My hand drifted from his face down his chest, lingering on his silent heart. "Yes, you should have." He frowned and I quickly added, "But I understand why you didn't." Sidling close to him, my other hand brushed the hair from his forehead. He smiled, slipping a cool arm around my waist. "You wanted someone important to you, to remember what you had together. That's very...human of you."
He smiled wider, pulling on my back. Knowing what he wanted, I lowered myself to his lips. Maybe it was his nerves, maybe it was the conversation, but he immediately shifted into I-want-sex mode and gently grabbed my head, angling me so our kiss was a deeply heated one. His other hand ran down over my backside, squeezing gently.
Grinning into his mouth, I wrapped my legs around his. He groaned as my h*ps pressed into his side, then shifted my body, pulling me on top of him. His breath heavier as we kissed, he muttered, "You're all I need, Emma. You're the only one I need to remember me."
I groaned as his hands pulled my ready body into his ready body. Hearing the breathy sounds of light slumber coming down the hall, my body ramped up its response. I wouldn't need to tone this down with our super-hearing children asleep. Grinding my h*ps into his, I mumbled, "I could never forget you, I will never forget you, husband."
Panting as we simulated what we were both yearning for, I heard a light whimper escape his lips. His hands started frantically pulling down the light sleep shorts I was wearing. "Emma, I need you. I just really need you."
Hearing the desperation in his voice, I helped his hands slide off my underwear. Not even bothering to shut off the light on his nightstand, we pulled off his pants and I settled myself over him. The word "please" passed his lips as his eyes closed in anticipation. Watching his face, I lowered myself onto him, groaning with relief as his coolness filled me. Even after all this time, it was still an incredible sensation.
As was my heat enclosed around him. His mouth fell open once we were connected. The desperation in his face relaxed, the rigidness in his muscles relaxing as well. I leaned over his body as we began moving together. His eyes still closed, his face euphoric, his hands clenched and released my h*ps at a steadily increasing pace. Understanding what he was silently requesting, I matched my h*ps with that rhythm, clenching him internally as I did.
His head dropped back as he made a noise that I prayed our sleeping children didn't hear. Attaching my lips to his neck, I whispered, "You like that, baby?" His only response was a quickly sucked in breath through his teeth. I let out my own groan that I prayed our little angels couldn't hear.
Feeling my husband's need beneath me made me feel even more connected to him. It nearly seemed that our bodies weren't separate forms, working together for a common goal. No, for that moment we seemed like one body. That feeling got especially intense when his hands came up my back and clutched me to him. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him just as hard. Then we both buried our faces in the other's necks, crying out in unison as we came together.
Like most things with Teren, it was intense and emotional and made me feel like everything was going to be okay, because he had each other.
Softly panting into his friction-warmed body, I listened for any noise from down the hall. Not hearing any, I smiled and kissed his neck. Sliding over to his side, I left my legs wrapped around him. A content smile on his face, he peeked over at me. "Sorry, I just needed that."
I thumped his chest. "Are you seriously apologizing for amazing sex?"
Laughing lightly, he raised an eyebrow. "Amazing? I don't even feel like I did anything."
Feeling the lingering waves of bliss running through me, I smiled crookedly. "Maybe that's why it was amazing?"
He frowned at me, then laughed and shook his head, pulling me in for a tight hug. "I love you, thank you."
I pulled back again, kissing him softly. "You don't have to thank me for that, Teren."
He shook his head, his fingers tucking loose strands of my hair behind my ear. "I'm not. I'm thanking you for being so understanding...about Carrie." He sighed and shook his head again. "I don't think most women would be." He smiled softly, his earlier tension about her visit gone.
I sighed and kissed him again, loving how my enhanced senses could pinpoint the very flavor of his skin. "I just understand...you." He smiled, holding our faces together. I smiled at the peace I saw on his, then shrugged. "Besides, I haven't told you all of my skeletons."
He blinked and pulled back. "You have skeletons?" He grinned crookedly at me in a way that nearly made me want to crawl on top of him again.
Placing my lips against his, I murmured, "I have a myriad of secrets that you don't know about."
He chuckled against my mouth, rubbing our lips together. "I'm intrigued...do tell."
I smiled, then sighed. "Well, I never told you about the gang member that I dated briefly. Or the package that he had me take to a friend of his in Vegas, which I'm pretty sure held some illegal stuff in it." I twisted my lips and shrugged. Yeah, that relationship hadn't exactly been wise...or long lasted.
He pulled back further, his face a little surprised. "You were a drug runner?"
I chuckled at how he made it sound. "Only once. I broke up with him after that little trip."
He shook his head, pulling my body flush to his. "Interesting, anything else?"
Biting my lip, I looked down at his chest. "I actually did have a pregnancy scare once." His arms tightened and I looked back up at his perfectly emotionless face. I had to imagine that if he'd still had a heartbeat, it would be racing. I shook my head to reassure him. "I never was. I was just a lot later than usual."
I frowned as he relaxed in my arms. "The ass freaked out when I told him, told me I'd done it on purpose." Teren narrowed his eyes, obviously irritated at my jerk of an ex too. "I dumped him and my period started the next day...go figure." I laughed and he finally smiled at me.
Shaking his head, he shrugged a little. "You dated a lot more interesting people than I did. Mine mainly ran away screaming, once I told them the truth."
I raised my eyebrows. "Did you really tell them all?"
His face serious, he nodded. "After Carrie, I made sure that they all knew, as early as I felt I could tell them." Looking down, he sighed. "After that mess, I was scared off girls for awhile. I didn't date again until college." Peeking up at me, he smiled. "I think my family thought I didn't even like girls at that point."
I chuckled and ran a finger along the rough length of his jaw. "Who was the lucky girl who got you dating again?"
Smiling, he rested back on his pillows, his finger absentmindedly tracing random patterns in my skin. "Her name was Gwen. We met in the quad when she asked me directions to her class." He laughed lightly at his memory, staring up at our ceiling. "I had no idea where it was, but I faked it so I could talk to her."
I grinned, imagining a younger version of my husband trying to impress a girl. "Did you ever find her class?"
Swinging his eyes back to mine, he shook his head. "No, and we spent so long looking for it that she missed the class anyway." He shrugged. "We ended up having lunch instead."
Watching my charming husband smile at me, I thought that maybe Gwen had done that intentionally. I know I would have lied and blown off a class to spend an afternoon with him. "Cute. What happened with her?"
His smile faltered. "We dated for a few months...then she wanted to move into my dorm." He looked back up at the ceiling, the memory of that moment clearly not as pleasant as their first meeting. "I couldn't...without telling her first, so I did."
He pressed his lips into a firm line, his jaw tightening. "And?" I asked, my fingers running over the curve of his arm around me.
Twisting his head to me, he sighed softly. "She ran out crying...I never saw her again. I told Great-Gran it was over and she...handled it." He sighed again, his fingers coming up to tuck my hair behind my ear.
I frowned at the look on his face. "You really liked her, didn't you?"
He shrugged. "At the time, yeah. But she wasn't for me. I knew I couldn't be with someone who couldn't accept what I was, and she was only the first in a long line of girls who couldn't handle the truth." Pulling me tight, his mood lightened. "Only you handled it well." He smiled wryly. "I definitely never got to have sex with any of them afterwards."
I flushed and smacked his chest, remembering the evening that he'd first told me what he was. I may have been a little...eager to be with him. Well, he was the most attractive person I'd ever seen...inside and out. "Was I the only one you told by piercing my tongue with your teeth?"
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "God, that was embarrassing. I thought it was too soon to tell you the truth. I had no idea what to tell you. I was so frazzled, I couldn't even pull my teeth back up in time." I laughed at the memory and he peeked his eyes open.
Cupping my cheek, the cool metal of his wedding band rubbed against me, caressing me. "Yes. You were the only one that so absorbed me, I couldn't even concentrate on the one thing that was as natural to me as breathing. I couldn't pretend with you. That's how much you affect me."
I swallowed, feeling my face heat. Smiling at the color he saw there, he nestled his head in my hair. "Well...since we're having the exes discussion, I should probably tell you that I did date a vampire once."
I pushed him away from me, instantly remembering a conversation with Alanna about a couple of visiting female vampires. "I knew it! You so let that woman bite you!" Hearing my children stir in their beds, I quieted my voice. "Didn't you?"
His eyes widened as he stared at me. "You...know about that?"
I smirked and narrowed my eyes. "Yes, your mother mentioned it once."
He closed his eyes, then started to chuckle. "Ugh, God, I bet most men don't have to worry about their families discussing their sex lives." Peeking over at my twisted lips and narrowed eyes, he shrugged. "Just once...a tiny, tiny bite." I narrowed my eyes even more and he grimaced. "I was curious, surely you can understand that?"
I sighed, my lips curving into a small smile at the look on his face. We'd been through too much together for me to feel any jealousy over his past experiences. Besides, being a vampire now, and understanding the thrill of biting, I could see how he'd be curious about what being bitten felt like. I probably would have done the same thing if I'd been in his position. Raising an eyebrow, I calmly asked, "Did you bite her? Was she better tasting than me?"
My lips twitched as I tried to contain my amusement; I already knew that I was his first. Seeing the humor in my face, he pushed me to my back and hovered over me. "No one could possibly taste better than you." His eyes drifted down my body and I had the distinct feeling that he wasn't talking about my blood anymore. A different sort of flush washed over me. He smiled, sensing it.
As his fingers slid up my ribs, pushing up my shirt, I closed my eyes. "And no, you are the only woman I've ever penetrated. The only one I ever will penetrate." He huskily said that directly in my ear.