Just One Embrace [The Tiburon Duet, Book 2]

by Lara Santiago

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  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.sirenpub.com

  Copyright ©2006 by Lara Santiago

  First published in 2006, 2006

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  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

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  Warning

  SEX RATING: SIZZLING

  This book is rated SIZZLING for sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  The Tiburon Duet, Book 2

  Just A Kiss: Just One Embrace

  What would a woman do, and how far would she willingly travel, to love a man who made her climax with his chocolate-flavored kiss?

  Gabrielle travels to Tiburon unwillingly with Keller after an improper kiss. Will she be forced to reside on a planet of warrior aliens who hate her?

  Ellie travels to Tiburon willingly to be with Crag. When another female claims their top military commander, will Ellie be considered a worthy life partner, or will she lose Crag forever?

  "Lara Santiago delivers lust, laughs and love every time!"—Roxanne St. Claire, National Bestselling Author

  Just One Embrace

  Crag of Tiburon exiles himself on Earth, guilt-ridden after losing his life partner in a tragic accident. One night, he steps in to aid a distressed Ellie Granger.

  Daring to take a chance once in her life with a fascinating stranger, Ellie requests one night with Crag, resulting in an evening of incredible passion. They part reluctantly even as they both acknowledge the relationship can't be permanent. They keep their reason a secret from each other.

  However, fate delivers a surprise.

  Now, they must find a way to come together, either on Earth or Tiburon, even as treachery abounds and proof of a noble birth is required for their future.

  Will Crag give up his sworn duty as Tiburon's Commander for one puny earthling whom he loves more than life itself?

  Can Ellie relinquish a life she has fought for so valiantly to love her perfect soul mate?

  JUST ONE EMBRACE

  The Tiburon Duet, Book 2

  Lara Santiago

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ABOUT THIS E-BOOK: Your purchase of this e-book allows you to one LEGAL copy for your own personal use. It is ILLEGAL to send your copy to someone who did not pay for it. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book.

  JUST ONE EMBRACE

  Copyright © 2006 by Lara Santiago

  First E-book Publication: May 2006

  ISBN: 1-933563-24-9

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  Cover art by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2006 Siren Publishing, Inc.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Dedication

  To Kristen Painter and Carolyn O. for dropping everything in their lives to read the final draft of this book one more time so I could beat my deadline. You two rock!

  To my family for letting me drop everything in my life ... especially doing housework, so that I can go into writer mode and beat my deadlines. I love you all so much.

  Lara Santiago

  March 11, 2006

  Just One Embrace

  The Tiburon Duet, Book 2

  By Lara Santiago

  Copyright © 2006

  Prologue

  Tiburon

  Crag of Tiburon and his life partner Sybille had just made love.

  Together, they lay in utter gratification of their most recent mouth touching union. The passion between them was good.

  Sybille broke the seal of their mouths. Her eyes pierced his with a sincere look of love. Crag smiled in response. It was enough that he cared about her deeply. Not every life partnership was a love match. It wasn't expected to be.

  She then kissed her fingertips and blew the touch of her mouth to him. It was the ultimate sign of a life mate to another. In effect, she said she would rather be dead than life partner with anyone else.

  Crag's eyes widened at her gesture. He was stunned. She'd never made the gesture before. Why now?

  More importantly, how could he return it?

  The proximity warning alarm sounded, and suddenly, Crag no longer needed to worry about reciprocating.

  "Warning!” the artificial intelligence announced over the speaker system. “Uncharted asteroid field. Impending..."

  They both looked toward the cockpit, then the shuttle violently struck something.

  An uncharted asteroid.

  Before Crag had time to take a breath, the impact from the collision hurled them upwards. Sybille was still on top of him, crushed between his body and the titanium-lined ceiling. Crag couldn't move. He screamed her name. Sybille did not answer. The craft tilted. They shifted off the ceiling and slammed sideways into a wall. Again, she was pinned beneath him and the unforgiving titanium wall. Using all his strength, he lifted himself but could do so only fractionally away from her limp body. He called to her, unable to move.

  No answer.

  They hung against the wall for several moments before dropping. She left a blood streak all the way along the surface to the floor. She'd been impaled on a jutting bulkhead fixture against the wall. The bolts now dripped with her blood. Her barrier would have protected her from the protrusion, but she'd lowered it to touch mouths with him.

  The A.I. finally steadied the craft. The environmental controls resumed. They no longer bounced against the killer asteroid. Sybille's broken body rolled out of his arms. Her blood was everywhere.

  Crag screamed her name again, and her eyes opened briefly. He couldn't believe she was still alive. Her hand shook with the effort to touch his face. Crag gazed deeply into her eyes, touched his hand to his lips quickly and blew air across the touch to her. He never broke the contact of their eyes.

  "Sybille, my love...” Sharp, prickly stabs of pain dotted and swelled rapidly in his chest for the first time since he was a young boy.

  "My life mate,” she whispered with a faint smile and died in his arms.

  The shrill sound of the proximity alert vibrated in his brain. It was so loud, but the primal scream he released at the loss of his life partner easily surpassed it.

  * * * *

  Crag had forgotten the excruciating pain involved in losing a loved one. The heartsick, gut-sick, soul-sick feeling consumed him. There wasn't a solitary place on his body that didn't cry out for a healing kiss. A fleeting thought came as he remembered there was a special brand of pain reserved for losing a life partner. He equated it to about ten times the pain of losing a parent. Or perhaps it was greater.

  He heard voices but didn't focus too closely. Someone would t
ry to heal him soon, and he had to fight it. He faded in and out of consciousness. Time became meaningless.

  "How long was he out there?” He recognized Maura's voice through the painful haze of anguish. Maura was renowned in the art of the healing kiss on Tiburon. She would want to heal him. He mustn't allow it.

  "...days ... he must be out of his mind in pain ... won't let anyone near."

  Someone approached. Fingers well versed in the art of healing trailed along his arm. Using every pain-saturated muscle in that arm, he shook off the healing aid of her touch and broke the connection. He hissed in a breath at the loss of it.

  "Crag? It's Maura. I'm here to heal you. Please let me.” But he didn't want her healing kiss. His penance wasn't appeased. He didn't deserve relief. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

  "No ... leave ... me..."

  "Fine, I'll just wait until you pass out again, and I'll heal you while you sleep.” Her tone was persistent. It annoyed him.

  "Don't...” His barrier was down. He couldn't repel any advances to his body. He couldn't keep his eyes open. He wanted to die, but he wouldn't be able to stop her from healing him when he lost consciousness.

  "I'm not going to let you punish yourself any longer.” He heard her move to the head of the table on which he rested.

  Crag and his life partner Sybille had been on a recreational journey to get away from all things routine. An uncharted asteroid field had interrupted their flight along with their plans for a peaceful trip.

  By the time the A.I. that controlled their ship had gotten the spacecraft back on course after striking the asteroid, Crag had already lost the battle of controlling his mourning in the short term. His barrier shut down almost immediately after Sybille ... had gone.

  When the battered spacecraft arrived back on Tiburon, they pried Sybille out of his arms, to his very vocal and painful displeasure. Sybille, his life partner of two years, was dead. Even if she hadn't been his life mate, he ached at losing her.

  Maura's hands began to kiss his face and throat. This tactile process would heal his pain, if not his soul. Crag couldn't fight her any longer. The healing kiss of her fingertips stroked the pain from him.

  The throbbing ache, to which he'd grown accustomed, abated slightly. Maura's kiss was exceptional. A layer of healing comfort rushed through his body. Once she was through, he'd need time to recover his ailing spirit. He missed Sybille. She may not have been his life mate, but he wasn't sure he wanted to go on without her. The pain he endured kept him from thinking about never seeing her again. Never again would he see a bright smile light up her beautiful face. How would he ever return to a normal life after his loss?

  What would he do now that Sybille was gone?

  No answer came as he faded into unconsciousness.

  * * * *

  Crag spent the next several months on Tiburon in shock. He wandered through his days and nights unable to hide his distress. Indifferent to the looks of pity directed his way from the many Tiburon's with whom he crossed paths, Crag continued through the motions of his daily life. He ate. He slept. He did his basic duty as The Commander to the Queen, Elsbeth. But he was utterly empty and devoid of emotion.

  As the one-year mark of Sybille's death drew near, Elsbeth commanded he take another recreational journey. She suggested he visit her son Keller. It surprised Crag because Elsbeth was very vocal about her distaste of Keller abdicating the throne several years ago to live on Earth with his life mate, Gabrielle.

  Crag had thought about his best friend Keller often.

  Years ago, Keller, Sybille and Crag had been on a scientific mission to another planet. Their team had only just arrived on Earth when one of their members died. It had been from natural causes, but Keller's barrier had fallen immediately.

  Crag and Sybille had done their best to rush Keller to Maura so that she could heal him in a timely manner. Instead, as they raced back to Tiburon, a puny earthling who accidentally came on board violated Keller's mouth as he lay in mourning. Gabrielle hadn't understood the Tiburon definition of a kiss when Keller asked for one and had put her mouth on his.

  Crag was the one who had caught her on top of an unconscious Keller, her lips fastened securely to his after she'd already ruined the sanctity of his royal mouth. Once awake and healed by her lips, Keller had insisted the puny earthling was his life mate and proceeded to give up his kingship to reside on Earth with her. To this day, Crag and Gabrielle were not the best of friends.

  Had Keller suffered this much when he lost his partner Zelda? Surely not, since only his business partner had died and not his life partner. There were different levels of pain associated with the loss of loved ones.

  That very night, Crag dreamed about Sybille's death ... again. The memories of that fateful day were coming less often, but the nightmares still disturbed him when they traipsed across his soul. He came awake from the nightmare in a panic with Sybille's name on his lips. The utter despair over his loss pervaded him, and he decided the queen was right. He should take a trip to Earth and visit Keller. He couldn't go on like this any longer. He needed a break.

  It would be like an enforced exile to clear his mind and heart of the tragedy that still haunted him. He never wanted to feel this pain again. He'd never wanted anyone but Sybille. Sybille had been his life partner, and he'd loved her. However, she had not been his vita-matia, his one and only true life mate.

  The vulgar thought of his responsibility as The Commander crossed his mind again as it had many times in the past several months.

  He understood he would need to life partner again someday. He would need an heir for his position, an heir Sybille had discussed wanting to give him shortly before her death, the very conversation they'd shared right before they'd made love that last time. A streak of guilt stabbed though him as he remembered for the umpteenth time about Sybille's desire to carry his child, a child he'd told her he wasn't ready to bring forth into their lives. He should have agreed.

  For the present time ... Crag didn't want to think about a future life partner. Therefore, Earth would be the best possible place for him to recover because it was overrun with puny earthlings.

  And perfect for him because he knew he'd never find a life mate there.

  Chapter One

  Earth, three weeks later

  "Your tongue's hanging out,” Gabrielle said from the direction of the kitchen.

  "I beg your pardon,” Crag responded distractedly, closing his mouth. Gabrielle's beautiful, dark-haired neighbor currently held his rapt attention. The earthling he watched slid into her vehicle.

  "Stop drooling over my neighbor.” Gabrielle waddled out to the first floor balcony, one hand resting on her lower back.

  "I'm not drooling.” His imperious tone never failed to rile his best friend's life mate. He did it almost without thinking just to aggravate her. Even though there was tolerance between them, Gabrielle was fun to verbally spar with on occasion.

  "Well, your mouth was hanging open. It's the same thing. Remember where you are."

  "Believe me, I know exactly where I am."

  "Well then, quit salivating over the puny earthlings."

  "I don't know what you're talking about. Your gestational status has obviously made your mental behavior erratic."

  Gabrielle made a noise and launched herself at him belly first. Keller came from behind in the nick of time to hold her back. He half lifted her off the ground, keeping her from assaulting Crag with her outstretched fists.

  "My gestational status and mental behavior are none of your business."

  "Stop provoking my life mate, or I won't stop her next time,” Keller said, lowering Gabrielle to the ground. Crag sighed and nodded. He should learn to behave around her. The polite civility didn't always work between them, especially when he aggravated her on purpose.

  Gabrielle gave him a squinting perusal then eyed the grapefruit knife resting on the table. Even the knives here were puny, he snorted to himself.

  "Daddy, daddy, wa
it for me.” Keller's first born zoomed into the breakfast space.

  At two and a half years old, little Craig was the most beautiful child Crag had ever seen. He was the spitting image of Keller with the exception of his eyes. He'd never admit it to Gabrielle, but he thought her son displayed her eyes beautifully.

  Little Craig then spotted his ‘Uncle Crag.’ His small face split into a big grin and he changed direction, charging toward the table on the balcony. Crag's hardened heart melted a little more every time he saw the boy and his unending love of life.

  "Saved in the nick of time by your namesake,” Keller said, smiling at his son.

  "Almost namesake, although I find Craig an acceptable designation to honor me."

  "Yeah, it was a toss up between that or Streak. I believe we chose wisely,” Gabrielle said.

  "Streak?” Crag questioned. Craig's little arms stretched up in the recognized signal for Crag to lift him up in the air. Once he was secured on Crag's arm, he wrapped his small arms around Crag's neck.

  In their short time together, they'd already formed a very strong bond. Crag was stricken as he recalled that his life partner Sybille had wanted to create a similar precious gift of life between them. He hadn't wanted to at the time. He wished, and not for the first time, that he'd agreed.

  "Are you blind? You have a big streak of blond in your black-as-sin hair, or didn't you notice?” Gabrielle folded her arms over her large stomach and raised an eyebrow in question, glancing at his head.

  "It is a mark of honor given to me as a military strategist and leader on my planet. I am ‘The’ Commander."

  "Bully for you. It looks weird here on Earth. You should pick a color. Either go all the way dark or add more blond streaks to it. Maybe you could look like a California surfer dude."

  Crag sighed. “I don't wish to look like a human, Gabrielle."

  "Hey, how did you know my name? Don't confuse me. You know I won't answer unless you call me puny earthling."