“Hali . . .” He slid a hand from her hair down to her jaw, tightened his fingers and tried to pull her back, but she was focused. Relentless. And now, Mitch could feel the roll of her tongue where his thumb rested under her chin. Could feel the indents of her cheeks where they caved beneath his palm. Could feel the rock of her head back and forth beneath his fingers as she slid his length in and out of her mouth.
Christ, that was erotic. He forced his eyes open and tilted his head down to look at her. He found her watching him, and the look in her eyes hit him like a strike of lightning. Soft yet sexual. Sweet yet sinful. Sensual, seductive, salacious. She seemed to reach inside him with a single look and wrap her hand around his soul.
He surged toward climax. Caught himself at the last second. And held her head steady as he pulled out of her mouth.
“Holy shit,” he breathed, holding her shoulders as his brain came back to him.
“You still taste amazing.” Her hands stroked his abdomen and rose to his chest.
Mitch stepped in, circled her waist, and moved her up on the bed. With his head still in a fog, he pulled off her panties, unlatched her bra and . . . at last . . . she was naked.
“Perfect,” he said and sank every inch of his naked body against every inch of hers.
He closed his eyes, soaking in the joy of it. The sense of completion he’d missed for so long. So damn good it hurt. With his forehead against her shoulder, he groaned.
She scratched her fingernails up his back, then smoothed her palms down over the rise of gooseflesh.
“Damn, nothing has ever felt this good, Hali.” He grinned. “Not even you, way back.”
She slapped his back with a laugh. “Shut up.”
Grinning, he pulled her into a sitting position, then lifted her onto his lap. His cock rode along her hot opening perfectly as he tied the cord of the necklace at the base of her neck. He pressed the disk flat against the skin of her chest just below the hollow of her throat and appreciated the beautiful way it contrasted with her skin.
“Sexy,” he murmured.
She gasped, her hand covering the disc.
Mitch’s gaze jumped to hers. “What?”
“I . . . don’t know. It’s . . . I’m . . . all tingly.”
He grinned. Caressed her shoulders, her back. “That’s me, baby, not the disc.”
She laughed, but immediately stopped and gripped Mitch’s biceps, her gaze distant.
“Halina?” he frowned. “What’s happening?”
She grimaced, clearly in pain. “I don’t know.”
Panic nudged aside his excitement. “Well, shit . . . guess.”
“It feels like . . . the disc is drawing the energy from my body. And it’s concentrating in my chest. And it’s . . . hot. And tight.” She was struggling to breathe. “It feels like it’s squeezing . . . ”
“Dammit.” Mitch pushed his hands beneath her hair and felt for the knot, digging at it with his nonexistent nails to get it undone. “Shit. I shouldn’t have knotted the damn thing. I didn’t expect . . .”
Halina took measured breaths and clung to him, her cheek on his shoulder.
“Mitch,” she said, her body relaxing. She slid her palms down his arms and covered his frantic hands, breathing deep. “It’s okay. It’s gone.”
He brought his hands to her face. She looked a little . . . drunk. She covered his fingers with hers, tipped her head, and kissed his palm.
“You’re . . . okay?” he asked.
She sighed. “I feel . . . God, I feel almost . . . normal.”
Mitch sputtered a laugh. “Around here, normal is so relative.”
“I feel good . . . in a way I haven’t since I spilled those chemicals . . . Loose. Light. It’s like . . .” She looked him in the eye. Pulled her hands from his and slid flat palms up his belly to his chest, brushing his nipples, making him flinch in pleasure. His fingers dug into her waist on an indrawn breath. “It’s like all the distraction making me nervous and anxious and . . . scared . . . has faded into the background.”
Halina brushed his nipples again, drew her fingernails down his abdomen.
“And now, all I feel is . . . want.” The last word came as a low, dark whisper, mirroring the desire that had expanded inside him. “Overwhelming, uncontrollable . . . need.”
Mitch grabbed her hands, stilling them. “I have that too, Hali, but I want more. I want it all. One hundred and fifty percent of you, Halina. Nothing less.”
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t get anything out and just shook her head.
“Halina, listen to me.” He slid his hands into her hair and held her head while looking deep into her eyes. “I want you, Hali—just you—in my life. I know I’ve been a total fuckup the last couple of days. I know I’ve done and said things that have hurt you. But it stops here. Now.” So much regret and pain filled his eyes. “You are absolutely the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
The words wrapped around her heart and squeezed. Her breaths stuttered into her lungs. The tears started up again and she covered her eyes. “Oh, Mitch . . .”
“Hali,” he said, his voice deep and soft. “Just before you left I had something important to ask you. Seeing you again seven years later and realizing I love you just as much as I did then tells me it was definitely right.”
She lowered her hand and blinked, suddenly exhausted and confused. “What—?”
Halina focused on the box he held in front of her—the ring sparkled up at her in the dim light, snuggled deep into the black velvet.
She gasped. Something hot and painful seized her throat. She brought a fist to the pain and couldn’t tell whether it was fear or excitement. Her gaze snapped to his, bright gold and shining.
“Okay,” he said, then cleared his voice when it cracked. “It’s been a long time. Let’s see if I can remember . . .”
His eyes suddenly glazed over with anxiety, as if he realized the seriousness of what he was about to do. He glanced away. “Um . . .” His lips moved silently a moment, as if rehearsing; then he looked directly at Halina again, but as soon as their eyes met, the sliver of confidence he’d built up vanished. “Yeah.”
A laugh escaped and she lifted her hand to cover her mouth.
It didn’t seem to affect Mitch. He just collected himself and said, “I can do this.”
A slight sheen on his forehead caught her eye and her grin grew. “Are you . . . sweating?”
He scowled at her and wiped his face with his forearm. “Only because you’re so hot.”
She laughed again, softly this time. “That came easily enough.”
He covered her mouth with his hand. “Shh. You’re making this even harder than it already is.”
She bit her lip to control the nervous giddiness in her belly and he dropped his hand. When he met her eyes again, he was serious, his nerves quieted.
“Halina, ya lyublyu . . . tebya vsem serdtsem.”
She pulled in a breath and everything inside her liquefied. His voice speaking Russian with smooth pronunciation and inflection, telling her how deeply he loved her, stole her breath.
“Ya ne mogu zhit’ bez tebya.” His claim that he couldn’t live without her came even smoother, his eyes conveying the truth of the words and his plea for her to hear them.
“Ty vyydesh’ za menya?” The words she’d dreamed of hearing from the day they’d met, “Will you marry me?” hung in the air and showered over her, making every inch of her body glow.
“That’s why you were taking Russian?” she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.
He nodded, his grin widening until his eyes sparkled. “Bet this is throwing your universal fate into one fucking radical tailspin, baby.”