skin.
Teeth. Claws.
Reaching up, she grabbed at his T-shirt and jerked it over his head, exposing the beauty of his hard, sculpted chest. Her breath tangled in her throat as she allowed her hand to glide over the heated silk of his skin.
She’d ached to touch him for so long.
“And now?” she asked.
He lifted his head to study her with eyes that glowed with an amber fire.
His expression was no longer aloof. It was possessive. And demanding. And stark with yearning.
“Now I’ll fight to the death to earn back your trust.”
Oh. The bastard. For a male who’d always claimed he was better with his hands than his words, he seemed to know exactly what to say to her.
“Sex isn’t the same as trust,” she muttered.
“I know, but it’s a start to repairing the damage.” He caught the tip of her nipple between his teeth, sending a shockwave of ecstasy through her. He gave a wicked chuckle at her gasp of pleasure. “Besides, if I’m not between your legs and buried deep inside you soon I’m going to explode.”
Yeah, she totally got the whole about-to-explode thing.
Her entire body was clenched tight, aching to be filled by the male who was rising to his feet to strip away the rest of his clothing.
“Were there—”
She forgot how to speak as his jeans dropped to reveal the large thrust of his cock that was fully erect.
Oh. My.
She’d assumed he would be big. He was, after all, a massive Pantera Hunter. But she hadn’t suspected he’d be so thick. Or hard.
Or that the mere sight of his erection would make her pussy clench with anticipation.
“Were there what?” he prompted, once again crouching beside the lounge chair.
She shook her head, abruptly realizing she didn’t want the answer to her impetuous question.
“Nothing.”
Of course he knew what was troubling her. He’d always known what she was thinking.
And feeling.
“My beautiful Payton.” Hakan gently tucked a curl behind her ear, his male musk seeping into her skin and clouding her mind with a glorious sense of euphoria. “There’s been no one else.”
Relief seared through her. “No one?”
“Not since the night you accepted I was your mate.”
He once again lowered his head, closing his lips around her nipple to suck her with an insistent need.
She groaned, her hands gripping his shoulders as the pleasure cascaded through her.
It felt like sensory overload.
The brush of velvet cushions against her back. The heat of male Pantera searing her skin. And the magical feel of his lips as they moved to press over the thundering beat of her heart.
“Oh,” she breathed in wonder.
His hands gripped her legs, tugging them apart as his lips traced the curve of her breast.
“Does that surprise you?”
His fingers slid over her quivering belly, lowering between her spread legs. A groan was ripped from her throat as he found her sensitive clitoris.
She struggled to draw air into her lungs as he trailed a path of kisses from one breast to the other before heading back up her throat.
“I tortured myself with thoughts of you with other women,” she admitted, her hands tracing the bulging muscles of his shoulders.
He gave a low growl, allowing his fingers to slide through her slick heat before slowly pressing into her body. Her back bowed in pleasure. Oh…blessed Goddess. He knew precisely how to touch her.
“My cat had already found its partner,” he said, nibbling at the edge of her mouth. “I had no interest in any other female.”
“And the male?”
He pulled back far enough for her to see the fierce sincerity that burned in his amber eyes.
“He was in complete agreement.”
Oh…hell. She dug her nails into his shoulders, feeling the righteous anger she’d clung to for so long beginning to melt.
And her grudge wasn’t the only thing melting, she acknowledged as his fingers pressed deeper into her body, his thumb rubbing against the sweet spot at the top of her clit.
Dammit. She’d wanted this male for what
Shauna Rice-Schober[thriller]