Page 43 of In Her Own Rite

“Hundreds. Thousands.” I feel him smile against my skin. “You won’t believe my water bill.”

I laugh, but then he nips gently at my neck and I feel my heat flood through me, hungry and primal. My wolf is in there somewhere, wanting him, too—wanting him to mark me, take me as his mate.

“Again,” I whisper, and he kisses me harder, scraping his teeth across my skin and biting gently.

“Oh, God. Kieran.” I bring my hand down to his erection, and the energy between us changes. His head rolls back, and he groans as I run my fingers up and down the length of it. After a minute he tries to brush my hand away.

“I want to take care ofyou,” he says, reaching for my hips.

I shake my head. “I wantthis.”

I reach for him again, stroking him, watching what it does to him when I go faster or slower, when I make my grip tighter, when I run my hand over the head and then come back down. I make the space between our bodies smaller, bringing myself so close that the back of my hand brushes against his abs and my fingers brush against my own stomach as I stroke him.

“Fuck. Em,” he groans, panting, the water spilling over us. He grabs onto my hips to hold himself steady, and I go a little faster, the pace becoming needy, insistent. My own breath quickens in pace with his. I like seeing him like this: guard down, lost in pleasure forme, at my hands.

“Too good,” he groans, and pushes my hand away. He reaches down for my hips and lifts me up, pressing me against the wall of the shower. I wrap my legs around him and gasp as I feel his hardness brush against the sensitive place between my legs. I think he’s going to take me, but instead he holds me in place against the wall, kissing me, working his mouth down to the places in my neck that make me gasp and go wild with desire.

He’s studied me, I realize. He’s learned what I like.

He brings his mouth lower, sucking and biting along the spot between my neck and my shoulder. I notice his body grow taut as he takes his time, nuzzling into me, nipping lightly at the skin of my neck. It’s the place where his mark would go, I realize. And as I see what he’s doing—lingering, savoring,imagininghow it would be to claim me—I feel my whole body flood with need.

“Kier,” I breathe.

He sucks on the skin, and I feel his teeth run lightly over it. Instinctively, my hips grind towards him.

“Iija,” I groan.

“Em.” He pulls away, his eyes dark with desire. “I want you.”

“You have me.”

“No. Iwantyou. Where?”

I point through the glass of the shower to the bedroom. He lifts me higher onto him and I wrap my legs tightly around his waist. He reaches to turn off the shower handle and carries me out of the bathroom, laying me down on the bed, climbing over me, our bodies still wet.

“Fuck, Em,” he says, kissing his way down my body. I gasp at the familiar warmth of his tongue on my clit, the feeling of one finger dipping gently in and out of me.

“You’re so wet,” he murmurs. “God. I’ve been dreaming of this.”

His finger curls up, brushing against some spot inside me that makes me buck instinctively. I moan, my hands grasping for him, fingers tangling in his wet hair. He dips his finger in and out, his tongue moving faster, and I feel my vision start to grow hazy. He works me until I’m close, and it takes all my self-control to drag his face up to mine.

“I need you,” I gasp.

“Okay,” he says, but then he hesitates. “But… Your heat. What about—”

“Oh,” I say, realizing. Birth control. “I take something. I have for years, just in case.”

He nods. “I didn’t think that night. I only realized the next day, and I wanted to ask.”

“No, we’re fine. We’re good,” I say, pulling him towards me, but he keeps himself in place.

“It would have been okay,” he says softly, looking into my eyes.

His words catch me off-guard. I swallow back whatever complicated emotion I’m feeling and pull his face in to kiss him hard. Not because he said this. Not because I believe him. But because I realize this is a man who loves me; a man who has thought about all our forevers.

He positions himself between my legs, sliding his cock between my lips, then pressing gently at my entrance. We both gasp as he enters me. I’m more ready for him now, more prepared for the length and girth of him than last time, and as he thrusts himself into me, my head falls back.

“God, Kieran,” I gasp.

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