Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
He could hear her because she was making no effort to be quiet—and he knew she’d shifted out of her feline form even before she appeared in the doorway, a goddess naked to the skin with a smile in her eyes.
In a heartbeat, contentment roared into a feral kind of hunger. He’d already taken off his blazer inside, didn’t have that hurdle. Partially unbuttoning his shirt as he strode to her, he pulled it off over his head and dropped it on the verandah, kicked off his shoes, then took her face in his hands.
Kissing, the raw intimacy of it, was still so new and yet so vital to his existence. He wrapped her up in his arms, this woman of heart and steel, and he kissed her long and deep, drinking her in until she moaned, small claws pricking into his back.
He stroked his hand down the sweeping line of her back to the curves below. She was still too thin, but she wasn’t fragile in the least, her strength a thing of courage and grit. So he held nothing back. Could hold nothing back. He kissed her with the fury of the turbulent storm inside him.
Nimble hands at his waist, her fingers slipping his belt buckle free, undoing his jeans, unzipping him. His entire chest clenched when she closed her fingers around him. He still wasn’t used to anyone else’s hands on his body, far less on that most intimate part of him. She squeezed gently, then slid her hand down before sliding it back up.
Ivan’s control shattered like a glass wall that had been hit at the bottom, the cracks spreading outward at a velocity nothing could stop. His mind hazed by need, by greed, by hunger, he didn’t want to stop it. Closing one hand around her throat, he rubbed the pad of his thumb possessively over her plump lower lip. “Bedroom.”
As she shivered, he took his hands off her only long enough to strip off what clothing remained on him. She returned to his arms the instant he was done, small claws stroking up and down his spine and a purr rumbling in her chest when he bent to suck at her throat.
Because his lover wasn’t human or Psy, was changeling.
He nudged her backward, leading her to the bedroom even as he licked and tasted and kissed. He’d never get enough of her, of his healer with the spark in her eyes and the heart so soft it saw goodness even in him. Who had chosen him over life itself.
I would rather have a single perfect day with you than a lifetime without you.
The words reverberated around and around in his mind even as he picked her up, then put her with care onto the low bed. Her eyes were of the ocelot, tawny and gold and wild. Lips curved, she rose up onto all fours, then onto her knees to stroke her palms over his thighs.
He went to nudge her back so he could join her on the bed, but that wasn’t what she had in mind. He bit off a single harsh word, not ready for her mouth closing over the head of his erection, the hot wetness, the suction. It went straight to his brain, the sensations exploding inside him in violent bursts that threatened to melt his neural tissue.
He valued control above all things, but this was Soleil. His mate.
Fisting handfuls of her hair, he held his body in place as she drove him to the edge of sanity, and demanded more, still more. When he felt the release begin to build in him, a tight knot at the base of his spine that was shoving outward with inexorable force, he managed to grind out a wordless warning.
His mate kneaded his buttocks with her claws, and sucked hard one last time.
Chapter 45
Je t’aime … mi corazón. I was … so lucky … to get to love you and our … petite Leilei. See you … in … in—
—Hinemoa Bijoux
IVAN LAY ON his back, his chest heaving and the tiny hairs at his forehead damp. He was fairly certain his heart was racing at Mach speed.
Soleil lay on her stomach next to him, kicking up her legs while giving him the most satisfied smile he’d ever seen. As if she was delighted with herself. It was a quintessentially feline expression and he adored it. He wasn’t a man used to thinking in such terms, but it was the only one that fit.
She was so smug and happy with herself. He loved seeing her this way.
When she pressed a kiss to his chest, then rose, he grabbed at her hand. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “I’m just getting a glass of water.” A wicked grin. “Got something a little salty in my mouth.”