A few garbled directions and a phone hand off to Max, and Alec disconnected turning to Emily. “Want to come with me?”
She looked away. “I should go back to my hotel and either work on my book or come up with a new proposal for my editor.”
“I don’t want this to end. Please come with me.”
She shook her head.
Something was definitely wrong. A few minutes ago she’d been ready for anything. Now she was withdrawing like the low tide. “What is it? Vi’s harmless. You’ll love her. She’s the crazy lady down the street…only she’s my mum and Max, my stepdad, puts up with all her antics better than anyone I know. Ran him down with her car while he was riding his bike. She has trouble with cars.”
“She did not!”
“She did. It was love at first sight. Happens a lot in this family.”
“Alec—”
“We know what we want. In business, in relationships, in acquisitions. Call it intuition if you will, but we have a tendency to make split second decisions and know immediately the right way to go. There hasn’t been a person in my family who hasn’t known within a day that they’d met the love of their life.” He’d known when he’d approached her on the beach, before he’d even kissed her—not that he’d tell her that. She’d think he was as crazy as Vi.
“I guess I understand intuition.”
He peered at her. “You have it, too, don’t you?”
She looked away. “Most people think it’s crazy. I don’t talk about it.”
His palm cupped the side of her face. “You’re completely safe with me, love. Is it visions, a knowing, perhaps instant awareness of something that’s happened or will happen?”
“Sometimes I see things,” she admitted. “I just…know things.”
“Emma had visions, you know.”
She sighed and he got the feeling she didn’t want to her about her past persona. Accepting all part of self was difficult. He had the ease born of years. She had hours.
“I wish we could stay here,” he told her, deliberately changing the subject. “I’d like to hold you, just talk for a while.”
“That’s awfully vanilla of you,” she teased, but he saw the desire in her eyes. She didn’t care if they were being kinky of just clinging together—as long as they were together.
“It can’t all be chains and whips even if they are fun.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ll talk in the car,” she offered. “It will probably do us good to get away from here and the memories anyway.”
Chapter Three
Emily stared out the window while Alec navigated the narrow, twisting road leading into the town where his parents were waiting. Silence had fallen around them after he’d managed to drag the secret of her parents desertion from her. The man was good. She supposed that was part of his power as a Dom. He knew when there was more to a story or an emotion. How many times had he managed to pull more out of her than she wanted to reveal? Even more, there was a mien surrounding him that engendered security—and loose lips.
Despite that, he was exceptionally good at hiding his own feelings. Most of the time. When she’d told him about the people who had produced her—she hated to give them the honorific of ‘parent’—his lips had pressed together so tightly, the edges had turned as white as the tight knuckles that had gripped the steering wheel. His nostrils had flared and she’d half expected to see flames emerge.
And his indignation on her behalf had settled snugly in her heart. His protectiveness alone made her want to give him anything he wanted. Especially the submission he liked. When they were alone again, she fully intended to show him that, too. She’d read enough that she had a fairly good idea of what to do.
As the road finally widened, he reached over and slipped his hand over her leg, tucking his fingers close to her pussy. She knew he’d feel the warmth emanating from her body, but she wondered if he’d feel the dampness. In her haste to dress, she hadn’t searched out her panties. Now between going commando and the way he aroused her, she was paying the price.
The thick seam of her jeans, damp with her cream, rubbed against her clit driving her tension higher.
“Spread your legs a bit,” he said. Instantly, she complied. Why not? Dark had fallen over and hour ago. His fingers lightly ran over the seam which tormented her. “Hmm…this won’t do. Open your jeans and push them down your thighs.”
“Alec!”
“Excuse me?”
She swallowed. “Yes, my lord.”
Her fingers trembled at the closure at her waistband. It was one thing to let him stroke her through her clothes, but quite another to push down her pants. It wasn’t that dark.
Well, hell. She released the button and slid down the zipper. If anyone saw her, they’d never see her again. She was on a plane home in less than a week. Hastily, she thrust the pants to her knees and spread her legs as far as she could while still partially inside the constraining garment.
“Good girl,” he said. Reaching over, he dragged his fingers over her slippery folds. “Oh love, you’re so wet. Are you perhaps thinking of my cock driving into you again?” His fingertips dipped inside her, circling and stretching her opening.
“You know I am.” Her hand strayed to his thigh. All her thoughts were consumed by him. She had a feeling that all her future characters would resemble him.
“Rub my cock, love.”
Instantly, she complied, running her palm over the hard ridge behind his fly. The linen pants he’d donned stretched around his engorged arousal, barely containing him. The long column throbbed against her hand. She traced the head of his cock, her body responding to the shape of it beneath her thumb. As he touched her, she imagined this head ploughing the path to her release, scoring over her sensitive tissues and knocking against that elusive spot that would send her chasing the stars.
She groaned and lifted her hips as he pushed two fingers deep inside her. Reflexively, she grasped him. Her hand travelled his length, pushing up and down, his clothing providing extra friction.
Suddenly, he pulled the car to the side of the road. After jerking the hand brake on, he leaned over and captured her lips with his, his free hand tilting her head to give him the best access. His tongue thrust in time with his fingers. The scent of their musk filled the small interior of the car, driving her arousal higher. She breathed it in, wanting to remember this stimulation and the feel of him over her and in her long after she returned home.
Oh God, she didn’t want to go. The thought of leaving him stabbed through her so viably tears pricked her eyes. I’ve searched for him for so long. How can I leave? She knew the voice was not hers, but Emma’s, an etheric memory invading her space and time. Ruthlessly, she shoved it away. Her time with Alec was about here and now, not something that had happened nearly a millennium ago.
Her body prepared to receive her lover, flooding Alec’s fingers with her cream. Lifting her into his arms, he shifted onto her seat and settled her on his lap. A few manoeuvres later, he’d shoved down his pants. She straddled him, her jeans completely off. He pushed up the tail of her shirt, splaying his hand on her back.
“Ride me, love.”
She sank on to him, every wide inch of his cock stroking her as it plunged into her sheath. “Yes, my lord,” she gasped. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. Slowly, she rocked her hips forward. Her clit rubbed against his pelvis. Reaction cartwheeled through her and she screamed when Alec reached up and pinched her nipple.
“Ride,” he urged. And she did, moving up and down his shaft while he guided her.
The headlights of an oncoming car illuminated them and a naughty thrill soared through her. Whoever was coming would be able to see exactly what they were doing if they glanced over. And what if they stopped thinking she and Alec had had car trouble? She pressed her face to Alec’s neck as her body screamed out of control, taken by the danger of discovery and shoved into the chasm of release. Alec groaned as her orgasm clenched around his cock and she
jerked with the sensations taking her. His fingers dug into her hips while he thrust upward and joined her, his seed exploding from him.
The lights bore down on them. Shit, this wasn’t good. All he needed was the locals finding them au natural. Working quickly, he helped Emily to quickly don her pants. She lifted away from him so he could yank up his own. A moment later, the car stopped in front of them. Alec pulled her into his embrace, kissing her frantically and holding her tightly on his lap to hide his open fly.
Something metal clicked on the window beside his head. “Sir? Are you alright?”
Didn’t he look alright? For the love of God, he had a gorgeous woman on his lap, kissing him.
“I told you something must have happened. Alec would never take this long to come and get me.”
Great. The local authorities and his mother. Alec rolled down the window. “Mum,” he said sadly. She blinked at him, her eyes otherwise wide. Seeing Emily on his lap, she slapped a hand to her mouth.
“Alec,” she exclaimed. “What is this?”
“I, um—well, we stopped and—Mum, this is Emily.”
“Em…Em-ily? The Em-ily?” she asked. “As in—”
“Yeah.”
Vi’s eyes lit up and she smiled, completely disregarding the situation in which she’d found them. “I am so glad to finally meet you, Em.” She turned to the man who’d driven her—and God alone knew how she’d managed that—and waved him back to the car. “Apparently, I’ve made a mistake. My son is fine. Let’s go.”
“But ma’am—”
“Sir, do I need to walk—”
Alec rolled up the window to drown out his mother’s speech. Reaching between them, he fastened his fly before his mother returned, and she would return. “That was Vi,” he said.
“So I surmised.” Emily frowned. “She thinks I’m Emma.”
Alec shook his head, smoothing a hand over her hair. Waiting for Emma had taken up so much of his life. How could he explain that all of them would have to undertake the exercise of separating the past from now?
Carefully, he moved back to his side of the car. “She knows the difference between past lifetimes and this one,” he finally said.
“But you all expect me to be her.”
“I don’t. And neither will Vi. I know you’re a different person, even if we haven’t known each other long.” He grinned. “In this lifetime.”
“Not helping.”
“But I know you. Let me tell you what I know about you.”
She looked out the window, pushing her hair from her face. Alec fought the urge to reach out and pull her back into his embrace. She looked absolutely forlorn and through it, he saw the abandoned child she’d once been. God help him, he wanted to pummel the pair who’d given birth to her.
“Nothing… You haven’t had a chance. All we’ve done is have sex.”
“And earth shattering sex it is. It’s a good start.”
“Not good enough,” she replied.
“You’re a writer. Creative, dedicated, self-directing. No one’s cracking a whip after you. You write because you need to get out the story inside you. You must have a good grasp of language. You’re committed. You cared enough about what you are writing to travel here to make your story better. Have I missed the mark on this?”
She made a face. “No.”
“You’re self conscious. It turns me on to look at you, yet I can see you’re not completely comfortable with yourself—until I’m loving you. And then you forget. Let’s see… you have visions and you have an infallible sense of intuition. Your parents were self-absorbed dimwits and you spent your formative years in foster care and state homes, yet you’ve made something of yourself. Determination. A backbone of steel. And yet you submit to me so sweetly.”
She bit her lip, and her eyes were shiny when she turned to him.
“It’s not a lot, I’ll admit,” he said. “But it’s a really good foundation.”
“It’s more than anyone else has ever had.”
Starting the car again and pulling back onto the road to town, Alec vowed that he’d know more about her than anyone. Everything. Emily was his, whether she’d admitted it yet or not. He’d chase away the sadness that lurked inside her and show her all the happiness that should have always been hers and now always would be. She might naturally submit to him, but she’d be his princess, showered in his love and the best of everything.
His hand settled on her thigh again. “Let’s go get Vi and Max so that we can go home and I can hold you.”
Forever and ever.
* * * *
Emily adored Vi and was charmed by Max and his long-suffering endurance of Vi’s flighty behaviour. His love for her was obvious. And when Vi looked at him…sparks flew, even after the years they’d been together.
Laying in bed and looking at Alec the next morning, Emily had wondered if they’d have the same sort of love. Quickly, she shoved away the illogical thought. Of course they wouldn’t. She was going back to the United States in two days.
“I should get up and work,” he said. They rested on their sides, facing each other and caught in a warm, gauzy web of serenity. Though they hadn’t made love since the night before, an afterglow surrounded them with a tenderness that bound their hearts together. She was reluctant to break the close connection they had here. In the golden beams of the sun filtering through the thick curtains, the world beyond them ceased to exist.
Leaning forward, Alec captured her lips in a leisurely kiss, exploring her mouth with lazy strokes that matched the quiet of the morning. Languid streams of desire meandered through her, waiting for the deluge of passion that would engorge them later when they came together again. This was enough for now. They both knew the cataclysm that would overtake them later.
“I’d like you to stay,” he said. “I have to attend to non-bed and breakfast matters this morning. Investments and other financials. This afternoon, I’d like to take you to see the area and out to dinner at the pub. Sound okay?”
“Perfect. Maybe we can stop at my hotel. I need some clothes. It was nice of your mother to lend me a skirt and shirt to wear today, but I’d like my own panties.”
He nipped her shoulder, his hand cupping her bare pussy. “Go without. I command it.”
“Yes, my lord,” she sighed, her arousal at the thought surely dampening his hand. It would be dangerous for her to traipse around bare beneath the floaty skirt Vi had lent her. A stiff breeze would reveal her nakedness. Alec would have an unobstructed path to her folds whenever and wherever he pleased. And darn if that didn’t just turn her on. She grinned. “Do you have any other commands for me?”
He made a face while he thought, his forehead wrinkling. “Hmm…think of me.” His finger dipped inside the outer lips of her sex to rub her clit.
“Definitely,” she replied. On some level, she wondered if she always had.
“Good, then you are allowed to leave this bed.” Both of them, however, were loathe to leave the cocoon of the blankets and the warm glow surrounding them, and it wasn’t until a business call dragged Alec from bed that they finally moved.
Leaving him to his work, Emily took off for the beach. She supposed she should get out her laptop and do some work as well, but the ocean called her and until she indulged her need to let nature reinvigorate her soul she wouldn’t be able to focus. Her purse was still on the coffee table where Alec had left it the day before, and she dug through it, finding a pair of sunglasses before heading out to the water. The cold waves eddied around her bare feet as she ambled along without paying attention. Her thoughts were consumed with Alec and the revelations of the past day—had it only been a day? So much had happened.
Was he right? Was this meant to be? She still had trouble acclimating herself to a past life influencing this one. Alec said he knew her, but how could she be sure he wasn’t really infatuated with Emma the paragon of virtue from the past. A knot twisted at the possibility that she’d be forever trapped in an Emma-or-
Emily cycle. Why couldn’t she have met Alec with out all the other baggage?
She almost didn’t notice when an old bottle knocked up against her ankle. It was so beautiful here, it ticked her off that someone would litter by tossing garbage like this in the ocean. She scooped it up, intending to throw it away when she returned to the castle. The instant she touched it, a jolt railed through her.
Ailig. Throwing a bottle in the ocean. Walking to his death.
The vision hit her hard and she reeled backward, landing on her bottom on the damp beach. The pictures flashed before her like a slow motion film, each desperate moment piercing her heart. When the waves finally covered Ailig, her sight cleared and she again stared at empty ocean. Tears streamed down her face. Swiping at them, she reluctantly looked down at the bottle, trepidation filling her. Please don’t be that bottle. Please…
But she knew it had to be.
Something was inside. Paper. Something else. It rattled slightly against the glass as she moved her wrist. Lifting her arm and peering into the bottom of the bottle, she saw the distorted image of the necklace she’d seen in her dreams. The one she’d written about. The one Alec had shown her in his journal.
A choked cry tangled in her throat. She dropped the vessel in the sand beside her, pulling up her legs and burying her face in her knees. If she had this, she’d never be free of Emma. Whenever Ailig looked at her, he’d think of the woman he’d been married to eight hundred years ago—Ailig! Now she was twisting time, too!
Leaping to her feet, she yanked up the bottle and ran back to the water. She couldn’t keep this. She wouldn’t. Pulling back her arm, she flung Ailig’s message as far into the ocean as she could.
Alec wasn’t Ailig. She hadn’t known him long, but like Alec knew her, she felt the same. She knew him better than she’d ever known any man. He truly cared for her, patiently leading her through the BDSM they shared, giving her exactly what she’d longed for deep inside her. He was responsible, in business, in his relationship with family, in how he tended her during and after their sexual encounters.
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