Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (42 page)

In time he trusted she would be ready to face him without his outer skin. Sarah loved him. Tomorrow that love would be richer and deeper. And the day after that it will have grown even stronger. It wouldn't be long before her love for him would help her face the truth.

Turning toward the west, he raced back to the woman who was already reaching for him in her sleep.

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Sarah rolled over and realized she was lying on top of her bedspread. The lower half of the spread had been draped over her. Amid her newfound consciousness, two opposing thoughts sprang into mind—Simon was gone, yet she knew Simon wasn't gone.

Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and listened to the sounds coming from another part of the apartment. From the kitchen, she realized. Someone was washing dishes.

Dishes?

A quick glance at the clock on the night stand read 2:38.

Sliding her feet to the floor, she stood and became aware of that fact that she felt used. Well used, she admitted to herself, and a smile came to her lips. Deliciously used, right down to the moistness still coating her inner thighs. Or, as she had once overheard one of the women in the office describe it, "rode hard and put up wet."

But it felt wonderful.

She padded down the carpeted hallway, giving her eyes time to grow accustomed to the light coming from the kitchen. The sound of water splashing noisily in the sink grew louder, as did the clink of dishes and utensils. Rounding the corner, she stared in mute surprise at the naked man casually cleaning up the remains of their dinner. Instead of commenting, she allowed herself the luxury of watching him move, all graceful and smooth, like seeing a dancer in 587

motion. From the back he looked as beautiful as he did from the front. Maybe even more so with the clenching and unclenching of his buttocks.

Without turning around to acknowledge her standing there, Simon calmly asked, "How do you feel?"

How did she feel? In twenty-five words or less? Was he kidding?

"I think you've spoiled me for other men for the rest of my life."

He glanced over one muscular shoulder and grinned.

"What other men?"

And then it struck her with the force of an explosion. There would be no other men in her life. There would be no one but Simon. Just as there would be no other woman for Simon but her. It was a certainty, as sure as summer following spring and the moon circling the earth.

Sarah took a deep breath at the revelation. How did she know that? How could she be this positive about their relationship after one night together? She glanced again at the clock above the oven. Correction. The night wasn't over yet.

"How..."

He tossed the dishtowel onto the counter and turned to face her. "How what?"

"How is this possible?"

He cocked his tousled blond head at her. The smile on his face got wider. Underneath the seventy-five-watt glare of the overhead light, his eyes looked more green than turquoise.

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Their green flecks nearly filled the whole iris. "How is what possible?"

Without realizing it, Sarah cast a glance down at the growing protrusion between his legs. Growing.... The man was already wanting her. Again. Immediately she felt her own body tighten in response. Her nipples went rigid, and the slow, steady pounding between her legs almost frightened her. Good God, what had this man done to her?

She looked up to see his nostrils briefly flare. Crossing her arms over her bare breasts, she held her stance as he swept his gaze over her. "This is downright spooky, you know that?"

"I don't understand."

"This isn't a one-night stand," she tried to explain. "I mean, you and me. This is permanent between us, isn't it?

No, don't answer that." She threw up a hand to keep him from answering. That same hand pulled through her short brown locks. She heard a heavy sigh and realized with a start that it had come from her.

"Come here."

He was holding out his arms to her, a silent invitation to be held, to be comforted in warmth. There was no way she would ever refuse that kind of promise.

Powerful arms pulled around her, locking her into place against him. His length burned along her lower belly, sending more heat and wetness rushing between her legs. They were going to make love again. She would bet against the heaviest odds in Vegas on that.

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She loved cuddling underneath his jaw, in that sweet curve between his neck and shoulder. It was her place, made just for her, made to her specifications.

"What is troubling you, t'korra?"

"This is too freaky," she admitted, thinking aloud. "In the past, after one night, the guy would be gone before I woke up. Or, if he stayed until the morning, there would be the usual uncomfortable parting, knowing I'd never hear from him again."

"In the past," he echoed. The insinuation was crystal clear.

It was in the past. It had been, but it would be no more.

Sarah fit her face more closely beneath his earlobe. He smelled faintly of dish soap, but that bright scent of mint continued to wash over her.

"How am I able to think..." Damn. She was tongue-tied.

"Simon?"

"I'm listening."

"You know you're one gorgeous chunk of man, right? I mean, I'm not telling you something you're not already acutely aware of, correct?"

"What's bothering you, Sarah?" His soft question melted inside her. It wasn't a demanding question. Nor was it being inquisitive. It was more like he was opening a door for her so she could admit things to him she would otherwise have kept to herself.

"Gorgeous guy like you, I normally would be thinking I was another notch on your belt. That you had taken me because you either felt sorry for someone like me, or because you thought I'd be an easy conquest. But ... I don't think that way 590

now. I mean ... oh, shit, I didn't expect to find you washing dishes at two-thirty in the morning!"

Simon chuckled, making her breasts jiggle slightly with the vibration. He lowered his face to where he could plant a quick kiss on the bridge of her nose. "You shouldn't have those fears any longer."

"I don't. Not with you," she replied. "What I can't explain is how I can be so damn sure that you'll be with me for the rest of my life. Or why I know you feel the same way I do. Is this love, Simon? Is that what real, honest love does to a person?

Makes them know deep in their gut when their perfect match finally comes along?"

"It does for my people."

Wow. She didn't voice it, but the word seemed to open wide and bundle around her just like his embrace.

They remained holding onto each other for several silent minutes until Sarah broke the perfect stillness. "What now?"

"Excuse me?"

"What happens now?"

"What do you want to happen now?" Simon smiled against her hair.

A gentle nudge near her bellybutton reminded her he was thinking of the immediate future, not the distant one. It was almost funny, she grinned. It didn't matter where a guy was from. His mind was never too far from sex.

"Are we ... are we going to get married?" Odd, but it didn't bother her to ask the question. In fact, she already knew what his answer would be.

Freaky. Just too freaky.

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"Just tell me how you want it, and let me know what I need to do," he murmured.

Wow.

"Where ... where would we live?" she ventured.

"I thought we would stay here in Templeton," Simon said.

"No, silly. I meant would you move in with me here? Or do you want me to move to your place? Or should we get a place of our own, like starting fresh?" Lifting her head away from his shoulder, she looked up into his amused gaze. "I don't even know where you live."

"It's nothing special. Eventually I want to have a home of my own. I've been saving up to buy some land and build a place where there's lots of trees."

Sarah smiled. "Trees? Like in the country?"

He shrugged. "Or near a forest. Barandat was heavily forested. That's why I like this city so much. It has lots of little parks and places with trees. Even the Northern State campus is surrounded by lots of untouched land."

"Thanks to the botany department. There's over two hundred acres set aside so the college can use it for study."

She thought for a moment. "I think there's a subdivision being planned for the northern edge of that area."

"Yeah. I've heard of it." His arms adjusted around her. "It's something we can look into at a later date. But right now, right at this moment, I have another idea."

She recognized the low purr in his voice, and she giggled.

"Oh?" Hell, it was nearly three o'clock in the morning. What else was there to do? Besides sleep, that is.

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Instead of taking her back to bed, as she expected him to do, Simon lifted her up, prompting her to wrap her legs around his waist. Holding her tightly, he carried her into the living room and lowered her onto the couch. All the while he placed little tickling kisses across her neck and shoulders.

"Forgive me for earlier," he murmured as he began working his way down. His hands had released her and were now fondling her breasts with sweeping, massaging caresses.

She found his short hair and ran the tips of her fingers over his scalp. The object of her attention continued to prod her rapidly juicing entrance, inciting a near riot. But what he was doing to her tightening nipples was indescribable.

"Why?" It was all she could manage to say, but it seemed to be enough.

"I was too rough." His mouth caught one tight nipple and began to play with it. His fingers did the same thing to her other nipple. His teeth gently bit the rock-hard tip, his lips nibbling and tasting her. At one point he swept his nose from her throat down almost to her belly button with one lung-filling sniff. "You smell intoxicating."

Her? Intoxicating?

"No more than you do," she managed to squeak. His erection was prodding lower and lower, seeking entrance to her juncture. She wanted to reach down, grab it, and guide it to where it needed to go, but she couldn't pull her hands away from where they were touching him. His chest, his shoulders, his heat and his sweat.

"You're as fresh as rain. You soak into my blood one drop at a time, and I can never get enough of you." His body 593

shifted, enough to where they both could fit on the fabric-covered sofa. The tapestry upholstery prevented them from sliding off onto the floor, and gave him enough resistance to keep a firm grip on her.

"You're like mint to me," she finally managed to tell him. A moment later his thick shaft sank into her—slow, deep, and hard. After that not another thought filtered into her brain.

Her whole body was focused on their connection between her legs, on the way he steadily dove into her, in then out, going as far inside her as he could, then withdrawing until he was nearly all the way out before repeating the action.

Every nerve tingled, yet her mind was numb. The building heat inside her became excruciating. His mouth was at her neck now, licking her with those same slow, torturous motions, mimicking what he was doing to her pulsing channel.

Groaning, Sarah clung to him. If this was what true love felt like, no wonder she'd felt nothing during those other encounters she'd had. No wonder they had left her empty and unfulfilled.

Simon found the sensitive area under her earlobe.

Teething it lightly made every inch of her body come alive.

Sensations bombarded her. Her vagina clenched involuntarily, trapping him part-way inside her. A moan breathed heat over her ear.

"Please. Do that again."

Again? What again?

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Without being aware of her own actions, Sarah clenched herself around his engorged penis. Beneath her hands she could feel him quiver as she grew tighter.

"By the stars, you're driving me insane!"

His slow movements had her literally climbing the walls.

But before she could plead with him to speed things up, Simon started pressing harder and faster into her in great swooping motions. His hands were tucked under her head now, holding her steady around her shoulders as his body curved downward to drive himself into her.

Their movements grew more frenetic as the first tentative feelings of completion hovered over them. In the back of her mind, Sarah realized this would be only the second orgasm of her life. And both had been because of this one man.

As soon as the thought came to her, she turned away from it. She was afraid of jinxing this perfection steadily growing hotter and lifting her higher than she had ever experienced before in her life. Simon was hammering into her with increasing agitation. She knew she should be feeling some pain from the way his thickness pummeled her. From the way he kept begging her to tighten more around him, and to keep that tightness locked on him as he surged through her.

She should. She should. But she didn't. There were no words to express the way her body continued to rise above the sofa and detached itself from her mind. Rising higher, like a leaf being sucked up inside a wind tunnel. Helpless. But oh so wonderfully helpless.

Simon groaned against her ear. She had lost the ability to breathe or else she would have answered him with her own 595

throaty sound. Her fingers pressed his face into her neck as their simultaneous climaxes suddenly blasted through them.

Dimly she was aware of him pushing as far into her as possible as his body shook uncontrollably. His hands were at her hips, and they held her solid and unmoving as he continued to ground himself against her, shoving himself all the way into her soul.

Swept away, Sarah surrendered to wave after wave of sharp pleasure, letting it all roll over her without trying to understand it. For many seconds she remained at the peak of her orgasm and seesawed precariously. All too soon the elation lessened and brought her down from that precarious edge toward a chasm filled with the afterglow.

Simon gave one last push inside her. Panting, he kissed her temple and tried to lift his body off of her. He failed miserably. A chuckle vibrated against her breasts. "I'm weak," he panted.

"Me, too." Weak, sated, and unusually sleepy. "Can we make it back to bed?"

"Who needs a bed?"

She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant when he lifted away from her, dragging his slightly softened length out of her, much to her dismay. But then he gathered her into his arms and pulled her off of the couch and onto the carpet. A moment later the afghan she kept spread across the back of the sofa was draped over them both. Sarah found a comfortable pillow in the crook of his arm as he spooned up behind her. Sleep took her before he was completely settled along her back.