She widened her stance, allowing his thickness to slide between her legs, rubbing against already sensitized flesh until she had to fight to remain on her feet.
He chuckled, a soft, dark sound that was nearly lost in the rush of the water surrounding them. “Eventually. Immortality isn’t a gift—it is something to be earned.”
“As you’ll earn a heartbeat.”
“Yes.”
“Then why haven’t we done this before?”
He reached down, grabbed her thighs and lifted her off her feet as easily as if she weighed nothing at all.
“Torin!” She snaked her arms backward, linking them around his neck to hold on even as her back arched.
“You resisted,” he told her, turning her so that the closest water jet was aimed directly at her. “You didn’t want the mating, only the sex.”
“Sex is pretty good,” she admitted and steeled herself for what was to come. She knew what he was going to do and wanted it as much as he did.
“The mating is better,” he whispered and held her so that the water pumped and pounded directly on her exposed center.
Shea shrieked as the first of the jets hit her clitoris. An incredible, overpowering sensation roared through her like a runaway train. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. She was held in place by his strong arms so that she couldn’t even twist in his grasp. She was helpless to do anything but leave herself open to the pulsing, pounding, hot water jets. It took only seconds to have her body exploding once again, hips rocking helplessly as she rode one wave after another of a pleasure so deep, so shattering, she thought she just might not make it through.
And when, finally, he released her, allowed her body to slide away from the incessant pulses of water, she knew her legs were too weak to hold her.
He set her down onto the bench seat and through the steamy air she struggled for breath. Then she looked into his eyes and whispered, “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
A slow smile curved his mouth and something inside Shea shifted, becoming more than a deep-seated yearning, more personal. More intimate than sex or desire.
Memories stirred at the back of her brain and though she knew she had to remember all she could, at the moment she didn’t want the distraction. Right now, all she wanted was him. Her gaze briefly dropped to his erection and before she could think twice about it, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around him.
He hissed in a breath, pushed himself into her hand, and Shea felt a surge of power that had nothing to do with magic course through her.
“Tell me about the mating,” she whispered.
He took her hand from him and threaded his fingers through hers. Voice tight, eyes churning with shadows and light, he said, “The mating connects us. Our souls. Our hearts. Our bodies. We become stronger together than we are apart. We unite to do what must be done. Every time we come together, the bonds between us will strengthen. At the end of thirty days—should we complete our task—the mating will be complete.”
“If we don’t complete it?”
“The mating will end and our souls will die.”
Shea frowned, but told herself there was no choice here. She needed Torin. So they had to succeed. “I don’t remember what I have to do. What we have to do.”
“You are remembering,” he told her firmly. “And with the mating, your mind will open as well as your body. The knowledge will come. But you must accept it. And me.”
She stood up, and glanced at their joined hands before lifting her gaze to his again. “Tell me what to do.”
He waved one hand and the water shut off. The resulting silence was as thunderous as a roar. Shea would have sworn she heard her own heartbeat pounding as loud as a drum. Her throat tightened and her stomach rolled with a thick mix of nerves and anticipation.
“Come,” he said, drawing her from the shower, walking with her back to the bedroom.
She followed willingly, anxiously. Her gaze dropped, taking in his muscular back and sculpted behind. Her senses skittered wildly as she hurried her steps to keep up with his much longer legs. In the bedroom, he stopped and turned to face her.
There was a fireplace here, too, she thought absently, with a blaze already burning in the hearth. Shadows jumped and danced across the walls and in his eyes. Shea felt the enormity of what they were about to