A door down the hal opened, and then the bathroom light flipped on before that door closed. Alex.
She jolted, but it only drove Merek’s fingers deeper between her slick folds. She had to bite her lip hard enough to draw blood, to keep from crying out at the delicious sensation. He slipped his hand out of her pants, but not without a final flick of his fingers and sizzle of magic that left her arching and gasping.
“Oh, gods.” Her fingers dug into his forearm. “We need a bedroom with a locking door now. ”
“Yes.” He stepped away, reaching to flip off the lamp on their way out.
Her heart thumped hard just thinking about how dark the room would be. “No, leave it on.”
“Why? We’re going to a bedroom with a locking door now, ” he drawled, and turned out the light.
The terror was al -consuming, locking her muscles into unresponsive tightness. She couldn’t move, couldn’t make her body react at al . Cold sweat slicked her skin as the blackness seemed to press down on her, smothering her like a wet blanket. Panic shrieked through her until she began to shiver. The contrast with the fiery lust punched shock through her.
“Chloe?” Merek’s hand groped for her in the darkness, and she clung to the contact like a lifeline. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t . . . I don’t like the dark.” The words jerked out past stiff lips.
“Let me get the light, then.” His voice had gentled to quiet soothing.
“No, don’t leave me!” She hated the shril ness of her tone, but she couldn’t let go, couldn’t be alone in the blackness. Not again. Not like— She shuddered away from the thought and threw herself into his arms, needing to recapture the passion of moments before. Her mouth was hungry, consuming, when it met his. He hesitated for a brief moment before he gave her what she wanted. His tongue plunged between her lips as he scooped her up in his arms.
What was going on?
The fear in her voice had made Merek’s heart trip, but he ignored that and met her kisses with equal ferocity as he swiftly carried her into the closest bedroom—his. He kicked the door shut just as Alex emerged from the bathroom. The werewolf could make of that whatever he wanted—he knew what they did at night.
Merek strode across the room and sat Chloe on the side of the bed. He flicked on the bedside lamp, which captured her in a circle of warm light.
Now he could see her expression, the wariness in her eyes that contrasted with the flush of desire in her cheeks. “Al right, you want to tel me—”
“Don’t just stand there. Come here and finish what you started.” She slipped out of her clothes and arched on the mattress, going on the sexual offensive to cover whatever she didn’t want to discuss. She stroked her clit for him, teasing more cream from her body. He forced himself to ignore the way his dick throbbed at the erotic sight.
Cajoling entered his tone. “There’s nothing you can’t tel me, sweetheart. I can help you. You can trust me.”
“I’m already trusting you with my life. More important, I’m trusting you with my godson’s life.” She sat up on the bed. “There’s nothing I can do to make being afraid of the dark go away, and talking about it won’t help.
Therapists with way more training than you have taken a crack at it and failed.” She looked away, dropping her sexy pose. “I realize I should have told you about my fear from the beginning, because it makes me more difficult to protect and makes your job harder. I apologize for keeping that from you. It’s just not something I even consider discussing with people, so I didn’t think about saying anything to you.”
“But you won’t tel me where the fear came from?”
“No.” Her eyes closed tight, her arms crossing defensively over her breasts. “That part isn’t relevant to anyone but me.”
He sighed at how stiff her words were. More secrets she was keeping from him, but he couldn’t force her to tel him everything, and somehow he knew pushing would make her less likely to talk in the future.
“Someday you’l trust me with it, Chloe.”
Her laugh was a painful thing to hear. “It wouldn’t solve anything.”
“Maybe not, but I’d stil like to know.” Gods, but didn’t he know how that could be? A wound so deep nothing would ever fix it. A problem so huge nothing could overcome it. He understood that kind of pain, and what it took to live with it.
He settled himself on the bed beside her, stroking his fingertips over her jaw until she looked at him again. “What do you need, sweetheart?”
“You.” A little smile tilted up one side of her mouth. “I don’t want to think about this at al . It’s bad enough without dwel ing on it, you know? I just want to pretend the last ten minutes didn’t happen, and to get back to where we were before.”
“The last ten minutes did happen, and I’m glad they did. This was something I needed to know.” He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over her mouth.
“I wish it wasn’t.” Her hands pressed to his chest, stroking over his T-shirt. She lifted her lips to his, tentative, as if she feared he’d push her away. The thought made him ache inside.
“Come here.” His voice was gruffer than he intended, but he pul ed her into his arms, and she came wil ingly. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her mouth slanting under his as she kissed him harder, her tongue probing for entrance. His cock surged with need as her taste exploded over his taste buds.
Her hands tugged at the bottom of his shirt, and he yanked it over his head. Then her bare breasts rubbed against his flesh, and he groaned. She explored him with her fingers, teased his nipples, stroked his stomach. When she reached for his dick, he broke, shuddered, jerked to his feet to shove his sweats down his legs.
The heat in her eyes as she took in his body made him burn.
Gods, it had never been so hot for him. Her touch, her scent, the eagerness with which she responded to him. His hunger for her went far beyond the physical, but the physical was so fucking good. His cock was so hard, it ached, and he needed inside her so badly he was shaking. He couldn’t wait another minute.
Crawling onto the bed beside her, he pressed her thighs flat to the mattress and mounted her. “Chloe, I need you.”
“Have me.” She held her arms out to him. Her hands slid up his biceps to his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his waist. She chuckled low in her bel y, and it rubbed her against his dick. He gritted his teeth to keep from coming then and there.
“Now,” he groaned. And then he was inside her, no gentleness, just lust and sharp craving driving him to orgasm. His self-discipline went up in smoke as it usual y did with her.
His hips bucked, and he slammed his cock into her hot, sleek sheath. She was tight, wet, and the feel of her inner muscles gripping his cock each time he thrust inside her made him lose what was left of his sanity.
“Kiss me.” She licked her lips, and her face was rosy with passion. Passion that was just for him. He liked that. He liked that far more than he should. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, a tiny, knowing smile kicking up the corner of her mouth as she deliberately fisted her pussy around his cock.
“Fuck, Chloe.” His breath whistled out between clenched teeth. “Do that again, and this wil be over right now.”
Her grin turned evil, so he did what she’d asked. He kissed her. If he didn’t distract the woman, she’d let that inventive mind of hers cause al kinds of trouble. He chuckled as he plunged his tongue between her lips to the same rhythm he set between her legs. A helpless moan was her only response.