“H-how did we get in the water?”
“You were burning. I needed to do something to cool you. As soon as I carried you in, though, you started flailing around. Scared me,” he added on a whisper.
That explained the dream. But it didn’t change what she knew was coming.
She pressed her face against his neck and drew in the sweet scent of his skin, loving the rasp of his stubbly cheek against her flesh.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re holding something back?” he asked softly.
Because he was smart. And because even in the short amount of time they’d been together, he’d learned more about her than anyone else in her entire life. “I believe in signs. I never did before but…I dreamed about you.”
“You did?”
She nodded. “I think I have for a while, I just…I didn’t know it was you. But now…” She swallowed hard. “I should have waited for you. It’s the biggest regret I have. I’m sorry I didn’t wait.”
He pulled back and stared at her face. She saw the questions in his eyes, saw that he had no idea what she was talking about, but she didn’t care. Words were tumbling from her mouth now. Words she needed to get out. “The fire element inside me messes with your gift, or curse, or whatever you want to call it. It’s why you can touch me when you can’t touch others.”
“Maybe,” he said slowly. “And maybe I can touch you because you’re my soul mate.”
No…it was the fire element. And maybe it was the trace of the water element inside him too. She wasn’t sure. She only knew that he was trying to ignore the obvious…like she’d been doing since the day they’d met.
She tightened her arms around him. Didn’t ever want to let go. Knew she’d have to soon. “This isn’t going to end well, you know. Fate has different plans for me.”
He eased back again and stared down at her. Moonlight accentuated his strong jawline, the stubble on his cheeks, his rugged and sexy features. But this time the curiosity was gone. Stone-cold resolve filled his eyes. “The Fates are just going to have to change their plans.”
She opened her mouth to argue, wanting him to be at least a little prepared for what was coming, but he let go of her waist, brought his hands up to frame her face, stopping the words on her tongue. Water dripped from his fingers, splashed against her shoulders, a refreshing chill that spread over her skin before it warmed again. But it was the look in his eyes, the determined no-one-messes-with-me-and-wins look that consumed her.
“I’m not going to lose you, Natasa. I spent too long thinking I didn’t need a soul mate to find her and then have her taken from me. Tomorrow we’re going to locate Calypso, and she’s going to tell us where your father is. And then he’s going to remove that damn element so we can be together. Something more than the Orb brought us together. Something deeper is at work here.”
She couldn’t take it anymore. She wrapped her arms around his neck again and buried her face in his hair. Silence settled over them, the only sound the gurgle of water from the stream that dumped into the lake. Her heart danced with joy over the things he’d said, and yet it was breaking at the same time. Fate was playing a cruel game, spinning a never-ending web of impossibility. One that she knew now she couldn’t escape. No matter how hard she tried.
“I have a house,” he said softly. “In the mountains outside Tiyrns. It’s not fancy, and I rarely go there, but it sits on a river, and it’s the only place that’s ever felt like home for me. There’s a pool, a lot like this, that’s perfect for swimming in the summer months. I’ve never taken anyone there. I want to take you.”
The space beneath her ribs contracted. Of course he’d be drawn to water. She squeezed her eyes tight and pictured the wood-and-glass house on the riverbanks, the rushing water, the towering trees, and the swimming hole. Pictured him sliding into all that refreshing water, dusty and sweaty from a hard day of work, then coming up dripping and so damn mouth-watering, he took her breath away.
“I doubt your Argonaut kin would approve of that,” she managed. “They didn’t much like me being in your realm.”
“They’ll just have to get used to it. Some things in life are more important than duty and honor.”
Gods, how she wished that were true. “Nothing in life is more important than duty and honor, Titus.”
He cradled her face in his hands again. “You are.”
That was it. All she could take. A desperate need to be close to him one last time overwhelmed every thought and action. She pressed her mouth to his and kissed him hard. His arms closed around her waist with the strength of a vise, and she gasped, then lost herself in the sweet taste of his tongue stroking urgently across hers.
“I want you,” she whispered against his lips. Desperation clawed at her soul.
She pressed her lips to his again, opened, and licked into his mouth. Warmth, wetness, hunger caressed her tongue in an erotic dance. She trailed one hand down his bare chest, over the waistband of his pants, and squeezed his cock through the layers of fabric between them.
He was already semihard. It wouldn’t take much. Fire burned between her thighs, made her wet with need. She ran her fingers up his shaft, down again, groaning when his tongue thrust deeply into her mouth the way she ached for the long, rigid shaft in her hand to do to her body.
The muscles in his arms and stomach flexed. “You’re playing with fire, ligos Vesuvius.”
“No, I am fire.” She stroked him again. Finding the button on his waistband, she flicked it free. “And I want to erupt. With you.”
“Skata, Tasa. When you talk like that…” He drew back from her mouth. His lips were swollen, his eyes heavy with desire. But there was worry there. He was holding back. “I don’t want you overheating.”
She didn’t want gentle anymore. She wanted hard and deep and desperate.
Her fingers slid beneath the waistband of his pants, down his lower belly and finally wrapped around the length of his cock. He sucked in a breath. She stroked him, base to tip and back down again. “So fuck me here. In the water. I need you, Titus. I need to feel you inside me.”
He shuddered as her fingers closed over his erection. Indecision raced across his features, but she wasn’t going to be deterred. She kissed him again, sliding her tongue into his mouth. Then squeezed the glorious hard shaft in her hand and brushed her thumb over the underside of the flared head.
He tore his mouth from hers. “Come here.”
His arm closed around her waist, and he moved back, dragging her through the water with an urgency that brought every inch of her body to life.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders again and slid her legs around his waist. Then groaned long and deep when the bulge of his arousal pressed against her mound.
Water splashed somewhere close, but she didn’t care where. Her mouth found his, and she kissed him again. Couldn’t get enough. His hand landed on her ass, squeezed, and pulled her into him. “I’m gonna make you scream. In a minute, you won’t be thinking about anything but me.”
She trembled. She was already only thinking of him. Sliding her fingers into his hair, she licked into his mouth. He jerked away before she’d tasted her fill and whipped her around to face a handful of rocks. Water splashed into her face, and she sputtered, then realized he’d pulled her into a small waterfall. Water cascaded over fist-sized stones, rushed into her shirt and across her breasts, tickling her nipples and dragging another gasp from her lips.
“You can stand here.” Titus’s hands brushed against her belly and raced under her shirt. She found her footing in the soft sand beneath her just as he dragged the garment up over her head. It landed somewhere on the bank, followed by her bra. His hands moved back to her skin, molding her breasts, his fingers rolling her nipples, sending electric vibrations all through her pelvis. Making her frantic for more.