“I do love you,” he finally spoke. “I just couldn’t imagine what it would feel like if you felt the same.”

She glanced away from his penetrating stare. “And what does it feel like?”

“More,” he whispered. “More than I imagined.”

And he was there again, placing gentle kisses along her face, whispering sweet words in her ear, flooding her skin with his energy as he joined their bodies. Terry wrapped her legs around his waist before he slid home and eased the ache that had overtaken her. Her body and mind breathed a sigh of relief.

Mate.

Home.

It was right. For the first time in hundreds of years, Gemma hungered for a male in every way. Her body ached for him. Her vampire nature hungered for his blood, and her heart… Her heart was safe in his care. She knew it with certainty.

She gripped his forearms, sliding her hands up to caress the steel-corded muscles of his powerful body. She almost came from the knowledge that soon, her blood would travel within his own. Then, he would truly be hers. She bared her neck to him in a rare show of submission.

“Gemma?” he rasped through the pounding rhythm of their lovemaking.

“Bite me.”

He groaned. “Are you sure?”

Was she? A part of her was frightened. Exposed. “Please, just—”

He struck hard and fast.

She gasped, “Oh, sweet heaven. No wonder humans like this so much.”

“Oh, Gem,” he moaned. He didn’t only bite her once. The sharp pleasure-pain was repeated on the other side of her neck, where he latched on and drank in hard pulls. She felt him swell and pulse inside her, the pumping of his heart roaring in her ears. Finally, he let go, only to roll over and push her up so he could pierce the soft underside of her breast with his teeth, all the while thrusting with lazy rhythm as she started to feel the effects.

“Your blood—” He pulled away from her left breast to nuzzle her right, murmuring against her skin. “—is like the finest wine. So sweet. Bloody hell, you’re amazing.”

“No one…” She could barely speak. Her head was spinning. “No one’s ever bitten me before. I never let them.”

She heard Terry growl and he bit harder, but it only made her moan in pleasure. She was past climax. She had come every time his teeth punctured her skin, but he had still not spent himself. Her fangs ached in her mouth.

It wasn’t pleasure she wanted.

As if reading her mind, Terry finally pulled away, and Gemma leaned in, licking her blood from his lips. Delving into his mouth as he groaned. Stroking his fangs with her tongue. They were still joined, so she took a moment rocking in his embrace, inhaling the scent of him before she tugged his ear, exposing his neck to her eyes.

“Oh yes,” he moaned. “Fucking hell, Gem.”

She took a moment to appreciate what a fine specimen her mate was. Strong. Virile. A cord of muscle ran up his neck. She nudged his chin up, exposing the soft, vulnerable skin at the base of his throat. He had other such vulnerable places. Another time, she would explore them all. But for now…

“Bite me,” he growled. “Now.”

“Patience,” she purred, licking up the side of his neck. The anticipation was always half the fun.

“I’m out of patien—God yes!”

His blood burst into her mouth. Rich, thick, not sweet. It was heady with the flavor that teased his skin. Redolent with salt and wind and pulsing with life. It filled her mouth and poured down her throat as she drank him in. Gemma grabbed onto him, pressing his neck to her mouth, angling his head back as his body arched in pleasure and he exploded beneath her. His hands were thrown out, bracing himself as she rode him.

It could have been hours or minutes. She lost all concept of time. There was only him. Filling her every sense.

The feel of his skin, so different from her own.

His scent. He smelled of the sea and the cold whipping air that crossed the ocean.

Terry’s touch was a riot of sensation. Hard and gripping. Soft and teasing. And she wanted more more more. It would never be enough.

His amnis followed his blood, teasing down her neck, between her breasts, fluttering over her belly before it spread to her limbs. Filling her, surrounding her. Like a single drop of blood in water, he spread and filled every corner. They were one. Joined in every way. Gemma almost wept with the joy of it. She was replete with love.

“I love you,” she whispered against his skin, feeling the hot tears slip down her cheeks. “It was more than I could imagine, too.”

She pulled away from his neck and Terry sat up straighter, limp with pleasure, but smiling. He cupped her face and brushed the tears from her cheeks, kissing her trembling mouth as he soothed her.

“Oh Gem.” He kissed her again, still smiling. “There’s my girl. There you are, luv.”

She threw her arms around him and let him hold her. “I love you.”

“I love you too, wife.” Terry stroked her hair and rocked her as she trembled. “It was well worth the wait.”

Gemma lay soft and sated in Terry’s arms. “I feel very vulnerable on this boat.”

“I’ll admit, that was the idea. Forgive me, but you can be a bit prickly when we’re—”

“No literally. Vulnerable. Our position has been compromised. We sunk the boat and shorted out all the electrical equipment aboard, but the fact remains that someone found us once, and there is no guarantee that whoever it was didn’t tell someone else.”