My Heart's in the Highlands by Angeline Fortin (best english novels for beginners .TXT) 📗

as he stripped. Finally Jace was as nakedas she. Her eyes devoured him, taking in the bulging muscles of hisarms and shoulders. Skimming across his chest and down to hisrippling abdomen. Mikah held her arms open to him.

Slowly, Jace climbed over her and loweredhimself on top of her. Heart pounding furiously, she closed hereyes, savoring the moment when flesh met flesh. With each touch ofher soft curves meeting his hard planes, her passion rose, and sheknew he matched that passion when his arms began to shake. Still hebrushed his taut body against hers, resisting when Mikah urged himsoundlessly to bury himself within her welcoming depths. Their lipsmet and Mikah lifted her body, wrapping her limbs around him,pulling him down. Her nails scored lightly down his back and overhis buttocks, but still Jace would not give in.

He bent his head, taking her swollen nipplebetween his lips once again and suckling until she cried out.“Please,” she whispered as her calf crept up to the small of hisback. “I want you.”

Lifting his head, he looked down at her. Hisbeautiful face was taut with desire as Jace lowered himself downonto one elbow, sweeping his free hand down her body from shoulderto breast to belly and to hip. Down her thigh and back up betweenthem, until he reached her core. She was so ready for him,desperate for him. Her hips lifted, begging him to continue,begging him for more. “Now. Don’t wait.”

“You are forever impatient.”

“And you are forever tormenting.”

With a chuckle, Jace shifted and her legslifted higher. Unable to deny her any longer, he drove into her.His guttural groan of satisfaction was drowned out by her cry ofdelight. Fireworks burst before their eyes, exploding around them,and they froze as light, red and blue, spilled across them. Theirheads turned toward the big windows as more fireworks exploded inthe sky. “Happy New Year,” Mikah whispered, reaching up to caresshis cheek.

“Happy New Year, my love,” he grinned as thefiery bursts continued. Retreating from her body, he plunged again,driving even deeper. Fervently, he drove into her again and again,using the movement of his entire body against hers to push herhigher, take her to the edge of paradise.

Mikah cried out, her body pulsating aroundJace, and her release gripped her as lights flashed and rocketsburst, her body exploding as if they were all inside of her. Jacedrove into her one last time, holding her tightly against him as hejoined her ecstasy with a long moan. “Yes!” she cried out inrapture as his hips thrust. “Yes, Ian, yes!”

Chapter Forty-Seven

Jace lay panting, his face buried in Mikah’sshoulder, stunned by the intensity of his release and by the joythey had found together. His heart was pounding furiously, and hefelt hers doing the same, the rhythms becoming one. One.

Bloody hell.

He lifted his head. “Look at me,” he panted.“Mikah.”

She opened her eyes, “Ian.” Her fingerstrailed lazily up his back.

“Nay, my love. Look at me.” He waited. “Saymy name.”

“Ia …” She stopped before the word wascomplete and corrected herself. “Jace.”

With a grunt, Jace rolled off of her onto hisback to stare at the ceiling with one arm behind his head.

“Jace?” Mikah said uncertainly, pushing uponto one elbow so that she could look down at him, her lovely eyesfilled with worry. Her tousled blond hair tumbled around them andJace couldn’t resist reaching up to twine a lock around hisfinger.

He smiled ruefully. “I’m sorry. I didn’tthink it would matter. I know Hero is in your soul. I know she isthere, just as Ian is in me. When you look at me, I know you seehim. It’s what I wanted you to see because I was him and in manyways I still am.” He brushed his knuckles down her cheek, gloryingin the soft texture he had once thought he would never feel again.“I realize that I have known about you longer than you have knownabout me. I’ve had a chance already to wrap my head around this,but I don’t want you looking at me and seeing another man.”

“Are you saying that you are jealous ofyourself?” Mikah asked with a disbelieving grin. “Just moments agoyou were trying to convince me that you are Ian.”

Jace raised a brow at that. She had himthere. “Are you Mikah or are you Hero?”

“I am both. I’ve officially surrendered tothe madness, and you have no one but yourself to blame,” Mikahsaid, running a palm up his chest, and Jace felt his arousal, sorecently satisfied, stir once again. “As you said, the memoriesaren’t hers or mine. They are ours. Didn’t you say that?”

“Aye, but …”

“But you can’t stand hearing a woman sayanother man’s name?” she asked. “Even if it’s kind of your own aswell?”

“Perhaps.”

Mikah couldn’t help but laugh. She leanedforward, her breasts brushing against his chest as she whispered inhis ear, “Maybe you’ll just have to win me away from him.”

“That’s not amusing,” he growled, running ahand over her bare thigh. “I want you to look at me and think Jace,not Ian. I cannot believe it matters when I have already called youHero several times tonight.”

“It’s your male ego talking.”

Jace snorted.

“We wouldn’t be here without Ian,” Mikahreminded him gently, reaching out to run her fingers down hischeek. “You said so yourself. It was becoming them that brought ustogether now. What you want will come in time, I’m sure, when wehave new memories that are even better than those. Memories likethis.”

“Mikah,” he groaned as she climbed over himuntil she was straddling his hips.

Mikah looked down at Jace, his handsome faceso familiar yet new. He wasn’t exactly the same as Ian. Jace wasolder, and his face and body showed the evidence of a life spentmuch differently. There was a scar at his temple that Ian didn’thave, and his body was harder. The laugh lines were still evident,but perhaps Ian had smiled more easily. She traced a finger acrosshis forehead and his thick brow.

“I could not love you without having lovedhim first, you know.”

“And do you love me?” he asked, his dark eyesintent. His fingers curled into her