Ten minutes. That's how long it took us to fly to the parking lot where the gollums left their vehicles, and I thanked modern intervention for making the journey short for me. Of course, I would have stayed tucked inside Vincent's arms forever, regardless of how high he flew or how long it took us to get there. Everyone parted ways without much fanfare, which may have had something to do with Vincent carrying me purposefully to the Valentino's black Escalade and locking me inside it. Once he slid into the driver's seat, he dragged me across the console onto his lap.

"I thought you were dead," he said, taking possession of my mouth like a starving man.

I ignored the steering wheel jabbing me in the back and the sting of my busted lip. No amount of pain could overshadow the feelings Vincent induced when his mouth was on me, and I let those feelings drag me under as I inhaled the heady cocktail that permeated his skin.

"I must have died a thousand times since yesterday," he said against my lips. "Don't ever leave me again."

The agony in his voice had my throat tightening, but I managed to share my own angst. "You never left my thoughts, Vincent. I knew we would be together again. I just knew..."

I submitted to his invading tongue for the next few minutes. We had lost a lot of time, and our hands didn't stop as we touched every spot we could reach. When kissing turned into gasping for breath, our mouths finally parted, and I reluctantly crawled off his lap to buckle in. 

Vincent reached behind him and snatched a black V-neck off the seat, speaking to the dashboard as he tugged it over his head. "Call Charleton."

A moment later, Charleton came on the line. "What news do have for us, Vincent?"

"I have Reese here with me. She is unharmed and we are not being pursued. I will call again when we arrive at the cabin."

"Sounds fair. I will relay your message to everyone."

The call ended abruptly and my stomach took a dive. Charleton made no effort to communicate with me.

"Um, are we going to your fishing cabin?" I asked as Vincent pulled into traffic.

"Yes. Colin and Jonathan will take care of immediate domus business in my absence."

I allowed myself a grin, remembering Vincent's promise to take me to paradise in the form of unrestricted sex at his fishing cabin. "So, you and me alone in the woods. Sounds like the perfect reunion."

He scowled but directed it at the windshield. "It's not as romantic as it sounds. The domus is currently in negotiations regarding your status. We will communicate with them via satellite."

Shit. That didn't sound good.

"So, how long will it be? Your absence, that is?" I stared at him through the blue light of the dashboard, and he hazarded a glance at me. The stony look he offered had my stomach diving deeper.

"I don't know yet. It depends on negotiations."

"You told them, didn't you? You told them who my grandfather is?"

Vincent pursed his lips, a response I knew too well, and I waited while he crafted his reply. Surely, he knew the subject would come up. "Yes, Reese. It was my duty as magister."

"Right. I remember."

Silence.

"Are you hungry? There's food in the backpack behind your seat."

Although I hadn't eaten more than a honeybun and two strawberries over the past twenty-four hours, I didn't think putting food in my stomach would do the trick. "I'll pass, thanks."

"You need to eat. Did they feed you at all?"

"Yes." I choked out my response, betraying my emotions and my desire to cry into my lap.

"All is not lost, Reese."

Reaching over, Vincent patted my knee. I knew he meant well, using the gold standard cliché for this situation, but the abrupt silence that followed had his message reading like an SOS. If he really believed all was not lost, he could have offered some proof, but he didn't. He just gripped the steering wheel like a life raft and sped west on the highway, taking us away from the slowly rising sun.

I ended up falling asleep for most of the trip, waking when Vincent pulled into a supermarket parking lot, and we spent the next thirty minutes shopping for our non-romantic cabin getaway. Vincent bought everything to make homemade lasagna, claiming it was the only meal he could brag about. He also bought a bottle of port for himself and the ingredients to keep me supplied with Shirley Temples until the rapture.

"I think you'll like the cabin. It's situated on a lake. Perfect trout fishing." Vincent talked as we navigated a winding valley road. Autumn colors painted the hills, forcing me to adopt a positive mood. I knew Vincent was trying to keep the conversation light, avoiding the topic of us being incompatible and how difficult our lives would be if we stayed together. So, I went along with it, since I didn't want to face the music either.

"Do you fly fish, like with waders and feathered hooks?" I asked.

"Yes. I've even been known to make my own fish hooks. You can count that as one of my hobbies." He smiled boyishly, as if he had revealed some hidden secret, and I couldn't help staring at him. I had never seen Vincent's mood so buoyant, and it freaked me out a little.

After a cryptic discussion about finding balance between city life and nature, Vincent announced our final approach. The sun had just set behind the mountains, so the lake sparkled with fading flecks of light as we pulled up to a quaint, one-story cabin. Vincent had been spot-on about the perfection of the place. The trees towered like giants, offering shade to the house, while leaving open shoreline to anyone wanting to catch some rays. I tried to picture Vincent standing waist-high in the water, tossing a fishing line into it while birds fluttered around his head. I couldn't do it.

My thoughts grew quieter until I realized Vincent had parked and was staring at me. The first few moments felt awkward, then he reached for my hand and I gave it to him. Gently, he brought my knuckles to his lips, kissing each one of them. It felt like an invitation, but also an apology.

"Let's not talk about anything negative for the rest of the day," he said. "I want us to enjoy each other's company and bond."

Bond? I could think of several methods for accomplishing that. "Sounds like a brilliant idea. How should we start?"

"Stay put." Vincent hopped out of the Escalade and walked around the front, looking deliciously handsome in his tight-fitting tee shirt, the shadow of a beard accenting his granite chin. The image was enough to make a girl cream her tight-fitting cargo pants. He opened the passenger door and scooped me into his arms, pressing a kiss to my temple as he made a beeline for the lake.

"Vincent, you're not planning to dunk us both in the lake with our clothes on, are you?"

"Yes. Do you object?"

"These are my only clean clothes."

"Your duffel bag is in the car filled with clean clothes."

The smirk he offered caught me off guard. Vincent didn't smirk very often, and I took it as my cue to promote his playful mood. We were nearly at the shore when I continued my mock protest.

"What is your point with this exercise, Mr. Valentino?"

"You just came from a demon hive. For what I want to do to you, I need you clean."

His smirk turned into a full-on smile, and my heart nearly flatlined.

Holy crap.

"While that sounds like something I'd be up for," I said. "Don't you think a shower and soap would do a better job?"

"Yes, but this will be more fun."

Fun? He wanted to have fun?

"Great. But, can we get rid of our clothes first?"

Vincent stopped at the water's edge, giving me a blast of his smoldering gray orbs. I could stare at them forever. "You make a good point, since we're going to be naked soon anyway."

Vincent set me on my feet, never taking his focus from my face. He looked hungry, and I wanted to offer myself up like a plate of hot honeybuns. The fact that I had not been wearing undergarments made my strip tease a short one, and moments later, Vincent had an unhindered view of my buns.

"The things I'm going to do to you." Like stealth, Vincent's lips were at my shoulder, sending a flurry of goosebumps across my skin. I felt his fingertips at my hip next, walking up my belly all the way to my breast. As he caressed me, flashbacks of our misadventures tried to have their way with my brain. Could we walk away from this without battle scars?

Vincent stepped back to pull off his shirt, and the blast of pheromones I got when he flung it on the ground put me in a momentary stupor. Blinking, I brought this body back into focus and stared wantonly at his chest, something I had only caught glimpses of in its bare form.

Just as I suspected, his stomach muscles rippled in smooth waves, and above them, pectorals that could sell anything. I noticed a pale scar below his collarbone, which must have been a severe wound if it didn't heal completely. Had he been hiding it from me? Was he worried it would make him look weak?

Vincent removed his jeans next, unsheathing himself and leaving me gawking at his fortitude. An amused smile grew on his mouth right before he swept me off my feet and waded into the lake. "The water is cold. Brace for impact." He made the announcement as he flung me unceremoniously into the air.

I squealed like girl, and a moment later my body broke the frigid surface, causing my muscles to contract violently. My feet found the bottom, and I recovered fast enough to retaliate. "You're a pain-in-the-ass, you know that!" I said, splashing him rapid fire. "I'm probably going to get hypothermia."

"It's November. Did you expect the hot springs?" Vincent caught me up and hauled me against his hard body. "I'll warm you up, baby."

I wiggled inside his arms as he imprisoned my lips in a kiss, and I felt his erection grow against my belly despite the numbness setting in. Vincent didn't seem to consider temperature as a hindrance, and he dragged us further into the lake until our heads were just above the surface.

"Hold your breath," he said as he captured my lips again and dunked us under the water. A few seconds later, we emerged to take a breath, and when our lips reunited, down we went. This baptism went on until my libido had been fully primed and my muscles trembled from the cold. An erotic form of torture.

When Vincent finally carried me out of the lake, I didn't think about the goosebumps covering my skin or the fact that my nipples were as hard as granite. No. When he scaled the steps to the porch, and set me on my feet, and backed me into the door with his hard, wet body, I could only focus on one thing. The look of determination on his face, and more than likely, a boatload of restraint.

"I'm going to take you now. But, I need your permission. Do you want me, Reese? Unhindered and unprotected. Will you have me as your mate?" His voice came out harsh and indecent, but his eyes maintained cool, controlled focus as he waited for my answer. Whatever methods he used to hang onto his self-control outmatched mine by a mile. I was helpless as a newborn.

"Yes."

The world appeared in his gaze just before he kissed me, lapping at my mouth and driving his tongue deep as he lifted me off my feet. With one hand cupping my buttocks, Vincent used his other hand to direct himself between my thighs. Our subzero swimming experience had robbed me of bodily fluids, but it didn't affect the intensity of his desire, and he made several passes to prime me.

"You are amazing," he said as he pressed his lips to my forehead. "Your body is a temple, and I will worship at it for as long as I live."

His seductive prose had me mesmerized, and I stared into his eyes as our bodies synched up. A shiver swept over me when I felt him at my entrance, and I angled my body to accept him. This was just how I had dreamt it. Vincent, naked and powerful, imprisoning me against the wall, taking me to paradise, inch by sweet, pleasurable inch. I wrapped my legs around his hips, using him as leverage to meet his impatient thrusts, and I choked out a gasp when he filled me completely.

"Oh, yeah. Feel me, baby. This is all for you." Vincent growled against my ear as he went for distance, taking control like master of the universe. His tireless rhythm stoked my fire and forced my back into the cabin door as his mouth held me in an endless kiss. This passionate, stoic, complicated man touched me deeper than any man before him, took me further than I'd ever let myself go, and still I wanted more.

I rode the wave toward my orgasm with absolutely no regard for safety. Lake water was no substitute for soap and a shower. Even then, no amount of soap and water could remove a scent I'd been born with, but that didn't appear to stop us. This was love, and lust, and a good amount of adrenaline-induced insanity.

As all of those feelings came crashing together, and Vincent's tempo picked up, I had no choice but to let myself go, squeezing tightly around him as my climax blasted through me like a monsoon. Vincent watched me freefall as I panted toward the rafters, and when my vision had cleared, I had the pleasure of watching him cross over.

"You wreck me," he said, before he growled like a beast and released his warmth into me.

The ferocity of the moment continued longer than my body was prepared for, and I ended up sagging against Vincent as we engaged in a post-coital embrace. The way he held me, like I had all the strength, tore at my heart strings, and he nuzzled my hair, speaking softly into it.

"Don't ever leave me again."