The dark, spicy, unique flavor he remembered so well fired a current along his nerve endings, making him aware of the cool mattress beneath him. Of her warm body straddling his hips. Of her hands and lips and scent, making him crazy for more.
More of her touch.
More of her kiss.
More of everything he could get from her before the darkness claimed him for good.
“Mono… mia…”
The pressure lifted from his mouth. Her warm breath tickled his lips. She didn’t speak, but he could still feel her. Could feel her fingertips on his jaw, her forearms grazing his shoulders. Could feel the warmth between her legs teasing his groin. And in his hip, where the marking that bound them together brushed the matching marking on her skin, electricity. So much crackling electricity, he was sure she had to feel it, too.
“I’m here,” she whispered, her fingertips grazing the stubble on his jaw again. “I’m right here, dios. I’m not going anywhere. And neither are you.”
He knew those words were nothing more than a figment of his imagination, but he no longer cared. He lifted his mouth back to hers. Desperate to touch her, to taste her again, even if she was nothing more than a delirious hallucination.
She opened to his kiss. And then her wicked tongue was sliding between his lips. Stroking his once more. Her soft hands framing his face. Her lithe body sinking down, pressing against his until she was all he knew.
He lifted his hands to her sides, his fingertips grazing the soft cotton of her sleep gown as she kissed him deeper. His touch wandered down her ribs, to her hips, then along the outside of her sexy legs where she rested her weight on her knees, straddling his hips.
She explored his mouth slowly, and he let her take the lead. Let her kiss him however she wanted, because this dream was his Elysium. It was all he was going to get. And he never wanted it to end.
He found the hem of her gown. Tugged the fabric up her thighs, to her hips and past her waist. She groaned into his mouth as the cotton reached her breasts, then pulled away and helped him drag it over her head.
The garment landed somewhere on the floor. He opened his eyes to find her naked and straddling his waist, her satiny skin reflecting the glow from the fireplace, her hair like dark silk falling past her shoulders, drawing his attention down. To her succulent breasts, the perfect size for his hands. To the twin silver balls on each side of her pierced nipples that made him ache to taste them with his mouth.
He brushed his hand over the outside of her breast then cradled the soft mass, enjoying the way she sucked in a breath and held still. The heat of her sex pressed against his stomach. And her scent—the familiar fragrance with its enticingly erotic tones—left him absolutely wild and made him feel alive.
Alive in a way he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Alive in a way he shouldn’t feel right now.
He skimmed his thumb over her sensitive nipple, jostling the barbell. She moaned and pressed her knees against his hips. But she didn’t take her violet gaze off his. And in her eyes, he didn’t see distrust as he’d seen before. He didn’t see worry, either. He saw only heat. Need. And a hunger that consumed every thought left in his mind.
He slid his other hand into her hair, around the back of her head, and pulled her mouth back down to his. She groaned and opened, kissing him deeply the moment their lips met, her tongue wild and wet against his. Just the way he wanted.
Reaching between them, he tugged at the fabric covering his chest, desperate to feel her breasts against his skin. Bare. Perfect. His.
She jerked back from his mouth and gasped, looking down between them.
“Oh my gods.” Her violet eyes widened in the low light. She grazed her fingertips over his left pec, sending jolts of electricity through his torso until he groaned. “Your wounds. They closed.”
He didn’t know what she was talking about. Didn’t care. Wasn’t sure why she was wasting time with words. He needed more of her kisses. More of her touch. More of her warmth seeping into his flesh.
“Come back...” He reached for her again.
She pressed her lips to his once more, kissing him deeply, just as he wanted. But she didn’t lower her weight. And against his mouth, she whispered, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You… can’t.” He cradled her face in his hands, letting her silky hair cascade around their faces, cocooning them together. “Just… kiss me. Touch me. Before it’s too late.”
“I won’t let it be too late.” She slanted her mouth over his, kissing him slowly. Completely. So thoroughly, he knew true euphoria.
She tipped her head the other way and kissed him deeper. And then she lowered her naked body to his, and the gem hanging around her neck landed against his chest, warm from her skin, followed by her nipples—her sweet, succulent, hard nipples—grazing his sensitive flesh.
He moaned at the hot, perfect feel of her. At the way her flat belly pressed into his. At the way she was the same, yet new and different. At the fact she was here, with him again, one last time. Even if she was nothing more than a delusion.
“It’ll never be too late, dios,” she whispered against his lips as she shifted her knees back then slid one hand between them and down his belly. “Not for you and me.”
Her slim fingers wrapped around his aching cock, making him gasp. And when her grip slid up his length and back down again, he twitched in her hand, completely lost.
Lost and delirious and mad with a lust he’d never been able to resist.
He pressed into her hand and kissed her hard. Grunted at the way she stroked him, completely from base to tip, squeezing at the top until he groaned. And when she shifted, when she positioned him at the entrance to her steamy channel, he held his breath, afraid to move in case it made this whole fantasy disappear.
Her heated gaze held his as she slowly sank down, taking him into her tight, soft wetness. A long groan echoed from her succulent lips when her hips were flush with his and he was seated deep inside her.
His brain short-circuited. Electricity raced down his spine. He knew he didn’t deserve this, but he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for her. From groaning at the hot, insistent pressure enveloping his cock, closing around what was left of his soul.
Her lips met his. He licked into her mouth and swallowed her moan as she began to move, rocking over him, setting a slow and steady pace as she squeezed on every downstroke.
He wanted to keep kissing her. Couldn’t stop looking at her. Hypnotized by her glazed eyes, by the pleasure in her features, he let his hands drift to her hips, helping her move as he savored every stroke. Every lingering grunt and gasp. Every final kiss of her sweet lips against his own in the growing darkness.
He’d never been good enough for her. Not at the beginning that first time thousands of years ago. Not in each of her subsequent lives. Not even this last time, when he’d finally done the right thing. The real her—not this illusion—would forever hate him, but here at the end, he was okay with that. Because here, finally, he knew it was ending the way it was supposed to.
He lifted his fingertips to the gem pressed between them. “Mono mia.”
“Dios…” Her hips flexed against his. The muscles in her thighs tightened as she rode faster.
Wanting to give her everything she needed, even if she was just a hallucination, he thrust up to meet her. And as he slid his fingers into her hair and pulled her mouth back to his, kissing her one last time, he released his hold on the living world.