His hands dropped to the waistband of her jeans even as he kept his forehead pressed against hers. All the while he forced air through his lungs. Breathing with need of her. With love for her. “I don’t want you to ever think I want you for Slayer and Whisper. I’m a very selfish man. You found your way inside me, and I don’t want to give you up. Not for any reason. Not for our leopards and not for misunderstandings.”
He pushed her jeans and panties over the curve of her hips, crouching down in front of her as he did so until he could pick up her foot and slide the material free and then the other foot. Her hands went to his shoulders to steady herself. His name was a whisper between them. An entreaty. He didn’t know whether she intended to pull him close or push him away when her fists knotted on his hair, but he wedged his wide shoulders between her legs, the scent of her calling to him.
He moved his palm gently up the inside of her thigh and allowed his tongue to follow the pads of his fingers. Her skin was pure satin. His took his time reaching his goal, that liquid honey that drew him like a magnet. He couldn’t resist tasting her. He was already addicted, having fed hungrily on her when her leopard had driven her beyond her endurance. It wasn’t the same. Now he wanted to spend time worshiping her.
Standing, Gedeon lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. Her eyes were half-dazed, her arms circling his neck, drawing him down with her when he placed her in the middle of the duvet. Using one hand to rid himself of his T-shirt, he stripped the rest of his clothes from his body, unable to take his gaze from hers.
She was so beautiful. His woman. He moved over her. Slow. Blanketing her. Pulling her hands above her head. Threading his fingers through hers. Staring directly into her eyes. He swore the earth moved. Time seemed to tunnel. Kissing her sent flames slow dancing through his veins. Arrowing to his heart.
He felt the heat of her entrance welcoming him with her honey. So hot. Surrounding him. So tight. Too tight. Until that silken haven gripped his steel cock and reluctantly allowed him home. It was a struggle to move through those incredibly constricting petals that were hesitant to give way to his invasion. Then he was all the way in her, sinking deep. For a long moment they were together. Sharing the same skin. The same soul.
Gedeon began to move. Slow at first. The friction was enough to send fiery streaks of lightning arrowing down his spine. Her silken muscles clenched even tighter around him, dragging over him. He felt every one of her heartbeats right through her sheath.
Her feathery lashes swept down and then back up. She made a sound in her throat and her fingers tightened around his. Her hips rose to meet his. She caught his rhythm as he increased his speed. He thrust harder and she gasped.
“White lightning. It’s going to take us with it,” he whispered to her. “Do you feel it, Lotus? Moving through us? We’re going to burn together.”
Her gaze never flinched away from his, not even when he knew raw emotion poured from him to her. Not when his eyes blazed with the absolute inner fire of his kind. With sheer possession. She didn’t fear his strength. Or his brutality. She knew he was different, and yet she didn’t run from him; she stood with him. She was his partner in every sense of the word.
Now, as his body took hers with exquisite care, he worshipped what was his, taking his time, never hurrying, keeping the burn building slow and steady. Making her feel what he couldn’t say. Letting her see into his heart and soul. Looking into hers.
Gedeon expected resistance. She had to know there was no going back from this. Once he took her like this, she would belong to him for all time. There would be no separating them. No getting them apart. His body moved faster in hers. Streaks of fire rushed over both of them. She gasped. He tightened his hold on her.
“That’s it, Lotus. Relax. Come with me,” he encouraged.
She gave that little shake of her head, but her gaze clung to his. He could see fear as they climbed higher and higher. As the flames seem to crackle around them and the white lightning arced and forked, jagged bolts that rocked them from the inside out just as he’d promised, he also saw trust in the brown eyes that never flinched away from his.
Her body followed the lead of his—moved with his in a perfect tango as the slow burn turned into a wildfire that burned hot and fierce. Gedeon held her on the edge for what seemed an eternity, whispering to her in a mix of shifter and Russian before coaxing her to let go for him. To fly with him. To let white lightning burn them together.