Lessons of Desire (32 page)

She held him close to her as pleasure and love carried her to their private world. She breathed his breath and groaned when he filled her She cried out her love while their fever reached its zenith.

In the peace afterward, in a bliss so laden with quiet unity that her heart could not contain it, a word whispered.

Mine.

She did not fear the word at all. She understood that it meant sharing friendship and eternal love. It promised happiness and an end to loneliness. It heralded a new whole created by their joining together in mutual possession.

The word whispered again and again in secure contentment and with poignant gratitude. Elliot did not speak it. Her own heart did.
Mine.