by Tara Sampson
“What’s so funny?” Leo asked, rolling over so that he was looking down at his beautiful bride. She was in a white sundress, trimmed in lace, looking every bit of the princess that he thought her to be—his princess.
Her blond hair splayed across the sand, haloing her head, making her that much more endearing.
Shelby froze at the honey-filled voice that spoke from just above her. She felt his hand caress her cheek with a touch so feather light that it left her wanting for more.
Slowly, she opened her eyes afraid but anxious—hoping and dreading all at the same time. This was her dream; her paradise.
Why is he here?
“No my sweet…this is our dream,” he answered her thoughts and leaned in so close to her that she shivered with anticipation. He waved his hand at the scene that he had created. “Our paradise,” he crooned.
She swallowed, her eyes trained on Leo. He was a handsome man. His eyes so dark and filled with promise, his face so resplendent, his body so magnificent that she was finding that she could stare at it endlessly all day and night for that matter.
Leo watched the array of emotions pass over Shelby’s face. Everything from confusion to pure wonderment, then hunger and a hint of arousal surfaced. That arousal was going to be the death of him.
Crawling over her, Leo took her face in his hands and slowly breathed in, then out.
“You are such a treasure to me,” he whispered, nuzzling his cheek against hers. “The things that you make me feel when you’re around are indescribable, my sweet. I feel like I’m on this delicious high, escalating to some sort of oblivion that only you can take me to. Kiss me, Shelby.”
Shelby was hypnotized by his words. She no longer had the strength to fight. She was utterly lost in his eyes, lost in the sound of his voice, and just plain out lost all together to the gorgeous man who had seemingly captivated her very soul.
“Yes,” she whispered, and wrapped her arms around his neck, closing the last bit of distance between them and pressing her lips to his.
The moment that their lips touched, something inside of Shelby split apart. Something new and something exciting that she was helpless to fight.
Everything that she had been telling herself that was wrong, suddenly felt so right. The feel of his body wrapped around hers, his rich earthly taste exploding in her mouth, and the feel of his hands learning the curves of her body.
Unable to keep her own hands still any longer, she brought them around to his chest and began to tentatively trace the hard lines of his abs. She felt him shudder with her touch and that filled her with an incredible sense of womanly satisfaction.
“I need you. I need to be in you,” Leo all but growled as he trailed a line of burning kisses along her neck.
Shelby tilted her head back, offering herself to him.
“Take me. I’m yours,” she said breathlessly.
Leo didn’t need to be told twice. He was over-heated, he was burning and he had to have her. With a simple thought, their clothing disappeared and he was there, lying overtop of her. He claimed her in the most basic of ways; by joining their bodies and ravaging her mouth.
Shelby gasped. The pleasure was fast, furious, and incredibly intense. She wrapped her legs around Leo and let him take her to heights that she had never before experienced. This was her dream and what a hell of a dream it was! She was going to partake in the pleasure that the dream gave her and when she woke up, she would somehow deal with the reality that awaited her.
“You are my heart. You are my soul; and I promise you, Shelby, love, that I will live my life for you for the rest of eternity,” Leo rasped out his binding commitment.
They were ancient words that would forever bind them for the rest of their immortal lives. They were now bound by blood, by body and soul. No one would ever be able to take her away from him.
“I…I…need some-” Shelby sputtered, sensations building and bordering that line of both pain and pleasure.
“Quiet now, sweet,” Leo soothed, slowing his motions, knowing exactly what she needed. “I’ve got you,” he whispered against her neck, feeling his fangs lengthen in anticipation. “I am going to give you exactly what you need.”
He found the pulse, where her life blood beat a steady rhythm. Unable to hold back, he sank his teeth in her jugular while keeping up the pace that he had set.
“Le-Le-Leo!” Shelby squealed, her world coming apart with bright colors and streams of lights engulfing her. She felt the twinge of an ache in her gums and without thinking; she buried her head in the crook of his neck.
The scent of his blood too much of a temptation, she opened her mouth and bit down; drinking in big gulps of what was the heady essence of Leo. She was flying. She was soaring through the clouds with no end in sight. If this was her own personal slice of heaven, then she never wanted to leave.
Leo pulled away from his lover’s neck, swiping his tongue over his bite mark and all but collapsing on top of his bride. He had never experienced anything of the likes of what he had just shared with Shelby in his entire existence. It left him sated, fulfilled, and deliriously happy. She was his, now and forever.
Shelby closed her eyes and savored the moment; reveling in the dream.
If only life could be this good in reality, she smirked to herself.
“Rest, my love. Rest this day and awaken on the eve,” Leo told her. He cupped her cheek and pressed a tender kiss to her temple.
“Mm,” she murmured enjoying the aftershocks of her incredible dream, eventually letting herself lazily drift back off into a sea of blackness.
Tomorrow…yes, tomorrow would be a new day.
Chapter 12
Shelby opened her eyes and quickly swallowed a gasp.
Leo lay asleep mere inches from her face. His arms wound tightly around her waist, holding her to him. His inviting warmth surrounded her smaller frame and with his hypnotic scent engulfing her, she felt slightly lightheaded and dizzy.
What was it about this man that called to her, she wondered as she watched him sleep? In this state he almost seemed, human. His face was so majestic in stature yet there was a delicate balance in the lines that evened it all out, making him much more approachable.
He was an extremely handsome man, she concluded. He hadn’t changed at all from the first time that she could remember seeing him. She was only ten years old at the time but his face was one that she would never forget. Even now, eleven years later, he was the mirror image of the knight that saved her all those years ago. He hadn’t aged a single day.
Before she could think about it, Shelby found herself lifting her hand to his face and tracing the tops of his brows. His skin felt so smooth under her fingertips; smooth as silk and yet hard as stone. She let her fingers follow the lines of his cheek all the way down until they settled on his lips.
She lightly ran her thumb across his plump lips. Her dream from the night before burned bright in her memory. The things that she had imagined they had done together—the intimacy, had color rising in her cheeks.
Before Leo, Shelby hadn’t even kissed a guy and now, just after a short time of being with him, she was having the most indecent erotic dreams about the man.
But it felt so real.
So real in fact, that her body was still tingling from the aftereffects.
Leo’s dark eyes opened, his midnight stare trained solely on her. Shelby was so lost in her own thoughts, focused on his tempting mouth that she hadn’t realized when he had wakened.
He smiled at first. Her eyes flew up to his at the slightest movement. She startled, quickly pulling her hand to her chest.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized and looked down. After that dream she found it hard to meet his stare.
Leo pulled her even closer to him, leaning in and lightly brushing his lips against hers.
“Don’t be sorry,” he whispered. “I like it when you touch me.”
Shelby tried to pull out of his arms.
“I shouldn’t be this close to yo
u,” she insisted.
Her body was going crazy. That small kiss was nothing but a tease to her. She wanted more; so much more. She wanted his lips all over her body, his hands exploring her most feminine parts.
“Oh god,” she muttered, covering her eyes with her hands.
She pulled herself up into a sitting position and turned away; completely stricken by the way her body was reacting to him.
“What’s wrong?” Leo asked, genuinely perplexed by her sudden withdrawal. He placed a hand on her back, only wanting to calm her.
Shelby flinched at his touch. She needed to leave. To put some space between them so that she could figure out what was going on in her own mind. It was hard for her to process what he was; what she now was. She just wanted to be alone to figure things out.
“Forget it,” Leo growled, reading his brides thoughts. He slumped back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. “You’re not going anywhere.”
There was no way that he would let her leave him now. She was his. After last night, he had hoped they had finally crossed that proverbial bridge.
Shelby whipped her head back around, pinning him with her stare.
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
Leo tapped his head with his finger.
“Another perk of immortality, my sweet. We can read minds.”
Her eyes widened with intrigue
“We can…”
“Read minds, yes.” He sat up and finished the sentence for her. Leo, seeing her curiosity, grabbed her hands, enfolding them in his own. “Close your eyes and imagine that your mind is an onion.”
Shelby dropped her chin and gave him that you’ve got to be kidding me look.
Leo sighed.
“Trust me,” he told her and squeezed her hands before adding, “Close your eyes for me…please.” He even pulled out the puppy dog eyes.
Shelby wanted to laugh but huffed instead and closed her eyes.
“This is crazy,” she murmured more to herself than Leo. He chuckled.
“Alright…now picture your mind as an onion and slowly start to peel it back, layer by layer until you get to the core and your mind is totally blank.”
She did as he asked. She pictured that onion and imagined herself peeling it layer by layer. She felt pretty stupid doing it but his voice was strangely compelling and soon enough she felt like her mind had been stripped bare and there was nothing there but complete emptiness.
“Are you there yet?” he asked, his tone as charming as a snake.
Shelby nodded her head, enjoying the blissful nothingness of her mind.
“Now imagine that you have tentacles and reach out to me. Try and read what’s in my mind. What am I thinking of, my sweet?” Leo let his thumbs work in small circles on the back of her hands, soothing her into a trancelike state. Soon enough she would be able to do this as easy as she could tell time but that first time was always a bitch.
She did as he told her. She stretched out her tentacles, aiming for his mind but it was like reaching out into a deep ocean. Something was out there, out in the distance but she couldn't reach it. Her tentacles only floated through the air with no destination in sight.
Frustrated, she jerked her hands away from his and opened her eyes.
“I can’t do this,” she snapped.
Leo grabbed her stubborn chin.
“Yes you can,” he told her, his eyes boring into hers. “Now try again. Close your eyes Shelby.”
She stuck out her bottom lip in an adorable pout and dang if he didn’t want to kiss that pout right off of her face but he wanted her to learn how to do this more. He wanted her to learn something advantageous about her nature so that maybe she would quit fighting him at every turn.
Taking a deep breath he released her chin.
“Close your eyes and imagine the onion. Clear your mind, sweetheart and reach for me. I’m right here. All you have to do is come and get me.”
“Fine,” she groaned. Closing her eyes, she brought back up the onion and meticulously peeled back the layers. The tentacles rose up from the center and she pushed them out, stretching them as far as she could. They wound through space and this time, the fog didn’t come. Instead, she pushed straight through a barrier and scenes like a movie flashed in her mind; the same scenes from her dream. She was the sandy beach, Leo’s hard body covering hers, them moving together in perfect synchronization. Shocked, she pulled back, opened her eyes and jumped off the bed.
“How…what…did—but that was my dream!” she stuttered, not understanding at all what she had just seen.
Leo stood up as well, in all his glory, naked as the day he was born. Shelby was beyond shocked now and quickly heading for the hill of humiliation turned her back on him.
“What the hell are you doing?” she questioned.
“I’m coming to you,” he answered, standing behind her. He was so close that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. “You’re my bride Shelby. That was our dream and it was very much real to me.”
She glanced over her shoulder, Leo’s face was right there, next to hers.
“Hush,” he said, turning her around to face him.
“But…” she started to protest and Leo shook his head, placing a finger to her mouth.
“It’s done and you’re mine, my sweet. No more fighting me.”
Shelby’s body thrummed with excitement from him being so close to him. She craved him so much she couldn’t deny it and it scared the living hell out of her. She had never been dependent on anyone before and to suddenly feel like she had to have this man like she needed air to breathe was a rude awakening.
She tried to step back but Leo only followed her movements. He wouldn’t give her the space that she was looking for. The battle was warring in her eyes and he could see that she was on the precipice of acceptance. Her back hit the wall. There was nowhere else for her to go.
Leo didn’t hesitate. He dipped his head and took her mouth. She instantly obliged him in a passionate kiss that was scorching hot and had both of them panting breathlessly at the end.
“Say it, Shelby. Tell me that you’re mine,” he growled.
Shelby, tired of fighting it and drunk off of his taste, looked up into his inky-black eyes and whispered those words that she now knew that he had so longed to hear, “Yours Leo, I am yours.”
His heart swelled with utter joy as she laid her head against his shoulder. She accepted him. If he never received anything else in his life, he would be happy. Shelby was all that he needed. She was his lifeline, his soul and he would do anything to ensure that she experienced nothing but happiness throughout the rest of eternity.
Anything.
For several long minutes, they both just stood there holding each other, in the quiet of the room. Shelby looked up and placed her hand on his chest
“Leo?”
He looked down at his beautiful bride, her dark eyes radiating back up at him.
“What is it, my sweet?”
Shelby swallowed nervously, unsure of how he would react to what she was about to ask him.
“I want…I mean, can I get some things from my apartment?”
He shrugged, “Okay.”
“Really?” She hadn’t expected him to be so cooperative. She thought, well hell, she didn’t know what she thought. Maybe that he would jump down her throat and leave her locked in the room all night.
“I would never do anything like that,” Leo replied after reading her thoughts. He was actually offended that she thought he would do something like that to her. “If you want to go and retrieve your things, then we’ll go. I only want to see you smile, my sweet. Your smile is my sunshine. It brightens up both my days and nights.”
Shelby couldn’t stop the grin that spread onto her face. It started at the corners of her lips and went clear up to her ears.
“That’s the most romantic thing that anyone has ever said to me.”
Leo touched her cheek and grunted.
&nb
sp; “Babe, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
He snapped his finger and in the blink of an eye he was fully dressed.
Shelby had briefly forgotten that he had been standing there so close to her in the buff. Cocking her head to the side, she eyed his fitted black jeans, matching black t-shirt that was drawn tightly over his chest and the shit kickers on his feet. She had to admit to feeling a twinge of regret after seeing him all covered back up.
“Ready?” Leo asked, clearly amused by the way that she was watching him.
Shelby shook her head.
“Huh?”
He laughed and pulled her into his arms.
“I asked if you were ready to go to your apartment and get some of your things.”
She blinked up at him.
“Now?”
Squeezing her to him, he placed a kiss on her temple.
“Why not?” he leaned back, “but we’ll have to travel my way.”
She looked at him and furrowed her brow. She was pretty sure that he was referring to the flashy thing that he’d done the night before and she wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Do we have to?” She looked away from him; her stomach already starting to do back flips in anticipation.
“I’m afraid so. Your apartment is in Paris and we’re in Italy. It’s the only viable way.” He looked at her sheepishly and noticed that she was a little green around the gills. “Close your eyes,” he told her, “and hold your breath.”
Shelby glanced up, giving him a questioning look.
“Trust me,” he urged and pulled her head down to his shoulder.
“Three…two…one,” he counted aloud, waved his hand and shrouded them in a cloak of darkness. Seconds later, they reappeared in the center of her apartment.
“Dammit!” Leo cursed when something nailed him in his midsection. With his breath knocked out of him, Leo was forced to release Shelby and stumbled backwards, clutching his throbbing side.