Page 59 of Forever Mine

I sat up beside him trying to calm my nerves. My hands were a little shaky at first, but when I reached up to caress his face, they calmed instantly. I was amazed at how our bond affected me like that.

I pulled his face down to meet mine, pausing when our foreheads bumped. I stared into his eyes and smiled. He smiled back, then I kissed him. It wasn't the first time we had kissed, but it sure felt like it. Instant need shot through me, a raw primal kind I had never felt before. I had experienced phantom needs before. Everyone thought I would shift early, so I had been taught of the wolf's primal urges at a younger than usual age. It was exactly as they'd described, minus the wolf, so I always thought of them as phantoms, ghosts of what would have been still lingering within me.

I deepened the kiss and gave in to my desires. Here with him, I felt free. I groaned against his mouth and he slowly slid us into a reclining position, side by side, as we explored one another. His hands started to roam and when they found the hem of my nightshirt, he stopped. Pulling back, he stared at me with uninhibited lust clouding his eyes, but he still thought first of me.

“You're sure about this?” he asked in a deep, sexy voice.

I bit my bottom lip and nodded. I was sure. I wanted him. I needed him.

His hands slid up my back, sending shivers through me. His mouth found mine once again. This was my mate. There was no reason to be shy or hold back, so I let my hands roam over his naked chest, memorizing every inch, every ridge and muscle.

When his hands found my breasts, I moaned against him from exquisite pleasure. He shifted us, so I was now laying on my back with him next to me, giving him better access as he stripped off my shirt and tossed it to the floor behind him before resuming his exploration.

I didn't know it could feel like this. My head rolled back and my eyes closed in ecstasy as his mouth left mine to follow the paths his hands had just taken. It was so much, yet I craved more. I wanted him, all of him. My desires surprised me. It was more than I had ever hoped for.

Everything was perfect. I was hot and buzzing with need when his hands moved further south, removing my bottoms and igniting a new kind of frenzy in me. The pressure kept building and I begged him for more. He didn't stop until my head fell back and I screamed out in pleasure.

His mouth covered mine to silence me, as his hands slowed and my body shook, coming down from a high I hadn't known existed. I could tell he was smiling against my lips. I had expected him to pick up the pace, thinking we were just getting started, and I knew I was ready for more, but he pulled back and laughed, kissing my forehead.

I didn't know what was so funny. Had I done something wrong? My cheeks flushed hot and I wanted to crawl under the covers in humiliation.

“I'm sorry,” he said, trying not to laugh, “it's just really bad timing.”

I tried to roll away from him. I needed to cover myself.

“Shit, I really blew that moment, didn't I? It's all Kyle's damn fault. Hearing you moan and scream out, knowing it was for me,” he said, with desire still evident in his voice, “made me want to go punch every other person in this house who may have heard you, and then I thought . . . Kyle's office!”

I should have been mortified, but I started giggling instead. “No, we can't.”

“Oh, yes, I think we can. We are going to need furniture in the new house,” he teased, and I started laughing so hard tears sprang to my eyes. In hindsight it might not have been so funny, but we were both so exhausted at that point that it seemed hysterical. By that time we'd been up well over thirty-six hours straight, or at least he had, and me minus the nap I take in the car.

I smiled up at my mate laying on his side next to me. “Thank you,” I said, feeling suddenly vulnerable and changing the mood between us.

“Sweetie, you don't ever have to thank me for 'that!’”

I blushed and tried to hide my face. I was tired and it had been an emotional day. I didn't want to cry anymore, but it was there just under the surface. I hadn't known for sure I could ever be intimate with a man. Not even my mate, but with Liam, it felt good. So good. I had told him yes when he'd asked me to stay and build a life with him, but until that moment, I wasn't confident in what our life would be like. Laying naked and more vulnerable than I'd ever allowed myself, I just felt like me. Madelyn Collier, the real thing, and for the first time in my life, I felt like a woman.

“We probably should try to get some sleep, even if that's the last thing on my mind right now,” he growled, nipping at my neck and pressing himself into my thigh, causing me to gasp and my body to start to warm.

He pulled back, grinning, “Sleep, I said, you dirty-minded woman.”

I laughed, knowing there were no clean thoughts in my head and watching him roll off the bed. I frowned, realizing that while I lay there naked as the day I was born, he had remained in his pajama bottoms. I vowed to rectify that quickly next time, but also knew that the moment was over, and exhaustion was quickly settling in.

He gathered my pajamas from where he'd thrown them and tossed them at me.

“You want me dressed?”

“Want? Hell no! But I didn't think we should traumatize Oscar quite so soon, should he come in before we wake.”

My heart felt like it was going to explode. Despite everything that had happened between us— and somehow I knew it was just as big a deal to him as it had been to me—he was thinking of my son first. I was overcome with emotion, with love.

By the time I dressed again, he was back in bed and pulling me close to him so that my back aligned perfectly against his body. He threw the covers back over us and contentedly sighed. He kissed the top of my head and squeezed me even closer.

“I'm really happy you're here.”

“Me too,” I confessed.

“Good night, Maddie. I love you.”

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