Magic Misled (Lizzie Grace #7) - Keri Arthur Page 0,24

on my mouth and my senses, and it left me dizzy and heated and wanting him like crazy. Which was undoubtedly the point.

“You don’t play fair, Ranger,” I murmured when he finally pulled back.

His blue eyes glimmered with amusement and desire. “As the saying goes, all’s fair in love and war. And speaking of loving—I’m thinking you’re a little overdressed.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m only wearing a towel. You’re fully dressed. If anyone needs to be shedding clothes, it’s you.”

“A situation that is easily fixed.”

He immediately rose, but he didn’t strip off in any great hurry. Instead, he made it a tease, removing each item of clothing so slowly that I just wanted to scream for him to get on with it.

He was absolutely beautiful naked. The fire’s lights caressed the lean but powerful planes of his body and lovingly played over the length of his erection. My fingers itched to do the same.

He held out a hand. I placed mine in it, and he tugged me up easily, freeing the towel from my body before tossing it nonchalantly onto the sofa. Then he drew me into his arms. His kiss was as hot as his skin and, oh, it was glorious.

From that moment on, there was no talking. We touched and teased, exploring each other, tasting each other, until the air burned with the thick heat of desire and my body was trembling with the need to have him deep inside.

When he finally was, it felt so damn good—so damn right—that I groaned and wrapped my arms around him, holding him still, delaying the moment of completion. For several seconds, neither of us moved. Then his lips caught mine, and he kissed me passionately.

“You,” he whispered eventually, his breath so warm against my mouth and his gaze swirling with emotions he’d never acknowledge, “are all that matters to me. Not my pack, not my parents. You.”

He began to move, the rhythm one as old as time, and the ability to reply—or even think—slipped away as the tide of utter pleasure built and built and then finally crashed over me.

It was only much later, when we finally made it up to the bedroom and he was asleep beside me, that the words came back to haunt me.

Would he remember them when Mia finally came back to the reservation?

Would they make him hesitate when it came to going back to her?

Yes, an inner voice said. But it won’t make a difference.

I closed my eyes and took a deep, somewhat shuddery breath. Damn it, no. I might not be able to fight what destiny had already lain out, but if the bitch wanted him back then she was in for a fight.

There was no way known I was going to make it easy for either of them.

Belle came down the stairs to the coffee shop the next morning, deep shadows under her eyes but her smile wide and her thoughts buzzing with happiness.

I handed her a cup of coffee. “Long night catching up, hey?”

“It was brilliant.” She took a sip and leaned back against the counter. “Did you know Alison already has two kids—a nine-month-old named Beth, and Eddie, a three-year-old boy named after Dad?”

I blinked. Alison was just over five years younger than Belle and hadn’t even been a teenager when we’d left. “Surely not—she’s still a baby herself!”

Belle laughed. “She always did want a big family. She married Dylan Fitzgerald—you remember him? The scrawny kid that kept showing up unannounced at our house.”

“Can’t say that I do. I didn’t actually live at your place, you know, even if I spent more time there than at home.” I slid the bacon and eggs I’d been cooking onto two plates, then handed her one. “What about Josh? What’s he up to these days?”

“He’s apparently in London on an exchange program and is working for the PSI center there.”

Josh was the middle child, three years younger than Belle and, like her, an extremely strong telepath. Unlike his older sister, however, his secondary talent was energy medicine—a rare and much sought after ability that could heal with one’s own empathic, etheric, astral, mental, or spiritual energy. It wasn’t surprising he’d been headhunted by the London unit—they were the biggest PSI center in the world.

“Has he hooked up with anyone?”

“Not in any permanent fashion, as far as Mom knows. Sounds like he’s utterly enjoying the freedoms and lifestyle of such a big modern city.”

I smiled. Canberra—or Melbourne or Sydney for that matter—could never be described