by I. T. Lucas
Once permission was granted, David pulled her against his body and fused their mouths, pouring all the suppressed passion into the kiss.
Sari must have been holding back as well, and now that she let loose, she gave as much as she received and more. Linking her hands around his neck, she pressed herself against his chest. Her lips moving urgently against his, she took over the kiss, her tongue invading his mouth and twisting around his own.
Her fervor was a major turn on.
With a groan, David cupped her ass and brought her even closer against him. Regrettably, there were layers of fabric between them. He wanted to feel her soft breasts and hard nipples against the bare skin of his chest, her sex rubbing against his groin, not his slacks.
Would she be okay with him tearing her clothes off?
Probably not.
They looked expensive.
Besides, Sari was too important to him to screw up their first time because he was in a rush. He needed to take his time with her or let her dictate the pace so he could learn what she wanted and how she wanted it.
The kiss was desperate, passionate, intense, and as Sari tightened her hands on his neck, he swept his palm up the curve of her waist and brushed it against the side of her breast.
It was just a little touch, but combined with the intensity of the kiss and the sweet sounds of passion she was making it was enough to bring him to the brink.
Except, there was no way he was allowing that to happen. Letting go of Sari’s mouth, he rested his forehead against hers.
“What happened?” she breathed. “Why did you stop?”
“I need a moment,” he whispered.
Reaching with her hand, she cupped his cheek. “I want to keep kissing you.”
He chuckled. “I want it too. But I want to do so much more than that. I don’t think I’ve ever been hungrier for a woman.”
Sari pushed his head back a little. “I feel the same.” She kissed him softly, then took his hand and led him to the bed. “Do you want me to turn the lights off?”
“Can you do it with your mind?”
Sari laughed. “As bizarre as it all seems to you, this is real, not a movie. All I can do with my mind is create illusions. I can make you think that it’s dark in here.” She gave him a light push.
As his butt hit the bed, she stepped in between his thighs. “If you lie down, you can reach the light switch next to the headboard.”
“No way. If you don’t mind the light, I for sure don’t mind it either. I want to see you. All of you.”
Her eyes drifted to the bulge in his pants. “Same here.”
He covered the erection with his hand. “You go first. If I let little David out, he’s not going to last.”
Arching a brow, she looked at what he was cupping. “Little? There is nothing little about him.”
David smirked. “You say the nicest things.”
“Just the truth.” She pulled her blouse out of her skirt.
Without seeing anything yet, his mouth watered with anticipation. He’d been hard for hours, and the kiss had been the tipping point. The levity of their banter had eased some of the pressure, but it was just a temporary reprieve. Sari’s conservative clothes hid a magnificently feminine figure, and David knew that the moment he saw it, he would be in a worse state than before.
“I’m not shy.” Sari reached behind her and pulled her skirt’s zipper down.
As the garment fell to the floor, and her long legs were exposed, David leaned forward and smoothed his hands down the creamy expense of her outer thighs. “Your skin is so silky.” Going up again, he hooked his thumbs in the elastic of her panties. “May I?”
Her lips slightly parted and her breath panting, she nodded.
Gently, he pulled them down her legs, and as he reached her ankles, she lifted one foot and then the other.
Her blouse covered her nudity, but she still seemed a little bashful.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, Sari.” He pulled her closer and reached under the blouse to cup her butt cheeks. “And this ass is even more magnificent than I imagined.”
“You haven’t seen it yet.”
“I see it with my hands and my mind’s eye, and it’s glorious.”
36
Sari
Sari’s backside wasn’t her best asset, but she knew that it was nicely shaped. Men had commented on it before, but coming from David, it meant much more to her. She wanted him to think of her as the most beautiful female in the world, even if it wasn’t true.
Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, right?
“I want you, David,” she whispered.
It was more than want, though. She was hungry for him, starved, and it wasn’t because of the long dry spell she’d been through.
He was a magnificent male even by immortal standards, smart, charming, and just the right combination of confident and vulnerable. The strong pull she felt for him made her hopeful that Kalugal’s hunch was correct and that David was indeed a Dormant.
Heck, if she was already engaging in wishful thinking, why not hope that David was her fated mate?
If that wish became true, she would be forever grateful to her cousin. He might have been just the messenger, a tool in the Fates’ hands, but still.
“You have me.”
With a swift move, David wrapped his arms around her waist, dropped back on the bed, and pulled her on top of him. Cupping the back of her neck, he took her mouth.
His lips were soft on hers, and his tongue gently probing, but as she returned the kiss and moaned into his mouth, the kissing became frantic. His fingers digging into the soft flesh of her buttocks, David devoured her like a man possessed.
She devoured him right back, but there were too many layers of fabric between them.
Reluctantly, Sari broke the kiss off and lifted to her knees.
He looked at her with awe. “Your eyes are glowing.”
“That happens when I’m excited.” She gripped the bottom of her blouse, yanked it over her head, and tossed it on the floor.
With a groan, David leaned up and took her right nipple in his mouth, suckling at it through the satin of her bra.
Despite the barrier, an electrical current zapped through her body, starting at the point of contact and going straight down to her core, making it contract almost painfully.
Biting on her lower lip, she reached behind her and popped the bra’s clasp.
David took it from there. Using his teeth to get it off her, he tossed it aside like a dog tossing a bone, and adding a growl for effect, he flipped them around so she was under him.
Fates, he was magnificent. Sari could imagine herself staring up at that beautiful face of his for eternity.
“You have too many clothes on.” She pulled his dress shirt out of his slacks and stroked his taut stomach and chest. “Let’s get it off you.”
His eyes glazed with passion, David didn’t respond. Instead, he gyrated his hips, rubbing his fabric-covered erection against her mound. But as she reached between them and popped the button of his slacks, he stilled. “If I take my pants off, it will be over before it began.”
“I can’t wait.” She leaned up to plant a soft kiss on his lips. “We can always go for round two.”
Arching up, he chuckled. “I appreciate your faith in my stamina.”
With impatient hands, she lowered the zipper, pushed his pants down, and cupped his erection over his boxer shorts.
David hissed. “Careful.”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she teased.
Reaching inside, she took hold of his shaft and pulled the underwear down with her other hand.
Somehow, David managed to kick the slacks and shorts with her still holding on to his manhood, and as she positioned it at her entrance, he tore his dress shirt off.
His face contorted in pain, he looked into her eyes. “I can’t wait.”
“I know. Neither can I.” Sari arched up, getting just the
tip to breach her entrance.
With a groan, David surged the rest of the way in.
For a long moment, neither of them moved, both reveling in the feeling of incredible connection, and then he wrapped his arms around her, held her to him tightly, and started moving, slowly, deliberately.
There was no more thought other than the way he felt inside her, taking her, stretching her so perfectly, so deliciously.
Sari felt tears pulling at the corners of her eyes, not of sadness, but of gratitude. The joining was like no other she’d ever experienced. It was a merging of bodies and souls, and in her imagination, she saw the stars aligning in a cosmic representation of the epic moment.
“My mate,” she breathed as he started moving faster.
In mere moments, the mounting pressure inside her reached a critical point, the coil tightening until it could tighten no more, and when his manhood swelled inside her, an orgasm crashed over her like a tsunami and carried David’s along for the ride.
As his hot essence filled her, Sari threw her head back and opened her mouth, but her shout was soundless. All of her energy had been funneled into the whirlwind of approaching culmination, and once the floodgates had opened, nothing was left, not even the breath needed to make a sound.
When it was over, and the waves of sexual energy subsided, David collapsed on top of her, and she cradled him to her, dreading the moment she would have to let go.
“You’re mine,” she whispered in his ear.
David was panting so heavily that Sari doubted he’d heard her, but a moment later she heard him whisper back, “Yes. And you are mine.”
37
David
Reluctant to sever the connection, David held on to Sari long after he would have normally withdrawn.
The feeling was incredible. It was as if he had arrived home, as if he’d waited his entire life to find his goddess, and now that he had, the mismatched pieces of his life were finally falling into place.
It didn’t make sense, and as his logical mind started coming back on line, David was reminded of the fact that he’d just met Sari, and that he might be painting a false picture of her based on too little information.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true either.
She’d just spent many hours telling him things that very few were privy to, and none outside of the immortal communities.
Except, it hadn’t been about Sari and her life, but that of her people.
He still didn’t know her own history, what events shaped her to become the woman she was, what were her goals and aspirations, not even what she liked to eat for breakfast.
It would be way too easy to fall for her. She was gorgeous, smart, and passionate. On the face of things, Sari had everything he wanted in a woman and more, but without getting to know her better, it would be a mistake to open his heart to her and then realize that they weren’t compatible.
He’d been engaged before, and Stacy had seemed perfect to him as well. How could he have known that she had no backbone? That she would abandon him the moment he needed to lean on her?
Stacy had failed her trial by fire.
He had a feeling that Sari would pass a test like that with flying colors, but she might fail others.
Before David let himself fall for Sari, he needed more time to learn everything there was to know about her. This time around, he was not going to repeat the same mistake he’d made with Stacy.
As he pulled out gently, it dawned on him that he’d forgotten all about protection. He was clean, he knew that, but it wasn’t as if he could produce the test results and show them to Sari. Once she realized the same thing, she was going to be upset with him for not ensuring her safety.
“What’s the matter?” Sari’s hands on his back halted their caresses. “You tensed all of a sudden.”
“I didn’t use a condom.”
Her hands resumed their soft caressing. “There’s no need. You won’t catch anything from me, and I can’t catch anything from you.”
“That’s a relief.” He buried his nose in the crook of her neck and then kissed her there. “I forgot.”
She’d told him that immortals couldn’t catch or transmit diseases, but that wasn’t the only reason to use protection. “What about pregnancy?”
“We should be so lucky.”
Lifting his head, he looked into her eyes. “You barely know me, and you want to have my child?”
She seemed taken aback. “Didn’t you feel the connection? We were meant to be together.”
Damn. And he’d thought that he’d gotten carried away. Someone needed to put the brakes on this launch before their rocket exploded in the stratosphere.
“I felt it.” He rolled off her and plopped on his back. “But we’ve just met, Sari. We are both lonely and hungry for connection, and we might be reading too much into what was just incredible sex.”
As she threw her legs over the side of the bed and rose to her feet, her naked beauty was stunning, but the inner light blazing from her incredible eyes kept his gaze riveted and away from her magnificent body.
Anger and disappointment were written all over her face. “I should go.” She turned away from him and padded to the bathroom.
Damn. He’d hurt her feelings.
But someone needed to be the voice of reason. Sari wasn’t a young girl or a silly airhead. She shouldn’t have let herself get carried away on the wings of post-coital bliss.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t let her leave in a bad mood.
Following her into the bathroom, David found Sari standing under the spray in the glass-walled shower. With her eyes closed, her back arched, and water streaming between her perfect breasts, she was painfully beautiful.
“May I join you?” he said quietly, so as not to startle her.
When she opened her eyes and moved to make room for him, she didn’t look surprised to see him.
Apparently, her hearing was indeed superior.
As he took her into his arms, she was stiff at first, but then sagged against him. “I’m sorry for overreacting. I needed to remind myself that we have different belief systems, and that falling for a woman that you’ve just met seems absurd to you, even if you feel it all the way to your bones.”
Her statement was right on the money.
The connection between them had been immediate, and if he were younger and naiver, he would have called it love at first sight. But at his age and with his life experience, lust at first sight was as far as he was willing to go.
“You are an incredible woman, Sari, and you are right about the feelings you evoke in me, but I need to spend more time getting to know you before I can allow myself to open my heart to you.”
“Fair enough.” She rested her forehead on his shoulder.
Hooking a finger under her chin, David lifted her head and took her lips. This time the kiss wasn’t as urgent and as desperate as the one that had started it all. He took his time with her, exploring, tasting, caressing, and in no time at all the flames of passion were blazing hot once more.
This time, though, David was going to worship his goddess properly.
Smoothing his hand down her sides, he went down to his knees and planted a soft kiss on her hairless mound.
She shivered, but not because she was cold.
When he picked her leg up and bent it until her foot was on his shoulder, Sari let out a breath and leaned against the shower’s glass wall.
Looking down, her wet, long hair covering her breasts and dripping water on his face, she watched him extend his tongue and flick it over the most sensitive spot on her body.
When he did it again, she moaned and threaded her fingers through his hair.
“More?” he teased.
“Yes.”
38
Richard
Wendy took the plate from Richard and put it in the dishwasher. “You should take Stella on a proper date.”
Where had that come from? The subject of his relationship with Stella h
adn’t arisen during dinner or before it.
He rinsed another plate and handed it to her. “The café is the only meeting place in the village. Where else can I take her?”
Wendy smiled. “You can cook dinner for her.”
“Here?” Richard cast a glance at Vlad, who was pretending not to hear their conversation.
Since he’d cooked dinner, the kid was excused from clearing the table and washing the dishes. He was watching one of the endless Photoshop instructional YouTube videos on his phone and using a tablet to follow the instructions.
Didn’t they teach him that in college? Why spend money on education when everything could be learned on YouTube or some other applications?
Wendy followed his gaze. “No, not here. You could cook her a romantic dinner at her place.”
Vlad was still pretending to be absorbed in the video, or perhaps he really was. Photoshop sounded more complicated than rocket science.
Richard handed Wendy the forks and knives he’d rinsed. “That’s a great idea, but my cooking expertise is limited to grilling steaks and hamburgers. That’s not very romantic.”
Besides, what Wendy was suggesting would force his relationship with Stella to move to the next level, and he wasn’t sure Stella was ready for that. If he cooked for her in her home, the message would be clear that he wanted the evening to end in her bed.
“Vlad can teach you a couple of his recipes,” Wendy suggested.
That was a bad idea on several levels. Firstly, asking Vlad to help Richard woo his mother would be awkward for both of them, and secondly, Stella knew her son’s repertoire and would recognize the dishes, which would make it awkward for her as well.
He cast a glance at Vlad, but the lack of expression on his face indicated that he was still absorbed in the video. Or maybe the instructor’s droning voice had put the kid to sleep. With his long bangs hanging down the side of his face, it was hard to tell whether his eyes were open.
“I’d rather you teach me.”
“Yeah, I can see how Vlad doing that could be awkward. Especially for him.” Wendy closed the dishwasher’s door. “I’ll look up interesting recipes on the internet. We can cook them together here so you can practice, and then you can cook them for Stella.”
