She stared into his eyes…those deep, brilliant eyes. A predator’s eyes. She could see the evidence of his unique DNA now. In the high cheekbones, the narrowed gaze.
“You’re coming into heat,” he answered her, his fingers going to the buttons of his white shirt as she watched him loosen it slowly.
Her knees weakened as each fastening came loose, exposing more of his tanned, sleek skin. She shook her head, wanting to close her eyes, to escape the power he suddenly held over her. She wanted his shirt off. She wanted to run her fingers over the bulging muscles of his body, feel his hard heat, touch him, taste him as she had dreamed of months before.
Then his words hit her. Coming into heat. She felt her heart begin to race in fear. She blinked over at him. Each breath shuddering through her chest felt labored, painful.
“What do you mean?” She swallowed tightly, fighting her shock. Taber shrugged the shirt from his shoulders, the hard, well-defined muscles of his chest and arms flexing with power and strength.
“Exactly what I said.” His voice was hard, but his gaze had hot, liquid lust glittering in the jade depths.
“You’re in heat, Roni. Your body’s preparing itself, assuring that neither of us can refuse what nature demands.”
He dropped the shirt carelessly to his feet as he moved to the padded chest. His eyes never left her; they raked over her, darkening, heating, as he watched her br**sts heave with her fight for oxygen. God, she wanted to taste him. His stomach was flat, hard, the well-developed abs flexing as he removed his boots.
“How?” She couldn’t make sense of anything except the hunger flaying her body. “It’s never been like this. Even after you bit me. Why now?”
He came to his feet, towering over her, walking to her slowly, his gaze never leaving hers.
“I hadn’t kissed you, Roni,” he said softly, as he came within touching distance. The scent of his body infused her senses. It was male, hot and dark, captivating, as she trembled before him.
“What…” She shook her head, fighting the compulsion to touch him, to taste him. “What did the kiss have to do with anything? Dammit, Taber.” Her fists clenched as she forced herself to back away from him, to fight the driving hunger thundering through her body.
“The kiss allowed a special hormone to release from my body to yours.” He followed her, stalking her as she continued to retreat. “A hormone that is only present when I touch my mate. When I touch you. It allowed me to mark you, physical proof to any other that you belong to me. But it wasn’t enough to heighten your senses or your arousal to this state. Only my kiss can do that, Roni. My kiss marked you in
a way nature will not let you deny.”
His voice was rough, deep, almost rumbling as Roni backed into the wall, staring back at him in horror, in fury.
“My God. You knew.” She almost winced at the grating sound of her voice. She sounded as shocked, as frightened, as she knew she was. “When you kissed me, you knew you would do this to me. You knew what would happen.”
His hands slapped the wall beside her, his expression turning savage, almost feral, as he bared his teeth in a warning growl. She flinched, her eyes widening, her pu**y clenching at the sound.
“You will not deny me this time, Roni.” His voice rumbled with power, with determination. “This time, you will not escape me.”
She would have fought him, she assured herself. She would have moved from him, would have shoved his balls to his throat with her knee if he hadn’t swooped in, his tongue piercing her mouth as his lips covered hers. The moment he did, every cell in her body sang out in relief, and the fury coursing through her whipped into lightning-hot desire.
Sweet, dark honey filled her senses once again. She whimpered beneath the onslaught, her hands rising to grip his waist, her nails biting into his flesh as the feel of his skin seemed to sink into her cells. She moaned, her tongue tangling with his as an inner voice screamed out in warning. Danger. Temptation. Run!
He didn’t touch her other than with his lips, with his tongue, and they were voracious in their demand. His strong teeth nipped at the curves. His tongue soothed the slight sting then thrust back demandingly until she closed her lips on it, desperate to hold it still as she fought to make sense of his taste, his power over her.
He growled. A feline rumble of hunger as she tightened on his tongue, drawing on it, moaning at the faint taste of honey, suddenly needing more. His hands gripped her head as his lips slanted over hers, driving her insane with the hot, sensual provocation of the ever deepening caress. Second by second she could feel her body burning brighter, hotter. Her br**sts ached, the ni**les hard little points begging for his attention as his chest settled closer.
“God, you taste good.” His roughened voice caused her to shiver with pleasure as he pulled back, staring down at her, his eyes narrowed, intense. “I wonder how much better the rest of you tastes.”
His knee slid between her legs, pressing against the sensitive mound between her thighs.
“Don’t do this to me, Taber,” she whispered desperately, her hands tightening on his waist as she shuddered with an exquisite pain that rode much too close to heated pleasure. His hard thigh rocked against her cunt and she wondered desperately if he could feel the moisture seeping from her body. She wanted to tear herself away from him; she wanted to jerk him closer. The conflicting needs warred within her, fighting an insane battle for supremacy.
“Do what? Make you mine?” he growled. “It’s already been done, Roni. I can’t take that back. And I sure as hell won’t regret it.”
His lips moved to her ear, his tongue swirling around it sensually as she fought for breath.
“I can’t do this,” she cried out, yet her body writhed against his, needing to touch him, to feel the heat and hardness he offered her.
Her head fell back against the wall as his lips trailed down her neck. His fingers pulled at the buttons of her blouse, releasing the torn fabric as the air around them heated with blistering need.
“Shush, baby,” Taber whispered as his lips stroked over her collarbone. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
He pushed her shirt over her shoulders, smoothing it down her arms as he lifted first one of her hands from his waist, then the other to allow the material to fall to the floor. It was the most sensual sensation she had known in her life, his hands, calloused and warm, sliding over her flesh, removing the cloth between his touch and her skin.