Page 22 of His UnBearable Touch

The bear stirred within him, eager, hungry to mark her as theirs. Her scent was addictive. Her curves the perfect cushion to his hard planes. He opened his mouth to speak but she took the words from his lips.

“I missed you.” She pulled him closer and he gathered her up in his arms as if she were as light as a feather. “All day long, I’ve been thinking about you, waiting to see you again.”

Her words humbled him, made him weak and bolstering his strength at the same time.

“I needed you just as much.” His words were feathered kisses on her neck, gentle caresses against her skin. “And now that you’re with me, I have somewhere to take you.”

She flushed when she leaned back in his arms. “Where are we going?”

“One of my favorite places.” He waited to see if she’d ask him more questions. She had every right to.

Instead, she smoothed her hand down his arm and linked their fingers together. “Show me.”

Chapter Six

When the elevator doors swished open, she felt warm air envelop her and reached out a hand. It was a silly thing. It also wasn’t normal… for her. Reaching out for someone. Stupid. Silly.

She squeezed her eyes shut, another silly gesture on her part.

Shaking her head, she stepped out of the elevator and was drawn up short… by a hand around her wrist.

It didn’t hurt. As big as Valerio’s hand was, he held her like fragile glass.

And while she stood there trying not to tremble or make herself feel anymore-

“You’re not silly.”

She swallowed and managed a few words. “Are you reading my mind?”

Something brushed over the top of her hair and then she realized that it was a kiss. His kiss.

And when he answered she was fairly stunned to hear the truth. “You think you’re talking in your head, Allegra, but you don’t.”

“I do!” She turned toward him. “It’s in my head.”

“Maybe with other people,” she could hear his smile, “but when you’re with me, you say things out loud.”

She wanted to argue with him, but it seemed, yet again, silly.

“Or maybe I just know what you’re thinking.” The smile in his voice seemed to dim. “Like when I felt your fear on the platform.”

“You felt that?” She didn’t know how to feel about his words, but she felt the truth in them nonetheless.

He shifted beside her and together they began to walk.

“Where are we?”

The ground beneath her feet felt… natural. The air, a warm balmy temperature that was so very different than what they’d walked through just minutes before. And the scent, the smells that tickled her nose, brought her a bit of wonder… a rush of joy.

“We went up in an elevator.” She reasoned through her thoughts. “My ears,” she swallowed, “popped just the tiniest bit. And yet I feel like we’re on top of a mountain instead of the top of a building in New York City.”

The twitter of a Starling reached her ears and she froze. “Tell me,” she grinned, her heart trembling with excitement, “where have you brought me?”

“Our home.”

Our.

She knew what he meant. His home with his brothers. Natale had explained that they shared several floors of a building together. She thought that meant a series of rooms, separate areas, storage spaces, not a nature preserve.

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