“That you did, and speaking of which...”
She nodded toward the small table that was in the spot next to where his chair had been.
“I put it over there. It seemed like that chair was your favorite spot in this room.”
He didn’t bother to turn and look at where she was referring, but instead kept his gaze focused on her. For the first time since he’d looked at her with his dragon eyes he noticed that she was wearing different clothes—tight-fitting pants and a T-shirt that hung just a little below her waist and stretched over the swell of her breasts. She’d pulled her hair back and twisted it into some type of loose knot at the top of her head.
“Thanks,” he said when he realized he was staring and not speaking, which was odd and sort of rude. “Stay with me tonight.”
Those next words came fast and out of nowhere.
“Stay here, with me and I’ll take you home in the morning. Then you can get Safeside ready for the winter and I’ll... I’ll take care of the dagger.”
One neat brow arched and the corner of her mouth lifted in a smile. “One more night?”
Steele gave her a small, hopeful smile in return. “One more night.”
Their night began with him slowly undressing her.
She lay on his bed, a willing and affable participant, and Steele took his time. If this was going to be the last time, he didn’t want it to be fast and hot like last night—even though, truthfully, he’d told himself last night was the first and only time.
“I like feeling you touch me,” she said and he looked up to see her head resting against the pillows.
He had a king-sized bed that was positioned on the side of the room across from a wall full of windows. Night poured through those windows now, the deepest blue sky with only tiny specks of what might be stars. There was a lamp on both stands beside the bed, but he’d only turned one on because he enjoyed the way the soft golden light rested on her rich dark yellow-brown skin tone.
“I like touching you,” he said, so much so he didn’t plan to stop, at least not tonight.
The pants had seemed to be molded to her skin, but he’d pulled them down and past her ankles so that he now held one foot in his hand. He bent his head and kissed the tip of her tallest toe, then down to the arch of her feet. She sighed and he kissed farther up to her ankle. Moving to give the other foot the same treatment, he felt anticipation building slowly. Physical sexual response wasn’t foreign to Steele, and even though he’d imposed a period of celibacy, he’d still taken the time to relieve himself of sexual tension, believing that to be his preference. But the moment his kisses trailed farther up her calf, to the backs of her knees and then to the inside of her thigh, and she reached her hands down to cup the back of his head, Steele knew there was nothing like this. Nothing that compared to the scent and touch of a woman. His dick jumped with excitement, urging him, begging him to go faster, but he still held back.
“So soft,” he whispered against her skin. Reluctantly easing his lips away from one part of her thigh, he went to the other and rubbed the side of his face over her. She held his head firmly, her legs parting for him. If he could stay right here forever, he’d be pleased. His life and all he’d gone through would have been worth it.
“Nobody’s ever made me feel like you do,” she said, her voice a light whisper that eased over every bruised part of his soul. “Please don’t stop.”
He wouldn’t, at least not for the next few hours.
He reached up to pull away the panties she wore. Such simple slips of cotton, last night’s were a pale blue and tonight’s were pink. It was so sexy it drove him crazy and before he tossed them over his shoulder he rubbed them over his cheek too, closing his eyes so that he could memorize not only her, but every single thing that related to her. He’d resigned himself to walking away from her, but that didn’t mean he had to forget.
She took that opportunity to sit up on the bed, reaching out to grab the end of his shirt. “Let me undress you.”
Steele didn’t want to take his hands off her and realized he didn’t have to just because she wanted to take his clothes off. So after he lifted his arms and let her pull his shirt up and over his head, he dropped his hands to cup her face and leaned in to touch his lips to hers. He knelt in the center of the bed while she sat in front of him and he gorged on the sweet moistness of her mouth. Her lips always parted willingly and without any coaxing for him, her tongue dancing wildly against his.
The beast inside was hungry and pressed so hard against Steele’s skin he had to fight back the shift, while keeping their kiss going because the thought of stopping was actually painful. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. Sexy little whimpers that quickly turned into deeper moans of pleasure escaped her and Steele wanted to swallow them up and keep them buried deep inside him for future use.
Keeping his lips plastered to hers, he moved his hands down to her shoulders, over to cup her breasts and then down to grab the ends of the T-shirt she wore. He didn’t bother to pull it over her head, but instead ripped it from her body.
She pulled her mouth away for a second to giggle and say, “Shola’s gonna be pissed about her shirt.”
“I’ll buy her another one,” he groaned and
