“A piece of you had been ripped away,” I finished for her, leaning even closer. My cock brushed her stomach.
She gasped, then nodded.
“You missed me.” I lowered my face but still left one of my arms down so she could escape if she wanted.
“You missed me,” she accused, wetting her lips and staring at my mouth.
“Valor, we’re not supposed to be this close, remember?” I couldn’t have moved even if the house was on fire.
“Right.” She didn’t budge.
“You should go.”
“I hate you.” She lifted her hands like she was going to push me away, but instead, she splayed her fingers over my chest.
“I know.” I bit back a groan. “That’s why you should go. The bond will only get stronger.”
“Okay.” Her fingers trailed up my chest, and little licks of flame sang through my veins.
“Lass.” It was as close to begging as I’d ever come in my life.
“One kiss won’t hurt,” she whispered as she cradled the back of my neck.
Her lips were so close, and her body so fucking warm and—fuck it. “One won’t hurt,” I agreed. Just one. Just to extinguish the curiosity and quell whatever temptation there was.
I speared my fingers into the warm silk of her hair, cradling her head, and kissed her.
We both groaned.
She opened for me, and I was lost. I took her mouth how I’d fantasized since the first moment I’d laid eyes on her, with deep, thorough strokes and teasing licks. Honey and citrus and…peppermint exploded on my tongue as I explored every line of her, committing everything about this one kiss to memory.
This would be the only one.
She whimpered, then sucked on my tongue.
I almost came. Holy shit.
She laced her fingers behind my neck and lifted her knee. I took the cue and palmed her ass with one hand, lifting her up against me and bracing her against the wall.
Her thighs were soft and warm as she locked her ankles around my waist, just above the towel. Skin to skin. I was going to lose my fucking mind. My cock beat in time with my heart as I pressed her harder against the wall, grinding up between her thighs.
“Lachlan,” she moaned against my mouth.
There were three pieces of flimsy fabric separating us.
Take her. Touch her. Taste her. Claim her. The mating instinct drove my hips forward, and I kissed her deeper, keeping one hand tangled in her hair and the other at the delicious curve of her hip.
No feeling my life had ever compared to this. No fire had burned hotter. No female had tasted sweeter—woman. She wasn’t a female, she was a woman, and I was crushing her.
Shit, she was so much more delicate than we were, so…breakable.
I eased up, and her thighs tightened. “I’m fine,” she promised, delving back into the kiss.
Her tongue danced across mine, and I sucked it into my mouth with a groan as she took my hair in her fists and rolled her hips over mine.
So. Fucking. Good.
The knot of the towel loosened.
“Please,” she whimpered, pressing the soft mounds of her breasts against my chest. Her nipples were hard, pressing through the fabric of her bra and blouse. I wanted them between my lips and teeth. I needed to see her swollen and aching.
“Valor.” I kissed her even deeper and slid my hand up her ribcage until I palmed one perfect breast.
She gasped and pressed into my hand.
I stroked my thumb over her nipple, and the towel slipped.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Someone pounded on the door.
“Go the fuck away,” I growled, moving from her mouth to the line of her jaw, then letting my tongue trace the beating line of her pulse in her neck.
Her fingers tightened in my hair and she urged me on.
Bam. Bam. Bam. “Lachlan!” Ransom shouted.
“No!” I answered, letting my fang graze the buttery-soft skin of her throat.
Her thighs clenched and the scent of her arousal nearly took me to my knees. She liked that. Good. She’d like it even more when I—
“Lachlan, get the fuck out here! You know I wouldn’t be at your door four hours before sun-up if it wasn’t important!”
I froze.
Valor whimpered.
“Fuck.” And not the good kind of fuck, either.
She showed zero sign of letting go, so I carried her to the door, losing my towel along the way. Her mouth was on my cheek, my jaw, my ear, and her tongue was going to be the goddamned death of me.
“Hold on, lass.” I leaned her against the wall and then opened the door next to us the barest of inches, blocking her from Ransom’s sight. “Are you trying to get me to fucking kill you?”
Ransom’s gaze swept down the crack in the door and saw that the only thing I was wearing was Valor. Then he gave me his back. “Sorry.”
“What do you want?” Fuck me, her lips were on my neck, and those—Oh, God—those were her teeth.