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Rising, I put my knees on either side of him to sit on his lap, my head almost touching the ceiling. His smile didn't last long, or at least I didn't see it because I leaned in and kissed him.
Pierce's hand went behind my head, holding me firm. A tingle of ley-line energy threatened between us, and my breath came fast. Oh God. I'd forgotten about that, and my hands twined behind his back as his hand at my spine made a fist and his lips stopped moving against mine. "Don't stop, Pierce," I said, breathless, and he gazed at me, blue eyes serious.
"You know what we're doing and where this might go?" he asked as if I were a child.
I bent forward to whisper in his ear. "Yes." My breath turned to nibbles, and I felt him grow hard under me. Oh God, this could be so good if I let it happen.
His hand moved again along my back, but it was slow and devoid of intent. "My pride won't take being one of your mistakes," he said softly.
He's worried I'm going to leave him? I hesitated. Pulling back, I searched his gaze as the heat he had instilled in me lingered. "It's only a mistake if one of us makes it so," I said. "I'm not asking anything of you. I have today and tomorrow—I can't look further than that. You know my past. You know I can't make promises."
Pierce took my hands from behind his neck and solemnly held them between us. "You've given up on love."
Shaking my head I lifted our entwined hands and kissed his knuckles. "No. But it hurts too much when you want it to last and it can't. I'm sorry, Pierce. I can't give any more than this."
"Rachel..."
I stopped his words with a shake of my head. "I'm not giving up on love, but I'm not going to cry anymore when it's over." Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Distressed, he said, "I'm not going to leave you."
A shiver went through me, and though we sat poised on a new begi
"But staying with you is what I wish to do," he said earnestly, his hand brushing my skin.
A slow smile curved over my face, and I leaned down over him. "No," I said. "Wishes are lies. Tell me you're going to leave. Tell me you're not going to stay. Tell me that it's only for a while so I can enjoy today," I whispered in his ear, as if saying it louder would break me. "And when you go, don't think me cold when I don't cry. I can't cry anymore, Pierce. It hurts too much."
He pulled me closer, and I shifted to lay beside him, his arms twined around me. "I ca
My eyes were wet, and he brushed my hair from my face, wiping the tears from me as I heard in his voice that he didn't believe anything he had said but the last bit. I searched his gaze, emotionally spent, though nothing had happened. His eyes closed and he leaned in. His mouth met mine, and he delved deep, his tongue finding mine in a way I'd never imagined from him.
I will cry when I go echoed in my thoughts, and I tightened my hold on him. Because I could love you forever.
It was what I was down to. It was all I could accept, all I could give.
So I gave myself to the now, to the only thing I had. I moved suggestively against him, and his hand found my hip, the other sliding upward to cup a breast. Oh God, he was leaving tingles everywhere, his fingertips raising gooseflesh as he created a ley-line imbalance between us. "Pierce," I said breathlessly as he pulled me closer and gently kissed my neck.
He was touching me, ru
"What," he said, clearly preoccupied, but if he didn't do more, I was going to scream.
I licked my lips, shuddering and having to take his hands in mine so I could think. "How long has it been for you?"
The darkness of his eyes made me shiver. "So long I'd likely kill you if I'm not careful."
My smile grew wicked. "You wouldn't believe how uncomfortable these pants are."
A work-roughened hand slid down the soft skin of my side, lingering at the waistband. "I opine mine are a mite tight right now," he admitted. He curved an arm around me, and I made a little gasp of a giggle when he spun us around, landing me under him. The blanket was sort of under me, and with a surprising pop, the light went out.
"Pierce?"
Alarmed, I went to sit up, rising right into him. His hands caught my face and he kissed me as he knelt over me. It was as awkward as all hell, and I fell back down under him. My hands went to the ties of his pants, but before I could do more, he was pulling my shirt over my head and I had to let go.
Making a soft moan of sound, I tried again, only to have him pull back out of my reach as he fumbled with my side zipper. My pants were still wet from the river, and he had to pull them off inside out. He was swearing mildly, making me smile when he came back, and I reached up, ru
I undid the tie and his pants were loose about his hips. My hand dipped inside to find him, and his breathing grew rough. Anticipation was a silver thread of adrenaline through me, and I pulled him down on top of me.
"How are you with ley lines?" I whispered, wanting to be sure he knew what was what.
"I swan, I won't hurt you, Rachel," he breathed. "But you told me not to."
I thought back to waking up with the warmth of a ley line ru
Making a satisfied sound, he eased to the blanket under me, and I turned to face him. Stretching out my awareness, I touched a ley line and filled my chi, jumping when his free hand slipped low across my back. From his fingers, threads of ley line spilled to melt into me, flowing up and through me to where his lips played with the skin under my ear.
It was like he was a ley line, alive and given a body and a will. I gasped, pulling back from his lips in surprise. This wasn't a power pull, which was finite energy from one's chi. No, this untold power was spilling into me, through me, like I was part of a line itself. Done slow and gentle, it was the most erotic thing I'd ever felt.
My hands on him tightened, and he ended his kiss. The flow of warmth from his fingers ceased, though his hand's motion did not, sliding down to trace my outlines. "What...," I said, blinking, "was that? It wasn't a power pull."
There was the faintest glow in the corner from his light, and in it, I could see his outline beside me, smiling devilishly. "I told you once before that it's me including you in communing with a line," he said. "It only works when I'm touching you in two places."
He leaned forward, and as he kissed me, his hand rising slowly across my lower back spilled energy into me and then out again where our feet touched. My breath came fast, and I followed it as it seeped through me, rising upward to make my lips tingle. I pulled back, licking them, remembering the feel of the line in me.
"This is a demon thing, isn't it," I said, heart pounding.
I saw his outline nod. "You want me to stop?"
In answer, I reached down to find him. His breath came out, and curving an arm under me, he shifted me underneath him. My pulse hammered as I looked up at his indistinct outline. I reached up and sent my hand down him when he bent his head and found my breast.