Chapter Twelve
When Devon woke the following morning, it was with an automatic smile on her face before she even opened her eyes.
She felt warm male all along her body and under her cheek.
She opened her eyes to find Liam sprawled over a large percentage of the bed on his stomach, and she was lying over him like his own personal blanket, her cheek nestled in the center of his back between his shoulder blades.
She tilted her nose up and she could see the fine hairs that had grown back since his barber had last neatened the cut of his hair on the back of his neck.
Her left leg was thrown over the backs of his thighs, her belly curved over his backside.
How he could sleep comfortably with almost all of her weight lying along his back was fascinating to her.
She was also surprised to realize she was quite comfortable herself.
She smiled against his skin and reached up to brush her fingers over the previously noticed hairs on the back of his neck.
They were soft and prickly at the same time and she gently stroked them into the same direction.
She had never made a habit of sleeping with males.
Perhaps when she had been younger and more trusting, but once she had begun to learn the hard lessons of the world they lived in, she had grown very cautious.
Yet it seemed caution had abandoned her along with everything else as far as Liam Nash was concerned.
A human male. And yet she had felt more pleasure under his kisses and engulfing hands than she could remember ever feeling with the unmemorable Morphate males she’d encountered since her change.
That was saying a great deal, considering the extent of her lifetime.
What was it that made him different? Certainly the acts had been familiar enough …
and then again, not. Her entire body tingled to life with the mere memory of how Liam had burned her body with his combination of passion, humor, and candor of response.
Devon breathed in deep the warmed scent of their bodies.
They combined well: Liam smelling of maleness, grass, and the lightest trace of gun oil; she of her own femininity, herbal shampoo, and the touch of her favorite perfume.
Among all of that was the unmistakable eroticism of their sexual activities the night before, a heady musk as classic as time and mating itself.
The remnants of perspiration and arousal were tangled in the laundered scent of the bedding.
For a species that thrived on its senses, it was a banquet of pleasure all in itself, stimulating and easily stirring the sensations of the night before back to life.
Devon slid her palm down over Liam’s shoulders, careful of both the dressing she had placed on one shoulder and the fresher wound she’d created on the other, gliding along his back and the smooth expanse of tight, firm skin and muscle.
There wasn’t an inch of fat on him that she could find last night or even now.
Every pound was pure sinew, shaped for form and function both, tempered for flexibility and speed as well as power.
She sighed with contentment and delight as her hand slid into the narrowing of his waist and the lower dip of his spine.
She went on easily to the rise of a firm, wonderfully shaped buttock.
She smiled with satisfied pleasure as she fondled the sexy shape, the marks she had left there as well, and then smoothed her way to his thigh.
“You know, in some countries taking advantage of a person while they are unconscious can be construed as rape.”
Devon snorted out a laugh at the idea. Liam had mumbled out the accusation from among his pillows, but she didn’t stay her exploration. She reversed her path now, and, since he was awake, added the lightest touch of nails to her travels.
“I guess that makes me a criminal then,” she mused as she lingered over the now-flexed muscles of his backside. One of these days, she would have to take a bite out of his extremely gorgeous ass. She licked her lips in anticipation of the very idea. “And you my hapless victim,” she added.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he said, quickly sounding fully awake.
His hand slid back and seized her at the waist, but she had the advantage since he was pinned down under her weight.
“Devon, I can tell by looking out the window that I’m late,” he tried to reason with her.
“The kids’ll be looking for me soon, if they aren’t already. ”
“Mmm, and finding you naked in my bed would be a bad thing … for all involved, or so you say,” she chuckled.
“But I have to tell you, it seems to be working pretty good for me. You too, I think.” She supported the observation by sliding her hand between his hips and the bedding, fingers seeking evidence of her claim.
She purred in contentment when she found him suitably hard and heated, her hand curling around him as he absently lifted his hips to accommodate them both.
She didn’t think he was even aware of making the movement and it made her laugh in soft triumph.
“Hey, that’s …” He stopped long enough to groan at the play of her hand. “That’s not fair. It is morning you know, and men just wake up that way.”
“Yes, I know. How accommodating of you.”
Liam grinned into his pillow, feeling her wriggle along the length of his body.
He timed his reaction just right, waiting until she partially lifted her own weight as she tried to move.
With a single arm he pushed them both up.
Normally he would have done it already, but he had to be cautious of his stitched shoulder.
Besides, he was amused by the idea that she thought her weight was capable of keeping him pinned to the bed.
However, he proved her wrong, hauling himself up so fast that she was dumped off of him with a squeal, rolling right off the edge of the bed.
He left her there, swinging up to his feet as she scrambled to hands and knees with an indignant sputtering of curses.
Liam stretched, grinning ear-to-ear, and walked into the bathroom without so much as a backward glance.
“You are going to pay for that!” she promised his back furiously.
Devon got to her feet, dusting off her indignity with a frown of consternation.
Men! One minute it’s flat out seduction and lust, the next they threw you off as if you barely existed!
She looked at his scattered clothing on the floor and contemplated throwing it out a window, but his belongings were right across the hall, and she didn’t think it would faze him in the least to cross the hallway naked.
Well, fine, she thought as she snatched up her robe, two can play this game.
She drifted into her robe and marched across the hall to his bedroom suite, smiling when she thought of him emerging from the master bath and wondering where she’d disappeared to.
She went into his bathroom and stripped again, taking a moment to survey the masculine tidbits of a shaving kit, aftershave, and comb.
He’d find her soon enough when he came in search of a shave. Meanwhile, she’d enjoy a shower.
Devon drenched herself under the multiple sprays with a sigh of exultation.
The hot water felt good as it worked out the kinks of her unusual sleeping position.
She regretfully washed away the traces of their night together, feeling as though it hadn’t lasted nearly long enough, wondering if Liam would want to return to her bed tonight as well.
The pure fact of the matter was she enjoyed him.
Like no other before him. And she longed for him even now.
It would be interesting to see if he would continue to fascinate her and her carnal appetites.
Honestly, she didn’t see his humor or personality disappointing her anytime soon, so that left the simple question of whether his human stamina would bear up under her very inhuman sexual needs.
Devon’s Morphate hearing picked up the sound of the bedroom door opening and she smothered a laugh.
She heard his footsteps padding across the carpet, but she didn’t notice anything wrong until just before he reached the bathroom door.
Too late, she realized the step was lighter than Liam’s and encased in heavy boots.
She certainly didn’t think Liam would put his boots back on just to cross the hall …
“Hey Liam, the troops are wondering where you are. Shake a leg, bro!”
Colin walked into the bathroom without so much as a knock. And why should he? It was Liam’s room and he was Liam’s brother. Apparently privacy was not expected between the two siblings.
Devon hit the taps and turned just as Colin screeched to a shocked halt in the center of the bathroom floor.
He stared at her through the transparent glass, his mouth dropping the long distance to the floor and his gray eyes going incredibly wide.
Devon slicked back her wet hair and smiled when she saw the color rushing up the soldier’s neck.
“Morning, Colin,” she greeted, stepping out of the shower. “Could you toss me a towel?”
Colin took a long beat, then reached for the nearby pile while he continued to stare at her.
She didn’t think it had anything to do with her body, because his eyes never dropped from her face.
It was merely the inconceivable idea of her being in his brother’s shower that floored him.
Colin tossed the towel at her just as Devon heard Liam enter the bedroom.
She quickly wrapped herself up as he approached the bath.
“Hey, babe, where’d you …” Liam stepped through the door, a towel around his hips, and stopped short when he caught the tableau before him, “… disappear to,” he finished automatically and unnecessarily.
His gaze swung from her to Colin and he frowned in a way that darkened his eyes deeply.
A tick developed in his tensing jaw almost instantly.