“Oh, again,” he agreed and moved until he rested on top of her. “And again and again.”
“Demanding mortal,” she complained.
“Insatiable immortal,” he grumbled.
Teague bent his head down to take her mouth and forgot all about using words.
Chapter Four
“Feeling this good has to be illegal,” Teague muttered when his lungs finally remembered how to operate.
“Hmmm,” his sexy snow elf agreed.
He looked down at the incredible woman in his arms and almost jerked back at the sight of her perfectly pointed ears.
Delicate and feminine, they curved out from her head then sharpened into a shape nothing close to human.
Shit, he thought with an inward sigh, she’d been telling the truth all along.
“You’re really an elf with ties to Christmas and Santa?” he asked bluntly.
“And you’re really a human warrior.” She smiled as she the words.
Teague heard the distance in her voice, under the smile, and wondered about it. Everything they’d been through so far had only brought them closer. What had changed between the last orgasm and now?
They’d finally made it to the bed after stopping and fucking on almost every flat surface between the hot spring and here. Wonder drug or not, Teague didn’t think his knees would ever be the same. A small part of his brain wondered if maybe it wasn’t the drug. Maybe his incessant need had everything to do with the beautiful woman in his arms.
Lying there with his arms around the woman of his dreams, twirling one silver curl around his finger, he couldn’t have been happier. Contentment, which had always eluded him before, now settled over him like a warm, familiar blanket. “Why do you say it like that?”
To give her credit, Kendil didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. A slight shrug of her shoulders made him wonder if she would answer at all. “You are mortal and so very breakable.” Big blue eyes blinked at him, wet with unshed tears. “There are so many ways in this world for you to be harmed or killed. Even if you don’t get maimed or destroyed in some weird manner, your lifespan is so tiny and short. How do you exist knowing you’ll die almost before you’ve had a chance to experience life?”
Awe suffused him. This amazing creature in his arms worried over him? A mere human who would be dead in a blink of her immortal eye? Then again, she’d made his time on earth sound frighteningly minute.
Should he be worried about that, too? He would die and leave Kendil alone. Immortal meant she’d have an eternity to grieve over him. Somehow the thought of her sad for an endless sea of years caused his heart to ache.
Gently, he moved her off his chest to the blankets beneath them and leant up on one elbow to stare down at her mesmerising face. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you’d worry about me.” Not able to resist her passion-swollen lips, Teague pressed a swift but thorough kiss on her mouth. “You truly humble me, Kendil, but life, human life, comes with no guarantees or promises. We take what we’re given and it’s up to us to make the most of it, or squander it.”
“What’s happening to you? The arrow of lust shouldn’t be affecting you like this.” Suspicion coloured her tone as she sat up. “You should still be mindless to fuck, not talking and being sweet.”
Guilt crept through him at the reminder of his small white lie. Tell her now and get his ass handed to him, or wait until later and get his ass handed to him?
“Of course I want to fuck you.” He’d choose later over now, hoping to think of a suitable way to diffuse her anger before then. “Don’t you understand that by now? I kind of worried about hurting you.” Teague put on his best innocent face and blinked at her. “I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
When he turned away to hide the smile on his face, he felt soft hands cup his shoulders then slide around his chest.
“What a big, strong man you are, Teague. You worry about little old immortal me? However will I beg forgiveness?” Her voice teased him as her hands roamed his body.
Catching on to the fact something wasn’t right in her tone, Teague went to move back, but her hands cupped his balls and squeezed. “Auhh…” He winced at the high pitch of his tone from her not so gentle handling. “I wanted to get to know you. Find out everything about you. Convince you to spend time with me off this forsaken hunk of ice.”
Changing her grip from hard to caressing left him hanging over a very dangerous edge by the tips of his fingers.
Her breath whispered against his sensitive ear before her words reached his brain. “I know it wasn’t a grey arrow that hit you.” Kendil’s free hand reached around him to stroke and pet his very erect penis. “You said red, but you aren’t acting like a man under a lust spell.”
Praying it remained safe to keep his back to her, Teague went on the offensive. “How many lust-spelled men have you known?”
Her stroking stopped. “For some reason, I feel the need to speak the truth with you. I don’t like it.” Her voice held a note of confusion and anger.
He reached down to remind her hand of what it had been doing. “Yeah, well I really don’t like the thought of you with other men. So we’re even.”
Teague could almost feel her thinking behind him. Body tense, she mindlessly played with his balls while her brain worked out the puzzle he’d presented her.
“Holy snicker doodles, Rudolph!” Her shouted words almost burst his eardrum as she pushed away from his needy body. “White,” she shouted and pointed an accusing finger at him. “It was a white arrow that hit you.”
Turning around to face her, Teague figured he’d bluff or beg his way out of the doghouse. With an ease he didn’t feel, he shrugged one naked shoulder. “You made such a fuss over the colour I didn’t want to worry you. I don’t see what the big deal is. I feel fine. No fever, no wild urge to go diving off an iceberg.” He gave another shrug and shot Kendil a mischievous smile. “All’s well that ends well, right?”
Kendil exploded. In a whirlwind of swirling moonlight curls, flashing ice-blue eyes and silky flesh, she cursed him in languages he didn’t know or understand. He did, however, get that something very bad had happened, and he was really worried.
Putting his life and family jewels at risk, Teague crossed the fur-covered floor to stand in front of his sputtering and hissing female, with a casualness that defied the tension thrumming though his body as long thick lashes blinked up at him in surprise. “What?”
Counting to twenty and taking long, slow, deep breaths to reign in his temper, he finally spoke. “Are you done throwing your tantrum?”
Ice and emptiness filled her beautiful eyes. “You have no idea what you’ve done. We’re both so screwed now. I can’t believe you lied to me.” Hurt replaced the ice, and he wished for the first back so the second wouldn’t burn like acid in his heart.
“Kendil, stop cursing me and tell me what I can do to help? And please, for the love of all that’s camo, tell me what the hell was in that white arrow.”
“A true love bolt,” she screamed into his face. “An arrow meant to open you heart and soul when true love is near. An arrow dipped in Aphrodite’s tears that imbue the metal with magic that never wears off and never lessens. You are stuck being in love for the rest of your life with your perfect partner.”
That didn’t sound so bad to him. In fact, it sounded damn near perfect, but Teague didn’t make the mistake of telling her so. The elf looked two cookies shy of a full plate. He didn’t want to be the one that finally pushed her all the way over the edge.
“Okay, you are worried that I’ll love you too much?” Was such a thing possible? Loving another person too much?
“You don’t get it do you, Teague Jester, human warrior and mortal. The goddess’s tears hit both of us. We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other for hours, maybe days.” Weighty sorrow darkened her beautiful summer-sky eyes. “Do you know what we’ve done…to ourselves and each other?”
F
rustrated with her and his inability to do anything to help her, Teague tugged at his hair. “Tell me, Kendil. Tell me whatever has you so freaked out. I can’t fix the problem if I don’t know what I’m dealing with.”
“I’ll be in love with you the rest of my very long-lived life,” she turned and screamed at him. “You’ll be dead and I’ll be all alone, pining for a man who can never love me back the way I need or want.”
What the fuck? Had finding out the truth finally pushed Kendil over the edge? He’d figured that out hours ago. “Kendil, I—”
A sharp wave of her hand cut him off. “Don’t,” she gritted out through clenched teeth. “Do not try and joke or do something stupid. It is what it is and I’ll learn to live with it and without you.”
She made the mistake of trying to brush past him, as if she’d already removed him from her life, thoughts and heart. Teague’s tenuous hold on his temper broke, and he jerked her off the ground with one hand wrapped around her waist.
“What in the name of the twelve days of Christmas do you think you’re doing?” Kendil fought like a polar bear caught in a trap. She bit and scratched, but Teague refused to release his hold on her. When she finally got free, she’d either kick his ass or disappear. He couldn’t let either happen.
“You’ve had your say, now it’s my turn.” He swung her up onto the bed and quickly followed to pin her luscious body beneath his own.
Eyes shut, cheeks flushed and silver curls tangled around her head, Teague had never seen a more beautiful sight in all his life. “Don’t shut me out yet, honey. There has to be a way for us to be together. I love you too much to let go of you without a fight. Let me tell you, I bring C-four to a fight, so I’m sure to win.”
When her lips curved in the start of a smile, hope beat strongly in his heart. He hadn’t lost her yet. There was still a chance to make this come out all right. If only he could manage to get the right words from his heart past his lips.
“Kendil, I need you to calm down and listen to me.” He not-so-patiently waited until her breathing grew less laboured and the storm in her eyes stilled. “You said the white arrows only worked if the one destined for you is near, otherwise it’s just another useless weapon.”
Curls spilled over her bare shoulders as she slowly nodded her head on the soft down pillow.
Quickly giving in to the urge to kiss, Teague covered her lips, nipping gently at her bottom lip before raising his head. “What happens when the one meant for you is near? What would happen if you both were hit at the same time by the same type of arrow?”
Her angry eyes narrowed. “You think I haven’t thought of this? Two white arrow tips hit us, arrows of destined true love. Best-case scenario, we lived happy together for the next forty years or so until you drop dead on me. Worst case, you die tomorrow and I’m still left in love, miserable and all alone.”
As much as he wanted to promise never to leave her, Teague’s lips couldn’t form the lying words. Mortality pretty much guaranteed them an un-happily ever after, but wouldn’t a few minutes of time together be worth the pain of separation?
He looked down at her unhappy face and sighed. “There’s nothing you’ll let me say to change your mind. No matter how much I love you, or want to be with you, you’ll always be looking over your shoulder for the down side. I don’t want that,” he told her, rolling to his side as the enormous truth settled over him.
There was no way to win this. Kendil had given up on them and love before he’d even opened his mouth to change her mind. No matter what words he used or how he phrased them, she’d always see his mortality as setting him apart. Not good enough to be her equal partner in life and love.
“I love you, Kendil Jolly. I’ve loved you since you told me how breakable I am. I love your amazing sense of humour, every silver strand of hair on your head. I love the way you tilt your head to the side right before you say something clever and make me laugh. I love the way you love your friends and your St. Nick. There’s only one thing I’d change about you if I could. I don’t love the fact that you’re too afraid of risk to take a chance on being with me while I’m here. You’re so focused on the pain you’ll feel after I’m gone, you’ve stopped seeing me right here in front of you.”
He slid from the bed, his heart aching with each step away from her, but knowing the risk would be worth the payoff…if it ever came. “I love you, Kendil,” he repeated in a soft voice. “I hope that someday you find whatever it is you are looking for. Even if it’s not me.” The last words caused his heart to bleed, but they needed to be said. He loved her enough to want her happy, with or without him in her life.
Not able to stop himself, Teague whirled around for one last taste of this incredible woman.
He kissed her, slanting his lips over hers, slipping his tongue between them to sweep against her own. Need…desire…want all crashed through him at her familiar taste.
She was everything he hadn’t know he’d ever wanted. She was heaven and paradise all wrapped up in one sinful package and he’d never get enough of her.
Yet he pulled away. Between harsh breaths, he spoke. “If you ever choose to face your fears, come find me. I’ll hold your hand while you slay the demons.”
He took one long last look at her with her silvery curls gleaming in the faint sunlight, berry red nipples capping luscious breasts, and a long, curvy torso that had him licking his lips in want. The tinsel-coloured triangle between her thighs seemed to call to him, like a favourite treat melting on his tongue.
Quickly he grabbed his gear, suited up and walked out.
He walked out of the only true home he’d ever known, leaving behind the only woman he’d ever love. Things couldn’t get much worse than this, he thought, until a bright red light flashed in front of his eyes and he came face-to-face with a Vinion.
A beautiful Vinion with a black arrow pointing straight at him. “Human, you’ve no right to be here interfering with our battle.”
Not seeing he had much more to lose, Teague shrugged his cold-weather-clad shoulders. “Get on with it then. I don’t see how you can make it much worse.”
The Vinion, a truly beautiful woman, with cotton-candy pink hair and soft, lilac eyes lowered her bow as she stared at him. “You’ve fallen in love.”
Since it came out more statement than question, Teague kept his mouth shut.
Nodding some wordless answers to herself, the Vinion suddenly smiled. “Then we have…how do you mortals say…found the loop in the hole?”
He smiled at her words. “Found the loophole?” he suggested.
She smiled brightly at him and clapped her now empty hands. “Yes, this is exactly what I mean. Lord Cupid has the market cornered on lust and passion, but nothing and no god can ever tamper with true love.” She blasted him with another brilliant white smile. “Thank you for releasing me from my vows, Lord Teague Jester.”
Teague shook his head at the about face of his enemy. “Why are you so happy? Won’t your boss get pissed you failed your mission?”
“He can do nothing, anymore. I risked a great deal shooting both of you with the white arrows, but ending my service to that…that…”
“Asshole,” Teague found himself offering.
“Yes,” she agreed, “that asshole. True love, as corny as it sounds, is capable of breaking any curse, not to mention a slightly binding contract between the big guy and me.”
“And you are?”
Her face coloured to match her hair. “Where are my manners? I am called Amore.”
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Teague stuck his hand out. “I’m Teague. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Amore. Now you wouldn’t happen to know anything about the other two I travelled here with?”
Full perky breasts bobbed up and down in her red cat suit. “Oh yes, I do know. We created the storm to separate the three of you. We knew this might be our only chance to break our servitude. The rest of your party is fine and faring very well, if my sisters tell me right.”
Relief washed through him. The other men were alive and unhurt. “You want to go someplace warm and tell me exactly what you and your fellow Vinions have been up to and how it involves me and my men?”
Again more bouncing and bobbing. “Yes, wait right here. I’ll get you out of this weather. I really hate the cold. I’m more of a Spring and Summer being. This cold is something I don’t like at all.”
In a shower of red hearts and pink glitter, a shield appeared over them, blocking out the cold wind and the continuously falling snow. He took one last look behind him then followed Amore into her magic.
Within a blink of his eye, Teague found himself on a lovely tropical isle, sweating buckets in his gear. A few tugs and he was bare from the waist up.
“Yum,” Amore said, licking her lips as she looked him up and down. “That silly Christmas elf. Giving you up without even a twitch of her nose.”
Silently, Teague agreed with Vinion, but out loud he said, “She’s got her reasons, I guess.”
The red cat suit vanished, replaced by a barely-there bikini highlighting every single sweet curve of the immortal female’s body. Last week, he would have been all over Amore. Today, he felt nothing but a general appreciation for the perfection of her form.
“I see my arrow hit true.” She shook her head and pink curls tumbled around her shoulders in sexy disarray.
“You are amazing to look at, but look is all I can do.”
Amore opened her mouth to speak, then looked over his shoulder and a different look, a hungry look, appeared in her eyes.
With the moves of a true temptress, Amore slid her hands up her body to cup her breasts. “Why only look? I am here. I find you handsome, in a weak, mortal way. Still, I would not mind taking you into my body. I am curious as to how you differ from others.”
Teague’s mouth opened and closed several times, but he could find no right words to say. If he said no, then she might very well leave him alone on this island. If he agreed, then he’d be betraying everything in his heart and soul.
Christmas Goes Camo Page 5
