The Man In The Mirror (5 page)

And she was completely alone.

She ran back to the mirror but found nothing more than her own reflection. “The bedroom,”

she muttered, and ran to the antique mirror in the other room, but he wasn’t there either.

She sank to the edge of the bed and held her face in her hands as sobs rocked her body. She did love him with all her heart, she knew that now, because it was breaking into a million pieces.

****

He looked down and saw Tori crying. He called out to her, but she couldn’t hear him. It tore at his heart—wrenching it in two. He should’ve never stayed with her. He should never have caused her so much grief. He should have left the moment he was freed from the mirror and found someplace to wait out his few days of freedom. He could’ve watched her from afar, never let her love him.

“I’m sorry, Tori, my love,” he whispered. “I shall never forgive myself for causing you so much pain.” Tears slid down his cheeks as he watched her, tears for her, not for himself.

The air grew heavy around him. He suspected it was the call of the mirror, but it wouldn’t be Tori’s. No, he wouldn’t stay and torment himself or her with a half-life, even if the witch allowed it. He would sell his soul if need be to save her anymore pain.

A crackle rode on the air with lightning, blinding him. His feet found solid ground, and he staggered with the suddenness of it. Blinking, he cleared the spots from his eyes, and looked before him at an arresting sight. He saw his reflection staring back at him from the antique mirror.

Free.
I’m free, once and for all.

He looked down at Tori, who lay curled into a ball on the bed, her face scrunched up and her eyes closed tight as she clung to a pillow. She was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

He bent over her and cupped her cheek.

“Don’t cry, love.”

“Connor?” She opened her eyes and flew off the bed straight into his arms.

Pressing his face to her hair, he inhaled her scent, and said a silent prayer of thanks.

“I thought you were gone,” she cried.

“I thought so too,” he said, his voice tight.

“She won’t—”

He kissed his way to her lips. “She’s gone.”

He slid his hands over her delectable body as he nibbled at her lips. Cupping her breast, he felt the crest pebble beneath his fingertips.

“And you’re going to stay?” she asked, her voice breathy and soft.

“I’ll not leave you—ever.” He moved his mouth down the side of her neck and slid the strap of her tank top aside as he tasted her skin.

Pressing his hand against her bottom, he held her against his straining erection.

He’d tormented himself with long lazy kisses for weeks, always keeping his hands in safe areas, but now he was free to love her fully, and he didn’t want to waste another minute talking.

They could do that later, much later.

She groaned low, and he nearly lost it standing there holding her. In a matter of seconds they were both naked, touching and exploring one another.

“I can’t wait much longer, love,” he said, his voice raw. She deserved so much more. She believed in him and loved him, and he would give her everything he had. His heart, his soul, his very life, but he could not love her slowly the first 36

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time.

“Neither can I.”

He settled himself between her smooth legs, and as their eyes held one another, he plunged into the haven of her body.

Her eyes widened and she arched into him.

“Connor,” she gasped.

Again and again, he thrust inside her, needing to be closer, climbing ever higher.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her hips. In moments, he would be toppling over the edge with her in his arms.

“Marry me,” he growled, as he drove into her. Her head rolled from side to side with a groan.

Painfully, he slowed his strokes, pulling them back from the edge. He would not give her what she—they both wanted until she agreed.

He would have her as his and his alone…or he would die.

“Marry me,” he demanded.

She clutched at his shoulders, her face flushed with color. “Don’t—stop.”

Gritting his teeth, he pulled out of her warmth, hating the sudden loss, but held himself just at her opening.

He kissed her trembling lips. “Marry me, Tori.”

One hand sank into his hair and held him firmly to her mouth as she suckled his tongue.

She slid the other between them and wrapped her fingers around his heated shaft. He wouldn’t hold out against such delicious torment. Pulling his mouth from hers, he snatched her hand away and slid into her warmth with a growl.

“You are mine,” he said, his voice raw with need.

“Yours.” Together they tumbled over the precipice.

Sated and spent, he rolled to his side, taking her with him, and looked into her eyes. “You didn’t believe her when she said I would leave you, did you?”

She caressed his cheek. “It didn’t matter if I believed her or not. Because it doesn’t matter if you leave or not.”

He rolled atop her, pinning her to the bed and cupped her face in his hands. “I—am—not—

leaving.”

She smiled, soft and sweet. “I know.”

“But you said—”

“It doesn’t matter if you leave or not, because I know you truly love me. That’s all I ever really wanted.” She grinned sheepishly. “Although, it took me a while to figure that out. I thought I had to have the guy, the house, the family, even a dog in the yard to be happy. But all I really needed was to know that someone, someone other than family or friends, loved me.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “I love you so much, Tori. You saved me, my life, my soul, you’ve given me—everything.” He lifted his head and kissed her. “Will you marry me?”

She giggled and wrapped her arms around him. “I think you asked me that already.”

Laughing he rolled to his back with her in his arms. “I did, but all I ever got was a moan.”

She smacked his arm and ducked her head beneath his chin. “I was trying to say yes.”

“Then say yes now.”

She kissed his chest. “Yes,” then his neck,

“yes,” and then his lips, “definitely yes.”

He made love to her again, but this time slowly and sweetly, just as she deserved. And for the first time in his life, he understood what true 38

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joy really was.

Jo currently resides in North Carolina with her patient and supportive family while she juggles her writing career and her position as a programmer analyst. In her early years, she wrote folk songs, poetry, and an occasional short story or two, but never dreamed of writing a book. She didn't even like to read! But one fateful day, she picked up a romance novel and found herself hooked. Not only did she discover the joy of reading, but the joy of writing books. These days, if she isn't tapping away at her computer on a story of her own, she has her nose buried in the latest romance novel hot off the presses, and is enjoying every minute of it.

Visit her website at www.jobarrett.net