After Glow Read Online Free PDF Page B

him, wrapping her arms very tightly around his neck, holding on as if she was afraid that he would slip away from her.
    “Emmett.”
    Everything in him went from zero to full-rez in a rush. Desire swept through him, heating his blood and making him heavy and restless with need.
    He had intended a gentle, soothing embrace, a few cuddles and kisses designed to calm her and reassure her. But her sudden, impassioned response sent any gentlemanly plans he might have had up in smoke.
    “Okay, this works, too,” he whispered against her throat.
    He pulled her with him down onto the bed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fuzz tumble off the windowsill and scamper across the carpet. The little ball of dryer lint drifted out of the bedroom and disappeared discreetly down the hall. Probably embarrassed him, Emmett thought.
    He turned his attention back to Lydia, who had landed on top of him and was straddling his thighs. The position had forced her skirt high above her knees.
    “Promise me you’ll be careful.” She unbuckled his belt.
    “I’ll be careful.”
    She unfastened his shirt. “Promise me you won’t take any chances.”
    Acid green ghost light danced at the edge of his vision. It winked out quickly only to be followed by another shower of sparkling energy. Flickers , he thought; the little flashes of unstable dissonance energy often appeared when he and Lydia made love.
    Psi energy leaked and whispered out of small cracks, hidden openings, and invisible vents in the ancient green quartz walls that surrounded the ruins in this part of town. Often, when he found himself highly aroused with Lydia the wavelengths of his sexual energy resonated with the stuff. The result was the small bursts of harmless ghost light that winked out as quickly as they appeared.
    “Right,” he muttered, crumpling her skirt up around her waist. He touched the crotch of her panties. She was already damp. Satisfaction roared through him. “No chances.” Except with you , he added silently. Loving Lydia was far and away the biggest risk he had ever taken.
    She released him from the prison of his zipper. Her fingers slid along the underside of that part of him that was now rock hard. When she cupped him he stopped breathing for a few seconds.
    She flattened herself on top of him, threading her fingers through the hair on his chest and kissing him with her mouth open.
    Energy stirred and shimmered in the air around them. Not ghost light, just a frisson of sensation. Lydia was the source this time, he realized, although he didn’t think she was aware of the invisible currents shifting across the bed.
    She was an ephemeral-energy para-resonator, otherwise known as an illusion trap tangler. Her para-talents took a different form than his own. She could not summon ghost light, but she could de-rez the dangerous snares of illusion shadow that the long-vanished aliens had left behind to guard their secrets in the ruins. She was the best tangler he had ever worked with, he thought. When it came to wielding raw psi power she was, in her own way, as strong as he was.
    She slithered down his body, touching him with the tip of her tongue at various points along the way. He realized where she was headed and knew that if he didn’t gain control of the situation he would lose it before he got to his own favorite destination.
    He rolled her onto her back. With a few efficient moves he got himself out of his pants and shoes. When he came down on top of her, anticipation had seared away all coherent thought.
    He unfastened her jacket and then her blouse and took one sweet, ripe nipple between his teeth.
    Her eyes were bottomless pools of intense blue by the time he had finished undressing her. He bent his head and kissed her until she was shifting and twisting beneath him, until she moaned. The soft sound of her need was the sweetest music he had ever heard.
    He settled between her warm thighs. The scent of her passion sharpened his need until he could think