“On the floor, where I can go deep, I want to be so deep inside you, you will never get me out.” The admission was torn from him as he dragged her from the counter and laid her on the thick carpet. He followed her down, needing her so much he was thick and hard and aching with urgency.
Francesca lifted her hips to meet him as he surged forward, penetrating her, filling her, her body slick and wet and hot, coiling around his tightly. Her breath escaped; his left his body. The rush was addicting and complete. Gabriel caught her hips in his hands, and set a rhythm, using hard, sure strokes that drove deeper and deeper to find her soul.
She turned her head to look at them in the mirror, to see the beauty of their bodies coming together in perfect accord. His face was etched with concentration, with ecstasy, with total focus. She knew what he wanted before he did, every small adjustment of her body so he could penetrate even deeper, fill her until they were both gasping with the pleasure of it. She lifted her head, watching him intently as she flicked his chest with her tongue, lapped at a bead of moisture. His hands tightened, his body clenched. Her teeth nipped him gently, scraped in a caress over his skin.
Gabriel threw back his head, his long hair flying out in a silken halo for one moment. His body took hers, harder and faster, on and on, winding her body tighter until she thought they would both spin out of control. She swirled her tongue lazily.
“
I will burn up!”
His voice was nearly pleading, a command, a plea, a husky, sensual caress. Francesca rewarded him, sinking her teeth deep to join them together body and soul and mind. White lightning arced between them and set them on fire. Her body was no longer her own, but his to do with whatever he needed, whatever he wanted. His body belonged to her. A fair exchange when she was crying out with her release, soaring into space, riding the waves of the sea.
Gabriel went with her, shouting her name to the heavens, to the silent watching mannequins, into an unnamed place of sheer feeling. Francesca swept her tongue across the two tiny pinpricks, gasping for breath, her heart pounding out the same rhythm as his, shocked at the intensity of their wild lovemaking.
Gabriel held her close to him, bracing himself with one hand to keep his weight from crushing her. “Are you all right?” he asked gently. He brushed her hair with his free hand, his dark gaze searching hers soberly.
“Of course I’m fine. It was beautiful, beyond words. I
wanted
you, Gabriel. You are so careful of me.” She traced his mouth with a fingertip. “I appreciate your consideration, I really do, but I am a strong woman and I make my own decisions. I would not be lying beneath you, your body in mine, unless it was exactly what I desired.”
She was in his mind, she could feel his guilt, yet he was a very adept ancient. There was something else there, something she couldn’t figure out.
He bent his head and kissed her. Thoroughly. Completely. A kiss that melted her insides and brought unexpected tears to her eyes. “I am amazed at you, Francesca. I thought I would never be surprised in this world again, by anything or anyone, but you are beyond anything I have ever known.” He kissed her again, gently this time, leisurely. Reluctantly he withdrew from her, moving away from her to climb easily to his feet. He reached down and drew her up. “The floor must be hard. I think we will need a bed next time.” He said the words carefully, as if afraid she would think he was pressuring her.
Francesca couldn’t help herself; it was rather exhilarating to have so much power over an ancient Carpathian. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss of her own. Slow and hot and blatantly wanting more. “I will never be able to come to this store again without thinking of this night.” She moved away from him, cleaning and clothing herself in the easy manner of her people. There were tremendous advantages to being Carpathian, things she had been unable to do while keeping up the illusion of being human. It was fun, enjoyable, those little details she had tried to keep out of her mind.
“I’ll find a few things for Skyler while you try to catch your breath,” she teased, flashing him a saucy grin.
He followed her around the store, watching her carefully choose clothing she thought the young teen would be comfortable with. He knew she intended to buy her all the latest fashions, but this first shopping trip was simply to provide comfort. He found a stuffed animal, a fluffy wolf with bright blue eyes, and was immediately drawn to it. “I want to get this for her. It is telling me it needs to go home with us.”
Francesca laughed at him. “That is from Dimitri’s foundation. He guards the wolves in the wilds of Russia now and writes books with beautiful photographs. He was a child when you knew him, do you remember? A portion of the sales goes to his wolf foundation. He has saved many of our wolf brethren from an early demise or capture.”
“It is good to know Dimitri is still with us. He was different as a child. A loner already, long before his fledging days were past, and there was a dark core of violence in him, the mark of a good hunter, yet often a sign of an early turning to the darkness.”
“Well, he turned his life in this last century to preserving the wolves in the wild. He is a renowned scientist and his foundation is flourishing. I’m not surprised that you would be drawn to his lifelike stuffed animals. Each one is a work of art.”
Gabriel bared his white teeth at her. “I have good instincts.” There was a wealth of innuendo in his voice.
Francesca laughed softly and wrote out a quick inventory of their purchases and a note asking her friend to send the items to her address the following evening. She did a quick automatic check of the store before setting the alarm. “I like being with you, Gabriel. Come on.”
Gabriel tightened his fingers around Francesca’s, making certain there was only acceptance of what had transpired between them in her mind. She had wanted time to adjust to the idea of a lifemate but the chemistry between them seemed to sizzle with the slightest contact. He had intended a slow courtship, to win her gently, not leap on her body every time he looked at her. Her strides were not nearly as long as his, so he consciously shortened the length of each step. It amazed him how right it felt just to walk through the night with her. “If I never have another chance to do this with you again, Francesca, thank you for this walk.” It came out before he could censor the words. He glanced down at her bent head. “I do not mean to make you uncomfortable. But I have never done this. Just walking in the night, no hurry, no plan, just drifting along. And I certainly never had the opportunity to have a beautiful woman at my side. It may seem a simple pleasure to you, but it is unique for me.”
She glanced up at him, so that he had a quick glimpse of the sweep of her long lashes and then the perfection of her profile. “I’m certain you had plenty of opportunities, Gabriel.” He was extraordinarily good-looking in his dark, masculine way, and she knew he would attract women easily. “You can’t make me believe you went centuries without...” She trailed off when he stopped abruptly. He was so good at pleasing her, so good at knowing exactly what she needed.
Gabriel caught her chin in his hand, forcing her head up to look at him. “I am a hunter, Francesca, a Carpathian hunter. I did not feel passion as you think I did. There was no desire for a woman. I wanted there to be desire and I merged at times to see what the feeling was like for those humans I occasionally met. But I never wanted anyone until I awoke from the dead and heard your voice.” A faint smile touched his mouth briefly, then was gone. “The feelings you produce in me are far different from the ones created by humans. Much more intense and urgent.” He dropped his hand away from her. “My words put pressure on you that you do not need at this time and I do not want it to be so. I really wanted to respect the distance you wish to put between us. I had every intention of waiting until you were more at ease with our relationship.”