Kallan released her breast and scooped her up, swallowing back a curse when the move forced her to relinquish her grip. He carried her back into the interior of the cave, and set her on her feet long enough to grab the sleeping bag. “Help me with this.”
She unzipped it, and they spread it over the rough floor together. “I think we need a blanket too,” she murmured, rising again to rummage through a shelf until she came up with what she wanted.
Once the blanket was spread over the sleeping bag, he caught her wrist and drew her toward him again. “Are you sure?” he repeated over the hammering of his heart.
She put her mouth in the center of his chest, planting a gentle kiss there, then lifted her gaze to meet his. “Yes.”
He tugged her shirt up again—and off—then fumbled with the drawstring on her pants, before he dropped them, too, so she was as naked as he. “So pretty.” He stroked the back of his fingers over the puckered tip of her breast.
She shut her eyes for a second, her breath catching.
Kallan smiled when her eyes opened. “Lie down.” If he helped her, he’d undoubtedly be too rough and immediately drive himself deep into her warmth. And she wasn’t ready yet. Not yet.
She dropped to her knees and held out one hand to him. He knelt in front of her, easing her closer, closer, close enough for her tight nipples to brush his chest.
“Sweet Goddess,” he breathed.
She smiled a little at that, then moved nearer, so her plump breasts flattened against him.
He tried to ignore the way his erection pulsed between their bellies. They had time. There was no rush.
But Andrea opened her mouth along his collarbone and dragged her lips over his skin, her tongue flicking out occasionally, while her fingers stroked his shoulder, his arm, his back.
He eased them to their sides on the blankets, sliding his own hand down her back to her hip, then between her thighs. Oh Goddess, she was wet already. Slick and hot. He dipped one finger inside her, loving that her hips rocked toward his caress. Her fingers tightened on his back at the same time.
He smiled as he feathered kisses over her forehead, her temples, her cheeks, meandering a path to her mouth, which was open and waiting when he finally arrived.
As determined as he was to take his time, to explore every inch he hadn’t gotten to taste and touch, her fingers moved more urgently over him, tempting him. Teasing him. When she stroked his erection again, using her thumb to brush over the sensitive tip, he thrust three fingers deep into her wet sheath, driving a moan from her throat.
Her muscles clenched around him, and her fingers instinctively tightened around his erection, making his brain start to malfunction.
After he eased his fingers out of her to tease her clit, her sharp cry urged him to repeat the caress, over and over, until she trembled beside him, on the verge of release.
“Please,” she gasped, her fingers frantic on him.
He still wanted to take his time, to kiss his way down past her beautiful breasts to her belly, to the hot flesh he was currently teasing. But he could no longer think that hard. Instinct ruled him, and instinct demanded he be inside her. Now.
He rolled her to her back, pushing her thighs wide with his knees.
“Please, Kallan.”
His name on her lips only made him more determined to get inside her. To hear it again. To drive her as far out of her mind as she’d driven him. He caught her wrist and dislodged her fingers from his throbbing erection, then lifted her hips into his thrust.
Her cry was primal, as was his groan, when his body settled deep inside hers—so deep he could go no further.
Holy Goddess. He caught her mouth, keeping his hips still over hers for a moment. He felt complete with her. A silly notion, one he would only have attributed to silly romantics. But now…
Andrea’s fingers dragged through his wet hair, and he nipped at her lower lip. “Are you all right?” He kissed one corner of her mouth, then the other.
She nodded, a hint of a smile curving her lips. “But you need to move.”
Masculine pride welled in his chest, and he shifted his hips against hers, so the top of his cock rubbed her clit. “Like that?” he asked over her gasp.
“Gods, yes, and more.” She dragged him down to kiss her properly.
Kallan let her, while he began a slow withdrawal, feeling her trembling inner muscles clasp his cock as he did so, then just as slowly, pushed back into her. His heart swelled to compete with his erection, near to bursting.
“I love you,” he breathed, rocking in and out of her.
Andrea murmured something alongside of his throat, her fingers digging into his back, his ass, as her hips lifted into each thrust.
He quickened his pace just slightly, and soft cries met his lips when he caught her mouth.
Her hips lunged to meet his, and he felt her body tightening, quivering around him, under him. “Kallan.”
Just his name, but it was enough.
He thrust harder and faster, somewhere his mind registering the sounds of her pleasure as his body took over from his brain. When her release broke, it sent him over the edge of his own orgasm. He collapsed over her and realized he was whispering, over and over, “I love you, Andrea, I love you.”
He opened his eyes in time to see a tear slide from the corner of her closed eyes, and his thundering heart constricted painfully.
Goddess, what had he gotten himself into?
Andi felt tiny shivers still skate over her bare skin, the occasional shudder from Kallan, and the warmth from the camp stove not too far from their blankets.
She’d given in to instinct, just this once. It didn’t seem like such a good idea now. After. But it had seemed just the right thing earlier, when she’d seen him at the front of her cave, changing from the wet pants to dry. When desire had exploded in her middle. He was absolutely beautiful, all sculpted muscle and hard angles, with those green eyes that shifted from bright to dark with desire in a flash.
And he’d said he loved her.
Her breath caught in her chest, and her eyes opened, staring at the stone ceiling.
He couldn’t possibly.
She frowned, then shivered when his warm breath touched the side of her throat.
They were enemies. Their families had been enemies for several thousand years. Would remain enemies until the end of time.
He couldn’t love her.
She shut her eyes again. But hearing the words was a nice thing, she admitted to herself. It had been years since she’d heard them from anyone besides her parents or a cousin or aunt. And, if she were honest, she might never hear them from anyone else, given the situation they were in.
Kallan rolled to his side, keeping her tucked against him, and tugged the top blanket up to cover them both. “Are you all right?” He kissed her forehead.
She nodded, keeping her eyes shut. Gods, how on earth had she wound up here?
“Are you sure? You had a rough two days, then we trekked all over your mountain today. You’re not sore?”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, wishing she didn’t still feel heat simmering in her belly somewhere near where their bodies remained joined.
He touched her chin, and she lifted her face reluctantly. His green eyes were still dark as they searched hers. Apparently, he saw too much, because his lips flattened a little. “I didn’t want you to regret it.”
“I don’t.” She was a little surprised to find that was true. “I just…” She inhaled slowly. “I don’t know how this happened.”
A wicked smile flashed over his face. “The usual way. If you need a refresher, I’ll be happy to demonstrate.”
She laughed in spite of the confusion bubbling in her veins. “I think you just did.”
He eased his hips slowly backward, wincing all the while. “I think you need a better demonstration.”
She sucked in a quick breath.
“I had other intentions for you. Plans for slow and easy, kissing
every inch of you.” His gaze slid down to the tight peaks of her breasts. “I think I need to remedy that.”
Andi felt the flush slide up from her chest to her face. “Every inch?” she squeaked. “But I haven’t had a shower since this morning.”
He slid his mouth across hers, from one corner to the other. “The falls are a little too rough for that, I think.” He kissed his way down her neck to her shoulder. “Besides, right now, you smell like sex. It smells good.”
Heat flashed through her, turning her belly into a molten pit of need again. She realized she’d lifted her shoulder into his caresses and tried to lie back, but then his lips skimmed over the top swell of her breast, meandering around and around the tight tip. She shifted, but he avoided her nipple, instead licking his way to her other breast and treating it to the same delicious torture.
“Yes, every inch,” he breathed just before he sucked her aching nipple into his mouth.
She couldn’t help arching into his touch, or the soft sound that escaped her. “Every inch?” she managed again, sliding her hands up his back and into the tangle of his long hair.
“Every. Luscious. One,” he agreed, nipping at her swollen breast between each word.
“Oh Gods.” It was barely a breath.
He chuckled, and commenced the tasting.
When he’d finished a very long time later, the daylight no longer shone through the falls. Andrea finally breathed evenly, though he knew she was still wide awake. Kallan wanted to sleep. But under his hand, he could feel just how alert she really was—the muscles in her back not tense yet, but ready to go any second.
“What’s wrong?” He slid his hand down her spine.
“He’s coming.”
He considered that, letting his senses open a little. “Not close yet. Maybe he’s waiting until morning to try to find the house.” He shifted a little, settling her nearer, and she let him, but she didn’t relax.
He hadn’t really intended to tell her how he felt earlier, but she’d looked so defeated as they hiked through her woods, and he couldn’t stop the words when they burst out. Nor could he have kept them contained earlier while he was making love to her.
She dragged one hand up his side. “We won’t be able to stay here indefinitely. I never really planned it to be a permanent hideaway.”
He stared up at the stone ceiling. “Are you prepared to go out of the country?”
She lifted her head at last and propped her chin on his chest. “I might be.”
Of course she had papers ready. His Medusa was smart. Kallan smiled a little. “How do you feel about Scotland this time of year?”
Andrea frowned. “Scotland?”
“You’ve never been, have you?”
She shook her head. “Do we need a visa?”
“If we do, I can take care of it. You’ve got a passport, right?”
“I’ve got a couple.” Pink touched her cheeks at the admission.
He felt his lips curve again.
“Why Scotland?”
“No ties. It could be anywhere you’ve never been.”
He watched her as she considered that, as she realized the truth of his words. Her blue gaze shifted back to his face. “I hate to run.”
He understood. Really. But he wanted her out of Stavros’s reach.
“This is my home. My life. I’d rather stay here and just kill him.”
“Bloodthirsty.” He realized he’d called her that the first night, and evidently, so did she, as her blush deepened.
“If it was just you, you’d stay and fight.”
He wanted to lie. “Yes,” he said at last, opting for honesty.
“You haven’t tried to take the amulet either. No more ideas?”
He sighed. “No.”
She rolled off him, presenting her back. “What do you see?”
A lot of gorgeous skin, he realized, his mouth watering.
“The tattoo, Harvester,” she said, and he imagined from her tone that she was smiling a little.
He dragged his gaze down her spine, then studied the design. The flowers were bright and numerous with the snake slithering among them, winding itself around the cup’s stem. He skimmed one fingertip along the flowers at the top, then lower, to the bowl of the chalice. Heat flared.
She sucked in a quick breath. “Why does it do that?”
“I’ve no idea.” He hadn’t been able to find anything about why it would do that, anywhere, in any of his research. Probably because no one else knew the truth about Medusa’s Goblet. He stroked along the rim, feeling her skin warm under his touch, then slid his finger down the stem to the base. Heat all along the way. But as soon as he touched the flowers or the snake, nothing.
“I’m sure she never intended you to be able to take it.”
“I’m sure she didn’t.” Which meant his family had been set an impossible task thousands of years ago. He frowned, rubbing over the bowl of the cup again and the heat intensified. It still felt like her warm, satiny skin under his touch though.
He slid his fingers away, curling around her hip to draw her back against him. “I don’t know.” He kissed the back of her head.
“If you can’t take it, you still have the other part of your job to do.”
Kallan’s fingers tightened on her hip just a little, and his heartbeat quickened. He couldn’t kill her.
Which meant his cousins would not only do the job if they managed to track her down, but they’d have to remove him from the equation as well.
He shut his eyes. This situation was a complete no-win.
Andi sat a couple feet away from the camp stove later, watching the pot filled with rehydrated stew begin to thicken and bubble. Kallan stood at the cave entrance, wearing only his boots and unbuttoned cargo pants. His black hair was rumpled and his jaw hard as he stared out into the dark waterfall. He’d been increasingly edgy since the discussion about the amulet, and she’d decided it might be best to keep her mouth shut for a little while.
His current anger seemed to stem from her reminder that he was supposed to kill her, not from his inability to take the cup.
Not that she wanted to die.
She frowned and stirred the stew, realizing her stomach was gurgling with hunger pangs.
Dying didn’t frighten her as much, though, as his declaration earlier. She went cold, then hot just recalling it.
He loved her.
Good Gods, how had that happened?
Or was it just a distraction?
Scary as the idea was, she didn’t think he’d been lying when he said it. Not the first time, nor any of the other times he’d repeated it when they were rolling across the blankets and sleeping bag earlier.
Her heart pounded harder. Aside from her family, no one had ever said that to her.
She stirred the stew briskly, trying to distract herself.
But she looked again at the front of the cavern, where Kallan still stood with one arm braced against the rock. A muscle jumped in his tight jaw.
She dragged her gaze away from his face to the wide shoulders and strong muscles visible in his back and arms.
“You need to know I’ll die before I let him kill you,” he said, startling her.
Andi blinked, and he turned his head toward her, his green eyes as hard as his jaw. Her heart jumped up into her throat. Gods, he was serious. A hot splatter of stew hit the back of her hand, and she jerked her spoon away from the small pot to turn the burner off, forcing herself to look away from him.
“Maybe you should be practical,” she started.
“Maybe you should think about trusting me a little,” he cut in, swinging around to fully face her.
The front view was as distracting as the back, she realized, absently noting the crisp dark hair spattered over his wide, muscular chest and narrowing onto his flat belly, to that unfastened button…
She pulled her gaze back to his face when he stepped away from the cave opening.
“I got you safely away before
Stavros could kill you. I just spent the last two days taking care of you.” His nostrils flared. “I don’t know how you’ve managed by yourself all these years.”
A lump pushed her heart down out of her throat, making her nose and eyes sting.
“If I haven’t earned a little trust after the last two days, I don’t see how you can ever trust anyone.”
That was low. She dropped her spoon into the pan and pushed to her feet. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“It doesn’t look like your family rushes to help you out every month.”
She couldn’t argue, as it was true, but that didn’t lessen the sting.
“So when did anyone take care of you last, Andrea? Besides me?”
“Not since I was thirteen,” she yelled. “Then it wasn’t so bad, until Annis died. Now I take care of myself.” Her vision blurred a little, and she blinked hard.
Kallan moved toward her, his mouth a flat line, his green eyes flaring sparks. “But you trust them anyway?”
“They’re my family.” It really was that simple. If she truly needed them, one of them would come.
“They’ve abandoned you to the Harvesters.” His shout echoed in the cavern.
To her horror, a tear slid down her cheek, but she didn’t wipe it away. “They need to be safe too,” she whispered.
“So the sacrifice of one isn’t a big deal if the rest are safe?” His tone was still rock-hard, though lower in volume.
Andi didn’t want to think about it that way. His view of the whole situation was so distorted.
Wasn’t it?
“As long as none of us get the amulet, it’s okay to lose the Medusa every once in a while?” He touched her cheek, wiping away the tear there.
Another fell, and she wasn’t sure if she was angrier at him or herself. Or her family.
He pulled her into his arms suddenly, and she let him, hiding her face against his chest. Another tear fell, and she shut her eyes. “You’re wrong,” she whispered around the lump in her throat.
He grunted but didn’t say anything else, rubbing one big hand up and down her spine, spreading warmth she hadn’t realized she needed.
Her racing heart gradually eased back to a normal speed as he held her, and she inhaled shakily. Under her cheek, his chest was wet. That could not be from her, she thought, sniffling a little. “Are you ready for supper?” she asked after another moment.
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