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“But he’ll be fine, right?” Kylie said. “I mean, he’s stayed on top thislong.”
“Yeah,” I said. If only I felt totally confident of Marco’s victory. In the back of my mind, I kept seeing the tiger shifter standing over him, taller and broader. Size wasn’t everything—but it mattered a hell of a lot in afight.
“Geez. I had no idea things would be this tense. I’m sorry if I made the situation anyworse.”
“Hey.” I pulled Kylie around to face me as the attendant opened a door for her. “I’m glad you’re here. Any trouble Marco’s kin make is their fault, not yours. Thank you for coming. Just having you with me makes everything feel a little easier tohandle.”
My best friend beamed at me and pulled me into another hug. “That’s why I’mhere.”
I hugged her back, and then stepped away. “I do still want you staying safe, though. Can you just, like hole up in your guest room for a little while. I think I should talk toMarco.”
Kylie waved me off. “Of course, of course. Go tend to your ‘mate.’ I can already see I’ve got plenty of luxury in here to keep me occupied. But if you run into any handsome unoccupied shifters, feel free to send them my waytoo!”
I couldn’t help laughing, even though my stomach was still tight. “I’ll dothat.”
Marco’s private rooms were just down the hall from mine. I knocked. “Marco?”
“Come in,” he called from the other side. When I stepped in, he was standing by the chaise lounge in the sitting room. He shot me an amused glance. “You don’t need to knock with me, princess. Consider these rooms as much yours as they aremine.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Are youokay?”
Marco shrugged with a careless air, but I knew him well enough now to notice the angry glint in his indigo eyes. “Challenges happen. They have before and will again. It isn’t how I would have hoped to spend my first evening here with you, but we’ll just have to make tomorrow night even better to make up forit.”
His grin looked a little tense too. I walked up to him. “It sounded like that Julius guy had been a pain in the ass beforenow.”
Marco nodded. “He likes to hear himself talk, especially if it’s to complain about how anyone else is doing things. Apparently he’s decided to graduate fromtalking.”
“Do you think he’s the one allied with the rogues?” Iasked.
“It could be. A challenge, if he succeeded, would be a fairly direct way to disrupt the status quo. But he’s not going to succeed, so really it’s a very bad plan, if it isone.”
Julius had radiated aggressive disdain, but there was no way for me to tell whether that feeling was simply personal or whether he had a larger agenda. It didn’t really matter anyway. It didn’t change what I’d come here todo.
I touched Marco’s face, tracing my fingers along the line of his angular jaw. “I guess we could enjoy ourselves before tomorrow eveningtoo.”
A different sort of light sparked in Marco’s eyes. He dipped his head close to mine. “What exactly did you have in mind, my Princess ofFlames?”
I kissed him in answer. He hummed low in his throat and kissed me back, his hands rising to tangle in my hair. The graze of his fingers over my scalp left my whole body tingling inanticipation.
He tilted my head slightly to deepen the kiss. I pressed my mouth to his hungrily. The bond inside me thrummed with eagerness, urging meon.
Without breaking the kiss, I stepped backward through the doorway into the bedroom. Marco followed. His tongue teased into my mouth, and for one hot, heady moment it sparred with mine. Then I had to let go of him to hop up on thebed.
Marco prowled after me, nothing but longing in his gaze now. He bent over me on the bed and claimed my mouth again. His fingers brushed over my breasts with just enough pressure to pebble my nipples through my shirt and bra—but not half as much as I was dying for. I arched into his touch, and he chuckledbreathlessly.
“All in good time,” he murmured on his way into anotherkiss.
No. The more time we took, the more opportunity he had to question mymotivations.
I grasped his shirt and tugged it up. Marco let me peel it off, staying poised over me for a few seconds as I drank in his lean chest. I ran my hands over the planes of solid muscle, and his eyelidsdipped.
“Princess,” he said in a hungrygrowl.
I pulled my shirt off too. Marco leaned in to kiss his way down the side of my neck and across my collarbone. I whimpered when he reached the boundary of my bra. To my relief, he made short work of that obstacle. With a quick gesture, he’d unhooked it and tossed it aside. Then he was slicking his tongue over one needynipple.
I gasped at the rush of pleasure spreading through my chest. Yes, this was exactly what we both needed. One of my arms looped around Marco’s shoulders. The other crept down my body to undo the fly of my jeans. I caught Marco’s hand and guided it along the samepath.
He groaned when his fingers reached the dampness on my panties. I shivered with longing, the ache between my legs only growing as he stroked methere.
