Page 172 of The Delta's Rogue
He props himself up, angling to see me better, his brow furrowing a smidgen. “You picked my scent as your safe word?”
“Sí.” I nod.
“¿Por qué?”
My palms flatten against his chest, and I stretch my body against his as I explain. “Because lemon is you, and you are safe.”
He growls and tightens his hold on me. As he does, a pulse of love reaches me through our muted bond.
“Sarina—”
I stop his words with my lips on his, and whatever he was about to say morphs into a soft groan. But our kiss is distorted by a yawn stretching across my face.
Sebastian chuckles and plops his head onto the pillows, tucking the blankets tightly around our bodies. “Go back to sleep,cariño. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He embraces me and strokes my shoulder and arm in a steady rhythm. I burrow my face into his chest. With his arms around me and my ear over his heart, I’m the safest and most comfortable I’ve been in a long time.
I drift back to sleep, albeit a much lighter sleep than before. I’m in and out of slumber. No dreams find me. Sebastian’s body, his arms around me, his heartbeat, and his breathing—that’s all there is.
Esto es lo que necesito.This is what I need. This is why he is mine. He gives me what I need when I need it. He understands when to give me space and when to hold me in his arms and hide me away from the heavy stressorsof my position.
He’s more perfect as a mate than I ever imagined he’d be.
Just as I’m on the verge of slipping into a deeper sleep, Sebastian rolls away from me.
I grab his hand as he stands, finding it easily even with my eyes closed. “Don’t go.”
“I need to shower,” he says. “I won’t be long.”
“Promise?”
He kisses my knuckles. “Te lo prometo.”
I draw my hand back into the safety of my nest of blankets as his footsteps carry him towards the bathroom. The water turns on, and the scent of soap wafts towards me, carried by the dense steam flowing out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. The clean scent mixes with the barest hint of Sebastian’s natural scent.
I find I can no longer sleep or rest. I need to be with him. I’m compelled to be with him. We are magnets that shouldn’t be apart.
I scoot to the edge of the bed and climb from beneath the heavy, warm blankets, making my way to the bathroom. The door is partially open, and I hesitate, hand hovering right in front of it.
He didn’t invite me in with him. If I join him without his permission, he may view it as disobedience.Él podría castigarme. He might punish me.
There’s another side to my hesitation too. A shyness I’ve never experienced fills me to the tips of my fingers and toes.
There’s no reason to be shy. I’ve been naked with him before.
But all those other times were different.
Before, when he didn’t remember who I was,estaba desesperada. Desperate for any attention from him, desperate to fulfill the blazing need within me, desperate to get as much as I could while I could. When he rescued me, when he bathed me after my breakdown… Well, those moments hardly count. I wasn’t myself—not that I’m truly myself now either—and circumstances were beyond our control.
My hand trembles in midair, and I bite my lip, eyes squeezing shut as the battle wages within my mind.
No. He’s my mate, and as mates, we are equals. I have every right to be with him and assert my need for him.
I drop my hand to the hem of my shirt and lift it.
Before I can remove it, the door opens. I freeze with the shirt halfway up my torso.
Sebastian stands framed in the doorway. Droplets of water cling to his skin, and a towel sits low on his hips, leaving every inch of his muscular abs and chest visible for me to marvel at. The steamy air dances across the exposed lower curves of my breasts, and I inhale in surprise.
