Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #9)(36)

“And these legs.” His voice was rough with the power of his wolf. “They were surely made to wrap around me.”

Her breathy chuckle filled the air. “And here I thought they were made to take me from one place to another.”

“They are far too lovely for such a mundane task.”

His kissed a path up the inside of her leg, tilting back his head to savor the sight of her poised above him.

Wearing nothing more than her lacy bra and matching panties, she perched on the edge of the breakfast bar like a statue of feminine temptation. Her fragile features were flushed with passion and her hair a satin curtain of pale silver that tumbled over her shoulders. But it was the musky scent of her wolf that made his heart slam against his ribs.

Cassie might not be able to shift, but her beast was telling him that she was ready and eager.

He swallowed a pained groan, continuing to kiss a path up her leg, taking time to explore the sensitive back of her knee before performing the same service to her other leg. She shivered beneath his light caresses, her fingers gripping the marble top of the bar as he found the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.

“Caine,” she pleaded.

“Patience, pet.” He used his tongue to outline the edge of her panties, breathing deeply of her sweet scent. “There’s so much to explore. And I intend to taste every . . .” He kissed the icy tattoo just below her belly button. “Satin . . .” He grasped her hips to keep her from squirming as he continued up her flat stomach until he was able to slice through the bow holding her bra together with a sharpened fang. “Inch.”

“I want to explore,” she protested.

“Later.” His tone was distracted as the bra fell away to expose the tender curves of her br**sts.

They were delectable, he decided. Perfectly shaped to fit his palms and tipped by rosy ni**les that tightened beneath his heated gaze.

“And I can do whatever I want?”

“Whatever you want,” he agreed, his head dipping toward the waiting bounty.

“Do you promise?”

“Mmm.” He abruptly paused, sensing he’d just stepped into a trap. Lifting his head, he studied her with a narrowed eye. “Wait.”

She blinked, her eyes glazed with need. “Why?”

“What did I just promise?”

“That I could do whatever I want.”

“Maybe you should be more specific.”

A slow, teasing smile curved her lips. “Scared?”

“Wary,” he admitted. “I’ve told you I won’t take your innocence.” He watched as her expression tightened into stubborn lines.

“You can’t take something that I give you willingly.”

His gut twisted. What the hell was she trying to do to him? He was hanging on to his nobility by a thread. A very thin, very fragile thread.

“Dammit, Cassie.”

“What?”

“You don’t know what you’re doing.”

Her eyes glowed with an emerald fire. His wolf was on instant alert, sensing the sudden danger in the air.

“Are you saying I’m too stupid to decide what I want?”

Okay, so his words hadn’t come out right. He was lucky he could still form a full sentence when his brain had relocated considerably lower in his body.

“I’m saying that you don’t have enough experience to know what you want. That’s not your fault.”

She looked spectacularly unimpressed with his logic. “So you’d make love to me if I wasn’t a virgin?”

“It’s not just that.”

“Then what?”

He struggled to express his fear that he was taking advantage of her naivete. It was easy for her to become convinced that he was some sort of Prince Charming when she didn’t have a comparison.

“How many men have you known in your life?”

“I told you, there were a few.”

He cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his piercing gaze. “Briggs and the demon lord don’t count.”

“You weren’t Briggs’s only accomplice.”

He snorted. “I can just imagine the kind of scum who would work with the bastard.”

She poked her finger into the center of his chest, seemingly annoyed by his dismissal of her potential lovers. “Some were scum, but there were others who were like you.”

He frowned, offended by her comparison to Briggs’s nasty servants. “Me?”

“Yes.” She gave him another poke. “They were decent men who were simply desperate and willing to believe Briggs’s promise he could give them what they most desired.”

In a heartbeat, Caine catapulted from who-the-hell-cares about the males in her past to insane jealousy. “And you spent time with these men?”

“A few.” A reminiscent smile curved her lips, making his wolf snarl in possessive outrage. “There was a very handsome fairy who used to sneak me chocolate when he visited.” She sighed. “I adore chocolate.”

“A fairy,” he muttered. He hated fairies.

“And then there was a charming vampire.”

“Charming vampire is an oxymoron,” he snapped, deciding he hated leeches even more than he hated fairies.

She shrugged. “He swore he could release me from the demon lord.”