Shatter (35 page)

“You know what would be great for you?” He kissed again. Licked again. He wanted to do it all night. “Not thinking so much.”

He tugged the edge of her blouse and bra down to expose one perfect nipple and closed his mouth over it. Halina drew a sharp breath. Mitch sucked hard, drawing her breast from his mouth until only her nipple remained between his lips. Then he soothed the abuse with long strokes of his tongue.

Halina dropped her head back, lips parted, and a sound of need and want came from deep in her throat.

“I have to admit,” he murmured, releasing the fabric and moving his hands down the hem at her waist. “Right here, fate did real good.”

While Halina’s mind was still lost in a haze, Mitch pulled her shirt over her head, moving his mouth up her belly in hungry nips and licks and kisses. With every movement, paper crinkled.

He pushed up on his hands, then his knees. He sat back and tugged his shirt over his head. Unfastened his jeans. Then hers. Kissed her luscious body as he tugged them over her hips and stood to ease them down her legs.

When he straightened, she was sitting up, reaching for the waistband of his underwear. Even though he wanted to get his hands on her, he let her pull his boxers down his hips, over his erection, and push them down his thighs.

But too quickly, the fingers of her other hand wrapped around his erect shaft. Sensation tore through his cock, rocked his balls, and shimmered through his pelvis. Mitch’s legs turned into steel poles, welded to the floor, and he couldn’t move.

Mitch didn’t remember closing his eyes. Or gripping the nearby bedpost. Or opening his thighs to make room for her other hand to stroke and tease.

Before he found the ability to open his eyes, Halina took him into her mouth. The slow, slick ride in washed his entire body with a sizzling heat wave. Stuttering in air, Mitch gripped both her hair and the bedpost and lifted his hips toward her mouth. She was hot and lush and perfect. Fire coated every nerve ending in his cock.

“Fuck, that’s good.” The words were a guttural growl. Not anything he would have recognized as coming from him.

She sucked him slowly, luxuriantly, as if they had all the time in the world, as if she’d never tire of having him fill her mouth, as if she’d rather have his cock on her tongue than chocolate.

“Love . . . the way you . . .” Mitch pulled in an extra breath, made a sound deep in his throat. Electricity arced from her mouth through his body. “But you . . . gotta stop . . .”

“Mmm,” she hummed in complaint, before sliding him fully into her mouth again.

Mitch pulled in a harsh breath, swore. Wanted this to go on and on and on. The pleasure she brought him was so excruciating it melted his brain. But he couldn’t. He wanted her too badly.

“Hali . . .” He slid a hand from her hair down to her jaw, tightened his fingers and tried to pull her back, but she was focused. Relentless. And now, Mitch could feel the roll of her tongue where his thumb rested under her chin. Could feel the indents of her cheeks where they caved beneath his palm. Could feel the rock of her head back and forth beneath his fingers as she slid his length in and out of her mouth.

Christ, that was erotic. He forced his eyes open and tilted his head down to look at her. He found her watching him, and the look in her eyes hit him like a strike of lightning. Soft yet sexual. Sweet yet sinful. Sensual, seductive, salacious. She seemed to reach inside him with a single look and wrap her hand around his soul.

He surged toward climax. Caught himself at the last second. And held her head steady as he pulled out of her mouth.

“Holy shit,” he breathed, holding her shoulders as his brain came back to him.

“You still taste amazing.” Her hands stroked his abdomen and rose to his chest.

Mitch stepped in, circled her waist, and moved her up on the bed. With his head still in a fog, he pulled off her panties, unlatched her bra and . . . at last . . . she was naked.

“Perfect,” he said and sank every inch of his naked body against every inch of hers.

He closed his eyes, soaking in the joy of it. The sense of completion he’d missed for so long. So damn good it hurt. With his forehead against her shoulder, he groaned.

She scratched her fingernails up his back, then smoothed her palms down over the rise of gooseflesh.

“Damn, nothing has ever felt this good, Hali.” He grinned. “Not even you, way back.”

She slapped his back with a laugh. “Shut up.”

Grinning, he pulled her into a sitting position, then lifted her onto his lap. His cock rode along her hot opening perfectly as he tied the cord of the necklace at the base of her neck. He pressed the disk flat against the skin of her chest just below the hollow of her throat and appreciated the beautiful way it contrasted with her skin.

“Sexy,” he murmured.

She gasped, her hand covering the disc.

Mitch’s gaze jumped to hers. “What?”

“I . . . don’t know. It’s . . . I’m . . . all tingly.”

He grinned. Caressed her shoulders, her back. “That’s me, baby, not the disc.”

She laughed, but immediately stopped and gripped Mitch’s biceps, her gaze distant.

“Halina?” he frowned. “What’s happening?”

She grimaced, clearly in pain. “I don’t know.”

Panic nudged aside his excitement. “Well, shit . . .
guess
.”

“It feels like . . . the disc is drawing the energy from my body. And it’s concentrating in my chest. And it’s . . . hot. And tight.” She was struggling to breathe. “It feels like it’s squeezing . . . ”

“Dammit.” Mitch pushed his hands beneath her hair and felt for the knot, digging at it with his nonexistent nails to get it undone. “Shit. I shouldn’t have knotted the damn thing. I didn’t expect . . .”

Halina took measured breaths and clung to him, her cheek on his shoulder.

“Mitch,” she said, her body relaxing. She slid her palms down his arms and covered his frantic hands, breathing deep. “It’s okay. It’s gone.”

He brought his hands to her face. She looked a little . . . drunk. She covered his fingers with hers, tipped her head, and kissed his palm.

“You’re . . . okay?” he asked.

She sighed. “I feel . . . God, I feel almost . . . normal.”

Mitch sputtered a laugh. “Around here, normal is so relative.”

“I feel
good
. . . in a way I haven’t since I spilled those chemicals . . . Loose. Light. It’s like . . .” She looked him in the eye. Pulled her hands from his and slid flat palms up his belly to his chest, brushing his nipples, making him flinch in pleasure. His fingers dug into her waist on an indrawn breath. “It’s like all the distraction making me nervous and anxious and . . . scared . . . has faded into the background.”

Halina brushed his nipples again, drew her fingernails down his abdomen.

“And now, all I feel is . . .
want
.” The last word came as a low, dark whisper, mirroring the desire that had expanded inside him. “Overwhelming, uncontrollable . . .
need
.”

Mitch grabbed her hands, stilling them. “I have that too, Hali, but I want more. I want it all. One hundred and fifty percent of you, Halina. Nothing less.”

 

She opened her mouth, but couldn’t get anything out and just shook her head.

“Halina, listen to me.” He slid his hands into her hair and held her head while looking deep into her eyes. “I want you, Hali—
just you
—in my life. I know I’ve been a total fuckup the last couple of days. I know I’ve done and said things that have hurt you. But it stops here. Now.” So much regret and pain filled his eyes. “You are absolutely the only woman I’ve ever loved.”

The words wrapped around her heart and squeezed. Her breaths stuttered into her lungs. The tears started up again and she covered her eyes. “Oh, Mitch . . .”

“Hali,” he said, his voice deep and soft. “Just before you left I had something important to ask you. Seeing you again seven years later and realizing I love you just as much as I did then tells me it was definitely right.”

She lowered her hand and blinked, suddenly exhausted and confused. “What—?”

Halina focused on the box he held in front of her—the ring sparkled up at her in the dim light, snuggled deep into the black velvet.

She gasped. Something hot and painful seized her throat. She brought a fist to the pain and couldn’t tell whether it was fear or excitement. Her gaze snapped to his, bright gold and shining.

“Okay,” he said, then cleared his voice when it cracked. “It’s been a long time. Let’s see if I can remember . . .”

His eyes suddenly glazed over with anxiety, as if he realized the seriousness of what he was about to do. He glanced away. “Um . . .” His lips moved silently a moment, as if rehearsing; then he looked directly at Halina again, but as soon as their eyes met, the sliver of confidence he’d built up vanished. “Yeah.”

A laugh escaped and she lifted her hand to cover her mouth.

It didn’t seem to affect Mitch. He just collected himself and said, “I can do this.”

A slight sheen on his forehead caught her eye and her grin grew. “Are you . . . sweating?”

He scowled at her and wiped his face with his forearm. “Only because you’re so hot.”

She laughed again, softly this time. “That came easily enough.”

He covered her mouth with his hand. “Shh. You’re making this even harder than it already is.”

She bit her lip to control the nervous giddiness in her belly and he dropped his hand. When he met her eyes again, he was serious, his nerves quieted.

“Halina,
ya lyublyu . . . tebya vsem serdtsem
.”

She pulled in a breath and everything inside her liquefied. His voice speaking Russian with smooth pronunciation and inflection, telling her how deeply he loved her, stole her breath.

“Ya ne mogu zhit’ bez tebya.”
His claim that he couldn’t live without her came even smoother, his eyes conveying the truth of the words and his plea for her to hear them.

“Ty vyydesh’ za menya?”
The words she’d dreamed of hearing from the day they’d met, “Will you marry me?” hung in the air and showered over her, making every inch of her body glow.

“That’s why you were taking Russian?” she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.

He nodded, his grin widening until his eyes sparkled. “Bet this is throwing your universal fate into one fucking radical tailspin, baby.”

She laughed, pushing out the wetness built up in her eyes.

“Say yes, love,” he whispered urgently. “Say yes to me, to
us
. To taking control over your future.”

She held her breath, hands tented over her nose and mouth as she stared into his beautiful eyes. The one thing, the only thing, she’d ever truly wanted for her life was being offered to her. She was terrified of making the wrong decision. Terrified of sending his fate the wrong direction.

“Jump, Halina,” he urged in a quiet, confident tone. “I
will
catch you.”

Her hands scraped into her hair as terror made one final sweep through her chest before she said, “Yes.” She started shaking—with fear, with joy, with relief. With the hope she’d kept repressed for all these lonely years. “I’ve never wanted anything more than to be with you.”

Mitch’s eyes glazed over in shock. “Oh my God.” He refocused, serious. “Did you . . . just say
yes
?”

Unable to speak through a swollen throat, Halina nodded. He grabbed her and pulled her so tightly against his body, his arms squeezed the air from her lungs. She laughed.

“I didn’t know . . . I didn’t think . . .” she said. “I knew I loved you with everything I had, everything I was. But I . . .” The truth hurt. “I didn’t think I could ever have been enough for you to love me the same.”

Mitch released her and pulled the ring from the box. Halina tightened her fingers in a fist. Stupid. She wanted that ring on her hand. But she’d spent so many years fighting to keep people away . . .

“You’ve always been more than enough,” Mitch said, pulling her hand toward him and uncoiling her fingers. He slipped the ring on, pushed it over her knuckle, and let it settle around the base of her finger. Then he lowered his head and kissed the ring and her finger. “Perfect.” His golden eyes gazed up at her with more love than she’d ever hoped to find. “You’re still a perfect fit.”

She wrapped her free hand around his neck, pulled him to her, and kissed him with all the love in her heart. Mitch met her kiss, matched it. And Halina relaxed into a sense of well-being. A surety that they were going to make this work.

His mouth traveled to her jaw, tongue hot, teeth hungry. Then her breast. He gripped her hips, sliding her flat on the bed and tasting his way down her body. His lips following the curve of her ribs, his teeth nipping at her hip, his tongue circling her navel, then sliding in.

Growing need made her move restlessly beneath him. His teeth bit down on the skin inside her knee then slid those hands, those giving, demanding hands, up her thighs, pushing them open, until she was spread and he was staring down at her, eyes molten fire.

He pulled her into his lap again, positioning his length to slide along her entrance. Halina lifted her hips, moving against him, needing him inside her.

“Do you want a condom?” he murmured between little bites to her lips.

She opened her eyes, tried to focus. “I . . .”

“Because I want you. All of you.” He grinned and he kissed her again. “And I want a little you. A daughter. A son. One of each.”

She tightened her arms around his shoulders, rose up on her knees, and let his head ease into her on a whispered, “I love you so much.”

“God, Hali . . .” he groaned against her throat. “You feel so . . . perfect.”