Page 40 of Pack Down Bad

One of his arms dips under my ass to lift me, pulling my core flush against him. His other arm lifts to snake his fingers into my hair and tug at the roots on the nape of my neck.

The heat humming beneath my skin flares even hotter, more urgent, and it takes everything in me not to beg already.I won’t, but I want to.

I stretch my arms to wrap as tightly around him as I can, wanting to hold onto him for dear life.

I’m not sure how long we spend making out like horny teenagers, but eventually Rhys carries me a few steps away from the sink and sets me down on the edge of the counter. He rests his hands on my thighs as he stands between my legs.

“Snow Bunny, I’m really glad we’re already in the kitchen,” he says with a smile.

“Why’s that?” I ask, still breathless from kissing, heart pounding in my ears.

“Because I’m starving and ready for lunch.” He tugs my shirt over my head as I try to make sense of his words.

“We just had breakfast,” I remind him through my confused laughter.

He makes an odd, scrunched expression before schooling his features.Did he not enjoy breakfast?Knox and Percy swore Rhys wouldn’t mind us beating him to the kitchen, and I thought we did a great job. Though they did warn me that he might still prefer the normal health hazard he cooks up himself, which is why no one dares critique his cooking efforts.

This isn’t a topic I’m willing to broach with Rhys while I’m hovering so close to the promise of an orgasm.

Luckily, he’s happy to move on as well.

“Lie back, Belle,” he tells me. His words are a command, not a request, and that alone makes slick flood between my thighs.

Rhys is sunshine and chaos. He’s the most easygoing alpha of the pack with his bright, bubbly, and goofy demeanor. So to hear him demand something of me is shocking enough to cause slick to pool for him at my center. Hearing him speak like that is enough to convince me heownsthe air between us and that he’s prepared to tear the world apart to satisfy me.

I’m still sore from my time with Knox, but my need for Rhys is building. If he doesn’t touch me soon, I might wither away and die.

Following his command, I lie back on the countertop. The marble is cool against my bare back, but the feeling does nothing to ease the warmth of my heat spike. Need prickles beneath the surface of my skin with a tension that builds like a scream waiting to be released.

Rhys tugs his compression shorts off of me, dragging them down my legs. “I’m a starving man, little bunny, and you’re the only thing on the menu.”

“Oh my god,” I groan, covering my face with my hands as laughter bubbles up. “That’sterrible.”

He chuckles warmly and presses a kiss to my bare stomach in between shedding his clothes. “Terriblytrue.” He places another kiss lower, near the edge of my waistband. “Besides, there should be laws against waking up looking this edible. You’re so tempting that I have no choice but to taste-test every inch of you.”

I try to come up with something clever to say in return, but I can only whimper for him as he presses a kiss just above my knee next.

He moves his mouth north a few inches and kisses me again, continuing to build the agonizing tension between us.

“You smell so fucking good,” he says in a low and teasing voice as he moves his lips to hover just above the apex of my thighs. “All things cinnamon andmine.”

The word sparks something primal in me.

Mine.

The second time today an alpha in this house has claimed me verbally. Both times, the claim has shattered me in the best way.

But attempting to carry on a conversation is taking a lot out of me at this precise moment.

I prop myself up on my elbows and glare at Rhys for continuing to take his sweet time while I’maching. “I swear if you keep talking–”

He licks a strip of skin along my inner thigh, slow and hot, and grins. “If I keep talking, what...?”

“Rhysssss.” I drop my head back with a groan.

“Yes, love?”

“Either use your mouth for something more useful, or I will climb down there and show you how it’s done.” Taking my turn satiating an oral fixation wouldn’t be theworstthing in the world. Like Knox, I don’t mind doing some dirty work on my knees.

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