Something inside him snapped then. He dropped his hands to my thighs, hoisting me up to lock my legs around his waist. His fingers curled in my hair, tucking my head back as he pressed his nose against mine.
“Thank God,” he whispered, before smashing his lips against mine.
The kiss was needy and frantic, but there was a softness beneath it. Like he was afraid to hurt me, to break me with his want. But I tugged his neck closer, feeding into it with abandon. He wrapped an arm around my waist while keeping one hand beneath a leg, securing me to him. In romance novels, I always wondered how someone tolerated being held above the ground. I got it now. It wasdelicious.
His lips traveled to my neck, and I let out a whimper as he reached a sweet spot.
“There?” His voice was deep, almost a growl.
I nodded quickly, placing soft kisses on his temple and jaw. Every piece of him was hard, chiseled, andhot.
“Leo,” I paused, “are you overheating?”
The control was there; his restraint. But this was something new, and I didn’t want him tohaveto restrain himself. He shook his head quickly between nipping at that soft patch of skin. Lycean’s bite had been vicious, and violent. But Leo? His teeth against my skin made my body melt.
More.
Steam started to rise up, and I pulled back again. If he lost control, if he did burn me, all of this would crumble. I didn’t expect perfection, not yet—but we were at a tipping point. He could still run.
“We need to cool you off,” I gasped.
Still, he bit and nipped and sucked at every inch of skin between my jaw and shoulder, ready to devour me. His skin began to turn pink, and my stomach clenched. He was like this because ofme— not rage, but desire. I started to tug at the hem of his shirt, and he slid me onto the counter before ripping it off.
His chest glistened with sweat, and his face was flushed as he watched me, ribs heaving as his arms flexed. The new devicesat above his heart; a diamond that glowed a calm orange. He wasn’t even close to his limit yet—nothing beeped, no warning bells sounded. Leo was in control, even if his temperature had spiked a bit.
He rolled his shoulders, stretched his neck as he worked his jaw. Soon, the steam simmered, and the air started to cool again.
“There,” he rasped. “All good now. Are you okay?”
I nodded, lips still swollen as I reached out again. “Come back.”
He smirked before pouncing on me again.
Leo burned me,but not in the way he thought he would.
No, he consumed me, making every daydream I’d had seem like a half-baked attempt at romance. This man didn’t belong within steel walls, didn’t deserve to be tucked away, unloved and forgotten. He was meant to be in my bed, with an arm curled around my naked waist as he breathed softly into the nape of my neck. I ran a finger against his lashes, touched the soft strands of hair that fell in his eyes and trailed down to his lips.
His eyes fluttered before they opened, and a devilish grin spread across his cheeks. “Morning, Sweetheart.”
That voice was divine.
A hum vibrated at the back of my hoarse throat. “Morning. How did you sleep?”
He tugged the comforter up around us before pulling me in closer. My head lay on his chest as he took deep breaths, a satisfied growl escaping his lips.
“Better than I ever thought I could.”
I grinned, my hair spilling across him, tangling around us both. “A real bed will do that. Crazy, I know.”
He shook his head, cupping my cheek in his palm. “I don’t think it’s the bed.”
My body hummed with pleasure at his words; there was no bite, no sarcasm. Simple, bleeding truth that made me want to soar. It didn’t matter what had happened in the past, didn’t matter his reasons why. I just cared about Leo now; the one that held me tenderly, the one that took breaks in the middle of the night to run his steaming skin beneath cold water out of caution.
“Alex, I…” his eyes flickered, casting down my bare shoulders before he looked back at my face. “There’s something else we need to talk about. I just… want us to be honest with each other. No more secrets. I wanna do this right, you know?”
My brows scrunched, but I nodded. “No more secrets.”
As soon as he opened his mouth, my cellphone started to ring on the table beside me. I huffed, rolling my eyes before I checked the caller ID. For once, I was the one scowling.
