His words are at least as powerful as his touch, and I tremble as another wave of desire crashes over me. And then almost weep with relief when he thrusts his cock deep inside me and starts to slowly pump me, his fingers twined in my hair, forcing me to arch up.
"Do you think I have the power because you're naked and tied down? Because I can spank your ass and use your body for my pleasure? Because right now I could do anything to you--anything--and you're helpless to stop me? Is that what you think?"
"Yes," I say, because I know that's the line I'm supposed to say.
"Well, you're wrong. Because you're everything to me, baby. You're the woman who fills me up. Who makes me whole. You're my reason to face the day, to go forward. You've shaped the man I am, Jane, and you'll shape the man I've yet to become. Everything good I owe to you, and right now I want you to do more than feel it. I want you to believe it. I need you, baby. Hell, we need each other. Tell me you know that, too."
"I do," I say as his body slams into mine.
"Tell me you won't leave me again."
"Never," I promise as he fucks me so deep I feel impaled upon him.
"I want you to come now. I want to feel your body claim me. Tightening around my cock and...Now, baby. Come for me now."
He smacks my ass one final time, then bends forward over me while still deep inside. Before I realize what he's doing, he takes the pins off my nipples, and a rush of blood returns. A rush that I feel not only in my nipples, but in my clit.
And that's where the world ends. I spin out of control, lost in the overwhelming wildness of the sensations that crash over me in wave after wave after wave, as powerful as the sensation of his palm against my ass. As wild as the words with which he brought me to my knees.
And in that moment, all my fears and worries fade away. I feel whole again. I feel loved.
He's right, I think as a deep exhaustion starts to settle over me. He truly is mine, I think. And I am his. And together we can survive whatever comes.
Dallas was dreaming.
He knew it. He was asleep and he was dreaming and he was aware of that, but somehow, he couldn't wake up.
In fact, some instinct deep inside him was telling him not to wake up. That this was important. That this was a defining moment and if he woke, he'd lose everything.
And so he st
ayed in the dream. A dim room. An empty dining table. A single rose in a bud vase. And Jane in a sequined formal gown, her lips red and sultry, her eyes on him.
"Aren't you going to sit? I haven't finished telling you about what Brody said."
"Brody?"
"When we walked the beach."
You told me already, Dallas thought, some part of his mind remembering a conversation from before they'd fallen asleep. You told me when I was awake.
But he sat, and she sipped her wine. "The Woman isn't just someone who's been watching us for years. She's someone we see all the time, too. Can you pass the bread?"
He looked down, and where there had been only a white linen tablecloth, there was now a silver breadbasket.
He passed it, and she took a roll. "It's a subtle distinction, but it's important. She's in our lives." She shrugged. "Or maybe she isn't. How can we know?"
"Clues," Liam said from the third chair. "I'm looking for clues just like you asked me to. Only sometimes clues are easy to miss." He was wearing a blindfold, and took it off. "Much easier this way."
"What am I not seeing?" Dallas asked, but no one answered.
A waitress came and refilled his wineglass, then bent close and whispered, "It could be me."
"What?" He whipped around to look at her, but she was gone. When he looked back, so was Liam. But he saw something in the wine. A face? But it was gone before he could identify it.
Then the wine was gone along with the table, and suddenly he was at the Meadow Lane house he grew up in, standing by the pool with a woman on each arm.
"I've been to every party you've thrown," said the redhead.