Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(72)

He slid his hands in her hair and pulled back to meet her gaze. “But you’re all right?”

Her eyes filled with pain as she looked at him, but it was a pain not of the flesh. Grief, plain and simple.

He kissed her softly, reverently, drinking in the feel of her. The taste. Memorizing her sweet lips, so warm, so soft and precious. If all he had left was a few hours, he’d spend them like this. With her.

Tighe pulled away, then swung her into his arms, startling a quick gasp from her. “I need to make love to you, D.”

Delaney hooked her arm around his neck and pressed her lips to his cheek. “I need to make love to you, too.”

A pleased growl rumbled in his chest. “I need a shower first. I must stink like five-day-old garbage.”

She shuddered. “I think my sense of smell has been permanently burned away.”

Her words made his chest ache, and he remembered that kitchen, that smell, and could only guess what a horrifying experience that had been for her. His grip on her tightened, and he pressed his head gently to hers as he carried her, safe in his arms at last.

He took her back through the gym and into the open shower at the back, where he lowered her slowly to her feet. Kissing her briefly, he turned on one of the showers and began stripping.

Delaney did the same, lifting the soft pajama shirt to expose her beautiful br**sts.

“Not here, sweetheart,” Tighe said softly. “There’s someplace else I want to make love to you. I’ll only be a minute.”

Delaney managed a sad smile. “I need a shower as badly as you do. Probably worse, considering where I’ve been.”

He stared at her, understanding dawning slowly. “Is there a reason you didn’t shower the past two days?”

She pulled off her pajama bottoms and tossed them on the bench. “I was out of it as long as you were, though not quite in the same way. The moment I woke up, I came for you, Tighe. The moment.” Her gaze met his, her eyes filled with a silken strength and a tenderness that made him ache with love.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her fiercely, tenderly, telling her silently what was in his heart. But the slide of her nakedness against his had his body revving, his eyes changing. If he didn’t put distance between them soon, it would be over here and now. And this was not where he meant to make love to her.

“Quick shower, D.” He forced himself to release her and turned on a second of the four showerheads. He didn’t dare try to stand that close to her right now.

As Delaney stood watching him, she cocked her head. “Are you really going to take a shower with your sunglasses on?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

Her disbelief annoyed him. “There’s a reason I wear them, D. It’s important.”

But as he watched her, an aching hurt entered her eyes. “All we’ve been through together, knowing we could almost be out of time, and you’re still going to hide from me?”

A fist clenched inside his chest. “You don’t understand.”

“Then tell me.”

He stared at her, feeling trapped. She didn’t understand. She couldn’t possibly understand. Yet everything she’d said was true. And, goddess, but he loved her. He could bare himself for her, couldn’t he?

He lifted his hands and dropped them again. “It’s because my eyes go feral whenever I’m attracted to a woman.”

She gave him a look that said she clearly thought he was an idiot. “So?”

“So, they turn into tiger’s eyes. They’d scare the shit out of you.”

She fisted her hands on her bare, slender hips. “You’re kidding, right? Have you forgotten I was the one who got you out of there? I stared into your tiger eyes for what seemed like forever, Tighe, and yes, I was scared. You were snarling and snapping, trying to bite my hand off, but the thing that scared me the most was that I wasn’t going to be able to reach you.”

With a growl, he stepped under the hot spray of the nearest shower and tipped his head back as that fist in his chest tightened. He heard her move, then felt her arms slide around him as she pressed her cheek against his chest.

“You don’t scare me, Tighe.”

“You like kissing monsters?”

“Take off the sunglasses, shape-shifter.”

“Dammit. Can’t you just leave it alone?”

“Nope.”

In a fit of anger, he pulled off his shades and tossed them onto the floor. As much as he wanted to stare down at her with his animal eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t stand to see her own eyes change, fear filling their depths.

Delaney’s fingers curved around his jaw and with a feather-light touch, made him look at her. “Why did you use the word monster?”

He forced himself to meet her gaze, bracing for her reaction. But she just continued to look at him like she always did. “It’s just a word, D. Animal, Feral, monster. It’s just a word.”

She shook her head even as she watched him with eyes warm and understanding, an understanding he wasn’t sure he could handle.

Lifting her hand, she pressed her palm to his cheek. “I love your eyes, Tighe. Because when I look into them, I see you. Even when you were in that feral state, the moment you came back to me, I saw you. Your fierce strength and gentle protectiveness. Your courage and honor and determination. Whether your eyes look like a man’s or a tiger’s, I see you.”