Page 116 of The Piece You Stole

Before this can develop into something I doubt she’s ready for, I rest my hand on the warm skin on her lower back and hold her still, my mouth brushing her soft hair, breathing in the soft jasmine scent of her.

She needs something more than comfort. Maybe not sex. Not yet.

But something more.

Something Kade thinks only I can give her.

I kiss her brow, lightly, just once.

Sighing softly, she presses closer, angling her head up, as if for more.

I kiss her again, this time on the lips, just a brush. Nothing that would scare her the way Kade’s sudden grab at the kitchen table had startled her.

She leans into it and parts her lips.

Blood pumps through me, going right to one place. Between my legs. Against her t-shirt-covered belly, I feel myself harden.

Was this what she wanted before, or did Dariel stir something awake in her?

“Saige?” I murmur.

She wiggles a little, and her t-shirt—the only thing she wears to bed—slides up. For the first time, my cock, wrapped in the thin boxers I wear to bed, presses against her soft, bare belly. “Hmm?”

I swallow a groan because I might not be a shifter capable of smelling a woman’s arousal, but I can feel Saige’s need. She wants me enough that if I were to roll her onto her back and edge my fingers beneath the hem of her panties, she would arch her hips as if she were inviting me inside her body.

But I don’t move because this isn’t about me.

And this isn’t about sex.

I kiss her again. This time at the corner of her lips. “Sleep now.”

She freezes for a second, and then she rolls away, onto her side, with her back to me.

One motion and it’s clear she thinks I don’t want her, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

I wrap my arm around her waist and draw her back before kissing her lightly on her throat. “Saige.”

She holds still, as if she wants me to believe she’s gone to sleep. Any other time, I wouldn’t push the need to talk, but I can’t let her fall asleep thinking that I don’t want her.

I kiss her throat again, pretending I don’t notice her breath catch or feel her tiny wriggle that rubs her ass against me. “Your friendship is important to me,” I whisper into her ear.

After a long moment, she releases the deep breath she must have been holding. “Is that what we are? Friends?”

I tighten my hand around her hips. “Yes. We are. When you climb into this bed, it’s important that you know nothing has to happen here. Nothing at all.”

Another long moment later, she turns.

Her eyes, a shadowed blue, glint at me as the silence extends. “Even though I can feel you want more?”

“What do you want?”

A long stare. A blink, and then she rolls onto her back and stares up at the ceiling. “You’re not behaving in a way I understand.”

“Ruled by the thing between my legs, you mean?” I snort, letting her hear my amusement.

She barks out a laugh. “I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

I roll onto my back and wait, letting her decide if she wants to say something or nothing.

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