Page 51 of Mated to the Enemy
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“Stop it.”
He kept trying to get up until Jessica forcefully put her hand on his chest and pushed him back into the bed. Both of them knew that he only caved because he chose to, not because she was stronger, despite the extra leverage that came from her standing over him. But she won in the end, or he gave in, it didn’t matter, because she watched with satisfaction as he sank back down.
“Much better,” she clucked. “Now, what did you want?”
“To sit up. I’m tired of counting the ceiling tiles.”
She ignored his pouting. “Maybe you shouldn’t have let yourself get hurt then.”
Klaue worked his mouth but no sounds came out right away. “I did notletmyself get hurt,” he protested.
“Uh huh.” Jessica wasn’t buying it. “I saw what happened. You insisted I watch you, and so I did. And do you know what I saw? You were looking at me instead of the guy you were fighting. The same guy, I might add, that had three feet of steel in his hands that he was trying to eviscerate you with.”
Jessica hadn’t been aware that the fight was with swords when she’d agreed to go and witness it. Fighting with fists was one thing, but to watch him nearly be sliced open in front of her was far more nerve-wracking, and she was letting him know she didn’t like it, full stop.
“Kasperi wasn’t trying to eviscerate me,” Klaue countered, looking up at her from where he lay on his back. “You’re being overdramatic.”
“I’ve seen the slash on your back. That is no papercut! Much deeper and he could have hit your spine. You could have been paralyzed.”
Klaue started to tell her that shifters healed from wounds that would leave humans paralyzed all the time, but she held up a hand to stop him. They’d been over this ground before, and whether he was telling the truth or not, she hated seeing it.
“Besides,” he said, switching to another argument. “I’m already mostly healed. I just need to keep the movements down. No sudden twisting or stuff like that, until a few more hours have passed and it’s healed up enough.”
She glared at him. “You also have another fight in two days or whatever it is, and if you don’t watch it, you’re still going to be stiff and tight from this, and you’ll end up at a disadvantage to start.”
Klaue shook his head. “I’m not going to win this fight, am I?”
“Nope.”
“I promise, I’m healed up enough now.”
Jessica frowned, sensing a trap, but not sure of any other way out of it. “Healed up enough forwhat?”
Klaue reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her down on top of him. Jessica cried out in surprise.
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” she protested, trying to squirm out of his grip, but it was no use. Thick arms held her tight against his hard body, and it didn’t take long for her to start feeling the heat spreading throughout her own as she entered his space. Klaue was a furnace and now was no different.
“I am not. I’m not that damaged,” he told her sternly. “Stop acting like I’m in critical care. I don’t need a wheelchair.”
“Good, they don’t make them big enough for your ass and your ego,” she shot back, giving up the struggling and resting on his surprisingly comfortable chest, trying to ignore the muscles underneath her fingers.
“If anything got injured badly today, itwasmy ego. Thankfully, that heals up much faster than my body.”
Jessica was in mid-snort when he reached up, pushing his fingers through her hair and pulling her down to him. The snort of laughter became a soft gasp, and for the second time in twenty-four hours, she kissed Klaue.
Except this time, they were alone. On the bed. The warmth surrounding them multiplied and thickened, like a cocoon, isolating them from the rest of the world. Jessica lost herself in Klaue, his lips, the soft skin of his face and the steel-like muscles of his chest, and shoulders, and arms and—
Fingers started tugging at her shirt as they kissed, stealing her breath away as he pulled it up slightly, exposing her back to his touch. Was this going to happen? Jessica started to doubt herself and her decisions. She was supposed to be figuring out a way to get her sister to safety, without putting others in danger.
Instead, she was making out with a hottie who, for all she knew, was just using her to find out what she knew.
You know Klaue isn’t doing that. Stop it. Don’t drag him into your fears. He’s proven himself to you enough by now.
“Klaue,” she said softly, sitting up.
The movement pushed her hips farther back, and abruptly she felt them brush against a hardness that betrayed just how he was feeling. It also prompted her body to remind her how long it had been since the last time. It was safe to say that physically at least, he wasn’t the only one who wanted this.
