Marking me.
Dominating me.
All of it made me feel like I was lying beside an ancient, primal, and unstoppable beast that had decided, for now, not to devour me.
The bruises from his teeth pulsed now with their own warmth, tender and swollen, and even that ache felt like burning love.
Even that pain felt like belonging.
This is everything.
I let myself savor this moment. The weight of his arm. The furnace of his chest. The way his thigh wedged between mine, solid as an oak, anchoring me to him even in sleep.
I pressed back against him, letting his heat soak through me, letting myself dissolve into the comfort of his body.
With my eyes still closed, I moved my hand and guided my fingertips to the bite marks on my neck.
Damn, Kenji.
I traced the indentations his teeth had left behind.
One day, you’re going to fully consume me.
And those bite marks weren’t warm.
They were burning.
Throbbing like a slow-burning brand.
Had his teeth written themselves into my skin in a language my body understood before my mind did?
What else were his teeth saying to my body, besidesmine?
I was still tracing the echo of his teeth when something else threaded into my awareness. It was a faint scent at first, barely there. It curled through the room, mixing with Kenji’s heat.
Mmmm. What’s that?
I sniffed.
Roasting meat. Delicious.
The soothing aroma drifted through the room.
Rich.
Fatty.
Savory.
My stomach growled.
I breathed it in.
It smells like. . .Christmas ham slow-roasting over heat. Is the chef cooking up a big breakfast feast for this morning?
A wave of hunger washed over me, twining with my desire for Kenji like two serpents in a dance. Tearing my attention away from the pulsing marks on my neck.
I blinked my eyes open, taking in the pale light from the window.
