Gemma
It took a little while for her breathing to return to normal and for her heart to stop thundering. She gently rolled off Theo and then headed into the bathroom to clean up. She was amazed at how much she had changed in the last couple of weeks. She didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed by her nakedness or her bold pursuit of Theo.
After he had followed suit, cleaning himself, she helped him change the sheets on his bed because no one really liked sleeping in the wet spot.
If there is nothing else in my life, at least I have had the opportunity to make love to him and be with him. That is something that can never be taken from me. My memories of us together are something I will take to my grave.
Theo didn’t seem shocked when she climbed into bed with him. She snuggled close to him, and he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.
“Thank you,” she said. “I really needed you now. I needed your touch and your closeness.”
“I think that everyone needs the kind touch of another human being every once in a while,” he said. “It’s human nature.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Gemma said. She took a deep breath and said, “I’ve fallen in love with you. I have loved you for a while.”
Theo was quiet, and for a minute, Gemma was afraid he had already fallen asleep. “I can’t love you back. I lost my ability to love a long time ago,” he told her quietly.
Expecting this answer, she fought back the tears. “It’s okay. I love you, but I don’t expect anything in return. You have already given me more than anyone could ever ask for. I just wanted you to know how I feel.”
Theo didn’t answer but simply pulled her tighter against him. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought she felt him swallow a sob.
“Who knows, maybe this is just a hero complex,” Gemma said, trying to ease the tension, although she knew full well it wasn’t anything of the sort. “I came to you when I was alone and in danger, and you took me in and saved me.”
Theo made an unintelligible sound in the back of his throat, but he didn’t answer. He simply lay there, holding her.
“Of course, there is the sex thing. Mom said that her mother told her that women have sex to get love. Men give love to have sex. Women automatically, somewhere in their instinctual nature, equate sex to love. That’s why Julia Roberts’s character onPretty Womanwouldn’t kiss a man on the mouth. It was way too intimate,” Gemma went on. “Who knows, once this is over, there may even be a mate out there waiting for me, whocanlove me.”
There was a little catch in her voice that betrayed her words. She knew everything she just said was a load of crap. She loved Theo so deeply and completely. He was a part of her soul, and she could never be with another man – just as Theo was unable to love any woman besides Savannah.
They lay there in silence for a moment, and then Theo asked, “When this is all over, what do you want for yourself and your future?”
Gemma was quiet for a few minutes. “You know, to be honest, I only ever thought of the future in the abstract. The chances of me surviving until I was twenty-five has always been very small. I don’t understand what the big deal is about sacrificing the white wolf, but apparently, it is important enough to the wolf shifters that they have launched an all-out war with the dragon shifters and have spent the last quarter of a century hunting me. There must be more to the story than I’m aware of.”
Then she laughed. “I guess that doesn’t answer your question. I guess I wanted what every woman wants. A family. A man who loved me. Children. I always dreamed of what it would be like to have a farmhouse in the country with a huge garden, some horses, dogs, and chickens. I always wanted peace and quiet. To be able to go out onto my front porch and smell the fresh rain or recently cut grass. To hear the sound of children’s laughter as they played outside. The sounds of nature. I’ve never really had the chance to experience that.”
“It does sound like a great life,” Theo said. “I think that is a great dream.”
Gemma nodded. It did sound like a great dream.
“Your birthday is just around the corner,” he said. “I think that dream is going to happen for you.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I would definitely have to have a library as big as yours. Books have been my one constant friend during my life. If the wolf shifters had been smart, they would have simply staked out every library in whatever city they thought I was in. Eventually, I would have shown up there.”
Theo laughed. “I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t take the time to research their prey,” he said.
“I guess the biggest thing I always wanted was a place to call home. A place where I could hang up my clothes in the closet and put things in a dresser. A place where I could have a nice comfortable bed with Egyptian cotton sheets, instead of an air mattress with scratchy sheets,” she said.
A place like here, with you. With the only man I’ll ever love.
It didn’t matter to her that it was a mansion filled with artwork, although she did love art. It was the first place she felt safe. It was where she had found her true mate.
