Love Beyond Oceans (11 page)

She snuggled closer to him. "If you leave me waiting for you in the garden all alone I'm going to be really mad."

Sleep didn't come immediately but listening to the soft sound of Drew breathing did eventually lull her into tiredness. He didn't move as much with her pressed against him and she hoped it was because he found her presence comforting. Time passed and when she opened her eyes it was to find herself sitting where she hadn't been in almost thirty years.

The garden she had once she shared with Drew in their dreams.

He stood with his back to her, staring off at the sun setting in the sky. If she remembered correctly, it never would actually go down, forever drenching their special place in the magnificent colors of the end of a day.

"Boy." She called out, using the name she had addressed him by the entire time they had known one another.

He turned to look at her. "I have you to thank for being here?"

"Boy." She said it again. "I don't need you to rescue me from anything."

Marina stood up. Flowing flower print skirts swayed as she walked. She looked like a peasant from some kind of fairy tale. In real life, she'd never dressed thus but whatever. One of them had picked this outfit for her to wear. She didn't know which, but she'd go for it nonetheless.

"That's good. Because I never have been able to do it correctly."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and when he flinched she didn't let him go. "You don't want to hear about things from the past so we'll leave them where they are—gone. I'll only add, you thinking you never save me has to be the stupidest thing you've ever said." Marina pressed her head against his chest. "You can't hurt me here. No demons in our dreams. This is safe. You might as well let me hold you."

He didn't speak for a second but eventually hugged her back. "I'm afraid I'm going to get a little too used to it."

She hoped he would.

Marina closed her eyes. "This is nice."

He didn't speak but he kissed the top of her head. For a second she forgot to breathe. Drew was never openly affectionate. Afraid she might spoil things yet unable to stop herself, she raised her eyes to look at him.

"You're a silly man, you know that?"

Drew lifted a dark eyebrow. "I don't think anyone has ever used the word silly to describe me before."

"All these years, you kept me at bay because you thought I would get hurt from the demon inside of you."

"That wasn't silly. That was me protecting you."

She shook her head. "Did you ever stop to think about what my powers are?"

Drew let go of her and stepped away. "All the fucking time actually."

"I'm a warder." She kissed his chin and he didn't stop her so she did it again. His whiskers felt hard against her lips. His creation or hers in this dream? It didn't matter anymore. "I can keep the demon off me."

He shook his head before he closed his eyes. "You don't know that."

She stood up on tiptoes to reach his mouth. Before she pressed down, she said, "You don't know I can't."

Drew didn't push her away and after a second kissed her back, long, smooth, hot—longing. She pulled him tighter against him just in time to feel the evidence of how much he wanted her growing in his pants. Drew could pretend indifference when they were awake all he wanted.

He pushed his tongue between her lips and she let him inside. Their tongues danced. He tasted of cinnamon. After a minute, she pulled back. Much as she wanted him, she needed this when they were awake, when she was certain they could both remember what happened, when it wouldn't fade like a wistful dream.

"Wake up and be with me for real."

He placed his hand on her cheek and she stared into his eyes. "I won't risk you."

"Drew, please don't make me pay for the terrible mistake I made years ago. Don't make us both suffer any more. Trust me to know how to handle myself. I believe in us. This is all my fault and I know we can set it right."

He shook his head. "What are you even talking about?"

"I begged you to help me. We were four. I set you on the path where you ended up infected. All of your pain rests on my shoulders. I was young, stupid, terrified." She took a deep breath and said the words she'd needed to speak since she learned his secret. "I was so used to you being there for me I did nothing to help myself. Even as a child I was powerful. I made my pain your problem and you did what you do—you tried to rescue me. And it all blew up."

"Marina." He leaned his forehead against hers. "You can't make my stupid mistakes your responsibility. The whole world doesn't rest on your shoulders."

"I love you." She spoke the words she needed to say. "Out of everyone in this whole mess we're in, I wouldn't pick anyone but you to go through this with. You belong to me. I know you were alone for so long. Veli never found you. No one came to rescue you." She held onto his shirt. "Let me."

One second they stood in the garden, the gentle wind pushing on her hair as she pleaded with him. The next, she was back in Drew's room, awake as she blinked up at him.

He seemed a lot more alert than she did. "You think this was all your fault?"

"Glad to see you can hold onto our shared dreams in your memory."

In a flash, he was on top of her. "I gave the demon entrance to my body. I made the choice. I was stupid. It has nothing to do with you whatsoever. Just typical poor decision making on my part and, yeah, it's fucked up our entire life. I keep waiting for you to tell me to get out."

"Not going to happen." She had to make the stubborn mule understand. "I don't cut and run. I stay put. Do you understand? I waited for you when you came and went and then came again because I know you. Even when I couldn't remember, I knew you'd always return to me, Drew." She pushed at him until he moved. "I've got this."

With a flick of her hand, she strengthened the wards around the cave. The ability left her when she didn't have her memory. Only, it had come right back. The demon wasn't getting through the area she shielded. Not without his having to do some serious spell-casting. She'd feel his attempt and they could thwart him. No more being left out in the open for Sebastian to fuck with.

"You've resisted his pull for so long. I know you aren't going to let anyone or anything hurt me. I need you."

"Damn it, Marina." He tugged her against him and before she could think he pressed his mouth to hers.

Drew wasn't gentle and coaxing. He'd never initiated this kind of contact between them before and if his claiming of her mouth indicated anything he wasn't going to be a gentle lover. His aggression suited her fine. They'd been denied each other too long.

He pulled back, panting hard like they'd done much more than simply kiss. "If at any time I think you're at risk, this stops."

She shook her head. "No dice. And you're not getting out of this. I want you and I can feel"—she ran her hand up his leg to his hardening cock—"you want me, too."

"By the gods, I do." He pushed her flat on her back on the bed, coming over her again. "You're mine. If I was stronger I'd resist this pull. I can't anymore and what's more, I don't want to. Why can't I have you?"

His eyes were huge, wild as he stared down at her and a heady, powerful sensation ran through her body knowing she made him so out of control. Drew never lost his control, only he'd given in to her. She was so damn relieved.

"No reason I can think of whatsoever." She kissed him and he groaned before he took back dominating her mouth.

Without a word spoken, he ran his hands along her arms until he gripped her wrists. Pressing his weight down, he held her arms over her head, making it clear who was in charge of their coming together.

Marina didn't mind. Whatever he wanted, however he wanted it. Her body purred to be his finally. And he'd barely touched her yet.

He lifted his lips from hers, and she gasped for breath.

Everything inside of her had gone soft, warm, pliant. "You know I've never done this before."

His grin shocked her. Drew hardly ever smiled. "That's because you've always belonged to me."

Drew let go of her shirt only long enough to pull her clothes from her body. She lay beneath him, naked and exposed. Only she didn't feel that way—his gaze travelled over her body, adoring her with every movement of his eyes.

"You still have your clothes on and I'm totally nude."

He bent over her, his breath warm when he got close to her breasts. "Always good at stating the obvious, aren't you?"

When his mouth pulled on her nipple, all coherent thought fled her mind. Only Drew's mouth and the distant sound of the chanters mattered in the universe.

* * * *

Drew felt crazed. He had to tone it down or he was going to take Marina in a frenzy he'd regret later and probably hurt her in the process. No, he needed to breathe. In through his nose, out through his…

Marina stroked his cock and it jumped in his pants. He'd not been so hard since…well, he couldn't remember the last time. Sex had always been really uninteresting to him the few times he'd done it and once he'd understood the soul mate concept he didn't want it with anyone but her.

He'd spent so much time pushing down his constant need for her; his desire might actually explode from his body.

"Drew." She wiggled her arms and he let them go although he'd have them back restrained before the night was over. He'd spent too many nights imagining her the way he had her, gloriously naked with his arms pressing into hers while his cock brought her pleasure over and over again.

Marina placed his hands on both his cheeks. "Don't get lost in your head. Be here with me."

"I'm not lost." He sucked on her other nipple because it was so pink, and pretty, like it called out for him to do so. She tasted of cherries and he moaned when he did because even though he would have thought it impossible his balls hardened even more than they had.
"You found me."

With his mouth on her, he could feel when the goosebumps broke out all over body. All from his speaking to her telepathically? He'd all but denied her the mental touch, basically to save himself, for years. Guilt rushed in as it always did whenever he dwelled on the years he'd had no choice but to keep himself away from her.

"Like me in your mind?"
He pressed in again. To do so felt like a caress, like he could touch her, thought to thought, as he could stroke her body with his fingertips.

"I do."
She replied and he grinned.

"Stay there," he whispered. No one would hear them. The cave had great walls, which kept everything nice and private. "I like you in my head."
Feel how I need you.
"

He ran his hands down her body, stopping to explore every curve he'd kept his palms off for so long. She was softer than he imagined. He'd not known how perfectly his hand would fit around her hip, or the way something primal in him would open up when he smoothed the skin over her stomach. They didn't have gentle lives but he would see to it nothing ever harmed her.

To love Marina was his privilege. He'd lived with not having her. He wouldn't abuse the gift she was to him.

"I need to touch you. Will you take off your clothes already? Or let me do it?"

Drew smiled. The muscles in his cheeks ached from disuse. When was the last time he'd felt as much as happiness as he did lying in the bed with her? Had he ever?

"You keep your hands to yourself. You touch me and I'm lost."

He did want her fingers running up his abs, stroking his cock, in his mouth where he could suck on them. Not all at once but over the course of time. First, he wanted to pleasure her and doing so wouldn't happen if he let her feel him too soon.

The last thing Drew wanted was to come in her hand before he felt her sweet pussy around his cock. He moved back only long enough to shed his clothes before he pressed his naked body on top of hers.

"You're beautiful. You know that right? There isn't a woman anywhere who can compare to you."

She pursed her lips. "You look at me through soul-mate tinted glasses."

"Bullshit. I would love you regardless of how you appeared on the outside. Trust me when I say, you are the walking definition of female perfection."

She sucked in a gasp. "You've never said the words before."

He knew exactly to what she referred. "Female perfection?"

Marina pinched his arm. "Ass."

"Minx."

He kissed her again, because he had to, because he loved it, because he could. Drew leaned on his side before he stroked her body, tracing a line from her chin down to her core. He pushed a finger inside of her, feeling her warmth before he found her clit.

A shudder worked through him. This was really happening. All of the imagining didn't compare. The little noises she made, the way she squirmed. He hadn't known how precious she would be to him.

How the intense need he'd always had to protect her would double in an instant. His need for Marina surpassed everything else in the universe.

She sucked in her breath. "I've never…" Her voice trailed off.

"I know. Trust me?"

"Completely."

Her fast answer alone would have brought him to his knees were he standing. Instead, with shaking hands, he scooted backwards until he could line up his head with her sweet pussy. His mouth watered. He dreamed of getting to taste her.

She smelled sweet and so completely his. "Keep your knees open for me."

"Are you going to—"

Before she could finish her sentence, he licked her clit. As though he'd been born to do so—and he supposed he had been—he found her bundle of nerves immediately. She tasted like manna from heaven. Strawberries and honey, Marina tasted of all his favorite things. He licked and nipped, loving every second of his pleasuring her, with each moan she made moving through him as though the pleasure noise sounded from him.

Her pleasure was his.

"Oh." She sighed her words. "Drew. Yes. More. That."

He loved hearing her voice, only he would have known what to do from the way her body squirmed alone. Each movement showed him what she liked and what she didn't. He'd give her anything, everything. Whatever she wanted. Always.