Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34228 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34228 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
I was frozen in place as I watched him rise, uncoiling that huge body off that little boulder. I tipped my head back so I could keep looking in his face.
“I may be young,” I whispered as I leaned back, my hands braced behind me on the rock, and stared into his face. “But I know what it means to find your other half. I know what it means to your kind to find your Linked Mate.” I licked my suddenly dry lips and heard him groan deeply. “I’m not trying to run, but I am trying to understand all of this.”
He moved closer and closer until he was in front of me. He was so big, towering over me, the scent of him so wild and exotic and like nothing I’d ever smelled before.
I watched as he swallowed, the thick cords of his muscles moving from the act. And when he lifted his hand and moved it toward me, I swore my heart literally stopped.
“Ah, hell,” he groaned, and quicker than I anticipated, his fingers were brushing against my forehead as he pushed away an errant strand that had fallen out of my braid. “So soft.”
I was embarrassed by the sound I made from that gentle touch, just the pad of his finger skating across my skin yet feeling like I was buried alive. His eyes seemed to glow even brighter, even bluer. My body felt like it wasn’t my own, as if I were living in this alternate reality where all I could do was go through the motions.
And then he groaned and reached out again, running a big, callused finger along my temple, then lower along my cheek. When I felt his thumb brush along my bottom lip and saw his mouth part, I felt mine do the same in response.
For long seconds, all he did was press the pad of his thumb to my mouth, the pressure so light it was like he was almost afraid of me.
“Yer smell,” he said, but it sounded as if he spoke to himself, and his eyes closed briefly before opening again. “So fooking good. So sweet. So… mine.”
I held my breath, feeling my pulse race faster as he lowered that big, powerful body down until we were eye to eye. He blocked out everything behind him with his broad shoulders and wide chest. All I could see, feel, hear, and smell was him.
And then he was moving closer, the scent of him making my head so fuzzy I couldn’t think straight. My body was so overheated right now, but I still felt chills moving along my arms and legs. I held my breath the closer his face came to mine, his thumb moving away from my mouth as his gaze took the spot.
I was so wet, my thighs slick from my need, my nipples hard points that stabbed through the thin material of my outfit.
He was so close, his lips an inch from mine, so close I could taste his breath along my mouth, a masculine, dark and spicy flavor that had a soft moan spilling from me.
“Sweet Luna,” he whispered. “I need tae kiss ye, lass. I need tae taste ye.”
I felt my eyes close on their own accord, felt myself lean in closer.
“I’ve never needed anything as much as I need ye.” I felt his forehead rest against mine, and a soft gust of air left me at that small contact. It seemed so sweet and timid for such a big, almost brutish male.
For a suspended moment, we stayed like that, my eyes closed. The only thing I was focused on was the feeling of his body surrounding me, his scent filling my nose, my want so powerful that my fingers shook. I was panting like I’d run, so out of breath that I felt dizzy from hyperventilating.
Kiss me. Kiss me!
And as if I’d spoken those words out loud, as if he’d probed into my mind and plucked them out, Banner gave a harsh groan and then pressed his mouth to mine. It was only a gentle brush of his lips against mine, but I felt the heat spearing all the way from the top of my head down to my toes. My scalp tingled, my nipples hard, my inner muscles clenching so painfully the sound that left me was almost guttural in intensity.
I’d never kissed a man before, never had one touch me. I was innocent in all ways; my body’s reaction, the arousal I felt were strictly for my mate alone. And goodness, how he awoke that desire with a fierce passion, so strong it was like I had my own wild animal inside of me.
I wanted to throw caution away and just do what was making me feel good. I wanted more of it. I needed it. And so hesitantly, tentatively, I stroked my tongue along the seam of his mouth. I could feel his body tense even further and felt the vibrations from the low rumble that came from his chest.