His hands skimmed her bare skin, creating delicious goose bumps. There was reverence in his touch now, coupled with relentless need. For a long moment, Mia gazed up at him, reveling in his harsh beauty: the curve of his mouth, the sharp blade of his cheekbones, eyes that shone like night-kissed ice.
Søren kissed her then, long, lavish kisses that sank into her bones, breaking her and making her into someone new. Mia rose up in his arms and gave a little push. He fell back willingly, letting her swarm over him with lips and teeth and tongue. He moaned and arched, welcoming her onslaught with softly growled endearments.
She bit him lightly on the ear, earning a shudder. “I don’t have any protection. I’m on the pill, but it’s not one hundred percent.”
“I don’t care,” he breathed. “I’ll take my chances.”
“Are you sure?” In answer, he pulled her atop him. She settled, thighs framing his hips. “I guess you are.”
He lifted up, rubbing against her heated flesh in long strokes. “Now. Take me, nothing between us this time.” It was both a plea and a demand. “You’re mine, and I’m yours. I won’t lose you again. Oh, God, Mia, you’re my breath and bone. You’re the song I sing.”
Aching at how his intensity focused wholly on her, she curled her fingers around his shaft, steadying it, and eased down. She had little experience in this position, but he didn’t seem to mind. A moan escaped her at the feeling of his hard cock seated to the hilt. Her thighs tensed, and she bore down.
“That’s so, so good,” she muttered.
The rhythm blossomed in the sweet and heated push-pull of his hips driving upward while she sank down. As she rode him, Søren cupped her breasts, thumbing her nipples to aching nubs. He whispered to her, orders both erotic and shocking. Eyes locked on his, Mia complied; she touched her fingertips to her clit, and wicked pleasure sang in her veins.
“Make yourself come. I need to feel it.”
The way the tension spiraled tighter and tighter, she didn’t think it would be a problem. She strummed her clit, riding him harder. Her breath shifted from gasps to sobs as arousal stole her thoughts. When the orgasm tore through her, Mia knew only the fierce blaze of his eyes and the heat of his hands.
“Søren!”
“Love you,” he answered, as if it had been a question. “I do. Always, always, always.”
Rolling with her, he gathered her close and tucked her beneath him as he took control. His thrusts became short and shallow, and she held him while the aftershocks spilled through her like liquid light. She stroked his back as he came, shuddering in her arms.
Later, he lay on his side, studying her face as if he could never tire of it. At last he shook his head. “You’re here. You’re here. I’m not dreaming.”
She smiled slightly. “Surely you could do better than me, at least in your dreams.”
“Never,” he said, eyes blazing. “But… I have nothing to offer you. Nothing. You love a dead man, Mia. You said so yourself.”
“You were never dead. You were only… lost.” Idly, she traced his sharp features, lingering at his brows.
He went on doggedly, “I have no home. No family. There’s so much I can’t give you, like a normal life. I know you long for security-”
She laid a finger against his lips. “ Normal is overrated. I have no real urge to buy a house and start nesting. What I want, only you can give.”
His glacial blue eyes shone as if sunshine poured through the ice. “What’s that?”
Mia framed his face in her hands and kissed him as she’d kissed no man before, nor ever would again. It was a forever kiss. “Your heart, beloved. Your mind.” She punctuated the words with delicate butterfly kisses. “Your touch. Your laughter.”
“It’s yours,” he said then. “All of it.”
In that moment, she knew she wasn’t finished. There was precious little she would not do for him, and this was a relatively small thing. “There’s somewhere we need to go.”
By his incredulous expression, she figured she’d shocked him. “Right now?”
Mia smiled. “Whenever we finish here. Soon enough.”
He relaxed then, nestling her closer. “Where, then?”
“ Minnesota.”
“Pine Grove,” he guessed.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Why? I don’t want to discourage you-I understand you want to see my family, but-”
“But nothing,” she said firmly. “I’m giving them back to you. Even if they don’t recognize you at first, I can tell them things that only you would know, until their expectations change. Until they’re willing to believe.”
She saw slow, unwilling hope dawning. “I don’t know if it’ll work. Remember, they think they’ve buried me. I never tried because I didn’t want to frighten them. It was bad enough to have my mother open the door and tell me she wasn’t interested in whatever I was selling.”
“I can do this for you. Let me.”
Søren took a deep breath. “Very well. We’ll try.”
“What’s the house like?”
“Faded red brick. She’ll be baking something when we get there. She always was.”
Mia could picture it in her mind’s eye, and a pang of longing surprised her. His home could be hers, too. His family could be hers. They would have a place to go during the holidays. For the first time, they could both have a place they belonged.
They made love twice more before dawn, and Mia awoke just before first light to find him watching her. “What?” she murmured.
“You take my breath away.”
“I bet you say that to all the naked women.”
“Only the ones named Mia Sauter.”
She smiled sleepily. “That narrows the list. I do love you, Søren. And I’m not going anywhere, so it’s safe to take your eyes off me.”
“I’m afraid to.”
“Don’t be. Not anymore.”
Light spilled across the windowsill, prompting her to get moving. After all, they had a long way to go.
EPILOGUE
TWO MONTHS LATER
“It was Collins, wasn’t it?” Mia asked the question as they pulled off the highway, exiting into the Minnesota neighborhood that was every bit as faded suburban as Søren had described.
It had taken a while to convince him of the wisdom of this plan and then longer to persuade him they shouldn’t wait. He was a little reluctant to leave Beulah, but Mia knew that was just an excuse. She had developed a great fondness for the lady and was grateful that Beulah had offered Søren enough comfort to keep him from doing something drastic in the days when he’d thought Mia was dead.
Today she read fierce tension in the line of his shoulders. He still wasn’t convinced this was a good idea, but he was willing to try, for her. They’d talked about what they might do, going forward. With his myriad skills, he could pretend his way into almost any job, but he didn’t want to lie anymore. She’d suggested he turn his talents toward helping people, and he was mulling the idea over. Nothing so formal as a private investigator but more of a troubleshooter, solving problems that fell outside everyone else’s purview.
Money wasn’t an issue, but she didn’t think he would enjoy sitting idle any more than she would. They both thrived on challenge. Hell, maybe she’d handle the business end. God knew, she had the contacts.
He flashed her an appreciative look. “When did you know?”
“About two states ago. I’ve been crunching the numbers in my head and going over all the data. He’s the only one who makes sense.”
“That’s why he didn’t want to hire you,” he said. “The man knew you’d find out, sooner or later.”
“So, not a racist, then.”
“No, just a convenient pretense for a white man.”
She grinned. “Funny. What are we going to do about it?”
Søren made the turn, heading into a quiet neighborhood. They had to be getting close now. “I’m inclined to let him rob them blind and then take off for the islands. It will slow the Foundation’s ability to resume their research, if nothing else.”