Page 2 of Sacrifice

Her lungs screamed for oxygen, and consciousness stuttered. The current took hold of her again, dragging her on, propellingher through. She sensed its grip around her waist and the wash of water against her skin. Then she was free of it, but exposed to bitter air that stung her flesh with freezing vengeance. Pain and cold swept through her body, overwhelming and unsustainable. Her consciousness waned, then faded away.

Warmth wasthe next thing Eve was aware of. A source so close at hand that it radiated into her. The icy depths of the Thames had gone, to be replaced by… what exactly?

Trapped in that place between dreaming and waking, Eve felt about for information.

She was laying down, somewhere soft and comfortable, enveloped by darkness and heat and breath.

Breath. That was a weird one.

She tried to move and open her eyes, but found she still couldn’t. Unknowingly, she must have made some kind of noise though, because someone pulled her closer and said in a deep, reassuring voice, “Shh, don’t fuss. I’ve got you now.”

Her heartbeat picked up to thud in her chest.

What the hell…?

A man’s body was so close she couldn’t believe she’d not realized immediately. Her head was laying against his hard muscular chest, and his arms wrapped around her, one hand pressed to the small of her back, the other at the nape of her neck, his fingers in her hair.

Heat tingled in her flesh beneath his fingertips as if energy from his body flowed directly into hers. It was like being brought to life, every nerve tingling beneath his touch.

“Wha...” Eve fought against the weight of her eyelids, but the world stubbornly remained a blur.

He shifted his position and gently laid her away from him onto her back. She didn’t know who he was or how she’d got here but the loss of proximity made her want to reach out and grab him. He placed his hand on her hip, his palm on her naked skin, his breath hot on her neck, and instantly she felt soothed.

Eve wracked her fuzzy brain for the ability to speak and eventually managed a single word.

“Where?”

“You’re at my house on the river. I pulled you out of the water. What the hell were you doing?”

His voice was like a low rumble of thunder. He was angry. Someone had noticed, after all.

“You were half drowned and frozen. Sharing body heat is survival 101.”

He shifted position and pulled her back into him. Eve appreciated then, through her misty consciousness, that she was entirely naked. And so was he.

This should have been ringing alarm bells. Even Eve’s limited experience with men told her that this was not normal. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have been comfortable naked with anyone until a long way into a relationship, yet here she was buck naked with a stranger—a stranger who, she had to assume, had saved her life.

And it felt good.

He smoothed his palm down her thigh, and where goosebumps had faded from the all-consuming cold, fresh ones formed beneath his touch.

“You seem to be warming up,” he said, and his breath brushed across her collarbone. The goosebumps ran across her chest and hardened her nipples in response.

“Yes,” she managed.

His hand swept over to her other leg and inched upwards, his thumb tracing a line up her inner thigh.

“It takes a little while to raise your blood temperature. Try to relax.”

A wave of warmth trailed in the wake of his touch. His hand came to rest in the hollow of her hip, and his fingers curled lightly around to rest at the very top of her inner thigh.

Heat poured from his fingertips, and Eve’s breathing deepened.

“Yes,” he whispered the word into her neck. Relaxing was the only possible path. Then his hand was moving again, raised to touch her only by its very fingertips now. He brushed along her side, and tingling breaths of pleasure rolled through her.

“Goosebumps. You’re still cold.” He said and slid the flat of his palm around her back to pull her in.

The sensation of his chest pressed against her naked breasts was all-consuming. A stranger’s body, but so appealing. Heat and energy penetrated her skin and reached inside. Her heart picked up its rhythm, and her breathing followed. She stretched out an arm to drape over him, and her hand found his back. Smooth and hard.

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