Hearts in the Sand: A Legacy Prequel Read online

  As she hit the peak of her orgasm, he pulled his hand away, still sucking on her clit. He slid two fingers inside her without warning. He hooked his touch up, and struck something inside her that nudged her headfirst into another climax.

  She clenched around him, and thrashed against his touch, not sure if she wanted more or if it was too much.

  When her body decided for her, shuddering and pulling away, he eased up.

  Her head was still swimming when he stood, leaned over her, and crushed his mouth to hers. She dove into the taste of herself on his lips, not caring that he’d knotted slick fingers into her hair.

  This was incredible, and she needed more. Her body sang to be wrapped up in him.

  “Condom?” she asked breathlessly. She hadn’t completely lost her reason. Just mostly.

  He groaned and rested his forehead against her, where her neck met her shoulder. His breath was hot and tantalizing on her bare skin. “Don’t have one.”

  Praise the Slain God one of them thought ahead.

  She rolled on her cot enough to reach the bedside table, and plucked a condom from the nightstand drawer.

  She held it up, and he nipped at the foil with his teeth, tearing the package open. Playful in the midst of frantic need. Apparently, he could get hotter.

  She rolled the protection onto his thick shaft, reveling in his low groan.

  He shifted them both on the mattress, so she was completely on the bed, then knelt between her legs.

  How were they going to keep the springs in this thing from squeaking? Did she care? At this moment, she’d do anything he asked of her, no matter how depraved. He could fuck her in front of the entire battalion. Let every single one of them use her mouth and come on her bare skin. As long as she got to feel him buried inside her.

  Gwydion nudged her opening with the head of his cock, and slid in enough to stretch her open, before withdrawing again.

  She wrapped her legs around his ass, and tried to coax him forward.

  He entered her slowly, with drawn out strokes, until he was buried inside her. His pause and low groan confirmed she wasn’t the only one on the edge of desperation.

  He gripped her thighs and pushed her knees back to her chest. And then the teasing was over. He hammered inside her hard and fast, his face screwed up in ecstasy.

  She swore a tangible energy flowed between them and wrapped around them. Tendrils of power and desire, wrapping their bodies together with hunger and need. The frantic pace of his thrust pushed her into orgasm a third time. She came hard, squeezing his cock, her mind floating on an impossible sea of cotton.

  His soft grunts and stuttered pace told her he was close too. He paused for a heartbeat, and then slammed harder against her, stuttering and finally slowing to a stop.

  The outside world filtered into the edge of her senses as the world swam back into focus. The distant roar of engines. The scent of sand mingled with sex and sweat. Their heavy breathing.

  He let go of her legs and dropped his head onto her chest.

  She wasn’t sure how long they remained like that before he rolled to her side. He stripped off the condom, disposed of it, and stripped off the rest of his clothing.

  Then he lay down on the cot and pulled her into him to spoon against her back.

  The bed was a tight fight. She didn’t care. Even being wrapped in his arms, feeling his heart beating through her back, was its own kind of wonderful intensity.

  She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep with Gwydion pressed against her until she woke up. The frantic hunger that drove her last night had faded. There was still a soft voice, telling her to stay here. Whispering she should curl up next to him and go back to sleep. Or wake him up for early morning sex.

  She had things to do, and so did he. This needed to be a one-time deal.

  In the creeping light of dawn, he looked peaceful and fierce at the same time. Tattoos decorated his chest and upper arms. She hadn’t seen him properly last night. A lot of the soldiers had ink, but on Gwydion, the scrawling letters and patterns were more than just art. Though that had a lot to do with the canvas.

  Kirby pushed aside the desire to steal one more kiss. She scribbled him a short note, dressed enough to be presentable, grabbed her things, and headed for the showers.

  Last night was incredible, but it was time to get back to reality. The ache in her chest, telling her not to walk away from him, was because the sex was so good. Nothing more.

  Chapter Three

  Gwydion was disappointed to wake up alone in Kirby’s cot. Memories of the night before teased his senses. The faint scent of poppies and copper—distinctly Kirby—clung to the sheets and his skin.

  Gray peeked in from outside. It was near dawn. He’d slept through the night. That hadn’t happened in ages. He needed to get back to his tent, and then start his shift.

  Voices carried from the next room. Kirby and someone else. She was already working. No time for a round two of last night. Or maybe something a little slower, and less frantic. Either way, it was probably for the best that they put a little breathing room between them. He didn’t expect last night to end on that note, but the stress relief... the connection... having Kirby again... it all undid him.

  Now that he’d sated the urge, he could step back a few paces. Focus on protecting her until she came into her own immortality, and woo her at the same time. Every time they met, she fell in love again for the first time, and he adored seeing that through her eyes.

  He forced himself out of bed. His clothes were folded on a nearby chair. The note on top was scrawled in a flowing script.

  Thank you. See you around the base.

  He folded the brief letter, and tucked it into his wallet.

  Gwydion was cautious emerging from her tent. He didn’t care about rumors—this was another chapter in a never-ending life—but she didn’t need them.

  He headed back to his own bunk. Even in the pre-dawn light, the base buzzed with activity.

  He needed to call Min and Starkad. Let them know he’d found her. There was a sliver of temptation, a tiny voice, that insisted he keep Kirby and the news she was alive all to himself. He wouldn’t be happy with that, and neither would she.

  Kirby was one of Odin’s original shield maidens. Created to decide which warriors would be carried to Valhalla when they fell on the battlefield.

  But she’d betrayed Odin, at least in his mind. Extended her reach to other warriors, who worshiped other gods. So Odin cursed her to never know peace, until she learned what true loyalty was.

  That had translated to her being reborn each time she was killed. But she never came back with her memories or Valkyrie strength intact. Those rushed back in when she was older. Leaving her mortal and mostly helpless until that point in her life.

  Kind of a bad thing when she was drawn to war even before she realized who she was.

  Gwydion met her in life four or five. He was art, and pranks, and she was the antithesis of everything he believed. They fell in love despite—or maybe because of—their differences. He’d been devastated the first time she died, believing she was mortal.

  When Starkad and Min arrived in his village just a few days after her passing, they explained her story. They’d both loved her in past lives, and searched for her across time and continents.

  Gwydion thought the news miraculous at the time. He could have the woman he loved again. He didn’t have a problem with her loving them as well, as long as he could find her.

  Since then, he’d watched her die almost half a dozen times. Knowing she would come back, only to suffer again, was no longer reassuring. He—they—needed to ensure she survived this time. Whatever it took, they’d break Odin’s curse.

  He reached his bunk, and grabbed a towel and the satchel he kept his toiletries in.

  A whisper of Kirby’s intoxicating scent rushed over him. Memories rushed back full-force, of now and the past.

  Knowing she was so close, combined with the images of their past
s together, flowed through him, and focused on his cock. After all these centuries, a hint of Kirby was enough to make him hard.

  Last night should have been enough to hold him over until he could spend some more time with Kirby outside of the bedroom. But having found her again... Every time her name or her face or her taste rushed through his thoughts, his erection grew harder.

  He brushed himself through his pants, and his dick jerked at the light contact. He could try to think about baseball and cold showers, and hope that kept him from walking into the showers at full mast, or he could take care of the distraction.

  Gwydion worked his cock free, and wrapped his fist around it. If he closed his eyes, he could almost picture Kirby in the room with him. He stroked as he let the memories dance through his head. Her light voice. Her tight, slick pussy. The way her lips felt wrapped around him. Her throaty cries when she came.

  He fell into the phantom sensations, and straight toward orgasm. His balls tightened. His gut clenched. He gripped himself harder and stroked faster.

  He came hard, coating his hand and an unfortunate sock with thick streams. He pumped until his dick was raw and his arm ached, and even then he didn’t want to stop.

  As a trickle of reason flowed back in, he took several deep breaths to center himself. She was here now. The only thing he had to rush was making sure she stayed alive.

  If that happened, they had eternity together.

  He cleaned himself up enough to not be lewd, and headed to the shower.

  Fortunately or otherwise, the crowded communal tent made another round of Kirby-induced masturbation a bad idea. He bathed quickly.

  After he was dressed, he had enough time to make a phone call before his shift started.

  Gwydion didn’t know how to find Starkad. The berserker moved in some interesting circles. Most of which were dedicated to stopping the gods from killing each other.

  He called Min.

  “Yes,” Min answered almost immediately. No one else had this number. He kept it specifically for this purpose.

  “She’s here.”

  “I’ll be there by this weekend.” Min disconnected. He knew where Gwydion was. On the front lines, where Kirby was most likely to appear if she was alive.

  It was going to be difficult to work. Gwydion had a job to do, though, rediscovered lost love or not.

  He slid into his morning, making his rounds, checking up on patients.

  He was a half an hour into his shift when someone called his name. “Dr. Gibbons, you’ve got a patient in exam room one. Physical.”

  “Who?” He didn’t have any appointments.

  “The priest. Gregory is finishing up in surgery.”

  Concern spiked through Starkad. Why was he wandering the floor if they didn’t have any patients? “Any casualties? How many injured?”

  “Appendectomy.”

  “Ah.” His heart rate could return to normal now. Any minute that would be fine. He grabbed Kirby’s chart and headed to the exam room. He knocked once, heard her call yeah, and pushed inside.

  She sat on the table, cotton gown tied in the front and think blanket draped over her legs.

  Yeah, his pulse wasn’t returning to normal anytime soon.

  Chapter Four

  Kirby’s mouth went dry and her mind blank when Gwydion walked into the exam room. She swallowed hard when he locked the door behind himself.

  “Dr. Gregory is in surgery.” His tone was cool as he flipped through the folder in his hand. “You’re stuck with me this morning.”

  “There are worse things.” Like just being in the same room as him, remembering the intensity that flowed between them last night, made need throb between her legs. It was a distinct reminder of how much she wasn’t wearing. She was going to leave a damp spot on the paper beneath her if she didn’t calm down.

  “Looks like your past history is all right. Nothing abnormal. Your temperature, pulse, and blood pressure are good.” He still wasn’t looking at her.

  She was grateful they’d checked her before she found out he was her doctor this morning. Otherwise they would have hospitalized her for her heart rate. “That’s good.” Brilliant response. Not.

  He fitted the stethoscope into his ears and stepped up next to her. He was close enough the faint whisper of aftershave teased her. “Breath normally.”

  She was trying. The device was cold through her thin robe.

  He raised an eyebrow, and moved to another part of her chest.

  This was killing her. She didn’t know what it was about this man. She didn’t know him. But all she could think about was how close he stood. How almost-naked she was. How incredible things were between them last night.

  He finally met her gaze. “Your heart rate is elevated. Are you all right?”

  How the fuck did he say that with a straight face?

  “I have a confession.” She trailed her fingers along the edge of her gown, below the first set of ties. What was she doing? Sating an intense craving. “I have this naughty doctor fantasy.”

  “Hm.” Gwydion’s tone didn’t change, but one corner of his mouth twitched up. He set the stethoscope aside. He tugged the top tie on her robe, and the bow slipped loose. The fabric fell to each side, exposing the middle of her chest, but still covering her breasts. “That could be problematic.”

  “How so?”

  He undid the next tie, and tugged her gown open further. “That’s the kind of distraction that makes it hard to focus on conducting a physical.”

  “How hard?” She let the playfulness slide into her question.

  He traveled his fingers along the inside of her arm, tickling the sensitive flesh, grabbed her wrist, and brought her hand down to cup his erection through his scrubs. “You tell me.”

  “That’s pretty hard.” Kirby stroked him through fabric, reveling in his low groan. She was done with questions like what am I doing? She was looking for another high. That rush of passion and power and union they’d shared last night.

  “Do you have any allergies?” His professional tone wasn’t so steady now. “Latex? Anything like that?”

  Not the sexiest question. “No.”

  Gwydion broke the contact between them.

  Her disappointment mingled with swelling anticipation.

  He tugged a pair of gloves from a box on the shelf, and snapped them on. “If you’re going to live the dirty doctor fantasy, you might as well do it right.”

  He rested his hands on her thighs, heat searing through the thin sheet that covered her lap, and nudged her legs open, so he could step between. He tugged open one side of her gown, to expose her breast.

  She couldn’t squeeze her legs together like this, which made it harder to ignore the throb between. The line about the fantasy had been a joke, a throwback to last night, but now the scorching hot taboo of being fucked on an exam table was all she could think about.

  He dragged a latex-covered thumb over her pert, tender nipple. The texture was unique blend of smooth with a hint of stickiness.

  She clamped her jaw shut to keep a groan from escaping. If they kept this up beyond today, their next time needed to be someplace she could be loud.

  And if she had anything to say about it, they were definitely keeping this up.

  Gwydion opened her gown wider, exposing her breasts. He cupped one, kneading then rolling her nipple between his fingers. He moved to the other side, and repeated the gesture. His light touches were enough to light her senses up.

  “Everything checks out.” Despite the clinical words, his voice was a throaty grown. He dipped his head and wrapped his lips around one swollen nub.

  She swallowed a groan of pleasure and pressed into his mouth.

  He sucked and nibbled and licked for several minutes, until she was sure she couldn’t take anymore, and he switched sides.

  The pulse between her legs was insistent. She reached to soothe it, and he grabbed her wrist.

  “I’d like to give you a closer look.” He nudge
d her shoulder and helped her lie back.

  He glided his palms along her thighs, then lifted her legs, and settled her feet in the stirrups.

  Her pulse screamed through her veins at how exposed this left her. The feeling was dangerously incredible.

  He traced circles around her clit, drawing tighter then moving in a wider path. He drew away each time her breathing grew shallow, then honed back in the sensitive spot.

  If she bit the inside of her cheek any harder, to keep silent, she was going to break the skin.

  Still stroking her clit, he traveled his other hand lower, to dip his fingers inside her. She was so wet there was zero resistance.

  He hooked his fingers up and pressed the tender spot inside. Holy hell he was good at that. A benefit to fucking a doctor.

  Her pussy tightened around him, and orgasm spilled through her. She bit the side of her fist, barely smothering her screams.

  Through the haze of bliss, she was vaguely aware of the sound of a zipper.

  He nudged her opening with his cock, and thrust inside. At this angle, the sensations were unlike anything she’d ever experienced. And being held in this position was deliciously wicked. She was more exposed that just being naked. At his mercy. And her head was drowning in the haze of him gripping her thighs and pounding inside her.

  He pulled her ass half off the table, putting her in a precarious position, but he held her so tightly she wasn’t going anywhere. With each thrust, a new wave of pleasure rippled through her.

  She wanted to watch his gorgeous face, screwed up with desire. But she was too lost in the sensations to focus on anything else.

  Orgasm built more slowly this time. Holding her over a chasm. Promising amazing things below. And then she tumbled into climax. A night sky full of stars filled her thoughts. She was floating in a blissful sea.

  Gwydion’s grunts grew to staccato bursts. She was fading away from her own peak, and the sensation of him sliding out of her was light.