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Erotic Paranormal by Alix Richards
An accident wipes away Joy Lyons-Morgan's memories, but she's haunted by visions and dreams of a man she loves unconditionally. How will she find him without even knowing who she is?
Jairo Silverthorne understands his and Joy's struggles over being Twin Flames. They mirror and magnify each other in everything, including positives and negatives. So, where is she and why can't she hear his need?
Separated and alone, can Twin Flames find their way back to each other with only soul memories to light their way?
Twin Flames: Soul Memory
by Alix Richards
Published by MuseItUp Publishing at Smashwords
ISBN: 978-1-77127-250-6
Copyright 2013 Alix Richards
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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I’d like to dedicate this to my Gram Betty
who said I should write down the stories I told.
She always said I’d go far.
And to my own ‘twin flame,’
my real life ‘Jairo’
without him this story wouldn’t exist.
Acknowledgements
I’d also like to thank Stacy and Wendy who believed in me when I couldn’t, Steph for not letting me quit and Shayla for the series title. Kay Dee for taking time to help me clean it up, Creative Crits and Ro who helped get the beginning in order, hugs to all of you. I also want to give a great big thank you to my publisher, editors, and cover artist who without them I couldn’t bring this to you. Thank you.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Plato wrote 2,500 years ago…”And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment…”
Twin flames, soul mates, and the other variations of the same have been around for thousands of years. The following series of stories are my take on the concept of soul mates, twin souls…or any title they may carry. Together there is only one in this form. The one who is our mirror image yet complete opposite. The dream of dreams, our divine match.
~Alix Richards
Chapter One
Jairo held Joy’s sleeping form close and watched her sleep. He brushed her hair away from her face. His breath caught at the tender emotion flooding his senses.
She was everything right within his world.
Her heart beat against his chest and each time she exhaled, the warm air caressed his flesh-like fingertips. There were no words, in the languages he spoke, to describe the enormity of what he felt for this woman curled into his side.
She matched him in every way possible and accepted his faults as her own.
If she only knew how beautiful she is to me, how precious she is.
He wanted to sleep, but couldn’t take his gaze from her.
Something akin to fear taunted him. He despaired that he would close his eyes only to awaken later to find their relationship advances had been nothing more than a dream, and they were still physically apart. Jairo knew he would not survive that sort of life cruelty. He’d experienced Joy far too long in the dreamscape before they hooked up physically.
He tightened his arm, as if holding her closer would keep the terror at bay and give assurance they were together in the physical realm.
Joy saw him for who he truly was and she still took that step. She opened her arms and heart to him in a way no other ever had. Unconditional love and acceptance of all he was and could become, she embraced. Including the animals he sheltered within his body.
Tears burned the backs of his eyelids and he swallowed. She was a real person and not a figment of his imagination, a wondrous gift from the Ancient Gods.
Every second he spent with Joy he loved her more, if that were even possible. Her laugh made his heart trip over its beats and her smile…her smile gave him utter peace.
Her selfless surrender to him demanded nothing in return.
Until I move too slow in uniting our bodies, that’s when she becomes demanding.
The corner of his lips tipped up at the memory of her fingers tangled in his hair and her mouth feeding from his. She did not command, yet at the same time, she was the commander.
Joy may have been at his mercy, but Jairo was the one on his knees.
Every time they came together, she continued to push and press him. She didn’t tease, but when she wanted to continue a conversation, no amount of persuasion on his part changed her mind.
When she softened—he lived for those moments.
Suddenly the urge to wake her and make love to her stole the air from his lungs. Before he could evaluate the surge of panic, he lifted her leg and draped it over his hip. With gentle fingers, he probed Joy’s silken jewel and took her lips lovingly with his. Jairo wanted her ready for him.
He needed the ultimate closeness that only their bodies entwined gave him. Her low moan and the pooling of moisture on his hand told him she would receive him. Feeding from her mouth like savoring a delicacy, he eased inside Joy’s satiny heat.
Her breath hitched and arms tightened around him, her fingers clenched the strands of hair near his scalp. The tingle of pain enhanced his pleasure and triggered his canines.
“Jair—”
He continued to slide in and out in a gentle motion, desiring to show Joy exactly what he felt for her and what she meant to him. She was his everything and so much more.
“Te amo—” Jairo nibbled along her jaw to where her pulse beat wildly. “Siempre te amare. Tu eres mi vida, mi ser.”
Canines broke through his gum line and he bit down until the soft obstruction of her skin gave way. Copper ambrosia filled his mouth, coating his tongue. Linked by body and blood, they were one.
“Mi amor.” Her arms tightened around his neck.
My love…she called me her love.
If love was blood, it flowed through his body. In all their time together Joy hadn’t ever spoken Spanish, said she had not learned it. She spoke some French, had taken it in high school. To hear the words of his mother’s native tongue on her lips…pride surged through him.
She is so damn beautiful and mine.
Jairo tensed his jaw after withdrawing his fangs and forced his body to remain at the leisure pace he started. This was for Joy and their connection, not for release, an expression of the profound commitment between them.
Their bound souls…one heart.
* * * *
“I can’t talk you out of it, can I?” Jairo set Joy’s suitcase on the floor beside the door and straightened. He silently pled with her to stay, but couldn’t bring himself to say the words aloud.
“If I’m going to do this, I need to do it myself.” She stepped close to him and looped her arms around his neck. “I have the meeting set up for tomorrow evening. Besides, what type of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t keep my word?”
“Not a bad one, that’s for damned sure.” He palmed her hip, brushed a stray blonde hair back, and kissed her. Pulling back, he added, “I didn’t expect you to follow through with it. It’s not like you need to work.”
“I may not need to work, but I lost the bet.” She ran the tip of her tongue along his lips. “It is my dream, something I’ve always wanted. You achieved yours,
now it’s my turn.”
The memory of their game the night before flowed through his mind. Joy bet him he couldn’t make her laugh by tickling her, that she wasn’t ticklish…he won and she laughed.
“If your tantalizing tongue keeps that up you’ll miss your flight.” Gripping her hips, he brought her closer to his unencumbered hardness. He wanted her again. “And the backing you are applying for will be lost.”
“I understand now why you don’t like clothes.” She giggled and planted a kiss in the hollow of his throat.
“I’m all for nudists, baby.” He backed her toward the door and pressed her into the wood. With his hands on either side of her head, he leaned in and kissed her deep.
“Nudists, huh?”
“Oh yeah.” He followed Joy as she turned her head to the side. “Being naked all the time would be an awesome feeling. Of course, you wouldn’t be able to leave the house without clothing.”
“What?” She moved her head and shoved at his chest, giggling. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s completely fair. I can’t have other males looking at your sexy body. It could cause trouble, of the life ending kind.”
“Seriously, Jairo?” The faint tint of pink on her cheeks reminded him of how she saw herself.
She honestly believed she was average in the looks department.
Hell, if she only knew I have a perpetual hard-on whenever she is nearby. Fuck, her scent drives me crazy and her laugh— yeah, I’m screwed when she’s around. And I love every tormented second of it.
“You know I don’t lie, baby.” He dipped his head to her throat and nuzzled her.
“I know.” Joy sighed and pulled him closer. “Can we make this work?”
“I believe we can.” Jairo dragged the tip of his tongue along her jaw and then pulled back. “Why, don’t you?”
“I want to believe we can.” She kissed his forehead. Her breath ruffled his hair. “We are two very different species though. Plus, I’m an American and you aren’t.”
“So that’s what this is all about.” He grinned and pressed a kiss to her lips. “We’re both hybrids, Joy. The countries we grew up in or live in mean little.”
“You honestly believe your felines will get along with mine?” She kissed the tip of his nose. “I don’t know of too many black panthers, tigers, and jaguars that can dwell together safely without killing each other.”
“You’re looking at this as it is out in nature, not confined in the body of a human.” Jairo traced her mouth and brushed a caress across her nose, making her smile. “Trust me, mi amor, it has happened often throughout the history of our kind. It will work.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.” He kissed her long and deep, wanting to erase the concern he sensed inside her. “I have faith in us, baby. That’s what matters.”
Again, the urge to be inside her stole his breath. Jairo couldn’t put his finger on it, but he’d swear something was going to happen. The sensation unsettled him. The terror he’d lose her drowned his senses. Dread sank into the pit of his stomach.
“Are you all right?” Concern reflected in Joy’s pale eyes like a punch in the gut.
People cared about him, not in this way though. This was different. She wanted nothing from him, yet she loved him anyway. She didn’t want to change him in any way.
Joy refused to let him finance her dream, a dance club catering to the young crowd. She wanted to do it on her own, through her hard work.
“Yeah.” He teased her lips with his, pushing the worry back.
“Jairo, I can’t miss my flight.”
“I know.” He didn’t want to let her go, but what reason did he have to make her stay?
* * * *
He set his cases in the passenger seat of the truck and shut the door. Joy had left an hour earlier and the rain was still coming down. More of a shower than the overnight storm had been and the previous rainy days.
Jairo stepped carefully around the muddied yard to disconnect the generator.
He scuffed his shoes when he stepped up on the porch to remove the excess muck and entered the cabin.
After making sure the windows were all closed and locked he reentered the living area. The last images of him and Joy together teased his mind, his heart pounded. He missed her.
Closing his eyes, he breathed in the faint remnants of her flowery scent. For everything they accomplished between them, he knew there were issues they still had to work on.
He tipped his head and glanced at the island countertop. There lay the moonstone choker Joy always wore. Jairo placed it there when he removed it from her throat. Reaching for it, he lifted it to his cheek. Unlike most gems, these were warm, even after hours of not being against the flesh of his loved one.
Joy told him how she made the four-banded choker and the amount of time it took for her to locate the right shades of the stone. He fisted his hand around the jewels and gently placed the piece in his pocket.
They had plans to meet up at the end of the week. He was flying out to where she lived.
With a smile, he locked the front door and strode to the driver’s door.
Joy didn’t return, that must mean the bridge is no longer submerged.
Jairo started the truck and turned it around. The tingle at the base of his skull thumped, demanding attention. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
What in the hell is wrong with me?
He downshifted and let the powerful engine ease the heavy metal slowly through the large puddles dotting the dirt drive and road.
The pounding in his head got worse and affected his eyesight the closer he got to the bridge. Jairo barely made out the blurry outline of the cement structure that spanned the twenty-foot wide gap.
Until he got to the other side, there was no cell service. When summer storms flooded the area, they always seemed to interfere with reception. Getting across the expansion was his first priority and then he’d call for assistance. The pain and his vision continued to get worse. Driving like this would certainly cause an accident.
The truck jostled as the front tires bumped over the difference between dirt and concrete. Another movement and the vehicle suddenly slammed to a stop. His face hit the steering wheel.
“Joy…”
* * * *
A slight ringing in her ears had Joy tilting her head to the side. With a small shake of her head, she waited for the sound to subside. Seconds later, she continued toward the exit doors of the airport, luggage in hand. Stepping out into the humid Miami air, she breathed in deep, held it, and then released. Tension consumed her.
It’s just my nerves for the meeting tomorrow night. She kept repeating the thought like a mantra.
Joy straightened her shoulders and walked to the curb, crossing her fingers a taxi would drive up soon. Suddenly her stomach rolled as if she rode a roller coaster and her heart pounded painfully against her ribs. Every now and again, she’d turn her head and her eyes wobbled. Like those plastic googly ones on stuffed animals. Images shifted and weaved. She pressed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes.
Something doesn’t feel right.
The crunch of tires on pavement had her squinting and lifting a hand. Joy wanted to get to the hotel and lie down, soon. A dull throb started at the base of her skull and wound its way up and around to the center of her forehead.
What the hell is going on? What’s wrong with me?
The cabby hopped out and lifted her cases into the trunk.
Joy forced her lips into what she hoped was a cheerful smile and gave him the name of the hotel where she had reservations.
“I’ll have you there in no time, señorita.” His Spanish accent came across more pronounced than Jairo’s, but his English was understandable and he seemed friendly. He opened the back door for her.
“Thank you, señor.” She quickly ducked her head and everything shifted on its axis. Joy blinked rapidly to clear the film from her vision. It remained. She gripped
the doorframe with one hand to steady herself as the other went to her temple. She lowered herself slowly toward the backseat and teetered unsteadily. The roof of the cab connected with her cheek.
“Oh, señorita, you okay?” He grabbed her elbow to keep her from wobbling.
“Yes, yes, just moved too fast.” Joy tried to focus on the kind driver’s face.
“Slow down, if you aren’t used to the humidity here in Miami it can play with you.”
“Thank you, I’ll have to remember that.” She faced the opening and prepared to dip her head with more care in order to slide into the seat.
Again, the world tipped. Joy grasped the door handle and this time the car frame, too. Willing whatever was wrong with her to stop, she prayed the driver didn’t think she was drunk or worse, on drugs. She breathed in, held it, and then released it once the jitter of images stopped.
With gentle care, she bowed her head and scuffed the area above her eye on the curve of the roof. Grinding her teeth, she eased herself into the seat and tugged the door closed.
Klutzy? Seriously? What is going on? I haven’t ever had a problem with grace before. This is for the damn birds.
The car surged forward through terminal traffic. She lightly touched her forehead and then her temple, high on her cheekbone tenderness and a small bump, but her fingers came away with no blood. Joy heaved a sigh of relief. The smack to her face would be like the one she suffered slipping on ice and banging her head on the doorframe of her car last winter.
“Joy…”
“Jairo?”
Nothing.
“Jairo? Are you okay?” She held her breath and waited for his response. After a few seconds and still he had not come back, she tried to reach out to him as she had before.
Instead of locating the presence that was all Jairo, she encountered blackness. That hadn’t ever happened before. Her head throbbed in earnest as the cab pulled under the overhang to the entrance of the hotel.
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