Chapter 16
Sam’s hands found the hidden zipper of her dress. He lowered it slowly, the rasp of the zipper unnaturally loud in the quiet room. The midnight blue silk loosened, and Claudia shivered as cool air hit her newly exposed skin.
“You’re so beautiful,” Sam murmured, easing the dress down over her hips. It pooled at her feet in a whisper of silk, leaving her in just the delicate undergarments Maurice had insisted were necessary beneath such a dress.
Claudia fought the urge to cover herself. She wasn’t ashamed, but she was acutely aware that Sam was still fully dressed, still in control, while she was essentially bare before him.
As if reading her thoughts, Sam shrugged out of his jacket and began unbuttoning his shirt. “Fair is fair.”
She watched, mesmerized, as more of him was revealed.
The heavily roped muscle of his upper body that she’d suspected but never seen, the golden skin marked with a few faint scars.
When he stripped off the rest of his clothes, Claudia reached out tentatively, running her fingers over his chest, feeling his heart hammering beneath her palm.
“You’re shaking.”
“So are you.”
He laughed, the sound strained. “I’ve wanted this for so long, I’m half-convinced I’m going to wake up and find out this is just a dream.”
“It’s not a dream.” Claudia went up on her toes and kissed him again, slower this time, deeper. She felt his arms come around her, skin against skin, and the rightness of it made her magic hum in her veins.
Sam lifted her onto the bed, following her down, and for a while, there was nothing but sensation. His hands learning the geography of her body, her fingers tracing the planes of his back. Kisses that turned desperate, then gentle, then desperate again.
He kissed his way down her throat, and she gasped.
The slight scruff of his jaw felt amazingly intimate against the tender skin of her breasts.
He tugged the cups of her bra downward in a masterful move that made her gasp and left no room for doubt.
And when his tongue swirled around one of her nipples, her whole body jerked in response. That felt so good.
“I see you like that,” he rasped. She felt his grin against her skin as he switched to the other side.
He didn’t wait for her response, which was a good thing because she couldn’t have formed a coherent thought when he was licking her body and driving her wild. She’d never felt the things she was feeling with Sam. She’d never realized her body could rise to such a level of passion.
She’d been with a few men over her years. Not many and not often, but she’d been around enough to have formed the opinion that sex wasn’t really that big a deal. It had never been the way poets and romance novels described it. At least not for her.
Sam was proving her conclusions wrong. Totally and completely wrong. And she’d never been so glad to be wrong in her entire life. Sam was showing her a whole new level of pleasure, and they hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet.
He worked his way down her body, his hands moving over her skin and coming to rest on the thin lace of her designer panties. He looked up at her and cocked his head with a devilish tilt to his lips, as if considering ripping them off her, but he seemed to decide against it.
She was glad because the underwear was new and the nicest she’d ever worn. Even if it would have been a fantastic boost to her ego to have him rip her clothes off, literally, she didn’t want to lose the pretty, not to mention costly, garments.
When he tugged the lace down over her hips and then down her thighs, she felt her stomach tighten with excitement.
The miniscule panties disappeared over the side of the bed, and then, he put both hands on her knees and parted her thighs, claiming his place between them, as if he’d always belonged there.
And perhaps he had. Maybe he was the man meant to be her lover from the dawn of time.
She really had no idea. She only knew that she wanted him more than any other man she’d ever known, and she was about ready to give him anything and everything he asked of her.
She felt fate riding her actions and knew she could never deny this man.
He was too darn special and too much the Alpha and king of all he surveyed to say no to him.
His gaze zeroed in on the place revealed as he spread her thighs, and she wasn’t sure what he intended until he lowered his head to kiss the slight swell of her belly.
His tongue dipped into her bellybutton briefly before he moved lower, his hands leading the way as his fingers spread her wide open.
Then he gave her the most intimate kiss of all, his tongue stroking and then licking inward in a way that made her writhe on the bed.
All the while, his strong hands gripped her hips, holding her in place for his plunder.
She reached a quick, hard climax and was left panting as her breath left her momentarily.
When she opened her eyes and met his gaze, she found him resting between her legs, a pleased smirk on his face as he toyed gently with her before sliding one long finger inside her.
She sucked in a breath at the unexpected motion, then began the rise to pleasure all over again as he moved that finger in and out in an imitation of what he would do next with his cock. She hoped.
She really couldn’t wait much longer. Her senses were spinning out of control, and she wanted more than just his fingers.
“Sam!” she pleaded, unable to form sentences, but thankfully, he seemed to know what she wanted.
He rose over her, his fingers still sliding inside her, driving her higher. He was so big and muscular, she should have felt dwarfed by him. Instead, she felt covered. Protected. Cherished.
He removed his fingers for a moment, moving instead to place his hard cock against the wet entrance that was so, so ready for him. Sam closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, they glowed with his lion’s light.
“Mine,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.
“Yours,” Claudia agreed.
When Sam claimed her body with his, it felt like coming home. Like finding the missing piece she hadn’t known she was looking for. Claudia’s magic rose unbidden, wrapping around him with golden light, and Sam’s lion purred in response, his power twining with hers.
He pumped into her, driving her wild as the flames rose and threatened to consume her from within.
Her magic leaked out a little, and as when they were dancing, sparkles of light filled the room.
She didn’t care. She felt the way her magic rose along with her passion and the answering shifter magic that was somehow earthier than hers, rising to meet it and twine with it in a dance almost as intricate as that of their bodies.
And when the crisis point came, the little sparks of her magic that hung in the room burst like tiny fireworks as her passion exploded into climax along with his. They came together, him growling, her sobbing as a pleasure so great she hadn’t known it existed rang through her body.
It was at that moment that she knew she would never be the same again.
After, when they lay tangled together in the sheets, Sam’s hand stroking lazy patterns on her skin, Claudia felt more at peace than she could ever remember feeling.
“No regrets?” Sam asked, his voice rumbling against her ear where she rested her head on his chest.
“Nope.” She pressed a kiss to his collarbone. “You?”
His arms tightened around her. “Just that I wasted so much time maintaining a distance from you. I thought I was being noble, but I denied us this for far too long.”
“We were both a little obtuse.” Claudia smiled, tracing one of the faint scars on his ribs. “But we’re here now. That’s what really matters.”
They lay in comfortable silence for a while, the sounds of Monaco’s nightlife filtering up through the windows. Finally, Sam spoke again.
“When we go back to Houston, I want you to move into the main house. Not the guest house. I want you with me.” He tilted her face up to meet his eyes.
“I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want everyone in the Clan to know you’re mine and I’m yours.
I want—” He stopped himself. “I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? ”
“Maybe a little.” But Claudia was smiling. “Though I’m not opposed to any of that. We’ll just have to figure out the details.”
“Details can wait.” Sam rolled them over so he was looking down at her. “Right now, I just want to memorize this moment. You, here with me, looking at me like I’m worth something.”
“You’re worth everything,” Claudia said fiercely. “Don’t ever doubt that.”
Sam kissed her again, and soon, talking gave way to other things. They made love twice more that night, each time learning more about each other, building something new between them.
As they lay together in the aftermath, Sam couldn’t remember a time when he’d been happier or felt more complete. Claudia was in his arms, and she would be in his house and in his life for the rest of their days.
She ran her fingers over his chest, laying at his side in the soft light from the bedside lamp.
She moved drowsily, and when she looked up to meet his gaze, her eyes were dreamy and content.
She looked well-loved and worn-out. If not for the latter, he’d already be making love to her again, but his highest priority now was to take care of his mate.
He would never do anything to hurt her in any way, even if that meant curbing his own desires until she was more comfortable with him, both mentally and physically.
“Did I imagine it or did you want me to move in with you?” she asked, her voice soft and a bit slurred with fatigue, but still filled with wonder and overtones of joy.
“You didn’t imagine it, sweetheart. I want you in my house. I want you in my life.”
“Does that mean…?” She rose a bit on her elbow to meet his gaze. “Does that mean you’re my mate?”
“You couldn’t tell?” Sam asked, smiling at her adorable confusion.
“Well, I felt our magic meet and twine. That’s supposed to mean something among mages, but I wasn’t sure how that applied to shifters,” she admitted. Her eyes looked so hopeful, he had to lean over and kiss her. He just couldn’t help himself.
When he drew back, he was still smiling. “Yes, Claudia. You are my mate. Is that okay with you?” He almost held his breath, awaiting her answer.
“It’s more than okay,” she whispered, her eyes shining with emotion.
He kissed her again, and he felt the rumble of his cat’s purr in his chest. That was it then. The proof he hadn’t really needed. She was his mate. She’d made him purr in human form. For cat shifters, that was the ultimate sign that one had found his one true mate. Thanks be to the Mother of All.
Knowing he couldn’t push her any further tonight and that they both needed to rest for what would come tomorrow, he ended the kiss and tucked her back into his arms as they lay on the bed.
She settled with her cheek resting against his shoulder and her palm open over his heart with his hand on top of hers, keeping her close.
He took a moment to appreciate the way she felt against him, so right, so pure, and the feelings so powerful.
He hadn’t known what he’d been missing until now, and once again, he sent a prayer of thanks heavenward to the Mother of All for giving him this special treasure.
He counted himself truly blessed to have finally found his mate.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms and didn’t wake until the alarm went off the next morning.