Julien shakes his head and takes my chin into his hand, tilting my face up to meet his gaze. “That had nothing to do with any deficiency on your part and everything to do with that asshole Rossi. Sure, if circumstances had been different, we probably would have been able to take the time to get to know more about each other, but don’t think for a moment that anything that happened was your fault. You’re allowed to be nervous. Fated or not, mating is a big deal.”
I blink quickly against the burn in my eyes. How did I get so lucky?
“I thought you might want to take a shower first?”
I nod eagerly. The last time I bathed was back in Julien’s hotel room. I might not be covered in glitter, but I did plenty of running around since then. “That’d be great.”
Julien leads me into the bathroom. It’s bigger than my bedroom at my Chicago apartment, the shower the size of my old kitchen and clearly built for two with frosted glass doors, gray-tiled walls, and two shower heads like something straight out of a luxury resort.
Julien turns on the water, testing the temperature with his fingers, then wastes no time stripping out of his clothes. He stalks toward me in all his naked glory, and it’s all I can do to keep from drooling. Miles of golden skin. Broad shoulders. Muscular legs with a dusting of blond hair. Flat stomach with a trail of darker blond hair leading down to his mouthwatering cock. I can’t decide what part I want to touch first.
Seconds later, he’s in front of me, skimming his fingers along the tops of my thighs, taking hold of the t-shirt and lifting it off of me, then pushing the boxers down to my ankles. He takes my hand as I step out of the boxers and leads me into the shower stall. Under the warm fall of water, he washes me slowly, first rubbing the soap across my skin, then rinsing it away and pressing soft kisses to the now clean skin. We’re both hard and ready, but Julien ignores both of our erections in favor of light touches and gentle, almost chaste kisses.
Once we’re both clean and soap free, Julien wraps me in a towel and dries himself off before turning his attention back to me. There’s a new heat in his eyes, a glint of anticipation and hunger that he’d held back in the shower. He picks me up, swinging me into his arms and carrying me back into the bedroom to toss me onto the bed.
My back hits the mattress and Julien crawls up my body, nipping and licking as he goes. When he reaches my lips, he takes my mouth in a hungry kiss. His hands stroke my sides, fingers tickling along my arms and thighs as he explores my skin. He cradles my face with one hand while the other trails down my chest, then my stomach. Moving lower, he takes my cock into his hand and squeezes gently as he strokes upward once. That alone is almost enough to make me come.
I’ve never been so turned on in my life.
Julien’s lips catch my gasps and moans as he swipes his thumb to gather the liquid at my tip and then continues moving his hand in a slow, steady rhythm. I grab his wrist, stopping the movement after barely more than a couple seconds.
“Too close,” I say. “I want to come with you inside me.”
He nods, shifting his hand down to stroke over my balls and then to brush against the crease of my ass. He freezes for a second before pulling away from my mouth as he brings his hand up to stare at his fingers.
“What?” I ask.
Julien shifts back so he’s crouching over me and rubs his fingers together. “When did you have time to find the lube Remy bought for us?”
“I didn’t.” I put my own hand where Julien’s was, my fingers encountering a very lube-like liquid that appears to be…oh. “That’s different. Maybe it’s an omega thing?”
“Has it ever happened before?”
“Have I ever self-lubricated? Um, no. Definitely not. But I can’t think of any other explanation, can you?”
Julien chuckles. “I guess we still have a lot to learn about male omegas.”
“I guess so,” I say. “I’m not complaining, though. No more fumbling for the lube bottle? Sign me up.”
Julien’s laughter shakes the entire bed, and he leans down to run his nose over my neck.
“Okay. Let’s get on with the claiming part,” I say. I thrust my hips upward so my erection brushes against his. “Before I take matters into my own hands. I’m dying down here.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want that to happen.” Julien runs his nose down my cheek and buries his face in my neck, biting gently at the muscles in my shoulder and sending a shiver of desire down my body. He drags a finger through the slick, super convenient lube, then pushes it into my body, gently loosening the muscle to prepare me for something much larger.
One finger becomes two, then three, opening me up slowly and carefully until I almost can’t take it anymore.
“I want you. I need you,” I pant. “Now.”
Julien presses a lingering kiss to my mouth, then pulls his hand away and gently urges me over onto my stomach. I hate losing the opportunity to stare into his eyes, but a claiming bite goes on the back of the neck and that means hands and knees for me. At least shifters can’t carry or transmit any STDs, so we don’t have to bother with condoms.
Moments later, Julien presses the tip of his cock to my entrance and pushes inside in one long, slow thrust. The burn of the stretch quickly fades into pleasure as he pulls out and pushes in again. Gradually, his movements build into a steady rhythm and I’m lost to the sensation of my mate inside me.
The ecstasy builds and just as I’m teetering on the edge of coming apart, Julien’s sharpened teeth sink into the skin at the base of my neck. The flash of pain barely registers as the force of the orgasm shatters through me, the world going white around me as I release onto the sheets. Above me, Julien lets out a muffled growl, his teeth still attached to my neck, as his muscle tense and the heat of his release fills me.
It takes a few moments for both of us to come back to Earth and I whimper a little as he pulls out. Julien lies down and turns me to face him, pulling me away from the wet spot, then tucking my head under his chin and wrapping me tightly in his arms.
“You’re stuck with me now,” I joke, my throat tight with emotion.
