And—here we go. “I’m too tall. I’m too big. I have a big nose and a round ass and most men are either intimidated by my bank roll, my education or my attitude. No one wanted to date me. I was alone all the time. I wanted…a different life.”
“A mate.”
I had no idea why that one word made my cheeks heat, but it did. “Yes. A mate. And Warden Egara promised me that the matching protocol worked. That out of every single man in the universe, you were the perfect match for me. And I just wasn’t willing to give that up without a fight.”
“That’s why your pussy was wet when I held you against the wall?” His voice tipped low.
I had to look away, no longer able to meet his eyes. “I was aroused because I wanted you. Because your strength is intoxicating. I love your muscles and your guns and the way you—”
Lifting his hand, he placed one finger under my chin and lifted my face to his. He was doing it, right now. And I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“The way I what?”
“Look at me like you want to—“
He completed the sentence for me and my pussy was wet and hot, aching by the time he was done. “Fuck you. Taste you. Devour you. Possess you. Protect you. Feed you. Make you whimper and beg. Make you scream my name as I fill you with my cock. Give you my seed. Mark you. Claim you. Make you mine forever?”
“Yes. All of those things.”
“And I want to do them all.” He stroked my hair back from my face, gently tucked it behind my ear. “And what do you want?”
I blinked. Dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous. Why was I telling him all this? “You.” Simple answer. Complicated, too.
“There you go, mate. You wanted me.” I saw relief in his dark gaze, and a bit of pain, too. He was a huge warrior, but I’d managed to hurt him.“Would you really have walked naked through the corridors in search of another?”
Remembering my taunting words, I shook my head. “No. I wanted you.”
“And I want you.”
Hooking a hand around my waist, he tugged me toward him, and I fell onto his lap. The feel of him, so big and warm and gentle, was comforting. For once, I felt quite small.
I sighed again, put my head against his chest. Just breathed, took in his scent, the feel of his heartbeat against my cheek.
I couldn’t miss the thick prod of his cock against my thigh or the way my mind wandered, filling my head with nothing but images of him as he’d looked thrusting into me, his beast’s eyes wild and gentle all at the same time. God, it was addicting being looked at like that.
“This is crazy,” I said, after a time.
“What?”
“Wanting you this much. I don’t even know you.”
“Then we shall fix that.” His hand slid up my back to the base of my skull where his huge fingers rubbed the sore muscles there with a tenderness I’d never felt before. “I will take care of you now, mate. Let me.”
I relaxed into his hold, completely under his spell. “What do you mean?”
“A bath. Food. Talking. I would learn you as well. I must know everything about you.”
My eyes fluttered open to find his green gaze fixed on me with something close to complete and total worship in his eyes. He was serious.
“I’m not that interesting,” I muttered.
“You are fascinating, Caroline. I would know what you love. What you hate. Your favorite dishes. What you like to do. What makes you laugh.” He leaned closer, his lips grazing my cheek. “Where you like to be touched. What makes you whimper and beg and scream.”
He pulled back and our gazes locked. I forgot to breathe. I had never seen that look in a man’s eyes before, and it made my insides shift, my chest grow tight. What the hell was he doing to me? “Are you a hypnotist or something?”
His frown was genuine, and adorable. “I am a Warlord. I do not use mind control trickery on a female.”
He stood then, carried me as if I were as light as a feather to a bathroom that I was excited to see appeared completely modern. He settled me on the edge of a bathtub and turned on steaming hot water. He frowned, looked at my skin, and reached in to make the water cooler. “You are too delicate for such heat.”