‘Ah, sweetheart, no,’ he said, moving against the pillows so he could take her into his arms, protect her, soothe her. He realized that they’d just reversed roles, and he smiled a bit. ‘Jules, don’t let me hurt you … my anger and bitterness, well, it’s all within me, and I’ve heard it said that the loved one gets all the misery. Hush, don’t cry so, you’ll make
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yourself hoarse.’ He stroked her hair, kissed her, caressed her bare back. ‘I don’t know how a bastard like me could ever attract a beautiful creature like you, much less have her care about me.’
Her sobs lessened and soon she was hiccuping against his throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ she managed after a few more minutes.
‘About what?’
‘You need me to be strong, and I just became what I despise – a weak, silly woman. I’m sorry, Michael, please forgive me.)
‘No.’ It was as unexpected as it was angering. She reared up and stared down at him. She could see the outline line of his bandage, the planes of his face, but she couldn’t see the smile on his lips. ‘Just what the hell does that mean?’ she demanded.
He laughed, and she pounded his chest with her fists.
‘Some weak woman,’ he said, grabbed her arms., and tossed her onto her back. ‘Will I have to tie you down so I can have my way with you?’
‘No. but only because I don’t think you can manage it!’
He moved on top of her, his knee pressing against her closed thighs. ‘Open your legs,
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Jules,’ he said, his mouth against her throat. The feel of him naked, covering her . ‘What will you do if I do?’ she whispered, moving restlessly beneath him.
‘I’ll caress you with my mouth until you yell and then I’ll come inside you, so deep that neither of us will know where the other begins or ends. And I’ll fill you with my seed, and you’ll feel it, and know that you are part of me.’
‘All right,’ she whispered, her body already quivering from his words.
When at last he teased her with his mouth, to caress her as he’d said he would, she couldn’t bear it. The pleasure that convulsed her body was nearly painful in its intensity, a pleasure that held all their shared pain, and she cried out again and again. And when he thrust into her, a long, deep thrust, she clutched him, arching upward, yielding to him, opening to him, wanting him to become a part of her.
‘My God, woman,’ he said many moments later when he could finally speak, ‘I never envisioned doing that to that scruffy little girl in Lahaina, at least not consciously,’ he added, and laughed.
‘No,’ she said, clutching her arms about his back, ‘don’t leave me, Michael.’
‘I won’t,’ he said softly, his fingertips
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stroking her face. Her teeth nipped his fingertips and he kissed her again. He felt the sweet, smiling curve of her lips as his tongue traced over her. Her eyes would be smiling too, he thought. At least, he wanted to tell her, at least I have seen you in the moments of your pleasure. He felt her legs tighten about his flanks, felt her smooth hands stroking down his back to his buttocks, and his body responded. He moaned softly at the sensations as he filled her again.
‘You are the most exquisite lover in the world,’ Jules said just before she fell asleep. ‘Yes,’ he said, his voice deep with
satisfaction. ‘I guess I am.’
‘No,’ Saint said very carefully, ‘it is still the same, Sam.’
Jules wanted to moan like a wounded animal, but she didn’t. She said nothing. ‘Still the white?’
‘Yes.’ Sam laughed. ‘Excellent, Saint. You’re healing.’ He clapped Saint on the back. ‘All you need now is rest, lots of it. No worrying, now., and no fighting with your wife.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Jules said.
Saint reached out his hand and she quickly
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took it. ‘What Sam means, Jules, is that since what vision I have hasn’t faded, it’s hopeful, very hopeful.’ He drew her against his side and hugged her. ‘I do promise not to fight with her, Sam.’