Just this much was exquisite, and it would have been more than enough, but I knew there was more. My hands slipped around his neck to tangle my fingers in his hair. His head nudged mine, and his lips found my neck, lightly biting. And then, without warning, he bore down, spilling the line already running through him back into me.

I gasped, arching my back as the heat dove through me to my groin. Our rhythm hesitated as I hung there, almost climaxing at the sudden sensation. His lips fastened tighter upon my neck, and the energy between us ebbed. Oh God, he smelled good.

Panting, I opened my eyes. “Rachel?” he asked as if wondering if I was okay.

“Mmmm-hmmm.” My hands, which had fallen back to clutch at the blanket, found his lower back again. I rose into him, claiming his mouth. Our motions grew faster, and I felt the heat between us shift, become demanding. Again, he touched the line, and I gasped as the heat burned hotter than before as it ran through me.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop,” I panted as he hesitated, my chi roiling with energies.

“Rachel, I can’t wait,” he breathed, the hint of desperation igniting me.

“Not yet,” I moaned.

Hesitating deep in me to prolong it, his lips found my breast, and as he pulled on me, I felt him touch the line again. The glittering heat pounded in waves from his mouth to my groin.

And suddenly, I couldn’t wait either. “Oh God. Pierce!” I said, eyes wide and unseeing as I felt my aura melt to match the resonance of the line. Like an exquisite ping of eternity, I became one with the line he was drawing on.

The energy that had been flowing from Pierce to me suddenly flashed in reverse. Pierce gasped. His head came up, eyes wide in shock. Scrambling, I reached after the energy, pulling it back as the first hints of it dove through him.

What in hell had I done?

Whatever it was, it was our undoing. Pierce’s breath hissed in. With a groan, he climaxed, his hands clenching on me. My body reacted, and wave after wave cascaded through me as I did the same, adrenaline igniting my being.

For a moment we hung in bliss, unaware of anything other than the perfect sensation of the line and our souls in perfect alignment with it. And then it was over, and I took a breath.

With a soft sigh, he dropped gently on me, and I opened my eyes, staring at nothing. God, that had felt good.

“I’ve never before … had anyone … learn how to commune with a line … while under me,” he said, starting to chuckle. “Rachel, you’re a quick study.” He hesitated. “Could you, ah, be of a mind to let me go?”