Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [63]
“You should be wearing this and nothing else, Judith,” he murmured, trailing kisses over her face, down to her chin where he nipped gently with his teeth. “I swore I wouldn’t push this. I want to do it right. I don’t want a flash of heat for a night and then it’s over. I want forever, Judith. Every damn night with you, every single day.”
She clung to him, breathing as heavily as he was. “We can’t have forever. You don’t understand about me. You don’t, Thomas, and I should never have allowed this.”
“Then let’s talk about it. Explain it to me. I know you’re a spirit element. I have my own talents, Judith and of course they can get out of control, any talent can.”
“Exactly.” She dropped her arms and stepped back.
He felt inexplicitly empty. He controlled his world, not a woman. Not his handler. No one else. And yet it was getting harder and harder to breathe, knowing she was a breath away from tossing him out.
He caged her in, both hands resting on the door beside her head. “We’re going to talk about this, Judith. I’m not the kind of man to give up on something so important.”
He took a breath knowing he was going to be absolutely honest with her in this moment. “I’ve never, not one time, wanted a woman in the same way I want you. Do I want to throw you down on the floor and show you a million ways I know to give you so much pleasure you’d never look at another man? Damn straight. But it’s so much more and I’ve never felt the more before. Not one time. You don’t throw the more away, not when it’s a fucking miracle and will never happen in your lifetime again. So, no, I’m not leaving until we talk this out.”
Her dark eyes searched his. She should have been afraid. He was an intimidating man with his bulk of muscle and his scars. She didn’t appear afraid of him, only for him. Her hand slipped to his chest, fingers splayed wide. She drew in her breath, as if she felt that same burning in her lungs.
“Thomas, I’m trying so hard to save you.”
He bent his head and kissed her again, a gentle, coaxing kiss bordering on tenderness. He had no idea where those gentler emotions came from, but she’d tapped into them and, although for him the rest of the world didn’t really exist outside those shadows, she was real to him, and so were those emotions reserved for her alone.
“I need saving, Judith.” He gave her the stark, raw truth. “But sending me away won’t accomplish that. Fight for us. Give us a chance. That’s all I’m asking.”
“We barely know each other. How can I tell you things I’ve never told anyone else?”
“You know me. We both know. You’re not like other people and neither am I. Maybe it’s our gifts, but you know me, Judith. Your body recognized me. Your mind is fighting, but your heart and soul know as well. I’m the one. Give us a chance.”
She sighed and slid her hand up to his wrist. “Let me look at the bee sting.” Before he could make demands, she shook her head. “I need time to think, Thomas. Please don’t push me right now.”
He stayed still, caging her between his body and the wall, wanting her shamelessly, his body’s demands merciless. More than that, he wanted this moment to be right. He needed to handle this the right way and he didn’t have any experience in matters of the heart. He operated outside such parameters.
“You’re giving me all the firsts I should have had over the last thirty years.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means you can take a look at my neck and fuss over me.”
A slow smile curved her mouth as he straightened and held out his hand to her. She threaded her fingers through his without hesitation.
“You’re a good man, Thomas,” Judith said with a small sigh as she led the way to her bathroom.
It was a feminine room. Spacious and filled with colorful