“If we can’t? At what point do I give up?”
Eclipse hugged her to his body. The question was rhetorical, he knew. Orianna wasn’t the sort to give up. Closure was what she needed. Something to confirm the search for Amber was no longer necessary. He understood that need. Through the centuries, Eclipse had moved forward with only one purpose. He knew he would one day find the love who would complete him. Never had he questioned how long the mission would take because it didn’t matter. The only thing that did was getting to that moment when hisamsouelotwould be with him. When Michael had revealed the danger that had come to the females slated as theirs, that mission had changed altogether. Even now that Orianna was with him, he knew she wasn’t completely safe. Wouldn’t be until he made the ultimate sacrifice.
But until the time came when he could wrap his head around that, Eclipse vowed to protect her and to make her happy, regardless of the mission. She was his end goal, always had been, always would be.
All clear,Miklós’s voice sounded in his head.
“Let’s get back to the mansion so we can meet with Barin. Maybe he’ll have some better news.”
Orianna wiped her eyes as she pulled away.
“We won’t give up,” he promised her.
This was only the beginning of their journey together. He had no intentions of letting her down. Not now, not ever.
Chapter Twenty-Two
There was no denying Orianna was disappointed.
Unfortunately, it was a feeling she was all too familiar with.
However, it helped that she wasn’t the only one feeling the letdown. Though they kept their expressions blank, she could tell Miklós and Eclipse had both hoped they would find something. She hadn’t had that before. No one to go with her to even look, so that was one positive to come out of this. Meeting Eclipse had changed everything. Since their paths had crossed, Orianna had stopped being alone.
Granted, at the moment, she sort of wished she was. Not completely alone, but some privacy with Eclipse would work. As they rode in the back seat of the Range Rover, her body was warming, and it had nothing to do with the heat from the vents blowing back on them. Nope, this was a sensual heat that stirred in her womb and radiated outward. It wasn’t unfamiliar because she’d felt it numerous times since she met Eclipse, but from time to time it would creep up on her. Even now, at the most inopportune time.
As though she’d summoned him with her thoughts, Eclipse’s head turned toward her. Those dark glasses shielded his eyes, but she knew he was peering into her mind.
A soft groan was his response as his hand rested on her thigh, squeezing gently. It was his reassurance that he was feeling the same thing she was.
Twenty minutes.
She smiled as his voice sounded in her head. Twenty minutes seemed like an eternity. Every rotation of the tires had heat blooming hotter, deeper. She kept her gaze trained out the window, watching the night pass by in a blur. It did little to stave off the building desire, even as she tried to understand why now. Why here? They weren’t alone, and she’d just wandered through an apartment that had once belonged to her father and possibly her sister. Nothing about this situation should’ve had her wanting Eclipse, yet there was no denying it.
By the time the world disappeared into an endless blackness, Orianna was gritting her teeth and trying not to rub her thighs together. Another few minutes and they were pulling into the garage. She was trying to figure out how she was going to make it up to Eclipse’s room when he barked out a clipped command for Miklós and Magnar to leave them.
No sooner had the front doors shut than Eclipse had her in his arms. He pulled her across the seat, positioning her so that she was straddling his thighs in the cramped back seat. Orianna crushed her mouth to his as his big hands snaked beneath her sweater, palming her breasts roughly. She whimpered and moaned, grinding her hips down to increase the friction where she needed it.
“Not enough room,” she complained.
He released one of her breasts, the door opened, and then he was lifting her out, his hand palming her ass as he held her to him. Orianna clung to him as he headed for the elevator. The thought of those torturous few minutes it would take to get upstairs had her whimpering again.
“Here,” she insisted.
Eclipse growled softly, a sexy sound that had her core clenching, the emptiness inside her desperate for him.
Her backside met the hard surface of one of the work benches, but it didn’t last long. Some twisting and maneuvering ensued as Eclipse yanked her leggings down. Trapped in her own clothing, Orianna laughed, then proceeded to free one of her legs even as she tugged at Eclipse’s shirt with the other, not allowing him to get too far away. When their bodies came together the next time, heat exploded within her. During the melee, he’d freed his erection and wasted no time pushing inside her.
She grunted as the penetration stole her breath, a scorching heat following close behind as she orgasmed from the exquisite contact.
“Fuck,” Eclipse groaned before crushing his mouth to hers.
The kiss was punishing, but the way he filled her was perfection. Orianna clung to him as he took her right there in the garage. There was no finesse as she raced headlong into another orgasm. Each one dragged a ragged, desperate groan from Eclipse, had him thrusting harder, deeper, faster, as though her release was his only objective. One after another, her climaxes ignited the flames between them until they were consumed by the obliterating inevitability.
“Eclipse!” Orianna’s head fell back as a mind-numbing release slammed into her, an explosion unlike anything she’d ever felt rocked her to her core, decimating her atomic makeup and pulling her back together at the same time.
The sound that escaped Eclipse could’ve been her name or a series of curse words. Not that it mattered, because his hips drove forward one final time, his fingers digging into her flesh as he jerked her toward him. That sensation of him spilling deep inside her triggered another quake, leaving her trembling in his arms, attempting to catch her breath.
Thankfully, he took over from there.
