“I’m not sure I can be what you live for, Ryder, because this thing between the two of us…”
“When I lay dying, you said you needed me. You made me feed for what? To rot away the rest of my existence without you?”
She gripped her hands tightly in her lap, fighting the urge to soothe his hurt. “In the alley, when you told me about yourself…You wanted to drive me away. You knew there couldn’t be anything between us.”
“I did what I thought I had to, but I was wrong.” His answer confirmed what she had come to suspect.
“I couldn’t watch you die. I did what I had to, as well,” she answered, and rose from the edge of the bed, knowing she had to leave before her determination wavered.
Ryder grabbed her hand and kept her close. “Don’t go, darlin’.”
“I’m not sure I can stay, Ryder.”
“More than a hundred years ago, I was plunged into a world of darkness. Without my choice. Without any hope of escaping until you came along. You know what a world of darkness can be like. You let yourself slip into it when your dad died, and even though you think you escaped it, you never really did.”
She pulled her hand away and wrapped her arms around herself. “I did. I made a life for myself and—”
“You weren’t living until you met me.” He realized he had struck home when she flinched.
“And what if you’re right? What do we do about it?” she asked.
He leaned toward her, the movement costing him as pain ripped through the wounded parts of his body. “We live, Diana. Together. We share something so strong and sure that it’ll fill every day with its light.”
With his words belief flared to life deep inside her. Belief in the possibility of a happiness such as she had never known, not even before her father died.
“It may take a little time for me to stop being angry with you,” she confessed.
He laughed harshly and settled back against the pillows. “I have all the time in the world.”
Easing onto the edge of the bed, she sat facing him. She cupped his cheek and smiled. “Well, that’s good, because I plan on spending a lot of time with you.”
Joy mingled with disbelief on his face. “You know it won’t be easy—loving me,” he replied, almost as if giving her another chance to leave. His concern for her made her earlier decision all the more clear.
“That is the easy part, Ryder. After all, the love we have for each other is more than most people ever get to share. As long as we have that love—”
“We won’t ever regret it?” he questioned with an arch of his brow.
“I won’t ever regret living again. Loving you,” she said, leaning forward and bringing her lips close to his. “Do you think you can handle a little of that loving now?”
He cupped the back of her head. “A little.”
Their kiss was joyful, filled with so many emotions, chief among them—happiness. It went on and on until they were both breathless. But as they eased from each other, they were both smiling broadly.
“I have to head into the office in a few hours to finish up the case. Do you mind if I stay?” she asked, but even as she said it, she was settling onto the bed beside him.
Ryder wrapped his arm around her and they slipped down until they were lying side by side. She eased her head onto his shoulder and carefully put her arm across his midsection. At his flinch, she would have pulled away, but he laid his arm across hers to keep her there.
“Ryder?”
He glanced down at her and their gazes locked.
“There’s no amount of pain that would keep me from you, darlin’.”
She slid her leg over his thighs and softly said, “There’s nothing that will ever keep me from you, amor mio. Nothing.”
Her heart pounded as she ran, her feet sinking into the soft sand beneath her feet. The roar of the ocean filled her ears, but above that loud susurrus was another. She bent at the waist as she drew in a choppy breath and listened.
Ryder was calling to her, wanting her to return to him. As she slowed her rough breathing, his aroma peppered her nose, bringing her body to life. She had no control over it, needing him.
Diana looked around, searching the wide-open space of the beachfront for him, her body glistening with sweat from her run and the heat and humidity of the day. Above her the sun was bright, stinging in its intensity.
She turned slowly and the warm lap of an errant wave swept over her bare feet. She dragged a toe through it, and as she did so, she saw him.
He was standing down the beach, dressed in black. His hand was outstretched, inviting her to join him.
It was a familiar dream, she thought as she woke. One that no longer ended badly.
She shifted and held on to Ryder. It had been more than a week since he had been injured, and he’d been healing, although slowly. That hadn’t kept her from his sharing his bed.
He tightened his hold on her. “You okay?”
“Hmm,” she murmured, and cuddled closer, dropping a kiss over his heart. “I was just dreaming.”
He turned to face her, smiling sleepily. “Was it about me?” He eased his hand to the small of her back and dragged her close against him. His arousal was evident against the naked skin of her belly.
Mindful that he wasn’t completely healed, she urged him onto his back, then straddled him. Bending her head, she kissed him hungrily and said, “What do you think?”
But he didn’t get a chance to answer as she eased over him and took him inside her body, much as she had let him slip into her heart.
Ryder groaned and closed his eyes, but she said, “No, Ryder. Open your eyes.”
He did, and even through the dark of the night, she let her love drive away the animal within him.
The nightmares of her past had somehow become the dreams of her future. And she knew that as long as Ryder was with her, the light of their love would banish the darkness that had ruled their lives for far too long.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0755-8
DARKNESS CALLS
Copyright © 2004 by Caridad Piñeiro Scordato
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