is debatable. She wanted to feel normal. She wanted to feel close to Theo. But that aggressive thrust of masculine power made her apprehensive.
He came back to cover her, a practiced knee pressing her legs open as he settled on her. She stiffened, waiting for the breach, but he only cupped her face and set a soft kiss on her upper lip.
“Did I kill the mood? I didn’t mean to. This is the most bizarre night of my life.”
“That sort of flattery restores it,” she teased, because this was the considerate Theo she recognized. Even so, she was hyperaware of the hard, thick muscle pressed so close to her vulnerable folds.
Rather than laugh, he released a sigh that was hot and damp against her cheek. “I’m grateful you’re here, Jaya. All the crap outside these walls...It can’t touch us right now. I hope you feel like that, too. I don’t want to be the only one finding escape.”
“You’re not,” she assured him, shivering in nervousness, but certain this was what she wanted: escape from her past. “I’m using you, too.”
“Good.” He kissed her, the familiar press and pull drawing her back toward the arousal that had been simmering under her last-minute nerves. When he rocked his hips he furrowed open the softness of her, finding and reawakening her to pleasure, she jerked, surprised by the spike of desire.
His big body overwhelmed hers, but there was a sense of safety here, too. His chest rubbed hers, stimulating her nipples. His thighs were tense and abrasive, but she couldn’t help stroking his legs with hers, oddly entranced by the sensation, inadvertently parting her legs and opening herself with the movement.
Her undulations brought him to her entrance. A whimper of mixed emotion escaped her, but she cradled his head and stroked the back of his neck and lifted her hips into the pressure, making this happen.
She braced for pain, but there was only a tremendous sense of fullness as he slid into her. Her muscles tightened instinctually, but that only heightened the friction—the sweet, delicious friction—of his burying himself deep into her body.
A shudder of reaction took her.
He squeezed her in constrictor arms, rocking himself deep and tight against her body, sending glittering sensations through her as he whispered, “Already? That’s okay, I’m really close, too. Come for me. Let me feel it.”
She caught back a sob, not hurt, not ready to orgasm, but shattered emotionally by how complete she felt. Pride in herself almost burst her apart, making her cling to him, wanting this moment of perfection to imprint in her mind forever.
After a few seconds, when she only stayed very still beneath him, he murmured, “Together then?” against her temple. His hard arms caged her as he withdrew and returned. “Tell me when.”
Pure white light seemed to expand in her as he fit himself to her depths.
“Oh, Theo.”
“Yeah.” He thrust again, deeper. Like he wanted to lock himself into her forever.
It was fantastic. Sweet and primal and delicious.
And not enough.
“Don’t stop,” she gasped.
“Never.” He kept moving, his hips meeting hers with more force.
Sensations danced with giddy promise through her. She couldn’t speak, could only brace for another pulse as he returned again, his muscled tension a gathered force over and around her. Like a storm building.
She panted, greeting each thrust with an arching welcome of her hips. Thought receded and she embraced pure womanhood, primitive and earthy and natural as they mated. His scent was perfume, his groans behind his gritted teeth music. She smiled at her power over him and herself, reveling in the dance. Cries built in her throat as the silver threads of crisis gathered. Her hand went to his buttock, nails digging in as she tried to push him deeper, needing just a little more. She was so close.
Sweat adhered them and they struggled in ecstatic perfection, almost there, almost there...
Orgasm ripped through her and her ragged cry was pure liberation. Absolute completion as her body shuddered and clasped at his.
He let out a fierce shout of his own. In her trembling sheathe, his thick shaft pulsed, filling her with volcanic heat. She closed her arms and legs around him and willed this union to last forever.
Present day...
AS HE SETTLED onto the tarmac Theo eyed the waiting limo. Jaya was smart enough to wait for the blades to slow before leaving the car, but he was anxious to see her. He told himself it was the babies he was worried about, and whether he’d have the help he needed in caring for them. It had nothing to do with the gnawing ache that had stayed with him during the eighteen months since he’d made love to her for hours before she’d hurriedly dressed so she wouldn’t miss her flight.
His gut knotted. She’d seen him with his defenses blown apart by the family strife he’d been trying all his life to wall off. He’d never been as unguarded with a woman as he’d been that night, usually focusing strictly on the physical pleasure of his encounters and saying as little as possible.
With her, he’d reveled in the cessation of emotional pain. When she’d left him to the silence of the suite, he’d blamed his plummet back into misery on the return of his dark memories from childhood, but there was more to it. He used to look forward to Bali; he hated it there now. He missed her.
And he couldn’t imagine how she’d react to this. He glanced back to the passenger cabin, able to see through the open door that his nephew had fallen asleep. His niece stared wide-eyed from a tear-stained face, startled into silence by the return to solid ground and the new noises of shutting down the chopper.
“I’ll be right back,” he told her, not sure if his words had any impact. He dropped outside to tether the machine. He’d fueled here in the past, so the hangar wasn’t unknown. He still didn’t like leaving his machine without prior arrangements. Choice, however, had been pitched into the Med when he’d flown out to the new Makricosta cruise ship only to see a gunner boat approaching from the horizon.
His brother-in-law, Gideon, had been all smiles on his arrival, bringing the babies to have a look at uncle’s helicopter. The second Theo had delivered the news he hadn’t wanted to share over the radio, Gideon’s hand had bit into his arm. “You have to get them off this ship.”
Not only did Theo have no idea what would happen to his sister and older brother, or their spouses, but what in hell would he do with two babies? Especially if this turned into a permanent situation?
Forget the worst-case scenarios, he reminded himself. Deal with the moment at hand. By his estimation, he had to perform triage for twelve to twenty-four hours before he’d receive new information that would allow him to make a fresh decision.
The limo driver came around to open the back door. Jaya emerged.
Until he saw her and his tension bled away, he hadn’t realized how fearful he’d been that she wouldn’t come.
The
