Peanut was fast asleep, and his thumb had fallen halfway out of his small, slack mouth. Wisps of his white blond hair fluttered in the gentle summer breeze.
His father read aloud, quietly, his voice steady and gentle, while he pressed a hand to Liam’s delicate back, supporting his position. The bracelet Dragos had made from her braided hair last year glinted gold on the dark bronze skin of his thick, strong wrist.
Whenever she saw Dragos with Liam, a tangled well of emotion overcame Pia—a great, fierce storm of love. This time the emotional storm was mingled with a thread of laughter, as she realized Dragos was reading the quarterly profit percentages from a stockholders’ report.
A snort escaped her nose. It was a small sound, amidst all the bustle and noise of the day, but Dragos’s head lifted, and he turned to look at her.
His expression changed drastically and he surged to his feet, all in one smooth flowing motion that never disturbed the sleeping toddler he cradled in one arm.
He demanded telepathically, Where’s the rest of it?
She knew immediately what he meant. One fact of their life would never change—her Wyr form was unique enough, they must always be careful to destroy any trace of her blood, and both Power and dangerous information could be gleaned from hair and nail clippings.
Giving him a reassuring smile, she told him, Eva swept the floor and made sure she got all the clippings. I’ve got it right here.
Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a paper bag that held the hair she had lost with the new hairstyle.
Dragos’s tension eased. Okay.
Then he tilted his head, lids lowering over gold eyes as he regarded her, and his expression underwent a subtle, sensual change. Strolling over to her, he slid his free hand underneath the hair at the nape of her neck. Gently, gently, he took a fistful and tilted her head back.
Hot and fierce arousal pooled in her lower body, sweeping inescapably over her like slow-moving lava. As she stared up at him, her lips parted, and her breathing changed and grew ragged. He did this to her every time, so effortlessly, like striking a match. He could claim her with a glance, a touch, a simple shift of his cruel-looking, sexy lips, and when he did, she went up in flames. Every time, everywhere.
Not too short. His telepathic voice was a mere growl of a whisper that swept over her nerve endings in an intimate caress. While everything they did together was sexy, there was absolutely nothing sexier than having him in her head. I can still grab a good handful. I like it.
I hoped you would, she said, her own telepathic voice unsteady.
Dragos bent his head and kissed her, softly because their sleeping son nestled between them. His firm, warm lips parted hers, and he dipped his tongue into her mouth in an erotic promise for later. Awash in the lava that burned through her veins, she steadied herself by gripping his bicep. With obvious reluctance, he pulled away.
In the fourteen months they had been together, the desire had never changed. Elemental, as necessary as breathing, it dictated the rhythm of their lives. They orbited around each other, always looking, always reaching for the other, but it never ceased to amaze her that he looked at her this way.
His brutally handsome face could be so hard, so ruthless, but his need for her always won through. She never doubted what he felt for her. She could see it in everything he did.
You want me, she breathed.
She’d meant to say it in a cocky and flirtatious way, with a wink and a saucy Marilyn Monroe wiggle of the hips. But she forgot to wink, the hip wiggle turned into a slow, needy roll against his, and the words came out breathless and awed.
He rubbed the calloused ball of his thumb across her soft, moistened lips. A dark flush stained his high cheekbones, and his gold eyes glittered. I’ll die before I stop wanting you.
Me too. She closed her eyes at his touch.
They were both immortal Wyr. Maybe, just maybe, that would be long enough to express the depth of what she felt for him.
He kissed her forehead. Here, take Liam.
Coming back to herself, she held open her arms, and he gently transferred the sleeping boy over to her. Liam half roused, gave her a sleepy, confused look and smiled. “Mama,” he remarked happily. “Mamamamamama.”
So far, it was his favorite and only spoken word. Patting her with a small hand, he laid his head on her shoulder and fell back asleep with the abrupt abandonment of extreme youth.
Dragos took the paper bag that held her hair and strode over to the dining area. When he reached the brick grill, he set the bag down on it and his gold eyes flared with incandescence. Cradling Liam as she watched, she felt the small, hot surge of his Power from where she stood. The paper bag, along with its contents, burst into flames.
Dragos didn’t move until the flames had burned out. Afterward, he blew on the white flakes of ash until they had dispersed entirely. Only then did he walk back to her.
“How was your trip into town?” he asked.
Located a short drive away from the estate, the town boasted a main street and three stoplights. At the moment, the largest nearby store was a Walmart, which lay fifteen minutes in the other direction. Local inhabitants regarded the influx of income that the Cuelebres brought the local economy with varying degrees of disconcertment and delight.
She grimaced. “Apparently some of the city would like to move upstate with us. Several people made a point of telling me that new shops and businesses were going to open up soon, including restaurants, clothing stores, a gourmet food store, a delicatessen and a more upscale hotel.”
He frowned. “Some of that will be good, but we don’t want it to get out of hand, or we could lose the reasons why we wanted to move in the first place. I’ll talk to the town trustees about ways to limit the expansion.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” She glanced down at the top of Liam’s head and said softly, “I’m going to tuck him into his crib.”
Dragos nodded, his expression softening as he looked down at Liam too. “Now that you’re back, I’ll head out to the site. I want to see how much headway they’ve made in the blasting today.”
“Okay.” She smiled at him. “See you later.”
He answered her smile with a slow, wicked one of his own. “But not too much later. I fancy an early bedtime tonight.”
She watched him walk away, thinking happy, comfortable thoughts. Dinner then bed, and who knew when they would finally fall asleep? They could take their time tonight. They had all the time in the world.
Less than half an hour later, she would give anything to call him back to her again. Anything to keep him from walking away.
Oh gods, anything.
She took Liam upstairs, to his bedroom in the right wing of the house.
The right wing held their master suite, which included a wide balcony, a massive bedroom, a sitting room decorated with simple, elegant cream-colored furniture, a giant plasma television and a glass-fronted fireplace with a beautiful, streamlined slate mantle set against floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the Adirondack Mountains. They also had walk-in closets and a bathroom that rivaled the one in their New York penthouse for size and luxury.