He ran his lips over the indentions.
Finally. It’s done. She’s mine.
“Don’t sound so smug.” Sadie looked up from his wrist, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “You might have bitten off more than you can chew.” A smile tugged at the corners of her full lips. “You don’t really know me. Not yet. We could be great in the sack and have the best chemistry in the world but be totally incompatible when it comes to everything else.”
He felt a smile of his own forming. “Bullshit.”
“Bullshit?” she repeated, tilting her head, blue eyes playful.
“If you’ve been reading my thoughts as long as I think you have you know exactly how compatible we are.” He’d felt her presence months ago. Back then he’d thought she’d been a figment of his imagination. Then he’d discovered she was very, very real. “In fact, it’s about time you start leveling the playing field. It’s only fair I know everything about you too.”
“What do you want to know?” She pushed her ass back, rocking on his softening cock.
“Everything, naturally,” he said. “But I’ll start with your last name.”
“Hmm.” She sighed when he stroked her arm. “Dumus.”
“Sadie Dumus?” he repeated, as though he as testing the word.
“That’s right.”
“No middle name?”
“No,” she exhaled softly.
He stretched his arms past his mate and turned on the sink. Then he retrieved the hand towel on a nearby rack. He wet an edge of the cloth with warm water and took a step back. His seed had seeped from her pussy, coating the side of her thigh. He wiped it away, taking care as he cleansed her legs and swept the towel over her labia. She shuddered but remained in place, allowing him to care for her.
“Next time I’m going to draw you a hot bath, give you all the bubbles you can handle and massage you from head to toe.”
“Promises, promises.” There was humor in the retort but he noted the seriousness that had crept into her face. She reached down to pull up her pants and dropped her head. “We have a lot to do before we can relax.”
Damn. In the heat of the moment he’d forgotten about everything else. Nothing had mattered but the two of them. He’d needed to find balance with his mate in order to take the necessary steps to face what was sure to come.
“Kinsley is here.” She tried to straighten her shirt despite the fact the neck had been stretched to hell. “Ava just warned me. She said we need to cut our bathroom break short.”
Fuckedy, fuck, fuck. He quickly tucked his dick away and yanked up his jeans.
He didn’t want to rush outside and end the moment. He wanted to stay right where he was, talking to Sadie like a lover. This was the first time she’d been truly mischievous, speaking to him with happiness in her voice. He wanted it to last, learning what made her laugh, discovering all the little things that made her smile.
Besides, as soon as they left the room he’d have to get ready to kiss ass.
Kinsley had always been Diskant’s confidant, not Trey’s. They needed the man’s support but Trey wasn’t gung-ho about turning to him for help. Kinsley’s assistance—as much as they needed it—would undoubtedly come with a cost.
Sadie started to slide away from the counter and he stopped her. He turned her around, bringing them face-to-face. They were about to meet the world outside, but not before he gave her a kiss that would make her toes curl.
Dipping his head, he pressed his lips to hers. She opened for him, her tongue darting out to stroke his. He wasn’t easy or tender, kissing her hard and deep. She groaned, wrapping her arms around him. He grasped her ass with both hands, squeezing the soft mounds. He didn’t want to come up for air but he knew he had to.
Once again they were stealing a moment of borrowed time.
“Soon, baby,” he swore, heart pounding, gazing into her eyes. “I’m not going to settle for this shit. I’m going to give you everything you need. No more half-assed fucking in a hurry.”
“Now don’t go saying something like that that.” Drawing her hand down his chest, she lifted on to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. As she leaned away, she grinned. “I’ll have you know I’m quite fond of half-assed fucking in a hurry.”
He was so shocked by the sincerity in the statement he didn’t try to stop her when she glided away, striding with her head held high for the door. He tossed the towel into the small hamper on the side of the counter, shaking his head as he moved to follow her. Once again she’d upped the ante, taking their mating up another notch.
So she liked quickies? Fan-fucking-tastic.
He couldn’t wait to show her that she’d love nice and slow even more.
Chapter Eleven
Fabulous. Another fucking mystery.
Sadie stayed close to Trey but she kept her gaze on the enormous male seated across from Diskant and Ava. Kinsley had dressed in black leather that matched his shoulder-length hair, his piercing emerald green eyes giving away nothing. Another feline shifter had accompanied him, standing quietly at his back. She’d seen Kinsley at Club Liminality on a few occasions—a place that catered to all things supernatural, which also happened to be the place Ava had worked as a bartender once upon a time. The owner of Liminality—Brett McGovern, who also happened to be a fucking warlocke—didn’t tolerate any bullshit. It was a safe place to venture so long as a person approached situations carefully. Due to that, she’d never gotten up close or personal with Kinsley.
Now she wished she had.
He had a mental block of some kind going on. Like Ava’s, only different.
Instead of nothingness when she tried to slide into Kinsley’s head, she found herself directed to weird thoughts. One minute she’d see a bright, sunny sky. The next an image of a child eating ice-cream would flash through her head. Since she didn’t want him to know for certain she was monitoring his mind, she couldn’t ask if he was fucking with her or if he was really that fucked up in the head.
What the hell? Has the entire world flipped upside down?
For a split second she wondered if Kinsley had been reading her mind.
He looked straight at her, his unwavering stare coming across almost amused. Breaking eye contact, Sadie glanced at Ava. If she wanted she could ask Ava if she noticed something weird about Kinsley’s thoughts. But she didn’t know if Ava would be honest or not. They hadn’t established any sort of trust.
“It’s not just you.” Ava’s thought answered Sadie’s question. The petite female didn’t turn to Sadie but continued telepathically, “I’ve only been able to get a clear line into Kinsley’s thoughts a couple of times, but that was when he wasn’t paying attention. It didn’t last more than a second or two. I think he can sense when someone enters his head. He’s able to keep people out.”
Was that so? Interesting.
“Your best bet is to find Ava’s brother,” Kinsley said, his rich Scottish brogue accenting his words. Returning his attention to Diskant, he kept talking. “If the amulet is as powerful as you say, you won’t have to worry about anyone or anything once you have it.”
“We’re working on that,” Diskant replied, placing a hand on Ava’s leg. “For now we have to deal with issues in the pack.”
“There is that.” Kinsley lips quirked. “Do you want my advice?”
“I wouldn’t have asked you to come here if I didn’t.”
“Don’t tell them about Aldon. Let them know about the mating but don’t tell them how serious shit is right now.” Kinsley’s gaze drifted to Mary and he winked. “You’ve already lost a quarter of your pack to stupidity. If you lose anyone else you’re going to have to pack up and find another city to call home.”