Great! He was starving.
Slowing down he sneaked toward the back porch, silently approaching and careful not to use the stair that creaked, he stopped to look through the window. The scene he spied on had his heart soaring. His mom at the stove, chatting to Tasha who was setting the table. He stayed in place, watching the two people who were the most important to him: his mother and his mate.
Didn’t appear there was going to be a problem with them getting on. They appeared to be happy in each other’s company, chatting away as they went about the kitchen at ease. His Wolf howled inside his head, desperate to claim Tasha as his and seal their mating bond. “Cool it,” Rafe admonished.
Tasha had been through a nightmare and he didn’t want to scare her off.
The smell of the cooking food pulled him to the door, opening it and slipping inside. Neither woman noticed him for a few moments but then his mother saw him, her eyes widening in shock.
“Son! Oh my, are you okay?”
Rafe looked down at his naked chest, caked with dried blood, shrugging. “I’m fine. The rogue, not so much.”
Tasha slid around the kitchen table, stopping in front of him. He noticed she wasn’t limping. Good. She must have healed while he was gone.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt? That’s an awful lot of blood.” Her pale eyes gazed up at him, worry clearly visible.
He stared down. Taking a moment to feast on her beauty. She’d had a shower, obviously, as her long auburn hair fell in soft waves down her back and no longer was her face smudged with dirt. She was freaking gorgeous.
Rafe leaned down, stopping when his lips almost touched hers. “I’m fine. It’s not my blood.”
He couldn’t resist inhaling slowly, allowing her delicious fragrance to envelop him. Her eyes widened, pupils dilating, his lips tugging up at the sides at her reaction to him. Tasha’s head tilted slightly, bringing her lips to his, but only just. Their skin a mere whisper apart, his mind racing with thoughts of how her soft body would feel against his rock hard one.
Rafe reached up, his fingers running through Tasha’s hair to tangle at the base of her neck. Her eyes stayed with his as she moved into his touch. He could wait no longer, his mouth covering hers in their first exquisite kiss. She opened to his tongue’s prodding, her fingers slowly caressing his abs as he deepened the kiss.
Her touch was magical as she moved upwards to place her palms on his chest. His cock hardening in his jeans so quickly it surprised him. He knew she felt it, her gasp into his mouth and the quick thud of her heart so erotic he barely contained himself.
He almost picked her up to carry her off to his room. The thought of spending hours learning everything he could about his mate so alluring it was practically impossible to resist. He’d scour her body, and discover what would give her the greatest pleasure. His mind so focused on their kiss and her body against his that he forgot they weren’t alone.
“Hmm, sorry to disturb you two, but Rafe, you need to go get cleaned up.”
His mother’s interruption felt like being doused in a bucket of ice-cold water. Tasha springing back from him, her cheeks blushing scarlet as one of her fingers ran over her luscious lips. A look of wonder in her pale eyes as she stared at him.
“Later,” Rafe whispered before spinning away to go shower and dress in clothes not tainted by the stench of the bastard rogue.
Rafe stood under the shower, allowing the cascading water to cool his ardor. He only managed to damp it down to a gnawing ache. Much better than the ravenous need he’d felt when he left Tasha though.
His hands splayed on the wall as he regained control. “Dumbass.” He ground out thinking of the way he’d almost picked her up and carried her to his room. “She’ll need time so just cool your jets.”
The water continued to flow over him until finally his cock was no longer steel hard and painful. His ears pricked up, his heart thundering in his chest when a sound he dreaded broke through his inner reprimand.
Crying. Someone, no, not someone, Tasha. She was sobbing and the sound elicited emotions in him he’d never encountered before. A hand slammed on the wall as his other turned off the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist he flew out of his room.
Honing in on the sound he stopped at the door to the room Tasha had been in earlier. Her crying calling to him in ways he couldn’t control. He had to go to her. Help her. Do whatever he could to ease her suffering and grief.
Rafe knocked softly on the door before opening it and going in. Tasha lay on the bed, her face pushed into a pillow as she cried. “Tasha, baby, are you okay?”
Dumb question.
Shaking his head at himself he slowly walked over, sitting on the edge of the bed and patting her back. “I’m sorry.”
She turned toward him, eyes red and puffy, cheeks stained by her tears. “What for? You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”
Rafe frowned, confused. “I thought I’d upset you earlier. You know, downstairs, when I kissed you.”
He watched as her pale eyes widened as she shook her head, her gorgeous hair flying around. “No, it wasn’t you that upset me. It’s me that’s upset me.”
“Uhh? I’m puzzled. How can you upset yourself?”
Tasha flipped over onto her back, running a hand down her face as she sniffled. “Because I enjoyed that damn kiss so much.”
Her face flushed scarlet as she admitted her reaction to his touch. Rafe barely managed to stop his lips tugging up into a grin, instead he reached out to hold one of her hands. “And that’s wrong?”
He asked, more baffled than ever.
Tasha’s eyes closed, refusing to meet his
