She blinked. “Wh-what? No, Wolf… you don’t have to—”
“I’m not leaving you unprotected. Not with someone watching your house.”
Her throat bobbed. “Okay.”
The word was soft. Frightened. Relieved.
I needed her calm again.
“Come here,” I murmured.
She moved without hesitation.
I brushed a hand along her arm, up to her shoulder, feeling her tremble beneath my fingertips.
“You’re safe,” I told her. “I’m here.”
“Wolf…” She breathed my name like it did something to her—like it steadied her and unraveled her all at once.
I cupped her cheek.
She leaned into it.
My thumb brushed her lower lip, and she made a sound so quiet, so involuntary, it almost broke me.
I kissed her.
Slow at first.
Then deeper.
She tasted like coffee and sweetness and something that burned straight through me.
Nora’s hands slid up my chest, fingers curling into my shirt, pulling me closer with surprising urgency. When I gently guided her backward toward the couch, she didn’t resist.
Her back met the cushions.
I braced over her, kissing her again—longer, hungrier.
Her shirt shifted beneath my hands, soft fabric sliding up her waist as she arched into me. I broke the kiss just long enough to look at her.
“Nora,” I said low, rough. “Tell me to stop if—”
Her whisper cut right through me.
“Don’t stop.”
Clothing became background noise. Her skin warm beneath my palms. Her breath catching each time my mouth found a new place to worship down her neck, her collarbone, lower—
Her top slipped away entirely, falling somewhere behind us.
Nora’s fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me in, and every restraint I had rattled like a breaking chain.
“Nora…” I groaned against her skin. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
She smiled—shy, breathless, brave. “I think I do.”
I kissed her again, deeper than before, bodies molding together—
