«Yes.» And then he would know how quickly a storm of ecstasy could gather, how fast and hard it could sweep them away.
Carmen tugged open his belt and unbuttoned his jeans. Desire had built to a roar by the time she closed her hand around his erection, and she moaned as she stroked the pad of her thumb along the underside of his shaft.
He liked it, and it showed. In the twitch of his hips, the way his eyelids drooped and his jaw tensed. Small signs, so small compared to the vastness of his desire simmering just beneath the surface.
She used her tongue first, soft strokes meant to tease more than satisfy, and she trembled when a little more of his calm demeanor cracked, his fingers finding her hair.
He’d wait as long as he could to unleash the full force of his passion on her, and that only made her want it more. To see on his face and hear in his voice what she could already feel burning inside him.
«Harder,» she whispered, and rubbed her head against his fingers for a moment before sliding her lips around him.
His hand did tighten, enough to drag her head back up. Another crack in his control. His eyes blazed, and his breath came too fast. «Take off your pants.»
Carmen rose, her knees weak with anticipation. Her fingers fumbled on the drawstring, but the loose cotton fell easily, leaving her clad only in plain white panties. She half-wished she’d known to don something more provocative, but the feeling vanished when she met his eyes again.
Desire. Hot, pure desire that would burn bright enough to claim them both. «Those too, unless you want me ripping them.»
Yes. She gasped and clenched her hands into fists at her sides.
It happened fast. His hand curled in the fabric and yanked it away with one violent jerk. He pulled her down to his lap just as fast, her back against his chest and her bare legs spread wide over his jean-clad thighs.
His skin was hot against hers. She arched, need riding her with a grating, almost painful edge. «Bedroom?»
Instead of answering, he gathered her hair and tilted her head to the side so he could close his teeth on the curve of her throat.
Claiming. Marking her as his.
His.
Carmen cried his name, all thoughts of moving from that spot gone in an instant. «Please. Alec, please—»
He spilled her from his lap to the couch as he rose. «You’ve got until I get my boots off.» The words bordered on a growl. «Then I’m taking you where I catch you.»
One boot hit the floor, and she shoved her hair out of her face and stared at him. He was dead serious — and undressing fast.
She ran.
She made it to her bedroom, but not to the bed. He caught her around the waist and dragged her the last few feet, bending her upper body over the mattress. «I’ve only got one condom. I sure as hell hope you’ve got more around here.»
«In the medicine cabinet.» She laughed, giddy with anticipation and relief. «Lily just bought some. I’ll steal the whole damn box.»
His gruff laughter almost covered the sound of tearing foil. «I don’t know if that’s a warning about your stamina or confidence in mine, but it’s fucking hot.»
«I’ll have to steal them. I don’t have any that aren’t dangerously close to expiration.» She swallowed hard. «It’s been a while since — since I did this.»
Alec’s hand smoothed along her spine, down to her hip and then farther, curling around her thigh as he guided her legs apart. His other hand hit the bed next to her head, and he leaned over her until his voice came from behind her left shoulder. «Want me to ease you back into it?» Wide fingers slipped against her, pushed inside. «Or do you want it fast?»
She couldn’t answer at first, not with his fingers stretching her, intensifying the ache building inside her. «Don’t make me wait.»
His fingers vanished. His cock replaced them, hard and pressing into her, so slow, even though she could see the effort control cost him in the tense arm next to her, could feel it in his steely, unbelievable determination.
He needed to make her feel good, and the strength of that need sent her spinning. «This is what you do to me,» she whispered hoarsely. Then she came, pleasure twisting tight inside before exploding, shaking through her in a rain of fire and satisfaction.
One hard, startled thrust pinned her hips to the bed, and he groaned and slapped his other hand down on the mattress. Both fisted, crushing the quilt as his chest slicked over her back with every panting breath. «Christ, woman. Do you have any idea what that does to me?»
«No. Yes.» Carmen shuddered and bucked, desperate for more. «You’re the one holding back now.»
His hips rocked, a slow glide out and a faster, harder return. He nuzzled her hair from her ear and bit the lobe with a pleased noise. «No making me come before I get to enjoy being inside you.»
«Sex with an empath.» She reached up and clenched her hand in his hair. «It doesn’t have to stop when you come.»
His next thrust inched her along the bed. «Sex with a shifter means it just starts again.»
«See?» She pushed back against him and bit her lip when white-hot ecstasy rebounded through her. «We are perfect.»
He made a rumbling noise of agreement and straightened, dragging his fingertips over her shoulders and down her back until his hands found her hips. «Don’t hold back. Let me feel it all.»
It was a habit more than anything, rebuilding those walls. As soon as she dropped them again, she hissed a curse as the full force of his appetite swept over her. He yearned for her, hungered—
Craved.
Under it all, a fine blade of fear lurked, and Carmen made a soothing noise. «I can take you. You won’t hurt me.»
He began to move, and it wasn’t gentle. His fingers tightened, lifting her hips until every thrust rubbed her G-spot. Her hand slipped and her elbows crashed to the bed, arching her back even more. The next time he drove into her, the hot ache inside her twisted tighter, almost to the breaking point.
Almost.
«God, Alec. Please.» She was begging, and she didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Only him, inside and around her, so much desire. «So much—»
Satisfaction trickled through the pleasure spun out between them, and he whispered one word. Just one, rough and needy and without doubt a command. «Now.»
Ecstasy lashed through her, wrenching a scream from her throat. In that moment, she was completely, utterly open to him, and she relished it. He’d taken her, marked her skin and claimed her — and that made him hers.
Mine. More than a thought, and she felt it shudder through him a split second before he tightened his grip on her hips and dragged her back into a hard, unsteady thrust. Her orgasm had barely faded when his began, and with no barriers left she felt it too, every pulse, every spike, all of it in reaction to her.
If he hadn’t been holding her, she would have slid to the floor. Carmen turned her cheek to the light quilt, cool under her flushed skin.
Alec slumped over her, his elbows digging into the bed as his forehead dropped to her shoulder. «Jesus.»
Joy bubbled up in her chest and escaped as a laugh. «I think I figured out what our problem was.»
«We had a problem?»
«Mmm. Talking, and fighting.» Her brain whirled, and she laughed again. «Fighting this.»
He eased away, only to lift her up and lay her on the bed. «Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I’m kicking myself a little.»
She rolled onto her back. «Don’t. Plenty of time now.»
«Mmm.» He crashed next to her, stretched out and hooked one arm over her waist. «I turned off my phone. New Orleans will have to survive without me for the night.»