“What are you saying?”
“I don’t just want you to move out of Sanctuary, I want you to move in with me. I want to wine you and dine you and fly you around the world and dance with you in my kitchen every night. I want to give you all the experiences you never had growing up. And in time, when you are sick of dating me, I want to marry you.”
Selene’s mouth dropped open, a confused smile flashing briefly. “What?”
“Say yes, Selene. Say you’ll be mine and only mine, for always.”
Her mouth worked but no sound came out. Jason started to wonder if her answer was no. He pulled back slightly, unsure if he should remove his hand from where it rested on her ribs. But her expression didn’t say no. It lifted and lighted from within.
“Yes. Yes, Jason.” Her voice was thready. “I’ll be your anchor. I’ll be your anchor because you’ve become mine.” She grabbed his face and pulled it to hers, her lips parting to let his kiss in.
Jason wanted their first time to be special. Dinner, flowers, candlelight, hours of worshiping every inch of her creamy flesh. Not in the forest after a near-death experience. But Selene had other plans. He thought she’d be hesitant, maybe scared, considering her history. He was wrong. She grabbed his hips and demanded his full and undivided attention.
“Are you… sure…?” he stuttered. “Oh. Game on.”
He’d been with women before, hundreds of women actually, but as he connected with her, he realized he’d been deceived. All the sex he’d had in the past had been plastic imitations of the real thing. The intimate connection he held in his arms blew every other experience away.
Working his arm under the small of her back, he lifted her, supporting her beneath him as he worked a better angle. She hooked her ankles behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him. The scent of mango and vanilla wafted from her skin. He buried his face in what remained of her hair.
She thrust up against him. “Harder. I won’t break.”
He lifted her, guiding her until he was balanced on his knees with her straddling his hips. Deeper this way, he held nothing back, reveling in the tiny moans she produced with each targeted thrust. Selene’s violet eyes sparked with passion as she came crashing down on him in a wave of flawless skin and delicate bones. He moved inside her, allowing her to wash over him, to draw him higher, to the peak, to the place he was tempted to tumble over.
“Oh no, not yet,” she said, slowing her movements. “I want more.”
He held himself back, circling his hips to keep from going over the edge. Cupping her under the thighs, he lifted, standing from the soft grass and supporting her against his chest. The trunk of the tree they’d woken under made a fine brace for one foot, his hand resting on the trunk. In this position, he was so deep inside her, he feared he’d hurt her. But she only gripped him tighter, scoring his back with her nails. He didn’t hold back.
She moaned in his ear, pulling on his shoulders to ride the rhythm. He lost himself in her, in the connection that was everything he always wanted and never knew he was missing.
Selene metJason thrust for thrust, her arms straining to draw him closer, her abs working to build the momentum, her mouth melding with his until she’d explored every inch of his mouth and neck. And still she wanted more.
For all the times she could remember having sex, it was never like this. Never filled her both emotionally and physically. Her body could not contain the love he poured into her. She was a bowl overflowing with light, a light that shone in all her dark corners, smoothed her jagged edges, and made her feel like all the pain of the past served a purpose—to bring her to this point of total ecstasy.
His body pounded into her, but it was the way he looked at her that sent her over the edge. There was nothing short of reverence in his eyes. She leaned her head back and came apart, shattering in his arms with his mouth to her neck and his hot skin against hers, his arms the only thing holding her up.
She felt his orgasm like a rush within her and the effect was intense. Her body clenched around him, spilling over with pleasure once more until she clung to him through the aftershocks. They came together in a way that made her lose where she ended and he began, and she clung to him as he stroked the sparks that flared within her.
After a long time, she slid off his body and onto her own feet. “By the goddess,” she whispered.
Jason rested his forehead against hers. “By the goddess, indeed.”
They were still recovering when a sound came on the wind.
“Jason!” A man’s voice called from a distance. Selene looked around the tree in the direction of the noise. Silas, Laina, and Gerty were headed toward them.
“Hmm.” He smiled down at her. “Looks like we’ve been rescued.”
27
“He has her heart?” Laina cried.
Jason placed a finger over his lips when the patrons of the coffee shop where they’d chosen to meet turned to stare at their table. Dressed and rested, he and Selene had met with Silas and Laina to fill them in on what had happened.
“What were you thinking, Jason? How could you hand over the amulet like that?” Silas kept his voice low, but Jason had no trouble hearing the venom in it.
“He had no choice, Silas. Jason couldn’t use the amulet. It takes some kind of… additional magic or experience,” Selene said. “We were naked, trapped in a dragon’s lair on the side of a mountain in Siberia. If Jason had let Nickelova fry Alex, we would have been next.”
“And believe me,” Jason said, “I thought about falling on my sword for the pack. But once Nickie killed us, she’d have the amulet back. It was only a matter of time before she’d find another werewolf to take Alex’s place.”
