Part 31 (1/2)
He just held her for moments, for minutes, silently, before Mal spoke.
”I don't know where we go from here.”
”We will find our path.”
Mal suddenly pushed off his lap, ignoring the fullness she'd felt in his crotch area.
”I...um. I have to go back to the house. Erin and Jack will be worried about me.”
”I won't leave. If you want me, if you need me, I will be here on this island.”
”I need time, Ahmose.”
He smiled. ”We have all the time in the world now.”
”We'll see.” Mal paused. ”Ahmose, how is Luka? Is he doing okay?”
”Yes. He will be, anyway. It's still a challenge, but he's slowly adjusting. I put him with one of my best aids to guide him these past months. She's an angel with him and he seems to have taken to her. Still, even with her, he's surly.”
Her eyes misted again, but she smiled. ”That's Luka, all right. Goodnight, Ahmose.”
With one last long lingering look at him, Mal turned and walked back to the house, up the stairs, and opened the door. Erin waited with Brigitte in her arms.
”He's magnificent,” Erin said quietly.
Mal took her daughter and held her close to draw in her scent. Was she trying to purge that of her father's?
”G.o.d, he is.”
”I sent Jack home.”
”Thank you. I need to sleep.”
”You're overwhelmed. Go ahead, I'll take Brigitte below with me in case you need to have some time to think.”
”Thank you, Erin.”
Mal went into her room and dropped onto her bed, and although she closed her eyes, she knew she wouldn't sleep.
An hour later, rolling around for most of it, Mal sat up in the darkness. He was out there, she knew it. This was his day, and he would have no place else to go here.
But that wasn't it. She knew he was out there because she could feel him. Why the h.e.l.l did she feel him?
The nightgown Mal wore was nearly sheer, a fabric with a loose weave for the warm nights. She should have dressed, she knew that. She also knew why she hadn't.
Barefoot again, she so rarely wore shoes here, Mal walked down the stairs towards the beach. The moon had moved from one side of the sea to the other, but still lit the sands with its glow.
It also illuminated the tall man who sat on the sand some distance from the house.
It took a few moments to walk to him, but Mal refused to hurry. She didn't want to send the wrong message.
As she approached, Ahmose looked up and smiled.
”You should be sleeping.”
”No. I usually live a vampire's hours. Because of Erin.”
”Ah. She's taken good care of you.”
”She's been wonderful.”
Mal dropped down across from Ahmose, her legs crossed and looked into his eyes. ”We're new now. We don't have a relations.h.i.+p. What we were before, was exactly as I said, a spectacular hook-up. I meant it when I told you that I don't know what to expect here, and I don't know where to go. I don't believe we have a mystical destiny. Erin told me you're from a powerful, n.o.ble race. I don't belong with you then.”
”If you think that I am from this powerful race, then why don't you trust what I tell you?”
”You're just mistaken. I don't believe in fairytales and picture-perfect movie endings. We are not destined.”
Ahmose smiled, his perfect white teeth almost electric in the moonlight. ”You've challenged me.”
”What? No, I just...”
”You've challenged me, and I will rise to the challenge. You don't know if what we had together has any chance of being real. You don't know if I'm insane, or if destiny really does have a plan for us, for our little family that we've created unexpectedly. I believe that we do. So, I accept the challenge. I will prove that we are a great deal more than a one-night-stand. Prepare to be persuaded.”
She felt one of his hands around each of her ankles as he slid her down to the ground, splayed like a snow angel in the sand.
”I always meet a challenge,” he whispered, and came up along Mal's side to pull back the loose fitting top of her nightgown to expose a breast.
”Now, I think this is a good place to start. One must be methodical in proving a theory.”
Mal did not move a muscle as he leaned in and pulled the exposed nipple into his mouth, kept it there, and used his vampire skills to excite it to hardness. Still, she didn't move.
”You need more convincing, I see. In the second part of my exploration, I think I must move deeper into my subject.”
When he heard Mal's moan and felt her move her legs apart, just slightly, he knew he had her, he knew she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her.
”You won't have to worry about losing your baby...you're coming home with me,” Ahmose whispered.
”No,” Mal whispered back, but her hands curled into his hair before he lowered himself out of reach and lifted her b.u.t.tocks. She'd been wearing panties, but they were gone. ”Ahmose, it's too soon, I just gave birth.”
”You're completely healed, baby. Shoazan's heal even quicker than vampires. Let me prove it.”
The first touch of his tongue moving back and forth quickly between her legs, the sensual buildup when he licked along the thighs and just short of reaching where she wanted him to be, was beyond her ability to accept. She'd been s.e.xually aroused almost as soon as she saw him tonight, and she thought part of that was because her body recognized the father of the child she'd carried for months. It was the simplest thing on earth, she wanted him, on her, in her, under her, every way she could get him.
Mal stilled his movement with one hand on the top of his head, and he looked up.
Even in the darkness, Ahmose's eyes held a glow typical of arousal for a first blood, and Mal's eyes still glowed as Shoazan, so they locked onto each other, his questioningly, hers demanding.