The Forever Kiss, page 25
“Dammit, you almost had it."
"Was that your memory?"
“Yeah. There are probably a lot of them like that. Ridgemont made a hobby of beating the hell out of me.” He sighed. “Look, maybe we’re going about this all wrong.”
Cade’s big hands closed on her shoulders. Concentrate on this. The next thing she knew, she was plastered against him as he kissed her. The embrace started out hard and businesslike, but then he gentled it until his lips were moving softly over hers, seducing, caressing.
The warm velvet of his lips felt different to her new senses as they brushed and stroked, the familiar sensations grown startling and intense. His tongue slipped into her mouth to swirl a sweet dance around hers. She felt his Hunger grow.
Cade’s tense body relaxed against her, and she sank into him, savoring the long, hot strength of his body. Just as he felt her, slim and soft against him. His mind caught hers, drawing her closer in an embrace that matched the one their bodies shared.
See how you feel to me, he thought. So good.
She got a startling image of her own body, naked and languorous, nipples hard and legs spread. She flushed in embarrassment, but at the same time she felt his hungry approval as he thought, You’re so beautiful.
Now you’re playing with me, she told him. That looks like something out of a centerfold.
You’re telling me! The male satisfaction in his mental voice made her giggle. He kissed her again, hungrily, his mouth moving on hers in delicious lust.
She reached for a memory of him, rock hard and hungry, his black eyes gleaming. You’re not so bad yourself, cowboy.
The image startled him as much as his memory had her. I think you’re idealizing me.
Uh-uh. She began kissing her way up his jaw toward his right ear. You’re the sexiest man I’ve ever met.
He pulled her closer, his arms closing tight around her as his mind drew hers deeper. Nibbling his earlobe, she felt the delicate sensation of teeth on her own ear, though she knew his mouth was nowhere near it. The sensation stopped her dead, and the gentle nibbling ceased.
It’s a mental echo, he told her. Closer. You’ve almost got it. She nibbled again, concentrating on the ghostly sensation until it intensified.
With a jolt, she found herself suddenly standing in a different position, looking down at a slim shoulder. A weight fell against her. Her arms supported something limp and heavy. She turned her head and saw a woman’s profile, eyes closed, mouth slightly open, apparently out cold with her auburn head resting on Cade’s shoulder.
Where the hell did she come from?
It’s you, Val, Cade told her. You did it. You’re in my body.
Her eyes snapped open. Straightening with a jerk, Val looked up at Cade a little wildly.
“Damn,” he said. “We lost it.”
She pulled away from him, blinking. “What the hell happened?"
“We fused.” He reached out to brace her as she staggered. “Your consciousness was inside me.”
The hair rose on the back of her neck. “What about my body?” Reading her fear, he shot her a look. “Do you think I’d let you do anything that would hurt you?"
She sighed. “No. So what happened?"
“When our minds fused, you passed out. Your autonomic nervous system continues to function, though, operating your heart and lungs and everything else. It’s like a deep sleep—well, more than that. A doctor examining you would probably think you were in a coma.”
“My mind left my body?" She didn’t like the sound of that. He shook his head. “No, but the link is so deep it seems to. As soon as we separate, you regain consciousness."
"This is scaring the hell out of me, Cade.”
Cade scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. It should. Unfortunately it’s the only way we have a chance in hell of killing Ridgemont.”
“But what if we can’t?" She swallowed, remembering that terrifying dream. “What if we lose?"
“I’ll get killed.” Cade shrugged. “Fortunately, if I die when we’re fused, it won’t kill you—it’ll just throw your consciousness back into your body.”
She glowered and fisted her hands on her hips. “To a very short life as Ridgemont’s sex toy. Not that I’d care, with you dead.”
“Do you want to back off from this?"
“He wouldn’t let us even if I did.” Val smiled tightly. “Besides, it doesn’t take telepathy to know you’ve never run from a fight in your life.”
He looked down at her, his dark eyes solemn. “I’d run from this one to keep you alive.”
“Yeah, well, the only way to do that is kick Ridgemont’s undead butt.” She sighed. “What are we supposed to do now?"
“Try it again.” Cade stepped against her and slid his arms around her waist. “At least this particular method has its charms.” Smiling, he lowered his head and took her mouth with his. She reached for him, with her arms and her mind.
And became one with him.
The next thing Val knew, she was looking down at her own unconscious face. “This is just too creepy.” The words came out in Cade’s deep voice.
“Don’t do that,” he said, swinging her body easily into his arms. She was startled at how light she felt. “Look, don’t try to do anything at first, okay? Just watch …” He stumbled and caught himself. “Or you’ll trip me. My muscles can only obey one set of commands at a time. And you’re not used to running a body this size.”
I hope the neighbors aren’t watching, or they’ll think you’re talking to yourself, she told him, switching to mental communication.
It’s so dark, they can’t see a damn thing back here. And a good thing, too. He carried her inside and laid her down on the living room couch. As he straightened, he looked down at the slim, pale woman on the couch.
“That does not look like me,” Val said.
“It’s really disconcerting to hear my voice saying somebody else’s sentences.”
Sorry. Do I really look like that? I’m…small.
You’re used to seeing yourself from close up in the mirror, Val. Different perspective. Besides, I’m six inches taller than you are. Compared to me, you are small.
Should I get a boob job?
An image flashed through his mind of her round, bare breast just before his mouth closed around her nipple. No. You’re perfect.
That wasn’t a comment, I was just thinking. You know, sometimes thoughts just flash through your mind that you don’t want to share with the world.
I’ll remind you of that the next time some really stacked blonde walks by.
Wickedly, she pictured a pig with fangs and a vampire cape.
Yeah, well, you seem to have developed a taste for bacon, darlin’, so you’re just gonna have to live with it. Let’s get to work.
As he headed back outside, she wondered how close she had to be for the link to work.
I’m not sure, Cade replied. We could experiment and see. I think it depends on how strong we are.
We’d better find out. I’d hate for us to get out of range in the middle of the fight.
Good point. He frowned as he stepped out onto the yard. Val was instantly distracted by the sensation of cool grass under his feet and the rich, floral scent of spring in the air. Pay attention, he told her. We’re going to start with a series of katas.
She was unfamiliar with the word, but she knew its meaning from his memories: martial arts routines designed to drill skills until they became automatic. Why does somebody who can bench press a Buick need to study karate?
When you’re planning to fight an eight hundred year-old immortal, you study any damn thing you can. Cade slid into the drill, his body moving fluidly as he threw punches and kicks at imaginary opponents.
He’d begun practicing the various martial arts in the 1970s, so now he no longer had to think about what he was doing. For Val it was profoundly disconcerting, looking out of his eyes to see a long, thickly muscled arm or leg piston out instead of the slimmer, shorter one her mind insisted should be there.
And the sheer animal speed and power of his body was amazing. Feeling him move, experiencing the intense concentration and discipline he’d worked to build over the decades—it all touched off a slow, hot burn of arousal in Val. She wanted to savor that hard, delicious strength sliding into her, taking her….
He stopped in his tracks. Val, if you don’t cut that out, I’m going to have to go back inside and ride that delicious little body of yours, whether you’re in it or not. There was a sensation of heat and heaviness in his groin she suddenly realized was a rock-hard erection.
Oh, she said, mortified. I’m sorry!
No, you’re not. And I’m not either. But we really need to get this down before we play.
Trying to distract herself, Val focused on watching everything around them as he went back to his katas. But that only reinforced her disorientation, since Cade’s vampire senses were even more acute than her own. The night was full of a constant rustle and scuttle she’d never heard before, and the air was redolent with smells she couldn’t even identify. Even the trees and grass looked strange, each leaf and stem visible in the darkness.
Yet to Cade, it was all familiar. He knew that crack and rustle was a cat slipping over the grass behind them, recognized that the sharp, musky smell meant a possum had waddled through three or four hours earlier.
Three or four hours? You can smell something that went by three or four hours ago at this distance?
Well, yeah. There was an undercurrent of Can’t anyone? to the thought. It had been so long since Cade had looked at the world through mortal senses that he no longer remembered what it was like.
Suddenly Val had the dizzying sensation that she was becoming not human. And it would only become worse as the years went on. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the living room ceiling, back in her own body again.
Val?
Give me a minute, dammit. She sat up on the couch, staring down at her hands as she laced her fingers together tightly. She’d never noticed how delicate and thin they were compared to Cade’s huge paws. Even her own body felt like a stranger.
“Val, we have to do this.”
She looked up to see him standing in the doorway. And felt the punch of vertigo. For the first time in her life, she knew what it really felt like to be somebody else. “I can never go back to what I was,” Val said softly. “I’m losing myself.”
“No, Val. You’re not. You’re stronger than you think,” Cade said, then laughed softly. “Hell, you’re the strongest person I know. As time goes on, you’ll find yourself settling into your new body. It won’t seem so strange then.”
He walked over to the couch, sat down beside her, and picked up one of her hands to hold it comfortingly. She curled her fingers into his and leaned against his muscled shoulder. She could feel him reining in his impatience, his drive to master this new skill so he could reach the goal he’d been working toward for the past one hundred and twenty years.
Killing Ridgemont was more than an obsession to him, she realized, understanding him in a whole new way now that she’d been him. For Cade, slaying the ancient was a holy calling. His comment about running from the fight with his enemy revealed how much he truly loved her.
“What if we can’t do it?" Val asked softly, the memory of the dream tormenting her. “What if I can’t do it? I don’t want to get you killed.”
Cade opened his mouth, then shut it and sighed. “I started to give you a rah-rah ‘buck up’ speech, but you know I’m not any more certain of pulling this off than you are. I just know we aren’t going to get a damn thing sitting on this couch. C’mere.”
He didn’t mean physically. She gritted her teeth and launched herself. Watched while he caught her body before it could hit the floor. Cade arranged her limp form on the couch again, then walked back outside to start another kata. You’re going to have to start doing it with me, he told her. The idea is to amplify each other, so we have to work together.
He pivoted. She tried to move with him, but halfway into the turn his left leg locked. They hit the ground with a jarring thud.
“Dammit, Val, my… ” he began, at the same time she said, “I’m sorry!” His mouth froze open, his throat locked, and a deep grating sound came from his chest. She quit trying to talk, and Cade exploded, “…muscles can only obey one set of commands at a time!”
Look, I’ve never done this before! What do you expect?
His anger collapsed. Ah, hell. I know this is difficult. We’re just going to have to learn to get synchronized.
What if they did that fighting Ridgemont?
We won’t, he told her, reading her fear. Once we drill long enough, it will become second nature.
How much time is that going to take, Cade? I have no idea.
We’d better get started, then.
Chapter Nineteen
They worked for hours, spinning and turning—and often falling on Cade’s face—until the sweat ran off his body and bruises mottled his skin. Gradually he began to move more smoothly as she learned the trick of merging so deeply with him she was no longer even aware of herself.
Finally he stopped. I think that’s enough. We’ll work on the strength amplification tomorrow night.
With a sigh, Val let go and opened her eyes to stare at the living room ceiling. The aches and exhaustion that had been building for hours were suddenly gone. In their place was a long, deep throb in her skull, a vicious headache that seemed to have appeared from nowhere.
The French doors opened and Cade limped in. His dark hair stood straight up, and his knee was bleeding from a nasty scrape. She scooted over for him as he threw himself on the couch. Knowing what he’d been wanting for the past hour, she got up and went to the kitchen to scoop a beer out of the refrigerator.
“I think I got the better end of this deal,” she told him, popping the top as she handed it to him. “We work your ass off, and I’m completely rested.” She felt another nasty throb. “Except for a killer headache.”
He downed the beer in one long, rippling swallow. Crunching the can in his hand, he said, “Wait ‘til we fight Ridgemont.”
She winced.
Despite her relative lack of injuries, Val found herself feeling so battered she decided a shower was in order. But when she walked into the master bathroom, her eyes fell on the enormous garden tub that sprawled next to one of those gorgeous stained glass windows. Around the tub stood bayberry candles in crystal bowls, and in one corner sat a bottle of peach-scented bubble bath. Evidently Camille had left them behind.
Acting on impulse, Val stripped, ran a tub of deliciously hot water, poured in a generous quantity of bubble bath, and lit the candles. With a sigh of sheer, voluptuous pleasure, she sank into the water and leaned back, closing her eyes. The pop and hiss of tiny bubbles filled her vampire senses as the silken flow of water caressed her skin. God, she thought, I needed this.
She relaxed into the heat and scent, letting herself half-float as her headache drained away. Until Cade’s velvety voice purred, “Mmmm. A naked redhead and bubbles.”
Val opened one eye. He stood in the doorway, a delicate champagne flute in each big hand, wearing nothing but a wicked smile. She felt a sweet, hot tingle just looking at him. “A naked vampire and champagne,” she said, watching him stroll into the room. “I didn’t think we drank…wine.”
“We drink all kinds of things,” he told her, handing her both glasses. “If you’ll allow me to join you, I’ll demonstrate.”
“Come on in, if you don’t mind smelling like peaches.” She sat up and scooted forward to let him get into the tub behind her. Cade slipped in and settled into the water, which sloshed alarmingly near the tub rim. Val settled back against his hard chest with a sigh of pure delight, then handed him one of the flutes.
He tilted the glass up for a sip, the relaxed under her. “God, I needed this.”
“Just what I was thinking.”
“Sorry about the slave driver bit. I’m a little wired when it comes to Ridgemont.”
She twisted her head around to look up into his face with a wicked smile. “You think?"
“Smartass.”
“In any case….” Val stopped to drink a sweet, bubbling mouthful of the champagne, “I don’t want to hear the ‘R’ word any more tonight. I just want to sit here in the candlelight and bubbles and be hedonistic.”
He put down his glass on the floor beside the tub and reached around to gently brush his thumbs over her soft nipples. Instantly, they peaked and began to blush. “Is this what you had in mind?” She let her head drop back against his shoulder. “You read my mind.”
“Oh, yeah. And when I did, I found out what a bad, bad girl you are.” Slowly, lazily, he stroked and tugged the little pink tips until they were stiff and rosy.
They weren’t the only things, either. Val could feel him hardening against her back. She bit her lip and moaned.
“You know, I really like bad, bad girls. Especially when they have such pretty breasts,” he rumbled in her ear.
She stroked his hard, strong thighs under the water, enjoying the delicate currents that swirled around her fingers. “You’re pretty bad yourself, Cowboy.”
“Let’s see just how bad I can be.”
Murmuring dark, hungry words, they curled together, stroking and touching, listening to the pop of soap bubbles, inhaling the scent of sex and peaches. “I love you,” Cade said suddenly in a low, hard voice. “No matter what else happens, never forget that.”
“And I love you,” she murmured back. “Loving you, knowing you—it’s worth the risk. It’s worth it all. Even knowing we’ll have to fight….”
“Don’t say that bastard’s name,” he growled, rolling her beneath him. Water sloshed. Bubbles popping around her shoulders, she smiled hotly up at him. “There’s no room in this tub for anybody but us.”
He slid into her, a long, hot stroke into her ready cream that tore an erotic gasp from her lips.
Dark eyes focusing down into hers, Cade began to surge against her in slow, driving thrusts that sent the bath water sloshing over the rim of the tub. Dazzled, she watched him, memorizing the strong lines of his face in the glow of the candlelight.
