Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            It was where I wanted to be. My fingers played with his hair, my pants loose at my hips and his half-undone as he hesitated, love and passion in his gaze.

            “How did I get so lucky,” he said, and I pulled him close, relishing his weight.

            “Perseverance,” I whispered, and we kissed as he covered me, one hand supporting his weight, his other lingering at my side, caressing it, shifting lower, finding my curves.

            I reached to find him taut. His breath caught, the sound going to the pit of my soul and alighting through me. I pushed his pants free with my foot and accidentally knocked aside the cheese board.

            But neither of us cared as he found my breast with his lips, bringing me to a hip-moving tension. My grip on him tightened, and I arched up, trying to find him.

            He moved against me, teasingly out of reach, his lips driving me mad as they explored until I was frantic with desire. My pants had come off somewhere, and I wrapped my legs around him, demanding he do something as I pulled the thinnest trace of ley line energy from him as my fingers touched his inner thigh.

            He groaned, eyes closing, his lips tantalizing as they found mine.

            Trills of ley line energy sparked, diving from my lips to my groin. Unable to wait, I reached for him, guiding him to me. I shuddered, almost climaxing right then as he entered me, and we moved together. I could not think, lost in the all, my body responding to him, driving my passions higher.

            His body was full upon me, and a wild response rose as he drew a tentative pull of line energy from my core, the lingering mystics an unexpected burst of energy everywhere our bodies touched. I gasped as his motion became more demanding, pushing me to fulfillment.

            Wanting it all, I reached for the energy between us, drawing it through him in time with his motions. His masculine energy swirled in me, and he groaned, almost a growl as he yanked his energy back, taking more than what belonged to him and leaving me gasping.

            My hands spasmed on him with a wild need. He bent low, still inside me as his teeth found my neck. “Mine,” he whispered, and I shuddered as he found my old vampire scar and worked it. I trembled, my entire body alight with passion.

            Feeling it, Trent stiffened, climaxing with a shuddering breath. His teeth fastened on me in a new demand. Sensation rippled through me, and I climaxed as well, moaning as our energies pooled into one. Together we went still, hanging in a haze of fulfillment, nothing but sensation wrapping us into one.

            Breath fast, I lay under him, feeing little jolts of pleasure, knowing it wouldn’t last.

            Then Trent’s head lifted and he gazed at me, his weight shifting as he propped himself up on the flat of his arm. “Don’t go,” I breathed, and he smiled, fingers playing with the hair about my ears.

            “Never,” he said, and his head dropped again, tucking in beside mine. Spent.

            My fingers traced spelling glyphs along his shoulder, and I felt him relax against me. “You okay?” I asked, seeing as he was usually invigorated by our lovemaking, and he seemed so . . . relaxed.

            “Yes,” he said, voice husky and somewhat rueful. “I wanted this to last longer.” Sighing, he looked at the scattered cheese tray and spilled basket of bread. “You drive me crazy, Rachel.” Leaning in, he gave me a kiss, sweaty and sweet.

            I stretched to stay with him as he pulled away, and he lingered, drawing the kiss out.

            But eventually our lips parted, and I fell into the fleece. “Happy belated birthday. Hope you like your second present, ’cause I can’t return it,” I said, and his chuckle turned into a grunt when he tried to lift from me and realized he couldn’t. Not yet. My body refused to let go. And where once I found it an unending embarrassment, I now reached to pull him down to me. I wasn’t going to let go. Not for anything. He was making an extraordinary effort to blend our lives, and that meant more to me than just about anything.

            I could feel him smiling as he gripped me tight and shifted us so we lay side by side, still joined, twined in the glow of the gas fire. Little pinpricks of energy darted between us where we touched, and as he caressed my shoulder, I felt my muscles finally let go.

            Sighing, Trent shifted his weight, his arm going still across me as he tucked closer. Slowly his breath evened out.

            “Trent?” I whispered, wondering. “Are you asleep?” I suppose I could find the bathroom myself. It couldn’t be too far.