Danger. Edge.
“Trust me.”
Romano lowered slowly, taking her weight on his shoulders, and kissed down her neck. His teeth grazed across her heated skin. Collar bone. Sternum. Over the swell of her right breast before his tongue snaked out and laved one nipple. He kept going, starting fires and setting them to smolder with his damn kisses and sharp bites.
He’d read her mind, he had to. He bit and kissed his way down every spot she’d wanted him to. Touched each place she’d needed until she was panting. He knelt between her legs, her thighs on either side of his head.
When he looked up at her, his eyes flashed golden for a moment.
“Every bit of power you have pent up, waiting to rush out, I want you to give to me. Don’t hold it, don’t think about it. Let this be the safe place.”
“Romano,” she started.
He bit her inner left thigh, hard.
I like that.
“I’m not asking, Kalinda.”
She closed her eyes. Could she? What if—
His hot tongue licked over her curls and down, swirling around her clit without touching it. Her body tensed, muscles locked in anticipation. Magic jerked in her chest, demanding release. She gasped, nearly choked with it.
One deep breath. In. Out.
And then she let go.
Of all of it.
Chapter Eleven
Romano’s silken tongue was the counterbalance to Kalinda’s complete loss of control. Magic, alive and breathing, crested within her blood and, for the first time, was freed of all inhibitions and controls. Like a second lover, it caressed her skin, heated her blood, and ignited her senses. Sex was heavy in the air—a combination of her sweetness and Romano’s rugged, earthy scent. Her gifts swirled in her mouth, leaving behind traces of chocolate and spice even as Romano sucked her clit into his mouth and flicked it eagerly with his tongue.
He applied hot, steady pressure on the nub, giving her no escape and even less room to understand the sensations pouring through her. A heartbeat thundered in her ears, deeper and heavier than her own. Scalding breath danced over her heated flesh, sending shockwaves reverberating through her. His fingers were harsh, digging into her hips, and she had no doubt she’d be bruised in the morning.
Then … it changed.
A lone wolfed howled deep inside her mind, exhilarated with happiness. It raced through the forest, large paws well-balanced on deep, moist earth, each scent a signal to the world around it. And it was free. So free. Explosive with its craving for what danced right before it. Silken walls, taut skin, slick juices sliding along its tongue.
Mate.
Kalinda sucked in a deep breath, as did the wolf, filling both their lungs with a heady call of the wild. And the wolf answered, reveling in want and desire and wrapped in musky notes of a perfect red wine. Shivers raced along the wolf’s spine, and with sudden clarity, she knew the wolf was Romano, the flavor her.
Somehow, her pleasure, spiraling up from her belly and wringing cries from her throat with every bated breath, mixed with his—his love of feeling her folds, the craving of her taste, the blossoming of overwhelming need.
They were one and separate, together and not, racing toward climax. She’d never had anyone in her life she could think of who truly wanted her the way he did. Romano’s need of her made her toes curl and her back arch. It only served to make the electricity arcing through her body as tight as a bow string, ready to snap at any moment.
A growl vibrated against the inside of her thighs and slid deep into her core. Romano used the flat of his tongue to trace a molten path from the base of her up to her mound and back down again.
“I could eat you all night, Kalinda. Devour you like my last meal.”
Yeah, her fingers slipped from the railing above her head right about then. Her back bowed. Romano pressed his face back into her mound and tossed her into the stratosphere even as he lowered her to the bed. The soft mattress and comforter cushioned her, enveloping her in feather lightness.
Trapped between Romano and the bed, Kalinda rode the wave. She couldn’t stop her scream if she tried. Couldn’t hold back from clenching her thighs around his ears and burying her fingers in the cool thickness of his hair. She gripped the strands, yanking him harder against her, curling her lower body and riding his face.
It was magnetic.
It was wild.
