Page 48 of Ash

She moved her hand over his chest and Ash was tempted to pull his shirt from his body so he could feel her hands against his skin.

"So," she let out a slow exhale, "how scary is this mating thing. It's been a while since I had health class in school, but back when I was in school shapeshifters weren't a thing that we discussed." When he didn't speak, she continued on. "I mean, it's not something really scary, right? It's not... something illegal?"

He felt his bear push him as if he leaned in with his shoulder, but it wasn’t pushing him away from Suzannah. He was pushing him to do something.

To say something.

Ash lifted his hand and lightly fanned his fingers through her hair.

She watched him as he moved, but didn't move away.

Over and over, he brushed her hair back from her face and the quilt she'd wrapped around herself sagged and then dropped to her waist. She lifted her other hand and put it on his chest, smoothing her hands over his shirt.

Heat was building between them, rising up from the earth like the hot springs higher up in the mountain.

It wasn't a heat that would burn and hurt. It was a heat that would warm and soothe, a heat that he would bask in.

He would love to feel her touch all over his body and he would want to... love to return the favor.

"Mating," the word was little more than a whisper of sound, "isn't something you should be afraid of."

He moved his hand through her hair again, but this time, he grasped the shoulder length strands, closing his fingers around it in almost a fist.

Ash watched her eyes as he tipped her head back, opening her neck to his gaze.

"Mating is a life-long bond, Suzannah."

Her eyes had been fixed on his, but as he spoke to her, her eyes started to drift closed.

"Once that bond is sealed there is nothing that could end it. There's no way we would be apart after that. We'd be tied forever."

He watched as she pulled a breath into her lungs and let it out again. She was wearing a loose T-shirt that went down to her knees, but to him it looked like silk. She deserved silk against her skin.

"I'm not going to rush you into this, Suzannah. I want you." He felt his words coming straight from his soul. "No, I need you."

He heard her gasp, but it wasn't fear.

She didn't shake.

She didn't tense.

Or pull away.

"I don't have skills in romance, but I'm willing to learn. I'll give you all of myself and strive to give you everything you want. So when you're ready. I'm here."

He felt her melting against him, leaning into his heat.

He would give anything to lay her down in the grass and love her until she collapsed under the stars, but she wasn't ready for that yet.

She swallowed and he watched her throat work. It was hypnotic.

"And..." her breath escaped from her lips in a soft groan, "when I'm ready? What do we do?"

There was something about her scent.

It had changed.

She'd taken a shower, her skin was scrubbed clean and fresh, but since she'd come out to talk to him, there was a new scent reaching him.

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