A Mermaid's Ransom by Joey W. Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

softness meeting hard muscle, the bloody symbols painted on his body now pressed to hers. Glancing down, she saw her flesh begin to glow to match those symbols, a mirror image. A wild warmth swept over her at the evidence that they belonged together.
    "I want you to surrender to me. Open yourself fully when I take you over. Say yes."
    "Yes," she whispered, caught up in the urgent need behind the words. It was a command, but more than that, it was a plea. He was so lonely, it swamped her as much as his desire. How could she deny him this moment to feel completely connected to another, even it was only in their shared dreams?
    "I'm here," she said, and then he began to move. A thrust and retreat that built, creating a rocking motion between their two bodies like ocean waves. As the waves became a storm, slamming against one another, she left the metaphor of cool water far behind, nose-diving straight for the flames. Something was about to shatter. She feared the dream would end.
    "What . . . is . . . your . . . name?" she gasped.
    Darkness coated his gaze for an instant before it was swallowed by the red and orange again. His body tensed everywhere it touched her, but in reaction she strained upward against his hold, toward his lips. While he drew back, denying her, his gaze settled on her bare breasts, the hungry upward tilt of the nipples. Dropping his head, he nuzzled her there, his mouth covering one and suckling hard, causing another cry to rip from her throat as he kept moving in her body. He licked and teased her so thoroughly, though his pace inside her body kept stopping just short of completion, taking her up higher and higher. She was on fire, dying, trembling, gasping tiny pleas to a man whose name she didn't know.
    "Dante," he answered her at last, lifting his head to lock gazes with her once more. Then he surged over her, clamping down on her mouth, seizing possession of her mind, and thrust hard, deep. The tissues he'd abused earlier complained, but the rest of her body absorbed it, scrabbling for that peak his friction, inside and out, now brought into reach. "Say my name," he muttered into her lips. "Tell me you surrender to me."
    "Dante," she managed, and repeated it, a caress, a reassurance, because she sensed he needed both. Her empathic gift was wide-open to him, no more restrained than her body's need. His expression did not change, though, and while he became even more intent on her response, he seemed more distant at the same time. The fire was closing in, bringing their time to an end. She didn't want it to, even though something felt wrong. She couldn't determine what, because there was too much swirling around her. Magic, dreams, emotions and her own physical response were too tangled together.
    "Say my name, too," she pleaded. "Please."
    Something shifted in his gaze, but his mouth remained hard, implacable. "Give me your surrender, Alexis."
    "I surrender to you, Dante. I'm yours."
    The blood marked on both their bodies burst into flame, matching the leap in his own eyes. Startled, she inhaled blood and heat, but it didn't burn her flesh. His body and the fire surrounded her, a cocoon shutting out everything except Dante's weight upon her, his demand between her legs. They were turning, spinning now, and the pinnacle was reached. The climax ripped a scream from her throat, the first of her life she'd had while a man was inside of her.
    The spinning lost symmetry, became a flailing, like an uncontrolled fall from far up in the sky. She had no wings. The climax stuttered, leaving her body vibrating and needy, wailing for its loss, but something was so wrong her alarmed brain cut off the sensual response, far too late.
    Dante was gone. She was alone in the fire, and it clamped down like the lid of a flame coffin, burning her flesh again. Screaming, she thrust outward, seeking him. Instead, her fingers disappeared into the leaping orange flames. Ice touched them somewhere on the other side, a cold that