Every Miraculous Moment (Hyena Heat #6)(10)
“How about you first and then me?”
“Fine, be all noble.”
He laughed as he carried her down the hall to her room. She swiped her key card through the reader, and he pushed it open. He set her down but kept his hand on her hip, his palm warm against her. She wasn’t normally so chilled, but the stress of shifting so rapidly had left her feeling cold. Except when Mack was holding her. She felt downright toasty with him.
She looked up at him, aware she was ogling him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but stare. He was so gorgeous; she was certain she’d never seen a more handsome male. His gray eyes were stormy with emotion, swirling with the amber of his beast. His thick dark hair was just made for grasping in the throes of passion, and his broad shoulders and tapered waist were the stuff of female fantasy.
He spun her, pressing her back against the door. Lowering his head, he kissed the side of her neck, his lips making a slow path from her shoulder to her ear. He grasped her hair, wrapping it around his hand and tugging it gently to the side. Her whole body lit up as he inhaled deeply against her neck and then growled as he exhaled. “I could eat you up,” he said gruffly. “You smell amazing, like the mountains and sunshine.”
She fisted his shirt with both hands and said his name. Her brain was misfiring. The sexy male pressing against her, doing wicked things to her neck, was everything she’d ever wanted and never had. Strong, considerate, commanding. And to know that he was hers now…she didn’t want to waste a moment.
He released her hair slowly and pressed his hands against the door. Gazing down at her, his voice was a little lower and rougher when he said, “Go clean up. I’ll be here when you’re done.”
She rose onto her toes and kissed him, then ducked under his arm and hurried to the bathroom. Flicking on the light, she turned on the shower and then stared at herself in the mirror. She’d suspected she looked like a nightmare, but seeing the reality in the unforgiving mirror was enough to make her cringe. Then she changed her thought process. Just because the better part of her adult life had been spent listening to an * dragon describe her as everything from ‘too fat’ to downright ugly, didn’t mean that she was any of those things. Her ex was a terrible person, rotten from the inside out. She’d learned very early on that he rarely spoke the truth, especially when he was stinking drunk. Which, toward the end of their mating, had been practically twenty-four seven.
Since she didn’t believe him, she decided that his words wouldn’t have any effect on her anymore. She’d successfully broken the bonds of their mating, and she never had to think about him again. And with the sexy wolf in the next room, she was certain she’d never think of anyone else, ever. She looked at herself with fresh eyes. She wasn’t ugly, she was lovely. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were flushed with passion. Her curves were highlighted by the white bikini. Mack had accepted her immediately, and the attraction between them was undeniable. It wasn’t just physical; it was everything.
Stripping off the damp fabric, she placed the bikini over the shower rod at the corner and stuck her hand into the water to test it. Discovering it was deliciously hot, she stepped under the spray and closed her eyes as the warmth flowed over her, washing off the salt and sand. She picked up the body wash from the ledge and wished Mack was there now. She bet he looked even more amazing wet.
As if he had read her mind, she saw a shadow on the other side of the shower curtain, and then it was tugged back to reveal her new mate, wearing nothing but a hopeful smile.
“I want to say something witty, but all I can think about right now is how you’re in here, naked and wet, and I should be in here, too,” he said.
She almost giggled, but she bit her lip and said, “I was just thinking the same thing.”
He stepped in, tugging the fabric curtain closed, and looked down at her. In the shower, with the steam surrounding them, she felt like she must be dreaming. That she couldn’t have been lucky enough to find her mate on the first day of a singles’ vacation. But here she was. And here he was. Wet. Hard.
Holy shit.
He took the small bottle of shampoo from the corner ledge and opened it, dumping half into the palm of his hand. The scent of coconut and vanilla filled the air, and her dragon purred as he sank his fingers into her hair and began to lather the strands.
“My wolf is being really vocal in my head,” he said as his fingers worked magic against her scalp. “I want to do a million things to you.”
She poured body wash into her hand and rubbed his chest, soaping up his muscles and feeling them tense under her hands.
“What kinds of things?” she asked.
He lifted his hands from her hair and rubbed his own with soapy fingers. She rinsed her hair and then squeezed the strands, switching places with him so he could rinse off. Filling her palm with more body wash, she let her fingers trail down his stomach, not bothering to hide her curiosity at his erection. She’d only been with two males before in her life. Her first had been a clumsy encounter when she was sixteen, with a dragon male who hadn’t known anything at all about how to please her. And then her ex, who’d thought of her as his personal sex toy, in a bed where only his pleasure was important.
He took the body wash from her hand and emptied the contents into his palm, then rubbed his hands together and stroked her slowly from her shoulders down both arms. He circled her wrists and trailed his fingers up the inside of her arms before smoothing them across her chest. Playing his fingers over her nipples, he covered her breasts with suds, and then gently pinched the sensitive peaks.