Page 80 of The Healer

His breath caught, and he stilled, staring at the neat gash across her palm. “Ilona, I—”

“I know I’m asking for much, for trust. I would never exploit shifters or—”

He silenced her with a kiss, the intense emotion flooding his chest demanding he succumb, to taste her and absorb her essence, her very soul. “It’s a noble cause,” he whispered, resting his temple against hers.

She blinked, her eyes wide. “You’re not upset?”

He shook his head, bit his thumb, and swiped his blood across her palm. She froze, her shoulders stiffened, then she moaned in a decadent huskiness. He hardened in an instant.

“Rhys.”

His name on her tongue drew a shudder from him with his nipples pebbling in reaction.

“Wow. With Dane, his blood had burned like the fires of hell.” She curled her fingers and opened them while staring at her cut. “Yours… Yours aroused me. How is—?”

He dragged her onto his lap and snatched another kiss, unable to resist rubbing his lips across hers, flicking his tongue out to taste her bottom lip, to test its texture. Groaning, he delved in, swiping across her tongue, relearning the crevices of her mouth.

She kneaded his shoulders with her small hands, calling him from the depths of desire to reality. He crushed her to him, pinning his cheek to her temple on a muted growl.

“I didn’t come here to make love to you, Lona, but if you don’t stop wiggling that sexy ass of yours…”

Chapter Twenty-Six

A REACTION TO BEAT ALL

FindingRhysstandingonthe doorstep freed more tears. The lump in Ilona’s throat strangled her voice, and she garbled at him. From frozen to an explosion of energy, she threw herself into his arms. The moment he embraced her, her soul danced. She burrowed into him, needing his heat, his strength…him.

Mortification burned, but she refused to blink, unable to believe he was there, with her, holding her. What was it with bear shifters forcing their presence on her?

She sighed, having been everything he’d listed—alone, scared, sad—all that and more. But him holding her was surreal. She should be stiff-backed, fighting the comfort his presence offered, after all, she had agreed to their ‘relationship’ and on him being too far away to mess with her heart. Her limbs refused to obey, instead, she struggled to absorb as much of him as possible. She loved his cologne, like wild forests or a winter’s breeze hinting at spring.

He growled, and she stilled, raising her gaze to meet his. Her breath caught at the dark intensity in his eyes. His words echoed in her, against her singing senses. Something about not here to make love to her, how her wiggling was driving him crazy?

At his threat, she laughed. “You’ll do what? I’m not scared of you, Rhys.” Wiggling again, she managed to entangle her legs in his and looped her arms around his neck. She hummed. “Better.”

Make love to her? She wished he would. It wasn’t in her to be the aggressor, and he had just arrived.

Scrambling off him before she succumbed to the temptation and seduced him, she strolled to the kitchen for its lighting, needing to photograph her palm post Rhys’s blood smear.

He trailed her, adjusting his jeans around an impressive erection. At the sink, she splashed water on her face and used the kitchen towel to pat herself dry. Then she extracted her phone out of her pocket and took a few pictures of her palm, sending them to Evie with a text.

He leaned his ass against the cupboard while Ilona bandaged her hand. His presence thickened the air, filling it with sexual tension. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he had lost a little weight, enhancing his narrow hips and impossibly long legs. Shit, the way the denim clung to his thighs.

She bit her lip and offered her back while she made coffee. “The auctioneers will be here in the morning.”

“Good.” His voice was hoarse, as if from disuse. “Moving to Inner City—does that mean I can date you now?” The hope in his blue eyes speared her when she peeked at him.

Inside, she squealed like a teenager. Outwardly, she shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I’m not making love to you until you agree to date me, Lona.”

“What?” She faced him. “Why?”

“I want all of you, not just your body.” He closed his eyes as pain twisted his features.

When his eyelids fluttered open, a desire smoldered in their depths. Her body responded, catching alight and zinging electricity from her nipples to her sex. She clenched her thighs together and tried not to show how turned on she was.

“So, no quickie?” She flashed a smile, hoping to ease the tension and burning need knotting her stomach.

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