She wanted to chalk it up to the fact that she’d gone so long without physical intimacy or desire. Or maybe it was the newness of being with a man as attractive and powerfully sexual as Asher.
For all she knew, this insatiable desire might have been an elemental response from the part of her that wasn’t quite mortal finally coming into contact with the part of him that was Breed.
But Naomi sensed a more profound connection than any of those things.
She was starting to care for him.
Impossible. They barely knew each other. This was all hot and thrilling and overwhelming because of the circumstances. Life and death. Danger at their heels. And the fact that he had stepped in to save her from it all like some dark knight she never dreamed might actually exist.
That’s what made being with him feel so damned exciting. That was the reason she felt so totally, gut-churningly wild for him, even after they’d scratched that initial itch.
Except none of those things seemed to explain the raw ache that had opened up inside her since she’d met Asher. An ache that was only growing deeper and harder to ignore every time he touched her or grazed her skin with the sharp points of his fangs.
Try as she might, she couldn’t dismiss the longing she had for something she’d been so certain all her life that she would never want.
The kind of bond she now knew she could only ever share with Asher.
God help her, she was astonished to acknowledge the very real possibility that she was falling in love with him.
“Hey,” he said, his deep rasp a thick rumble as he moved up the length of her body. He gently tapped her temple. “Everything okay up here? Are you all right?”
She blinked, still reeling from the aftershocks of bliss and her own startling realization. “Yeah,” she murmured, gazing up into molten eyes and the ruggedly beautiful face that never failed to steal her breath away. She reached up to caress his cheek. “I’m more than all right, Asher.”
It terrified her, how right everything could feel when she was with him.
Because sooner or later they would have to leave his bed and face reality.
But not yet.
Not now.
She kissed him, suddenly desperate for him all over again. He groaned against the hard crush of her mouth on his, then let out a hiss when she slid her hand down and wrapped her fingers around his rigid length. “On your back, vampire. It’s my turn to torture you.”
# # #
He did as she demanded, despite that he was harder than ever and desperate with the need to be inside her. He had sworn to himself when he escaped Dragos’s collar that he would never surrender himself to anyone’s whim ever again. But that was before he met Naomi.
This female owned him, and he couldn’t deny it.
Especially not when she was staring at him with pleasure-glazed yet still hungry eyes.
His veins throbbed, not only with the need to fuck her, but with another raging urge too.
As he lay back on the bed and watched her straddle him, he bit back a snarl. Blood rushed to his cock and an ache began to pulse in his gums as his fangs extended even further. The razor-sharp points felt like daggers against his tongue.
He reached for her hips, ready to slam her down onto his erect cock, but she batted his hands away. Her smile was sensual, yet determined. “Patience, now. I haven’t even started.”
He let out a rough breath. “I have no patience when you’re naked and within my grasp.”
She tilted her head, one of her slender black brows arching over her almond eyes. “Are you suggesting I tie you down, then?”
Holy fuck. Even though there were no restraints in existence that could hold him, the idea of giving himself up to Naomi’s pleasure sent lava coursing into every cell in his body. Even though it was torment and a test of his control, he kept his hands on the bed and simply watched as she rained little kisses on his chest and abdomen. Her pink tongue darted out to lick the swirls and arches of hisdermaglyphs.
“I love to see their colors,” she murmured, exploring him slowly with her mouth. She ran her parted lips over theglyphsthat circled his pectorals, then her small, blunt teeth came together over one of his nipples and he nearly jolted off the mattress.
“Christ, woman. Be careful, unless you want me to bite you back.”
It was a mistake to make the threat. Not only because it was an empty one—a breach he would never make. But also because his logical mind was taking a backseat to the hunger—and the thirst—that was racking him with hooked talons the longer Naomi toyed with him.
