The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance #1) - Dianne Duvall Page 0,102
lifemate?”
“Very much so.”
Lisa couldn’t imagine not having him at her side either. Nor did she want to. She loved him. “Yes,” she said with a smile. “I’ll marry you.”
He surged to his feet and dragged her into a rough embrace. “Thank you.”
She held him tight. “I love you so much, Taelon.”
He drew back enough to press a tender kiss to her lips. “I love you more than I ever knew I could love another.” Stepping back, he opened the black box.
A thick silver band rested inside, dark symbols etched into its shiny surface.
A look of uncertainty flickered across his handsome features as he removed the ring and tossed the box aside. “The commercials I’ve seen on your television indicate that women of Earth prefer gold and diamonds. But I wanted you to have a ring like Amiriska’s that would better represent our bond. Riska said gold is weak and malleable, but silver is strong like the love I bear you.”
She smiled. “And the love I bear you.”
He drew a finger over the ring’s surface. “Riska also said these symbols are from Earth’s Hebrew language, taken from the scripture of Ruth. They mean Where you go, I will follow. If you change your mind, Lisa, and wish to remain here on Earth, I will stay with you. Your home will be my home. Your people will be my people. And I will make a life here with you and our daughter.” He slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. “If you choose instead to go to Lasara, my home will be your home. My people will be your people. And my family will be your family.” He kissed the ring on her finger. “As long as we’re together, I know we’ll be happy.”
Rising onto her toes, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “I haven’t changed my mind, Taelon. We’re going to Lasara.” She kissed him again. Only one worry pecked at her happiness. “But aren’t you concerned about my shorter lifespan?”
Taelon had shocked the hell out of her by confessing he was eighty years old and Ami was fifty. Taelon looked no more than thirty, and Ami looked like she was in her early twenties. Their parents were three or four hundred years old and just beginning to acquire a few gray hairs.
Lisa had no hope of living that long and worried about what it would be like to grow old while he remained young.
But Taelon shook his head. “The Sectas can lengthen your lifespan so it will mimic a Lasaran’s.”
She stared at him. “Really?”
He nodded. “They are very advanced medically.” The fact that he didn’t seem at all concerned about it compelled her to believe him.
“I can live hundreds of years?”
“Yes.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
“On Lasara.” A utopian planet with no war or famine.
Unease entered his expression. “Do you… consider that a bad thing?”
“Hell no.” She rose onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his tempting lips. “I think it’s the best thing ever.” She kissed him again. “And the ring is perfect.” A perfect representation of their bond, as he’d said. “You’re perfect.” She kissed him again, longer and deeper, desire swiftly rising as he slid his arms around her and pressed her against him. “Now take off your clothes and get in that bed so we can bond physically, too.”
He grinned. “Drek yes.”
Their hands flew into action, their lips clinging and tasting. She tugged off his tie and jacket. He tugged off her dress. She wrestled with his dress shirt. He yanked it open impatiently, sending buttons scattering across the floor.
His tongued parted her lips and plunged inside to stroke hers as he yanked her to him. Both moaned at the feel of warm flesh against flesh.
“You’re so small,” he murmured.
She laughed. “There’s no big belly between us now.” To prove it, she pressed her flat stomach to his muscled abs, rubbed her hips against the erection his pants constrained.
Groaning, he slid a hand down to palm her ass and press her tighter against him.
She rose onto her toes, fitting them together better.
He rocked his hips against hers.
Heat shot through her.
He trailed a path of kisses down her neck, delivered a love bite she felt all the way to her core. One of his large hands clasped her breast. Squeezed. Drew a thumb across the hardened peak.
She moaned as sensation shot through her. “I think my breasts are more sensitive now. I could practically come just from you touching them.”