Heart and Soul (37 page)

“Malachi . . .”

Dark blue eyes lifted and stared into hers. “Don’t, Kelsey. Just don’t.” With that, he shoved up off the bed and jerked his jeans on. His shirt lay on the floor by his feet, along with discarded shoes and socks, but he didn’t bother to pick them up.

“I’ve been waiting for you for centuries. But I must be the worst bloody fool to think that you’d come to me as easily as that.”

Without another word, he left the room, closing the door silently behind him.

Kelsey stood there, staring at the door, her chest constricting.

The room felt empty.

And she felt like she’d just stabbed herself in the chest with a dull, rusted knife. A sob rose in her throat, damn near choking her. Her frozen muscles unknotted, and she leaped for the door, dashing out into the hall.

Malachi was already out of sight.

With a knowledge that went clear down to her bones, Kelsey knew he wasn’t going to his rooms. Brendain felt empty. The whole world felt cold. He was gone.

Logical? No, it wasn’t at all logical. But oddly enough, when Kelsey forced herself to think past the fear choking her, she felt the same. Like she had been waiting lifetimes for him.

“Then what are you waiting for?”

Kelsey turned her head and found Nessa standing in the hallway just a few feet behind her. The blue eyes, so old and wise, looked out of place in that smooth, youthful face.

“He’s waited lifetimes for you.”

Kelsey licked her lips and tried to find the words to explain why she was standing there, alone. And why Malachi was suddenly gone. Finally, she said lamely, “He terrifies me. This is Malachi, Nessa.”

“Yes. It’s Malachi. And he’s a man who is in love with you, one that always has been. Are you fool enough to throw that away?”

Hell, no
.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The gray stone walls were stained nearly black from smoke.

Malachi stood at the small fire pit and nudged the charred remnant of firewood with his toe.

He hadn’t been here in centuries. Before the Hunters had sought him out all those years ago, this small cave had been his home. It hadn’t been used in a long time. There was no scent of smoke left lingering in the air. No scent of human or animal.

Empty.

“Maybe I should have just stayed here,” he muttered.

He felt the slight swell in power. If he could have found the energy, he would have left. Couldn’t though. He felt like a hollowed-out husk. As empty as this blasted cave.

He lifted his head just as Kelsey appeared out of thin air, clad in nothing more than the silky blue robe. It clung to her subtle curves. Her creamy pale skin glowed against the dark silk. Right now, that silky flesh was roughened by goose bumps. Malachi was distantly aware of the chilly air, but it didn’t affect him much. Kelsey, though . . . “Go back to Brendain, Kelsey. It’s too damned cold.”

“Not without you.”

She took a step toward him, and Malachi lifted a hand, shaking his head. “We don’t have anything to talk about, Kelsey,” Mal said quietly.

She paused for a second, and the tip of her tongue appeared, wetting her top lip, then her bottom. Her hands went to the belt of her robe then. As she loosened it, Malachi stared at her hands, mesmerized. When she shrugged out of it, Malachi spun away. He focused on the wall in front of him, but all he could see was her: that long, smooth body he’d dreamed about so many times.

“What do you want, Kelsey?” he demanded gruffly.

She moved up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. The warmth of her skin pressed against his, but the chill inside him went deeper than just the skin. It felt as though it had frozen his very soul.

“You. Just you,” she murmured softly. Her hands skimmed up his sides. He was still chilled inside. Outside though, warmth flared. His cock pulsed inside his jeans. But he didn’t want empty sex—not with her. He’d had enough empty sex to last him the rest of his life, even if he still had another two thousand years left in front of him.

Out of self-defense, he turned around and caught her hands in his. “Go back to Brendain, Kelsey. Go home.”

She lifted her chin and stared at him steadily. “I am home. I’m with you; that’s all the home I need.” Kelsey ignored the grip on her wrists and stepped closer to him, pressing her slender body against his.

Malachi shifted his grip on her hands, taking her arms behind her back and pinioning her wrists together at the small of her back. He held them there with one hand and brought the other around, trailing her fingers down the center line of her body. “So this is what you want?” he asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

He cupped her in his hand, grinding the heel of his palm against the mound of her sex. All the while, he stared into her eyes. “You want this?” he asked again.

Her pupils expanded until the black nearly eclipsed the warm golden brown. When he pushed a finger inside her, her lashes fluttered low. “Tell me, Kelsey.” Lowering his head, he raked his teeth along the line of her neck. “Is this what you want?”

A soft, hungry moan escaped her lips. “Yes—I want this.”

Mal lifted his head, staring down into the delicate oval of her face.
I should have stayed here and never left
, he thought bitterly as he loosened his grip on her wrists.

Then Kelsey’s lashes lifted, and she stared at him with glowing eyes. Her voice was strong and steady as she added, “But it’s not all I want.” She jerked on her hands, freeing herself from his slack hold; then she stepped up to him and slid her arms around his neck. She rose on her toes and stared up into his face. As she brought her lips to his, she murmured, “
This
doesn’t even begin to touch what I want.”

Her tongued traced the outline of his lips, then she dipped her head and bit him lightly on the chin. “There are times when you terrify me, Malachi.”

Those words were like a punch in the gut. Her lips skimmed over the edge of his jaw, over his ear. “But what scares me the most about you? You make me feel.”

Her slim hands cupped his face, and she looked into his eyes. “You’ve made me feel from the first time I laid eyes on you.” Then her lips quirked a little. “And I have dreamed about you. Once or twice. Hot, wet dreams that make me blush to even think about them.”

Her lips covered his once more. She traced them and then pushed inside, and Malachi opened for her. His hands closed over her waist, squeezing convulsively. Their tongues tangled together, and he felt the warm, erotic brush of magick dancing over his skin. Then her voice—he could hear her whispering to him inside his mind.
Make me feel, Mal . . . put your hands on me, and make me feel.

His hands skimmed up her sides, cupping her breasts. And as he touched her, he felt the barriers in her mind melting away.
Don’t turn away from me, Mal
, she whispered to him.
Not just because I don’t know how to handle you.

Pulling his mouth from hers, he pressed his forehead to hers. “Can you handle this? I love you,” he murmured. “If you can’t handle that, then you need to let me know.”

A slow smile curved her lips, her eyes gleaming. “I think I can handle that much—once I get my mind wrapped around it.”

The rush of emotion that flooded him confused him. Mal wasn’t used to feeling a broad spectrum of emotions. Loneliness, rage, boredom, need. That seemed to be it. This one made his legs feel weak and everything around him seemed to blur. It took a minute to put a label on it.

Relief. Malachi wrapped his arms around her slender, warm body, holding her tight. “Take your time,” he muttered as he buried his face in her hair. “We can just stay here until you’re ready.”

There was a flare of warmth, and Malachi lifted his head as he heard the crackle of fire. The charred remains of wood in the fire pit were burning merrily away. Kelsey smiled at him, cuddling against his chest. “Well, since you want to stay awhile . . . it’s cold.”

Malachi sank to his knees in front of Kelsey, still holding her tight against him. “Odd,” he murmured. “I’m not cold at all.”

The warm, soft scent of her body flooded his system. It breathed life to the low-level burn of want that hovered just below the surface whenever Kelsey was near. He feathered a trail of kisses across the soft curve of her belly. As he started to move lower, he slid a look up at her. “Can’t have you cold, love.”

He took one thigh and lifted, draping it over his shoulder. As he pressed his tongue against her, her other leg wobbled, then collapsed. Mal caught her weight, supporting her as he began to circle his tongue around her clit. She braced one hand against his shoulder as a sob spilled out of her. With her other hand, she clutched at his head, rocking against his mouth.

The sweet, addictive flavor of her hunger exploded on his tongue, and he growled hungrily. He started to take her to the floor, wanting to spread her thighs wide and feast on her. But under his knees, he felt the chill of the cave floor. He wasn’t going to rut on her on a hard, dirty floor.

Pulling away, he surged to his feet, hauling her against him. A soft bed, silk sheets, plush warm fur to wrap her in—that was what he wanted. But Malachi didn’t have the patience to wait long enough to get her any place other than here. “You deserve better than a cold, damp cave,” he muttered against her lips.

Her hands slipped between them, and Malachi hissed as she freed him from the tight confines of his jeans. She closed her hand around him and drawled, “I have what I want. I don’t care about where we are.”

She held his gaze as she stroked her hand slowly up and down the length of his cock, from base to tip, then again. Each time she slid her hand to the base, she loosened her fingers just a little, then tightened them as she started the upstroke. The slow, maddening massage had him gritting his teeth, arching into her caress, and ready to shoot off like some randy kid.

Heat sizzled along his nerve endings, racing down to pool at the base of his spine. As that warning rush of heat burned hotter, Malachi reached down and closed his fingers over her wrist, dragging her hand away. Reaching out, he grasped her hips and lifted her. Her legs closed around his waist as he pulled her against him. Their gazes locked, and the teasing smile on her lips faded away as he slowly lowered her weight.

The slick silky heat enveloped him like a glove. Against his chest, he could feel her heart pounding. Already, a fine sheen of sweat glistened on her skin, and the scent of her body was hot and ripe. Her hands came up to his shoulders, her fingers digging into his skin as she braced herself. As he started to lift her up, she rose up, her knees squeezing his hips.

She felt so damned right in his arms; the scent of her body as she edged closer to climax was familiar, as familiar as his own name. Her lashes were lowered, hiding her eyes. “Look at me,” he said roughly. “I want to see you. Each time, every time—”

After so long, he needed it.

Their eyes met once more, and held. Deep, gleaming blue stared into warm, fiery hazel gold as she rode him. Kelsey’s pussy tightened around his cock, and each rhythmic, gripping pulse took him closer and closer to exploding. Her head fell back, a hoarse, hungry moan escaping her lips. Malachi lowered his lips to the exposed line of her neck and raked the delicate skin with his fangs.

Kelsey mewled. That hungry, female sound was a fire in his blood. Hunger tore into him like a ravening beast, biting and clawing. Gripping the soft, firm curve of her ass in his hands, he held her still as he thrust hard against her. The next sound she made was a broken little scream. Mal fisted a hand in her hair and slanted his mouth over hers, swallowing the second scream down.

He thrust into her again, but it was like he couldn’t get deep enough, hard enough, fast enough. Spinning on his heel, he took two steps and braced her back against the uneven, chilly wall of the cave. She arched up against him and tightened her legs around his waist. “Be still,” he rasped against her lips, reaching behind him, loosening her heels. As her legs started to slide down, he hooked his elbows under her knees, opening her wide.

Looking down, he stared at where they joined, the flushed pink lips of her sex stretched so tight around his cock. The sight was like tossing gasoline on a flaming inferno. He started to drive deep inside, shafting her with hungry, hard strokes. Kelsey started to come, her sex clenching his cock. The milking sensations of her climax had his own orgasm slamming into him, exploding. He jetted off inside her and groaned harshly with his face buried in her hair.

The storm passed slowly, the minute contractions in her sex, teasing his cock, drawing his climax on and on. By the time it finally passed, the strength had drained from his legs, and he ended up sprawled on his back with Kelsey draped over his chest.

Still reeling from climax, he closed his eyes. “I love you.”