A Bride Worth Fighting For (10 page)

Another Rowan sibling. The rumored witch, if Myron had been serious. Gwen studied her. All the siblings shared the same icy-blue eyes, but Sarka didn’t share Cemil’s or Sage’s light hair and temperament. If anything, she had the same aura of darkness as Cyrus, although Cyrus had never bitten her head off for stepping out of the elevator.

Gwen glanced out the window, but, with full darkness outside, she could only see the reflection of the cozy lobby and the now-silent grand piano. “Where am I supposed to go on my night walk?”

“Wherever you like.” Cemil clasped her hand.

His touch reassured her, but her skin didn’t tingle and her pulse didn’t flutter like when Tucker held her.

“Walk to the one you love. Trust your mind and your intuition to lead you to him.”

“I’m not sure I have any intuition anymore.” She’d be a fool to depend on her mental faculties when she couldn’t remember vital chunks from her past. But at least she understood why Tucker hadn’t opened his door when she knocked. Instead of ignoring her, he was waiting outside for her.

“Trust yourself and your abilities,” Cemil repeated.

She’d hoped regaining her memories would allow her to trust herself, but if she couldn’t restore her memory until after she trusted herself, she’d encountered the age-old riddle of the chicken or the egg.

Well, self-trust made a fine theory. But if she planned to traipse outside in the dark over unfamiliar terrain, she needed a backup plan. “What happens if I get lost and Tucker can’t find me?”

“Wiccan Haus security will bring you back here.” Sarka handed her a zippered pouch. “Inside is a whistle to call for help. I’ve also included protection unrelated to security.”

Gwen release Cemil’s hand to take the small purse. “I’m not following your meaning.”

“Condoms. For sex. Would you like me to recommend positions, too? I’m especially fond of—”

“No. I get it now.” Gwen’s cheeks heated, assuring her she wasn’t in the habit of broadcasting her sex life. But considering she was setting off in the dark to find the man she wanted to spend the night with, how could she be on anything but a mission of seduction? Earlier, she’d been so sure she wanted to take this next step with Tucker. Now, second thoughts slithered up her spine.

Cemil patted her arm. “Just concentrate on believing in yourself and the path you’re taking. If you have confidence, everything else will fall into place.”

From the moment she awoke in the hospital, she’d placed her faith in Tucker. He embodied solid, substantial, and dependable—all those things she couldn’t be as long as she didn’t know who she was. But she nodded at Cemil and tried to pretend his advice would be easy to follow as she left the warmth and safety of the building.

The lights from the Haus illuminated her way across the lawn. But the illusion that a midnight stroll could be a harmless lark ended as the darkness of the forest loomed before her. She glanced at the sky. Despite the multitude of twinkling stars, not a smidgeon of moonlight emerged to light the way.

She stood at the start of the path to the lake, where she’d experienced the biggest proof of her memory returning thus far. Her gut told her to follow the trail, and Cemil had told her to follow her intuition, so she stepped into the woods.

After a couple of steps, she stumbled over a tree root. She caught herself before she fell to the ground. Continuing this route with no light would result in injuries, frustration, and damaged pride—not exactly what she’d believed would be her reward at the end.

Surely, the Rowans had anticipated the darkness and packed a flashlight. Unzipping the pouch, she closed her hand over the whistle and a dozen condoms. Her face warmed again. They had even higher hopes for her mission than she did.

Somewhere, Tucker waited for her to join him. Her body heated despite the cool night air. They might not be coming together for the first time, but she’d count it as her first. She wanted him to remember the night as a special and meaningful celebration of the new connection they’d forged at the Wiccan Haus, not simply a continuation of whatever they’d had before.

Despite the lack of a flashlight, she’d stood on the path long enough for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The stars illuminated the night just enough for her to see the trees and the outline of the winding trail.

She took a step forward and then another. In a way, traveling this trail echoed her life without her memory. She could see far enough ahead and behind to center herself in the moment, but she couldn’t see where she’d come from or where she was going.

The comparison gave her courage. For days, she’d functioned like a normal human being in a state of limited awareness. She could take a short walk without freaking out and losing her bearings.

She’d find Tucker, and he’d take her home. More accurately, he was her home. She increased her pace, eager to reach him. An owl hooted to her right. All around, bugs chirped. A rustling of leaves to her left brought her up short. “Who’s there?”

She gripped the whistle tighter, as nerves skittered along her spine. What kind of animals came out at night? Raccoons? Possums? Tucker would know. He’d know if she needed to worry or if her imagination was running away with her.

“Tucker,” she said, not loud but above a whisper. The noise in the leaves stopped, and she continued the journey, faster this time.

“Tucker.” She repeated his name, sometimes out loud, sometimes in her head, but always a mantra. For him, she would conquer her memory loss. She wanted to be whole. She wanted to be well and remember everything they had together. But, most of all, she wanted to be with him. For better or worse and all the other vows they intended to take but hadn’t fulfilled yet.

***

Tucker sat bolt upright in his bedroll. He could have sworn he heard Gwen call his name, but the sound seemed to come from inside him rather than the surrounding forest. “Gwen.”

He clenched his teeth before he could call her name a second time. He’d chosen to sleep outside for a reason. He would not return to the Haus to check on her.

“Tucker.” This time her voice rang from the edge of the clearing.

He tossed aside the sleeping bag and shoved his feet into his boots. Then he stood and jogged toward the dark edge of the woods. “Gwen.”

The figure dashed across the grass. He only had a moment to brace himself before she hurtled into his arms. “Tucker! I knew you’d be waiting for me.”

“Waiting for you?” He’d been hiding from her like a coward. Even now, the coward inside yelled for him to push her away and run for his life. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, unable to let her go. “What are you doing out here?”

“I couldn’t sleep, and I noticed a night walk on my activity list. The Rowans said if I followed my heart, it would lead me to you, and they were right.” She hugged him tighter.

If she’d followed her heart to him, she came to him because of the relationship they’d built this week, not from a pretense of the past. He had managed to touch her heart as surely as she’d marked his.

She lifted her head, and her lips coasted over his chin to his mouth. He could still taste apples and cinnamon on her, as well as the mint of her toothpaste. He threaded his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp, as her cool cheeks and nose pressed against his face.

“You’re cold. I’ll walk you back to the lodge.”

“No. Keep kissing me. I’m warming up fast.”

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers, trying to maintain his last shred of control. “I’m sleeping out here because I have to be this far away to keep my hands off you.”

“I don’t want you to keep your hands off me. I want them on me. Everywhere.”

He groaned but couldn’t stop himself from sliding his hands under her shirt and caressing her stomach. “If you’re going to say everywhere, you’d better mean it or take it back. And I’m not talking about just my hands.”

“I mean it,” she vowed.

His heart and his cock swelled, and he burned through the rest of his control in an effort not to immediately rip her clothes off and bury himself in her. “We still have to return to the Haus. I didn’t bring any kind of protection out here.”

“The Rowans have us covered. They sent twelve in this little pouch. I counted.” She held up a small cloth container.

Twelve. Holy shit. Nothing like giving a woman high expectations. “They have a lot of faith in my stamina.”

She laughed and skated her fingernails over his chest. “I’ll take quality over quantity.”

Right or wrong, good intentions or not, he didn’t care about anything but making Gwen his on the most elemental level. “You have a deal.”

He led her across the clearing to his pallet and set her down, peeling off her flimsy slippers. Then he took off his own boots and leaned over her, melding his mouth to hers. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman. And, tonight, she belonged to him.

Gwen lay on the surprisingly soft makeshift bed, warmed by the blankets around her and Tucker’s body alongside hers. He glided his hand up her shirt again, heating her stomach and her cool, unbound breasts.

She skimmed her palm under his shirt, too, over the wiry hairs on his chest. “I want your skin against mine. I want our bodies to connect and touch everywhere.”

“Our minds are already connected, then because I want the same thing.” He brushed his lips across hers and lifted himself over her, the bulk of his weight on his elbows as he encased her in his warmth and strength. He kissed her again, this time with deep, sure thrusts of his tongue.

Moaning against his mouth, she wrapped her arms around him under his shirt to rub her hands over his smooth, solid back. His groin pressed thick and hard against her pelvis through their clothing. Panting, she tore her mouth from him. “I want to feel you without our clothes between us.”

“I can’t believe you left the Haus to find me.” He lifted himself away from her, the cool air and smell of damp grass invading her senses as he stripped away his clothes.

Leaving the light and safety of her room to go to him had been nothing compared to how far he’d gone to help her rediscover herself. Now they would make love outside, immersed in nature, where he truly came alive.

The anticipation sent another flare through her body. She sat up high enough to peel off her sweatshirt and tank top and then lay down, naked from the waist up, trembling not with cold but with need.

“You can change your mind,” he assured her.

“Not going to happen.” She pulled him on top of her. Absorbing his heat and his weight, she sighed with pleasure. She could hold him like this all night. Desire pooled in her core. No, she couldn’t. She needed more. She needed all of him.

He scooted downward, tasting her breasts and her navel while he skimmed off her pajama pants and underwear with his large, calloused hands. His arousal rubbed against her thigh, tightening the ache deep inside her.

“Yes, please.” She lifted her hips for him, but he didn’t enter her. Instead, he dipped his head lower and glided his tongue over her clit.

He teased her with such glorious heat and pleasure, but she needed more. She opened her knees wider. “Yes. Tucker. Taste me. Suck me.”

He slid his fingers over her slick opening and then delved his tongue inside.

She grabbed at him, needing to pull him deeper into her, to keep him close so he’d never stop his loving seduction.

With each kiss and stroke, she trembled and gasped, the orgasm building and taking on a life of its own. He lifted his head and positioned himself above her. With one long, sure thrust, he drove inside, and she convulsed, bucking against him.

“Tucker,” she cried, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He covered her mouth with his. She tasted him, her own desire, and the natural world surrounding them all at once. She kissed him hard in return, meeting him thrust for thrust, their bodies creating a rhythm for the rest of nature to follow. Even the waves from the lake lapped the shore in time to them.

And then her world narrowed to Tucker. His heavy breathing and rapid heartbeat filled her ears. His cock plunged into her, caressing her sweet spot of pleasure, over and over. Gwen and Tucker. Tucker and Gwen. And the two shall become one. Forever and ever.

Her muscles spasmed. He shuddered against her. They fell apart together, into each other, joining in sheer bliss and ultimate connection.

She had no idea how long they lay joined before Tucker rolled to the side and spooned his body around hers. Then she slept, warm, safe, and utterly content in her fiancé’s arms.

In the morning, she opened her eyes to the blinding rays of sun. Next to her, Tucker finished lacing his boots and stood. Her head still on the pillow, she eyed his lean, hard body and relived the delicious memories of last night.

Last night only.

Gwen pulled the blanket over her shoulder and rose on one elbow as the truth crashed down on her. “We never did this before, did we?”

With his back to her, Tucker’s body stiffened. He turned slowly, his gaze inscrutable. “What are you talking about?”

“Sex.” He might not want to talk about it, but she refused to ignore the facts. She’d come to the Wiccan Haus for answers. She’d come to him last night to trigger her memories. “Why didn’t we have sex if we were engaged?”

He dragged his hand through his hair, tousling the long honey-blond strands into complete disarray. “Our relationship is complicated, Gwen. Why don’t you get dressed, and I’ll walk you back to the Haus. We can talk about it after we’ve showered and had some breakfast.”

She sat up straighter. The blanket pooled around her waist, but she didn’t care about modesty, not when they’d been as close as two people could be just a few hours ago. “Will we talk about it, or will you put me off and say you don’t want to talk about the past until I remember every last detail on my own? I may not remember shit, but I know we never made love like we did last night.”

He glanced at her body before darting his gaze away. “Why do you think I chose to sleep out here? I was trying to keep my distance so you wouldn’t find me and this wouldn’t happen.”