Love for him welled up, every bit as sharp and terrible as the fire of the Han Vol Dan. She turned her head so he could take her mouth. His possession was every bit as savage as a leopard could get, but his kiss was so beautiful it brought tears to her eyes.

“I’ve never meant anything more,” she managed to get out between the ragged, labored breathing made worse by his kisses. “Get. On. With. It.”

There was another moment of absolute silence, as if he needed to fully absorb what she’d given him and then he laughed softly and rubbed her left cheek, just where he’d left his mark. Then he was moving again and her world narrowed to feeling. Sensation. The exquisite, terrible fire that burned through her, forced her body to push back hard against his, driving him deeper into her, always wanting more. She needed more.

He pounded into her, a thick, harsh piston that never stopped taking her higher and higher. Her bones ached. Her skin was on fire. Every brush against her sensitive skin hurt, yet deep inside she needed more. It was frightening. It was exhilarating. More, it was the sexiest thing she could imagine.

Still, the more he took her, the more she needed and the tighter that brutal tension inside her coiled until she was sobbing for release.

“I’ve got you, Evangeline. Now, solnyshko moyo, fly for me. Give me everything.”

She did because it was Alonzo. Because it was the only man she loved or would ever love. She did because he told her to and she trusted him implicitly. She came apart for him, her body fragmenting, the ripples like an earthquake, building and building and then roaring through her. She screamed his name, halfway between sobbing and laughing. Happy. Shocked. Coming apart at the seams until she was certain she could never be put back together.

His release triggered another large quake, until she thought she would just die right there. She collapsed, Alonzo over top of her, still holding her hips, still inside her.

The fire hadn’t gone away. It burned hotter and brighter than ever. Terrified she couldn’t go through it again, she turned her head to the side and looked over her shoulder at the man she knew she could count on. “Fyodor?” She couldn’t keep the note of fear out of her voice.

“I know, malyutka, let’s catch our breath and then we’ll do this. Together.”

That made her feel a little better. At least he knew what was going on. She couldn’t keep her hips still, and he didn’t stop her from bucking against him. That didn’t put out the fire, it only built it higher, as if she were burning from the inside out.