Then, he softly closed the door behind him. She leaned her face against the cool door and listened to his footsteps go down the hall to his room.
Lana gripped the doorknob tightly. She wanted to go after him, but she wasn’t sure what she would say. “You are the sexiest beast in both worlds and I want to make love to you?”
Although she was innocent, she knew that she wanted to mate with Nick more than anything. However, at the last minute, her courage failed her. Instead of chasing after him, she walked slowly to the bed. Dropping her clothes to the floor, she slid into the soft sheets naked, relishing their coolness against her blazing hot body.
Lana grabbed one of the large pillows and held it close to her. Closing her eyes, she imagined that it was Nick she was clasping tight to her body. Once again, she thought about going into his room.
Then, she thought about how humiliated she would be if he rejected her and told her to go back to her own bed. She would never be able to look at herself in the mirror again.
Aching for his touch, she fell asleep, picturing him, and almost feeling him lying next to her.
6
Nick
As Nick softy closed the door behind him, he leaned his forehead against the cool wall. Lana’s hair had been up in a knot every time he had seen her so far, but since she brushed it out before bed, she had taken down her hair. It was thick, like a silk curtain of deep red hair that hung all the way down to her butt. His fingers tingled with the urge to run his fingers through her luscious mane.
It had taken every ounce of willpower he had to walk out of that room. The jeans she was wearing accented her curvaceous butt, and he wanted to palm her ass cheeks and pull her close to him.
The t-shirt she wore outlined her large, firm breasts. The large shirt did nothing to hide the flatness of her stomach. He even found her muscular arms to be sexy. She had just the right amount of muscle to be sexy as hell, but not enough to take away from her femininity.
He knew that he could have her. The want and need in her clear eyes were very evident. Nick mentally kicked himself for having morals. Although he could mate with her and teach her about the exquisite art of lovemaking, he would never forgive himself if it happened tonight. He would never regret being with her as she was an amazing woman, but he would feel guilty because he would feel as though he had taken advantage of her.
He could see from the shadows cast into the hallway that she was still standing at the door. He wondered what she was thinking and whether she was tempted to turn the door knob and come after him. If she did that, he wouldn’t be able to resist. He had a lot of willpower, but not even he could withstand that kind of temptation.
But she was very vulnerable right now, even if she would never admit it, even to herself. That means that he had to be the responsible and moral one.
After a few minutes the shadows faded and he heard her footsteps go toward the bed. After a few seconds, he heard her crawl onto the mattress.
He pictured her lying on the deep emerald sheets, her red hair haloed out around her. The vision was almost too much. He reached out his hand and grasped the door knob. The battle was almost physical. The righteous side won, and he wrenched his hand away.
Clenching his hands into tight fists to keep them from opening her door, he headed to his own room. After he undressed quickly, he jumped into the shower, with the water running as cold as he possibly could stand it, hoping to take the edge off his desires.
He stayed in the shower for a long time, until he thought his body temperature must have dropped a couple of degrees. The shower didn’t work. Now, he was freezing, covered in goosebumps, shivering, and still had the strongest hunger to devour Lana.
Sighing heavily, he flung himself down onto the bed. Sleep eluded him. Every time he closed his eyes, Lana’s emerald eyes stared at him. He imagined that he could see clear into her soul through them. Her “girl next door” beauty was breathtaking. Her innocence of the world, coupled with her strength, determination, and courage, made her completely irresistible.
Nick checked himself. He wondered if it was possible that he could be falling in love. While several women have tried to get him to commit to them, his heart was never in it. Now, with Lana, everything was different.
Growling loudly with frustration, he tossed and turned. His mind was filled with visions of Lana. His thoughts were consumed by the knowledge that she was in danger. She didn’t seem to be aware of how much danger she was in.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he drifted off to sleep. His dreams were filled with visions of a huge herd of rogue dragons flying through the air, picking off female shifters, one by one.
By nature, Nick was an early riser. He groaned when he looked at the clock and saw that it was before dawn. As tempting as it was to try, he knew that it would be useless to try to fall back to sleep.
Grumbling, he rolled out of bed, stumbled into his clothes, and headed for the kitchen. Today was going to be a “pot of coffee” day instead of just a “cup of coffee” day.
Soon after, Lana popped into the kitchen. Her hair was tied up in a knot again, sending a wave of disappointment through Nick, who longed to see it hanging down.
“Good morning,” Lana said,
