Chapter Twenty-Three
Cole spentthe rest of the day and night in bed. Despite her protests, he got up once to shower before returning to bed. Once she had him settled in bed and sleeping again, she used the shower before returning to her guard post.
When he woke again, Lexi checked his wounds. The ones on his chest and back were healing well, and the one through his ribs only had a small red mark to show where the sword had gone through him.
They looked better than yesterday, but…
“I’m going to go home and see if Sahira is back,” she said. “The wounds look good, but some more healing potion will help.”
He clasped her hand and brought it to his mouth as he kissed her knuckles. Over the top of her hand, he gave her a suggestive smile. “I know something else that would help.”
“You can’t be serious,” she huffed and tried to pull free of him. “You were stabbed through the heart.”
“Very serious,” he said as he refused to release her. “I’m a dark fae; we don’t joke about sex.”
“I didn’t think the dark fae joked at all,” she retorted.
He chuckled as he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “It’s very rare, but we can be rather amusing.”
“Well, you’re not amusing right now, and you’re injured.”
“You can strengthen me,” he murmured as he clasped the back of her head.
“And I could hurt you more.”
“Never.”
“You’re tempting me to do so right now.”
When he laughed, she rolled her eyes.
“You can only hurt me in good ways,” he told her.
Lexi glared at him, determined to ignore the sexy smile spreading across his lips. Despite the sparkling light in his eyes, she sensed his hunger as they raked over her. The lines around his mouth deepened when his lips compressed.
He’d been on death’s door two days ago, but it was obvious he needed to feed and was more than happy to risk his health to do so.
“Cole—”
“It will be okay.Iwill be okay,” he assured her.
She started to protest again, but he stopped it with a kiss. At first, she kept her mouth flattened into a line against the pressure of his full lips and their tantalizing taste. However, when his fingers threaded through her hair and his tongue teased her lips, her traitorous body eased into his.
She rested her hands on his shoulders, looking to push him away, but her hands remained frozen there.
He’s injured!
That spurred her on a little bit. She tried not to be too rough as she pushed against him, but despite nearly dying recently, he was like trying to move a mountain.
“Easy,” he whispered against her mouth. “You don’t want to hurt me.”
When she huffed and resisted the impulse to punch him, his laughter tickled her mouth. “You’re depraved.”
“I’m always depraved around you.”
Lexi was not at all amused by his teasing tone or words. She turned her head away from him as she labored to catch her breath, but that meant his mouth had better access to her neck. He kissed his way down the side of it as he tasted her in leisurely, enticing caresses.
She was still concerned this was too soon and would only hurt him, but his kisses left her craving more. Before she knew what happened, she was on his lap as his lips made their way down to her collarbone.
