It was close to midnight, but she was wide awake. They’d spent all day in bed, pleasuring each other, drifting off to sleep only to reawaken and start all over again. And while her body was exhausted and she knew she should sleep, she couldn’t, because her mind was racing. Night was her time. When she felt most alive. She supposed she had her mother to thank for that too.
She grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch, pushed the screen door open, and wrapped the cotton around her shoulders. Night, even in summer, was cool on Vancouver Island, but not freezing. As she headed down the rickety steps, she stared out at the water glistening like a million diamonds under the light of the moon and drew in a deep breath that immediately calmed her.
She loved the ocean. Loved the water. The gentle lap of waves against shore always relaxed her, especially in times of confusion, of which this definitely was one. She found a spot midway to the water and dropped down in the sand as she tugged the blanket tighter to her chest, the silky granules like heaven beneath her bare feet.
For the first time in forever she felt torn. She’d finally decided what she wanted, was finally brave enough to go after her goal, and now had found…what? Her soul mate? She frowned. She didn’t believe in soul mates, but she did believe in love.
Was that what she was feeling for Gryphon? So soon? That idea was even more ludicrous than her earlier ones. No, she wasn’t convinced this was love, but she found it damn inconvenient that after all these years of being alone, she’d finally found someone who needed her to fill a void no one else had been able to fill. Not a single person—mortal or immortal—had ever needed her like that. Not even the few men she’d loved and lost along the way.
She wasn’t delusional. She knew Gryphon hadn’t made her any kind of promise. He hadn’t said much of anything, for that matter. He’d been too busy making love to her. But she knew he felt something for her. Could see it in his eyes every time he touched her. This connection they shared was deeper than the darkness that resided inside each of them. The question was, if she had the choice to stay with him or go to Olympus, which would she choose?
“What are you doing out here in the dark?”
She jumped at Gryphon’s voice so close behind her, whipped around to look up at him. He was wearing nothing but those low-slung faded jeans, his hands shoved into the front pockets, his hair mussed, his eyes sleepy. Moonlight glinted off his bare chest, highlighted his strong stomach muscles, the thin red lines of his wound, which was already healing, and the dusting of hair that led from his belly button and disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans.
A wicked burst of heat unfurled in her stomach as she stared at him. A heat that told her the question she’d posed to herself was not one she could answer when he was anywhere close. “I couldn’t sleep.”
He stared at her for several seconds as if she might jump out and bite him, then finally nodded her way. “You got room in there for one more?”
She smiled and opened the blanket.
He eased in behind her, angled one leg on each side of her body, pulled her back tight to his chest so she leaned against him, then wrapped the blanket around his back so it cocooned them both. Then he slid his arms around her waist as she closed the blanket again at her front.
His breath ran down her neck, heated her skin. His arms around her were snug and secure, and when the stirrings of an erection pressed against her lower back, she remembered all the erotic, amazing things he’d done to her in that bed.
Her eyes slid closed. She drew in a breath, let it out slowly. Told herself to enjoy this, just being close to him. Everything else…her future, his future, what would happen in a few days…none of it mattered.
“You like the night, don’t you?” His voice was gruff near her ear. And so damn sexy, a shiver of arousal rushed through her when she remembered that voice whispering to her as they’d made love. “I used to watch you from my window. You always went out at night.”
“You watched me?”
“Does that creep you out?”
She looked out over the sparkling water. It used to—when she was at the colony and she’d look up to see him in the window. But now…now it electrified her. “No.”
“I thought you were beautiful.”
Her pulse picked up speed. “You did?”
His thumb brushed the underside of her breast. “I did. I do. Your skin glows under the moonlight. Did you know that? As white as snow. Every hour in that room alone…” His throat worked against her as he swallowed. “It was dark and depressing. Seeing you outside at night…it gave me something bright to look forward to.”
Her heart bumped. She didn’t know what to say. Holding the blanket closed with one hand, she slid the other down to his at her waist and closed her fingers around it.
He nuzzled her neck. “That’s how you found the entrance to the tunnels, isn’t it? When you were out exploring at night?”
She smiled, because watching her was obviously how he’d known where to intercept her. “It is. Orpheus wasn’t going to let me leave any other way.”