“No.” His voice was low. “That was barely better. Maybe I just need to show you.”
I shivered at the heat in his stare. My entire body tightened. “Maybe you do.”
And he did—oh God, did he ever. Last night had been sweet and slow and mind-blowingly perfect, but this was something entirely different and just as heart-stopping. There was a razor edge of desperation to each kiss, to each touch. A rawness had built between us, increasing with every breath we took. Daemon moved over me and then inside me, turning the slow fire into a tempest that burned out of control. My hands grasped at him as the tension inside me unfurled, and the edges of his body blurred as whatever restraint he had snapped.
Neither of us moved for what felt like ages. Our hips still pressed tightly together. My arms locked around his neck. One of his hands lay against my cheek, the other curved around my waist. Even when he rolled onto his side, he brought me with him. He didn’t have much of a choice. I wasn’t letting him go. I didn’t want to. I wanted to press stop on everything and stay there, right there with him. Because I knew the moment we left this bed, left this room, an unknown reality waited. Serious stuff needed to be decided. Decisions that none of us could go back on had to be made.
But I thought about the every-morning thing—the forever. No matter what we faced, we would face it together. That made me ready.
“What are you thinking about, Kitten?” he asked, brushing the hair off my cheek.
I opened my eyes and smiled. “I was just thinking about the things we need to decide on.”
“Me, too.” He kissed me. “But I think we need to be showered and changed before we go down that road.”
I laughed. “True.”
“Have I told you that I love the sound of your laugh? Doesn’t matter. I’m going to tell you again. I love the sound of your laugh.”
“And I love you.” I pressed my lips to his and then sat up, taking the sheet with me. “I call dibs on the shower.”
Daemon rose up on his elbow. “We can always do it together.”
“Yeah, we’d end up needing a shower after taking a shower.” Wrapping the sheet around me, I scooted off the bed. “I’ll be back.”
He winked. “I’ll be waiting.”
…
Daemon
If I’d had any doubts about Kat being the perfect female before, all doubts would’ve been cleared up right then. She took a shower in less than five minutes. Remarkable. I hadn’t even thought that was humanly possible. Dee’s idea of a quick shower was fifteen minutes.
And then she came out, a towel secured under her arms, as she dabbed at her soaked hair. When she looked over at the bed, a pretty flush crawled across her cheeks.
Guess I could’ve put some clothes on, but then I’d miss that blush of hers.
Throwing my legs off the bed, I strolled over. As I passed her, I tweaked her pink cheek. Her face flamed even brighter, and I laughed as she muttered something very unladylike under her breath.
The bathroom was nice and steamy. As I stood under the showerhead, letting the water beat down on my face, I thought about last night, about this morning. My thoughts spun further back, to the first time I’d seen Kat walking out her front door, heading over to my house to ask directions. Even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it in that moment, she had sunk her claws into me, and I didn’t want them out.
At that point, my brain pretty much unloaded a bunch of crap on me. Bringing up memories I’d almost forgotten—of Kat arguing with me over the flower bed and refusing to go to the lake with me the day Dee had hid my keys. Like I had needed my keys to go somewhere. Even then I’d been looking for a reason to spend time with her. There were so many moments. Like when she went ninja on the Arum after homecoming. She had risked her life for me, even when I’d been nothing but a giant tool to her. And Halloween night? She would’ve died for Dee and me.
I would’ve died for her.
Where would we go from there? Not just where would we end up living or any of that crap, but both of us had and would sacrifice just about anything for each other. There was a next step involved. I thought about the car ride there, when I’d been staring at her left hand.
My heart did a funny thing in my chest, something between a panicked squeeze and an excited jump. I dipped my head back under the stream. Something was building in my chest, piling up until there was no denying what I wanted. My hands curled into fists against the tile.
Shit.
Was I really thinking this? Yes. Did I really want this? Hell yes. Was it probably the craziest thing I’d ever considered? Most definitely. Was it going to stop me? Nah. Did I feel like I was going to pass out? Only a little.
I’d been in the shower for more than fifteen minutes.
I was such a girl.
That panicked/excited feeling was increasing as I turned to the faucets, shutting the water off. My hand trembled a little, and my eyes narrowed.
I should really think about this.
Then again, who was I kidding? When I set my mind to something, I did it. And my mind was set. No pu**yfooting around it. No point in waiting. It was right. It felt right. And that’s what mattered—the only thing that mattered.
I was in love with her. I would always be.
Wrapping a towel around my hips, I entered the bedroom. Kat sat on the bed, cross-legged in jeans and wearing her My Blog Is Better than Your Vlog shirt. Yep, that pretty much sealed the deal for me.
“So I was thinking,” I said, my mouth moving before my brain really caught up with it. “There’re eighty-six thousand, four hundred seconds in a day, right? There’re one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes in a day.”