Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
They stayed under the shower for the longest time, steam curling around them like smoke from the battle they’d survived.
There was a lot to make up for. Their bodies were still hungry, but her feelings for Elijah had deepened into a firm belief that he could and had changed.
This made everything they were, and everything they felt and experienced, far deeper and more meaningful than before.
When he took her as if their lives depended on him filling her completely, she felt far more than physical satisfaction.
A primal urge to be one with him in every way overwhelmed her.
When she cried out his name, it was both a claim and an acceptance, a pledge more binding than marriage vows.
He was hers, and she was his, and they would always belong together.
“Come while I’m deep inside you,” he urged. “I need you to know there’s no part of you I won’t protect or cherish.”
Once founded on sex and danger, their relationship had matured into something far deeper. As she claimed a riptide of release, she cried out, “I love you.”
It was a while before she realized tears were streaming down her face. Not tears of sorrow or pain, but love set free to express itself. They’d grown up believing love was something other people enjoyed, and that they didn’t deserve it. Turns out they were wrong.
“What are you doing to me?”
She looked up as Elijah called out in the grip of release. It was the first time she could remember him losing control. He cursed fluently as he came inside her, but in shock rather than anger or regret.
Breathless and contented, they remained locked together, his chest heaving against her back. When he moved away, it was slow and careful, as if she were the most precious thing on earth.
* * *
“Are you trying to kill me with an overdose of pleasure?” Sable suggested when she finally released him and relaxed.
He laughed deep and slow. “I want you alive. Fit and back working on the team.”
“Working.” She sighed heavily. “Right now, that has to be a joke.”
“The closest I’m ever likely to get to one,” he conceded. “But that was great sex.”
“Is that all it is for you?”
“Should it be more?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
She looked so hurt. Why did he keep doing that? Why were his shields always up? He reached out and pulled her close. “How many times must I prove I can’t live without you? Losing you would be the greatest regret of my life.”
Pushing back, she looked at him, her eyes full of tears. “Crazy man. How long have you been holding that thought back?”
He shrugged. “Maybe for a moment, maybe since we met.”
“You don’t know?”
“Does it matter?”
This mix of emotion and need was new to him. Before Sable entered his life, if he wanted something, he took it. Now, if he wanted more, he had to give more, and keep on giving for the rest of his life. More than embracing that, he wanted it with every atom of his being.
“You’re the only one who can break me,” she husked, linking her arms around his neck. “You do know that?”
“I do now.”
“I would never have left unless it was to save your life.”
“I’m a big boy. I can look after myself.”
“Big boy, yes,” she conceded wryly. “Not sure about the rest.”
Laughing, he gently disengaged her hands to kiss each fingertip in turn. His kisses were tender. Sex, though incredible, wasn’t enough. He wanted more of Sable. He wanted all of her. Before her disappearance, he’d been a different man, but now he knew what he stood to lose.
“Hey,” she breathed, “You okay? Still want me?”
So much, it was frightening. “I might even love you—just a little, of course.”
Throwing her head back, she laughed with the confidence of a woman who knew she was loved. “I want all of you,” she said fiercely.
“Me too,” he admitted.
For once, that thought didn’t alarm him.
* * *
Elijah cupped her face, his thumbs brushing away tears. “Look at me,” he said quietly.
When she lifted her gaze to his, Elijah’s eyes were stormy and unguarded. “You’ve changed me,” he said, as if he could hardly believe it himself. “Something broke inside me when you left. I guess we never appreciate what we’ve got until it’s too late.”
Pressing his forehead to hers, he pledged softly, “I never want to be parted again—not for Black Meridian or to save my life. Not for anything on this earth while we’re still breathing.”
His words meant more than “I love you,” but it was his smile—not cynical or mocking—that wiped the years away, allowing her to believe, perhaps for the first time, that this could work. “If I go missing, would you hunt me down?”
“To the ends of the earth and back. And then…” His expression shifted to pure teasing wickedness. “I’ll fuck you until your legs won’t carry you.”
“Promise.”
“You got it.”
Beneath her laughter lay something deeper and more precious. She could feel Elijah’s love warming and surrounding her, and she had never loved him more.
Yes.
Love.
Turned out they were both capable of loving and being loved. They just had to forget the past, concentrate on the here and now, and let that be their guide for the future.
Elijah’s mouth brushed hers in a kiss that felt like a promise. “I love you,” he said. “Get used to it.”
Readily. Eagerly. She had no problem with that.
* * *
The sheets were rumpled and warm from their bodies when Sable woke from
the most peaceful night’s sleep she could remember. When she moved, Elijah tightened his hold without opening his eyes. “Trying to sneak away?” he suggested, his voice still husky with sleep.
“There’s work to do.”
“The survivors are well cared for. I checked.” He raised his cell. “We have to let the team feel useful.”
“I guess. But it doesn’t feel right to be idling here.”
“Who said anything about idling?”
Rolling her beneath him, he caged her with his weight, his morning erection pressing against her belly. “Would you rather I pause to order coffee?”
“Don’t you dare.” She added something extremely rude about coffee.
“That’s what I thought,” he confirmed with a lazy grin.
Grinding slowly against her, he made sure she came straight away. “Greedy,” he scolded, but with every touch, look, and each whispered word, it seemed he wanted to do more than deliver pleasure; he wanted to show how much he loved her.
“Would you have me any other way?”
He laughed. “I’d have you every way.”
Proving it with a single thrust, drew a ragged moan of appreciation from her throat.
“Christ, Sable.” His forehead dropped to hers as his hips kept rolling in deep, rhythmical strokes. “Will I ever get enough of you?”
“Hopefully not.”
Things grew more upbeat after that. He made the headboard rattle and punched the air from her lungs, until the only sound was bodies colliding and her excited gasps.
Clenching around him, she tested his control, but Elijah was ahead of her, shifting the angle and applying gentle, nudging pressure where she liked it.
“You taking advantage of me?”
“Who’s taking advantage of who?” he demanded softly as she clenched his buttocks in a grip of iron. “It’s time to let go—”
Before he could say “now,” she did as he suggested.
“That’s right, baby,” he encouraged as she cried out in ecstasy with each successive wave.
Somehow, she came again. Back arching off the bed as the pleasure hit, her nails carving fresh lines down his back, she exclaimed with excited surprise and urged him on.
He kept going until she had extracted every last pulse of pleasure, then let go, pulsing hot inside her with a groan ripped from his soul.
They stayed together, joined, greedily drawing in air for a long time. “Still breathing?” he murmured as he swept damp hair from her brow.
“Barely,” she admitted, gazing into his eyes.
He pressed a kiss to her mouth, then slanted a grin. “Good. Because I’m nowhere near done collecting interest on seven years—”
A soft chime rang through the stateroom, making them both smile. “Breakfast delivery,” Elijah explained.
“Rain check?” she suggested. Without waiting for a reply, she slipped out of bed and went to freshen up.
Steam clouded the shower like a veil, while the faint clink of porcelain as the steward set up the breakfast table kept her thoughts grounded in reality. Danger was a given where Elijah was concerned. He would protect her, and as long as there was breath in her body, she would protect him.
Wrapping herself in a fluffy white robe, she called out, “Coming, ready or not. Wow. That looks good.” Her mouth watered as she stared at the plates laden with delicious treats. “I could eat everything on that table without any help from you.”
“Sex gives me an appetite too,” Elijah admitted with a wicked grin.
The smell of coffee, warm croissants, berries, and jam was irresistible. Elijah was too. He was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read. “Do you have to make it so hard to breathe?”
“I could say the same about you.”
* * *
They stared at each other as morning light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows. His steward had opened these wide, allowing a light breeze to ruffle her hair.
This was their first meal in quite some time. It was made even more special by Sable. Had they ever been so relaxed? It felt almost normal. The future demanded vigilance, but they were used to that. Here and now, it was just the two of them and the peace he’d longed for and never found.
“So, the next few days,” she began.
“Will be hectic as we get everyone settled.”
“And then?”
“We keep moving. Avoid predictable patterns. Expect retaliation and prepare for it. No ports that broadcast our presence. No stops that leave us exposed.”
“We remain at sea?”
“Not necessarily. Blood and Thunder owns a private island. You’ll be welcome there,” he added as Sable’s eyes asked the question. He grazed her thumb in a grounding gesture. “When you’ve allowed me to, I’ve taken care of you. I always will.”
“I don’t need you to take care of me. I need you beside me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Closing his hand around hers, he brought her palm to his lips.
“Do you ever think there’s a world beyond this? A normal one?”
He let the question hang. “I think about it. More than I used to. But normal isn’t built for people like us.”
“But it could be,” she said, hope in her voice. “I like to think that somewhere, sometime, normal will be possible,”
“Coffee without danger,” he suggested as he poured them both a second cup.
“If you’re pouring, there is no danger.”
“Mornings that last longer than five minutes,” he suggested, glancing at his cell.
“Sun on a terrace without anyone watching,” she supplied with a grin.
“No one’s watching.” Leaning forward, he brushed her lips with his.
“Apart from a dozen cameras, monitored twenty-four seven in your control room.”
“Ah, those. You care?”
“No,” she admitted. “You?”
He let out a huff of laughter. “I’ve got bigger things to worry about. I want normality too, not just for a day. That’s what I want for us, even if it’s a fight every step of the way.”
“Does that mean no arguing about who makes the first strike on the next mission?”
“Tempting,” he said, his lips tugging with amusement. “Let’s compromise. You stab; I interrogate.”
“Compromise? Wow. You really have changed.” Her laugh was low and real. “If you mess up, don’t expect a second chance.”
“Noted,” he said, grinning. “I’ll try not to die too quickly, then.”
* * *
When they were dressed and ready for the day, Sable was brushing out tangles in her hair when he came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. Resting his chin on her head, he murmured, “Happy?”
“More than I can say.” Leaning into him, she whispered, “I love you. There, I’ve said it. I always have, and always will. It’s that simple, and that complicated.”
“I don’t know about complicated. I just know I’ve got the other half of me back.”
* * *
There was a lot to do, and they met only in passing. The rescued had been triaged and fed and were slowly coming around to the idea that safety was their new reality. There was even a gentle optimism aboard as the grand ramparts of the Grand Harbour came into view.
Thank goodness for that breakfast, Sable thought.
Neither of them had a chance to eat for the rest of the day.
By the time the Seraphim was back in her berth and all the survivors safely delivered to a hostel where they would be well cared for, she and Elijah had no energy to join a boisterous Blood and Thunder team supper and chose to retire to Elijah’s stateroom instead.
Standing on his private deck as the horizon bled rose and amber while day moved into night was a reminder that, even with so much evil in the world, they lived on a beautiful planet where good people would always outnumber the bad.
“I thought about throwing this into the sea many times,” Elijah admitted, reaching for the ring around his neck.
“Same,” Sable admitted, thinking of the raw amethyst she kept in her pocket as a talisman. “I meant to get rid of the amethyst you gave me, but I never could.”
“Glad you kept it?”
“Very glad,” she confessed.
“I’ll keep my promise to have it polished and set. In the meantime, wear this. “May it always keep you safe.”
She let out a soft exclamation as he slipped the chain he always wore around her neck, holding the gold ring that meant so much to him.
Digging in her pocket, she found the rough purple stone. “Take this in return as a keepsake from me.” Rising on tiptoes, she looped her arms around his neck.
They kissed slow and deep. Elijah tasted of coffee and forever. “I love you,” she whispered. Then she shouted, “I love you!” as if the ocean could record her words and keep them safe for all time.
“I’m home,” Elijah said simply as he drew her back into his arms. Crushing her close as the sunset flared behind them, he pointed to the fiery sky. “Even Earth is celebrating our reunion. Shall we join the celestial celebrations?”
“It would be rude not to,” she said.