"Brandon. Please—"
He cut off her words with a scorching kiss, guiding himself to her entrance. Her legs opened even wider in silent entreaty, telling him everything he needed to know about the trust that existed between them. It had always been there; twelve years' worth. Even when they'd been separated, the trust and the love had still remained untouched, sleeping, conjured through faded memories like a touchstone.
Now it was awakened and blazing into full flame, along with their desire for one another.
But Brandon forced himself to go slow. Allie closed her eyes, stiffening as he reached the barrier. Allie. She was his world now. How foolish he'd been, with all his reasons as to why their love couldn't be. Inside her now, feeling her lying beneath him, giving him her love, her trust, her dreams to cherish and complete, he understood what she had already known. There was no reason in the world good enough to deny a love this strong. It would work. It had to.
She strained up against him and he cupped her cheek with his left hand, settling slowly into her with gentle motion. "Let your body get used to mine," he whispered. "Take it slow. Take me slow."
"I want all of you." Her voice was breathless.
He smiled at her words. "In a minute, Allie. In a few seconds, you'll have every bit of me – my body, my heart, and my soul. It'll all belong to you."
"A fair trade, I think," she murmured.
He gave a short laugh. "Hardly. My soul's a lot darker than yours. My heart's got some damage, and your body's a helluva lot prettier than mine."
Allie shook her head. "You are – beautiful – to me."
Brandon lowered his head slowly, putting his face into the silken curtain of her hair, inhaling the faint perfume of roses she carried with her from the bath. It was the only reminder that he was still breathing, as time seemed to stop. His eyes burned and blurred for a moment, before focusing again on the intricacies of Allie's perfect earlobe. His bandaged right hand cupped her cheek and she leaned into his palm as his thumb moved slowly under her eye, touching moisture there.
He swallowed hard, the glib response dissolving before it could rise to his lips. He lifted himself to look at her again.
She caressed his jaw with a gentle touch. "What're you waiting for, sweetheart?"
"It's gonna hurt some," he answered, not sure he could trust himself to speak.
"Me, or you?" The laughter in her eyes finally brought a smile to his lips.
"You." He bent to graze her lips with his. "But only for a minute." He began to push into her harder as he spoke.
"Then what?" The smile was gone, and she winced as he thrust, then pulled back.
"Then, you're mine, Allie. Just as I'm yours. Completely. No turning back, ever."
"I want that."
He thrust again and felt her tense as the virgin's barrier began to give way. He wanted that, too. Suddenly, more than anything, he wanted to know she was his for all time.
"Brandon?"
"It's okay," he soothed. "Just hold on to me. Tight as you need to." He surged into her again.
"Brand—"
He caught her cry in a hot kiss as he plunged full into her. He lay still for a moment, letting her tongue slide across his, then play over his lips deliciously. The tension began to drain away. All the wonder and delight he held in his heart was reflected in her eyes as she moved upward, seeking him once more.
A soft moan escaped her, and he bent his head to nip at her neck. She sucked her breath in, and he smiled. "Better now?"
"Uh-huh." There was a slight pause. "Brandon, I need you—" She squirmed under him impatiently.
"You've got me, sweetheart."
"Yes..." she sighed. "Like that."
He set the rhythm and she answered his body's demands as if they'd been lovers forever.
The pressure built inside him, but he tamped it down, holding it at bay with other thoughts. His mind drifted from the present back through the years he'd spent alone. He'd had plenty of other women, but none that he had ever wanted half so badly as Allison Taylor. She was everything right and good in his world, and he would never find the perfect words, the phrases beautiful enough to tell her what she meant to him.
He slipped his hand between them, to the place where they joined. She said his name on a breathless sigh, as her body rose to meet his.
"Allie, I'm so close – I want you there with me."
Her legs wrapped around him tightly and she began to shake. "Brandon, I—"
He put his lips to hers quickly, then shifted as she moaned into his mouth.
"Want to tell you—" she whispered as his tongue slipped into her mouth.
On the edge, he lifted his head to meet her eyes. In that instant, she handed him every exquisite vision he'd dreamed of during his solitary, brutal existence. He kissed her, driving in deep and hard, pouring every bit of this new-found emotion into her.