“I’m glad.”
Mark reached up to take her face between his big hands and pulled her down to kiss her. She felt herself start to tingle again, and it had nothing to do with Shifting. When he pulled one of her legs across his body, she sat up to straddle his thighs. This time he allowed her to trace her fingers down his torso, and when she reached the part of him that once more ached for her, he took her hips between his strong hands and lifting her, fitted her onto him.
Addy sucked in a deep breath at the sensation. It was different like this. Bigger. Fuller. And she didn’t know quite what to do. Then he used his hands to first lift her then slowly let her down once more.
“Ride me, darlin’,” he said, and his golden eyes burned for her.
She did as he directed, grasping his hips with her thighs and bracing her hands on his shoulders as she moved up and down on him, guided by his big hands. After a time, he released her hips only to reach for her breasts. The aching pain/pleasure from his hard grasp shot straight to her groin, and she arched back, screaming her release. He followed her over the edge with a roar as he emptied himself into her once more.
20
Much later, she stirred as she felt him pull the blanket up over her shoulders against the cool night air.
“Mark?”
“Go back to sleep, Addy.”
“Okay.”
“Addy?”
“Hmm.”
“Before you do, there’s something I should tell you.”
“Hmm?”
“I love you, too.”
Her breath caught, and she suddenly felt warm all over.
“I’m glad,” she whispered, dropping a light kiss on his furry chest.
“So, from what you saw of them, do you think my family will be up for another weddin’ so soon?”
“I hope so,” she said, snuggling in. “I don’t want to wait as long as Mel and Matt did, okay?”
Addy felt his smile when he kissed her brow and allowed herself to believe in miracles.
21
Candace Chance ducked into the alley, just as a black limousine passed a third time. She had no reason to believe the people in the car were looking for her, but she had no reason not to believe it, either. The temperatures had dropped with nightfall, and she had started to shiver uncontrollably. It had been raining off and on all day, and though the precipitation had stopped for now, the streets were wet. The alley smelled horrible—a mix of the stench coming from an overflowing dumpster, oily refuse, and things better left unidentified—but with nowhere else to go, and the limousine continuing to drive by on what seemed like an endless loop, she had no choice but to hole up here and hope things looked up in the morning.
Happy birthday to me, she thought, as she sank down behind some wooden crates.
The ground near the wall was littered with flattened cardboard boxes, which, while wet, at least provided some insulation between her and the pavement. It was cold, though, so very cold, and she huddled in her fleece sweater, wishing it were a full-length down coat. She had never had to think about people living on the street before. Raised in a sheltered environment, home-schooled, and protected, she hadn’t spent much time thinking about the outside world. She hadn’t needed to, though she now realized she should have insisted. Much of her schooling had been online, and perhaps she should have looked beyond her lessons. But she’d known her online access had been ruthlessly monitored. She hadn’t thought of the “why” of it—there’d been no reason to—but now she knew, first hand, the “why.”
Candace had been born in a bordello, the product of her mother’s miscalculation and an unknown, faceless john. She’d often wondered why her mother had kept her, but she’d never asked, and had never been told—until yesterday. The Manager, as he was known to everyone living and working there, was used to paying for abortions for his “girls,” though he resented the need for them, and the girls under his management felt his fury, when they slipped up. Candace’s mother had been too far along for an abortion by the time she’d had to admit her pregnancy, so the Manager had made her a deal. She would be allowed to have the baby in the safe confines of the House, but the child would belong to him.