“Good.”
He leaned forward until his palms hovered a hair’s breadth over her breasts. Sasha drew a deep breath and that small distance disappeared. When her eyes flew open at his touch, he started to pull back, but she stopped him by putting her hands on his.
“I like when you touch me.”
So he did, gently kneading the soft curves until her nipples pebbled. As much as he wanted to linger there, he had more territory to cover. He continued down her sides to the curve of her hips and then checked each of her legs, top to bottom and back again. Sasha’s breathing had sped up, as had his.
He held his palms over her stomach, smiling at the fierce bit of life that had taken hold there. Male, female, it didn’t matter. The miracle was that he and Sasha had created the child together. He lowered his mouth down to press a kiss right above where his child rested, smiling when Sasha’s legs stirred and her hips flexed.
The exam was quickly becoming a seduction. He eased the waistband of her PJ bottoms down and kissed the same spot again and then lower and lower still. Sasha lifted her hips in encouragement. He quickly peeled her pajamas off and then took his time driving his lover wild with his touch and his tongue.
Sasha shattered once and then a second time before she said, “Larem, I want you up here. Naked. Now.”
She punctuated her demands by taking off her top and flinging it aside. He’d never seen a more beautiful sight than this woman staring at him with such powerful desire in her eyes. His boxers joined her pajamas on the floor.
Then they were skin to skin, his knee between hers, pressing against the damp heat at the juncture of her thighs. He kissed her, trying to go slow and losing the battle. Sasha’s hands were everywhere, touching, teasing, stroking until she’d shredded what little sanity he had left.
“Sasha, I need to . . . no, we need to slow down.”
But how could he when everything she did only drove them both crazy? Finally, he wrested control of the situation by pinning her hands over her head while he did his own little bit of tormenting. She arched back, demanding more, as he nuzzled and tongued her breasts into stiff peaks.
“Like that?”
Her expression turned solemn. “I like all of this, so much that it scares me.”
She was right. What they shared was incredibly powerful. He wasn’t sure where this exploration would take them, but right now it was simply too amazing to resist. He released her hands.
“I won’t hurt you, Sasha.”
She stroked the side of his face. “You can’t promise that, Larem, but I believe you mean it.”
He wanted to deny the truth of that but wouldn’t lie to her, either. Instead, he set about stoking the fire again. Conscious of the vestiges of yesterday’s injuries, he didn’t want her to bear his weight. Instead, he turned her on her side facing away from him, her back against his chest. He lifted her leg back over his hips.
Slowly, he pressed forward, seating his cock deep within her welcoming heat. Sasha’s head kicked back as he thrust in and out, her eyes half shut, her breath coming in shallow puffs, matching his rhythm. He memorized her satin smooth skin, the plump softness of her breasts, the way they fit perfectly in his hand. He loved the firm curve of her hips, flexing to absorb the power of his thrusts, and the throaty little moan she made when he moved in exactly the right way.
There was no longer a Larem and a Sasha. It was as if they had forged someone new, a combination of the two seeking the ultimate joining. He stroked her with his fingers as he accelerated the pace, no longer able to rein in his need to take her fast and hard. Sasha whimpered and called his name. Then she was shuddering in his arms, pressing back against him as he rode out his climax.
Then the tension melted away, both left gasping for breath and basking in the aftermath. He gently kissed the back of her neck; there were no words for what had just happened between them.
Larem reluctantly withdrew from her body, once again stretching out beside her. “Are you all right? Was I too rough?”
“You were perfect. In fact—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Chance made his presence known, throwing a major fit in the other room. Larem could just make out the sound of the doorbell over the racket. There was a definite note of danger in Chance’s bark that had Larem rolling out of bed, pausing only long enough to snag his pants and shirt on the way out.
The dog stopped barking as soon as Larem reached the living room. Even so, he growled deep in his chest, positioning himself firmly in front of the door.
Larem checked the time. Had Devlin said that Barak was coming this morning or that Larem was supposed to call him? Who else could it be? All he could tell through the frosty glass in the front door was that the unexpected guests were most likely male.
He hopped on one foot and then the other to pull on his jeans and then yanked his shirt on over his head. Palming the gun Devlin had left with him, he disconnected the security system and then threw the dead bolt. Opening the door a few inches, he peered out.
Two young Paladins stood flanking a disgruntled-looking human male, perhaps in his late fifties. The human had been glaring at his captors but immediately turned his bad mood in Larem’s direction.
“Who is this guy?” Larem and the stranger asked at the same time.