Page 41 of Her UnBearable Protector

“That wasn’t his place.” Salvatore stood and started toward his phone. By the time he picked it up, Natale was at his side, taking it from his hands. “Give me my phone.”

She shook her head and hid her hand behind her back. “Then talk to me. I didn’t tell you that so you’d call your brother and rip his head off.”

Salvatore smiled and she saw the push of his fangs sliding from his gums. “I can’t do that over the phone, but I do approve of your idea.”

Natale laughed and rolled her eyes. “Funny.”

When she noticed that he wasn’t laughing, she turned to look at him. “Hey, I was joking.”

He was suddenly pressed up against her body, his arms securely wrapped around her. Natale leaned back to look at him, but his lips pressed to the soft skin just under her ear, taking advantage of the opening she gave him.

“Wow, that’s one way to distract me, why-”

He leaned back a few inches and held up his phone in his free hand.

Natale glared at him and tried to reach for it.

He tossed it over his shoulder, not even bothering to look where it landed. “I’ll talk to my brother later.”

She leaned into the kiss he pressed across her lips. “No bloodshed?”

Another kiss was her answer and the soft bite of his teeth on her bottom lip. “Not unless he tries to tell me what to do.”

Natale reached behind his neck and grabbed a hold of his collar. “Worry about that later,” she tugged him closer, enjoying the way his eyes bled black as if his bear wanted to see her too, “for now, why don’t you tell me if what he said was true. Did your father- What I mean is, did your mother’s death-”

“My parents,” he said the words with an even expression on his face, but she could hear the tension in his tone, as if she could almost feel the tightness in his throat, “my parents loved a lifetime together. When she died, it broke his heart. My father didn’t survive it.”

She started to ask him a question, but he shifted his hands lower, taking hold of the bottom of her robe. As he lifted it up he trailed his fingers along the backs of her thighs. She enjoyed the heated touch of his thick fingers and held herself as still as a statute until she felt cool air kiss her bare backside.

Shamelessly, she pressed herself into his hands and felt her breasts press against his chest. Her hands moved to his shirt, tugging at the buttons. “You’re wearing too much,” she felt the fabric give way as her fingers pushed under his shirt, brushing through the crisp hair on his chest.

“Natale,” his tone held just a hint of reproach, “I need to work.”

“Salvatore,” she turned her hand and grabbed his shirt pulling him down to her lips, “you know what you’re doing. I know what I’m doing. Come back to bed, “she gasped when he shifted a hand and trailed the tip of his finger between her legs, “show me how much you love me.”

Chapter Twelve

Boy, she smirked at the sleeping form beside her as she trailed her fingertips from his shoulder over his spine and swept them into the dimple of his lower back and finally over the swell of his well-toned backside, he certainly knows how to hibernate.

Slipping free of the blankets, she shuffled into the bathroom and looked into the mirror with a smile. For the first time in years, she didn't wince or reach for a towel to cover herself up. Instead she stood there with the early light of dawn illuminating her naked body.

The person she saw standing before her wasn't a stranger. The woman in the mirror was confident, able to stand with her shoulders back and a smile on her face that wasn't an act. She could look over her bed tousled hair and flushed skin and see someone who was beautiful inside and out. And when she stood back into the light, she saw the hungry marks that Salvatore had left on her body. Her shoulders, breasts, all bore the marks of Salvatore’s mouth.

The one that caught her eye the most was the mark he’d left at the point where her neck met her shoulder. She traced it with the tip of her finger and found the skin sensitive but not painful, the memories made her shiver. Right before he fell asleep, Salvatore promised to replace the mark as soon as she was ready for him to make it permanent. When she wanted to be his forever, when she was ready to have him in her life forever, he was going to mark her, sink his teeth into her skin, leave her with no doubts that she belonged to him.

She covered the mark with her palm and let out a long breath from between her parted lips, ending in a smile. She looked at herself differently now. The rush of confidence that she felt wasn't because a man as handsome and powerful as Salvatore thought her desirable. The confidence that made her stand proud before the mirror came from within. The shy woman that worried so much about how others saw her had finally woken up and taken a good long look at herself.

And she knew that she didn’t need his mark to know where she belonged.

To know who she belonged with.

She went back to the bedroom and grabbed the edge of the blanket lifting it up to crawl back in beside Salvatore. She knew her schedule well enough that she could take a few more minutes cuddled up with him before starting her day.

Across the room, a little light turned on and the buzz of vibration turned her head. She didn’t want to wake Salvatore, not that she really thought it would since he apparently slept like the dead. Darting across the room, she picked up the phone and slipped from the bedroom into the hall.

“Hello?”

“Hey, cousin.”

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