Chapter 23
Cecilia didn’t question Hank’s assumption that she’d go home with him.
Where else would she go? Her hotel room was wrecked, and the idea of finding another one just left her cold.
She didn’t want to be alone; she wanted to be with him.
And the minute she stepped into his apartment, she knew this was the place for her.
Zen peace, plants everywhere, and the scent of him clean and strong. His personality and his quiet pervaded everything and that was just what she wanted right then. Well, that plus him with her. Safe, not in a war, and holding her through the night.
Her breath caught at the thought of that, of living here with him.
She’d need an office for her work, but his quiet presence would be everywhere and that would fill a well inside her that she hadn’t even known was empty until a couple days ago.
Eventually they’d have a nursery for their child, probably at a new place.
Somewhere near a park where a little girl could run wild or a boy could jump from trees into his father’s arms.
The image ached in her heart. She wanted it so desperately that her eyes searched out the window for the nearest patch of green. Hank was setting her luggage down next to his bed, but he heard her breath catch. He turned to her, a question in his dark eyes, and she swallowed.
She had to talk to him. She had to tell him the truth about their bonding, but she didn’t want to risk losing him.
What if he found out that their bond was fake?
That it would disappear in a couple days?
Would he wait out the time and then set her free?
On paper they had nothing in common, but she couldn’t believe how well she fit with him.
When she got intense, he kept her centered.
When she was attacked, he kept her safe.
When she was afraid, he was there, even in her thoughts.
And when magic happened anywhere in her life, it was because he was with her.
What if he took that magic away? What would she do then? Her life before meeting him seemed so empty and dull. She was still fighting her fears when he stepped right in front of her. He entwined his fingers with hers and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“It’s okay, Cecilia. You’re safe here.”
“I know.” He always kept her safe.
“Whatever you have to say, I can take it. It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.”
Would they? Together? God, she hoped so.
He pulled her to sit on the bed. It was so tempting to just lay down. She’d sink into the mattress, he’d wrap his arms around her, and she’d have him for a little bit longer. But when she started leaning toward the pillow, he touched her chin.
“We can sleep now. God knows you need it. But will you sleep well? Can you tell me—”
“The poison in the water lasts about two days in the body.”
He stared at her, and no wonder. She’d just blurted out a random fact like it was the end of the world.
It was, but he’d need to understand the rest. “This crap they put in the water…it doesn’t just make shifters aggressive.
It heightens all their emotions. Anger becomes fury.
Joy become ecstasy.” She swallowed and forced the next words out.
“Attraction becomes bonding.” She touched his face.
“Your connection to me, this deep need…it’s not magic.
It’s biochemical. And it’ll go away…” She shrugged.
“Pretty soon now, I think. I know you haven’t had any city water since we met, but you drank it before, right? Before you knew about the taint.”
Her words came out very fast. It was the only way she could tell him that he wasn’t in love with her.
That what he felt wasn’t real. Because, damn it, what she felt was vividly real.
She wanted to spend her life in his arms. She wanted to have his babies.
And she wanted to sleep beside him every night and wake to his smile every morning.
And why the hell was he just sitting there staring at her when her world was ending?
“Hank?”
He touched a finger to her forehead, spinning it in circles at her temple. “Your brain is working very fast right now, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“You’re thinking all sorts of things.”
She nodded. Of course, she was. She’d just told the love of her life that his feelings weren’t real.
“Cecilia, I need you to listen to me very carefully, okay?”
She nodded.
“I haven’t had Detroit water for years. I hate the taste of it in anything. I use bottled water for everything except the shower.” He touched her chin, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. “The poison doesn’t go in through the skin, does it?”
“No. You have to drink it, and not just a little bit.”
“I guess I’m in love with you for real then.” He stroked his thumb across her lips, making them plump with a tingling fire. “I love you, Cecilia. It’s not biochemistry. I don’t even think it’s the magic. It’s real love because you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”
“I am?”
He chuckled. “You make me smile.”
She reared back. “That’s it? You’re in love because I make you smile? Why aren’t you married to Comedy Central, then?”
He grinned. “Because I want you. I want your brilliance and your intensity in my life. I want you to tease me when I’m too serious and let me feed you when you forget.
I want to protect you, and hold you, and do lots of other wonderful things with you.
” He waggled his eyebrows, and his eyes seemed to glow in the early morning light. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
Then it was time for him to start thinking. She could see it in his eyes. The way his gaze seemed to rove over her face as if he were looking for the answer there when she’d just said it out loud.
“Are…are you sure?” he asked. “I’m…my life right now is pretty scary.”
She nodded. “I’m terrified for you, but that doesn’t change how I feel. I need you in my life. I need your calm center and your magical smile. There it is!”
His lips had curved, and she loved it so much she traced it with her fingers.
“I know it doesn’t make sense. We just met a couple days ago when you kidnapped me.” She frowned. “You kidnapped me!”
“It was the only way,” he said, an apology in his eyes. “And I was under orders.”
“I know.” She pressed her lips to his. He clung to her mouth as she teased across his.
And when she pulled back, she stroked his face.
“I can’t make sense of it, but I know it’s true.
I love you. Will you… Can we…” Hell, what exactly was she trying to ask?
“I want to stay in Detroit for a while. I want to stay with you and make this work.”
“Yes,” he said, almost before she stopped asking. “Yes, yes.”
“Then you can’t die in this war with the werewolves.”
He didn’t laugh off her words but took them seriously. “I’m very careful,” he said softly. “And I’m very good.”
Yeah, she knew that. She’d seen that every minute they’d been together.
But suddenly, she wasn’t so interested in discussing this anymore.
He loved her, and it wasn’t because of some poison in the water.
She loved him, and it wasn’t because of some magical bond.
It was because he was magical, and they fit together perfectly.
So she kissed him again, this time using her tongue to tease at the edges of his lips. He responded with a low growl. He clutched her head as he thrust into her mouth. What started as a tease became a hot invasion. Their tongues dueled, and her body heated to inferno.
She let herself fall backward onto the bed, bringing him with her. He never left her mouth, but his hands no longer needed to hold her in place. They started to rove down her sides and underneath her tunic. She tugged at his tee, trying to drag it off him without breaking their kiss.
In the end, they had to split apart. He rolled to his side, his breath fast and tight. “I know you’re tired, but—”
“Get naked now.”
He arched a brow at her order, but didn’t argue.
While she stripped, he shucked his clothing.
And then they just looked at each other.
She was seated naked on the bed as she admired him in the early light.
Sculpted muscles, sleek and dark, and touched with rose from the dawn.
His penis thrust forward, large and proud, but it was his eyes that drew her the most. She saw steadiness there, even in the grip of passion.
And she saw magic in him. The animal that prowled closer to her, setting one hand and then a knee on the bed and the man in him who touched her with gentleness and understood her in a way no one ever had.
How could she not love him?
“Get a condom,” she said.
He froze, his weight barely on the bed. “What if it breaks?”
She smiled. “What if this thing between us is love, not magic? What if you’re not bonded to me, you’re just really good at being in love?”
“Maybe,” he said, though he didn’t seem like he meant it. “But what if you’re wrong and you get pregnant anyway?”
“Then I’ll love our child with all my heart.” She arched a brow. “And Simon will be pleased to have a new employee studying shifter medicine.”
His eyes flashed bright at that, but his words were low and predatory. “I don’t want to talk about Simon.”
She slowly arched her back, bringing her breasts into prominent view. “Me neither.”
He was on her before she could do more. His hands on her breasts, his mouth on hers.
It felt like she was being completely surrounded by him, caressed everywhere, and all she could do was cling to him as she rode out the tide.
He obliterated her thoughts, dropped her straight into an ocean of sensuous attention, and had her arching and moaning like a wild animal in heat.
It was wonderful. He sucked on her breasts, he stroked her clit, and made her cry out whenever he moved from one part of her body to another. So thorough. So perfect.
And when he spread her thighs, he remembered the condom though she’d long since forgotten about it. And while she lay there open and panting, he hooked his arms under her knees.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his body gloriously tight and hard as he waited at her entrance.
In response, she tightened her legs and pulled herself forward onto him. She didn’t move that far, but it was enough. She saw his nostrils flare and his abdominals tense, and then he thrust hard.
Impaled.
Filled.
She never thought she’d love those words, but at this moment, he was everything to her. His body moved like poetry above her. The stretch of him inside her was like bursting into something new. As if she needed him inside her to become more than she’d been before.
She gripped him everywhere she could. She held him inside as he thrust against her. And she clung to his broad shoulders and caught his gaze with her own.
His tempo increased, every impact ratcheting her higher, hotter, hungrier.
She needed him now. She needed whatever it was she was becoming. And she needed this.
Him.
Now.
Her orgasm burst through her. Like her entire body compressed then vaulted forward.
Again and again. To the stars.
He slammed into her one last time then joined her. His body shook, and his eyes took on the light of a thousand suns.
Beauty. Wonder. Together.
They soared in a timeless bliss. And when it ended, the descent came by degrees.
Her body relaxed, languid and weak. He fell forward onto her, covering her with tiny kisses wherever he could touch. Her knees spread, and he let them fall to the mattress. And still he kissed her, adding tiny licks with his tongue.
Her neck. Her face. The curve of her ear. Even into her hair. He pressed his lips to hers over and over while she rested in the bliss of his attention.
Until her mind came back online. It was an easy shift, like stepping onto a moving walkway. But once there, she realized there was a special intensity to his kisses. A joy and a desperation she didn’t understand.
“Hank?” she asked as she stroked her hand across his head. “Hank, what is it?”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too,” she answered, knowing that there was more he wanted to say. But he didn’t speak until she pulled his head up so they could look eye to eye.
“What’s going on?”
“The condom broke.”
She stared at him, the moving walkway in her mind shuddering to a halt.
“Cecilia? Are you okay?”
It took her a moment to decide. She had to mentally tally every part of her mind, body, and soul. Was she okay with loving a magical man? Was she okay with having his magical children? Was she okay with experiencing this kind of bliss every night and day for the rest of her life?
“Yeah,” she said as her smile grew. “I’m wonderful. How about you?”
“I’ve never experienced joy this perfect before.”
She touched his face, teased his furrowed brow, then tapped him playfully on the nose. “Silly,” she said. “It’s not joy. It’s magic.”
“Nah,” he said as he pressed a kiss to her nose. “It’s love. Perfect, awesome, amazing love.”