A Warrior s Desire - By Pamela Palmer Page 0,65

his hands tightening at her waist.

"Tarrys..." A hundred reasons why this was neither the time nor the place flew through his mind.

He should be out there trying to kill as many Esri as he could.

But how, when they knew where he was at every moment and were waiting to kill him? The word hopeless rang through his head.

There was virtually nothing he could do in the short time left to improve his nearly nonexistent chances of success.

Tarrys kissed him, her soft, desperate heat spearing through him.

There was nothing he could do but this.

Loving this woman.

Living while life was still his.

Charlie kissed her back, the desire he'd worked so hard to ignore rushing in, unleashed.

In this moment, she was his to kiss, his to love.

And nothing mattered but this moment.

And Tarrys.

His arms went around her as he pulled her tight against his chest, kissing her, inhaling her.

Affection welled inside him, until he thought he couldn't contain it all.

She was courage and sweetness, strength and light.

His beginning and ultimately, too soon, his end.

Her hands slid into his hair and she kissed him as fiercely as he kissed her, her tongue sweeping inside his mouth, sliding over his.

Tarrys.

Her name echoed through his head and poured into his heart, lighting him from inside with a flame that was as much warmth as heat, as much tenderness as desire.

Her hips rocked against his, brushing his erection, telling him in no uncertain terms what she wanted.

What they both wanted.

He reached down, grabbed twin fistfuls of her gown and yanked it out from under her rear until he could reach beneath.

His fingers sank into the soft warmth of her buttocks, drawing a low moan from her throat as he kissed her, before sliding down the firm, slender thighs spread across his lap.

He longed to touch her everywhere, to touch her until she screamed for release.

There wasn't time for such luxury.

Later, when they got home... A stab of harsh regret buried itself in his chest and he kissed Tarrys harder, shoving back the future and turning the whole of his attention to the woman in his arms, the woman whose thighs were so sweetly parted for him.

As her hips rocked against him, his fingers slid to her buttocks, then down to the moist center of her heat.

Her gasp pulled the breath from his mouth as she melted against him.

So sweet.

He slid his finger inside her and she turned frantic, her fingers digging into his scalp, her mouth crazy with need, her body rocking against him until he thought he'd explode.

He had to touch her.

With shaking hands, he yanked her gown up and over her head until she was naked before him.

As his hands covered her breasts, their hard tips tight against his palms, she met his gaze with eyes glazed with passion.

She leaned forward to kiss his jaw, her lips moving down his neck, sending fire flaming through his blood.

"I want you inside me," she said against his throat.

"Love me, Charlie.

Love me."

His thoughts fled, his senses hijacked.

Tarrys.

She was all he could ever want.

All he could ever need.

He wasn't even aware he'd undressed until he was moving over her, flesh against flesh, her breasts brushing against his chest.

Her hands slid over his shoulders as if the feel of him pleased her.

"Love me, Charlie Rand.

Make love to me."

Looking down into her shadowed face, he pushed inside her with a single stroke, the intensity of his own pleasure mirrored in her face.

Emotion swelled until it pressed against the walls of his chest.

He pulled out of her and slid home a second time, and a third.

Over and over, harder and harder, she rose to meet him, joining with him until he no longer knew where he ended and she began.

Deep in his consciousness, the storm began to rise, buffeting him, threatening to sweep him overboard and drown him if he didn't hold firm, if he didn't protect his heart.

The fury of their lovemaking grew as Tarrys's moans rose and his own body climbed higher with every thrust.

Let go, Charlie.

Come with me.

Tarrys's voice.

In his head.

In his heart.

Fly with me.

The pressure in his chest wouldn't be contained.

His control was lost.

His heart was hers.

Charlie covered her mouth, clinging to her as he thrust into her, as he let go.

The storm of emotions rushed through him, sweeping him up, higher and higher.

Fly with me.

She cried out her release, her soft contractions lifting him to his own.

As the release broke over him, he let go.

And flew on wings born of the overpowering love for her he'd been