Embrace the Night

Page 160



"Good morning, cara." His gaze moved over her face. How beautiful she was. Her lips were still slightly swollen from his kisses, her hair fell over her shoulders in a riot of golden waves, and her eyes… he knew he would sacrifice the next hundred years to wake up each morning and find Sara looking at him like that, her sky-blue eyes filled with love.

He kissed her softly, gently, let his hands wander over the smooth silky flesh he had possessed only hours before. How quickly he had come to know the hills and valleys of her body, just as he had come to know that she liked to have her back rubbed, that tickling her feet would make her laugh.

He kissed her again, and the slow heat that had been building between them suddenly burst into flame. With a low groan, he tucked her beneath him and merged his flesh with hers, and she rose up to meet him, her arms wrapping around his neck as she offered him her love and took his in return.

They lay locked in each other's arms for a long while, reluctant to part.

He didn't have to glance at the window to know that the sky was growing light. Soon, too soon, he would have to send her from him. And yet he couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be enfolded in Sara's arms when the darkness claimed him. He had told her that being swallowed up in the deathlike sleep had frightened him more than anything else when first he'd been made. What he hadn't told her was that, though he had long ago learned to accept it, he had never learned to like it. It was a frightening thing, to be sucked down into blackness deeper than the bowels of hell, to be helpless, vulnerable. Would the darkness that overtook him be less fearful if he succumbed to it while in Sara's embrace?

"Sara?" He spoke hesitantly, not knowing how to ask for what he wanted, not knowing if he should. "What?"

"Hold me."

She frowned, puzzled by the note of apprehension in his voice. "I am holding you," she said. "Will you stay with me…"

"Of course."

He swore under his breath, wondering why it was so hard to ask her to hold him while oblivion swept over him.

"What is it, Gabriel?" she asked, worried now. "What's wrong?" "Will you hold me until… ?"

She knew then what he wanted. "I will," she promised, unable to believe what he was saying. For the first time, he looked vulnerable. It caused all her protective instincts to rush to the fore. "I'll hold you until you're… you're asleep."

She pulled him closer, her arms tightening around him as she cradled his head to her breast.

With a sigh, Gabriel closed his eyes. He could hear the steady beat of her heart beneath his ear, feel the warmth of her hand stroking his back, his shoulders.