Born of Fire

Would she be any different?

I don’t have another fresh start in me. He’d had to start over one time too many. He was tired now. Soul-weary.

But as he looked into those eyes that seared him, his heart wouldn’t listen. It wanted to believe in her and it wasn’t listening to reason.

“Hold me,” he breathed in her ear. She wrapped her arms around him and he closed his eyes to savor the feeling.

One perfect moment.

Lying naked on the floor with her breath tickling his neck, with her arms holding him against her body. This was heaven.

If only it could last.

She cupped his cheek in her hand and smiled at him. “I won’t hurt you, Syn. I’m not like the others. I will stand by you. Forever.”

Sure you will. But he bit back his sarcasm. It was a defense mechanism and he didn’t want to hurt her. In this one instant, she meant what she said.

Whether or not she meant it in the future remained to be seen. For now, he would take it and be grateful that she at least felt it today.

Kissing her lips, he separated her thighs with his knees and slid slowly inside her warmth.

Shahara threw her head back and groaned as the sweetest pleasure assailed her. Never in her life had she experienced anything so wonderful. The weight of his body bearing down on hers, the feel of him moving against her. His body filling hers.

She wanted to scream out her love, but fear of his reaction kept the words inside her. It was too soon to tell him something he would only reject.

No, she would keep her secret for the time being, but soon she would tell him.

Syn buried his face against her neck and inhaled the sweet feminine scent of her body. With her arms and legs wrapped around him, he knew what true peace was. Gone were his demons and doubts, and in their place were emotions he couldn’t even begin to define.

She moaned with each thrust of his body, fanning the flames inside him even higher.

Suddenly, her grip tightened and she screamed out in pleasure. Syn gave a deep throaty laugh at her reaction as he joined her in paradise.

His body satisfied, Syn didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay within her for the rest of eternity.

If only he could.

“Syn? You’re crushing me.”

Pouting, he looked down at her. “I don’t want to move.”

A smile spread across her face. “And I kind of like you where you are. But you weigh about a ton and a half and this floor is really hard.”

He snorted. “Excuse me, I take great exception to that. I only weigh a ton.” He rolled to his side. “Not a ton and a half.” He pulled her on top of him where he could see the sparkle of her eyes as she watched him.

Shahara marveled at his handsomeness. And once again she wondered how his wife could have possibly left a man like him. What had the woman been thinking?

With that came another terrifying thought. How much had his wife meant to him?

Had he loved her as much as her father had loved her mother? Even after her mother’s death, her father had never looked at another woman. He’d once told her that the gods had only made one real woman and he’d been the only man lucky enough to find her.

“Did you love your wife?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

“No.”

She frowned at his lack of hesitation and the certainty in his voice. “Then why did you marry her?”

“I was in love with the idea of her.”

“I don’t understand.”

Sighing, he lifted up a handful of her hair and twisted it between his fingers. “I’d just completed my residency when she entered the emergency room with a friend of hers who’d been injured at work.”

“What kind of work?”

“Does it matter?”

“I’d like to know.”

He brushed her hair against his lips before he answered. “She worked in an art gallery and her friend had been injured moving some paintings around. She’d cut herself so badly she needed surgery.”

“Is that why you’re so interested in art? Because of her?”

“Not because of her. She merely exposed me to it and taught me about it. Since I’d never been around anything beautiful in my life, I liked spending time in galleries. After she left, it was the only thing I kept. Again, not because of her, but because I wouldn’t let her take that from me, too. Everything I’d ever enjoyed had been spoiled by some selfish asshole. The bitch robbed me of enough. I refused to let her sully the one thing I found comfort in.”

Shahara respected that. It took a strong person to keep others from ruining things that gave them pleasure.

And it made her wonder about the day they’d met. Syn must have met a lot of women as a doctor. “What made you ask her out?”

His eyes turned strangely dreamy. “She looked so pure and frail. Completely feminine and soft. I’d never known anyone like that before. All the women I’d been around were tough and sarcastic. The kind who’d slap a man before she kissed him.”

Just like me.