As I’d instructed, Albert had placed Devon’s things in the suite directly adjoining mine. Both suites had doors leading to a shared balcony that ran the full length of the front of the house, and all of the front bedrooms had a terrific view of the pond.

Also as instructed, Albert had put Jarrett and Jaymi in separate suites across the hallway. Both of their rooms had access to the rear balcony and a great view of the pool in the back, as did all the rear bedrooms.

Devon and I said good night to Jarrett and Jaymi and walked across the hall to Devon’s rooms. Standing outside his door, I leaned in and pressed my hands against his chest, teasing him. “I hope you find your rooms comfortable. There are plenty of towels in the bathroom. You should have everything you need.”

“I need you, darling.” His voice was low and firm, and good grief, it started a party in my panties.

Oh, wait—I’m not wearing any. I pressed my legs together and smiled.

“Well, in that case, I should tell you that you really must take in the view from the balcony. It’s lovely. I know this because I share the same view from the same balcony. Those are my rooms there.” I tilted my head to indicate the direction, and my smile turned into an invitation.

Desperate to have him in my arms, I leaned closer, lifting on my toes to lay a soft kiss to his lips, my hands still pressed against his chest, more for support than anything else—I wanted out of the hallway and into his room. I eased away from him, one hand drifting across his chest to his shoulder. Little by little it slid down his reaching arm, until all that connected us were our grasping fingertips and our greedy eyes. We just didn’t want to let go, though I was sure that, like me, he was anticipating what would come if we did.

The corners of his mouth twitched, betraying his thoughts.

I nearly crumbled. I finally broke away from him, and beneath each other’s gazes, we entered our rooms. I locked my door and made a beeline for my balcony doors, where I found Devon already waiting.

We laughed.

With only the threshold between us, Devon lifted both arms over his lofty head and gripped the exterior doorframe above, leaning his body flirtatiously into the room toward me. “Do you have any idea how badly I want you, Elz?”

“Well.” I fought a smile. “Judging by the speed at which you made it through your rooms, out your doors, across the balcony, and to my doors by the time I got here, I would say the answer to that might be ‘pretty dang badly’?”

He grunted—a predatory sound. “You have no idea.”

Taking him by the hand, I pulled him inside and drew the retractable screen closed to allow the cool night air to filter through. Devon let me lead him to my bed, a very old and large European square bed centered on the longest wall of my room. I turned on the matching chandeliers that hung from the ceiling over the two side tables flanking the bed and set them to dim so it complemented but didn’t overpower the moonlight.

I saw Devon watching me in the soft glow and wondered if I should pinch myself to be sure this was real.

Is he truly standing here beside this bed with me…Elz Valli—? No, it’s Elz Phoenix now, isn’t it?

“You know,” he said, scattering my thoughts. “I’m curious to see the image that has always been the beneficiary of your affection—the image you’ve spent the last six years admiring and looking upon as you thought of your love for me.”

“The portrait I painted?” I smiled.

“Yes. Does it look like me? I know you said it does, but it’s been my experience that many artists, especially certain ones living in my time, have done well if the viewer of their work can vaguely guess the identity of the depiction before them, much less capture a true resemblance. Although, I have to admit with you being the artist, your talent could only have produced a true work of art. But I’m also curious as to why I’ve never seen it?”

I motioned behind him, and he turned to see the painting on the wall across from the foot of my bed.

“Ah,” he said. “I now understand why I’ve never seen it—I only see you straight on, Elz. I wouldn’t assume you would just stand for no reason with your back to the painting across from the foot of your bed. If it were hanging over your headboard, or perhaps behind your tub,” he gave me a playful wink, “I would have seen it then, no doubt.”

“No doubt.” I returned his look with a grin. “Sorry, but I wanted it hanging where I could see it.”

“Flattering,” he said and walked to the painting.

“My word. I’m honored. It’s incredible. You certainly made sure you were looking at an exact image; you captured me bang on.”

He headed back in my direction, watching as I removed my jewelry and laid it on the dresser. Sliding his arms around my waist, he pressed his lower body against mine but leaned his chest and face away as he spoke through a playful smile. “You’ve captured me completely in every sense of the word. And the painting’s not half bad, either.” His smile broadened.

I had Devon in my clutches in my room—a room where I’d dreamt of him every time my head hit the pillow for the past six years. Now I’d tasted those dreams in the flesh. Needless to say, I wanted to do more with him than talk about my skill as an artist.

“I’m going to run a bath.” The words came out of the blue. “Would you care to join me, amante?”

His playful look morphed into one of serious honesty. “Absolutely.”

Easing out of his embrace, I headed for the bathroom. He gave me a few feet and followed, the heat of his gaze searing my backside.

I felt him watching as I leaned over the large claw-footed tub to adjust the water temperature. I felt him near me, then felt the zipper to my dress go down and his hand slip inside.

My skin tightened.

I inhaled and leaned back against him as he inched the straps from my shoulders, planting tender kisses where they’d been, and pushed the top of the dress to my waist.

With a sigh, I turned to face him, and his gaze dropped. He drew a very male breath, and blew it out slowly.

“Oh, Elz, how lovely you are.” His hands seemed to lift of their own free will to cradle my breasts. With the lightest touch, he circled his thumbs over my nipples in a manner that almost seemed reverent as he drank in the sight.

Impatient to see him, too, I slid my hands up and beneath his shirt, and he lifted his arms, letting me push the fabric over his head and to the floor. I surveyed him in the same way as he had me, exploring his perfect flesh with flattened palms, the long, jagged scar beneath his ribcage—I wonder how he got that?—making him more perfect to me. I made no effort to hide my approval. I glanced up at his face, and my stomach took off in a butterfly roundup at the look I saw there.

He whispered, “That feels so— Ah!” He grabbed my wrists. “Girl, what you’re doing thrusts me upon roiling waves of anticipation, yet also indecision. Where will your hands and lips touch me next, and should I let them? I want this, Elz—so badly—yet I don’t want it. It will most certainly bring our lovemaking to a swift climax, and I can’t allow that; you might think me weak and inept.”

Oh Lord. I doubt that.

I eased my wrists from his hold and he let me, allowing me a few more pleasurable moments with my hands on him.

“No more,” he grunted and again took them from his body. Even though he was calling the shots, I felt powerful.

He squatted in front of me, adoration governing his expression as he slid my dress over my hips and down my legs. I held his shoulders and stepped out of the dress one bare foot at a time—having earlier taken off my shoes downstairs.

He came up on his knees and I thought he was going to slide his hands to my breasts, but he instead wrapped his arms around my waist in a desperate embrace with his warm cheek pressed close against my skin. He shocked me by breaking down emotionally; I felt his quiet sobs, and he whispered, “I’m sorry. It’s just that this is real. You’re in my arms.”

My breath stuck in my throat, and tears burned the backs of my eyes like acid.

Oh, Devon…

I welcomed him, cradling his head against my breasts.

“You make my world right, Elz.” He nearly choked on the words. “And now, being nestled here within the bosom of my beloved, I’m consumed with the peace and security I’ve longed for. I am home. My home will forever be you, wherever and whenever you might be.”

My heart was filled to bursting, and I kissed the top of his head.

He whispered, “Thank you for loving me. I certainly do love you. You’re my destiny and the reason I breathe.” His words were so soft I barely heard them.

“Devon, don’t. Don’t thank me for loving you. Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. That honor is a blessing to me.” I stroked my fingers through his dark hair, and he clung to me with his cheek pressed against my breast until his emotions calmed.

He bent lower and placed a lingering kiss beneath my navel. I knew he was thinking how it would someday house his only son and heir. With one easy movement, he stood and took another breath, stepping back a few paces. “Allow me to observe and absorb your beauty, wife.”

I indulged him, and he drank me in.

“Will you turn around for me? I so desire to see your backside. As I said earlier, I’ve only ever seen you straight on.”

A blush heated my cheeks, but I did as he asked, turning slowly. I heard him murmur something indiscernible just before I turned back to face him.

He gave me a soft smile, and his words came out just as soft. “You’re beyond lovely, and you’re here in the flesh—in front of me. Not a mere image, three thousand miles and two centuries away—an image offered to me, yet held from my touch, trapped within the cold metal of the glass. No,”—he reached for my hands, lacing his fingers through mine—“you’re soft and warm beneath my touch…richly appealing to my flesh and mind…and you smell and taste delightful.”

He was unsmiling. “In fact, I want to taste more of you.”

There are those butterflies again.

“Thank you, cara, for allowing me to look at you.”

I yielded to a quiet smile. “I’m only yours to look at…and taste more of if you wish.”

Interest lit his expression. “I do wish. In years past, my body ached with need to feel you beneath me. My fingers itched to touch you. And my tongue burned with thirst to taste you. Yet all was denied to me. Well, never again, Elz. We will never be apart again. We’re together now, and you are my wife to have and to hold, and that’s just what I intend—to have you and hold you…and taste you.” His look was hungry and playing havoc with my insides.

I bit at my lip and decided to be bold. “Well, you may have to wait your turn, for you are mine, and I intend to have you and hold you as well…and taste you.”

Encouraged by his expression, I stepped toward him, pulling my fingers from his and releasing the restraints of his belt buckle. I began unfastening his jeans while teasing him with my bravado, walking him backward. He exhaled a sexy laugh, yielding to my dominating guidance until his calves hit the large round stool at my dressing table. I lifted one brow, warning him not to resist me, and slowly pushed him to the seat. Straddling his lap, I pressed my naked chest to his, and my mouth to his, lightly biting and sucking his lip.

He exhaled a pleasured sound, but I wanted more of him…all of him.

I kneeled between the spread of his thighs and continued my mission to undress him as boots were tugged away and socks were rolled down firm calves to the floor. I encouraged him to stand and I dragged his jeans down over his firm tush, getting them to the floor as well. I slid his low-rise boxer briefs over his eyelevel penis and down his long muscled legs, and he stepped free.

He watched my every move and seemed enthralled at the sight of me kneeling in front of him. He held his breath, and judging by what he’d confessed to me earlier, I assumed it was in anticipation as well as uncertainty. He was afraid of losing control before we got to make love in bed.

I lifted my gaze to watch his face as he stared down at me. I saw he wanted this so badly, yet feared the results. His eyes locked on my emerging tongue.

“Ah—” His breath ejected from his body like he’d just received a fist to his gut. He quickly reached to pull me up and against him. “Oh, please, believe me…as much as I would love this, I would never last. You’ll have to save those affections for a time when I won’t be so easily broken.”

 

 

“I for one am eager for that bath,” I said, aware of my pained look. I couldn’t help it. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do with you for a very long time.”

Backing away, I encouraged Elz toward the tub. As much as I wanted to give in to Elz and her affections, I knew I had to steer our conversation elsewhere if I was to clear my mind and truly indulge myself with her, as I wanted answers.

From the moment I’d entered her room and saw that portrait she painted of me, the infamous art collector, Slade Vale, had haunted my thoughts. I couldn’t stop thinking of Faramond’s warning that various individuals would want Elz for themselves. There was something about the man—something dark and sinister. Who the hell was he? I knew I needed to lead Elz into the subject without alarming her.

I turned off the faucet and stepped over the side of the bath to sink into the steaming water. Reclining against the rear of the tub, I smiled at Elz, and she turned, straddling the rim and climbed over the tall side as well. My gaze dropped to her spread arse cheeks.

My God.

I drew a slow breath and quickly looked away, settling her between my thighs in a spooning fashion. With my erection pressing into the small of her back, I wrapped my arms around her and savored the feel of her against me as we relaxed into the soothing heat.

“A bit too hard to be a comfortable lumbar,” she said, laughing.

I chuckled without humor. “Yes, well, it’s not too comfortable for me either.”

Reaching beside us to a low table covered with bath condiments, I pumped a dollop of soap into my palm and worked it into lather. I washed her, massaging in slow circular motion, and said softly against the back of her neck as I kissed her there, “I’ve imagined doing this for you many times. I ask myself if I’m only imagining it now, yet I know I’m not, as my imagination has never been this glorious.”

“I’ve imagined it, too. Especially when you voiced what you imagined doing to me, and what you imagined me doing to you. But what I couldn’t imagine was how heavenly it would feel.”

I grinned to myself and leaned her forward to wash her back. She moaned while I worked my soapy hands over her tense muscles.

She said, “At least you’ve had time to prepare your mind. Up until a few short hours ago, my dismal life seemed like it had no relief in sight. I was totally unprepared for your arrival.”

The thought pricked my heart, and I kissed the back of her neck. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Having time to prepare your mind when I didn’t?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for that, and for not being here for you when you needed me in times past. Also, I’m sorry that you would describe your life as dismal.”

“Well, my whole life wasn’t dismal, only the last couple of weeks without you. And the part of my life with Grant in it—the hold he had over me, that pretty much sucked. Everything else in my life was good because it consisted of you. My choice of education, my hobbies, my interests, everything was all for you, Devon. My desire to experience the ways of your world in order to feel close to you was what shaped me into who I am.”

“That’s very humbling.” I was immensely honored by her confession. “I must confess that I, too, have spent the last six years striving to become a man of your time in hopes that you would someday accept me into your life.”

We laughed at that, but her earlier mention of her hobbies made me think of her artwork, which was the open window I needed to address the subject of Slade Vale.

“What you said about your hobbies isn’t entirely true, darling. You’ve painted from a young age, and I had nothing to do with that.”

“Well, all right, there’s one thing then, but we are connected through my painting talents. If I hadn’t painted that portrait of you, I might’ve thought I was losing my mind for sure. The first time I heard you speak to me I would’ve felt an immense love for a mere voice and only an image in my head. There would have been no name to put to it and no identity to match to the voice. I wouldn’t have known if you were even a real man. In fact, with me thinking you were a ghost, I wouldn’t have known if you’d ever been a real man.”

“Indeed. A wise decision on your part to paint it, darling.” I paused, but asked, “Just wondering, but when did you start selling your artwork professionally?”

“Six years ago.”

“Did you? The year I first discovered you, then?”

“Yes. In fact, I sold my first painting in an art gallery in New York City the spring before I heard your voice for the first time.”

“Do you mind if I ask who the buyer was?”

Elz said the name of a female dealer. I frowned. “Oh, I see. So…when did you meet Slade Vale?”

I felt the slightest tension beneath my kneading hands and wondered what she was thinking.

“I didn’t meet him until just a few months ago when he moved to Boston. He became very zealous about acquiring more and more of my work, and I was happy to sell so much of it.”

“How did you meet him?”

“At an exhibit. He approached me at one of my paintings that was on display and asked, ‘Are you the artist, or an admirer?’ I told him artist, and he said, ‘That will work out perfectly because I am an admirer of the artist.’ He then gave me his card. At the time I laughed, thinking it was a play on words, with him being an art collector and all. But I’ve since thought there might have been something more to his comment, as it seems he has a thing for me. For this reason I avoid prolonged contact. I’ve only seen him a handful of times in a professional setting. Actually less, although he’s often at Ryder’s Club. Jaymi calls him ‘Mr. Creeps’.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s creepy.” She didn’t laugh, but instead fell silent, and while I couldn’t see her face, I could tell she felt uneasy with the discussion.

Satisfied that I’d learned all she knew about the man, and unsure of the direction of her thoughts, I didn’t want her to worry, so I continued my cleansing massage and changed the subject.

“So, back to your choice of education, your hobbies, your interests; you did all those things for me, did you?”

“Mmm,” she moaned, relaxing again beneath the pleasure of my fingers working her back and shoulders. “I did. Are you impressed?”

“I am. However, I would have been even if you hadn’t immersed yourself in my culture. I would love you no matter what, Elz.”

With my wife now relaxed, I gently pulled her back, nestling her against me, and I marveled at the peaceful sensation she evoked in me.

She said in a lazy voice, “And I would love you no matter what, too.”

Sitting in comfortable silence, I lathered my palms once more and slowly ran my slick hands down the front of her body. I followed the curve of her breasts and sent one flattened palm lower, washing every part of her and leaving nothing untouched.

When I finished, Elz turned to face me, so I sank lower in the tub with her straddling me, and she began giving me the same cleansing massage.

“Where did you get this scar?” She ran her fingers over the foot-long, jagged line of puckered flesh below my ribs. “And this one?” She kissed the old puncture wound at my shoulder.

“Both are from the same unpleasant incident. I was attacked by a wild boar. My dog Sam, a Great Dane, saved my life, but lost his own in the doing.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. That must have been not only terrifying, but heartbreaking, as well.”

“Yes, it took me some time to come to terms with it. I felt so guilty for so long. I was only a boy.”

“My God. I can’t imagine the fear you must have felt being attacked by such a beast, with it doing this much damage.”

“If it weren’t for one’s blood pumping so fast and so hard during an experience like that, I think the fear would overtake you. I nearly got away from him, too. My friend Kyle and I had been swimming in a hot spring in the woods at Wedlove and were headed home when the beast came upon us. We ran to the first tree with branches low enough to climb. Kyle, being shorter than I, couldn’t reach the limb, so I’d just shoved him up when the thing got me in the thigh.”

Elz looked down at my thighs. “Where? I don’t see the scar.”

“In the back. God…that one hurt for the longest time. I didn’t think it would ever heal. I guess because it’s a muscle I use so often.”

“Does it still hurt you?”

“No. Not enough to give it any credit. I like to think that nasty swine didn’t take too much from me. I’ve always been thankful that if it had to get one of us, it got me and not Kyle. I couldn’t have suffered losing him. He was pretty small back then. I’ve always been bigger and stronger, even though Kyle’s a year older. I don’t doubt it would have killed him. I fought the thing off somewhat, but know it would have eventually killed me, too, if Sam hadn’t been nearby.”

“There is great truth in the saying that a dog is man’s best friend. I hate that Sam lost his life, but I’m so thankful you didn’t—that he was there to save you.”

“As am I.” I dropped the subject, sickened by the revived memory of my friend losing his life for me.

Elz leaned in, kissed me, and to my satisfaction, said nothing more about it.

When we finish our bath and dried one another, I concluded that I’d waited as long as I could to have her in the way I truly wanted her. Aching to make love to her freely and openly, without fear of interruption or threat of disgrace, I looked at her with an urgency that pleaded for marital consummation.

Unable to hold back another moment, I swept her off her feet and carried her to the bed. The soft mattress succumbed to the weight of our bodies as I rested one bent knee in its midst to lay her in the center, and for the first time I was able to truly worship her flesh.

 

 

I lifted my gaze so it traveled up her body and onto her intimately tortured expression, and I whispered against her sodden flesh, “As I expected, you taste delightful everywhere, cara.”

Crazed by my affections, she watched me, visibly enthralled by the dark head again dipping between her legs. “Devon…oh, Devon. You know just how— Ah—” she grabbed the headboard.

Fuck! That’s arousing. I have to take her.

I crawled from between her butter-soft thighs and covered her much smaller frame. Clutching her face with both hands, I crushed her mouth with mine. The kiss was possessive, and I ravaged her depths with my tongue.

My thoughts turned to my anguish at seeing her with another man during the past year and how I would never have to face that again. “You’re mine, Elz. Only mine.” I laced my fingers up through the hair at her temples and squeezed. “God knows I love you. And I need you, right now.”

My lips were on hers again, greedy—eating at her mouth, devouring her. The muscles of my arse drove me forward, my cock prodding, seeking its own pleasure, and finding it as it slid deep, wrenching erratic breaths from both of us.

Striving to regain my faculties, I pressed my forehead to hers and began working us into a steady rhythm. I knew I wouldn’t last long, so only a moment passed before I inhaled deeply and lifted myself on both arms.

I’d never been with a woman younger than I, indeed I’d never been with one my own age. And I had to admit that I was a man who’d begun enjoying sexual intercourse at age fifteen. After three years under the tutelage of several older teachers, at eighteen I had taken the experienced widow Lady Beatrice Baxter as my mistress. That had lasted until falling in love with Elz and I had abruptly stopped seeing Bea, I’d learned a wealth of knowledge throughout my four years with her.

Though Bea and the others had taught me to fuck quite proficiently, for me it was always about the motion and not the emotion. With Elz that wasn’t so—my emotion for her was screaming through my body and heart, and I felt as though I was feeding them for the first time. I’d taken myself in hand and pacified my carnal flesh many times over the years while watching Elz through the glass, but that was all it had ever been…pacification—I’d been like a hungry child starving to be fed but given nothing more than a pacifier, my appetite only momentarily sated, yet my true hunger remained. No matter my actions, it had simply never been the same, and although I’d found my release, I had always been left feeling unfulfilled in both body and heart.

With six years of abstinence and my unsatisfied need and desire for Elz racking my body, along with having my on-the-verge needs denied so painfully in the kitchen earlier, Elz’s current acceptance of me into her body had put me in the state of bliss the name Elysian promised. And I was quite satisfied with the unhurried tempo of the slow, erotic slide. I hoped it would help me last longer than a fleeting moment.

Elz, on the other hand, receiving such affections from my mouth just before I mounted her, seemed to be in a state of ecstatic arousal. She wrapped her legs around my waist as though she was unable to fight the overpowering impulses driving her—as if she’d yet to learn patience to control the new addiction that sang through her veins. She pressed her heels into my arse, lusty hunger urging her to repeatedly wrench me against her in an all-consuming need that begged me to ride her faster, harder.

My heart kicked up.

Driven by my desire to pleasure this woman, I allowed her to rule me.

“I need to feel your weight on me, Devon,” she pleaded. “Please.” Our gazes fused.

Unable to deny her, I dropped down and buried my face in her neck, pumping hard and fast into her.

“Ah—ah—oh—gah—” She cried at the weight of my body thrusting over and over, and arched against me, raking her nails deep into the flesh of my back while cinching her legs tighter around me.

“Oh God…oh Lord, woman, you don’t know what you’re doing to me. Have mercy on me, please.” I breathed hot and labored breaths against her neck.

Her lungs convulsed, squeezing her breath away with a sob against my ear, exposing to me the reality of her deeply emotional line of thinking. “Devon. Oh, I love you, Devon…” Her declaration faded within her state of ecstasy.

I lifted my buried face to watch her expression and saw her cheeks wet with tears. I knew what she was feeling because I felt it, too. We were lost in pleasure…inundated with thoughts that this long-awaited day had come, and as husband and wife we were, in reality, making love—hungry, thirsty, crazy love. Thoughts that we both existed in torment, thinking we might never escape the nightmare, yet we had, and now we were living our dream. She was overwhelmed, and I imagined it was all too much for her. I felt sure her tears were of pleasure, of joy, of relief over the improbability of the past, and yes, they were tears of love…for me.

I wanted nothing more at that moment than to reach the deepest part of her, body and soul.

I will reach her depths, give her everything I have within me to give…she will possess every part of me. A thought far removed from the old me of six years past.

I pushed up on extended arms and rocked hard against her, gaining depth with each thrust. I kept my gaze riveted on her face, on guard for any sign of pain or conflict, yet I saw only the same need and goal as my own. It ignited my very soul.

Desperate to reach the deepest part of her, even her very soul, I drove into Elz with a mad passion that took over my mind and body. Like a man possessed, I impaled her repeatedly, driven by an unbearable need to be closer. Deeper. One body.

With one last blissful incursion, I gave my young bride all that was within me. Arms extended, my body tensed in rapture, and my quivering voice emerged in a reverent cry. “Oh, Ellllz…Ellllz… I am yours… all of me.”

 

 

 

Devon and I fought to catch our breath. His arms buckled, and I embraced him.

“I must be heavy,” he murmured and began to roll off of me. I released him and rested my arm above my head atop my splayed out hair. Gazing down at me, Devon froze, lifted on one elbow with his thigh resting between my legs.

I played with the hair on the nape of his neck. “What is it, Devon? Is something wrong?”

His face softened into a tender smile. “No, darling. Everything is so right. I was thinking of your sculpture, the one I saw tonight up in Ryder’s balcony.” He wiped away a remaining tear near my temple with the back of his forefinger, and we shared a pensive smile over the bizarre resemblance.

“If your friend Ryder were here to see us now, I’m sure he would gloat over his sharp insight into the identity of the two lovers. And by the look of things, you must have had some insight of your own. What say you, da Vinci?”

Mystified over the unexplained correlation, I lifted a slight, ‘What can I say?’ shrug. “I don’t know. The only thing I can say is that I sculpted the image most near and dear to my heart.”

Devon smiled, and he rolled off the rest of the way, pulling me securely alongside him. Cuddling in, I rested my cheek against his chest, and felt him kiss the top of my head and then rest his cheek there. I imagined by his silence he was as lost in thought as I was.

“Elz. I’m compelled to try and convey an insight that plagued me earlier…a seed of fear that dug its way into my gut.”

I tightened my arm around his chest, hoping he felt my love and support.

“I love you,” he said, “so dearly. We made love more beautifully than I’ve ever imagined—and trust me, that’s a lot of imagining.” I felt him smile against the top of my head, and my heart melted.

He drew a breath. “I most gladly gave you my entire body and soul, trying in every way I know to show you how very much I truly love you, darling. But I did not succeed, and I know now that I never will. My feelings for you are inexpressible. Expressing the depths of my love is impossible. Truly, that scares me. I’m afraid you’ll never know those depths, for there’s nothing in this life, and I mean nothing, that I can ever do for you, or to you, to make you comprehend how deeply my love really flows for you.”

Oh, Devon… Without doubt, I wholeheartedly cherished the errant angel now lying in my arms. I lifted my head, and our eyes met.

“Don’t be afraid, amante. I do comprehend how deeply your love flows. And you’re right, you can never show me, just as I can never show you. It will only be through our own immeasurable love we have for each other that we can realize those depths, for I love you every bit as much as you love me.”

A smile eased into Devon’s satisfied expression as though the words had woven their way into his soul. He held me tight, and peace took hold of me. I knew it had taken hold of him, too. We were finally content after so many years.

 

 

 

Elysian’s words to Phoenix stabbed into my heart like a hungry vulture eating me alive. Concealed on the front balcony, I peered into the open French doors of Elysian’s bedroom, consumed with dread. I saw that I’d clearly arrived too late—their naked bodies pressed alongside one another, the deed was already done. Phoenix had claimed her. I wanted to kill him.

My God, had I known she would dare fall into bed with this man so soon after meeting him, I would never have allowed them to leave the club together.

When they left Ryder’s, I’d followed them downtown but lost them in traffic. Elysian hadn’t brought Hollister to Bainbridge for any amount of time that I’d seen, so I hadn’t presumed she would bring Phoenix, therefore I hadn’t thought to come here straight away.

Oh, why in hell didn’t I come here straight away? I could have stopped this!

It was only because I ran out of other options that I had come.

With my wretched discovery of them in bed together, I was insane with the jealousy that was now oozing into every cell of my body. I felt my nails stretch into claws and I wanted to slash the damn screen apart and slash the fucker inside to pieces.

No! I can’t do that!

I blinked and swallowed. I had to get the hell out of there, give myself time to think before I did something that was sure to turn Elysian against me forever. Tomorrow would be better for dealing with the situation.

Bridling my rage the best I could, I forced my eyes from the nightmare on the other side of the door and jumped from the balcony to run away as fast as my legs would carry me.