Excerpt: Eternal
Echoes (Emblem of Eternity trilogy, Book 2)
By Angela
Corbett
I
took a deep breath as I came out
of the memory. I was getting better at keeping my flashback reaction less noticeable,
but I still steadied myself against the gate. Alex noticed. “Are you
okay?” he asked.
I nodded, my
breath less ragged. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
He came over and stood behind me, a commanding presence. His hands were a
gentle weight on my arms as he turned me toward him. At first, he seemed to be
looking for signs of distress, but as our eyes caught and held, I knew his thoughts
were in other places, and mine were headed there, too. His hand slipped
feather-light over my arms and down until they rested above my hips.
Like I was having
some sort of out-of-body experience, I watched as my hand went up to his face,
tracing the line of his jaw.
“We shouldn't be doing this,” I said in a very
unconvincing way.
It
wasn’t that I didn't mean what
I said. I did. And I still had enough blood flowing to my brain to vocalize
it. But I was having a hard time convincing my rational side I shouldn't be making out with Alex.
Especially when my rational side was practically
screaming that I’d kissed Emil last night and to be fair, I should also
make out with Alex. My rational side told me I wouldn't want a double-standard.
My rational side had lost its mind.
“Why?” Alex asked,
inching slowly closer, his eyes dark in a way that made my legs feel like
pudding.
There were so
many possible answers to that question, with reasonable arguments why we shouldn't proceed, that I wasn’t sure which to choose. I started with, “What if the
bracelet doesn't work?”
Alex glanced
down at my bracelet, giving a very slow smile I could only describe as predatory
before eyeing me like he was preparing for an attack.
Apparently a couple
of centuries of sexual frustration will do that to you.
“It
will,” he answered, still moving
toward me.
“How can you
be sure?”
Alex’s mouth
curved slightly in a smile part rapacious, part entertained. “I've been waiting
a long time for a relationship
with you, Evie. And for everything that comes with it. I wouldn't have
given you the bracelet if I wasn’t sure it would work. I gave it to you because
I intend to put it to use.”
Sheesh! Judging
by his dark, focused gaze, I knew he wasn’t kidding.
“I don’t think
it’s a good idea.”
I
shook my head, like that would emphasize my argument and
stop his sultry advances. It didn't. His
arms went around me tight, pulling
me to him. My chest crushed into his, the hard planes of his stomach
obvious
even through our clothes. He stared down at me, not loosening his embrace.
My breath was shallow as I stared back, wondering how long it would be until
we both lost all common sense. He moved his lips over my cheeks, the soft skin
brushing wispy strokes over my face. When he got to my ear, he took the soft
pad in his lips and nipped lightly, then whispered one word.
“Why?”
Why?
Why what? Had there been a question?
I fumbled around in my head for what we’d been talking about. Oh.
That’s
right. Bad idea. This is a bad idea. Why is it still a bad idea? What
was
my list again? I did more fumbling and found one.
“What about Emil?”
I
felt Alex tense, his shoulders becoming
taut under his shirt.
“He’s not invited to this conversation.”
Geez!
Alex had always been overbearing,
but apparently when it came to sex, he was not only overbearing, but
alarmingly primitive. Again, I attributed the aggression to decades of pent up
frustration.
“Don’t
you think he’ll be pissed?”
Alex
kept kissing down my neck, and
I moaned. His hands moved around to my stomach, unzipping my coat. He quickly
discarded it on the ground.
“We
all agreed to the rules,”
Alex
said, his hands moving lightly under my sweater, inching it up ever so slightly.
I’d never been addicted to anything, but imagined this was how addiction
started. A little at a time. Alex pulled my sweater over my head, then
kept kissing back up my neck and along my jawline.
“We’re not doing anything
wrong.”
I
looked at where our hands were,
and the clothes slowly making their way to the ground. We were about to be
doing things that were wrong in a very good way.
“I guess it depends on your definition.
Emil would think this is seriously wrong.”
The
muscles at Alex’s jaw ticked,
his eyes glittering with a combination of passion and anger. “I told you,”
he said, moving swiftly, one arm sliding under my thighs, the other around
my back. He lifted me, cradling me in his arms, and walked down the row of
stalls to an empty stall at the end of the barn. Fresh hay was scattered in large
mounds, creating a soft bed on the ground—albeit a scratchy one, but better
than the dirt floor. He laid me down gently in the hay then straddled me,
the years of want and need, written across his face.
“We’re not talking about
him.”
With that, he was on top of me, the kiss aggressive. I could feel
my soul-mark burning, and my bracelet seemed to be giving off heat as well. If this
kept up, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole barn burst into flames.
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