“This is really comfortable,” she mumbled against his chest. “Like, absurdly comfortable. How long did you spend arranging all this?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Ben.”
“Several hours. Over multiple days.” His voice was rueful. “I may have also reorganized the blankets four times because the colors weren’t right.”
Sara’s heart squeezed with affection. “You’re adorable.”
“I am not adorable. I’m intimidating.”
“You’re an adorable, intimidating bunny who built me a love nest and I am never letting you forget it.”
His hand slid down to pinch her hip lightly in retaliation, making her squeak. “Watch it, sweetheart. Or I’ll show you just how intimidating I can be.”
“Promises, promises.”
He growled—low and playful—and rolled her beneath him again, his eyes glinting with renewed interest.
“Round two?” he murmured against her lips.
She smiled up at him, at this wonderful, impossible man who’d claimed her as thoroughly as she’d claimed him.
“Give me everything you’ve got, Thumper.”
His expression flickered between outrage and delight. “You’d better be careful what you wish for. Because I can keep going and going and going…”
She kissed him before he could finish his promise, pulling him down into the nest, into her arms, into the beginning of their forever.
CHAPTER 19
Sara was still here.
Ben had been awake for nearly an hour, lying perfectly still, afraid that if he moved she might dissolve like morning mist. But she hadn’t. She was warm and solid and real, tucked against his chest with her chestnut hair spread across his pillow like silk, breathing in the slow, steady rhythm of deep sleep.
She chose me.
The thought kept circling through his mind, incredulous and wondering. She’d seen the nest—this ridiculous, instinct-driven monument to his obsession—and instead of running, she’d climbed into it with him. Had let him touch her, claim her, lose himself in her completely.
And now she was still here.
Pale morning light filtered through the curtains, casting a soft glow across the blankets he’d arranged so carefully around her sleeping form. At some point in the night, she’d burroweddeeper into the nest, pulling the sage-green throw up to her chin and nestling into the pillows like she’d always belonged there.
Because she does,the possessive voice in his head whispered. She belongs here. With me. Forever.
He drew a slow breath, trying to quiet the territorial instincts that had only grown stronger since last night. He’d expected that claiming her, being with her, would ease the constant, gnawing hunger. Instead, it had intensified. Every atom of his being was focused on the woman in his arms, cataloguing the scent of her skin, the soft rhythm of her heartbeat, the way her lips were slightly parted in sleep.
He wanted her again. Already. Still.
Insatiable, she’d teased him last night, laughing as he’d pulled her beneath him for the third time. He’d growled something about her not knowing what she’d signed up for, and she’d kissed him until neither of them could speak.
Now, watching her sleep, he felt that hunger stir again—low and warm in his belly, spreading heat through his limbs. His hand moved of its own accord, skimming down her bare arm, tracing the curve of her hip.
She stirred, making a soft, sleepy sound that did absolutely nothing for his self-control.
“Ben?” Her voice was husky with sleep, her green eyes blinking open slowly.
“Morning,” he said gruffly.
