Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

experience for anyone to actually gave a damn about him, he found he enjoyed it just a little too much. This woman could make him weak so easily.
    She held his hand as they moved through the gardens together, the breeze sliding over them, tugging at tendrils of her hair and ruffling hers. He liked the way they moved together, the way silence settled over them both, easy and companionable. Stefan Prakenskii was never truly at ease with another human being. Thomas Vincent would have no difficulties being in the presence of others, as would any of his many personas, but not Stefan, and yet, it was Stefan walking beside Judith, holding her hand and feeling as if she’d handed him a miracle.
    He couldn’t turn his head easily with his neck swelling so much. The pain was nothing to him, a small, annoying sting he barely noticed, but it definitely got him Judith’s attention. She rubbed her fingers over his arm continually, looking up at him with little anxious glances from under her long, feathery lashes, making him feel as if he’d been handed the world. It amazed him that one woman could actually change the way a man thought, his actions—more, his entire reason for existing.
    She led him up the stairs to her house, a large, two-story structure. The house nestled in the center of the gardens, so looking out any of the many windows, they were surrounded by brilliant color.
    “My studios are on the ground floor,” Judith explained as she opened the front door.
    Stefan stepped into her entry way and again, as he had at the gates to the farm, felt the subtle shift of energy around him. Judith’s power lived and breathed in this house. The force rushed to surround him, building his joy at discovering Judith into almost euphoria. He was already fighting his physical attraction to her, a first for him, testing his years of discipline, but now, that raging hunger was amplified beyond measure.
    He breathed deeply and moved inside. Her fragrance hit him hard, triggering such a need he simply turned, toed the door closed as he bunched her hair into his fist and walked her backward, his mouth coming down hard on hers. Her lips parted, accepting him, welcoming him, opening to his invasion, her arms sliding around his neck as he forced her back against the door.
    There was nowhere else he wanted to be than right there, devouring her, tasting all that wonderful passion, a deep well, pouring flames into him, all his. He’d made his claim, branded her with his mark and given her his soul. He had to touch her skin, that bare expanse inviting his exploration. His hand caressed her, finding the intriguing gold chain. He tugged at it.
    “You should be wearing this and nothing else, Judith,” he murmured, trailing kisses over her face, down to her chin where he nipped gently with his teeth. “I swore I wouldn’t push this. I want to do it right. I don’t want a flash of heat for a night and then it’s over. I want forever, Judith. Every damn night with you, every single day.”
    She clung to him, breathing as heavily as he was. “We can’t have forever. You don’t understand about me. You don’t, Thomas, and I should never have allowed this.”
    “Then let’s talk about it. Explain it to me. I know you’re a spirit element. I have my own talents, Judith and of course they can get out of control, any talent can.”
    “Exactly.” She dropped her arms and stepped back.
    He felt inexplicitly empty. He controlled his world, not a woman. Not his handler. No one else. And yet it was getting harder and harder to breathe, knowing she was a breath away from tossing him out.
    He caged her in, both hands resting on the door beside her head. “We’re going to talk about this, Judith. I’m not the kind of man to give up on something so important.”
    He took a breath knowing he was going to be absolutely honest with her in this moment. “I’ve never, not one time, wanted a woman in the same way I want you. Do I want to throw you down on the floor and show you a million ways I know to give you so much pleasure you’d never look at another man? Damn straight. But it’s so much more and I’ve never felt the more before. Not one time. You don’t throw the more away, not when it’s a fucking miracle and will never happen in your lifetime again. So, no, I’m not leaving until we talk this out.”
    Her dark eyes searched his. She should have been afraid. He was an intimidating man with his bulk of muscle and his scars. She