Page 420 of Shadowblood Souls
He lets out a sigh, his muscular frame relaxing just a little in the tee and pajama bottoms he wore to bed. Then he eases onto the edge of the mattress.
Griffin and I scoot over to make more room. I guess I have one reason to thank Balthazar for the nice beds.
I peel back the covers so Jake can slide under them, and he tips his head close to mine. His voice comes out rough. “Already all warmed up, Wildcat?”
A gentler smile tugs at my lips. “Just a little. I was hoping for more.”
“I can help with that.”
He lowers his mouth to meet mine, searing hot from the moment we meld together. My pulse thrums faster as I twine my fingers into his smooth hair.
From behind, Griffin nuzzles the back of my neck. His thumb strokes a giddy arc over my belly.
Now I really am on fire.
I kiss Jacob hard, with all the longing in me that’s driven both by my love for these men and the essence in my blood always hungry to join with theirs. He deepens the kiss, offering my first taste of the passion I know he can bring like a thunderstorm.
But his touch stays careful. He traces my jaw and the slope of my shoulder, my side down to where Griffin’s arm is wrapped around me and then back up to the curve of my breasts, tender rather than demanding in his affection.
I curl my fingers into his hair hard enough to tug at his scalp, but all he does is groan, muffled against my lips.
Is he ever going to forgive himself for how he hurt me in the past—which he only did because of how much he was hurting? I have.
I don’t know how else to convince him of that.
And right now the tension bottled up inside me wants the whole fucking storm. I want to feel just how fierce he can be, enough to rival the enemies we’ve found ourselves imprisoned by.
As he rolls my nipple between his fingers, I press into his hand, and his grasp tightens into a pinch. I gasp at the bolt of pleasure—and Jacob releases my breast in an instant.
“I’m fine,” I murmur quickly, stealing a hasty peck between reassurances. “It wasgood.”
Jacob palms my breast again, tension radiating off him. He’s pulled taut as a bowstring but refusing to give in to the pressure.
Griffin grazes his fingers down over the waistband of my sweatpants and speaks in a soft but steady murmur. “Jake, do you really think she’d lie to you about what she wants? She isn’t afraid. She’s burning up with how much she wants you.”
His brother makes a strangled noise low in his throat. He caresses my breast again, more forcefully this time.
I press into his touch and into Griffin’s hand where it’s curled between my legs. A needy growl reverberates from my lungs.
Hell, yes. I’ve been restraining myself too, for way too long.
I need these men. They’re my blood, and I’m theirs, and nothing any captor can do will change that.
Jacob dips his head to nip at the most sensitive strip of my neck. The scrape of his teeth sends a quiver of delight through me.
I yank on his hair a little harder, and he outright bites me, not quite but on the verge of breaking the skin. My whole body shudders with eagerness.
Jacob exhales raggedly, his breath rushing over my skin. As I undulate between him and his twin, my hip brushes the bulge that’s protruding against his pajama pants. But he still holds himself back, resting his forehead firmly against mine.
When he speaks again, it’s not to me. “Tell her, like you told me. Tell her how much I love her. I don’t know—I don’t have the words for all of it—but you—maybe you can say everything.”
Griffin’s hand slows in its blissful massage between my thighs. He brands my shoulder with a lingering kiss before answering.
“It’s always there, Riva. Even when you’re not in the same room. Like an ember smoldering through everything else he’s feeling. Wanting to protect and help you. Wantingyou. And when you’re there—when you smile at him or touch him—it flares into a forest fire, blazing through everything else, capturing every part of him. He’d do anything for you, and then he’d do it all over again, and the only thing that would matter is that it made you happy.”
Jacob takes another shaky breath. The press of his forehead and his hand still cupping my breast, the relentless thump of his pulse reverberating into me from his body—all of it gives life to Griffin’s words and tells the truth of his story.
A lump rises in my throat. I pull Jake’s lips back to mine and kiss him with everything I have in me before I answer.
