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She’d never called him by the name his team did.

Mari had always called him by his given name.

But the way she said his name now?

The deeper tone of voice? The rougher sound as if she was out of breath?

“Yeah?”

Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak.

Her hands moved up and over his shoulders and fisted in the front of his shirt. Before he could grasp the meaning in her eyes, she made it a moot point.

Mari pulled him in and kissed him. Hard.

Hard enough that he felt her teeth crash against his.

MARI

She didn’t know why she couldn’t say the words he wanted to hear.

She felt them on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn’t voice them.

Still, he needed an answer.

And she was going to give him one.

With her words failing her, she remembered that she had hands, too.

Gripping the front of his shirt, she pulled him against her and kissed him.

No…

Kissed was too simple a word for what she did.

She wanted to be brave.

She wanted to be strong.

When she put her lips against his she wanted him to understand what that kiss meant.

It wasn’t just a touch.

It was a statement.

Not just an agreement, but a demand.

She wanted him to touch her.

Taste her.

Swallow her whole.

She’d never had anyone want her in the way he was talking about, and she knew if she didn’t experience it, she might never get the chance again.

There was a kind of desperation she felt inside of both of them, and she wanted to feed those monsters.

But did he understand her message?