All But Lost (The Gifted Realm Book 6)

by Jillian Neal

  Fionna laughed. She hadn’t stopped smiling since she’d walked down the aisle, and Dan couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Her hair whipped in the breeze, which occasionally lifted her dress off of her legs.

  She’d pulled off the large crown of wildflowers and had handed Dan a single pink and yellow orchid bloom. “You’re supposed to put it over my left ear because that means I’m taken.”

  “Oh, baby doll, you are most definitely taken,” he assured her, feeling his trousers tighten as he slipped the flower in her hair and brushed a tender kiss on her cheek. “I can’t wait to make you my wife, Fi.”

  She’d trembled beside him with her breath stuttering deliciously.

  They’d eaten the meal prepared in their honor, but kept in constant contact.

  “Do I want to know what your mom said when you called?” She wrinkled her nose as she devoured the food on her plate.

  Garrett cracked up. “She made some kind of horrible choking sound. I thought she’d either finally just blown up, or that she was trying to beat the Governor with her tennis racket, you know, in lieu of Dan.”

  Dan nearly choked on the piece of pineapple he’d placed in his mouth as he joined Garrett’s hysterical laughter.

  Fionna looked stunned for a split second before she began laughing as well. “Wow! I guess the next time we go to their house will be fun.”

  “Because it’s always been so fun before now,” Dan pointed out.

  They finished up their meals off of the white Styrofoam plates that Tutu had located in her pantry.

  Dan tried to envision his mother sitting leisurely on the sands of Kauai, eating off of Styrofoam plates, and drinking out of plastic cups and beer bottles at their reception picnic, after attending their wedding which had consisted of less than twenty people.

  “Apparently my mother saw our wedding as a Russian winter theme,” he informed Fionna wryly.

  She grimaced, “Freezing cold, gray, and formerly Communist?” They cracked up again. Dan couldn’t catch his breath from their laughter. It was an extremely cathartic sensation.

  “Papa told me you were taking me off somewhere tonight,” Fionna whispered as she leaned against Dan’s chest as he lay on his side in the sand propped on his elbow. He’d been tracing his index finger slowly over her exposed shoulders.

  “I am,” Dan assured her.

  “Where are you taking me?” Her eyes sparkled in a dance that made him ache.

  “Well, Mrs. Vindico, that is for me to know, and you to find out.”

  Malani and Kai joined them on the patch of sand. “Tutu’s making me go with her to prepare your love nest, so do you need me to have the talk with you before I leave?” Malani harassed.

  “Yes,” Fionna giggled. “Tell me everything I need to know.”

  Dan and Garrett laughed heartily.

  The girls began giggling, and suddenly they were embracing.

  “I’m so excited for you two! Please come back more often. I miss you every single day!”

  “I promise we will, and I miss you everyday, too!”

  Malani released Fionna and threw her arms around Dan. He sat up to embrace her.

  “I love you because you love her, and because she loves you. But if I ever find out that you don’t love her, then I’ll push you in a volcano.”

  He laughed and nodded. “That won’t be necessary, but sounds entirely fair.”

  “All right.” Garrett leapt up and brushed the sand off of his hands. “That Hawaiian hottie looks like she needs some help with her suntan lotion.” He waggled his eyebrows and gestured towards a woman sunbathing on the beach nearby. “Then I’m heading to Rio.”

  Fionna’s mouth fell open. “Oh, my gosh, Garrett! I forgot all about that. I’m sorry. You’re going to be flying forever.”

  “Hey.” Garrett grabbed her hand, guided her up into his arms, and hugged her tightly. “I take total credit for this.” He gestured from Fionna to Dan, “And I’m about to make my little sister and Miss Aida the two happiest girls on the planet, minus hottie in the bikini over there, if she takes me back to her place, of course.”

  “Thank you for everything.” Fionna hugged Garrett again, “Even if you are a total man whore.”

  Dan and Fionna hugged Kai and Malani good-bye as they listened to Garrett sweet talk the bikini clad woman.

  Fionna rolled her eyes, “Did he really just tell her that she looks like Miss Hawaiʻi?”

  “He did,” he chuckled.

  “And she bought that?”

  “Well, as he is now rubbing her down with some kind of oil as she sits between his knees, I assume she must’ve.”

  “Something is up with him.”She broached the trepidation they’d both picked up on.

  “I know, but right now I need to take care of you, baby doll. I let you down. I have to try and make up for what happened to us. We need to let everything else go for a little while.”

  “That sounds perfect.” She grinned as he drew her into his body and held her close.

  “Maylea,” Tutu beckoned from further down the beach. Dan and Fionna walked hand in hand to her grandmother. They climbed in the truck and were driven out to the beachfront villa that Kai had recommended to Dan.

  “May the fire of the islands burn for you both this evening,” Tutu wished them as they carried their luggage up to the villa that had been prepared for them. It was built on one of the rocky island cliffs that overlooked the stunning crystal blue waters of Princeville Beach.

  “Tutu,” Fionna blushed and shook her head.

  “I love you both, and Maylea, I have packed you boxes and boxes of oils for your baths, lotions for your skin, and ointments for your ails. There is a box in there that you will need soon enough. Use them Maylea, and come back soon my precious keiki,” her grandmother pled.

  “I will, Tutu. I promise. I’m not staying away anymore. This is where I belong.” Fionna cried and hugged her grandmother fiercely.

  Deciding that he would bring Fionna back for the summer when she could surf to her heart’s content, Dan hugged Tutu as well.

  Papa cradled Fionna’s face in his rough callused hands. “My precious, Maylea, even wildflowers need the sunshine. You just can’t stay in the dark, baby girl. You have to live in the light.”

  Fionna swallowed back more emotion. She didn’t want to think about her very recent time in the darkest of depths.

  “You see, Dan, you let the island rhythms move you, you might just end up married,” Tutu teased.

  “I should have listened to them a long time ago.” Dan reached back and laced Fionna’s fingers in his.

  “Have a good night, and we will see you soon. I feel it,” Tutu stated wisely.

  Fionna and Dan waved as they drove away. Fionna sighed as she walked into the villa.

  It was rustic, Dan noted, but she seemed very pleased. There was a king size four-poster bed hung with white gauzy curtains, a small kitchen with a coffee pot that already had Maylea’s coffee perking, and a large double hammock hung on the wooden front porch, along with numerous cushioned chairs.

  There was a massive tub full of heat casted water that had lotus blossoms floating on its surface, along with Tutu’s oils swimming in the depths. There were indeed wooden boxes full of oils, lotions, and treatments situated near the kitchen to be taken home with Dan and Fionna the next day.

  Maylea

  “This is beautiful.” Fionna stared out to the setting sun, swimming in replicated perfection on the softly rolling sea.

  “I’m glad you like it, but I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than my wife.”

  Heat climbed seductively up from the swells of her breasts. She gave him an abashed grin.

  “Want some coffee, baby doll?”

  Fionna shook her head. She began gliding towards him slowly with her eyes darkening and her breath picking up pace. Dan shuddered as he watched her walk.

  “What do you want?” The love and lust swirled rapidly between them.

  She p
aused just inches away. “I want to be your wife.” Her hot breath caressed his neck. “I want you to take me to bed. I want you to lay over me. I want to feel you pressed against me. I feel so safe in your arms. I want you to suck me, and touch me, and take me. I want you to open me. I need to feel full of you. I want to really be Mrs. Daniel Vindico.”

  A shuddering evulsive growl echoed from Dan’s chest as he listened to her pleas. He pulled her to his body. “I’m going to make you mine, sweetheart. I’m gonna take good care of you, but we have all night long. This is our wedding night, baby doll. I want you to relax for me.”

  “I want to touch every square inch of your beautiful body. I want to lick you and drink that sweet honey you make for me. I want you to let me touch each and every hidden away place that all belong to me now. And then I’m going to lay you in that bed, and when I know you’re ready, I’m going to make you my wife, Fionna. I’m gonna own you, baby doll, all night long.” His voice rasped low and reverent as he gazed at her longingly.

  She panted and quaked in need and desire. Threading his fingers through her long, soft hair, he kissed her tenderly and then gently removed the flower he’d placed over her left ear.

  He worked his lips down her neck and spun his tongue in the dip of her collarbone. She liked that; he knew.

  He took her hand and gently spun her around in a dance. He halted when her back was to him. His lips worked from her shoulder blade down. They followed his hands as he unzipped the wedding dress, letting it fall in a pile of billowy white chiffon at her feet.

  A bra had been sewn in the dress, and suddenly she was bare. She’d worn nothing under the layers of soft cotton and organza. Allowed her body to really feel the ocean’s breezy caress, the warm sand on her bare feet, the cool waters of the sea, the rhythms of the island, the rhythms of her.

  A greedy moan sounded from low in his pelvis. The humid air between them filled with their voracious desire. Their rhythms pulsed anxious to be united. The stunning display of her in nothing but the delicate white lei that he’d placed around her neck hours before hung him with searing need.

  Her deep olive sun-kissed skin glowed enticingly. The lei set off her swollen breasts. Her nipples were peaked, beckoning him like a sweet raspberry confection that needed to be sucked, and licked, and consumed.

  “My God, you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Her energy tensed. Her rhythms pleaded for relief.

  “Come here to me.” He removed the lei and hung it from a low-lying branch off of the front decking. He was still learning, but he wanted always to honor the island and the people that had given them both back life.

  He turned, lifted her into his arms, and carried her to the tub. Gently, he lowered her into the water and then unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it off quickly. He knelt beside her and watched her gaze up at him as the water lapped around her curves.

  “Lay back, baby doll.” His hands slicked down her body, massaging and caressing her, groping her breasts as she moaned. He dipped them lower, unable to help himself.

  She let her legs fall open, making him ache to plunge her depths.

  “Close your eyes. Just feel me touch you,” he husked as her body fevered from the warmth of the water. She begged for his touch.

  He traced her opening, letting the water enter and soothe her. She writhed. The water rippled and sloshed as he dipped his fingers inside of her deeply.

  She craved more. She swelled rapidly, anxious for him to claim her. Her body tensed. She began to pant as he swirled his fingers and the water to the places she was most sensitive. He coaxed her body, still priming her to release. They didn’t come quite as easily as they once had, but he had plans to rectify that in time.

  Her body tugged rhythmically. Her walls pulled his fingers deeper. She shuddered and gasped for breath.

  “Just let it go for me.” He had her. She sang out his name as her energy unfurled for him. It spun around him, engulfing him in her love and her sweet tender spirit.

  Her body went lax in the water. She stared up at him, still so needy, desperate all for him.

  Regaining enough strength to continue, she stood. The water poured down over her gorgeous curves. Dan groaned from the sight of her.

  “Please, Dan, please. I want it. I’ve wanted it for so long.” Desperation perforated her tone. The fire in her eyes lit explosively.

  Unable to fight it, unable to deny her anything at all, he tried to order himself to remain in complete control. It was a ridiculous order. She held all of his cards. He’d willingly handed them over, and he lived to fulfill her.

  Panting, he heated a large towel from a nearby shelf and wrapped her up inside of it. He tended to each swell, to each luscious curve, and every perfect hollow of her body as he dried her thoroughly.

  “Go get in the bed, baby doll.” He watched her move gracefully into the waiting four-poster.

  Shedding his trousers, his heart flew and his body burned. Seeking the water, he laid beside her, his body at war with his mind. He wanted this night to be everything she deserved for it to be, but her pleas for him to own her, for him to permeate all of her, to fill her body and soul were more than he could deny.

  He laved her mouth with his own, dipping his tongue between her kiss-swollen lips, sucking them until he was dragging his teeth over them. He felt her energy pour into his mouth like the nectar of heaven.

  His lips travelled down her beautiful body. He sucked her breasts in rhythm, bathing her skin with his tongue.

  “I want to taste all of you, honey. I want to drink you before I make you mine.” He settled his shoulders between her legs and coaxed her open with his thumbs.

  Her moans quaked and seemed to reverberate from her very soul. “Yes,” she hissed as he revealed her folds and the pink entrance to that perfect column of rippled silk that drowned him completely. She was already swollen. Her inner lips begged for his care.

  He began at inner thigh, kissing and then nibbling his way to the heart of her. Slowly, he spun his index finger between her lips at her opening, gathering the liquid heat, and then tenderly teasing her clit until it swelled all for him. He coaxed the silk from her and then leaned and surrounded that swollen, throbbing pearl with his mouth and began to suck. He loped her legs over his shoulders and tended her thoroughly.

  Her body shook. He held her gently, still cautious of her injuries. She went wild as he sucked and then dipped his tongue between her folds, feeling her give way a moment later. She convulsed as a powerful orgasm broke in heated waves over her. Her thighs tightened against his jaw. He drank her.

  Simply unable to drag it out any longer, his need too great, her desire too strong, he glided up over her body, carefully keeping his weight on the mattress below her.

  “Baby doll, look at me,” he commanded. Her eyes flashed in fevered voracity. Her body gave needy writhes against his. She was so damn hungry he indulged her by prodding her with his head, rubbing it between her folds, priming her clit, making her quake.

  “You are mine, Fionna, all mine forever. And I’m about to make you my wife.”

  A stuttered moan escaped her, and she rolled underneath him, desperate for him to fulfill his promises.

  “Look at me, baby.” He waited until her eyes locked on his. Her chest rose and fell in reedy desperate gasps. “Do you want me to cast you?” He was perfectly willing to do whatever she wanted, but he wanted a child. He wanted her to carry his baby. He wanted it all with her.

  “No.” She hadn’t even had to pause and think. He studied her energy; it was unwavering and strong. She wanted it as well.

  Holding her gaze, he dropped low. “All mine,” he groaned as he prodded and then pushed himself inside of her perfection.

  She’d wanted it badly. Her body inhaled his. He’d wanted to wait after their time together in the cottage on their first night in Hawaiʻi to make certain she wasn’t going to hurt, and she’d stayed with Malani and Tutu the night before. Her body craved his just
as he longed hungrily for her.

  He pushed further, claiming her slowly, understanding the gravity of what it meant this time on this night.

  She bucked underneath him anxious and expectant.

  “Can you take more, baby doll?” He gasped for breath. The feeling was indescribable. She was perfection.

  “Oh God, yes,” she pled.

  “I’ve got all you need, honey, just take it.” With a demanding thrust he plundered her depths. Their energy spun in tantric accord, none all hers or all his. It existed as one together.

  It felt so different, Dan was stunned. Of all the women he’d been with, and each magical time he’d been with her, it had never felt so perfect, so complete.

  She was his and he hers in entirety, and as he made them one they could never be broken apart. Nothing would ever feel as heavenly as this, he knew.

  “I’m gonna…” she gasped, but couldn’t quite get the warning to pour from her breath as it washed from her body.

  “I feel it, baby. Open your eyes. Look at me when I bring you. You’re all mine.” His order gasped from him as he continued to pump.

  Her eyes flashed open and a pleading whimper escaped her.

  “It’s coming. I know. I’ve got you. Just let it go for me,” he urged, and she shattered. The waves were much stronger this time. Her energy flew in utter fulfillment and elation.

  “You have another one for me, baby doll? I want them all.” He kept his thrusts rhythmic, pumping her full of him.

  She swelled tightly as he built her again. He felt his release churn and throb in his groin.

  He felt the heavenly peace wash through him as she permeated his entire being. Her energy flooded through him as he pushed his into her.

  She cried out for him, and he wrapped her up tightly in his arms. He buried himself deeply as he spilled all of himself inside of her, feeling their releases mix in heady ecstasy. His seed exploded inside of her with nothing to keep it from her womb. He groaned from the thought.

  He withdrew, but kept her body wrapped safely in his arms.

  Leaning away from her, he managed to reach a larger jar of the healing ointment that they’d used several nights before. Tutu had placed it conveniently near their bed for the night.