Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(81)

"It's Tulsa's Rose Gardens!" Mikki gasped. "How could you have had time to paint this since you've been back?" She approached the smooth wall and touched it cautiously. It was completely dry. "There's so much here; this should have taken you months, or even years to paint."

"It did," he said.

She looked over her shoulder at him, not sure she had heard him correctly. "How can that be?"

"I painted this from images I saw in my dreams."

Caressingly, she skimmed her hand over the wall. "It's perfect. You got all the details right."

"Does it make you long for your home?"

She could feel him getting closer to her, but she didn't turn around, afraid that if she moved, he'd shy away. "No. The Realm of the Rose is my home now. I don't want to be anywhere except here, with you."

"I ached to come to you today," he said.

"And I couldn't stop thinking about you." Mikki's hand was trembling, so she dropped it quickly to her side.

He was so close to her she could feel the heat of his body against her back. Then his hands were on her shoulders and his mouth was against her ear. "When you cast the spell opening the realm to men, I felt you calling to me . . . beckoning . . . asking . . ." He growled low in his throat, and Mikki could feel the vibration through the depths of her soul. "I thought it would drive me mad to stay away from you."

"Then don't stay away from me. I don't want you to stay away from me," she said breathlessly and she pressed back into him, feeling his erection push against the swell of her ass. His hot lips were on the side of her throat, and she could feel his sharp teeth barely graze her skin with his kisses. When his hands left her shoulders to cup her br**sts, she arched to meet him. Her arms went up to pull his head down to her, and, just like in her long-ago dream, she felt his horns through the thick mane of his hair at the same time his teeth found the hollow between her neck and shoulder and teased her with a stinging bite. She moaned and pressed herself more firmly against him.

Suddenly he froze.

"No, don't stop," she pleaded.

"It - it's gone!"

With the words his breath came out in a rush, and she could feel his body begin to tremble violently. Worried, she turned in his arms. He was staring at her with an expression of mixed joy and shock.

"What's wrong? What's gone?"

He took her face between his hands. "You love me." His voice broke on the words, and tears dripped silently down his cheeks.

She smiled. "Yes. I love you, but what's gone?"

He closed his eyes, trying to contain the raw joy of his emotions. "The last of the spell, my Mikado, and the last barrier between us. No matter what the Fates may bring, I will love you until the end of time."

He bent and kissed her gently. Fisting her hand in his hair, she pulled his mouth more firmly against her. His growl moved through her already-aroused senses like a knowing caress. He lifted his head and opened his eyes. They were dark and fierce with desire. His bronze skin was already slick with sweat. She ran her hands down his body, from his shoulders over his chest, to the cords of his abdominal muscles, which quivered under her touch. When she'd begun touching him, he'd taken his hands from her face, and now they were braced against the wall on either side of her so she stood in a cage of his arms.

"Don't move. Just let me touch you," she said huskily.

"I do not know how long I can keep my hands from you." His chest rumbled, passion straining his voice.

"It won't be long." She touched the side of his face and then traced his lips with her thumb. "First I want to see you - all of you."

She saw the automatic doubt that shadowed his eyes, but he nodded slowly, acquiescing to her need. Her hands slipped down his body again, this time not stopping until her fingers hooked in the linen wrap tied low around his waist. She pulled at the fabric, and it came free easily. Mikki stared at his naked body.

"Your father's wife meant to curse you, but she had actually created a creature of incredible beauty," she whispered the words into life. "You're not an abomination; you're a miracle."

He was raw male power so perfectly blended with beast that it was difficult to tell where exactly the man ended and the beast began. His waist tapered to flanks and thighs covered with dark fur. From his waist down he was less thickly muscled than he had appeared to be when his body was clothed. Naked, his lean, powerful lines were visible. Mesmerized, Mikki stroked the place where the skin of the man gave way to the body of the beast. Asterius bowed his head and growled. She looked into his face. His eyes were tightly closed, and he was breathing heavily in an effort to control the creature within. Mikki felt a hot rush of desire as she watched the beast stir. Her eyes moved back down his body. He was fully erect and formed like a man. The skin that covered his shaft was the same bronze of his chest. Mikki took its heavy length in her hands, stroking with one, squeezing with the other. When she touched him, his eyes opened to find her watching him.

"You don't always have to keep the beast chained, Asterius," she whispered. Still stroking him, she leaned forward, circling his nipple with her tongue. "Let him loose, my love. I'm not afraid of him." She took the hard nub of his nipple between her teeth and bit sharply down.