She was riding his body, mounting him, holding him hard under her. She was aching, aching.
‘Tori,’ he whispered, and then he groaned and then there was no space for words at all. For finally, searingly, wondrously, he was a part of her. His rhythm was her rhythm, his body was her body-skin merging into skin, body merging into body, and the night was dissolving in a haze of heat and want and pure, wondrous delight.
She loved. For tonight, she even trusted. For tonight, this was her man.
CHAPTER SIX
SOMEWHERE towards dawn they made their way back to the lodge. Jake drove. Tori sort of…wafted. She felt beautiful. She felt cherished. More.
She felt as if her world had transformed-like the grey had shifted and the sun was shining through. It marked an end of the dreariness, she thought, and as Jake refused to let her walk but carried her from the car to the house-and that meant carrying Rusty as well because she wasn’t letting him go-she felt as if she’d moved to another life.
The dawn was beginning to glimmer over the mountains. When the household woke, life would begin again.
Life on the other side…
‘You’re smiling like the cat that got the cream,’ he murmured, as he climbed the verandah steps and her smile broadened.
‘I believe I am. I believe I did.’
‘Tori…’
‘No.’ She reached up and touched his lips. ‘Not a word. Nothing. That was just…perfect. It woke me up. It was like life started again. I don’t know if you can understand…’
‘All I understand is that you’re beautiful. Can I carry you to my bedroom?’
‘No,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to wake up beside you.’
Something shuttered in his face-an expression she didn’t like. Pain? No. It was a closing of something that had barely started to open.
‘Jake, no,’ she said, swiftly-she did not want to hurt this man but this was important. She was struggling to explain it, struggling to understand it herself, but somehow she had to find words for what she was feeling. ‘What happened tonight was magic, time out of frame. I needed it so much-I needed you-and I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life. But if I wake up beside you in the morning…’