“You know I like to keep things interesting for you.” He laced his fingers through hers, rotating their hands until his was on top. “I thought perhaps you would grace my wrist…with a bond mark.”
A tremor ran through her body, and her voice emerged grating and strained. “You wish to bond with me? A permanent bond? But…your father…your mother…”
“Yes. They chose poorly in each other. Neither was suited to a full bond, to the compromise demanded in a permanent partnership.” He turned his head until he could meet her eyes, and his heart contracted when he saw hers swam with tears. “But I am not them. I do not have to make the choices they made. Or the mistakes.”
“I love you, Ezra.”
He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and let that wash over him. “And I love you, my Kadira.”
Meeting her gaze, he saw a single tear had fallen. He released one of her hands so he could brush the moisture away. She sniffled and turned her head aside, coughing. He placed soft kisses along the column of her neck and down her shoulder. “You do not have to be the fiercest warrior. You do not have to be the greatest kabu shaman. You do not have to be a shining example of a Wanderer.” He brushed his lips over the Badawi clan marks at her nape. “And if you are all those things, I will still want you. Just as you are. My Kadira.”
“Nuri.” Her voice was so soft, he almost didn’t hear her speak.
“What?”
She pulled in a slow, quiet breath. “The name I was born with. Nuri.”
Mighty El, but he loved this woman. Everything about her—her bravery, her vulnerability. She was everything, and he would worship her for the rest of his days, bond with her, stand beside her, give his life to defend her. Yes. He crooked a finger under her chin and swept his mouth over hers once, twice. “A lovely name. So we will call our first daughter, and give Nuri a chance to live again.”
Her dark eyes were so wide, he could see the gloaming lights reflected in them. “You think we will be blessed with children? Not all women can have them.”
“Why not?” He pressed his palms to her flat stomach. “I have so many other blessings, why not hope for one more?”
“Then I hope too.” She laid her hands over his, and they sat there for a long while, resting against each other, watching the myriad of lights swirl overhead. Her fingers stroked up his arms and back down to his hands, and her touch had an inevitable effect on his body. He knew she noticed, because she wriggled her ass against his groin until he bit back a curse. She snickered, grabbed his wrists and slid his hands down from her stomach to the placket of her breeches. “I was thinking…maybe we should start trying for that blessing. The god and goddess help those who help themselves.”
He had her pants unlaced in seconds, already delving into her damp folds. His cock throbbed, an incessant ache that only she could soothe. “Then I intend to help myself to you. Often.”
The incoherent sound she made as she raised her hips into his touch only sent the blood rushing to his loins. He used her movements to his advantage, shoving her breeches down to her knees. She moaned when his fingers slid free of her sex, but made quick work of her boots, and then turned to help him strip. When they were both naked and he was seated on the blanket, she straddled his lap, stimulating her beaded nipples against his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck, and her gaze locking with his so he could see every emotion flashing in her eyes.
Her hand reached between them to grasp his swollen sex, and she rubbed it against hers. The wetness of her slicked the head of his cock, and he claimed her mouth while she pressed him into her pussy. Her tongue tangled with his, her addicting flavor filling his mouth. Thrusting into her was pure pleasure, one he would never get his fill of. He ran his hands over her resilient flesh, stroking every inch of her until he slipped his fingers between them to thumb her clit. She threw back her head and screamed for him, her sex fisting on his cock as she slammed over into sudden orgasm. He held her, continued to rock into her and soon she caught his rhythm, rode his cock with renewed fervor.
Her hands cupped his jaw, and she sucked in rough breaths. She looked into his eyes and his chest squeezed at the depths of emotion he saw there. “I love you, Ezra.”
“Kadira. My Kadira.” He groaned, thrusting harder and faster inside her, showing her all that he felt. No defenses, no running, no control. Just the truth. “I love you, love you, love you.”
The words jerked out every time he plunged inside her, and her walls clenched so tight around him, he thought he’d die. Latching on to her hips, he slammed her down to the base of his cock, and ground himself against her clitoris.
“Ezra!” Her cries echoed across the open desert, as wild in his arms as he’d ever fantasized. Her pelvis thrust forward in convulsive snaps that took him hard and deep. Her slickness coated his cock, and the way her sex milked his shaft made him explode. He came inside her, groaning with each jetting of seed that jerked from his body. She held him and he held her, tight. Tighter.
Their muscles shook, sweat sealing their skin together and cooling in the morning air. They stroked each other, lips clinging even as they panted for breath. He collapsed back on the blanket and took her with him. Closing his eyes, he let himself savor the sweet blessing that was her. They lay quietly, and his heart slowed from its gallop. Her hair tickled his skin as she slipped to the side and propped her head on her hand, leaning over him.
“What are you thinking about?”
He opened his eyes and furrowed his brow as if in deep thought. “I wonder if Gamal and Sahar would be amenable to playing again at the Rites of Fall. When the god ascends, so you can spend the month worshipping me.”
“You!” She smacked his stomach and pulled his chest hair, and he doubled up with laughter while trying to fend her off. “That’s it. I’ve changed my mind.”
His heart seized, his mirth dying as if it had never been. “No.”
“Yes.” She kissed him, and his pulse tripped for another reason. “I think I will be the Haroun shaman. It’s an offer I can’t refuse.” She kissed him again, and his cock jerked to rigid attention. “But we don’t have to do a permanent bond if you don’t want to. I would be willing to wait until you’ve had some time to get used to it.”
“Do you want to wait?”
She searched his face for an eternity, and his gut knotted. Loving him was one thing, but was she uncertain about bonding with him? Did she not want to take a vow her honor would force her to keep? “No, I don’t want to wait. If I had my way, we’d ask the Badawi shaman to mark us before the Rites break up.”
His breath whooshed out, and he grabbed her and rolled her under him. They both cried out when he surged deep inside her. “Then we’ll ask. After I convince your chieftain to let you go.”
“They will make it very costly for you, to take a woman from their clan.” Her legs wrapped tight around his flanks, and their hips pumped together as they raced each other to orgasm, her pussy clamping around his cock with each stabbing thrust.
“You are the most precious thing in my world. Just as you are.” Words poured from his soul with every ragged breath, and he knew they were the ones she needed to hear because she gave him a smile full of enough love to last a lifetime, through every trial and triumph. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t give to keep you. Always, always, my beloved Kadira.”
About the Author
Crystal Jordan began writing romance after she finished graduate school and needed something to fill the hours that used to be eaten away by homework. Currently, she serves as a librarian at a university in California, but has lived and worked all over the United States. She writes paranormal, futuristic and erotic romance.
To learn more about Crystal please visit www.crystaljordan.com. Send an email to Crystal at [email protected] or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Crystal! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crystal-jordan
Look for these titles by Crystal Jordan
Now Availa
ble:
Treasured
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Big Girls Don’t Die
It’s Raining Men
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
If You Believe
Believe in Me
There’s only one man she needs to believe in. Him.
If You Believe
© 2009 Crystal Jordan
Unbelievable, Book One
When it comes to her love life, the name of Aubrey Mathison’s coffee shop says it all: “Bean There, Done That”. There’s only one harmless man in her life right now—the homeless one parked outside the shop. Except the crazy things he says keep coming true.
She has to laugh at “You'll meet your soul mate today”, though. Divorce taught her that men as gorgeous as sexy police chief Price Delacroix are not to be trusted. She’s totally up for a one-night stand, but more than that? No, thanks.
Price bears his own scars from the past, but he knows instantly that Aubrey is his. How to convince her he wants more than to be her personal jungle gym? Cut her off. That means no more mattress gymnastics—until she starts seeing things his way.
Aubrey is just as determined Price’s campaign to wear down her resistance is going to fail, no matter how wickedly determined he is. Until her resident prophet spouts a new prediction: her soul mate’s life is in danger…
Enjoy the following excerpt for If You Believe:
Mr. Crazy Man was back. He hummed a little before speaking again. “Dogs are bad luck for you today.”
Shit. She hunched her shoulder and spun away. “Thanks.”
If she went her normal route home, she’d have to pass by the dog park that made up a corner of the town square. Maybe she would try a different way. Just for the change of scenery. Change was good for the soul, wasn’t it? If she went by the dog park, it just seemed like too much self-fulfilling prophecy.
Taking a left off the main path where she usually took a right, she wandered into the older district of town that had great Victorian houses. She’d always loved that style of architecture, but Scott had wanted modern. Now that she lived alone, it just seemed like too much upkeep. And maybe it was because she was afraid it would put her one step away from crazy cat lady to rattle around in a big old house like that. She turned the corner on to her street. She had four blocks left to go.
“Woof.” Her blood ran cold at the deep bark that came from behind her. A lot of people walked these streets in the evening. And took their dogs with them.
A kid of about twelve had lost the leash on his Great Dane. The air went whistling out of her in what might have been a high-pitched squeak.
It wasn’t that she believed Jericho or anything, but the fire thing had kind of creeped her out. Watching that pony-sized excuse for a dog running at her made her blood run cold. Anyone would freak out. It had nothing to do with Jericho’s warning. Nope. Not a thing.
She backpedaled as fast as her legs could carry her just the same. The back of her ankles hit something that yelped and the next thing she knew she was going down hard on the pavement. Her back arched when her tailbone made sharp contact with the ground and all the breath rushed out of her lungs. Curling into a fetal position on her side, she wrapped her arms around her knees and tried remember why she didn’t want to die right then.
When she opened her eyes, a pointy little muzzle snapped in her face as a dachshund yapped. Dog breath, blech. She groaned and pushed into a sitting position. A strong arm wrapped around her back to cradle her against a wide chest. Price Delacroix.
“Don’t move, Aubrey.” His deep voice rumbled, and that was all it took to get her hot and bothered. Her sex dampened at the sound of his rich, deep tones. The way he smelled. The hardness of his muscles against her body. Thank you, Jesus.
“I’m fine.” She tried to pretend the breathiness of her voice was just from having the wind knocked out of her. The way her nipples tightened and her muscles softened told her it was a lie.
“You took a hard fall. Stay there.” His words were almost harsh, but his touch was gentle when he brushed her hair away from her face. She fought the urge to lean her cheek into his palm. Everything about this man made her react.
Her original assessment that the two of them were destined to burn up the sheets was dead on. She really wanted to try him on for size. She’d bet he fit just fine. “I’m really all right, Chief.”
“Price. You’ll call me Price.” His other arm slid under her bent knees and lifted her as he stood.
She squeaked and clutched his shoulders. His soft T-shirt bunched in her fingers as she held on tight. “Don’t drop me.”
A wicked grin flashed over his face before he focused on her eyes. Some of her panic must have shown because he cuddled her closer. “Not a chance, sugar.”
“Is she all right, Chief Delacroix?” Mrs. Chambers, the biggest gossip in town, reined in her wiener dog and stared at the two of them.
“Oh, she’s fine. Ma’am.” He dipped his head in a nod, dismissing the older woman while he turned to walk up the driveway in front the big Victorian on the corner. She sighed in envy when she saw it.
She glanced over his shoulder at Mrs. Chambers. An avid gleam entered the older woman’s eyes as he mounted the porch. Pitching her voice low, Aubrey had to warn him. “Look, I know you’re new in town, but Mrs. Chambers—”
He nudged the front door of his house open, and then kicked it shut behind them. “Will spread it all over town that I carried you into my house? And will probably embellish it by saying that I practically stripped you on the sidewalk and fucked you against the street lamp.”
One hot man is good. Two’s double the fun…until your heart gets involved.
The Seeking Kiss
© 2009 Eden Bradley
Jessie has been in love with her bisexual best friend, Paul, since their college days. He’s never made a move on her, though, and at this point she values his friendship too much to risk revealing her feelings. Especially since now he has a new male lover and seems so happy.
Paul and Noah have only Jessie’s rest and relaxation in mind when they invite her along on a camping trip to Lake Tahoe. She’s been pretty stressed out preparing to show her art at a major New York gallery. A weekend getaway will do her a world of good—and they won’t take no for an answer.
Jesse thought she’d be nothing more than a third wheel on this trip. But Noah is as sweet and hot as Paul, and their first night turns into a heated tangle of bodies in the dark tent by the lake.
It’s an erotic, intense experience that must come to an end. And when it does, will she still have her best friend?
Enjoy the following excerpt for The Seeking Kiss:
Her mind was emptying out. Too much sensation going on to think. Too much of her most treasured fantasies come to life. Was this really happening?
But the tall one pulled out, stepped away from his partner, reached out and took her hand. His skin was hard and cool on the surface, with a strange sort of warmth lurking beneath. He drew her in, and the dark one came to stand behind her, his arms coming around her body. They began to undress her, and it was as though it was all happening in a dream. Except that it was real and she was wide awake, and she knew it. Fantastic.
The tall one stroked her exposed flesh—her collarbone, the top of her breast, and her nipples hardened until they hurt. And all the time she was aware of the dark one’s hands on her waist, holding her up, holding her tight to them both. His flesh was a bit softer than the other’s, in a way that was difficult to explain, even to herself. So, so beautiful, both of them, and she thought she’d die if they didn’t kiss her soon.
“Soon enough,” the blond whispered to her, his voice tinged with a French accent.
She heard his name in her head, like some distant sort of echo. Aleron. And then the other, the tone gentler, full of smoke, and she’d known his voice would sound just like that. Hex.
Their hands were everywhere at once then, stroking her thighs, her
stomach, her breasts, the small of her back. Their mouths followed, their lips surprisingly warm as Aleron lifted her arm and trailed kisses down that sensitive skin on the inside of her forearm, Hex kissing her back. Small, fleeting kisses, too fleeting. Pleasure like fire skittering over her skin, making her tremble. Her pussy was soaked, throbbing. Needing.
“We hear you,” Aleron told her quietly.
Hex took her then, turning her in his arms so that she faced him. The masculine beauty of his face was staggering, his eyes so dark they were nearly as black as his hair, with shots of whiskey and amber lighting them, and unbelievably long lashes. His mouth was ripe, the tips of his eyeteeth resting on that lush flesh. She swallowed, unable to speak, to think. He smiled at her, and his smile was like pleasure itself, working its way deep inside her body.
“We know you, Nissa,” he said, his voice that low, husky whisper she’d known it would be. “We know you, and we are here to give you what you need. What you desire. You want us, yes?”
She nodded her head, her throat dry, and it was several moments before she was able to speak. “Yes. Yes…”
“And we want you. Beautiful Nissa. Beautiful girl.”
She shivered once more, his words, his voice, almost as lovely as his touch. Then he did touch her, his hands gathering her bare breasts, kneading them gently, then a bit harder. And she leaned into him, sighing with pleasure as he took her nipples between his fingers, pinching, twisting. Oh yes, pleasure and pain and the exquisite knowledge of what they were. Vampires. Immortal. And she had some sense of the eternity of their existence, as though they fed her a bit of it, along with the ghostly sensations of what each of them was feeling.
She blinked, found them both staring at her face—blazing blue eyes and hot liquid brown. Aleron gave the slightest nod of his chin before slipping back behind her, his hard body pressed against her spine, like sun-warmed stone. Hex smiled before lowering his face to hers and kissing her.
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