Page 7 of Forsaken Desire
“Wait,” I croaked, and he stilled over me. I used the moment of distraction to dig my fingers into the bedsheets. I yanked myself up a few inches, loosening his weight pinning me. His hands spread on the bedsheets to prop himself up. I rolled over onto my back with little wiggles, his body rubbing against mine. I was so turned on it actually hurt.
I met his hazel eyes. My breath stilled in my throat.
Warmth flared in my sternum, and I gasped, staring at the brief flash of a pale, brilliant string stretching from my chest to his before it became muted. The comforting heat hadn’t disappeared.
This was that fated mate bond Tate had told me about. My heart throbbed and tears sprang to my eyes. I’d found my fated.
It felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. The swell of sudden, piercing emotion took me by surprise. I hiccupped on a breath.
I wanted to shift and rub all over my mate. To curl up in his arms. I blinked the sheen of tears away, and his face came into focus. The dark slashes of his eyebrows rested high on his forehead, and lines bracketed his mouth.
“Mate?” he uttered gruffly—reverently. “How?”
Glassy eyes stared at me from dark lashes. His expression crumpled, the furrow between his eyebrows deepening, and hisweight fell on me, arms curling under my back to press me tight to him.
The bed creaked.
“Oomph,” I grunted from how hard he squeezed. His body shuddered, trembling so hard that he caused my body to shake. A thick knot formed in my throat. He engulfed me in his arms to the point that I almost disappeared. He was huge and smelled so, so good. His touch calmed the turmoil in my heart. Tears returned to my eyes. I sniffled and lifted my hands to his sides. His skin was smooth, hard, and slightly damp. The tips of my fingers grazed against the top of the towel wrapped around his waist.
I nuzzled into the crook of his throat. He shuddered again.
“Mate,” he rumbled.
The title from his mouth sent shivers through every part of my body. I wanted to look at him. To memorize every inch of his face. I wiggled back, removing my nose from his delicious-smelling neck. The intensity hadn’t left his face. His eyes seemed to devour my face. He propped himself up. My hands slipped off his sides and settled on his hard chest. So muscled . . .
Get back on track, Joey.
He cupped my head, lifting me easily. My bun was no more as he forced his fingers through the strands. His eyes searched mine as if seeking answers.
“Who are you . . .?” he croaked in a harsh tone and cut himself off.
“Josephine—Joey,” I said. He breathed harshly, each puff of his breath fanning his delicious scent across my face. A droplet of water fell off his hair and plopped onto my cheek. He cupped my jaw and swiped his thumb across it.
“Josephine,” he repeated, rolling my name in his deep voice. I shivered. If my mate could say my name forever, I would be happy. “I’ve searched for you.”
The ballooning happiness expanding in my gut was overshadowed by my reality. He hadn’t been able to find me because I’d been in prison. My lungs stopped working. Would he be disgusted by what I’d caused? By where I’d been the last four years?
If he forced me to leave, I’d be in agony. Nausea swirled in my stomach, unpleasant and dizzying.
I couldn’t tell him yet. My pounding heart settled, and I hooked my arms around his neck and pulled, but instead of bringing him down, I ended up hoisting myself up to press my nose into his neck again.
I rubbed my fingertips into the back of his hair. He groaned with a shudder. With one hand on the mattress, he put the other on my ass and flipped me to settle on his lap. I landed on him with my legs straddling his waist.
“Let me look at my mate,” he said, gripping my chin and tipping it up. “How old are you, Princess?” I was no princess, but my throat clogged up, not letting me tell him my truth.
“Twenty-two,” I mumbled through my puckered lips. Worry creased his expression. “Too young for you?” I quirked an eyebrow.
His expression rippled and turned stiff.
“No,” he rasped, his hazel gaze filling with pain. He cupped my jaw, angling my face higher. It was clear he was older, but I didn’t care about that. I cared that he was mine.
I chuckled and balled my hand against his chest.
“Ah, so you like them young?” I teased. He didn’t respond, his gaze turning glazed, like he was deep in the clutches of his mind. “Mate?”
He jolted like he’d been electrocuted.
“No, I want you.” The comment seemed to come out of nowhere, but it oddly reassured me. I sat back to study the man.
