Part 15 (1/2)

He stayed under the water for a long time, waiting for his skin to prune and his s.e.x to shrivel. He thought about Mary, about Jeremy sitting sentinel in her room. The kid had seemed so haunted.

Of course he was. If the girl wasn't getting any better...

It had been a good night. The lecture had gone well, and the aftermath had been better. He needed the cops to trust him, needed Jessica's insights.

It was closer than he could have imagined just a few days ago. His next steps had to be measured and careful. They required careful thought and planning.

But he couldn't keep his mind on the days ahead. Instead, he kept seeing her so clearly in his mind's eye.

Those eyes...

He turned off the water. The bathroom was supplied with a terry robe that boasted the words Montresse House on the pocket.

He slipped into it and went back into his bedroom.

He tried the television.

No good. He felt as if he were caged. Tense, a rampant pulse beating through his veins. Swearing, he walked to the French doors, opened them.

There was a breeze. That was good. The night was filled with the scent of blooming flowers. Soft. Away from the street, the sounds of the city were muted, the earth seemed still.

The night sky remained red. He walked to the balcony and caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned.

She was on the balcony, as well. She knew he was there, knew he had come. She was watching him, as still as the darkness.

Long moments pa.s.sed as they stood silently, watching each other in the red light of the strange moon and the b.l.o.o.d.y shadows it cast. He felt the thunder of his own heart growing louder. Felt the heat of her, as if he moved closer ever when he did not. A dozen inane things to say swept through the periphery of his mind; none came to his lips.

In the end, he was never sure if he walked to her or she to him, but the distance was gone.

8.

H e took her into his arms, and felt as if life and fire swept through him. He lifted her chin and felt the fierce trembling in his own limbs, and in hers.

Then his mouth was on hers. The taste of her lips was achingly sweet. He reveled in the quivering length of her, from the infinite seduction of her mouth to the curved pressure of her body, so compellingly pressed to his own. She was slender; she was strong.

There were seconds when it seemed she did no more than accept his lips, the yearning pressure of his mouth, as if she tested, determined and then gave. Her lips parted to his, and the return of his touch was filled with an exotic invitation and quest. She returned his hunger, his pa.s.sion, the length of her tongue hot, liquid, erotic, against his own. He felt unleashed. His hand slid down the endless grace of her back, his fingers curved over the delicate sculpture of her face, teased over the soft texture of her flesh, brushed over the back of her neck. He felt her fingers playing at his own nape, molding his shoulders, seducing the nerve endings along his back. His thumb and forefinger found her chin, lifting her head, his lips parting from hers at last. His breath was ragged, but his eyes searched hers, asking in silence what had been left unsaid before.She touched his face in return, as if she, too, in turn needed more than what her eyes could take in, needed to feel, to know, the rising pulse between them giving answer to his unspoken question. Mistrust there might be, but it was nothing against their pa.s.sion and the rising red tide of the night.

He lifted her against him. There was nothing soft, timid or weak about her, and yet her weight seemed as nothing.

No question of where to go: her room. He walked with her through the door. The queen-size bed waited, pale sheets steeped in the red moonlight. They were dressed alike in Montresse House robes, robes that fell open easily, baring flesh that seemed to burn with the color of the night.

Her hands were on him, each stroke of her fingers eliciting more than desire, more than hunger. He was anxious to know every part of her, insane to feel the explosion of release that racked his body. The agony was unbearable, the temptation greater. He found her mouth again, drowned in the sweetness of it, burned to ever greater heights with the wicked return of desire. His hands fell upon her flesh, stroked and teased. His lips found the length of her, lingered, aroused, burned, trailed to her waist, followed the curve of her hips. With every inch of his flesh, he felt her slightest movement, the rise and fall of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with every breath she took, the arch of her hips against him, the brush of her fingers against him, tempting and taunting. Her lips were against his shoulders, his collarbone, his throat....

He moved against her, growing more heedless with urgency and desperation. Her hands slipped between them, creating a line of wanton flames down his chest, to his waist, back again, circling around him. He groaned, moved against her, lips, tongue, body, hands, knowing her, exploring her. Down. Finding the heart of life and fire and desire. Teasing at first, then losing himself in the honeyed sweetness of desperate arousal and desire, his hands on her hips, her fingers digging into his shoulders, her body writhing wildly, words escaping her at last, sounds making no sense, saying all...

And then they rolled and she rose above him, straddling him. The red light cast an eerie glow over the lithe grace and angelic perfection of her. Her eyes were in shadow, yet he saw them still, filled with both strength and vulnerability. He had never wanted anyone so much in all his years, never needed anyone so much. She hovered for a split second of red-swept time; then he caught her hips, drawing her down on him, thrust deeply into her at last, felt the fierce rocking that ripped through them both. He couldn't stop touching her, hands finding her face again, drawing her down, locking his mouth to hers, feeling the maddened rush of pure pleasure through his veins, the wet frenzy of the kiss, the wildfire of their bodies, one and not one, every movement goading him higher. He rolled her beneath him, and sank, drowned, died inside.

G.o.d, yes, he would die for her. If only...

His climax shot through him with something far more than the usual pleasure and release. s.e.x, something so natural, a human need, an instinct, could be beautiful or basic, motivated by love or simple l.u.s.t.

But never had it been like this.

Her body tensed like a bowstring beneath his, her breath expelled with a soft cry that seemed to echo through him. He eased himself to her side, loathe to part in any way. He held her against him, feeling the thunder of his own heart, the pulsing in his veins, begin to slow. In the aftermath, he drifted on a sea of warm pleasure, and visions shot through his mind, visions of years gone by, of affairs that came and went in the flicker of a night, of love known, love lost, and the crucial distinction between having s.e.x and making love.

At his side, she was silent and unmoving.

As sanity returned to him, he wondered what thoughts filled her mind now, certain she, too, had drifted into introspection after the explosion that had raged between them.

Time pa.s.sed, their bodies cooled.

The red moon bathed the room.

At last she sighed, inched every so slightly closer to him.Time to speak. He moistened his lips, then lost himself in the feel of her against him, flesh against flesh.

The h.e.l.l with it.

He didn't speak, just took her into his arms again. Felt the flicker of her tongue against his lips, against his chest, against...

Hunger rose again in a rapid burst of flame. The night faded to the intimacy of nothing more than the two of them together. Once again the world trembled and rocked and exploded.

Once more she lay against him, silent.

In that red splendor, the night pa.s.sed. Somewhere along the line, near dawn, he knew she slept. He allowed himself to rest, to sleep, as well.

Visions haunted his dreams. Visions of time long past. Visions...of time to come. Visions so vibrant he woke with a start. She was still asleep at his side, curled so sweetly against him. He rose carefully, planning a quick escape, since she probably didn't want anyone else to know what had pa.s.sed between them.

He didn't move quickly.

He watched her as she slept.

Then, angry with himself, he forced himself to turn away. It was impossible to become so infatuated in an evening, he told himself, that he could just stand there, savoring the experience of watching her sleep.

He forced himself to move, leaving by the balcony door, slipping back into his room. He was tired, but too restless to sleep. After showering again and dressing casually, he slipped downstairs. He could hear soft music and a quiet drone of conversation from the kitchen.

He evaded human contact, though, letting himself out and heading for the street.

New Orleans was the same and yet not the same. Some areas had been so devastated that they would never be the same. Other blocks had hardly changed at all.

The city was a lot like him.

Jessica awoke in a slow daze, swimming in a strange comfort as the day began to seep into her consciousness. She didn't want to rise. She wanted to bask in the sensations that still filled her, not so much erotic now as just...satisfying. A sense of...warmth, being held, belonging, security...

Warmth, comfort, pleasure, pure happiness in the presence of another.