Eternity and a Year (18 page)

Carrie squeezed her arms tightly around his ribs, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. “It doesn’t really matter, anyway,” she said. “I could live anywhere, as long as I was with you.”

“I feel the same way,” Brendan breathed, pressing his mouth against hers and kissing her as water beaded around their lips.

“So we’ll leave at dusk?” Carrie asked when their mouths parted.

“As soon as the sun sets,” he said.

“Then we’d better get some sleep,” she remarked. “I’m tired, aren’t you?” The ordeal in the old warehouse had been taxing, and despite the fact dawn was still a couple of of hours away, Carrie felt exhausted. Sleep promised escape, both from physical demands and the mental images she had accumulated during the course of the night.

“I am,” Brendan said, “but…” He pulled Carrie tight against himself, and the hard swell of his erection pressed between her legs. “We started something earlier tonight, and I’d like to finish it.”

Minutes later, Carrie lay wet and dripping on the bed, her hair splayed across the pillows in damp disarray. Brendan lowered himself between her slick thighs, his wet skin gliding smoothly over hers. Carrie lay tense beneath him.

“Relax,” he said. “If this is the last night we’re going to spend in this bed, we might as well make a mess.”

“It’s not that,” Carrie sighed.

“Then what is it?” Brendan cupped one of her breasts firmly in his hand, sending a little rivulet of water streaming down her side.

“I can’t forget the last time you took me like this…and Isadora appeared. When she kicked you and you hit the wall, it made such a horrible sound, I thought maybe—”

Brendan silenced her with a kiss. “I’m a little tougher than you realise,” he said. “You shouldn’t have worried. I promised you, didn’t I, that I’d be your husband for eternity and a year? Well, I meant it.”