Copper Beach

back just long enough to tug off his T–shirt. With her fingertips, she traced the outline of an elegant bird with wings of fire that covered his left shoulder.

    “It’s a phoenix, isn’t it?” she said.

    “Yes.”

    “You know, I would never have pegged you as the type to get a tattoo.”

    “I was nineteen,” he said.

    He cradled her jaw in one hand and used his thumb to tease open her mouth, tasting her, drawing her deeper into the embrace. The world spun around her. It took her a few heartbeats to realize that Sam had picked her up in his arms. He angled her carefully and carried her down the hall, through the dimly lit living room and into the darkened bedroom.

    He tumbled her down onto the bed and sprawled heavily on top of her, anchoring her with his weight. His mouth moved over her as if he craved her.

    She could feel the damp warmth gathering between her legs. He had done little more than kiss her, but her body was already preparing for him. The sheer urgency of her need should have made her hesitate, pull back. And somewhere a faint alarm was sounding, warning her that what she was doing held all manner of unknown risks.

    But she was in no mood to pay attention to the weak protests that emanated from the part of her mind that was still trying to think rationally.

    Sam dragged his mouth across hers one last time and then wrenched himself free. He rolled off her and sat up on the edge of the bed.

    “Give me a second here,” he said. His voice was low and husky, and his breathing was rough. He stripped off his pants and fumbled briefly in a pocket. “Damn. My hand is shaking so hard it will be a wonder if I can get this thing on.”

    She exulted in the knowledge that she was the reason he was having problems with the logistics of the situation. A sense of her own feminine power arced through her. Tonight she was a goddess.

    Sam managed to sheath himself in the condom. He came back down on top of her, crushing her into the bed. In the darkness, his eyes were ablaze with a desire that crossed the spectrum from normal to paranormal. On his right hand, his ring glowed with a muted coppery radiance.

    Her own senses were spiking wildly now. She was unbelievably sensitive to the slightest touch. She flinched when he pushed her nightgown up to her waist and pulled it off over her head. And then his mouth was on her breast, and she would have screamed with the intense pleasure of it all if she had been able to catch her breath.

    “You are on fire,” he said. The words were filled with wonder and awe.

    “So are you.” She stroked the contoured muscles of his back. His skin was streaked with sweat. “You’re burning up.”

    “Never felt better in my life.”

    A sliver of uncertainty pricked the lush fog of sensation at last. She clutched his taut upper arms.

    “I’m not sure this is normal,” she said.

    “So what? Neither of us is exactly normal.”

    He was right, she thought. She pushed the concern to the back of her mind and abandoned herself to the exhilarating resonance of the energy in the bedroom.

    He cupped her hot core and stroked her. Fire and ice sleeted through her. She twisted beneath his touch, straining into the embrace, trying to pull him into her.

    He kissed the curve of her shoulder. “I can’t wait any longer. I need you now.”

    “Yes,” she said. “Now.”

    He moved, making a place for himself between her thighs. She gasped when she felt him pushing slowly, heavily, into her. Once again she thought she heard a whisper of warning. This isn’t normal. Something more was happening here, something she did not fully comprehend. Whatever it was, the meaning was still encrypted.

    But he was inside her now, filling her completely, and it seemed to her that their auras were resonating together in some unimaginable way. Then she could not think about anything else except the overpowering need that was building inside her.

    Sam began to move. She raised her knees to let him sink deeper. Until tonight, she would not have believed that she was capable of experiencing such intense sensations.

    In the next heartbeat, her release cascaded through her in waves of energy that defied easy descriptions of both pleasure and pain. Not normal, she thought again. But incredible.

    She cried out and sank her nails into Sam’s back. He went rigid, and then his climax broke free, surging through him in heavy waves. His fierce growl of triumph and satisfaction echoed in the