Ezra flashes a wicked grin and pulls me in. His free hand drags down my spine, stopping at the small of my back.
“Can’t wait to get me naked again, can you? Screaming stars, you’re insatiable. Such a naughty little thing.”
He leans in, voice smooth and unbothered, like he didn’t just nearly die on his own doorstep.
“I believe I’m well enough to remove the bandage, but I’ll need your help to clean my body. I’m still feeling quite weak.”
This cocky motherfucker.
“You’re giving me goddamn whiplash. I was mad, then crying, now horny? What the hell, Ezra,” I mutter as I stomp toward the shower.
I try to shake it off, but my heart’s pounding so loud I’m certain he hears every frantic beat.
When I take another deep breath, trying desperately to convince my body that everything is fine—that Ezra isn’t staring me down, deciding whether to savor or devour me—I suddenly feel him at my back.
His pine-and-cinnamon scent hits first. Then his hands find my hips, dragging me back against him.
Somehow, he’s already out of the sling. Both arms fully functional, sliding down the front of my bare thighs.
I’d almost be annoyed if I weren’t so fucking turned on.
“You couldn’t even stand two minutes ago, and now you’re pulling this shit? Were you just milking it for sympathy?”
Ezra chuckles against my neck.
He gathers my hair in his hand, sweeping it out of the way before kissing up one shoulder, then down the other. He pauses at the nape of my neck, his hot breath making me shiver. Ezra licks up the side of my throat before nipping at my ear.
“Do you remember our text exchange, Aurora?” he whispers.
His shadows curl tighter, slithering around my ankles, pressing against the back of my knees as if urging me to sink down. Another glides up the inside of my thigh, just short of touching exactly where I need it most.
They’re reacting to him. To me. To all of it.
“Do you still want to come with my cock buried deep inside of you? Do you still want me to fuck you so hard you scream my name? Do you want to beg me for it, little lupine? Say the words I need to hear, darling.”
I dreamed of this. Touched myself to the sound of his voice in my head. Woken up panting and aching for him. Wanting to crawl inside him just to feel close. To make him mine.
Ezra uses my hips to spin me around, then crashes his lips into mine. He kisses me like I’m breath and blood and every filthy thing he’s ever craved.
He feels so real. So here. So mine.
I thought I’d be afraid when this moment came … but all I feel is need.
I try to hold myself together, but it’s useless. I break the kiss just long enough to bite his bottom lip, then drag him back in with a growl.
Ezra’s lips graze mine, but it’s his dark, churning gaze that makes my stomach flip. He grabs my ass and grinds his hips against me.
He’s so fucking hard it makes my mouth water.
“I need you naked, Aurora. Now,” Ezra growls, already lifting my shirt over my head.
I make quick work of his buttons, sliding the tattered, bloodied shirt off his broad shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. My hands drag down his chest and over his stomach, fingertips brushing the fox inked along his ribs, tangled in cinnamon ferns.
Why is he so stupidly sexy?
Leaning forward, I run my tongue along his chest, up his neck, and end with a nip at his chin. He tastes like salt and clover, like memory and want. Like something I should’ve forgotten but never did. Something only mine.
I close my eyes, savoring it. Savoring him.
