hope diamond. The breeze was fresh, but not too cold, nothing that my denim shirt couldn’t handle. And the fresh green of the leaves on the trees comforted me, letting me know that spring would always come again, no matter what else might be going on in the world…or the galaxy.
We came down to the creek, which was chattering away as usual, sunlight dancing on the water as it passed over a small collection of projecting stones just slightly upstream. A few yards away from the spot where the path ended was a large, flat rock. I headed over there so I could sit down, and Gideon followed, his footsteps crunching on last year’s dead leaves.
For a few moments, neither of us said anything. I wanted to sit there and breathe in the fresh air, let the soothing currents of the creek work their magic on me. From far overhead I heard the cry of a hawk, which immediately silenced the frenzied little chirps of a bunch of finches clustered in the next tree over.
As I sat there, though, I realized the creek wasn’t helping as much as I’d thought it would. Yes, it did feel good to be outside and away from the rather cramped quarters in the cottage. Kara and Kirsten had done their best to make the place cozy and inviting, but they couldn’t change the fact that the little house was barely a thousand square feet, which felt tiny to me compared to the home where I’d grown up. However, I’d been expecting a little something beyond just getting some fresh air. The tones of the creek, which usually calmed and comforted me, sounded more accusatory than anything else. It seemed as if it was speaking to me in a language that I should have understood but which continued to elude me.
This time the sigh I let out was clearly audible.
At once Gideon reached out and took my hand in his. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.” I paused then, trying to gather courage from the sensation of his strong fingers wrapped around mine. “I thought this would help — being by the creek, that is — but all I can do is sit here and think that I must be missing something.”
“What do you mean?”
I didn’t answer immediately. My gaze was fixed on the water, the way it reflected the sunlight and moved both over and around the stones on the stream bed. I stared so hard that the scene became blurred, the flashes of light morphing into glittering spheres, rather like the otherworldly orbs I’d seen floating in the more desolate areas outside Sedona proper.
But those shapes didn’t coalesce into anything resembling a rational pattern. They shattered and burst apart, flying outward like a supernova. I blinked, and Gideon said,
“Taryn?”
“I’m all right.” I blinked again and shifted on the rock so I was facing toward him, rather than in the direction of the creek. “It’s just that I keep feeling as if the creek’s trying to tell me something, and I’m too stupid to understand.”
“You are not stupid.” He raised my hand and kissed it gently. Warm shivers rippled all through me, like sunlight on water. “You are intelligent and brave and beautiful.”
At another time, I probably would have protested that compliment. I really wasn’t used to men saying nice things to me. Right then, though, it was good to have the reassurance. “Really?”
“Really.” He turned my hand over so the palm faced upward, and traced my life line with one finger. Had his mother told him about palm reading, about how we humans attached a lot of significance to those lines and squiggles on our palms? I supposed it was possible, since it sounded as if she’d been like many of the New Age types who came to Sedona looking for enlightenment. Sometime soon I’d have to look at his palm and see if it carried those same telltales. “Taryn, you can’t take the weight of the whole world on your shoulders. Many people are working on this problem. Its solution doesn’t rest solely on you.”
I knew that intellectually, of course. I didn’t have the skills to reverse-engineer his “conveyor” device, and I wasn’t someone who could go into the wilds of the internet and quietly get the word out to as many people as possible. Maybe I’d been born with some special talents, but they didn’t seem to be doing me much good at the moment.
Gideon stood up then, pulling me with him. Just as well, because that rock got cold after a while, even if you happened to be sitting on it in jeans rather than in shorts. His eyes searched mine, looking for what, I wasn’t sure. In the hope that his words might have reassured me, if even just a little bit?
But then he bent and kissed me, his lips warm and welcome. I melted into his embrace, wanting to lose myself in the feel of his arms, the taste of his mouth. And as heat flared all through me, I knew exactly what I wanted most.
“Make love to me, Gideon,” I whispered.
He pulled away slightly, eyes widening with surprise as he gave a quick glance around us. “Here?”
I couldn’t help chuckling. “No, it’s probably better if we go inside. But,” I went on, my expression sobering, “I want to. I want to be with you.”
Apparently he needed no further reassurance, because his hand closed around mine, and we hurried up the path back to the house. Once we were in the kitchen, I’d barely closed the door and locked it behind us before Gideon’s arms were around me again, only this time lifting me clean off the floor.
I let out an excited little laugh and allowed him to carry me from the kitchen, through the dining room, and on into the short hallway where the bedrooms were located. He hesitated there for a second, a flare of uncertainty touching my mind, and I said, “My bed’s bigger.”
He answered with a quick flash of a grin, and then went into my room, where he lowered me gently onto the bed. In the next instant, he was on top of me, his weight pushing me down into the mattress as his mouth found mine again. The fire in my blood roared at the sensation of his body pressed against almost every inch of mine, even though we were still both fully clothed.
Well, I thought I should do something about that.
I grasped two handfuls of his T-shirt and pulled it up and over his head, then had to keep myself from gasping out loud. The clothes he wore had always hinted at his shape but didn’t tell me all that much. Now I could really see the defined muscles of his arms and chest and stomach, perfect as if he spent hours at the gym every day — except I knew he didn’t. Was that what having some Reptilian DNA thrown into the mix could do for you?
His fingers found the snaps on my shirt, so I didn’t have time to speculate further, could only suck in a brief shocked breath as his hands touched the bare fles
h of my stomach. Now his skin felt very warm, or maybe that was my own flush. Either way, I reveled in the sensation of his hands moving upward, the strength in his touch.
And then he paused when he reached my bra. For a second I worried that he would stop altogether, that he still wasn’t sure how much I wanted this. But then his hands moved to the front clasp and unhooked it, and I realized he’d only hesitated because he wasn’t sure where to unlatch the bra.
His fingers closed around my breasts, and I made a sound halfway between a gasp and a moan. I’d wanted him to touch me like this, but I really hadn’t known what to expect, wasn’t sure if he would be hesitant, or unsure.
I certainly didn’t sense any uncertainty about him now. His breathing quickened, and he moved from my mouth to my neck, kissing his way down so his lips could fasten on a nipple, suckling, even as the fingers of his free hand found the button of my jeans and popped it loose.
Then he slipped under my panties, sliding into me. Ah, God. Shimmering, pulsing heat, concentrating at the very center of my being, all awakened by Gideon’s touch. This time I moaned loudly, unable to keep silent as his fingers stroked me, slipped deeper. I’d gone this far before, but it had never felt this way with Noah, my last boyfriend. Not even close. I clung to Gideon, knowing the climax was going to hit me very soon.
Which it did, rippling through me as the world spun in a mad dance and my body clenched around his long, strong fingers. He kissed my neck gently, cradling me as the last of the shudders rippled through my body.
“That was…all right?”
“More than all right,” I replied, my voice breathy, hoarse. “It was incredible.”
“Good.”
I could hear the relief in his voice, could feel it rippling out from him. He’d been afraid that he would disappoint me somehow. Later I’d have to ask him how he’d known to touch me exactly that way, but for now I only wanted to return the favor.
His flesh was warm and smooth beneath my lips as I kissed my way down his body, drinking in the beauty of his sculpted chest and stomach. I could hear the breath escape him as I undid the buttons on his jeans and pulled them down, but he didn’t try to stop me.
The bulge in his underwear was larger than I’d expected, and I pulled in a nervous little breath, even though I had no intention of turning back now. Before I could lose my nerve, I grasped the waistband of his briefs and eased them down over him, then flung them over the side of the bed, where they landed on top of his jeans.
Damn. In the back of my mind, I’d worried that maybe this one part of him somehow wouldn’t be human, but now I knew I needn’t have worried. Even so, he was very big, so big that I had a hard time wrapping my fingers around him all the way.
As soon as my hand closed on his shaft, he groaned, a shudder moving through his body as I began to work him up and down. Not too hard or too fast, because I wanted this to end with the two of us fully together…even if his size worried me a little.
“Taryn….”
My name was barely more than a sigh on his lips. The sound of it made a rush of need course through me, and I knew I wasn’t going to delay the inevitable for too long. I did want to taste him, though, even though I felt a thrill of nervousness at the same time. I’d never done this before, and I wanted to make sure it was right for him.
After taking a breath, I brought him into my mouth. He groaned again, his body shuddering at the feel of my lips wrapped around him. His skin was like silk against my tongue, the texture finer than I could have imagined. I wanted to keep going, but I could feel another of those shudders run through his body and I had a feeling that I needed to stop there.
So I lifted my mouth from him. He sighed, but then he was moving, shifting so I was buried beneath him, his lips against mine as he caressed my breasts again. There was something almost reverent in his touch, as if he couldn’t quite believe he was here like this with me in his arms.
He pushed against me, so hard, so ready, but then he paused. “Are you sure, Taryn?”
“Yes,” I said, gazing up into the beautiful wine-colored depths of his eyes, garnet and ruby and rich, rich carnelian. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
A moment that seemed suspended in time as he stared down at me, our naked bodies touching but not joined. And then he drew in a breath, and pushed into me with one quick thrust, as if he understood it was better to do it that way rather than ease in.
The pain came and went so quickly I hardly had time to register that I’d experienced it at all. He began to thrust in and out, but not too hard, instead in a gentle rocking rhythm that took him deeper and deeper into me. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him in even closer, savoring every movement, every pulse.
His breathing began to speed up, and I knew it wouldn’t be long for him. I hadn’t really expected to climax this first time, but it still felt good, felt more right than anything else I’d ever done.
And then he convulsed, driving into me with one last thrust, a groan of sheer animal ecstasy tearing itself from his throat. I clung to him, holding him close while the orgasm thundered its way through his body. He continued to gasp while we lay there for a long moment, neither of us wishing to break the contact.
At last, though, he pulled away, shifting his position so we could hold one another until our breathing quieted. I knew in a moment I would need to get up, go to the bathroom so I could clean up the inevitable aftermath, but right then I wasn’t sure I’d be able to move.
His hand moved over the tangled mass of my hair, his touch so tender it almost made me want to weep. “How beautiful you are.”
“So are you,” I whispered, snuggling close to him. “Perfect in every way.”
“Even though I’m half alien?”
“Because you’re half alien,” I replied. “Because otherwise, you wouldn’t be you.”
He didn’t reply at first. His arms tightened around me, and he pushed a lock of hair aside so he could place the softest, most feathery kiss in the world on my temple. “I love you, Taryn Oliver.”
My heart stopped, shuddered, then remembered to keep on beating. “I love you, too. I think I began to even when I was still on the Eclipse, only….”
“Only?”
“Only I didn’t want to admit it to myself. It was what your — what Lir Shalan wanted, and I couldn’t give in to that.”
“Ah.” The syllable was hardly more than a sigh, a drift of warm breath against my hair. “He did not want us to be in love, Taryn. He wanted us to be intimate. Love can make people unruly, uncooperative.”
I supposed I could see that. Two people in love were far more likely to do whatever was necessary to protect one another, and Lir Shalan couldn’t have liked that idea very much. “So the two of us falling in love was probably the last thing he wanted?”
“I believe so.”
“Good,” I said, desire stirring in me as I moved closer to him. My hand drifted lower, feeling how he was almost ready. “Then make love to me again, Gideon.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Even though it was only mid-afternoon, we dozed a little in one another’s arms afterward, then finally got up and took a quick shower together, the two of us laughing as we tried to negotiate the cramped space. It had definitely not been designed for more than one person to occupy it at a time, but we struggled along as best we could, neither of us wanting to be separated after sharing such intimacy.
Once we were dressed, we headed out to the kitchen. Lunch was long overdue, but the meager assortment of items in the refrigerator didn’t appear terribly appealing.
“Let’s go out,” Gideon suggested, and I shot him a surprised look.
“Do you really think that’s safe?”
“I know it is,” he replied, closing the refrigerator door and taking me by both hands. “It’s broad daylight. Lir Shalan wouldn’t attempt anything, even with the two of us away from the protection of the creek. And I think it would do us both good to get out for a
while.”
“Afraid I’ll drag you back into bed?” I teased, and an amused glint entered his eyes.
“Afraid? Hardly. But I do think it would be a good idea to get something nourishing to eat before we attempt a third round.”
I could only laugh and shake my head at that remark. But his words had given me an idea. I realized there was someplace where we could go to have wonderful food and still be protected by Oak Creek.
“Sounds like a plan. I know exactly where to go.” He raised an eyebrow, and I went on, “A place called Hideaway House. We can sit on the deck and be only a few yards away from the creek.”
“The perfect solution.”
So we finished getting tidied up, then went and got in the car. This time, instead of taking my usual position behind the steering wheel, I got in the back seat. Looking a little puzzled, Gideon followed, then nodded to himself after he settled down next to me. After I’d told the car where we were going, I leaned against the seat back, my hand resting in Gideon’s as we were driven out onto the highway.
The drive over to the restaurant would take about ten minutes, so I figured that gave me enough time to ask the question that had been burning in my mind ever since we’d made love. It wasn’t the sort of thing I really wanted to discuss in a restaurant, but you didn’t get much more private than the back seat of a car.
“So…how did you know exactly what to do?” I asked. “I mean, you’ve never been with anyone else, have you?”
“No,” he said. I’d been expecting that reply, but I still relaxed slightly once he’d told me so emphatically. Maybe it was silly to think that way, but because he’d been my first, I wanted to be his first, too. He went on, “Where would I have had the opportunity? You were the only human woman I’d ever met, except for my mother. No, Lir Shalan wanted to make sure I knew what to do when the time came, and so he provided me with some of your world’s erotic films. They did make…interesting viewing.”
If I’d been drinking something, I probably would have choked. As it was, my words still sounded a little strangled. “Your father supplied you with porn?”
sedona files 06 - enemy mine Page 20
