Page 67 of Taken By Raider Kings
“Okay.”He tried not to look at the pink cotton tank top, all rucked up under her breasts and exposing a slice of perfect pale belly-curve.She looked sosoft.And one of her hips hitched as she moved, a lovely seashell.“I, um?—”
She put her hands up; he caught them reflexively.“Go easy on me, Zach.I feel like I’ve been pulled apart and put back together wrong.”
“Sophie—” Where was he going to begin?With,I’m sorry?With,Are you all right?He braced her as she rose slowly, groaning, from the bed’s embrace.
One small bare foot touched the floor, then the other.She spilled into his arms like grace itself, the faint, fading trace of pain and exhaustion washed away by the cold moonlight of a shaman.Sophie sighed and leaned into him, and the rage… vanished, completely.
He felt like himself again for the first time in days.
“Hello,” she murmured into his chest.“It’s good to see you.”
Did she mean it?He only had the vaguest crimson-tinted memories of bursting into a dark confined space, the stink of murder clinging to his fur, and?—
“Are you all right?”he managed.Everything else he wanted to say congealed in a lump right behind his Adam’s apple.
“I need a shower.And a change of clothes.And breakfast.I’mdyingfor some coffee.”She rubbed her chin against his T-shirt, and he had to swallow dryly.
“Sophie, I—”I went right over the edge.What did you see me do?
“They say you think I’m your mate.”Her head tipped back, and without the steel-rimmed glasses she looked even softer.He couldn’t decide which way he liked her more.Curls fell in her face, and even unwashed and sleepy-eyed she was just about the most delicious thing he’d ever seen.“And that you killed a lot of vampires to get me out of there.”
“Um.”All he could produce was a despairing noise.Words deserted him.
“That was my ex-husband.”The shadow passed over her face, a devouring sadness.“He wanted to murder me.I guess he always wanted that.”
You never have to worry about that again.Anyone so much as breathes at you wrong, I’ll hand them their own spleen.“Sophie?—”
“You’re no prize,” she continued.“You kidnapped me, dragged me all over town, and your social skills aresototally nonexistent.”
Oh, Christ.His entire body had turned to lead.“I?—”
“Will you shut up?As I was saying…” She coughed a little, leaned into him.Her softness short-circuited his brain, but also soothed the beast.It curled up, satisfied, at the very bottom of his mind.“You’re an arrogant werewolf and a kidnapper.But I’ve never had very good taste in men.I guess Marc was proof of that.”
His arms were around her.She was clinging to him in a most definite way, and his stupid body was taking notice.
“Lucy told me it was time to get back into the dating pool, and I suppose I could do worse than a man who saved my life.But we’re going to have to talk about your social skills.And Julia, too.She’s spoiled and neglected at the same time, and…” She coughed again, a dry racking sound, and the movement echoed in his own muscles.“But we’ll take care of that in a little while.Right now I need a shower, and you can get me some coffee.”
What?
“I feel amazingly good, all things considered,” she continued.“A bit sore.How long was I out?”
“Um.”Two days.“I, uh…” He was reduced to grunting, goddammit.Where had all the wisecracking-like-a-teenager gone?
She pushed at him, gently, and he let her go.His arms didn’t want to relax.They fell at his sides like two pieces of splintery wood.
Watching her turn gingerly away was like being fifteen and lonely again.Those curls were a messy glory, and she wore a pair of boxers.There was a fading bruise on her calf that begged to be kissed, just like the curve of her lower back peeping out from under the tank top.
That made the animal take notice, in a drowsy, sated way.
Sophie paused at the door, her hand on the knob.Looked back over her shoulder.“How long?Andisthere any coffee?”
He was suddenly very sure he didn’t want her to step outside this room.All you want.Anything you want.Just don’t leave us.Don’t leave me.“Coffee.Yeah, there’s some.”
“And some clothes that don’t smell like vampire?”
His hands curled into fists.The thought ofupirthreatened to bring the rage back.The animal in him perked its ears, lifted its snout.
“Hey.”She came back, padding on those cute little bare feet, and the smell of her washed over him again.The fragrance was slightly odd, and he had to concentrate for a long syrup-stretching moment before he realized why.
