Page 116 of Lost

“I always say you’re a quick learner,” Stevie Rae said. She put the pillow down and stood awkwardly beside the bed, suddenly and unexpectedly nervous.

“What is it? Why do you look uncomfortable?” Rephaim asked her.

“Well. Um. We’ve never slept together like this before.”

“But isn’t this a thing to celebrate—not a thing to be nervous about?”

“Yeah, but tell that to my heart. I think it might beat outta my chest.” She took his hand and placed it over her heart.

He smiled down at her and drew her into his familiar embrace. “Remember what you used to tell me when I was frightened by new things?”

She nodded, suddenly breathless. “Yes. I said just hold tight to me and it’ll all be okay.”

“Stevie Rae, my only and forever love, just hold tight to me and it will all be okay.”

He bent and kissed her, and Stevie Rae felt her bones go liquid. His kiss blotted out their surroundings, and he became her world. Carefully, Rephaim guided her to the sleeping pallet, cradling her against him so that their bodies pressed intimately together, and the kiss went from soft and sweet to hot and insistent. Time seemed to pause. Sunrise always made her languid, and Stevie Rae had often wondered what it would be like to make love with Rephaim when she was so vulnerable. She’d dreamed about it while he was soaring through the sunlit sky. She’d longed to feel his strong arms around her, and his beautiful body enter hers—joining them fully before they drifted off to sleep together.

Soon Stevie Rae realized reality was much,muchbetter than her dreams had been.

Slowly, gently, Rephaim took off her clothes, and then, just as unhurriedly, Stevie Rae undressed him, taking her time to run her hands and her lips down his lean, muscular chest. She reveled in his beauty and the smoothness of his brown skin.

In turn, he took his time exploring her body. They had made love many times, but never during the day—and Stevie Rae felt suspended in time and pleasure. His touch was like fire. It made her smolder and glow. She loved how they were able to take their time. She gasped with the pleasure his hands and mouth brought her, and she made him tremble with desire as she touched him intimately, thoroughly. Stevie Rae covered her lover with kisses until neither of them could bear it any longer. Then their bodies joined and they moved together in a dance as ancient as love itself.

And at the moment of release, Rephaim called her name, and she his, while their lips met and their breath mingled. Then, wrapped in Rephaim’s very human embrace, Stevie Rae sent a prayer of thanks to Nyx for allowing them this magickal time together before they drifted off to sleep—finally, finallytogether.