He brushed the tangled tendrils from her face. A smile touched his mouth. “Yes, bébé. It’s me.”

  Confusion filled her eyes. Shock and disbelief, then anger took its place upon her face.

  To his surprise her struggles began anew. For a moment, he thought she might head-butt him. Then she stilled. Her breaths were short pants.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Her voice was clipped, until her eyes grew misty and her features weary. He could sense her internal struggle to restrain the tears from falling.

  Before he could answer, she muttered, “You left me—fucked me, and then left me.” Gone was the smoky sexiness in her voice. Instead, he heard the desperation of a child. Starring up at him with innocent eyes, she appeared fragile, as if a mere word would shatter her.

  “Forgive me.” He stroked her back, trying to ease the tremor that shook her. “It was not my intention to distress you. My business calls me away during the early morning hours. I had planned to return to you this very evening, but you were gone.”

  Relief filtered through him when he felt the tension drain from her body. Her clenched fists relaxed, fingertips moving up his arms. Her light touch made his cock harden. He buried his nose in her silky hair and breathed in the sweet scent of woman. His lips found the pulse of life beating in her throat. He kissed her softly, not prepared for her to jerk out of his arms.

  Wide-eyed, she took another step backward. “How did you find me?” Her suspicion was palpable, rolling off her in waves. She braced her feet. He knew she prepared to flee if he answered incorrectly.

  He didn’t reach for her or try to approach. Instead, he took a less intimidating stance and turned his back to her. “We are two of a kind,” he lied. “We both possess gifts.” Well, at least that was true.

  “What?”

  “You are not the only one who possesses the ability to read people. I have touched your thoughts.” He prepared himself for her reaction.

  “You’re a mind reader?” she asked.

  He pivoted. “Of sorts, yes.” The fear he thought to see on her face was absent. Something close to relief shadowed her eyes.

  “I knew there had to be others like me.” A pregnant pause followed her words. Then he saw the muscles in her throat tighten. “I’ve felt so different all my life—so alone. I never thought I’d meet— You’re not married, are you?”

  His burst of laughter surprised them both. “No.” He closed the distance between them. “No, I’m not married, engaged or even divorced.” He reached for her, but stopped short.

  It was true. The realization took his breath away. He and Meryell had not been mated. He had lusted—she had used the knowledge against him. The outcome had been her death and his. How strange that he would see the fateful night so differently. Perhaps it was the virtue he saw gleaming in Annie’s eyes that had never been present in Meryell’s, who had used his desires against him.

  “Still, how did you find m—” He stole her words away with a kiss.

  She was soft and warm against his body. With little enticement her lips parted, allowing him access to savor her taste. Sweet. Innocent.

  “Mine.” The declaration felt right as he whispered it against her lips. A twitch in his balls drew them up against his body. His cock throbbed, lengthening to press hard to her belly. “I want to fuck you here—now.” His deep voice dropped even lower. “Will you allow me to show you the magic of the night?”

  Chapter Four

  Beneath a full moon glistening off the ocean’s silvery waves, Annie whispered “Yes” to Etienne’s request to take her on the beach. The passion in his long, slow kiss stripped her of any resistance. She was putty in his strong, expert hands that stroked up her arms once, twice, before slipping beneath her T-shirt. He cradled her waist, fingertips smoothing across her rib cage, barely caressing the undersides of her breasts to raise gooseflesh. Her nipples beaded in response. Electricity stinging them to create a sweet hum that filtered throughout her body, pulling on the strings of her desire.

  “Mine,” he growled as he nipped her throat. His thumbs continued to circle the swells of her breasts with a featherlight touch.

  The pulse in her neck jumped, almost as if it sought his attention. While her blood heated with a fire that bordered on discomfort, her clothes began to suffocate her. She needed to be naked. She needed him naked.

  Desperately she pulled at his T-shirt, pushing the material over his head as he did the same to hers, their arms and hands tangling. A shadowed glimpse of his rock-hard chest, flat, brown nipples and the swirl of dark hair that led to his shorts dampened her thighs. With an unexpected urgency, she fumbled with the zipper of her shorts, watching in anticipation as he slid his down his legs.

  Annie had never felt desire so all-consuming. Maybe it was the trials of the day making her respond irrationally, but she wanted him.

  Here. Now. Beneath the moonlit sky.

  It was of no concern to her that someone might happen upon them. All that mattered was having him buried deep within her body.

  A cool breeze brushed her heated skin. Waves licked gently at their ankles, as he took her into his embrace. His cock was velvet steel pressed to her belly, causing another release of moisture between her thighs. A subtle throb began there, but when he released her lips and nipped that sensitive spot on her throat, the palpitations morphed into an ache. The coil low in her stomach began to twist, tighter and tighter.

  “I need you inside me.” It was a plea she couldn’t help. Something was happening to her. She felt torn apart from the inside out. She locked her jaws, her teeth grinding together. “Etienne, fuck me—now,” she moaned.

  Had desperation and the need to be held—loved—pushed her to such lengths as to beg to be taken?

  He moved so quickly everything was a blur. One second she was standing, the next she was on her hands and knees, water splashing against them, sending droplets up into the air and then raining down upon them. He moved behind her, his fingers braced around her waist. With a single thrust of his hips, his cock separated her folds, filling her completely.

  The exquisite fullness stole her breath. As he rocked back and forth to the rhythm of the ocean, his erection rubbed against a particularly sensitive spot. She gasped. The friction was intense. Hot.

  “Harder,” she gasped. “Faster.” Her demand was answered with a deep growl.

  He surged once again, flesh slapping flesh, almost knocking her arms from beneath her. A palm to her abdomen saved her from a face full of seawater and sand. But when his wicked fingers moved downward, found the seed of her pleasure, her pussy clenched. Spasms, one after another, tightened and released.

  “Etienne!” She screamed his name, nearly exploding from beneath him.

  Stars from the heavens burst behind her eyes, as an earth-shattering climax released. It tore through her unmercifully, curling her toes in the soft sand and wrenching his name from her lips once more. She didn’t care if the entire world heard her cry.

  There was something primal in the way he took her from behind. It thrilled and aroused her, driving her deeper into the haze of sensation. It made her blood race like a river out of control.

  He rode her hard, fast, just as she asked, wringing the last bit of sensation from her boneless body. Then with a twist, she found herself supine, staring at the heavens. Eddies of water and sand swirled around her exposed breasts, making it feel as though invisible fingers caressed and teased. But it was the dark, hungry eyes of the man hovering above her that made her heart skip a beat.

  He moved so that he was situated on his shins, kneeling between her thighs.

  “Do you know how beautiful you are when you are lost in the embrace of an orgasm?” As Etienne spoke, he placed his hands on her knees, guiding her legs apart. “The rise of your pleasure. Your skin flush, your quick shallow pants. That soft mewling sound you make—it fucking turns me on.” His voice was thick.

  A flame of embarrassment flashed across her face. She was stunned speechless. No one had ever spoken to her like that. Most of her lovers were the slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind. No words of seduction—and in a French accent to boot.

  His heated gaze held hers calmly, certain of her beauty, of his desire.

  Her hair was a wild mass floating and bobbing around her head, tickling her skin when it came in contact. As water rushed in and out of her ears, the night took on a dreamy effect. She felt buoyant, free and happy.

  “You have a body made for loving.” His palms smoothed down her thighs, caressed her knees, until his fingers circled her ankles.

  Did she hear him correctly? The hollow roar of the ocean rolling in and out of her ears drowned certain words. She raised her head, clearing her ears.

  “Soft. Pliable. The scent of your arousal unmans me.”

  She hissed in a breath. More. Talk dirty to me please.

  “Tonight I will take every sinful pleasure your body has to offer. I’ll take you over and over, until your body burns for me.”

  Slowly Etienne drew her ankles up to lie atop his shoulders—spreading her legs wider. The position exposed her to his ravenous gaze. His hands reversed their course, caressing up her legs, until he slipped them beneath her ass, raising her hips out of the water.

  Removing one hand from beneath her, his fingers closed firmly around his cock. With firm strokes, his palm slid up and down his shaft, before placing it at against the heat of her sex. Slowly he leaned into her, his firm erection pushing past her swollen folds. Inch by delicious inch, he entered her until he was seated deep inside.

  She gasped. A deep, pleasurable groan followed.

  “Tight,” he murmured. “You fit me perfectly. So wet. So hot.”

  His wicked words were like fuel to her libido. She bucked, writhing beneath him, trying to increase the gentle pace he had begun. His grip on her hips forced her to accept his rhythm.

  In and out.

  Slow and easy.

  Over and over again.

  Sand shifted beneath her, a sinful caress. The moon shone bright, stars diamond bright against a midnight sky. And the man of her dreams was carrying her once again straight to heaven. It was the most romantic experience of her life.

  Her clit emerged from its hood, hard and swollen. The pulse beating within its confines was reaching the point where pain and pleasure blurred. He teased her nipple with a soft touch.

  Desire lit like a flame in the pit of her stomach. Her back bowed, as a maelstrom of sensations rocketed. Desperately, she gyrated against him. Rotating her hips one way and then another, she took him deeper, needing to consume all of him.

  Etienne’s grip firmed. “That’s it, bébé. Give it to me.”

  The walls of her sex clenched tight, refusing to release him. Wave after wave of spasms greeted her with each twist and turn, until she screamed out in ecstasy.

  Flushed cheeks, rapid breaths, and Annie’s heartbeat throbbed at her neck. She looked so vulnerable, caught somewhere between heaven and earth.

  Etienne couldn’t wait any longer. His cock was stretched beyond comfort, filled with the heat of his passion. His mouth salivated, thirsty to taste her. He placed his tongue against the palpitation in her throat, smoothing over it several times, before he positioned his fangs above the vein. He pressed a hand against her fluttering belly, felt the last of her climax filter through her. Sending her a mental command to veil his next move, he curled one hand around her nape, held her close and then pierced her sweet flesh.

  The second her blood reached his taste buds, his balls hardened, slamming against his body. His cock jerked uncontrollably. He pumped his hips once more, before white-hot fire ripped down his shaft. The dam burst. The explosion from the small slit on the crown of his cock shook him to the core.

  Hell. It rocked his world.

  Over and over, he bathed her womb with his milky substance. Marking this woman his, as he took her body and soul. Savoring her, as the last of his climax died.

  With a swipe of his tongue, he licked away the small beads of blood that squeezed out of the wound, before he sealed it closed. Yet this time he left two tiny marks visible, announcing she was his.

  She clung to him, wildly, almost urgently.

  It was at that moment he realized they were two lost souls reaching for each other, both running from their demons. They needed each other. A peace he had never felt before wrapped its arms around him, cradled him in the recognition.

  The sated sigh she released made him ask, “Tired?” He pressed his lips to her forehead, tasting salt and woman.

  “A little. But I thought there was a promise of fucking me all night long.”

  When their eyes met they both began to smile. He felt the joy from his head to his toes.

  With a push he climbed to his feet, extending her his hand. “Don’t think I’m through with you. I plan to do just that—take you all night long.”

  Her hand was so small in his. Yet it felt perfect as they locked fingers and he helped her rise. With a mental thought he washed their bodies free of sand and let the warm breeze cleanse them.

  “Perhaps we should get dressed before going back to your place,” he suggested.

  After they dressed, sandals in their hands, they made their way up the beach. The roar of the ocean was at their backs as they walked toward the parking lot. It was empty except for her vehicle.

  Her gaze darted around. “Where’s your car?”

  “Down the beach,” he answered quickly.

  He could see more questions forming in her dipped brows. Even under duress, she was thinking and combing through his words for holes. He used magic, an illusion, to conjure up a dark sedan.

  “I’ve been walking the shores in hope of finding you,” he continued to lie.

  She unlocked the driver’s door, climbed in and then reached over to unlock his. “But you had no idea what car was mine.”

  “As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw you leave like a bat out of hell this morning. I was concerned, so I followed you. Lost you in Apache Junction, and then picked up your trail an hour or so later. What made you leave so quickly?” He knew the answer by slipping in and out of her consciousness when she wasn’t aware. His first attempt to touch her mind had taught him she wasn’t the run-of-the-mill human. Her talents were real. He knew he had to be more covert when dealing with her. Only when she was preoccupied with other thoughts was she susceptible to his invasions. Gently, he issued a compulsion for her to accept his explanation and that he would come back later to retrieve the vehicle.

  Shadows crept before her eyes. “It was just time.”

  She didn’t trust him. Could he blame her? He was a stranger. What was happening between them was probably as much a surprise to her as it was to him. There was no logical reason for their attraction.

  “Did that white Cadillac following you have something to do with you leaving?” he pried, trying to get her to open up and talk to him.

  She snapped her wide-eyed gaze in his direction and then back onto the road. A pregnant pause lingered. Car beams lit up the car’s interior as he studied her. Her fingers were curled tightly around the steering wheel. Her complexion was ashen, her features tight. The scent of fear rose from her skin.

  He’d kill the man who had made her into a shell of a woman.

  “My stepfather.” She offered nothing more.

  Etienne didn’t pressure her. When she was ready to talk he would be here.

  Annie pulled the Volkswagen into a shabby little motel. The neon lights blinked off and on. The peeling paint and worn doors revealed this one-story, twenty-four-room dwelling had seen better days. She licked her lips nervously as she glanced at him. He could sense her embarrassment.

  “It’s all I could find so late at night.”

  With a swipe of his hand, he brushed her dampened hair away from her face. “It’s perfect. Just right for a rendezvous,” he teased, trying to lighten the moment.

  High-strung laughter emerged from her parted lips. “It is, isn’t it?” In the blue-gray cast moonlight, the out of the way place was perfect for two lovers not wanting to be discovered. “And to think I chose it because it was cheap.” She chuckled again.

  They both reached for the doorknob at the same time. Within seconds they were in each other’s arms.

  “Give me the card-key,” he said against her mouth.

  Annie blindly dug through her purse as she pressed light kisses against his throat. He couldn’t wait to feel her teeth pierce his skin, feel the minute his blood touched her tongue and the conversion began.

  By the time he had the door open, they were both breathless, tearing at each other’s clothes. When Etienne’s palms touched her silky, bare skin he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. In a heap they tumbled upon the bed. Arms and legs intertwined in an effort to get closer. He pushed a hand between her thighs, finding her moist and ready. He buried two fingers into her lush heat, loving the way her body reacted to him, clenching, pulling him deeper.

  “You’re so tight,” Etienne whispered against her ear. “Do you taste as good as you feel?”

  He inhaled her sexual fragrance as he trailed his lips down her neck. She arched into his touch, giving him more access. He spent a moment stroking her throat, and the fire burned inside him. His gums ached. His need to bring her over to his world beat stronger, but he couldn’t arbitrarily make that decision for her. Etienne wouldn’t force upon her the life that had been dealt him.

  When Etienne sucked Annie’s nipple into his hot, wet mouth a whirlpool of awareness screamed through her body. With each pull and tug of his mouth he created a sweet friction that raced from her breast to her clit. The swollen bud pulsed, tightened.

  His fingertip circled, barely touching, teasing the small organ, causing her climax to approach hard and fast. Tension built and exploded. Sudden heat fractured throughout. But it was the quickness with which he moved between her legs, the pressure of his lips to her folds and the sharp nip against her sensitive skin that splintered her thoughts.