Solar Storm (13 page)

Moving with the speed of his former profession—one he rarely displayed—he caught her as she turned to flee and pulled her up hard against him. Gasping in shock, she fought him but was no match for his superior strength. Easily, he quelled her struggles, holding her tight and trying not to think how right she felt against him.
 

“If there’s anyone else…I swear to the gods, he’s a dead man.”

She reared back to look him in the eye. Her own were filled with tears and his heart sank. There
was
someone else.
 

“How
dare
you stand there and say that to me?”
 

Her voice was low and so filled with suppressed anger that he was surprised she didn’t spontaneously combust.
 

“You disappear for months with no word, then you have the
balls
to show up and threaten any guy I’ve been involved with?

Kelwin thought about it for a moment. “Yes.”

She started to open her mouth, but he cut her off with a finger over her lips, talking quickly before she could interrupt him. “I love you, Nerys McQuaid, and I was an ass. I know that now. I shouldn’t have left, but…”
 

He sighed and released her, running a shaking hand through his hair. He didn’t try to conceal his weakness. He was fighting for something far more important than any tactical advantage, honor or even his life. He was fighting for the heart of the woman he loved.
 

He just had to hope it wasn’t a pointless battle.

“I needed to learn the truth for myself. And I was wrong. What I should have done was listen to you.”

She backed up, watching him warily. Then she reached around and pinched herself on the arm. “No, definitely awake. Okay, buddy, who are you and what did you do with my husband?”

My husband.
He savored the words as they rolled off her tongue. Damn, having her call him that sounded good. Holding his hands out to his sides, he approached her as he would a skittish animal. She wasn’t running, nor screaming blue murder. That had to be a good sign.

“I love you, Nerys. I will until the day I die.” His voice was gentle, a vow as he reached her and took her hands in his. “If…”
 

His voice cracked, his heart breaking as he faced the impossible. He couldn’t hurt her, not again. If she had found someone else, finally found happiness, then he couldn’t do anything to destroy that. It would kill him, but he couldn’t do it to her.
 

“If you’ve found someone else…or if you just want me to go because of what I’ve done, I can understand that. I love you too much to hurt you anymore.” He kept his tone soft, as gentle as he could make it as he swept a thumb back and forward over the back of her knuckles.

She looked up at him, her expression guarded. She’d once been so open, her emotions easy to read, but now she was closed. The blank look in her eyes would have done any poker player proud. The knife in his heart twisted again. Something else he’d ruined. Then he caught it—a flicker in her eyes as the mask slipped a little. The tiniest crack in her defenses, but it was enough.
 

“
Is
there anyone else, Nerys?”

He prepared himself for every answer he could think of. What he didn’t expect was for her to swing back and punch him. Hard. He winced, rubbing his arm and looked at her in surprise.

“No, you damn jackass! There’s only ever been you.” She glared at him, all fury and challenge. “I love you, Kelwin Sayeed.”
 

Her blood pounded painfully through her veins as Nerys put her heart on the line. Wariness filtering through every line of her body, she waited for a response from the man in front of her.
 

Idiot,
her instincts screamed. She had to agree with them. Now that he had confirmation of her feelings for him, he could use them against her. And if her life to this point had taught her anything, it was that the people she loved could cause her the most damage and heartache.

He could destroy her. He almost had when he’d left her at the dockside. If he were to laugh now, tell her that it was all a joke and walk away, she wouldn’t survive it. The effect would be too devastating. Shoving her fear down and locking it in the back of her mind, she looked him in the eyes and waited.
 

He dropped his head back and closed his eyes, breathing out a sigh of something…she hoped it was relief. Relief was good, irritation was not. When he lifted his head to look at her again, his eyes were filled with warmth. Tugging on her hands, he pulled her into the circle of his arms.

“Baby, I’ll make sure you never regret saying that.”
 

Her panic eased as he lowered his head to claim her lips. It wasn’t a joke. He’d really meant what he said.
 

His lips caressed hers with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes. A wordless murmur of pleasure in the back of her throat she moved closer, desperate for more of his touch after the drought of the last six months. She needed him more than the air in her lungs.
 

His arms tightened around her as he deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue over the seam of her lips in a silent request. She didn’t pause, opening for him and welcoming his kiss with all the passion and love that welled up from the center of her being.
 

He groaned in surprise and pleasure, sliding his tongue against hers in an erotic and tender dance. Her hand drove into the short hair at the back of his neck. The silken strands felt like heaven against her fingers as she nipped at his lower lip.
 

He pulled away, his breathing ragged as he looked down at her with a pained expression.
 

“Baby, just give me a minute. Please,” he begged, resting his forehead against hers. His body shook with tension, every muscle wound so tight she was sure he must be in pain.

“Kel? Are you okay?” she began, only to have him cut her off with a hard kiss.
 

“I’m sorry, I can’t do slow. You touch me and my body burns…it aches,” he whispered, a hairs-breadth from her lips. “I want to tumble you to the floor, rip your clothes off and take you right now.” He closed his eyes again and drew in a shaky breath. “But I have to be slow and tender. I want this to be special.”

She stood, stunned for a second at the passion and pain in his voice. Heat hit her body like a solar charge, licking over her skin and settling in her blood. That he was in such agony over making her feel special eased something deep in her soul.

She reached up to press a kiss against his lips. “It will be special. Just be yourself. I don’t want anyone else. Just you.”

A shudder when through his big body, and before she could argue, she found herself scooped up in his arms. The darkness in his eyes pulled the heat to her core, her pussy clenching as he strode toward the bedroom and, within it, the massive circular bed.

“Pull the blinds…” Her voice was a whisper as she kissed along his neck. “I’m fed up of the freaking sun. Pull the blinds and make love to me, Kelwin.”

“Computer, close blinds.”
 

He walked up the steps around the bed easily and laid her gently on the cool surface. Without missing a beat, he followed her down, his lips on hers again. She welcomed him, wrapping her arms tight around his muscular body as if she never intended to let him go. She didn’t.

Their clothes melted away, removed by loving hands. Soft moans and gasps filled the shadowed bedroom. As each bit of skin was revealed, it was kissed or caressed until she didn’t know which way was up. Her entire body hummed with arousal as she writhed on the silken sheets. On fire for the one thing she knew only he could give her.

“Please, Kel…”

Nudging her thighs apart, he settled over her. As the broad head of his erection nudged against the slick entrance to her body, she looked up into his eyes. Love and desire warmed the arctic-blue, emotions so honest she felt the last of her fears melt away.
 

As he pushed into her, she reached up and cupped his cheek.
 

“I love you, Kelwin.”

“Baby, I’m sorry. For everything.” Hours later, Kelwin buried his face against the curve of her neck, holding her to him tightly. “Forgive me.”

She smiled the smile of a woman who had regained hope and stroked the back of his neck. Sighing in contentment, she closed her eyes. The future and endless possibilities spread out in front of them. And she planned to explore everything life had to offer with Kelwin at her side.

“Only if you do that thing with your tongue again.”

He chuckled and started to kiss down the side of her neck.
 

“Your wish is my command, Mrs. Sayeed.”

About the Author

Mina Carter was born and raised in Middle Earth (otherwise known as the Midlands, England). After a slew of careers ranging from logistics to land-surveying, she can now be found in the wilds of Leicestershire with her husband and daughter…the true boss of the family.

Suffering the curse of eternal curiosity, Mina never tires of learning new skills, which has led to aromatherapy, corsetry, chain-maille making, welding, canoeing, shooting, and pole-clinging (closely related to pole-dancing but for those terrified of heights) to name but a few.

A full time author and cover artist, Mina can usually be found hunched over a keyboard or graphics tablet, frantically trying to get the images and words in her head out and onto the screen before they drive her mad. She’s addicted to coffee and Nutella on toast.

www.mina-carter.com

www.twitter.com/minacarter

www.facebook.com/mina.carter

Look for these titles by Mina Carter

Now Available:

Reaper

Perfect Mate

Print Anthology

End of Days

Monsters do exist...and they’re the good guys

Perfect Mate

© 2012 Mina Carter

Lillian Rosewood leads an ordinary, boring life working as the manager of a psychiatric hospital. The highlights of her day, other than her skinny hot chocolate, are the hunky guards who work in the secure section. Until a late-night emergency is wheeled in.
 

Captain Jack Harper is insane, drop-dead gorgeous...and just had his abdomen shredded. Despite the fact they're not an emergency room, Lillian can't turn him away and risk a death on her hands. Unable to get the handsome soldier out of her mind, Lillian sneaks into the restricted area to check on him. What she finds is beyond belief. Somehow Jack has managed to heal himself from a near-fatal wound in mere hours.
 

When one of the doctors, Walker, attempts to rape her, things go from bad to worse. In the blink of an eye, Jack is loose and Walker is dead... and Lillian must accept a truth about her rescuer that will change her world forever. What if the patients aren't insane? What if their stories of secret government experiments and monsters are true?
 

Warning: Contains blood, mayhem and nude werewolves operating heavy weaponry. Large amounts of sarcasm and smart-ass vampires may offend some readers. No civilian hospital staff were harmed in the making of this story.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Perfect Mate:

She couldn’t believe she was crying. Lillian didn’t cry. Ever. She was tougher than that. Tougher than the stereotypical little woman who fell apart at the first sign of danger… Or the mother who couldn’t cope after the death of her husband and hightailed it to her lover with teary demands to “make the nightmare go away”. And conveniently forgot the fact she’d left her baby daughter behind.

She was not that woman, nor anything like her.

Once in the corridor, away from the stench of death and the sight of all that black,
wrong
blood, she stepped away from Jack and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. Despite the fact he’d just killed a man, there was something about him that made her feel safe. Safe with a murderer. Okay, now she
knew
she was losing it. Perhaps insanity ran in her family and they’d just never told her?

“I’m sorry. I’m not normally like this,” she apologized as she looked up and offered a small, teary smile. Her mouth already open to explain, she stopped.

He was gorgeous.
 

She’d known that. When they’d brought him in, her mind had told her that he was sex on a stick. But he’d been injured, a patient. Even though she was the hospital manager, she was bound by the patient-doctor thing, surely? The one that said “thou shalt not lust after the patients”.

Now though, without all the blood and the ragged uniform—even in the hospital gown that did nothing for anyone—he was so good-looking it took her breath away. She shook her head slightly, waiting for the hidden cameras and some cheesy reality show host to burst out of the supply cabinet in the corridor next to them. He couldn’t be for real. Soldiers just didn’t look that good.