She was his.
He was hers.
Fate.
Forever.
When she screamed his name, he crawled upward and plunged inside her. “Mine,” he said against her lips. “Suzanne. Mine.”
30
“How am I supposed to get this done if you keep touching me there?” Suzanne squirmed away from Damian’s roving hands and looked through the dark pantry for something she could throw together for dinner.
“Sorry, love, you’re just too tempting a morsel to ignore.”
He cupped her breast and thumbed her nipple through her tank top. She hadn’t bothered with a bra, and his fondling sent shivers straight to her core.
She turned into his arms and looked into his hazel eyes, his gaze burning into her. “When you look at me like that, I…”
“You what?”
“I can’t think.” She pushed him away. “I told you I’d make you something to eat, and I intend to do it. I’m a great cook. I want to cook for you.” God, she wanted to cook for him. For her man. “But you need to stop touching me.”
He grinned at her. “Never.” He pulled her back into his embrace and kissed the spot below her ear that made her swoon. “I think about you all the time. I can barely breathe when you’re near me. I dream of holding you, of you making love to me with that beautiful body.” He nipped her earlobe. “I can’t be in the same room with you and not touch you.”
“Then how am I supposed to fix your dinner?”
“Can’t I just crawl into your skin while you work?”
She chuckled against his shadowed jaw. “Oh, I love the thought of that… But no.” She pulled away. “You. Sit.” She pointed to a chair at the worktable. “There.”
“Aye, love.” He saluted and sat down. And promptly pulled her into his lap and started kissing her again.
“You’re incorrigible, Damian MacGowan.” But she returned his kiss. How could she not? “You have me all tied up in knots.” Her words came out in a breathless rasp. “I don’t know which way is up when we’re together. You make me feel things I’m not ready to feel yet. But…”
“Hmm? What love?”
“It feels so right.”
“Aye.” He kissed her again. Hard. Deep.
“Did you two ever think of getting a room?”
Suzanne broke the kiss upon hearing Isabella’s voice. “Good one, Bell. Like a room would stop you.”
Damian’s chuckle tickled Suzanne’s neck.
“Damian and I were going to have some dinner. I’ve been bragging about my culinary skills.”
“Suze is a great cook,” Isabella agreed.
“Of course, I’m used to a gas range and a microwave. This”—she gestured to the wood stove—“will be a challenge.”
“Tonight you don’t need to cook. I brought dinner.” Isabella held up a shopping bag. “I stopped by the Pit, and Gwennie made me some roast beef sandwiches and pasta salad, and then I stopped off for a little something extra.” She pulled out a bottle of champagne. “To celebrate.”
“What are we celebrating?” Suzanne asked.
“My new job, for one. I’m working at the Lunar Eclipse.”
“With the—” Suzanne clamped her mouth shut. She had almost said vampire.
“Rex offered me the work. Isn’t that great? What a perfect job for me.”
“So you’re staying in Padraig, then?” This from Damian.
“Yeah. And I’m trying to talk Suze into staying, too. Maybe you can exert some influence with her.”
Damian smiled. “Sure and I’ll try, lass.”
“Try hard,” Isabella said. “I need her.”
“As do I.”
This in a whisper, for Suzanne’s ears only. Heat ribboned through her.
“Let me help you.” Suzanne left Damian’s lap and started to take food out of the bag. “What else are we celebrating?”
“The return to the twenty-first century. Our electricity should be installed within a week.” She turned to Damian. “I have you and your father to thank for keeping the costs down. I had no idea the castle was already tapped into the line.”
“Keeping costs down?” Suzanne wrinkled her brow.
“Yeah. Three thousand pounds. That includes all appliances and a few gas lines as well. It’s a lot, but it would have been twice as much if he had to hook us all the way up. Your friend there”—she nodded to Damian—“evidently installed power in the cellar several years ago.”
Suzanne turned to Damian with a questioning gaze.
“Aye, Suzanne. For my work.”
“I can’t believe Merlina allowed it,” Isabella said.
“Da and I never told her. I’ve a feeling she knew, but kept quiet,” he said. “She knew my, er, situation, so she knew Da and I needed the power. She kept one eye shut.”
Suzanne quickly changed the subject. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m famished. Shall we see what Gwennie cooked up for us?”
“It’s no lasagna à la Suzanne, but I’m sure it’ll do,” Isabella said. “But first, a toast.” She unwrapped the foil from the champagne bottle and uncorked it. “Where’s your father, Damian? I’d like him to join us.” She pulled several flutes from a cupboard and poured the sparkling wine.