Avenging Angel (The Fallen #4)(76)

The water poured over them, and she gave him a smile of pure sin. Not an angel.

Then she stepped out of the shower. Naked, body glistening, she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

Compared to her, he was big, rough, and scarred.

But her eyes were hot as they tracked over him, and Marna licked her lips as she stared at his erection. “If you want me,” she said, “come and get me.”

Just the kind of game that the beast inside liked. Nothing was better than a hunt for your mate.

Mate.

The word had slipped through his mind again, but as she disappeared through the open doorway, he knew that was exactly what she was.

Did she realize it?

Tanner yanked the shower knob and turned off the blasting water. The drip, drip, drip of the water followed him as he followed her, nice and slow. No need to rush. He’d get her in his bed.

Sooner, not later.

Tanner didn’t bother drying off. What was the point? She had him so hot steam was rising from his own skin.

The bedroom was dark. The bed was empty. His gaze scanned to the left. The right—

“Get in bed,” Marna told him.

His eyebrows rose. Since when was Marna into giving orders?

But he’d keep playing, for now.

He climbed into the bed. Still naked, she crept from the shadows. Did she know how well he could see in the dark? She should. The lady seemed to know all the secrets that shifters carried.

Marna stared down at him; then she climbed onto the bed. The mattress dipped beneath her weight.

Her hands pressed against his legs. “I’ve been wondering . . .” Her breath blew lightly over his aroused flesh. “Just how you’d taste.”

Then she put her mouth on him, and Tanner couldn’t think about anything else.

Hot. Wet.

She kissed him. Sucked his flesh. Took him deep into her mouth.

Too damn good.

His flesh stretched even more. His balls tightened. Her mouth and tongue were hesitant at first, as if she was unsure, but she was so sensual and her mouth felt f*cking great.

His hips arched toward her. He wanted to bury his hands in her hair and push her to a faster, harder rhythm. Instead, his claws sank into the mattress on either side of him. He wouldn’t push her.

Pleasure.

He’d take what she gave him—and they’d both burn with pleasure.

His claws dug deeper. Her tongue licked over him.

Tanner’s eyes squeezed closed. Her mouth . . . Marna was one fast learner. But he didn’t want this to be just about him. “Stop,” he growled out, “before I come.”

Another lick. Another silken caress of lips and tongue, but then she pulled back. His eyes opened.

“I like the way you taste,” she whispered.

He lunged off the bed. Tumbled her back onto the mattress. In one move, Tanner parted her legs and drove into her in a thrust so deep they both shuddered.

Not enough.

He withdrew. Thrust again. Her legs wrapped around him, and her hips arched. Harder. Faster. Their pants filled the air. His orgasm pushed down on him. So close.

Her first. The thought that he was the first man to know her sweet flesh still staggered him. The first, the only.

He pushed into her again. Again. She was wet and hot, and he took her breast into his mouth. Licked. Sucked.

She gasped his name. Her sex clenched around him. Almost there. Almost.

He drove into her once more. Felt the climax that shook her whole body. When she opened her mouth to cry out, he caught the sound with his own lips.

Then he came. So long and hard that his body felt hollowed out and empty when he was done. Pleasure. So intense that it left him wondering . . .

How the hell did I go without her for so long?

Nothing had ever been this good. No one else ever would be.

He was so f*cked.

His claws had retracted. He lifted his hand and brushed back the hair from her cheek. Her lashes rose as she stared at him. Hell, he had to be crushing her. Tanner eased his cock from her silken sheath, hating to take his body from hers, and it was right then that he realized—

No protection.

His heart stopped. Shifters didn’t generally have to worry about condoms. They couldn’t catch the diseases humans spread and as for pregnancy—well, most shifters wanted to be able to have kids. Only they couldn’t have a child with just anyone. Their partner had to be a perfect genetic match-up. One strong enough to carry a shifter child.

One strong enough to be a . . . mate.

Like Marna was.

“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t look at her eyes. He pulled her back up to the head of the bed. Arranged her on the pillows and made sure to tuck the covers around her.

But she laughed. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Trust me, Tanner, I think I was the rough one, not you.” Her little nails had dug into his back, and her legs had squeezed so perfectly.

He liked it rough.

He shook his head. She didn’t understand. “I didn’t . . . use anything.” Not any of the times he’d been with her.

Fucking blind. That’s what he’d been. Desperate. Crazy or—

His jaw clenched. Or maybe he’d been trying to hedge his bets. Had he done that? Unconsciously? Had the beast wanted a chance to take her—all of her?

“Use anything?” she repeated and Tanner forced himself to meet her stare. Her eyes widened. “You mean—”