Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel #3)(116)

"No, it's not," she said, offering him comfort when he should be the one comforting her.

"Yes, it is, Danni. I should have taken better care of you. I should have known something was wrong. If I hadn't pushed you out of my life you would have come to me and we could have tried to find a cure. We could have cured this damn thing before I changed you so that-"

"You would have changed me anyway?" she asked in a watery voice.

"Yes," he said, leaning down and brushing his lips against hers before adding, "because I would have fallen in love with you that much sooner, Danni, and I wouldn't have been able to part from you."

She let a little sexy gasp against his lips that had him grinning. "You love me?"

"Mmmhmm," he said against her lips, moving to continue the kiss when of course Danni decided to pull back and punch him in his shoulder. It stung like a bitch, but of course he didn't let her know that as glared down at her.

"What the hell was that for?" he snapped. "I tell you that I'm in love with you and you punch me?"

"No, you ass**le!" she snapped right back, getting into his face. "That's for telling me that you love me after you had another woman in your arms!"

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. Like he'd want another woman when he had her. That was f**king ridiculous, he thought as Danni muttered something about his balls, but thankfully didn't go for them, and turned to leave, but enough was enough. She wasn't leaving him, not now, not ever.

She let out another one of those adorable little squeals as he grabbed her by the h*ps and dunked her beneath the water so that he could rinse her hair out and rinse himself off. Once that was done he ignored her rather violent sputtering as he sat down on the flat rock and pulled her on his lap until she was straddling him.

"Let me go, you jerk!" she snapped, moving to push away from him, but he wasn't having that.

"She was only a meal, baby. I had to feed off of them throughout the night so that I could feed you," he explained, not mentioning that he'd busted his ass all day and night protecting her and the pack while Jax got his energy back. When the moon was high enough in the sky and the pack had shifted, he'd spent several hours hunting down deers, coyotes, and anything else he could catch. He drained them until one of the f**king werewolves took a hissy and tried to steal his kill. They learned quickly to wait until he was done draining the animal before they tried taking it away from him.

Lazy bastards.

Danni narrowed her eyes on him even as she settled onto his lap, slapping her hands onto his shoulders to help keep her balance. "Did you sleep with any of them?"

"No, and I wasn't even tempted, baby," he said, pressing a quick kiss against her forehead. "Now, if you're done interrogating me, it's time for you to eat, baby," he said, gripping her h*ps and pulling her closer as he tilted his head to the side.

She nibbled her bottom lip for a moment before asking, "Will this kill the cancer?"

"I don't know, baby," he said softly. He prayed like hell that it did, but if it was changed along with the rest of her body then he really didn't know what the cancer would do.

"So, I could spend eternity dying of cancer?" she asked, her voice cracking at the end and making him wish like hell that she hadn't suffered, knowing that she was dying of cancer all alone. He should have been there for her.

"I don't know, baby, but we're pretty sure that you'll be fine as long as you keep to a strict immortal diet for a while. You can drink human blood, too, but it really doesn't do that much," he explained, leaning forward to press a kiss against the tip of her nose. "Now, quit stalling and drink. I went through a lot of trouble to make this meal for you," he said teasingly, hoping it was enough to get a smile, even a small one, from her.

She rolled her eyes even as she blessed him with a sweet smile. "Yeah, fighting off a horny shifter is really a lot of work," she said, laughing as she leaned in and pressed a kiss against his neck.

"It was dangerous work, Danni," he said solemnly, earning another soft laugh from Danni.

"Do you need help getting your fangs down?" he asked as she continued to press little sexy kisses against his skin.

"I think I can manage," she murmured against his skin before she ran her tongue over his pulse and just like that he was hard.

She chuckled against his neck as she moved her leg and repositioned herself until she was only straddling his right leg and when she sat down he couldn't help but groan in appreciation.

"Do you really love me, Caine?" she asked between kisses. Her hand slid down his chest, teasingly caressing each muscle as she started to drive him out of his f**king mind.

"Yes," he hissed out when her hand bypassed his straining erection and softly skimmed over his balls, causing them to pull up tight.

"So, you'd miss me if I was gone?" she asked in a casual tone as she skimmed his balls again, but there was no mistaking the uncertainty in her voice.

"I'd die without you, Danni," he admitted to her seconds before she released an erotic little moan and sank her teeth into him.

He had to grit his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut as he fought against coming then and there as she reached between his legs and cupped his balls. Her touch felt so damn good, he thought as he dropped his head back, careful not to interrupt Danni while she fed.