Chapter 10
ROWAN
Iwas ready to scold him for growling like a jealous grizzly at a man who’d literally just brought us help, but when I met Bexley’s eyes, the words evaporated.
He looked wrecked. Like something vital inside him had been threatened.
“You don’t need to worry. He was just—”
“You’re supposed to leave today.”
That had been the plan, but I couldn’t imagine getting on the flight back to New York to return to a job I didn’t even like. Not after meeting Bexley.
But deciding to uproot my entire life after only two days seemed beyond impulsive, even with the whole fated mate to a shifter thing.
“Maybe my flight will be delayed because of the storm.”
He cupped my face in his big hands, lowering his forehead to mine like he needed to feel me breathe. “I can’t lose you, little mate.”
A helpless sound escaped my throat, and my hands grabbed the front of his shirt without conscious thought. It was all the encouragement he needed to capture my mouth in a deep kiss. By the time he tore his lips from mine, I was weak in the knees and gasping for air.
“Bedroom,” he rasped.
I nodded before I even realized I was doing it, but I didn’t get a chance to head there on my own.
Bexley lifted me clean off the ground, and my legs wrapped around his waist like my body knew exactly where it belonged.
My arms slipped around his neck, fingers burying themselves in his messy dark hair.
His heat seeped into every sore, needy inch of me.
“Bed.” His deep voice vibrated against my collarbone. “Need you in one now that the power is on.”
A sensual shiver raced up my spine. “Uh-huh.”
His steps were steady as he carried me down the hall. I pressed my cheek to his jaw and brushed my lips against his stubble, and he pressed his face into the kiss. Then he set me carefully on the mattress, but nothing about his expression was gentle. His eyes drank me in, dark with desire.
Bexley’s flannel shirt swallowed me whole as I lay back against the blankets, and he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered.
Then he dropped to his knees beside the bed, his hands sliding up my thighs to tug my leggings off. The flannel shirt he gave me hung down to my thighs, but he popped open the top four buttons and pushed it wide, exposing my chest.
His eyes darkened to molten gold as his fingers traced the valley between my breasts. “I need to show you why you can’t leave. That you’re mine.”
My breath caught, but I didn’t pull away. I reached for him, tugging at his shirt. “Please show me.”
That whisper snapped the last thread of his restraint. He yanked his T-shirt over his head, tossed it aside, and leaned over me, claiming my mouth in a kiss that started deep and quickly turned desperate.
I moaned into his mouth, my hands roaming his bare chest, my nails scraping lightly over his skin. His eyes flashed bright gold, and I gasped. “You’re so beautiful like this, wild and barely in control.”
“Only for you, Rowan.”
His husky words melted my heart right along with my ovaries. “Because I’m yours.”
“Yes, mine. And only mine.” He trailed his lips down my neck, nipping at my pulse. “Gonna worship every inch of you, baby. Make you feel how much I need you.”
I arched beneath him, my fingers fumbling with the remaining buttons of the flannel. He helped, peeling it open slowly and tugging the sleeves down my arms, until the shirt fell away completely.
His hands roamed my sides, thumbs brushing the undersides of my breasts, teasing without touching where I ached most. “You’re so fucking perfect.
These curves.” He punctuated the compliment with a kiss against the upper swell of my left breast. “This soft skin.” Another kiss to the right side this time. “All mine.”
He lowered his head, swirling his tongue around one nipple, sucking gently before grazing it with his teeth. The sting went directly to my core, and I whimpered. My back arched, and my fingers threaded into his hair.
He lavished the other with the same attention, slow and deliberate, like he had all day to explore me. And if I didn’t get on that plane, he would. Which was a heck of a good reason not to drive to the airport.
His hand slid down my stomach, his finger dipping between my lower lips, and he groaned.
“Look at you, baby,” he rasped, spreading my thighs wider to move even closer between them. “So wet for me. So ready to take my dick.”
He trailed his damp fingers across my collarbone, watching me tremble beneath his touch.
“Bexley,” I panted.
“Shh, baby. Let me taste you.” He leaned down, licking each spot his finger touched my skin in slow, deliberate strokes.
I moaned as his tongue trailed down to my breasts before he sucked my nipples into his mouth again.
I felt each tug of his mouth deep in my core, the passion building higher with every moment.
He didn’t stop at my chest, moving down to my stomach and swirling his tongue around my navel before dipping inside. He nibbled a path lower, but when he reached my core, he paused, his breath hot against my skin. “You’re sweeter than anything I’ve ever tasted, baby. Gonna lick up every drop.”
He dragged his tongue through me in an achingly slow stroke, and I cried out, my hips bucking. He didn’t let me go far, pinning me gently to the mattress. Spreading me wider, he feasted on me, licking and sucking until I was begging for him to let me come.
Each time he circled my clit, I got closer. But then he backed off.
“That’s it, baby,” he growled, adding two fingers and curling them to hit the sensitive spot inside me. “Love how you clench for me, like you want to keep me in your pussy and never let go.”
I shattered with a sob, my thighs clamping around his head as pleasure crashed through me. He drank every drop, drawing out the aftershocks until I was boneless.
But he wasn’t finished.
He kissed his way back up, shedding his sweatpants. When he settled between my thighs, his cock nudged my entrance, hard and throbbing. “You ready for me, baby?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “I need you inside me.”
He guided himself in slowly, inch by inch, groaning at how tightly I gripped him. I gasped, my nails biting into his back, but I lifted my hips, taking more until he was fully seated deep inside me.
“You okay?” he rasped, holding still to let me adjust.
It didn’t matter how many times he’d taken me like this, I still felt the delicious stretch. “I’m perfect.”
He started moving, grinding against my clit with every thrust. I was still sensitive from my orgasm, and my inner walls clenched around his thick length.
I moaned and wrapped my legs around his waist. “Yes! Oh yes, Bexley.”
My whimpers spurred him on, and he thrust deeper and faster, the bed creaking beneath us. I cried out, and his eyes flashed bright gold.
“Gonna claim you so deep. Fill you with my seed. Put my cub in your belly, and keep you here with me forever.”
The words sent me over again, my pussy clenching so hard he roared, and his come splashed hot against my inner walls.
We collapsed together onto the mattress, his dick still hard inside me. Our bodies were locked tight, and his arms were wrapped around my back. His breath was ragged against my neck as he nuzzled the spot where my pulse raced.
“Rowan.” His voice was thick as he said my name.
“Yeah?” I panted.
“If I bite you now while I’m still inside you and you’re full of me…it’ll complete the bond. You’ll be mine forever. No going back.”
I tilted my head to look up at him with wide eyes since this was the first I was hearing about him biting me. “Will it hurt?”
“No, baby.” He licked the spot where my shoulder and neck met, and it sent a pulse of heat through my body. “Since you’re my fated mate, my bite will set you off again. You’ll only feel pure pleasure.”
I thought about it. “And then we’d be real mates?”
“We’re already mates, Rowan.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “No matter what you decide, I will always be yours. But this will solidify the bond between us.”
I loved how he worded that—the idea of him being mine forever. I wanted what he described so badly. That made my answer simple. “Do it, Bexley. Mark me.”
A primal growl tore from his throat as he dipped his head, then his canines lengthened against my skin. I felt how sharp they were, but I wasn’t scared. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would never hurt me.
He sank his teeth into the tender flesh of my shoulder, and it felt as though time stopped. Pleasure exploded through me as another orgasm ripped through my body, stronger than anything before.
I cried out, clenching around him as the bond snapped into place like a lock clicking shut. My heart felt full.
Bexley was mine. Truly, irrevocably mine.
And I was his right back.
He licked over the mark, soothing the sting, and his bear rumbled in satisfaction. Then he collapsed over me and rolled onto his back so that I was sprawled on top of his chest. “You’re mine now, baby. Forever.”
I sighed, soft and sated, fingers tracing lazy circles on his back. “And you’re mine.”