Then she sat there on Hale’s lap as he lay gazing up at her, eyes beginning to glimmer with just the faintest trace of yellow-gold. To know it was the sight of her, sitting there half-naked on his lap,that drew the wolf out of him was an exhilarating thought.
She took her time undoing the buttons of his uniform top, pushing it open to slide her hands up his T-shirt–covered chest. Through the thin material, she could feel the muscles there bunching and flexing. It was fabulous.
Hale helped her, sitting up enough to get the uniform top off, followed by his T-shirt. Then it was Karissa’s turn to gawk, taking in the view of what had to be the most scrumptious-looking body she’d ever seen.
His shoulders were even broader than she’d thought, the thick muscles to either side of his neck gracefully descending down to meet the top of his arms, rounded and powerful. She moved her gaze lower, taking in his drool-worthy pecs and lightly sculpted abs. The happy trail of dark-blond hair that ran along the center of those abs and disappeared into his pants was mesmerizing, and her fingers almost itched with the need to scratch there.
Hale had a tattoo on the upper left side of his chest, directly over his heart. It was a wolf’s head, eyes flashing, jaws open to show off the animal’s long fangs. The ink work was incredible, but considering his intimate connection to the wolf, she could understand why he chose it.
She was lightly tracing the outline of the wolf when she saw the scars. There was a thin one onthe left side of his chest, about an inch and a half long, thicker at the top than at the bottom. While it looked at least a month old, she realized with surprise that it was the knife wound he’d gotten in the alley almost a week ago.
Moving lower, she immediately noticed a perfectly circular scar to the right side of his stomach, just above the belt line. It was fully closed but looked much fresher than the knife wound. Her mind jumped to the blood she’d seen earlier that day after the fight with the Balauri. It took a moment to figure out what she was looking at. Hale had been shot during that fight in the woods. And he’d never said a word.
“Are you okay?” she asked, gently touching the scar, her eyes searching his for any sign of pain.
He covered her hand with his. “It’s fine. Werewolves heal quickly. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
Karissa found that difficult to believe as her lips came down to kiss the older knife wound higher on his chest before heading lower. Long before she got to the bullet wound, she discovered other scars to kiss—lots of them.
“Are you accident prone?” Karissa murmured, only realizing she’d spoken the question out loud when Hale started chuckling under her.
“No, but being a SWAT cop—and a werewolf—is a dangerous job,” he said, making appreciativesounds as she continued to kiss and nibble her way south. “I’ve gotten a few bumps and bruises over the years.”
Karissa wanted to point out that the bumps and bruises looked more like knife and gunshot wounds to her but decided to keep that to herself, even as she realized her stomach was quivering at the thought of him getting hurt so much. He might heal fast, but she still didn’t like it.
After paying the appropriate amount of attention to Hale’s most recent gunshot wound, she reached for his belt. Because it was there…and, well…really shouldn’t be. The act of unbuckling it and yanking it out was so fun she almost laughed. But amusement turned to arousal as his eyes flared brighter.
Damn, that was sexy as hell.
Enjoying the idea of stripping Hale completely naked, Karissa went for the boots first, unlacing and tossing them aside with the most delightful thuds. His uniform pants and underwear soon followed, leaving him gloriously naked, exactly like she’d imagined.
Except he was nothing like she’d imagined.
But only because her imagination wasn’t that good.
In a word, Hale was stunning.
His long legs were as muscular and sculpted as the rest of him, his waist was trim, and his cock was spectacular. Karissa wouldn’t say she had aparticular type when it came to masculine hardware, but if she did, it would be Hale’s. Long and thick, hard, and ready for what was coming next, Karissa decided he was simply perfect for her. Almost as if he’d been made for her.
Kicking off her own boots and pants, Karissa paused for a second at the side of the bed with her hands on her hips, gazing down at Hale. His eyes were pulsing with that yellow-gold color now, and she swore she could even make out the tips of his upper fangs.
Nothing like making a guy wolf out to get a woman feel good about herself.
Karissa slipped her fingers in the waistband of her panties, watching Hale as she bent over a little too slowly and slid them over her hips and down her legs. He looked hungry enough now to eat her up. Which actually sounded fun. Outside of the whole fangs thing, of course.
Hale started to sit up as Karissa climbed back onto the bed, but she quickly pushed him back and threw a leg over his knees to pin him down. A part of her wanted to sit right on that amazing shaft of his. She was on long-term birth control so that wasn’t a problem and her Paladin instincts told her that he was clean. But sitting here like she was, her butt pressing against his lower legs, his hard-on standing up straight and proud right in front of her gave Karissa other ideas. And from the smolderingexpression on Hale’s face, something told her that he was thinking about it, too.
Leaning forward, she wrapped her hand around him, her insides quivering a little at the realization that her fingers barely made it around his girth.
“Ka-ching,” she whispered before closing her mouth over the head and covering every inch of it with quick little kitten licks.
She wasn’t sure who groaned louder, Hale at the pleasure or her at the tantalizing flavor. In the end, it didn’t matter. They were both obviously enjoying what she was doing, so she kept going. She took him deeper into her mouth, moving her hand in counterpoint to the motion of her lips. The act was hypnotic, and she found it extremely easy to get lost in the rhythm.
More than ready to keep going for the rest of the night, Karissa was caught off guard when Hale reached down and gently urged her upward, making her let go of his cock to maintain her balance.
“What’s wrong?” Karissa asked, thinking she might sound a little dazed at the moment. “Didn’t you like that?”
“That’s an understatement.” With a soft chuckle, he flipped her over on her back and settled himself between her legs. “But since I was planning for our first time together to last a little longer, I’ve decided to return the favor.”
