Only 06 - Winter Fire

could have, for he was too completely aroused to feel a gentle touch. He had to have something as primitive as the urgency cording his body until sweat glistened over every bit of his skin.
    She gave him what he needed, all but fighting him for the embrace, demanding that he give her everything he had in turn.
    She had to have it or die.
    She would have screamed her need if she could have, but his mouth was joined to hers, enforcing silence. Sweat slicked her body as she fought to get closer and closer to him and to the ecstasy that shimmered just out of reach.
    And then it wasn’t out of reach. It was all around her, inside her, light and darkness shattering into endless colors.
    Yet still he moved against her, driving into her, feeding the ecstasy until she shivered and wept and gave herself to the blinding, pulsing colors that knew no darkness, only joy.
    With a hoarse cry, he gave himself in turn, repeatedly, blindly, knowing only the golden fires of ecstasy burning him all the way to his soul.
    It was a long time before either Case or Sarah could speak. They simply held each other hot and close, gentle and fierce, hungry and sated, stripped naked and basking in the searing, tender fires of completion.
    â€œDear Lord,” she whispered finally.
    â€œAmen,” he breathed.
    He brushed her lips with his own, tasted her, felt her sweet tasting of him in turn.
    â€œYou’re incredible,” he murmured against her mouth. “So damned alive .”
    â€œIt’s you, not me.”
    â€œNo, it’s you,” he insisted.
    She laughed softly.
    â€œWe’ve got the rest of the night to argue about who is burning whom alive,” she said.
    White flashed briefly against the black of his beard.
    â€œThere are certain kinds of, uh, arguments that a man can’t do more than once or twice a night,” he said.
    â€œReally?”
    â€œGod’s truth.”
    She smiled and stretched deliciously against his naked male strength.
    â€œDoes that mean I can pet you now and have you fall asleep peacefully in my arms?” she asked.
    He nuzzled against her neck, yawned, and rolled onto his side, taking her with him.
    â€œIf you like,” he said very softly. “For a while.”
    Just a dream. Just for a while .
    A dream, that’s all .
    Just a dream .
    Despite the tears burning against her eyes, Sarah kissed Case’s neck, his shoulder, the hard hand that was cradling her cheek. She tasted the salty sleekness of his skin, tested the muscular resilience of his biceps with her teeth, caught the hair on his chest between her lips and pulled.
    There was no teasing in her caresses, no seduction, no demand. She simply was experiencing his textures in every way she could. Slowly she worked her way down his big body, turning her face from side to side, smoothing her cheeks over his chest and belly, inhaling the elemental scents of man and woman and completion.
    The line of hair that arrowed down from his navel to his groin intrigued her. It tickled her lips in a way that made her smile. She was still smiling when her mouth brushed against firm male flesh that was becoming increasingly familiar.
    It was increasing, period.
    Her head lifted until she could look at his face. He was watching her with a smoldering intensity that even night couldn’t conceal.
    â€œIs this a permanent state with you?” she asked softly, perplexed.
    â€œNever was before.”
    â€œBefore what?”
    â€œYou.”
    â€œOh. Is that…good?” she asked.
    â€œI don’t know. It’s never happened before. But I’m looking forward to finding out.”
    Sarah put her cheek against him. Her breath sighed out over his swelling arousal.
    She kissed him.
    Rather distantly Case wondered if he had died and gone to heaven instead of to the hell he had always assumed awaited him.
    The tip of her tongue drew a line of fire over the pulse that beat so heavily in his rigid flesh.
    â€œIt’s good,” he whispered roughly. “It’s so damned good I can’t believe I’m not dreaming.”
    â€œYou are, remember?” she asked, tasting him. “Just a dream.”
    â€œFor a while. Until dawn.”
    Sarah closed her eyes.
    Dawn, when all dreams ended. But until then she could dream a lifetime of dreams, enough to last her until she died.
    â€œUntil dawn,” she said. Then, so softly that she hoped he couldn’t hear, she whispered, “I