Free Twice In A Lifetime by Jennifer Jakes

here. I mean other you. And you weren’t dead. Aren’t dead.” Damn it, this made no sense.
    “That was just an echo of me. Like half of me. Celeste said because I let Alicia’s death kill part of who I was, that part of me was here. That’s how I could feel you, how I knew you weren’t dead.”
    But Alicia was. Izzy swallowed hard. “Do you remember what happened on the island…with Alicia?”
    Pain pinched his brow. “Yes, I saw it. Saw what she really was. I had already come to terms with it though. I’ve been going to therapy to deal with everything.”
    “Everything, meaning me too?” God, had he learned to live without her?
    “Everything meaning my grief and my paranoia. No amount of therapy would get me over you, if that’s what you mean. I dreamed about you every night this past week. And hell, I had the weirdest images about pirates and sword fights and ships…Oh.” He stopped and reached to the floor, pulling a small book out of his coat. “It’s How to Sail .” He grinned. “Celeste said I would need it, so I’ve been studying.”
    “Um, yeah. The captain kinda needs to know th at part.” She squeezed his hand and tried to keep her voice light, but her thoughts raced toward a dark place. Were they dead? And if they were, what the hell did that mean?
    You’re together. Celeste’s voice whispered through her mind.
    Yes, they were. And that’s what really mattered.
    He traced her lips, then sighed, and closed his eyes. “I love you, Iz. God, you don’t know how much. You’re everything to me. My family, my best friend.”
    “Lover?” God, she wanted him. Wanted to feel alive again, feel Ian pulsing inside of her.
    His eyes popped open. “Do you even have to ask?”
    “Do you know how freakin’ horny I am?”
    He grinned. “Didn’t other me take care of that? I sure as hell dreamed I was kissing you, touching you.”
    “No. He was a tease.”
    Ian barked out a laugh. “Well I’m not.”
    “Prove it,” she purred, rising so she straddled his hips. “I need to feel you as close as possible. I have to know this is real.”
    His eyes darkened, his gaze dropping from her mouth to her nipples. His breath caught. “Help me get these damn shorts off.” He tugged until the boxer briefs landed on the floor, then rolled until she lay trapped beneath his weight.
    She expected the kiss to be needy, rough, as harsh as his breathing. Instead, his lips rolled over hers in a lush, slow cadence. His tongue swept between her lips, a silky rasp, hot, drugging, before he trailed wet open-mouthed kisses down her neck. His breath fanned over her damp skin, setting her on fire.
    “God, Izzy.” His words whispered over her breast , his whiskers like sand paper, erotic and rough. “You don’t know how freakin’ much I’ve missed this. Missed you.” He sucked a nipple into his mouth, then teased it with his teeth. Biting. Tugging. Sucking. Before he moved to the other side.
    Her heart slammed against her ribs, and she forgot how to breathe, forgot everything and anything existed except the man driving her crazy.
    Callused palms cupped her breasts, squeezing as long, lean fingers plucked her nipples. She tangled one hand in his hair, the other she slicked over his back, his shoulders. His cock lay heavy and hot against her thigh, the seeping head leaving a wet kiss on her skin. Christ, she had to feel him. Had to taste him.
    “Stop.” She rose up on her elbows.
    He lifted his head, dark hair hanging over one eye. “Why?”
    “You know why.” She circled his cock and gave him a squeeze. “I want to suck you.”
    He groaned. “Damn it, I don’t know how much I can take. It’s been too long.”
    “Let’s find out.”
    Climbing to her knees, she pushed him onto his back. His dick stood thick and hard, cum glistening on the tip. Her sex clenched, aching to have him inside her, but she’d missed the taste of him on her tongue, the powerful feeling swallowing his cock gave her.
    She bent and