“I’m going to shower. When I come out, we’ll talk. Okay?”
“Sure, sure. Talk. Right.”
He set her down on her feet and steadied her by putting his hands on her shoulders. Though obviously smaller than him, she stood taller than most females of his acquaintance. As she looked up at him, he stared into her eyes, caught by the bright blue pools.
Then she glanced down between them, no doubt wondering what pressed insistently against her belly. Her gaze shot back to his, her eyes wide, her cheeks flushed. Her breathing had increased, as did her racing heart.
“Wh-what? I, um, you, ah... Shower?”
He couldn’t help himself and leaned down to kiss her.
The small peck was there and done, not nearly enough to satisfy him, but enough to tell him the berserker wanted him right back. “Shower first. More kisses later...if you’re lucky.”
He grinned at the epithets hurled his way and went into the bathroom to get clean. But the hard-on that refused to quit? That needed a hands-on healing from his pretty lycan.
With any luck, when he came out of the shower squeaky clean, she’d be more than happy to lick him dry all over.
CHAPTERNINE
Riley was breathinghard as she stared at Kraft’s finer than fine ass while he walked into the bathroom. The jerk didn’t close the door after him either, so she hurried to close it for him and give him some privacy.
Da-yum,Kraft had one amazing body. Beyond amazing. Stacked. Stoked. Muscular and cut and just... She’d wanted to eat him up the moment she’d caught a glimpse of all that tanned muscle.
He looked good in jeans and a sweater—rather,halfa sweater, when he’d been mauled at the bazaar. But even scratched up, bruised, and covered with dried muck, he looked better than any man she’d ever seen. As a vampire, sure, he’d be appealing to his prey. The guy looked like a scruffy model, all tensile strength with a square jaw, straight nose, and shaggy, thick hair she wanted to run her hands through.
Take away the fangs and vampire-ness and he was one hunk of temptation. But add the danger and lethal ability to decimate his foes, and Riley was hooked.
Not good. Nope, not at all.
Especially because Kraft was a showeranda grower. His cock had been big when flaccid. But erect? He was even bigger.Whoo-ee.And she could bounce a roll of quarters off that ass. Staring at it while over his shoulder had been awful. She’d been so tempted to pat his butt so many times.
Even worse, now she knew the tempting firmness of his lips.
She growled, wishing she didn’t feel such a craving for him. It had been so long since she’d been intimate with anyone. Hugs with family provided necessary affection, positive touch. But raw, hungry sex with bites and the occasional claw mark had been missing for far too long if she actually considered joining the vampire in the other room.
Riley paced, trying to focus on her mission—find the artifact, square things with Hecate, and bring it back to the pack. Then finally put the Wildridge pack down hard.Bam.After, she could take that vacation she’d been wanting for ages. Being a berserker for the Crimson Claw meant she had constant duties to pack. Riley didn’t mind. She gratefully accepted her place in the order of things, but hell, sometimes a girl just needed to unwind.
A mental image of water sluicing down Kraft’s ripped body gave her a shiver, and she clenched her thighs tight, praying the vampire didn’t have the same keen sense of smell her brethren did. Though lycans had accelerated senses when in their direwolf form, as humans, they had enhanced abilities as well. Stronger, faster, and more durable than the average human or shapeshifter, she could outmuscle most magir. But as a lycan, and again as a berserker, she rarely met anyone she couldn’t best. Like being a top tier mage or supreme witch, lycan alphas and berserkers reigned supreme.
Kind of like Kraft and his kin. His Night Bloode clan worried her. The local clan of upir were tough, but none of them had ever shown the kind of speed and strength Kraft had shown today.
He’d held her so easily back in the forest at Noblewood. What would a true fight between them look like? Could she end him before he killed her? And why didn’t she want to? He annoyed her. He was a fanger and overall pain in her ass. She could find the artifact without him by her side. For all she knew, that evil presence had been reacting to him tonight, not there for any other reason.
The sudden silence struck her.
The shower was off. She heard Kraft drying himself in his bathroom and hurried to distract her thoughts before she imagined what it would feel like to be his towel.
It was a sure bet the bathroom looked as decked-out as his bedroom. The large space wasn’t dwarfed by the king-size plush bed or armoire and dresser on the other walls. The small loveseat done in soft gray, facing a large television mounted to the wall, seemed well-used, and she wondered if that was how Kraft spent his time. Watching TV and munching on chips?
She chuckled to herself.
“What’s so funny?”
She turned to see him standing in nothing but a towel, highlighting his trim hips and toned body. Hell, even his feet were attractive, graceful, his nails trimmed, his ankles attached to strong calves leading into powerful thighs.
“Smells good in here,” he said with a sly grin.
“Ass.”
