“You hold me steady, but you still let me climb to whatever height I’m trying to reach,” she explains, as if it’s the clearest thing in the world.
And once she says it, it is.
Emotions crash through me, threatening to drown my head and my heart.Needing a brief reprieve from the onslaught, I drop my hands between us and finger the craft in her lap.
“What are you working on?”
“I’m crocheting you an apology hat, to go with your scarf.”
Damn, she won’t let up.
In a fit of self-preservation, I grasp for a joke.“You seem hell-bent on me keeping my head covered.Wear a helmet, you say.I’m making you a hat, you say.”I put on a high-pitched voice, making a complete mockery of her normal smooth, sultry tone.
Zoey laughs.“You caught me.I’m obsessed with keeping this head safe and warm.”She sets her project to the side and cups my cheeks with her hands.The hard plaster of the cast is rough against my skin, just as the bare palm of her other hand is soft.She shifts, rising on her knees so she can press a kiss to the center of my forehead.“Mainly because I love the brain that’s rattling around in it.”
The words dig into my heart, ruthless, loving claws.With her movement, the blankets fall away, and I’m confronted with her bare chest and stomach and the teasing triangle of curls at the center of her.The sight has me groaning.
Even though I want to crush her to my chest, I’m wary of her battered body.Instead, I circle my arms around her in a gentle embrace, lowering her to the bed.She spreads out beneath me, muscles relaxed, and gifts me with a gorgeous smile.
I hunger for her mouth and take it with the passion I want to show the rest of her.For now though, I keep my fervor to the meeting of our lips.
Zoey gasps and moans, her fingers raking down the front of my shirt, fumbling with buttons until she has the fabric parted and can get at my skin.Her nails dig into me, as if she plans to scratch and tear until I’m covered in her marks.
“Do it.Be rough with me,” I beg against her mouth.
She doesn’t hesitate.Her hands dive under my shirt, her fingers clutch my back, and I groan at the delicious bite of her nails along my spine.My love doesn’t break skin, but I long for a mirror so I can admire what must be a nice set of red marks scored into me.
Then, she has my belt in her grasp, undoing the buckle.Next thing I know, my pants are unzipped and being shoved down and that soft grasp is gripping my hard length.
I pry my lips from hers, rising up enough to tell her something like …
We don’t have to.
You’re hurt.
But she’s faster than I am.
“I love you.”Zoey doesn’t whisper or let the words out on a light gasp.She declares them with utter and complete confidence.“Do you love me?”
“More than anything,” I growl in response.
She nods, a confident smile plumping her cheeks as her uninjured leg slings around my waist.A very demanding heel presses into one of my ass cheeks, urging me forward.
“Are you going to show me how much?”
The crown of me presses against her slickness, and my eyes threaten to roll back in my head.But that would mean I’d have to stop staring down at her, and I can’t give up this view.
“You’re perfect.”
A red flush seeps into her cheeks, but she doesn’t deny my words.
“For you.”
Yes.Both my human half and wolf half are in complete agreement, howling together in triumph.
“For me.”
57
