Nothing ever could, and she sobbed against his lips.
He released her mouth. “Shh. Shh. It’s al right, sweetheart. We’re al right. I’m here. You’re not alone.”
Something so huge and beautiful it scared her to even acknowledge it expanded in her chest until she couldn’t breathe, could only hold on to him and hope it would never end, that it would always be this good, this sweet, this intense. Those weak, damnable tears continued to escape, and she couldn’t stop shuddering as the jumbled emotions col ided with the inexorable, rising tide of ecstasy.
“Merek,” she gasped, clamping her inner muscles on his cock.
He groaned; his hips rammed deep, slapping against her ass, driving her into the slippery tiles. “Chloe.
My Chloe.”
Fiery tingles broke down her limbs, and she felt orgasm building deep inside her. Moans spil ed from her throat every time he entered her. He rubbed her clit in time with his thrusts, hard and fast, the movements designed to shove her past her endurance.
He changed the angle of his penetration, and it was so right it sent her spinning. The breath froze in her lungs as her muscles gathered into one enormous pulse of pleasure. Her channel locked tight on his cock, and his hoarse groan and deep shudder told her she’d dragged him over the edge with her. Her fingers bunched in the wetness of his hair, holding him close as her pussy throbbed around him in waves so powerful she sobbed again. His hot come flooded her, and he rol ed his hips, thrusting stil deeper into her slick sex. She sagged against him, shutting her eyes as the physical and emotional storm swept through her, changed everything in its path, and left her drifting in its wake.
He stood there with her until the water turned chil y, his big hands stroking over her skin, cupping her breasts, her hips, the curve of her bel y. Somehow he knew she needed the closeness as much as she’d needed the sexual release he could give her. Maybe he needed it too, because he didn’t stop touching her even after his cock softened and slid from her body. He planted light kisses everywhere he could reach. He crooned to her, a soft wordless rumble of soothing comfort and assurance.
She stirred when the water turned off, felt like she was floating as he lifted her into his arms. “How long do we have until we have to catch our flight?”
Setting her on the counter, he ignored her gasp as the cold tile touched her bare backside. The sharp contrast with her hot, over-sensitized flesh made her shudder. He grabbed a towel and dried her, his touch gentle. “A couple of hours, maybe.”
“Okay.” She took the terry cloth from him and worked on her hair. “How did they find us today? Was it the blood tracking?”
He pul ed another towel from the stack and swiped at the moisture on his skin. “No, they put out a reward for us in the Magickal community, and the elf who ran the campgrounds turned us in.”
“Asshole.” Her jaw clenched so tight the muscles twitched, her teeth grinding together as she fought the desire to hunt the bastard down and hurt him. Bad.
Merek looked away, shrugged. “He’s dead. They kil ed him.”
That gave her pause, and she managed to wrench open her locked jaw to growl, “I wouldn’t have wished him dead, but considering the danger he put us in and what happened to Alex, I can’t say I’m sorry.”
“I kicked him when he was down.” He wiped the towel over his face and then scrubbed at his hair.
She blinked at him. “Seriously?”
“I needed a distraction.” His tone was defensive, but the look on his face was completely unrepentant.
Again, she just blinked. “I’m not sure if I should laugh or be horrified.”
He wrapped the towel around his waist. “A little of both probably isn’t out of line.”
“Al righty, then.” A grin broke across her face as she hopped off the counter to pick up her discarded shirt. Then she remembered that her yoga pants hadn’t fared so wel . “Um . . . you’re going to need to go get me some clothes from my room. I can dry these magical y, but not that fast. Not after al I’ve burned through tonight.”
“Okay.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth, came back for another quick taste, and then pul ed away with a rueful smile and a shake of his head. “Be back in a minute.”
“Thanks.”
The last thing Merek wanted was to go rooting around in Chloe’s bespel ed bottomless suitcase looking for clothes. He’d rather keep her naked, wrapped in his arms, while he got the only few hours of sleep he was likely to get for some time. His eyes burned with fatigue, and he shut his mind off from the fact that she’d tried to pul away from him in the shower.
Why it pissed him off so badly that she would want to put any distance between them, he didn’t want to contemplate. He was too fucking tired to contemplate anything right now. He just wanted a bed and Chloe to share it with him. Shucking his towel and leaving it wherever it happened to fal , he jerked on a pair of sweats and a shirt from his duffle.
“Damn it, Ophelia, I don’t want to hurt you. Get out of the way.”
A deep snarl that he wasn’t sure was from Alex or the cat sounded clearly through the door joining the two rooms. Merek eased it open to see a ful y dressed and alert Alex facing down a pissed off cat who stood, back arched and hair on end, directly in front of the exit.
Bloody scratches were already healing themselves on Alex’s hands and arms, so he’d been tangling with the familiar for at least a few minutes, if not longer.
“Going somewhere?” Merek kept his voice mild, his arms crossed over his chest.
The teen inhaled sharply, surprise flaring in his pale eyes as he whipped around. Then his jaw flexed, and he pul ed his backpack over his shoulders. “Yes.”
Merek shook his head. “You can’t do that.”
“What the hel do you care?” Frustrated rage flashed across the teen’s normal y impassive face. “This way you can keep Chloe safe. I’m a liability.”
Merek pushed away from the doorjamb and crossed to plant himself directly in front of the wolf. “We al have things about us that make us liabilities. We learn to work with our limitations.”
Shaking his head hard, Alex sent a fulminating glare toward Ophelia. “I won’t be responsible for another —”
“It wasn’t your fault your mother died, any more than it would be your fault if Smith’s men kil ed Chloe.” No, that was a responsibility that would fal squarely on Merek’s shoulders if he failed to keep her safe.
“If you guys had spent a few more minutes in the shower, I’d have been history.” A huff of breath that sounded close to a sob emerged. “Damn cat.”
He closed his hand tightly over Alex’s shoulder. “You can’t do that to Chloe. She would never forgive herself. Ever.” Merek knew enough about her now to know how true that was. “She’d tear off and go searching for you herself, and Smith’s men would catch up to her in under a day.”
Alex shut his eyes, but not before a sheen of moisture showed. “I can’t stay.”
“Can you honestly do that to her? Just walk away and never look back?” For a moment, the young man’s future wavered before Merek’s eyes, superimposing over the boy before him. A tal man, smiling down at a woman holding a wolf cub in her arms. Then another flash of the same man, sitting alone in a darkened room, bitterness poisoning his expression. Different possibilities? Different events in the same time line?
The images disintegrated before Merek could tel .
Those green eyes locked on his face. “Can you? Isn’t that what you’re going to do if Luca ever closes the case and we get out of this?”
“I’m not the kind of guy who’s into hit it and quit it with his women. That’s not my style. I don’t play those kinds of games.” But that wasn’t the whole story. He’d gone into each of his relationships since his wife’s death knowing when it would end and how. His heart had never been involved, and though he’d cared for the women, he’d known there would be no deeper demand on his time or emotions than he’d already foreseen.