Page 113 of Monsters in Love

Because he’d finally admitted he still wanted her—that he wanted her more now than before. And that was all the permission she needed to close the final distance between them. She cupped his face and gazed up into brown eyes half-wild with desire. “Monsters aren’t the only creatures with needs.”

He sucked in a breath.

Stretching up on her tiptoes, she brushed her lips across his.

She felt the thrill of contact ripple from her lips all the way to those toes—the same thrill she’d felt a year ago, when she’d kissed Thomas in the field. Only stronger, as if the connection between them had strengthened like whiskey in a cask. It didn’t matter what name he went by or what he looked like. Not to her.

All she cared about was his heart.

Though she certainly wasn’t opposed to the package it came in.

The sheer size of him sent a thrill down her spine, and had her body thrumming with need. She leaned into him, reveling in his hardness against her thighs, how it left her knees weak and her body aching for more. Human or demon, apparently, she craved large men with shoulders broad enough to rival an ox.

Biting her lip, she glanced at the alcove—the curtain hadn’t moved.

Emmi was still sleeping, and the other, smaller creature was still away. This might be the only chance she and Talos would have to be together. She’d learned a harsh lesson a year ago about letting opportunities pass her by.

No more waiting.

“If you want me,” she whispered. “Take me.”

“Belle.” Her name was a ragged plea. “What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t. Not in any way I don’t enjoy.” Holding his gaze, she took a single step away from him and slowly removed the final layers of her gown. Remarkable, how quickly those layers came off. The laces of her short corset slid apart, as if they’d been waiting for her to ask. The buttons of her chemise came undone. She let each layer pool on the floor at her feet, until she stood naked before him.

His nostrils flared, as if drawing in the scent of her.

The thought of it drove her wild.

“I’m stronger than I look.” Without taking her eyes from his, she stepped back until her body was shrouded in the colored light of the window. She’d done what she could—everything she could—now he had to come to her. “The only thing I need now is you.”

“Gods, Belle.” He growled. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Good,” she said.

“Gods, forgive me.” For such a massive creature, he struck with almost impossible speed. His body blurred and then he’d reached her. “You’re mine, Belle.Mine.”

Her feet left the ground as he snatched her into his arms and kept going.

Before she could catch her breath, they’d started upward. One hand kept her tight against his body, while the other used claws for purchase. She held tight as he scaled the tower room’s stone wall, taking her into a private space high in the rafters above.

How was it possible to remain inside when the floor was so far below?

She blinked at him through unruly strands of hair. As grateful as she was for the distance from where her sister slept in the alcove, she was a touch concerned about how this would work. “Don’t we need the ground for what comes—”

“No.” He grinned at her—a smug flash of fangs against the shadows of the tower. “Now hold on.” He pushed off the wall and flipped them between the beams. His wings beat the air, sending it rippling over her skin like a lover’s caress. Once. Twice. Then wrapped around her as he spun them around, their bodies twining together in promise of what was to come.

The feel of her bare skin against his velvet-covered muscles was almost too much to bear. Every inch of her was a hot coal in a fire pit, a single breath away from bursting into flame.

“Talos…” She writhed against him, begging for more.

She’d spent enough time on a farm to have an idea of how this worked, but any books featuring people had been banned before she was old enough to understand them. She didn’t know the words for what she needed—didn’t know how to demand he touch her. “Talos, please… I… I need…”

“I know what you need,” he rumbled in her ear. “It is what I need.”

He flipped her around and suddenly her bare back was pressed against the ceiling. She gasped as the cool stone teased her heated flesh. Her hair fell in a pale curtain around her, and all she could see below her was Talos—his huge form almost hanging below her.

He pinned her there with his hands, his feet somehow holding them both in place.

---