Page 479 of Shadowblood Souls
Riva only smiles again and lifts her arms to make it easier for me. My pulse racing, I grip the hem, barely grazing her skin, and peel the shirt off of her.
The sleek curves of her breasts rise and fall with her breath within the plain pink bra she’s wearing. I’ve never seen anything more tantalizing.
Oh, please, if any higher powers exist at all, let me get through this encounter without coming in my pants first.
Keeping a close watch on the whirl of emotions inside me, I tease my fingers along her collarbones. The three thumbprint-like marks she shares with the other guys stand out against her pale skin.
As I let my hand drift downward, her chest gives a little hitch. The flush spreading across it reassures me that the sound was approving rather than frightened.
I chart the path from the base of her throat to her belly button. Splay my fingers across the toned planes of her stomach. Dare to lift my hand higher so I can cradle one breast against my broad palm.
Riva’s tongue flicks out to wet her lips. “It feels good, Zee,” she says softly. “Really good.”
The longing twined through those words wakes up an animal inside me, but not the one I was afraid of. One that wants to throw her beneath me and drive inside her without wasting another instant.
No. That’s too dangerous.
But I can’t completely hold back. My reservations are fraying.
I roll her nipple under my thumb through the fabric. Riva quivers and then reaches behind her to the clasp at her back.
She catches my gaze first, waiting for my approval. My mouth goes dry.
“Yes,” I rasp. “Please.”
She lets the bra slip off her arms. And something in me cracks open.
My mouth crashes into hers, my arms enfolding her. Riva lets out an eager gasp and clutches me in return.
Our tongues collide and dance around each other like licks of flame. I devour her mouth and then brand a path down the side of her neck, over her shoulder, to the slopes I can’t resist.
When I lap the peak of her breast into my mouth, she arches to give me better access. A needy whimper spills from her lips, and my cock turns so hard I’m aching.
The shadows inside me leap and jitter, egging me on. Craving everything she can offer.
This isn’t enough. I need everything. I need to beinsideher.
Somewhere in the midst of my passion, my claws have come out. I rid myself of my shirt more by shredding it than tugging it off.
Riva raises her hands to my chest, at first cautiously and then tracing my bulging muscles with more confidence at my encouraging growl. I tip her over on the bed, yanking at her jeans as I do.
She has the presence of mind to undo the fly so she can wriggle out of them. Her fingers hook around the waist of my pants.
And all at once my breath stutters with a spike of panic.
The hired woman. The white-walled room. The nausea on Andreas’s face when he returned after she led him away.
The demanding stroke of her hands over my body, trying to tempt my compliance?—
I freeze over Riva, panting and trembling, a groan of frustration locked in my throat.
Riva goes still. I can feel Dominic watching, evaluating—deciding he doesn’t need to interrupt.
Not yet.
Riva gazes up at me with no judgment at all in her bright eyes. “We don’t have to do anything more than this. This was—this was amazing. If you need to stop?—”
Fuck, no. The idea of stopping when we’re so close, when my need for her is throbbing through every inch of my body, brings a screaming sense of resistance to the front of my mind.
