Sanctuary: Delos Series, Book 9 Read online

  When he left her lips, Teren’s fingers dug into his shoulders, her hips mercilessly rubbing against his thick erection. Nolan gritted his teeth to control himself. Yeah, she was a wild one, all right, so natural and uninhibited with him. That was a gift too, and Nolan recognized it as just another wonderful facet of Teren. He appreciated the restless strength of her body matching, stroking, and teasing his.

  Nolan rose up, seeking and finding one of her taut nipples, pulling it strongly into his mouth, suckling her without mercy. She came apart on him, her long legs threading between his, capturing him, holding his hips in place so she could arch against his erection. The move exploded his mind and he thrust slowly into her, feeling just how damned tight she really was. But she was wet. Her juices were warm and thickly coating him the moment he made a few short, rhythmic pulses inside her.

  Nolan wasn’t prepared for the orgasm that he triggered in her as he lavished that swollen pearl at her entrance with only a few strokes. He’d done so little to tease one out of her, and yet her hoarse shout of surprise, her back arching against him, her fingers tight against his shoulders, told him it was one hell of an orgasm. And he was going to prolong it for her, easing more deeply into her, his strokes longer, more powerful, drowning in the beauty of her sobs and cries. For someone as slender and graceful as she was, Teren was damned strong, clutching him, but he twisted and moved his hips with controlled strength, feeling her juices pour around him, lubricating her so that he could continue to cradle her within the rapture he saw in her features.

  Teren lay panting and gasping beneath him as the orgasm finally began to subside. It made Nolan feel good to see that rosy flush blossom across her upper body, flood her features, her eyes dazed with satiation as she lay limp beneath him.

  He stilled himself, giving her the time she needed to allow her shattering orgasm to continue giving her ripples of heat that massaged her lower body. The ecstasy shining in her eyes made him smile.

  “That good, huh?” he teased, keeping most of his weight off her except where they were joined.

  “Oh…” she managed to say. “What on earth happened?”

  Taken aback, Nolan grinned. “Really? Tell me you’ve had orgasms before…”

  Rolling her head weakly from side to side, Teren couldn’t even lift her hand, she felt so exhausted by the experience. “Is that what it was?” She licked her lips, feeling the currents of electricity continuing to throb and crackle deep within her. She felt awash with excruciating pleasure she’d never felt before.

  Nolan moved his hand slowly up Teren’s arm, feeling the dampness of her flesh, shocked by her reply but hiding his reaction. He wasn’t going to humiliate her by saying something stupid like, “I thought all women knew what an orgasm felt like.” That wasn’t true. It’s just that the women he’d bedded knew the score, wanted to be pleased as much as he did, so it was mutual and satisfying as partners to know what was expected from one another.

  He studied her, soft strands stuck to her brow, absorbing this special moment of discovery with her. Pride rose within him; he knew he’d introduced her to a realm of incredible satisfaction. His lips twitched as she closed her eyes, and she made a pleased sound in her throat, a careless smile floating across her well-kissed lips.

  At that moment, his heart opened wide to Teren. This was where he could introduce her to a whole new world: erotic pleasure of the finest kind. He’d had a lot of female bed partners as a Delta Force operator before marrying Linda, and they’d taught him a lot. And he was grateful, because now he could teach Teren about this new world she’d just stumbled into with him.

  “This is just the best,” Teren drawled, her Southern accent more noticeable, barely opening her eyes, looking up at Nolan, thinking how handsome he was. And he was hers. She could feel him thick and hard within her, and never had she felt more satisfied than right now. This man knew how to love her, no question. She weakly lifted her hand, fingers caressing his thick, hard biceps. “You know, Farida and Hadii were always telling me about how wonderful it was to have an orgasm. I pretended to know what they were talking about.” She frowned and looked away for a moment. “I was afraid to admit to them I didn’t know what one was.”

  Nolan leaned over, kissing her brow, then her cheek, and rasped, “It’s okay that you didn’t admit it. That’s our little secret.” He lifted his head, holding her adoring gaze. He swore he saw something shining in her eyes for him. He didn’t want to call it love. Maybe lust? Yet their connection with one another was palpable. Beautiful.

  They barely knew one another, and yet, lying here, blanketing her body with his, nothing had ever felt so right to him. He felt as if he’d come home, and the realization skittered through him like sunlight spread across a dark, barren land that he’d inhabited for too long. Teren made him feel again. Fully. Completely.

  Nolan drew strands away from her brow, memorizing this moment because it was so special and life-altering. Teren’s mouth was so beautifully shaped, and when those soft corners rose a little, he smiled, too, feeling her trust.

  He twisted his hips slightly and she whimpered, her smile increasing, lashes sweeping downward.

  “That feels so good, Nolan.” She slid her hands across his powerful shoulders, raising her hips, moving with him, loving how in sync they were with one another. “Don’t…stop…please…”

  A sound of agreement rumbled through his chest as he eased as deep as he could go inside her. Teren was limber, athletic, passionate, and unafraid to meet and meld with him. “Let’s see if we can coax your body to gift you again,” he growled, and he leaned down, capturing her other nipple, sucking it just enough to make her gasp, because he knew the sensation would send her body bursting into another realm of rapture. And it did. Her hips ground against his and her breath quickened, turning into a pant as he thrust long and steadily, reaching that sweet spot so deep within her.

  This time he was going to release his steel control. This time, he was going to ride that explosive wave he felt beginning to release within her.

  Teren’s whole world shimmered before her closed eyes; she felt as if there were fireworks going off deep within her. Nolan was thrusting into her, and each time he stroked that spot, more of her orgasm reacted to his powerful caress within her. She cried out, feeling him suddenly grow rigid, hearing him grunt, an explosive breath leaving his contorted lips. She whirled into the scalding heat of that second violent orgasm. This one threw her into a rapturous state, floating as she felt his damp skin sliding against her own, his hot breath against her face. And then he climaxed, growling her name, framing her face between his large hands, his perspiring brow pressed against her own. She swam in such pleasure that all she could do was moan and cry out. At last, she had felt the power of what Farida and Hadii had called “good loving.”

  *

  Nolan slowly roused himself. After that climax, he had been utterly spent and he’d eased out of Teren, drawing her back into his arms and cradling her beside him. He’d haphazardly pulled that blanket over both of them after capturing her long legs within his. Teren had nestled her head against his neck, her arm limp across his torso, plastered sweetly against him, warm, damp, sharing that musky sexual scent. She fell asleep immediately, but he forced himself to remain awake for a while, because he wanted to remember how it felt to lie with a woman who had loved him with such an open heart and untrammeled passion.

  Nolan knew without a doubt that he and Teren could fall in love with one another. It didn’t matter whether they said the words, admitted it, or even discussed it. He knew it. Just as he’d known when he had met Linda that she was the woman he would marry. Maybe it was part of how he saw his black-and-white world.

  Just as when they met, he knew she was the right woman for him, Teren had experienced the same thing. Nolan had never thought he’d find another woman he could envision a life with, but he had. And in one of the remotest places on the planet. Go figure.

  He inhaled her subtle cinnamon fragr
ance, sure now that she used it in a spicy oil on her hair. Her sex scent combined with that fragrance on her skin drove him crazy, making him want her once more. Moving his hand, he caressed Teren’s shoulder, allowing his fingers to trail down her long, curved spine. She had such a sweet ass, her cheeks full, in part, due to her jogging. Teren was in remarkable shape for someone who sat at a desk five days a week. His mouth curved faintly. He liked caressing her, feeling the satin firmness of her skin beneath his roughened fingertips. He loved how her slow, moist breath fanned across his neck and upper chest.

  Closing his eyes, Nolan felt like a desperate thief, wanting to remember every second of his time spent with Teren. His world was one of constant chaos and change. And with the danger swirling around them right now, he couldn’t even plan anything with her—for them—although he wanted to. He wanted to take her to meet his charming, sweet-natured mother in Galway Bay. Nolan knew they’d get along well.

  He wanted to take her to his farmhouse he’d bought outside Alexandria, Virginia. He was ten miles from the security company, in a home situated on thirty acres of rolling green grass and a stand of woods nearby. The farmhouse was over a hundred years old, and it needed a lot of work. Nolan had bought it thinking that between assignments, he would gut the place, take it back to its original condition, and over time, restore it. The money he made as a security operator was a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, enough to easily cover the expenses of reclaiming his new home. And now he dreamed of taking Teren to some of the finest antique stores in the area to hunt for period pieces to decorate the place once the rooms were finished—providing she liked old things. She might have other ideas.

  He smiled. It didn’t matter to him, because all he wanted to do was make her happy. That farmhouse would reflect both of them, but mostly her, and Nolan was fine with that.

  Yet, in another way, that farmhouse reflected him: both were in desperate need of inner repair, a mess right now. Symbolically, Nolan saw Teren as the reason to support his own healing work, to finally release the past, to make peace with it so he could have a present and future once more. She brought new possibilities and new life to him. It surged through him twenty-four hours a day since he’d met her. He could only feel it, absorb it, and then feel her care for him, healing him in some of the darkest corners of himself.

  Teren realized none of this, but Nolan would share it with her when the time was right.

  And with those last thoughts, Nolan dropped off into a deep, restorative sleep himself, Teren warm, soft, and sweet against him.

  *

  Teren was disoriented as she slowly pulled out of the halls of sleep. Her first impression, one that powerfully opened her heart, was that she was in Nolan’s arms, sleeping against his long, hard body. She became aware of his slow, deep breathing, his one arm curved around her shoulders, keeping her as close as she could get to him. Forcing her eyes open, she saw it was dark. She had no idea how much time had passed. The blanket covered her and she was warm. Just getting used to seeing Nolan’s tight, solid form following the line of her own body made her smile a little. Her lower body was cranky now, but she knew why. Nolan wasn’t a normal-sized man and she hadn’t had sex in years. What amazed her was the warmth still radiating within her from those earth-shattering orgasms he’d coaxed out of her. Now Teren knew what that achy feeling meant.

  She had to ask herself, was she falling in love with Nolan? It was there, hanging silently before her. Teren had always wanted to fall in love but never thought she would. How she felt toward Nolan was so refreshingly different from the feelings she’d had for the few other lovers in her life. It was so rich, intense, and filled with promise.

  She slid her hand across his chest, the silky, dark strands moving between her exploring fingers. While Nolan made her feel safe in a whole new way, she felt equally fervent about protecting him. And she found herself worrying about him. She’d never worried about a man before this.

  Bottom line, Teren didn’t want to lose Nolan now that she had discovered him. She wanted to spend every moment she could with him, sleep at his side each night, make love with him, pleasure him like he’d pleasured her. Those were her new priorities.

  A niggling doubt slithered through her, dampening some of her idealism and need for Nolan. She hoped it was something serious and possibly long-lasting taking root between them. Hadii and Farida had told her on many occasions about what love was, what it looked like, how a man acted toward the woman he loved and how it affected a woman’s heart, mind, and soul. If they were right, Teren had already seen what she thought might be love in Nolan’s eyes when he looked at her. He didn’t hide how he felt, and she was grateful. And she had all the signs and symptoms of beginning to fall in love with him, according to her two friends.

  Alas, that created another, much larger problem. It stared at her like the monster from her past that it was. Fear grew in Teren as she wondered what Nolan would think of her decision at the age of eighteen. Would he see her differently when she told him the truth? Would he harshly judge her as her family and community had? That niggling fear turned into bona fide terror within Teren.

  Her palm lay against Nolan’s heart. She could feel the slow, solid thud of it. How badly she wanted to keep him in her life. The way he looked at her made her feel incredibly beautiful, wanton, and unafraid. Nolan seemed to revel in her being fully who she really was. But her past was not perfect. Far from it. And it could make him lose respect for her, become disappointed in her, or worse, be ashamed of her choices and not want anything to do with her ever again.

  More than anything, she knew she had to divulge the truth to Nolan. This couldn’t wait. Teren had not planned to be in bed with him, to have him love her so well and so thoroughly. It had just happened. There was such a naturalness that vibrated subtly between them, a trusting openness each gave to the other. Would Teren’s revelations break the connection she cherished so much with him? Her past could shatter her present. Destroy it. She wanted to cry but forced back the reaction.

  As if sensing her confusion, Nolan awakened. She felt him move his hand that rested above the blanket across her waist, tighten momentarily and then lift away. His fingers trailed down her cheek, nudging aside thick strands of hair that had fallen across her face. Hungrily, Teren absorbed his contact, wanting so badly to have Nolan touch her tenderly, just like this, forever.

  “You all right?” Nolan muttered drowsily, pushing himself up on one elbow, staring down at Teren. He could feel an edginess to her. Was she sorry she’d gone to bed with him? He searched her dark gray eyes, sensing a lot of turmoil. Sliding his hand against her jaw, trying to soothe her, he saw her eyes fill with tears.

  “Talk to me,” he coaxed gruffly, feeling a sense of dread. “What’s wrong, Teren?” His voice, at first drowsy with sleep, was now fully alert.

  “I need to tell you something, Nolan,” she whispered, pulling out of his embrace. Lamenting the loss of his holding her, Teren slowly sat up, pulling the blanket around her waist, tucking her leg beneath her and keeping the other half across his lower body. Her heart pounded in her chest as she prepared to tell Nolan about her past.

  He looked boyish right now, all the normal hardness she saw in his face during the day gone. His brows dipped and she felt his full and immediate focus.

  “Okay,” he rasped, pushing upward. “But you’re going to tell me with you in my arms. Come here.” Nolan leaned back against the headboard and then coaxed Teren into his arms, pulling the blanket up, covering her. He watched her gulp several times, as if trying to stop unknown emotions from surfacing within her.

  Nolan situated Teren against him, her leg across his, and he arranged the fabric around her waist, making sure she was kept warm. “Now,” he said gruffly, kissing her hair, “tell me what’s bothering you.”

  A part of him was relieved as she sighed and laid her head on his shoulder, her palm coming to rest on the center of his chest. At least she hadn’t pushed him away. Then he
felt her tense, as if struggling with some invisible energy. He kissed her forehead and eased his fingers across her temple, pushing her dark hair aside so he could fully look into her eyes, now glistening with tears.

  Her voice was low and torn-sounding. “Nolan…I’ve lived in fear of telling you about this . . .”

  He felt her tremble and wanted to soothe her worries. “Whatever it is,” he promised, “we’ll handle it together, Teren. All right?”

  Just his reassurance gave Teren the courage she needed. “Okay,” she managed to say, her voice strained. She flattened her palm against his chest, desperately grateful for his arms around her. They gave her the strength to speak.

  “After I graduated from high school, I’d never been so happy. I left for a nearby community college in a much larger town near Louisville. It was the first time I’d ever been alone in such a large city, Nolan. I was starry-eyed, excited, and so happy to be free of my smothering family. I signed up for a degree in computer science and had my whole life planned. I was going to get a two-year degree. My family didn’t have money to send me, so I went out and found two part-time jobs, both waitressing. I lived in a small apartment off campus with two other girls who were doing the same thing I was.”

  Nolan moved his fingers slowly up and down her arm, feeling Teren begin to relax just a tad. Her words were rushed, tumbling out of her. Sensing something tragic in the offing, he eased his fingers through her clean, silky hair, knowing how much she enjoyed that. “You had a rough road ahead of you, Teren, but you had a dream to fulfill and you went after it. I’m proud of you.”

  Nolan heard her draw in a jerky breath and then relax just a tiny bit more in his arms, but she was still on guard, as if trying to protect herself from an imminent blow. He squeezed her gently, rasping against her ear, “Tell me. Remember, we’re in this together, Teren. We’ll handle it, sweetheart.”