Page 61 of Too Lethal to Love

He sucked air through his teeth as she pressed her lips to the thickest of the scarring.

“Does this thing come with a user’s manual?” The scientist in her wanted to know how it worked. The woman in her wanted to feel it pressed against her body, pinning her in place while he used his voodoo magic to fuck the curse out of her mind and into a dark abyss.

“I’m an experiment in progress.”

Thank God VIPER had chosen him to be a subject. No, not a subject. A survivor. A real-life action hero brought back to life.

My hero.

She pulled her hands away. The warrior who stood before her was so mesmerizing, so surreal, she feared losing herself in his wondrous immensity. Like whatever powers he’d used last night to take down the bad guys would burn her if she got too close, leaving a mark, changing her forever.

But knowing him had already changed her. “You’re incredible.”

He didn’t answer, but a proud, not arrogant look, like he was still in awe of himself, crossed his features. Her gaze fixed on his erect cock. She licked her lips as she stared at his hot-blooded appendage that looked as super as his leg. “Did VIPER enhance that too?”

His dimples framed his cocky-as-hell smile.

“That’s one-hundred-percent me, darlin’. And yes, I know how to use it. No manual needed, but hands-on exploration is encouraged.” He grabbed her wrist and placed her palm against his leg where skin met steel. “You can start here and work your way to the center.”

Scooting off the bed, she fell to her knees in front of him. “It’s so smooth.” She glided her hand from his hip to his thigh in a slow, hard stroke, surprised she couldn’t feel the hexagonal pattern under her fingers. “Can you feel that?”

“Yes. Not like I can feel you on the rest of my body, but yes.”

She continued her exploration lower and lightly pressed her fingers into the back of his knee. His joint flexed in response. “That’s amazing. Does it hurt? Not when I touch you. I mean, does it still hurt from the trauma and the surgeries? I know you said the aches come and go, but does it hurt after diving to the ground with me in your arms?”

And not even the reminder that she needed protecting—and that he could die doing it—could stop her from discovering the wonders of this magnificent man. She rose on her knees and explored her way back up his leg.

“No, it doesn’t hurt.” He shifted his hip slightly. “But something in that vicinity aches.”

She ignored his not-so-subtle hint and her own body’s response to kneeling before this godlike man and thoroughly explored the inked seam where metal met flesh. “The work on this tattoo is incredible.”

His body jerked under her touch. “We all have them to cover the scarring.”

She pressed her fingers deeper into the pattern. “It’s beautiful, tragic, and scary all at the same time. How can that be?”

“Like you, sugarplum. Beautiful and tragic.”

She looked up at him. “And scary?”

He brushed hair out of her eyes. “When you order me around? That’s scary sexy.”

She blinked away sudden tears. “This puts you at an even greater risk of dying.”

“Ain’t going to happen anytime soon.” He wiped her worry away with his thumb. “I gave the Grim Reaper the finger last time and he’s too afraid to come back for more. If anything, it makes me more likely to survive. Some blackwidow curse made up by a bunch of gossips is no match for me. I’m not going anywhere but deep inside your tight, sweet body, understand?”

He didn’t give her time to answer. Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her flush against him and slammed his mouth to hers.

She stroked his steel thigh with one hand and palmed his thick length that felt just as hard with the other. “I’m so thankful God spared this.”

“So fucking thankful,” he murmured into her mouth as he wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss.

In a clash of teeth and tongues amid a litany of pleas and moans, he kissed her as if she were the key to his survival. With one hand on his leg, the other on his cock, she reveled in the contrast of smooth steel and silky skin, both with a core of unyielding strength.

Shifting her hand to the base of his erection, she squeezed. His animalistic hiss snaked through her veins. The intense hunger in that incoherent sound rocketed excitement through her blood and fear in her heart. She wanted his cock so deep inside her they’d become merged like his steel and flesh, but falling for him had the potential to destroy her.

Without breaking the kiss, he yanked her panties down. “Are you on birth control?”

“Yes. And I had a physical last month. I’m clean. And I haven’t been with anyone since I met you.”

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