But then she always felt powerful when she was with Parker. Not because he was wimpy. By contrast, having him stand next to her so strong and steadfast showed the world she was to be taken seriously.
Right now, however, her power came from the fact that she could make this strong, beautiful man quiver beneath her touch.
Parker raised a hand to trace the side of her face and now it was her turn to shudder.
He was just so gentle. Even though she was tall, strong, and a wolf-shifter he could easily knock her down if he wanted to. Instead, every touch was a loving caress.
She pulled back to look at him. “I can’t believe you asked me if I wanted to undo our mating.”
He raised an eyebrow before splashing her with some of the water. “We both wanted to get out of it in the beginning. How was I to know you’d changed your mind?”
“I knew you’d changed your mind. I have your soul. I have a pretty good idea of what you want and don’t want. Doesn’t my soul tell you I’m a committed, strong person who is looking for love and family?”
He laughed. “Yes. It does. But it didn’t tell me anything about your lack of confidence.”
She wrapped her legs more tightly around him and squeezed. He yelped as he pushed her harder against the wall. Their lips met. For a while she wasn’t sure where her mouth ended and his began. She simply knew the heat that was always present between them flared to life again. Being up against Parker was like holding the sun and it warmed her in places that had been frozen for so long she hadn’t believed they could be thawed.
His hands cupped her breasts. Tingles traveled up and down her spine as her insides turned wet.
She wasn’t sure what was wetter—her or the shower. Either way, it amazed her that all Parker needed to do was touch her and she melted.
“Angel, you have the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen.”
“If you have seen a lot of breasts, I don’t want to know about it.”
“You don’t take compliments well, do you?”
“I don’t have a lot of experience with them.”
She bit down hard on his neck and he had the nerve to laugh at her. She pulled out of his arms before dropping to her knees in front of him. The hot water on her back lent a sexual massage to the moment as she indulged her fantasies. Pushing forward, she sucked on the head of his cock, loving the taste of his manhood so deep in her mouth.
Her hand located his balls, massaging them slightly. He leaned against the shower wall, a moan escaping his mouth. This was her mate—her strong, tattooed, take-no-prisoners mate—and she could bring him to his knees.
“Stop Angel. This will end right here if you don’t.”
She pulled back. “Maybe I like knowing I can do this to you.”
“Was there ever a question?”
He grabbed her shoulders, pulling her upward. God, she loved being in his arms. His lips met hers and this time it was her turn to shudder. His fingers started a delicious trail up and down her body.
Finally, he found her core. His fingers ventured inside of her and she knew what true happiness felt like.
It was heavenly to be this close. It was incredible to know she had a man who cared about her pleasure.
“Inside of me, big guy.”
Parker grunted his reply and she wondered if he was too far gone to even communicate with her telepathically. She wrapped her arms around his waist again joining him in the silence of the moment. It was just the water hitting the shower stall and the sounds of their fast breaths in and out.
Moving until she was settled, she pulled him inside of her. He fit like he’d been designed to be there, which she supposed he had. Then there wasn’t anymore time for thinking.
In and out he thrust until she lost count of how many times he had entered and left her. Her muscles contracted around him, each movement sending waves of pleasure into her very essence.
She didn’t know how long it lasted just that each second of their joining branded her more his than she had been the second before. Finally, when the pleasure was too much—when it was so intense it might as well have been pain—she lost herself in the moment, surrendering in his arms. Seconds later, Parker followed his own release matching hers.
Pushed up against the shower wall, she didn’t know if he held up her weight or if she held up his. Absentmindedly, she stroked the back of his neck feeling the small pieces of hair that lay there in her fingertips.
“Are you alive?” Her voice sounded hoarse to her own ears.
“Barely.”
“Me too.”
“If I set you down, are you going to fall?”
“No.” She hoped. It would be really un-cool to fall and even though she should be past caring, she still didn’t want to land on her ass in front of him just yet.
He set her down but didn’t let her go until she’d demonstrated that her legs worked.
As he wrapped her in a towel, she stared at his back. Parker took up most of the space in the shower but he didn’t overwhelm her. She ran her hand over the smooth muscles of his back as he dried himself off.
“Think everyone heard us? Or rather heard you since they can’t hear me?”
“Huh.” She sighed. “I hadn’t thought about that, but now that you mention it the fact that they’re all wolves probably means they could hear us if they felt like eavesdropping.”
He laughed, one hard yelp in her mind. “Think your brothers and their mates are a bunch of pervs?”
“From the stories I’ve heard about them, that wouldn’t surprise me.”
She bit down on her lip. Of course none of them had actually seemed that way to her when she’d met them. Everyone had been helpful and concerned. They’d even saved her life. It was getting harder to reconcile her belief in the ultimate evilness of Westervelt with what she was seeing here.
In general, she didn’t particularly like to have to question her assumptions. There wasn’t a lot of time for self-indulgent personal exploration when she was either fighting to stay alive or running for her life. But maybe she had a minute now. Maybe this situation warranted a second look.
As she dried off her body, she knew she’d have to deal with all of it later—whether she wanted to or not. For now, she still had something to do.
“Time to shift.”
“I really don’t want to. I feel better. I guess I needed to work out some of my nervous energy, so to speak.”
“Nope, you’re not getting out of doing this simply because you feel uncomfortable.”
“It’s more than that.”
“Explain it to me.”
He sighed and he sounded weary. It nearly undid her. She wanted to tell him to forget it, he didn’t have to shift. Except, of course, he did. To be a shifter who didn’t turn into a wolf amounted to living a half-life. He was already limited. Parker couldn’t utter a word aloud. In the whole world, only she could hear him, at least for right now.
He needed to be able to be who he was supposed to be and she was going to see to it that he was. She was his mate; she was allowed to interfere in his life to make it better.
“My father killed my mother right here on this island. I know the kind of violence that lives inside of me because it lived inside of him. I don’t think shifting into an animal is particularly wise for me.”
Angel took his hand. His calluses were raw from all of the years he’d spent working with his hands in hot water. She shivered at the thought. He’d been alone in abject silence for so long before she’d arrived. The thought made her ill.