Had she?
She had been curious about his room…but not from a research standpoint.
No. She'd wondered what it would be like to lie in his arms on that vast mattress.
To be bent over the foot of the bed…
To kneel between his legs and take as much of his beautiful cock as she could into her mouth…
To throw her head back in ecstasy as he brought her to climax after climax with his lips and fingers and those deep, deep growls of approval…
Cassidy snapped herself back from her thoughts to find Samson watching her, his expression growing more intense by the second.
"I was drunk," Cassidy tried, "and…and under extreme emotional stress…"
It was hard to keep her thoughts and words straight when he was touching her like that, demanding her body to respond to him…and him alone.
"You didn't fuck me last night because you were drunk," he said. "You fucked me because you'd never wanted something so much in your life."
Goddammit, he was right again.
But it was so much easier to blame the whiskey Ty had given her. Just like it was easy to blame Ian, and the university, and all the unreasonable expectations and stress piled on her shoulders.
Cassidy let out a soft groan. None of those had caused her to sleep in Samson's bed last night.
The truth was she could study the possible contributing factors for months. Pheromones probably had something to do with it, as well as an evolutionary preference for strong, virile mates. Diverse elements such as facial symmetry and vocal timbre could affect sexual attraction.
But that didn't explain her very unscientific desire for Samson the man, a desire so powerful she was willing to set aside all the hard data she'd assembled about alphas. It didn't explain why, after literally being exhausted to the point of unconsciousness just hours before, slick was already pooling between her legs.
It sure as hell didn't explain why she was just inches away from forgetting everything she knew and throwing herself into this doomed affair.
And that thought was terrifying.
Everything that Cassidy knew, everything she had staked her career on, depended on science. Logic. Reason.
If she abandoned those, she didn't know who she would be.
"My career is all I have."
Samson's eyes darkened, and when he spoke, his words were dangerously hard. "Not anymore."
Samson cupped the back of her neck and kissed her.
There was nothing tender about it. His teeth grazed her lips. His tongue claimed her mouth with almost savage brutality.
Seizing her ass in his hands, he pulled her against his hard length, and Cassidy's feet left the floor, dangling uselessly.
He pivoted around, lowering her down onto his bed. Then he dropped to one knee and pushed her legs as wide as they would go. For a moment, he only gazed at her pussy, making a rumbling sound of pleasure before putting his head between her legs.
Cassidy threw her head back against the mattress and closed her eyes. She bit into her lower lip…waiting. Anticipating the heated touch of his mouth against her vulva. The thought alone was enough to make her gush with slick.
But Samson made her wait a little longer.
He splayed his gigantic palm across the plane of her belly, making her feel both small and precious at the same time.
"Tell me what happens on an alpha's bed," he demanded.
Cassidy swallowed down hard. She knew what he wanted, and even though it went against everything she'd ever been taught, she was willing to swallow her pride and give it to him.
"An alpha takes his mate."
"That's right," he said, sounding pleased for the first time this morning. "When I fill you with my knot, you'll know that you're mine."
Cassidy gave a shaky nod, but it wasn't enough for him.
"Say it."
Something about the natural dominance of his voice stilled the torment inside her.
"Yes. I'll be yours."
She must have given the right answer because he stopped toying with her. He flicked her clit with his tongue, a single stroke, light as a butterfly.
And Cassidy went off.
The orgasm shattered her, wracking her body with a lightning flash of pleasure. Samson shoved a finger inside her, and her pussy spasmed around it.
"That's it," Samson growled against her clit, as he slipped a second finger inside her…
And then another. His fingers were as massive as the rest of him, and they stretched her tight opening, massaging and slipping further inside.
But no matter how hard and fast she came, it never sated the need to feel Samson's cock deep inside her.
He must have felt the same way because a second later, he shifted himself up and between her legs. Cassidy only had a heartbeat to feel his cock sliding against her clit and pussy lips before he—finally!—began to enter her.
The pressure was almost unbearable as he inched his way in. The muscles of his neck stood out, and his jaw clenched with the effort of going slow.
But this time Cassidy didn't want slow.
She bucked against him and felt his cock slide deeper and deeper. Samson let loose a guttural cry as he buried himself fully inside her. It only took seconds for the second wave of pressure to begin to build—and for Cassidy to start to come again.
Her body melted around him, stretching greedily to accommodate his girth.
This is heaven, she thought as she gave into sensation once again.
Every part of her was swept away. Every nerve ending, every pleasure point, everything she had ever known melted...until there was nothing left but Samson.
And that's when she felt it—the pressure that had taken her by surprise last night.
Except this time, she wasn't exhausted by hours of exertion. She wasn't barely holding on to consciousness by a string. She was rational and sober and very much awake.
Nothing stopped Cassidy from experiencing the sensation of Samson's knot swelling inside her—the primal feel of possession, the exquisite pleasure, the overwhelming feeling of completion.
Samson roared as they locked together, his come shooting, hot and powerful,
