Shane glanced at her and offered her a little smile. “Mick and Maggie, they were made for each other. I can’t even imagine one without the other anymore.”
Lacie was quiet for a moment, then asked, “Do you believe in soul mates, Shane?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.”
“You sound awfully certain.”
“That’s because I am,” he told her. “I’ve seen it happen five times in as many years.”
“Your brothers,” she guessed.
Shane nodded. “They knew right away when they met the women who eventually became their wives. My father says a Callaghan man will always recognize his croie, and when he does, there is no other woman for him.”
“Croie?” she repeated, entranced.
“Heart,” Shane translated. “It is how we refer to our soul mates, the one and only woman capable of capturing and holding our hearts.”
“How incredibly romantic,” she whispered.
“It’s a lot more than romance, Lacie. Our croie really is our heart. She becomes the center of our whole universe, our very reason for being. We would do anything for her.”
“Your brothers told you this?”
“They tried to explain it to me,” Shane said slowly, forcing his eyes to the road in front of them instead of to the beautiful woman at his side, “but it’s not something that can be adequately expressed in words. It has to happen to you to gauge the depth of it.”
“Oh.” The silence was broken only by the subtle hum of the car for several heartbeats while Lacie thought about what he said.
“It was not something I fully understood until I met you.”
He heard her small but definite gasp. Shane glanced sideways at Lacie. She was staring straight ahead, her expression unreadable in the muted lights of the dash. For several moments Shane thought he might have made a grave error. Everything he said was true, but perhaps Lacie wasn’t quite ready to hear it yet. He’d had plenty of time to get used to the possibility of a perfect mate, but it wasn’t so long ago he would have scoffed at the idea.
If their roles were reversed and Lacie had said something like that to him this early in their relationship, he wasn’t sure he would take it well, no matter how strongly he felt about her. Acceptance was a huge, but critical step. In retrospect, he probably should have asked if she believed in soul mates, too, before blurting out the depth of his feelings for her, but it was too late for that now.
By the time he pulled the sedan next to Lacie’s Passat back at the college parking lot, he was a nervous wreck. Lacie still hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t moved, really. He thought he might have seen her blink once or twice, but even that was questionable.
Ten years of military training and covert ops had done nothing to prepare him for dealing with anything like this. For a man so adept at reading people, he was suddenly completely at a loss to even venture a guess at what she was thinking.
He cut the engine and took a deep breath. There was nothing else for it. He was an idiot. Things were going so well. He should have just stuck to the traditional stuff. Flowers, little gifts, midnight phone calls and stolen kisses. He should have just been patient, allowing her time to grow accustomed to the idea of having him around before he dropped a bombshell like that on her.
Shane Callaghan, the soft-spoken, lethal special ops man stared unseeingly at the steering wheel, wondering how the hell he was going to fix this, when he felt the gentlest of touches on his arm. He turned, and his heart went from thumping wildly to nearly stopping completely. Lacie was looking at him, silvery moonlight and soft carriage lights playing across her beautiful face, her eyes impossibly large and blue and filled with... love.
“Did you mean that?” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper, but easily heard in the silence.
“Yes,” he said, his voice thick. “Every word.”
He watched her intently as a slow smile spread across her face.
And right there, in the parking lot of the university, Shane Callaghan kissed his croie with all of the passion of a man who had just found his heart.
Chapter Thirteen
“Do you still want coffee?” he asked sometime later, his head swimming dizzily as he finally broke their kiss.
“No,” she said, sounding every bit as dazed and breathless as he did. “I’ve got a better idea. Follow me.”
“Anywhere,” he breathed.
Lacie grinned and got out of the Lexus. The cool night air was a welcome shock to his senses; kissing Lacie was enough to make a man lose himself.
Shane followed her back to her place. It was a short distance, but it seemed interminable with her in another vehicle. He kept telling himself not to get his hopes up, that it was still too early to consider the kinds of things running through his mind.
His body didn’t listen. Every cell was alive and vibrating with hopeful anticipation. It was going to be ready for her, no matter what his mind said.
He was pretty proud of himself. He made it all the way to Lacie’s apartment without wrecking the car. He managed to get out of the car and walk – fairly normally, too, despite the crippling ache between his legs – over to hers and open the door for her. The smile she gave him made him weak in the knees, and when she entwined her fingers with his and started leading him to her apartment, his mouth went dry.
“Maybe I should say goodnight,” he said when she opened the door. If he went inside, he wasn’t sure he would be able to control himself. Everything about her called to him on a very base, primal level.
“Do you want to say goodnight?” she asked, rising to her toes and kissing beneath his jaw, down his throat, along his collarbone. Her lips were so soft, so warm, and when they touched him right there, the sensation rocketed throughout the rest of his body.
“No,” he said, his voice a strained whisper.
“Then don’t.”
A single tug on his hand and he was over the threshold. Seconds later, Lacie was locking the door and fastening the newly installed deadbolts.
Shane stood as still as a statue, at least until Lacie stepped up and began to wrap her arms around his neck. Shane kissed her then; he couldn’t have stopped himself if he wanted to. He lifted her in his arms until her feet dangled above the floor, pulling her to him, tasting her sweetness, growing drunk with pleasure on it. His desire flared to dangerous levels again, threatening to engulf them both.
It was only with great effort that he eased their passionate kiss, setting her gently down on the ground again, though he did continue to hold her close.
“Lacie...” Her name was a tattered prayer on his lips. It was all he could do not to lay her down right then and there and spend the rest of the night loving her as he longed to do.
“Shane, please don’t stop,” she whispered.
“I have to,” he answered, his breaths slightly ragged as he tugged her shirt back down carefully, more to give his trembling fingers something to do than anything.
“Why?” Her face, so guileless; her eyes so innocent and yet filled with such desire. It was a true test of his will to resist when she clearly wanted him with the same clawing hunger that had claimed him.
“Because, Lacie, once I start, I’m not going to be able to stop. And when I take you, it will be all of you. You will become mine, totally, completely, and irrevocably. Know this, Lacie, and be absolutely certain it is what you want.”
* * *
“Oh.” Had he not been holding her, she was sure she would have swooned. Then his words really sank in, the implications clear. “It works both ways, you know,” she said, gaining strength from the bond she could already feel between them, growing stronger with every passing minute. “You will belong to me as well.”
His eyes blazed. “Yes.”
“Then there’s no reason not to.”
“You’re sure?”
Lacie had never been more certain of anything in her life. She didn’t just want this man, she needed him. “Yes.”
; Shane kissed her again, wildly, passionately, sweeping her up into his arms and carrying her to the bedroom. Lacie’s arms held on tight, her hands finding purchase on his muscled shoulders, taut with the tension of holding her.
He laid her down on the bed, sliding next to her when she refused to release him. His hands eased over her curves as if memorizing them. Her body bowed and stretched, begging shamelessly for more of his touch. Her soft, feminine flesh yielded to his every tactile command, burning beneath him.
Lacie arched hard, desperate to feel more of his body against hers, wanting, needing all of those hard planes pressing against hers, knowing he was the only one who could soothe the unbearable ache deep within her. Shane nipped her bottom lip in warning.
“Easy, baby,” he said, his voice roughened with the effort of keeping his hunger leashed. His tongue caressed over the bite, soothing it.
If he thought to stem her desperation with the punitive act, he was sorely mistaken. Lacie’s hands clutched at him all that much tighter, her nails curling into his upper back like a little tigress flexing her claws. Haze filled her mind, incited by that slight bit of subtle pain, even as one leg curled over his hip and pulled him closer.
* * *
Could it be that his soft, gentle school teacher burned with a darker passion than he’d realized?
His mind flashed back a few days to when Lacie had perched on the kitchen counter with him between her thighs, and she had grabbed the edges of his shirt and pulled hard. At the way she had wrapped her legs around his waist and willed him closer with her heart, mind, and body.
Deciding to put his theory to a little test, Shane exerted enough force to pin her beneath him, grabbing both of her wrists – being extra careful not to further damage her injured hand – and holding them in one of his much larger hands. He moved them above her head, and held them there while he used his other hand to trace small circles across her chest, pausing to pinch her diamond-hard tips through her cotton blouse. Straddling her hips, Shane let his hand alternate between sensual caresses along the column of her neck and encircling her throat – not enough to hurt her, but enough to clearly assert his dominance. Her blue eyes darkened, her lids fluttered closed as if in ecstasy, her chest heaving beneath him.
“Look at me,” he commanded, and her eyes snapped open in immediate obedience. His cock swelled even more – though he hadn’t thought it possible – as an ever-increasing throb built within.
With a wicked grin, he let his fingers stroke down to the neckline of her blouse. Then, in a swift, violent move, he ripped it right down the center. Lacie writhed beneath him, her keening whimpers threatening his control.
“You like that,” he breathed in awe, his fingers tracing the outline of her silky bra, a pretty pink that he knew would simply be a lighter shade of her nipples. He leaned down, retaining eye contact, and took one breast in his mouth. A soul-deep moan echoed from deep within her as he tongued her hardened peak through the material, her hips desperately trying to move against him.
“Shane,” she said, his name a ragged plea from her lips. “Please...”
“Please what, baby?” he purred, biting her lightly, delighting in the hiss that escaped her lips.
“Please.... Take your shirt off.... Want to feel you...”
“You do it,” he commanded, releasing her hands and moving back enough to allow her to sit up. Her hands were suddenly grasping at his shirt; her small growls of frustration were like music to his fevered ears when her fingers couldn’t undo the buttons fast enough. Finally she gave up and gave one wrenching pull, solving the problem. Shane laughed at her enthusiasm, a sexy answering growl that gave way to a hiss as she pushed the sides away and found his bared chest. Nails raked over his skin, sharp enough to send ribbons of pleasure streaking through his nerves, but not enough to draw blood.
Then her mouth was suddenly upon his nipple, biting and sucking, mimicking the things he had done to her. Shane’s head flew back as he fisted his hands in her hair, pulling just enough to earn a few more feminine snarls.
While her mouth worked hungrily at his chest, licking, biting, and teasing, her hands moved down, stroking his sides, his abs, his back, desperate to touch every bared inch of his flesh. His muscles contracted and rippled beneath the contact, responding to her with a will of their own. He lost himself in the bliss of it, only to realize moments later that she had managed to unfasten his pants and her hand was reaching in...
Shane nearly shouted as her hand closed around him. He had expected her touch to be tentative, gentle. It wasn’t. It was fiercely possessive, branding him all the way down to his soul. He had warned her that she would belong to him, totally, completely, and irrevocably. She had answered him in kind. And she hadn’t been kidding.
Unable to withhold himself any longer, Shane pushed her onto her back, looming over her like a predator. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips in anticipation. One by one he discarded pieces of her clothing until she lay naked beneath him.
He allowed himself one scorching look. He would spend hours, days, years learning her body. Worshipping it. Pleasuring it. Discovering all of its hidden secrets. But right now her need – his need – would not allow it.
The need to claim his croie surged inside of him. To mark her. Claim her. Brand her soul so that there was no question what she was to him, what he would do for her.
He pulled away only long enough to get rid of the rest of his clothes, then he settled his weight on top of her. Her legs opened in welcome, her body forming the most perfect cradle. He paused above her, cupping her face with his hands.
“A croie beloved,” he whispered, his breath mixing with hers.
“A croie beloved,” she repeated, and his heart sang with joy.
He kissed her tenderly on the lips... then slid himself into her warm, welcoming depths.
Lacie rolled her hips to provide a better angle as Shane eased forward. As desperate and hungry as they were, he would not hurt her. Her sheath was so incredibly tight, hot and wet and perfect. Yet even with her desire, it was difficult. He cursed himself for not having the patience and self-control to prepare her better as she stretched around him.
A low moan filled his senses as she lifted to take him deeper; he’d never heard a sweeter sound. He worked himself inside, his penetration absolute until he filled her to capacity, swollen and pressed against her slick folds.
He paused, allowing her to become accustomed to him, kissing her face, her neck, her jaw until he felt her start to move beneath them. Then he began slow, easy thrusts.
“Shane,” she moaned again, drawing out his name so that it sounded like a song upon her lips. “Oh, how I’ve dreamed of this... of you...”
Her admission broke his last thread of control. He began to move harder, faster. She opened further to him, begging him to crawl inside her, to possess her. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her feet rode his ass and the backs of his thighs and he pumped into her over and over again while she clutched feverishly at his arms.
He felt her inner muscles begin to tighten, felt her body coil around his. She called out his name in one last desperate plea and he obliged, driving hard and deep. Lacie shattered around him, her body seizing in ripples of pleasure, her sex squeezing like a tight fist around his cock.
He continued to thrust, his own release imminent, prolonging her climax until he joined her in ecstasy. He exploded within her, filling her, marking her, over and over again until she had wrung every last drop from him.
Exhausted, Shane dropped to the side, afraid of hurting her. Instantly, Lacie rolled into him, burying her face in his neck, wrapping one leg around his hip to keep them joined.
Shane’s heart pounded against the walls of his chest. He had never before experienced anything like it. No victory had ever been sweeter, no adrenalin rush could have compared to the high he felt in this woman’s arms.
He thought he’d understood the intensity of a man’s feelings for his croie, but he realized no
w that he hadn’t even scratched the surface. This was far beyond anything he could have imagined; he could no more have comprehended this than a blind man could witness a spectacular sunset, or a deaf man a symphony. It was as if a whole new sense had come into being, one open only to those who had found their other halves.
Lacie was his. Forever. His heart. His soul. His universe.
She snuggled in closer, murmuring against his skin as he held her to him. It awed him.
As he lay there, sated, basking in absolute peace and a sense of completeness, he realized that he should have known all along. His perfect mate would be everything he needed, even if he hadn’t known exactly what that was.
“Baby,” he purred against her neck. “Time to get up for school.” Lacie, he learned, was a full body contact sleeper, wrapping herself around him like a blanket. He loved it.
She murmured something into his neck, making him chuckle.
“No,” he answered, stroking her back, “I don’t think we have time to do it again.” The entire night had been an alternating series of mind-blowing sex and deep, restorative catnaps. While he was used to operating on little or no sleep, it was apparent that Lacie was not.
She grumbled, but with a few imaginative motivational words and some well-placed caresses Shane got her up, showered, and dressed with several minutes to spare, minutes he made the most of. While she slipped on her casual sandals, he sipped his coffee, trying to reconcile the sweet, wholesome image now standing before him with the woman who had mounted him in the middle of the night. The thought made him smile.
“And just what are you grinning about?” she teased, coming over and rising on her toes to place a chaste kiss on his jaw.
“Same thing you are, I imagine,” he said, grabbing her for a more substantial kiss.
“Mmmm,” she hummed, melting against him. “It’s going to be a very long day, isn’t it?”
Shane laughed. “That it is. When can I see you tonight?” There was no longer a question of “if”. His body, heart, and soul were already protesting the realization that he would have to spend the day apart from her. It was going to take some getting used to.
Beyond Affection: Callaghan Brothers, Book 6 Page 11