"Jane! Jane, wait!" he pleaded.
I only ran faster. The hallways of the ship were blurs as my tears nearly blinded my vision. He'd played me for a fool, and I was an idiot for believing him. The rich playboy had claimed another victim in his game of playing with the hearts of women. Well, I wasn't going to play his game any longer.
I stumbled into my suite and collapsed head-first into one of the cushions of the couch.
"I never want to see him again!" I cried into the stuffing.
CHAPTER 15
"That's a long time not to see someone," a voice quipped.
I whipped up my head and saw that Max stood in the doorway. He leaned against the frame with his arms folded over his chest and his sly grin on his lips. I glared at him.
"Get out! You're not allowed in here!" I shouted at him.
He pushed off the door frame and his face took on a more serious expression. "But I've got something I want you to here, so you're going to here it." He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
I stood and wiped the tears off my face. "What? More of your lies?" I growled. He strode over to me, but I took a step back. "That's close enough. Just say what you want to say and leave."
He sighed and shrugged. "All right. I love you."
There was a long moment of silence in the room. I blinked at him and I had to clap my mouth shut. Surely I'd heard wrong.
"You. . .you what?" I choked out.
"I said I love you," he repeated.
I swallowed a large stone in my throat and pointed at myself. "Me? You're talking to me?"
He chuckled. "You see anyone else in the room?"
My legs crumpled. I fell onto the couch and sat there in a daze. "You. . .you really love me?" I whispered.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you," he teased.
My eyes hardened and I frowned up at him. "But you're leaving tomorrow."
"I am, but you rushed out of there so fast I didn't have a chance to tell you the other half of my plan," he revealed. Max took a seat beside me and took my hands between his. He looked into my eyes and smiled. "You wouldn't want to come with a hardened criminal, would you?"
I blinked at him. "You. . .you really mean it?"
He laughed. "You really doubt me, don't you? How can I prove it? More secret chocolate purchases? A hidden tour of the underbelly of the ship? Or how about this?"
Max leaned forward and captured me in a passionate kiss. Our lips meshed together as his arms wrapped around me. He pulled me close, and the heat of his body was maddening. After a heated moment we pulled apart for air. I looked up at him with reddened cheeks and wide eyes.
"Wow. . ." I murmured.
He grinned. "Is that the best compliment you can give me?"
"Wow-ie?" I added.
Max chuckled and pecked a teasing kiss on my lips. I leaned forward to deepen it, but he pulled back. "Don't you think you've had enough, Miss Johnson?"
I smiled sweetly and traced a finger across his lips. "I'll tell you when I've had enough," I told him.
"Speaking of telling, have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" he wondered.
I shook my head. "No, but I'm all ears."
"To be honest, I haven't been able to take my eyes off you since we first met, and might I add that you looked ravishing that dinner," he complimented.
I froze and my eyes widened. That dinner. The book. His book. I still had it. I bit my lip and turned away from him. He clasped my shoulders and leaned forward to catch my gaze with his worried eyes.
"Did I say something wrong again?" he asked me.
I hung my head and clasped my hands in my lap. "Since. . .since we're being honest with each other, I have something to admit."
"You're not a guy, are you?" he teased.
I snorted and shook my head. "No. I. . .it was me who took your book." I raised my head and looked into his playful eyes. "I was so afraid I'd be arrested that I didn't tell anybody, but I should have."
Max clasped one of his hands over mine and shook his head. "It's fine. I knew you took the book," he admitted.
I blinked at him. "You. . .you did? Then why didn't you try to get it back? Why didn't you have me arrested?"
He chuckled. "And have us get married in the brig?" He shook his head. "No, my Plain Jane, I wasn't going to have that. If I had told the captain not for all my wealth would he have made an exception for you."
I furrowed my brow and studied his face. "Then. . .then do you know about it?"
"You mean what it can do?" he guessed, and I nodded. Max leaned back against the couch and smiled at me. "Maybe, but I have an interesting story about how I found that book that I'd like to tell you first," he revealed.
I raised an eyebrow. "All right."
Max cleared his throat. "About six months ago I was visiting a college I used to attend. One of my many alumnus that I donate to."
"When did you go there?" I asked him.
He put on a stoic expression and shook his head. "Long before you were born."
I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow. "You know, maybe we aren't made for each. I don't like to date men too much older than myself."
He smiled and held up a hand. "At least let me finish my story before you pass judgment on an old man."
I settled down and shrugged. "All right, but don't make it too long."
Max opened his mouth, but he paused and furrowed his brow. "Where was I?"
I rolled my eyes. "You were visiting a college."
"Oh, right. I knew that. Anyway, there I was on the campus close to the library. It's a pretty tall, imposing building. Much like myself," he commented.
"Stick to facts, not fantasy," I teased.
"Well, there I was close to the drop-off box outside the building. It's on the back side so there wasn't anybody else around. I looked around, and what do you think I saw?"
"A library?" I guessed.
He smiled. "Yes, and the book. It was lying near the drop-off box. I picked it up and was about to put it in the slot when I noticed it didn't have the usual stamps and tags of a library book, so I opened it."
"And found blank pages?" I wondered.
He shook his head. "No, I found a voice."
I blinked at him. "It. . .it can talk, too?"
Max gave a nod. "Yes, though not exactly in words. It's more like a vibration in my mind that forms into words." He leaned forward and studied my face. One of his arms that lay atop the back of the couch slid behind me. He set his other hand on the other side of me so I was caged. My pulse quickened and I grasped the couch cushion beneath me. "But you don't seem too surprised by this. Don't you think it's strange that a book can talk?"
"I-I don't know. I mean, we both know this isn't an ordinary book, don't we?" I guessed.
He chuckled, and his voice was low and sultry. "Yes, I think we do. Anyway, the book offered me a deal. It would help me find my true love in exchange for a minor sacrifice. All I'd have to do is get it close enough to my true love and it would take care of the rest." His hand close beside my leg brushed against my pants. I tensed, but he didn't seem to notice. "I took it up on the deal and planned this little trip to show the book to the three ladies you met, but things changed when I saw you. I thought you were the one, but I had to make sure. I got the book within your grasp, and you did all the work for me."
I frowned and leaned away from him. "You mean you planted the book that night so I'd steal it?"
He chuckled. "Stealing doesn't really apply to this situation when I wanted you to have the book."
"Then you knew what the book would do to me?" I questioned him.
His hand wrapped around my waist and he pressed me close to him. I stiffened, but I couldn't keep back the warm heat that emanated from his body. His warm breath brushed against my cheek and sent thrills of desire through my body.
"I didn't know, but I learned when you learned," he whispered. His lips brushed against my cheek. He leaned down and pressed a soft kis
s on my neck that caused me to gasp. "You see, the book and I are connected. Whatever it feels, I feel. What it desires, so do I."
I clenched my teeth and tried to tamp down the ache that grew inside me, but I didn't have the strength to push him away. "Is. . .is that the sacrifice you made?" I panted.
He chuckled. "No. You see, the book feeds off sexual desire. In return for granting me my wish for the perfect mate, I had to let it into my body. It became a part of me, and I it."
My eyes widened. "Then you're-"
He leaned back and caught my eyes in his. The depths of his gaze was heated with an deep, demanding lust. "I am more than a man, but that doesn't change what I feel for you." He brushed a thumb against my cheek and smiled at me. "I love you, and I know you feel the same or you wouldn't have taken the book."
"Then. . .then you won't leave me? Ever?" I whispered.
He cupped my chin between his fingers and shook his head. "Never."
I smiled. A warmth greater than any seduction filled my very being. "Then I hope you don't mind a plain wife," I warned him.
"Care for me to show you what I think of that?" he wondered.
Desire flared up inside me again. There came an ache from deep in my soul that could only be quenched by this man.
I nodded, and fell forever into his embrace.
CHAPTER 16
He wrapped his arms around me and we embraced in a passionate kiss. His hands worked to remove my clothes as mine did the same. Our groans filled the room as our clothes were scattered to the far corners. I just got his shirt off when he stood and swept me into his arms. My body was aglow with desire as I looked up into his face. His heated eyes were a touch blacker than I remembered, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but satiating this deep ache inside me.
He carried me to the bedroom and set me on the bed. The book, that wonderful book, lay open on the nightstand. Light poured from its pages, but there were no dark tendrils.
I was clothed only in my bra and underwear. It was then that a strange, wonderful change came over me. My swollen, heaving breasts strained against the flimsy cloth of my bra. I felt my hips widen and thicken. My hair spilled over my shoulders and ringed my face like a glowing halo of light.
These wonderful changes came with a price. My body was consumed by a hungry desire for the man who stood before me. I craved him like an addict craved their drug. He stood over me as still as a statue but for his eyes. They swept over my quivering form and I could see the hunger in their dark depths.
He leaned down and slipped my bra straps off. My bra loosened, but didn't fall. My breaths came out in quick pants and my hands clenched the sheets beneath me. I arched my back closer to him, tempting him with myself.
"Please," I moaned.
His eyes were full of wonder as one of his hands slid up and cupped my breast in his palm. He massaged my mound of flesh, and I groaned as more heat filled my body. Each motion of his fingers was like a thousand hands touching my most intimate parts. My underwear was wet with my desire. I rubbed my legs together, but that did nothing to ease the ache between them.
"Oh god. . ." I whispered.
He chuckled. The sound was deep and reverberated throughout my body. "Maybe I am now," he whispered.
He leaned down and captured my lips in another hot, passionate kiss. His hand worked its way down my body and slipped into my underwear. I gasped and broke our kiss when I felt his fingers brush against my womanhood. He dipped one of his fingers between my wet folds and stroked my sensitive nub. Tingles of pleasure shot through my body. I groaned and writhed beneath his touch.
He pulled away his hand, and I whimpered. My lover chuckled.
"Do you want more, my love?" he teased.
"Yes," I breathed.
"Do you want me to take you and ravish you?" he asked me.
His teasing promises made me squirm. "Yes," I groaned.
"Then let me show you all that I can give to you."
He laid his hand on my hip and I felt the flesh of his arm shift and change. His voice, too, changed. It deepened and echoed like he had two voices.
"Let us show you what we offer."
A half dozen tentacles slipped from the skin of his arm. They stretched their lithe bodies over mine and caressed my trembling flesh. I groaned and squirmed beneath so much attention. My body filled with lust for this man who had sold himself for love, for me. He was now more than a man, and I reveled in what sweet offerings with which he enticed me into his arms.
I fell into his strong, warm hold as the tendrils wrapped themselves around me. He stood and I watched mesmerized as his pants were torn open by his transformation. More tendrils slipped from his skin and crawled across the sheets to me. They touched and caressed my flesh, filling me with an even greater ache.
His eyes were as black as night as a sly smile slipped onto his lips.
"Tell me how much you like it. Scream your pleasure to me," he demanded.
My free will was willingly lost to me. I was his to command if only he would fill me with more of his ravishing touches. I was his plaything, his lover, his possession, and I reveled in the sensual gifts he offered me.
"Oh god," I groaned. The heat inside me became unbearable. My body was covered in sweat and tight tendrils. I squirmed atop the sheets and whipped my head from side-to-side. "Please."
"Please what?" he asked me.
The tendrils glided faster over my body. Their warm, smooth bodies enveloped me in an agonizingly wonderful blanket of seduction. My underwear and bra were torn away and replaced with their thick forms. I clenched the sheets beneath me and gasped for air.
"Please take me. Make me yours," I begged.
He chuckled. "My pleasure."
My lover settled onto the bed and covered me with his transformed body. The tendrils moved aside for him, but didn't leave me entirely. They remained on the sides and wrapped themselves around my arms and legs. My lover positioned his thick, swollen manhood at my entrance and slowly penetrated me. I groaned as he stretched my walls and brushed against my tingling clit. He grunted and pushed deeper into me.
"So. . .tight," he choked out between clenched teeth.
"Oh god. . ." I murmured.
He began our dance slowly. Each push and penetration was a single step. Every touch of him against made me wish for a quicker tempo.
The tendrils around us twisted and slid over me. More burst from his back and covered the bed with their writhing bodies. They brushed against my trembling flesh and massaged my swollen breasts. Others pressed against my thick hips and dipped into my long, wild hair. They became one with me as my lover was one with me.
He leaned back his head and panted. "Mine," he growled.
Dark, sensual thoughts swept over me. They took control of my naturally meek demeanor and transformed me into a voluptuous creature of lust. All I knew, all I needed was for this man, this monster to take me and claim me as his. I would give my soul to satisfy the raging desire inside me, and to have him be the maker of this fulfillment.
I parted my lips and slid my tongue over them. "Yes, yours," I cooed. It was my voice, but the words were not my own. I was a changed person, a creature of lust like him, and I reveled in the delicious desire that swallowed me. I cupped his head in my hands and smiled as his tendrils slid down my arms. "Only yours to take and make love to. Yours to embrace forever and ever, again and again."
His lip curled back in a feral grin and the darkness in his black eyes seemed to swallow my very being. I was his willing captive in this delicious game of seduction. "Yes, our love, our only one. You are ours forever."
He leaned down and pressed our lips together in a hot, wild kiss. His thrusts quickened and tingles of orgasm teased the edges of my mind. I gasped when I felt his manhood swell inside me and fill all of me. The tendrils around me pressed against my sweat-soaked body and massaged all my flesh. They stroked my sensitive nub and wrapped my breasts in their hot, lithe bodies.
"Oh god," I panted
as the ache inside me nearly overwhelmed me. I clutched onto my lover as he penetrated me again and again. All the tendrils worked in unison to bring me to the brink of orgasm. "Oh god, yes. More. I'm so close." I nibbled at my lover's ear and whispered my sultry words to him. "Yes, that's it. Just a little more. Oh god, take me harder. Harder. Oh god, yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
My body was engulfed in orgasm. I knew nothing but the delirious pleasure brought on by my lover's sensual touches and feral mating. He thrust again and again into me, pulling me deeper into the depths of bliss. I cried out to the world my love for him, and he answered back with furious grunts and groans as he, too, joined me in the height of pleasure.
Our bodies, exhausted and covered in sweat, collapsed onto the covers. The tendrils vanished as quickly as they had from the book. Max, now his normal self, wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his warm chest.
"Was that everything you dreamed?" he whispered.
I snuggled closer to him and smiled. "Maybe," I teased.
He chuckled, and the vibrations tickled down my body. "I'll have to try harder next time."
A question popped into my mind, and I lifted my head to look into his smiling face. "Will. . .will you always be that way? With those, I mean?"
He nodded. "Yes. The price for you was heavy, but-" he brushed his hand against my cheek, "-I would have traded more of me, and nothing in the world, for what we have."
"And that's what?" I asked him.
He leaned down and pecked a kiss on my lips. "Love," he whispered.
Tears sprang into my eyes, the warm, heavy ones of pure joy. I nestled myself against him and closed my eyes. He drew the sheets over us, and I slipped into a wonderful sleep.
CHAPTER 17
I awoke to movement, but it didn't come from the warm body still pressed against mine. My eyes fluttered open, and through the windows I saw it was night. The bedroom should have been dark, but a pale light emanated from behind me.
I rolled over and my eyes widened. The book on the nightstand still lay open, and from its illuminated pages poured dozens of tendrils. They gathered themselves by the bed and stacked one on top of the other. It was like watching a three-dimensional printer at work where the machine's material was thick darkness.
The feet came first, ones dressed in fashionable shoes. Then came the legs, clothed in pants, and the upper body after that until I realized I was watching a human being take shape. The shadows formed a torso and head.