"I hate the idea of you going to a lot of trouble to secure--"
"You are my mate. We are in Courtship. Nothing I do for you is ever an inconvenience."
"I just am not used to--"
"I know. I know that it is not what you're used to, and whether you fully appreciate it or not, this is real." He came back across the room to her, and he knelt on the floor before her, his face just level with the top of her shoulder. "Janae, this is a true thing, and no one will be able to change or destroy what is between us."
She smiled at him because the sincerity in his eyes touched her. She hadn't ever had anyone look at her like that before. "I wish I had your confidence. I am just an ordinary humanoid, with nothing to offer you."
"All you have to give me is yourself."
He took her hand.
The energy between them radiated up her arm. Her heart strummed faster, and her breath caught.
He leaned closer to her. One of his horns brushed her shoulder.
She shuddered.
Licked her lips.
He came closer still, just a breath away from her.
Janae met him.
Their lips touched. It was warm and soft. Intense and passionate. As their mouths moved, dancing around each other, she savored the taste of his skin. When his lips parted, it was even more delightful. She scooted toward him, their kiss getting more and more intense. Her body warmed, and she found herself sliding down to the floor.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.
She couldn't stop kissing him. It was a drug.
A need.
A desire that she couldn't get away from. The taste of him was intoxicating. The feel of his lips against hers amazed her. When the tip of his tongue met hers, she moaned. He moaned.
They both moaned.
It was ridiculous. It should have been a bad moment in a story that made no sense. She shouldn't have been this taken by anyone. No one should have this kind of effect on her, but he did. The feel of him. The smell. The taste. All of it was intense and incredible and powerful.
It was everything.
All the things she'd ever wanted and didn't realize that she needed.
This was it.
Here in his embrace.
When he stopped kissing her lips, she sighed, at least until she realized he was kissing her jaw and along to her ear.
His breath felt warm.
"Janae," he whispered.
She stroked his hair, her hands sliding along the back of his head to his horns, and she began to caress them.
He growled in her ear.
She shivered.
