Page 24 of Protected By the Wolven

“Mmmm.” I wrap my arms around her from behind, pulling her back against my chest. “I can think of something else that’s magnificent.”

She turns in my embrace, looping her arms around my neck. “Smooth talker.”

“I only speak the truth.” I brush my nose against hers. “You, Zoya Petrenko, are the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen.”

Her breath hitches. “Lash…”

“I mean it.” As I trail my fingertips down her spine, her whole body quivers. I was an average student in school, and English was never my best subject, but somehow, poetic words spill from my lips as though they’re downloaded from the Goddess herself. “When I look at you, I see starlight made flesh. There are galaxies in your eyes. The whole damn universe is right here in my arms.”

Zoya’s eyes shimmer with emotion. “How do you do that? Make me feel like the only woman in the world?”

“You are,” I rasp. “The only one for me.”

Then I’m kissing her, deep and slow and achingly tender. Zoya melts against me, her curves fitting perfectly against my hard edges, like we were made to hold each other just like this.

My hands roam her back, learning the dips and hollows of her body, while hers tangle in my hair, scraping deliciously against my scalp, then tracing the triangles of my ears. We’ve kissed before, but never like this. Never with this simmering heat laced with overflowing affection and the unspoken promise of more.

As I nip at her bottom lip, she gasps, arching into me. I can feel every inch of her, soft and warm and so fucking perfect. It would be easy to get lost in her, to let this wildfire consume us both.

But I force myself to pull back, resting my forehead against hers as we catch our breath.

“Zoya,” I pant. “Tell me to stop. Tell me it’s too much.”

She cups my face in her palms, her eyes molten in the moonlight. “I don’t want you to stop, Lash. I want…” She pauses, our gazes locked, making certain I grasp her meaning. “I want you.”

A growl rumbles up from my chest. “Sweetheart, if we don’t slow down, I’m going to end up worshipping every inch of you right here on this rooftop.”

“And that would be bad because…?” Her slashing grin is pure sin.

“I didn’t know you had it in you to be such a flirt.” I steal another kiss, grinning against her lips. “As much as I’d love to give the other tourists an eyeful, I’d rather have you all to myself for what I have in mind.”

Zoya shivers, her pupils blown wide. “What do you have in mind?”

“Oh, so many things.” I trail my claws feather-light down her arms. “I want to learn every curve, every freckle, every secret place that makes you gasp. I want to taste you, all of you, until you forget your own name.”

“Lash…” Her voice is a needy whine that shoots straight to my cock.

“I want to lay you out on my bed and worship you for hours until you’re boneless and spent and so thoroughly satisfied you can’t remember what it feels like to be anything else.”

Zoya whimpers, her fingers digging into my shoulders. “Please…”

I groan, capturing her mouth in another searing kiss.

Between drugging kisses, I manage to force out, “Come home with me, Zoya. Let me make you feel good. Let me show you how much I…”

I just barely catch myself before the words spill out.

Love.I was going to say love. Fuck, I am so crazy about this woman.

Zoya leans back, her eyes searching mine. For a breathless moment, I’m terrified she’s going to run, that I’ve pushed too hard, too fast.

But then she smiles, radiant and eager and so full of trust it makes my heart ache.

“Yes,” she whispers. “Take me home, Lash. Deliver on all those sexy promises you just made.”

I crush her to me, burying my face in her hair to hide the emotions threatening to overwhelm me.

Mine. My mate, my heart, my everything.

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