On the Prowl (Bad Things #2)(65)

Because if something happened, if something went wrong as Luke had suggested, Julian would be there for her. He wouldn’t leave her again. They’d face what came together, and he would sure as hell never be dumb enough to try and make her leave him.

The others filed out. The door shut behind them.

“So…hot…” Rose whispered.

He scooped her into his arms and strode into the bathroom. He yanked on the cold water and sent it exploding down as he stepped into the shower, still cradling her in his arms.

Steam rose when it hit her skin.

Just like before.

“Drink, love, drink from me.” His blood could dilute what she’d gotten from Leo, from Luke…his blood could link them.

Her fangs pressed to his neck. A tender bite. Her tongue slid over his skin. And she drank.

They stood like that, in the shower, the water pouring down on him, her fangs in his throat, his arms around her…for an endless time. He didn’t move. He was just happy to have her there with him. Alive.

Rose.

And…

Her fangs slid away from his neck. She kissed his throat. “Don’t worry. An angel isn’t going to have to…put me down.”

He blinked, then looked at her.

She smiled up at him. The steam didn’t rise from her skin any longer. She wasn’t flushed. She was perfect. “And you don’t have to kill me either.”

“I never would.”

Her eyes were bright. “I’m not wrong. I don’t want to kill and maim everyone.”

She was okay. His Rose was staring at him with her sweet smile and with love in her eyes. He had to choke down the lump in his throat. “That’s…that’s good to know.”

Her smile stretched. “I’m okay?” This time, it was a question.

“You’re better than okay.” He kissed her. Deep. Hard. Wild. His heart was about to burst out of his chest and he was just so—

Happy.

Yeah, that was what he f*cking was. He was happy. Rose had always made him happy.

Her tongue slid against his lip. She kissed him back with the same passionate intensity and in the next moment, Julian was jerking off her jeans. He shoved her jeans to the bottom of the shower and ripped away her panties.

“Tell me to slow down,” he begged because he knew he was going too fast. Too fast. Too rough. Too wild.

She laughed—the sweetest sound in the world—and her hands reached for the top of his jeans. “Don’t you dare.”

He stilled and stared into her eyes.

“I almost lost you. I almost lost us both,” she whispered. “And you think I want to go slow now?” She rose onto her tip toes and nipped his bottom lip. “Not on your life, panther.”

She still owns my heart. She always will.

She lowered the zipper of his jeans. He lifted her up against that shower wall. The water was ice cold, but he didn’t care. He had his whole world in his arms.

He thrust into her. They both groaned. She was tight and wet and so perfect…

His.

He withdrew, then thrust deep. Again and again and he stroked her clit, wanting to push her to the edge before he came. He wanted her lost to the pleasure. To feel. To love.

She cried out his name. He felt her sex clench around him, and he pumped even harder into her.

Then he exploded within her. A long, hot release as his body shuddered.

Her arms were around him. She held him tight.

As tightly as he held her.

The cold water kept falling onto them. He forced his head to lift. He should move them. Get her dry. Get her warm.

But instead, he kissed her. He’d always loved her mouth.

And when he pulled back, she was smiling at him.

The most beautiful woman in the world…the woman who’d gone through hell and come back…was smiling at him and staring at him as if…

As if I’m not a monster.

“Tell me you love me,” Rose whispered.

“I love you.” He’d tell her that a thousand times. A million. Every day for the rest of their very long lives. Because maybe…when he’d first got Rose to come back as a vampire…maybe he’d made a secondary deal with Luke.

I wanted to always be around to protect her. To be there, whenever she needed me.

And Luke had given him that extended life…for a price.

There is always a price with him.

Luke’s words whispered through his mind. As long as you walk the earth, you’ll swear to stand at my side. When the battle comes between me and Leo…you will stand with me.

He’d already planned that particular stand, so agreeing hadn’t been exactly hard for him.

“I’m not…wrong,” she said. But then he saw fear flicker in her eyes. “Am I?”

He kissed her again. “No. You are the only right thing in my world.” He believed that to the depths of his soul.

Her smile flashed again. The fear vanished.

“But, love, do me a favor, okay? Promise me…” He turned off the blast of cold water with a flip of his wrist. “Don’t ever drink from Leo or Luke again.”

“I promise.”

He lifted her into his arms again. He loved to hold her. He just f*cking loved her. Julian gazed into her eyes.

“Julian? Are you sure…I…is something wrong?”