it.” I glided through the water and pressed my body to his, chest to chest, lifting my fingers to run through his hair as I’d been longing to do.
The first contact was like a jolt of electricity, my body crackling with heat and lust and want. It was his turn to freeze, to fight for control. Closing my eyes, eager for a taste of him, I pressed my lips to his, claimed his mouth in a kiss.
I was gentle. Soft. My lips lingered. Pulled back. It was an invitation that I knew he wouldn’t even try to resist. I wanted him. Needed him to touch me, to make me feel like I truly belonged to him after fighting so hard to be with him. But I wasn’t experienced. I didn’t really know what else to do except give him permission to do anything he wanted.
No. Everything, he wanted. Everything we both needed.
I broke the kiss and wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight. Close. As close as I could get. Fighting back a tidal wave of emotion, of love and longing and lust and a million other things I couldn’t process, let alone name. I fought back the tears building like walls of fire behind my eyes and pressed my lips to his ear. “I need you, Gage. Please. I need to be yours.”
“You are mine.” His arms came around me and he held me there for long minutes, both of us fighting for control, both of us trembling, our breaths ragged. His arms were like bands of steel around me, and I’d never felt safer or more connected to another being. Was this love? I didn’t know. Love felt like such a tame word for what I was feeling. This was obsession. Devotion. Need clawing its way through my body like a wild animal, threatening to tear me open from the inside.
He held me until my trembling passed, until I relaxed in his arms, content to let him hold me, his hands roaming my back, tracing my curves, learning my body as I surrendered to his touch.
“Have you ever been with a man, Dani?”
“No. Not in the way you mean.” I was grateful that my cheek rested on his shoulder, that he couldn’t see the dark crimson heat I knew stained my cheeks. “I kissed a few boys in high school, but never…you know.”
“Then my first objective will be to wipe the taste of all other men from your lips.”
Whoa. But that wouldn’t be a big deal. It wasn’t like any of those fumbling…
I didn’t finish the thought as Gage’s hands lifted to cup the back of my head and he gently lifted my face to his once again. His touch was gentle, but the kiss was not. His lips claimed ownership, his tongue diving deep to taste me, conquer me. Make me forget who came before.
Melting. That was the only way I could describe what happened to my body. I kissed him back, the deep moan that came from the back of my throat a sound I didn’t recognize. But he did, his mouth became more aggressive, more demanding, and I gave him everything, eager to taste and be tasted.
He tore his lips from mine and lifted me to the edge of the tub so I sat facing him. Panting. Ready for more.
His hot hands lifted to my knees, slowly pushed them apart. “Spread your legs, Dani. I want to claim what’s mine.”
My knees were wide before my brain could scream a protest. I wasn’t like this. I was not this wild, uninhibited lover.
But I was.
With a grin that made my nipples pebble and my pussy throb, he placed a hand between my breasts and slowly pressed me back until my back was on the smooth tiles that lined the tub area. I expected to feel cold, but there were towels laid out, thick and soft, and I realized he’d been planning this moment from the beginning. Had thought of my comfort, even as he…
“Oh, god.” The words burst from my lips as his mouth clamped down on my clit. No sweet seduction, no slow build or teasing. He sucked me into his mouth like I was candy, then fucked me with his tongue, his groan, the trembling in his hands all the proof I needed that he wanted this. Wanted me.
Mouth on my clit, tongue flicking over the sensitive nub, he slid one finger deep into my pussy, filling me, and I gave up trying to watch him. My head fell back on the towels and I arched my back, lifting my hips, buried my fingers in his hair, silently begging for more.
He worked my body like a master, and I held nothing back as the world exploded again and again, my pussy clamping down on his finger like a fist, the muscle spasms making me sob, then beg, then scream. It was too much. Too intense, the feelings that coursed through my body overwhelming. My ears tingled, colors danced behind my closed eyelids.
When I had nothing left, when I was shaking and spent, my voice raw from screaming, he slid his finger from me, kissed my clit and pussy gently one last time and pulled my sated body from the edge back into the water and into his arms. Held me to him, arms wrapped about me, as if he was what kept me from floating away. His smile was filled with pure male satisfaction, but his eyes held something more. Something tender and real I’d never seen before. I couldn’t look away. “Gage,” I whispered.
With a soft order for me to hush, he lowered his lips to mine, the spicy taste of my arousal on his tongue making me wild once more. The dazed, sated feeling faded and I hungered. I had no idea if this was the Everian in me coming to life, the Huntress needing her mate, but I needed to know his true taste. I needed to conquer him as he’d conquered me.
I spun us in the tub and he let me have my way as I kissed him. Devoured him, pressing him back until he was where I had been moments ago, his back to the edge. “Out, Gage. It’s my turn.”
He said nothing, but the lust in his eyes was pure, aroused male as he lifted his body and sat on the edge of the huge bathtub. He didn’t lie back, and I was grateful. The water running over his rock-hard chest and defined abs made me want to follow the trail with my tongue. So I moved close and did just that.
Rising up onto my knees, I reached for him, kissing him one more time before tracing a drop of water from his neck, down, over his collarbone. His chest. I lingered, tasted his hard nipple. The musky scent of man, my man, filled my head, making me dizzy. These huntress senses were overwhelming. Powerful.
Heaven.
My entire being filled with his essence. I drew him into my lungs. My gaze lingered over every inch, making sure the ReGen wand hadn’t missed any bruises or cuts. I recalled a particularly bad burn and some black bruising I’d seen over his right ribs. My hand traced the lines of his body, inspecting him as my gaze followed suit.
“I am healed, mate.”
“Hush.” It was my turn to fuss. To worry. To reassure myself that my mate was alive and well. Whole. Mine. I kissed the area where I knew the wound had been, over and over, telling him without words how important he was to me. He groaned, his hands coming to bury themselves in my wet hair, not to hurry me, but to connect us, to acknowledge my gift.
When I was ready, I worked my way down over his stomach, admiring every inch of this Elite Hunter and his hard body. He was too beautiful to be real. Definitely too beautiful to be mine. But I wasn’t going to argue with fate, or Warden Egara’s matching protocols, not now. Not when the hard tip of his cock was inches away from my lips.
I licked the tip, the drop of pre-cum glistening there. That was mine, too. He was mine. All of him.
“Dani.” My name was a plea and I was only too eager to give my mate what he needed.
As he
