21
KENDRA
THREE DAYS LATER
Iwake up warm, and it’s not from the blanket. His arm is locked around my waist, his body curved against mine, and when I open my eyes his grip tightens, pulling me closer. He’s still deep in sleep, his breathing slow and heavy, and he buries his face in my neck and inhales. His whole body relaxes, sinking into me like I’m the only thing keeping him anchored.
I smile when I feel the hardness of him pressed against me. Waking up tangled together for the third morning in a row, his furnace heat turning the bed into something I never want to leave. We’ve spent the time getting to know each other. He asks me questions about my work, about code, about how software is built. He likes that I’m smart, that I understand technology he has no frame of reference for, and the way he listens when I explain it, leaning forward with his full attention, makes me feel seen in a way I haven’t felt since before I lost my job.
I try to sit up and he protests, pulling me closer, a low sound in his throat that is more Bouda than man. I turn in his armsand he starts to wake, his amber eyes finding mine, soft and unfocused for a moment before they sharpen.
“Good morning.”
He says nothing, just leans in and presses his lips to my forehead, holding them there.
“We need to get out of this cabin,” I tell him.
His palm smooths over my hip, slow, his palm warm through the thin fabric of my shirt. There isn’t a part of my body he doesn’t find worth touching, but he’s always careful with me. Always a gentleman, even when I can feel how much he wants to not be.
“Where will we go?” he asks.
“For starters, where the heck is Kade? And I need supplies. A phone, a laptop. I feel completely out of place without them.”
He yawns slightly, then sits up, the sheet falling to his waist. “I will take you wherever you need to go.”
I grin at him. “Not before my kiss.”
The way his mouth finds mine makes me giggle between his lips. He rolls on top of me, careful with his weight, bracing himself on his forearms so I feel the warmth of him without the full press of his body. He kisses me deeper and I can feel the hunger in him building, the restraint thinning out with every second.
I spread my legs and his hips drop between them and he loses control for just a moment, grinding against me. The friction sends a jolt through my entire body and I moan into his mouth, arching into him. Then he stops and pulls away from me. His breathing is ragged and his ridge is fully erect along his back and he looks at me like he just committed a crime.
I pout my lips at him and he’s right back, kissing me again, then pulling away again. “I am sorry, Kendra.”
“I’m not.”
He rolls off me and sits on the edge of the bed, adjusting himself in his pants with his back to me. I watch him, the ridge softening as he gets himself under control, the muscles in his shoulders loosening one at a time.
“Oh, why don’t you just stop being shy and stick it in me,” I mutter.
Then I snap my mouth shut. I groan and put a hand over my forehead, falling back onto the bed. The embarrassment hits like a wave and I want the mattress to open up and swallow me whole.
“You are embarrassed,” Kojo says, turning to look at me. “Why?”
He sits up and runs his hand over my belly, gentle, palm flat against the thin fabric. I’m in nothing but a long shirt and panties.
“I sound like Zaki,” I mutter. “I’m getting blunt and weird.”
He smiles at that. Then he lifts the hem of my shirt and presses his lips to my bare skin, soft and warm, and my breath catches.
“If you truly want me,” he says against my stomach, “I will obey.”
I groan and sit up, cupping his face in both hands. “That’s the problem, Kojo. I want you to take me because you want me. Not because you want to obey or be a dutiful mate.” I run my thumb along his cheekbone. “I told you. I don’t want a servant. I want a partner.”
“I do not know how to be a partner, Kendra.”
I sigh. “Doesn’t matter. We’re working on that.”
I give him a smirk, then kiss his lips, quick and firm. He groans when I slide off the bed and stand, and the sound of it makes me laugh as I walk to the window.
