“What’s wrong?” I asked, intentionally not answering her question.
She fidgeted in place and let out a soft breath. “Nothing,” she lied.
Awkward silence once again descended.
My gaze continued to eat her up. Fuck, I wanted her so bad. I could picture every inch of her body naked right now. I began to grow painfully hard just thinking about what it had been like to touch her last time. Her eyes widened as she delicately sniffed the air. Hmm, she could smell my lust. We’d have to examine that closer later. Because right now…
Rune caught me completely off guard when she suddenly leaped forward and lifted her face to mine and kissed me. What little was left of my self-control snapped with the simple caress of her mouth. A growl ripped free from my throat, and I parted her lips with my tongue, licking into the sweetness. Fuck, I couldn’t get enough. She tasted like strawberries, and fuck me, the scent of vanilla and caramel wrapped around me until all I could breathe was her.
She moaned softly as she melted against me. Her hands stroked up my chest, the feel of her sending sparks across my skin. My heart stuttered as I gripped her ass in my hands and lifted her so I could kiss her deeper, slanting my mouth over hers again and again as I carried her to the bed on the other side of the room. I sat her gently down on it and leaned forward over her as her legs wrapped around my waist.
Heat seared me through my clothes. It was like our combined lust had transformed into flames that were determined to burn me from the inside out. My cock screamed for relief.
“Wilder,” she groaned against my lips. I tangled a hand into her silky hair and kissed her harder, pressing myself against her like I could somehow convince her to be permanently attached to me.
That wasn’t a weird thing to think at all.
Kissing her felt dangerous. Everything about her felt dangerous right now though. This pull I was feeling, it had the power to destroy me. To destroy everything I’d worked so hard to build my whole life. I could already feel her taking over, her essence spreading through me until I knew she was all I’d care about eventually.
It was already happening.
She gripped my hair, using it to hold me to her as I kissed her over and over, driving every breathless sigh I could from her lungs with swirls and slides of my tongue.
Don’t go any further. Keep your clothes on. I repeated the mantra, keeping my mouth on hers, but it didn’t stop my body from getting desperate for the need to feel more of her. Her hips rocked into mine, and I shivered, unable to stop myself from sliding my hand under her dress and up her thigh. I couldn’t do anything but groan as my wolf waged a war inside of me to do more…to claim her.
My mate.
Her skin was the stuff of wet dreams, so soft and smooth, I was half convinced that she couldn’t be real. I had the insane urge to mar her skin, to mark it with my bites so that everyone could see she belonged to me.
“Rune,” I groaned, tugging her closer, grinding myself against the soft heat between her thighs, the ache of wanting her almost too much.
Every touch was like a drug, triggering some undeniable, primal possessiveness that threatened to rage out of control.
I needed to stop, take a step back, breathe some fresh air that didn’t fucking consist of her scent alone. I was going to do something crazy, like actually bite her. My eyes rolled to the back of my head just thinking about it.
Claim her, my wolf ordered, snarling at me to just do it. I pulled back from the kiss, my breath coming out in gasps. How was it possible I felt this turned on, and we hadn’t done anything yet aside from kiss?
Mate, the voice inside of me screamed again. The word burned inside of me. I’d known I wanted her. I’d known that I was growing more and more obsessed with her every day. But there was a difference between choosing to be with someone you were crazy about, and suddenly having to be with someone you were crazy about because you didn’t have any other choice.
“Why are you stopping?” she whispered, chasing my lips with her own.
“I shouldn’t be here,” I groaned, even as I sipped from her lips like they were some exotic wine. I rolled my hips against hers again, wishing the layers of fabric between us would simply disappear.
“Probably not,” she agreed, but she made no move to push me away. If anything, she pulled me closer, like she was just as desperate for me as I was for her. Which honestly didn’t seem possible. Because I couldn’t imagine any other person being capable of wanting something as much as this.
She pulled back a bit, those piercing blue eyes locked with mine, her lips parted and swollen from my kisses.
“More,” she murmured. My grip tightened on her thigh, my thumb traveling to graze the edge of what felt like lace.
“It’s different this time,” I said, trying to warn her, knowing she would have to be the one to stop us. My mouth was literally throbbing at the thought of giving her a mating mark. And we needed to talk about it first, but I was having trouble thinking of anything but the fact that she smelled so fucking good, she kissed so fucking good, she felt so fucking good.
“I just want to feel you. I need to feel you,” Rune moaned, and my heartbeat got faster because she sounded desperate too. Maybe she was feeling what I was.
Except I didn’t want that. Had never wanted that.
Her lips passed over mine again, and once again, my thoughts drifted away. Rune cradled the back of my head as if I was something precious and drew me closer. My lips brushed her skin, and I kissed her gently as need roared within me.
“Make me feel,” she ordered. “Make me forget.” Her second statement was so soft, it was almost unspoken, but of course with my wolf senses, I heard every word. My insides dropped at her words. Was she here with me? Or was she thinking of someone else right now, just using me to get off since she couldn’t have him?
When exactly had I turned into such a pussy?
Determination scored through my veins. I didn’t care if she was thinking of someone else. By the end of this, she would only be thinking of me, dreaming of me, craving me…just as much as I craved her.
Her heartbeat quickened, as if she could sense what I was thinking, but her grip only tightened. Her hips undulated against mine frantically. My cock strained against my pants. I really needed to rethink skinny jeans after this. Maybe get off the wannabe rocker look I’d been trying the last fifty years. My balls would probably thank me.
I wanted to consume her in every way, to bury myself deep inside her. My hand slid between her thighs, and she parted them wider, urging me closer. My thumb pressed into her cleft through her underwear, and I growled without breaking my bite, the sound low and deep in my chest. She wasn’t just wet, she was soaked through the fabric of her panties. I pushed the lace against her clit, and she gasped. Her kiss turned even sweeter and more addictive as her desperation grew. I moved my thumb in a steady rhythm that echoed her soft moans and the brush of our lips. I hoisted her up in my arms, and her thighs tightened around my hips.
“Wilder…please.” She ran her hand under my shirt, her fingers stroking up over my abs to my chest. She chanted my name, and I scraped my nail across the fabric covering her, eliciting another fucking gorgeous gasp.
I pinched, and she groaned, her thighs trembling. I pressed and rubbed, and she came apart, screaming my name and going limp against me.