by India Kells
Ellie couldn’t speak, her throat had squeezed shut. Sam took a step, and then another, until he towered over her and his large hand cupped her cheek. “I don’t want to be needed, Ellie. My only desire is for you to want me. Because I do want you, Ellie McLaren. When I was alone, I saw you in the stars, in the wind, in every grain of sand. Even under the scorching sun I felt cold because I didn’t have you in my arms. I can survive in this world, but I know I can’t live without you.”
Never before had Ellie been offered such a declaration of love. One that wasn’t made from despair, but purely from the heart. “It’s been hard for me too... You were never far from my thoughts. I want you, Sam, all of you, including your scars and your silver eyes.” She pressed her hand to his chest. “And your heart. If you want me.”
Sam’s mouth descended on hers and she realized she was home. If home had a taste, it would be him.
Tears filled her eyes, but lust made them evaporate the moment he pushed her body against the wall. The want, the searing need, was still there, and had even increased during their time apart. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs. It was like she was drowning, and it didn’t matter as long as Sam touched her, kissed her.
His beard felt like a soft pelt against her cheek, caressing her tender skin as his lips trailed down her neck. “Your skin tastes like I remember. I thought I’d forget it, but in the dead of night, when I was lonely, I’d lick my lips and remember you.”
Gently, he pulled her away from the wall, still licking and nipping at her collarbone, leading her to the bed. Ellie moved to discard her towel, but Sam grabbed her hands. A slow smile came over his mouth, one full of heat and anticipation. “Let me, my angel.”
Her brain turned to mush at his plea as he took her in his arms and placed her on the mattress, still wrapped up. He appeared composed, but his quick breathing and stormy gaze hinted otherwise as he began to strip.
His boots and jacket flew, but Ellie’s attention was solely on Sam, who looked back at her with the same intensity. When he discarded his shirt, all that golden skin made her own temperature rise as her fingers yearned to reach for him.
Sam reached for his fly before pushing his pants down. The sight of his erection, rigid and pulsing, made her rub her thighs together hard, but it was far from enough. Her frustration grew when Sam didn’t jump on her as she hoped, and just smiled even wider. She was on the brink of begging when Sam finally put a knee on the bed and bent to kiss her ankle. The gesture was so tender, so heartfelt, Ellie felt her eyes fill with tears. Kiss after kiss, he traced a necklace of invisible marks over her skin, moving up her leg. Her body wanted faster, but her heart was just too full to ask for it. Time wasn’t important if they were together. There’d be other times, and many more of them if she had any say in it.
When his mouth was on the edge of the towel, Ellie reached for him, running her fingers through his thick mane. Sam pushed his head into her hand like a lazy cat before pursuing his sensual quest. Inch by inch, he parted the towel, rewarding every uncovered spot with a kiss. It was becoming harder to stay still as Sam slowly bathed her with his heat. When he pushed the cloth aside to reveal her sex, Ellie opened her legs in a silent invitation, which was denied. With his lips the only contact and the heat radiating from his body as he moved upward, Ellie finally leaned back, letting herself enjoy his ministrations until he reached her mouth. “I fantasied unveiling you so many times, it’s as if I’m still caught in a dream.”
Ellie dove deep into his cherished silvery gaze as she wrapped her legs around his hips until his erection was nestled against her wet heat. “I don’t want the dream, Sam. I want reality, the amazing, even the ugly if that means that we can be together.” And to illustrate her words, she slid her hand between their bodies and pushed herself up until his hard length impaled her with delicious friction.
The outside world dimmed with the fire that grew between them. Her heart pounding, Ellie let her hands wander over Sam, caressing him wherever she could reach. Sam moved, leveraging himself to plunge even harder into her, and the twist of his hips proved to her that even time and distance hadn’t lessened their knowledge of each other. Her body ignited with his, constantly unsatisfied, hunger gnawing at her until she felt wild.
Sam gave her one last kiss before rising to his knees and pushing her legs even wider. Vulnerable, Ellie blushed, but lust swept away her lingering reservations. After all, they’d seen, touched, and tasted every part of each other before, the only difference now was that there wasn’t any doubt between them. Their feelings, emotions, and hearts were in synch in the most wonderful and frightening way.
“Look at me, angel.”
His voice made her open her eyes, amplifying the sensation as she glanced at Sam. He may have given her that nickname, but kneeling there, naked, glistening with sweat, with that intensity emanating from him, Ellie could call him her fallen angel. When his finger slid over her inner thigh, so softly it almost tickled, her voice turned from warning to heightened pleasure when his fingertip flicked over her clitoris. With her core tightening around him, she felt his fingers tracing the delicate folds, taunting her, making her lift her hips even more, as if to search for his touch. “Please, Sam. It’s been too long. I want you too much.” Ellie didn’t recognize her own voice as she begged.
Sam’s expression darkened, but he didn’t stop. “I want you like my next breath, like if I don’t touch you, or pleasure you, I’ll die. Don’t ask me to end it too soon, as I don’t think I can until you come undone. Please come for me, Ellie.”
His admission came with his body taking hers with even more force, his busy fingers surprising Ellie into a brutal orgasm. Its suddenness made her gasp and blindly reach for Sam. Just as the wave crested, Sam increased his assault, forcing her to take another surge of ecstasy. In the haze, Ellie realized it was what Sam had been waiting for before allowing himself his release. Even caught in her own delight, she admired her warrior as he lost himself in pleasure, so open and so vulnerable, knowing it was only possible when they were together.
Finally, entangled on the bed, sweaty and satiated, Ellie wanted nothing more than to lie there and listen to Sam’s heartbeat.
She felt like a cat, purring as he caressed her back. Nuzzling his chest, she tried to wiggle upward, which made Sam chuckle. “Is that your way of telling me that you liked it?”
Ellie lifted her head with a dreamy smile. “And that I want to do it with you again, and again.”
The snort turned to full-blown laughter. “Then, I’m glad I kept in shape while I was away.”
Ellie couldn’t agree more as she let her hand trail down his hard stomach. His muscles shivered and Sam caught her hand to stop the tickling. “You lifted weights in the desert?”
He kissed her fingers before putting her hand back on his chest. “It’s a difficult life in the tribes, but simple.” Silence surrounded them until Sam spoke. “I told my mother about you.”
The last remnants of her climax dissipated at that simple sentence, and she pushed herself to her elbows. “You didn’t!”
“I did. Why are you panicking?”
Good question. Ellie sputtered, trying to form a logical answer. “I don’t know. It took me by surprise that you told her anything about me.”
“Ellie, how could I keep you a secret? You’re important to me, and I wanted to share the news that I’m in love with you, that you’ve become an important part of my life.”
“I know, Sam. It’s just that I’ve been alone all my life. I never had a family, never knew my parents. I just don’t want to disappoint your mother. I mean she’s some kind of princess. I’m only me.”
Sam shifted, sitting against the headboard, bringing her up until she sat on his lap. After a tender but searing kiss and encircled by his muscled arms, Ellie felt dazed when he started speaking. “And you only get me, every part of me, heart and soul, my fairy angel. I may be a prince within my tribe, but unless you like tents, sheep, and camels, you’ll
be disappointed by the amount of my personal fortune.”
He looked amused, but there was another question circling her mind. “Do you want to go back to your country and your family?”
“Ellie, I’d love to take you to meet my mother and tribe, but my life is here, with you and my brothers. And even if I preferred to keep you lost in the desert with the Bedouins, I can’t leave my brothers with a threat hanging over theirs and their family’s heads. Until Finch is neutralized, we still need to be careful. That means all of us, including you, because I can’t bear the thought of you falling into Finch’s hands again.”
That warmth and love she felt for him and was already overwhelming just seemed to intensify. “You better be safe too because I won’t hesitate to go after you. And I only say that because I want to have you by my side for as long as we can get.”
His arms closed tightly around her as she buried her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling the very essence of him. “How long would you like, my fairy angel?”
With forever on her lips, Ellie just tilted her head to welcome his mouth again.
Their story was ready to start, but first, Sam had to be at his brothers’ side so they could end Jamieson Finch’s madness. There would be sacrifice and danger, but Ellie knew that courage and love would be the key. For all the brothers and their hope for the future they deserved.
Epilogue
So many airports, so many sleepless nights. She should be used to it by now, especially being a doctor, but Sasha Landry found it hard not to drag her feet while she headed to the taxi line.
At least spring had arrived in Chicago, which was a balm for her weary body. After weeks of consulting in Tanzania in a newly opened clinic, her current state confirmed that she was way beyond tired.
Instead of working, it would’ve been wiser to book a trip to a secluded beach that had absolutely no need for a doctor. If she had an apartment of her own, locking herself in and ordering out would’ve been an even better option.
Where was home? Acadiana County in Louisiana was where she grew up, but when Sasha was accepted into medical school, turning her back on the rickety shack her parents called home had never been in question.
After finishing her training she’d made the world her home, or rather made the best home she could wherever people needed her help, whether it was a tent, a hut, or the starry sky.
Chicago had only become a regular stop because of her cousin Deva. Her mother Amelie left Louisiana for the Windy City and got pulled into the nightmare of the criminal underworld, raising Deva and her brother the best she could before dying. Deva had escaped and built a life for herself until she came back when she’d met the love of her life, Aleksei. The Russian had almost got her cousin killed. Sasha could’ve forgiven the man who’d stolen Deva’s heart if he hadn’t brought a pack of bigger-than-life trouble-making brothers with him.
One of them popped into her mind even as she worked hard to erase all memories of him; the mighty Lazarus King, with his tall frame, squared, bearded jaw, and swirling mercury eyes. He was the most stubborn, annoying, and overbearing man she’d ever known. Not that she didn’t have experience with alpha male types; after all, in the developing countries where she did most of her work, men of power often looked down on women, thinking them feeble and disposable, to be protected, not considered.
Sasha had been in more than one fight with Lazarus King over the fact she’d been adamant in helping her cousin Deva and thus had come to know the bastard brothers and their growing circle of family and friends. However, she’d been pulled full force into the fold when Lazarus had been severely injured and ended up in a coma. Becoming his nurse in a perilous situation, while hiding out, had made her care so much more for his family. Maybe the fact he was silent helped Lazarus appear more tolerable in her eyes. And alluring and sexy.
With increased annoyance at the intruding images, Sasha reached the front of the taxi line before picking up her cell phone and realizing she’d forgotten to book anything. Not only did it cause her to stop in her tracks, but she almost plopped down on her suitcase and cried, which was a sure sign her breaking point was near.
Debating if she could impose on Deva or just let a cab driver decide, her cell buzzed in her hand, distracting her from her foolish state of despair. After all, she wasn’t in a war zone or starving to death like so many patients she’d seen. “Hello?”
“Hi. May I speak to Doctor Landry, please?”
The moment her title was used, Sasha became all business, especially since the woman with the British accent sounded so formal. “Speaking. How may I help you?”
“I’m so happy to have finally reached you. I tried earlier, but I got your voicemail. I’m Elizabeth. We met a couple of years ago in Eastern Europe when you came to work at a country orphanage, the one in a farmhouse. I was the person in charge of the non-profit organization. I don’t know if you remember me.”
Through the fog of her mind, Sasha recalled an older English woman with a great smile, dark hair with silver weaved in every strand, but most of all, a dedicated heart.
“Yes! Elizabeth! Of course! It’s been a while, but I do remember you. I heard you had to escape attackers with your pupils. Such an awful thing. I was relieved to hear you and the children were safe.”
It wasn’t uncommon for non-profit organizations to become a target of criminal or terrorist groups, either because they believed they could make a statement or get a lot of money through kidnapping the workers. Sasha didn’t know the details, but having been in a similar situation, knew how difficult it was. However, Elizabeth’s voice remained light. “Thank you, but I’m fine. In the end, all I wanted was for the children to be safe. We were lucky to be rescued. I know you’ve been to much more dangerous locations and risked your life many times.”
Sasha refused to think about the past or what had happened. From a therapist’s perspective, it wasn’t the best thing to do, but her work had been everything and filled the void. “Are you still in Europe? Is that why you’re reaching out to me?”
“Oh, no, doctor. I’m now helping out a local organization here in Chicago. My dear son doesn’t want me to go abroad. I think I made him turn gray before his time. I relocated to the city and learned through the nurses at the Northeastern Hospital that you often work pro-bono for them. And I wondered if you had a little free time.”
Her body screamed no, but her heart couldn’t deny people in need. “I may, but you’ve caught me at the airport, jetlagged and needing to find a place to stay. Can we speak tomorrow? I’m so tired I’m about to start babbling.”
“Goodness! How inconsiderate of me. And here I thought you were spending your evening relaxing. Are you at O’Hare?”
It was impossible not to smile at the sincere concern in her voice. “Yes, I am. But don’t worry, I’ll just open a booking app and find something.”
“You’re coming to my home. I have a small but comfortable guest room in a very safe building, as my son wouldn’t agree to anything else. And you know I’m not a complete psycho, Doctor Landry.”
It was clear the woman was joking, but Sasha had known crazy people in her line of work and one real psycho. One who’d threatened her cousin, put Lazarus in a coma, and tried to kill his brothers. Jamieson Finch was the very definition of a psycho.
“Please call me Sasha and I can’t impose on you, Elizabeth.”
“You aren’t. And I can hear in your voice how tired you are, doc… Sasha. Please, even if it’s only for one night. Don’t fight me for this. At least you’ll have enough hours of sleep to make a sensible decision.”
Before she could even open her mouth to argue, Elizabeth was sending her the address to her home and not giving up until Sasha was en route, even telling her that she’d wait by the door until she arrived.
The cab was swift, but to be honest, Sasha dozed on and off until her driver told her she’d arrived.
Sasha didn’t have a clue where she was, but everything around her was c
alm and quiet. The fact night had fallen and she was groggy also didn’t help her orientate herself. The buildings looked more industrial or commercial, although there were houses scattered around. Maybe it was an up-and-coming neighborhood.
As she dragged herself out of the car, her driver pulling out her luggage, Sasha recognized Elizabeth coming out of the building, beautiful and elegant as ever, even dressed in loose pants and a flowery tunic.
Although she’d only worked with the older woman sparingly, Sasha felt a genuine connection with her. Maybe it was the sincere compassion in her or her maternal aura. When images of her own mother popped up, Sasha shook her head and forced herself to smile when she found herself taken into a big hug.
“Oh! I’m so happy to see you again!” Elizabeth took over, dispatching the cab driver, grabbing one of her suitcases, and ushering her inside. “My dear son would have apoplexy if he knew I’d come outside at night like this!” The woman was laughing, but it rang an alarm.
“Why? Is the neighborhood dangerous?”
The lobby was basic, but it was secure. Elizabeth tapped a code, and they entered an elevator. “Not during the day, but at night, I guess it’s a bit trickier as there isn’t a lot of traffic. I’m told some buildings are being remodeled to become condos and apartments, so I guess the environment will change over the coming years.”
The door pinged open, and Sasha whistled at the space revealed before her. She’d expected a rudimentary apartment, but it was pretty luxurious. Decorated in all white and pale wood, it was soft and luminous, even in the dark of night. Simple, feminine, but warm and inviting. “Wow, you have a beautiful place, Elizabeth.”
Her laughter was like music. “It’s my son’s. I could never afford such a place working for non-profits, not that I would really want to.”
Sasha rolled her shoulders. “Even with my work as a doctor, I doubt I could either. Unless I relocated to Chicago and worked at a hospital with four walls and a roof that doesn’t leak.”