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I rubbed the back of my neck, not caring for the scrutiny. “I’m not very good at it yet. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not really a studying sort of guy—never was. Turns out that learning sign language isn’t all that easy. Didn’t want to say anything until I didn’t embarrass myself, especially if I couldn’t get the hang of it.”
“So you started learning a couple weeks ago?”
And here went the part I’d not wanted to discuss. “No. I started a few months ago, after our first night together. I just couldn’t get a good grip of it for a while.”
I stared at the floor, now wanting to see her disappointed when she realized just how hard it was for me to grasp some more delicate information. I wasn’t stupid, but unless it had to do with tactics or warfare, my brain just didn’t like to convert it into long term storage. It meant that learning ASL had taken months of study at night with that damned book, sitting up late while I tried to beat the information into my thick skull.
It had burned that I’d needed Wade or Knox to translate for me for so long, when no matter how many nights I worked toward it, I just couldn’t understand with how quickly her hands moved. But I’d kept going, wanting to communicate with her on my own.
A warmth on my cheek made me lift my gaze again. She said nothing—with her hand on my cheek it wasn’t as though she could sign—but the smile she gave me said more than anything else could have. She came closer and leaned up, onto her tiptoes, then brushed her soft, warm lips against mine.
It reminded me of when I’d been in my berserker form, the memories fuzzy as they often were after I returned to myself, butthisI remembered. She’d pressed her forehead to mine, the touch so unbearably gentle that it had reached past the haze of my bloodlust.
And just like the time before, it made me shudder and give in. How could do she that to me so easily?
It hit me especially hard when she crossed that line, when she reached out for me. Too often our relationship had been me crossing it. I’d gone to her room. I’d touched her. I’d craved and she’d given in. That meant when she made the first move, when she showed that she didn’t fear me, that she wanted me in some way, it completely took me down. Any resistance I might have mustered went away immediately. Shehad a line past all those other feelings, right down to something deeper, to the real me that rested beneath my berserker.
So I kissed her back, taking her first move and running with it. I pushed her until I had her trapped between the wall and my hard body, wanting to keep her still. She felt like something that kept slipping away, like holding her was trying to grasp smoke, but for the moment I had her.
I had to let her go out alone, because my face was plastered on every TV screen around. I’d caused her far more trouble than I’d help her with, which meant no matter how much I hated it, I had to keep my ass planted right where it was.
And Ireallyhated it.
I kissed her deeper, tasting her, slipping my tongue past her lips. I ran the hand not behind her neck down her, tempted by her soft and giving body. She wore another outfit from the thrift store, something that didn’t quite fit but made her look better than women who wore expensive tailored gowns. It was just her, though, and she drew me as no other had. I didn’t care what she wore. I didn’t care how she styled her hair—I wanted her no matter what.
I reached beneath her sweater to find her warm skin, dancing my fingertips over her stomach, her ribs, the sensitive flesh beneath her the line of her bra. It all made me want to strip her bare right then, to forget others were in the shop, that we had things to do, that dangerous problems plagued us. We could toss that all aside and just lose ourselves in each other for a short while. When I did that, the rest of the world didn’t seem so overwhelming or imposing.
A door opening farther back in the shop woke her up, at least. I didn’t know if I cared—if Knox or Wadewalked in, what did that matter? We were all adults, and we were well aware of what happened between adults.
Yet, it seemed Hera was less willing to let others walk in on us naked and tangled together, because she pressed her small hands to my chest and pushed.
I broke the kiss but rested my forehead against hers. “Saved by the incubus, huh?” I knew Knox’s footsteps as if they were my own, so as soon as he got close enough for me to catch them, I easily knew who approached. “Normally incubi lead to more sex, not less. Figures my brother would end up being a cock-block.”
I leaned in and pressed my lips to her throat, not willing to let her go without something. I sucked hard at a spot on the side of her neck, a place difficult to hide.
She arched against me, pulling in a harsh breath at what was no doubt a sting, but I didn’t stop.
Finally, I released her, pulling back. I stroked my fingers over the red mark I’d left. “If I’ve got to stay put here while you go out, you damn well will wear my mark when you go.” A hazy memory of myself from my other form, when I’d thought of her as my mate, hit me.
I’d never felt that way before, never wanted any one female over another, had never really cared, but clearly Hera wasn’t like anyone else.
Was that why a rush took over me at the sight of the darkening hickey on her neck, the sign that she had someone? It felt like a huge warning signal to anyone who would dare even consider touching her.
And it soothed me. It let me take a step backward before Knox walked into the entryway where Hera and I stood.
“Not gone yet?” Knox asked the question with a grin, as if he knew exactly the reason and it amused him.
Then again, as an incubus, he could probablysmellHera’s interest, could taste the lust in the room, and Knox didn’t take sex seriously as a lot of others did. He didn’t give a damn if I slept with Hera—he’d made that clear enough after the first time.
He wanted her, of course, but me having tasted her, me being with her, that didn’t change his feelings about her.
His gaze moved to her neck, to the mark, and his smile widened. While the thought of anyone walking in on me fucking Hera didn’t bother me, as it turned out, Knox seeing the mark made me shy.
Maybe because I’d never wanted to leave proof on anyone else, never wanted to claim anyone else, that it felt far more personal, more special.
I ignored the heat in my cheeks and pulled back from Hera, putting distance between us. “Be careful,” I warned her again. “If you run into any problems, don’t face them yourself. Just get the hell out of there and back to us.”
“You worry too much,” Knox told me.
