Saving Grace (7 page)

Jack kissed like a dream. A very hot, very
erotic dream.

She clung to him as he lifted her in his
arms. He had her around the waist, and she was his willing
accomplice as she wrapped her legs around him. His hands moved to
support her butt, and she felt chills of delight run down her
spine. She loved the way he touched her. Gentle, yet powerful.
Masculine, firm and knowing. It was a heady combination.

He was so strong. She felt him walking her up
the stairs, carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all. Kissing
her the entire time, moving from her lips to her neck, making her
shiver even more as her nerve endings came alive for him.

Rain soaked them both, but she didn’t care.
The slashing water only brought her mer side in alignment with her
human side, and both wanted him. Her body was on an exquisite peak
somewhere between her mer scales and her human form, and for the
first time in her life, she wanted to make love with a man with
both parts of her soul.

Never before had her scales rippled for a
male. Never had her body heated so quickly, demanded satisfaction
so readily. She wanted him, and she wanted him now.

His skin was slick and hot beneath her hands,
and she finally realized that he was mostly naked. He’d come after
her in only a pair of boxer shorts that were now wet and clinging
to every sexy line of him. She nibbled on his ear as he kissed her
neck.

“Make love to me, Jack,” she whispered in his
ear.

He stopped walking.

“Are you still being drawn?”

She had to laugh. “Yes, but not to the water.
I’m drawn to you, Jack. Please tell me you feel it too. I’ve wanted
you almost from the moment I woke up in your guest room. I was
instantly attracted, and it’s only gotten more potent the longer
I’m around you.”

“Goddess!” he whispered, seeming overcome for
a moment. “I feel the same, Grace. I want you. My bear wants you.
All of me wants all of you. But if we do this…it could mean
forever. Are you prepared for that?”

Forever? Really?
She hadn’t thought
beyond the satisfaction her body was demanding with every breath.
But as the word rolled around in her thoughts, she realized it was
a nice word. A comforting word. Not scary at all.
Forever.

Yeah, she could easily see spending forever
with this special man, held safe in his arms.

“You know? I don’t think I’d mind.” She
pulled back to look into his eyes. “Would you?”

Rain poured down between them, but she could
see every nuance of expression on his face and in his gaze. And
what she saw there stole her breath. Emotion.
Deep
emotion.
Echoes of the yearning she felt inside her own soul.

There was no way she could walk away from him
now without at least finding out if they truly were meant to be
together forever. Mates.

Stars above. She might have found her mate,
but only taking that final step would tell her for certain.

“Make love to me, Jack. Right here. Right
now. Let’s find out what fate has in store for us both.” She turned
it into a dare, but she was breathless with longing, desperate for
his possession. She couldn’t wait, and she didn’t want him to deny
her. She needed him. Couldn’t he see that?

Jack looked into her eyes for another long
moment, then seemed to come to a decision. He didn’t speak. He just
moved toward the nearby railing, setting her butt down on the wide
rail. She was naked beneath his shirt, so the only thing that had
been separating them was his soaked boxer shorts.

“Are you steady up there?” he asked, waiting
for her to put her hands on the rail on either side. When she
nodded, he stepped just a few inches away so he could remove the
nearly transparent, no-nonsense white cotton that did little to
conceal the long, thick hardness of him.

And then, the offending fabric was gone. In a
wad on the deck beneath his feet. And he was gloriously nude. A
statue of a Greek god come to life before her.

She reached between them and took him in her
hand. She felt the slight shudder run through him as she squeezed
lightly. The cold rain and wind did nothing to diminish him. He was
better than every hot fantasy she’d ever entertained, and she
didn’t want to wait.

Tugging him forward, she scooted closer.
Since he was such a tall man, the deck rail was the perfect height,
but she needed his cooperation to get what she desired. Her perch
was too precarious to do it all herself.

“Come into me now,” she plead with him, her
voice thick with yearning.

“Are you sure?” He cupped her cheek and
looked deep into her eyes. “Last chance to back out.”

“I don’t want to back out.” She squeezed him
gently once more. “I want you.”

“Then what am I waiting for?” He smiled at
her as he stepped closer. She had to loosen her hold, guiding him
to her core. He pushed forward slowly, holding her gaze as he began
to fill her.

He felt amazing. Truly wonderful. Absolutely
delicious. And big.

Oh, yeah.

His hands went to her ass, and then, he began
to move. He had a tight hold of her, and she felt safer than she
ever had with any man, even as she sat on a slick wooden railing
fifteen feet above the ground. Rain poured over then as he came
into her fully, over and over again.

He pumped slowly at first, letting her get
accustomed to the feel of him. And then, when her body was
straining for more, he gave it to her. Hard, fast, and just the way
she needed it, he pounded into her.

She heard herself moaning and crying out. No
man had ever wrung such a response from her before. She was wild in
his arms. As wild as the night and the storm that raged around
them. Magic welled up between them again, blocking out everything
around them. Only the two of them existed in the bubble of their
magic and the passion of their joining.

That’s when she knew. He was her mate. Her
magic wouldn’t rise like this for just anyone. Not only did their
magics mesh and form a protective bubble around them, but they
joined and built upon each other. She felt the weight of worry lift
off her shoulders as her mind finally understood what her body had
been trying to tell her.

Jack was her mate.

That thought was the last clear notion she
had as he rocked into her, sending her senses into orbit with a few
nearly out of control final thrusts. She screamed as she came,
clawing his back and making him growl. She loved the way the sexy
sound heightened her pleasure, the rumble in his body acting like a
vibrator everywhere they touched.

Jack couldn’t help himself. He growled as he
came, his bear half acknowledging the woman as his mate. This was
it. He finally knew for sure. Grace was his mate.

Goddess help him if she thought otherwise.
Then again, she seemed to have been with him every step of the way,
even going so far as to ask him for what she wanted when he would
have waited to initiate deeper intimacy between them. She was a
woman who knew what she wanted, and he hoped like hell it turned
out that she wanted him. Forever.

He carried her back inside after they’d both
taken a moment to catch their breath. The bubble of magic around
them had dissipated, and they were both wet from the slashing rain.
He left puddles on the floor he would think about later as he
carried her straight to the master bath.

She wasn’t shivering. Her mer side must keep
her warm in cold water. So he just took a moment to dry them both
with a couple of fluffy towels before lifting her once again into
his arms and taking her into his bedroom.

Grace was almost asleep, allowing him to move
her around without comment as her eyes drifted closed. She was
still recovering, and the little sojourn out into the storm hadn’t
helped. He tucked her into his bed and climbed in beside her. He
took her into his arms and fell asleep with a smile on his
face.

Twice in the night, she grew restless as the
storm raged against the house. It was as if the creature out there
in the dark was expressing its anger through the harsh weather.
Both times, Jack held her, and her discomfort subsided. She didn’t
try to leave the bed, and Jack hoped the simple, miraculous action
of making love had severed the hold the leviathan had seemed to
have on her earlier.

Each time, she woke, and they made love. The
affirmation of their desire seemed to banish all the negativity
coming off the ocean. And the pleasure was like nothing he’d ever
had with any other woman. If he’d known finding his mate would
result in that sort of ecstasy, he would’ve begun searching for her
a lot sooner.

But the Goddess worked in mysterious ways.
Jack was a big believer in fate. He thought maybe Grace had washed
up on his beach exactly when she was meant to, and all the
searching in the world wouldn’t have brought them together any
sooner. They had to meet when they were both ready.

Boy, was he ready. He wanted what his brother
had. A mate to love and a home to be proud of. He’d built the
latter, and he’d just discovered the former. He was one lucky son
of a bitch.

Now all they had to do was deal with the sea
monster on his doorstep, and all would be well. Tall order, he
knew, but he’d tackled more difficult tasks in his life. He, along
with his brothers-in-arms, would make it happen. They had to.

Jack was gone from the bed when Grace woke
the next day. She’d slept really late. She could tell by the slant
of the sun behind the blinds that it was closer to noon than dawn.
She sat up and pushed her hair back from her face. She could tell
it was a tangled mess. Between the rain and going to bed with it
damp—and then the restless sleep and all the incredible sex…

Oh, yeah. She’d had sex with Jack. If she’d
been a cat, she would have purred remembering the pleasure he’d
given her. Her mate.

A sense of wonder passed over her. She’d
found her mate. Now
that
was really something. A momentous
occasion. A life-altering event.

But did he feel the same? A little niggle of
doubt crawled into her mind. And then, she remembered how the storm
had raged with evil anger and how the sea had called to her even in
her sleep. Jack had been there to calm her and break the spell, but
she’d still felt drawn to the ocean in a way that wasn’t normal, or
good.

In the cold light of day, she felt miserable
about that. What if it grew so strong that she tried to leave him
again? She couldn’t bear that. Not now that she knew he was her
mate.

Her heart was his. She cared so much for him,
and yet, even now, she could feel the pull of the evil thing out
there in the water. She wanted to cry. How could she be both so
happy and so scared at the same time?

Happiness was Jack. Finding him was a
miracle. Fear was that thing out there. It wanted to devour her,
steal her magic and swallow her whole.

One positive note was, now that she and Jack
had made love, the call wasn’t quite as strong. Either their
joining had somehow weakened the connection between her and the
thing that had almost killed her, or—more worryingly—it could be
that the creature was laying low for the moment, lulling her into a
false sense of security.

But she didn’t feel secure. Not at all. That
thing was still out there, and she could feel it stalking her.

She got up and took a warm shower, taming her
hair and relieving the little aches and pains that came from the
unaccustomed activity of the night before. She smiled to herself,
enjoying the memories of what they had done together. Jack was such
a good man, and a considerate lover.

“I hope that smile is for me.”

Jack’s voice came to her from the doorway of
the bathroom. Her eyes opened, and she met his gaze through the
slight mist of steam from her shower. The curtain was open just
enough for her to see him.

“You bet it is,” she told him as he strolled
into the room, shutting the door behind him, shutting the steam
inside the room with them. She loved the feel of the warm mist on
her skin. It was a sensual delight—almost like being embraced by
water, even on land.

He stood before her in just a pair of jeans.
The top button was open, and he looked so sexy she wanted to lick
him from head to toe.

“I just wanted to check on you. How are you
feeling?” His gaze narrowed in concern.

“I feel fine. Great, in fact.” A smoldering
look passed between them.

“What me to check for splinters?”

“What?” His comment threw her. What in the
world was he talking about?

He moved closer, standing right up near the
shower curtain.

“From the deck rail,” he said. It took her a
moment to register. “I apologize if that first time was a little
rough.”

“I liked it,” she assured him, smiling now,
her mood restored. “And I don’t think I have any splinters.”

“You sure? I’d really like to check.”
Apparently, he was in a playful mood.

“I just bet you would.”

He raised his hand and grasped one edge of
the shower curtain, near her face. His expression turned
serious.

“You do things to me, honey. Things I’ve
never felt before,” he told her.

“Good things?” He was so serious, for a
moment, she was worried he wasn’t happy with the change in their
relationship. Her stomach clenched.

“The best,” he whispered, dipping his head to
place a light kiss on her lips.

Her heart started beating again. In fact, it
sped up as his lips touched hers. It was just a peck, really, but
it was a sign of affection she hadn’t expected. She could get used
to this sort of thing—having a mate around who bestowed exciting
little kisses on her throughout the day, and even better things at
night…or whenever. It would be easy to become addicted to him.

He pulled back while she was still tingling
and thinking happy, sensuous thoughts.