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Another growl gathered low in his chest, its presence teetering on the edge of release. If he let the full force loose, would she climax again? Or did the arousal need to build more? The prospect of finding out, of discovering all her little secrets and tells, thrilled him beyond reason.
“What happened with Silas that caused the fight?” She hurled the question at him, her voice a delicate rasp.
Smiling, he nosed into the crook of her neck. She startled at the breach of her space, but he pressed on. He pressed so close that her face couldn’t avoid the brush of contact with his shoulder when he purred, “Nothing you need worry about.”
A shuddery sigh whisked out of her, and hot, female breath whispered across his naked skin like a caress. “Why did you bring me here?”
“You already know the answer to that.” Mouth watering, he hungered with the need to sink his teeth deep into that tender flesh. His tongue darted out, licking a path up her throat, tasting her honeyed salt. Her suppressed moan tickled against his tongue as it fought to emerge. “You’re mine, and I can take you anywhere I want.”
Her spine stiffened. “Refusing to answer my questions is not an endearing quality.”
“No?” His lips glided over her cheek, dotting unhurried kisses against her smooth, freckled skin before rocking back on his heels and looking her full in the face. “And what qualifies as an endearing quality to you, Della, Who Takes Care Of Herself?”
Her pink lips thinned to a blanched white. “Honesty. Integrity. Openness. Dependability.”
He quirked a brow, infinitely amused at the list of virtues she rattled off like she was describing Jesus Christ himself. “Is that it?”
“Gentleness. Loyalty. Humility. Generosity. Sincerity—”
“Ah, I can see the confusion on that one.”
Della’s brows speared down. “What do you mean?”
Cal squeezed one eye shut. “Sometimes folks mistake a certain levity for insincerity.”
She sniffed. “I suppose you fancy yourself as having the former and not the latter.”
For some reason, he found her haughty displeasure adorable. “S’ppose I do.”
“As far as I’ve seen”—breaking away from his gaze, she turned her chin toward the exit, staring out into the night—“the only amusing thing about you is how amusing you find yourself.”
A surprised laugh leaped from his lips, and she flicked him a peevish glance. “See, I knew there was an intriguing woman underneath all this seriousness.” His grin expanded. “She should come out and play some more.”
Frowning, she pitched her torso backward, widening the distance between them. “And what makes you think she wants to play with you?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one.” With a smirk he knew she’d love to hate, he advanced in the face of her retreat. Prowling forward, he caged her body between his hands and knees till her back flattened on the floor. “Because I’ve got a few other endearing qualities she hasn’t failed to notice, no matter what she’d like to pretend.”
Della pasted on an indifferent smile. “I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of asking what those are.”
Despite her failed attempt to hide behind a shield of aloofness, Della’s bosom lifted in an unmistakable heave that sent a bolt of lust straight to his dick. Her hands laid tentatively against his pecs, but whether the touch was intended to hold him off versus appreciate one of his aforementioned endearing qualities, he couldn’t say. She probably couldn’t, either, and he’d be damned if that tortured ambivalence didn’t make everything that much sweeter.
Slowly, he lowered his lower body to hers, letting the hard ridge of his growing erection mash against the soft cushion of her belly. Her widened pupils betrayed her awareness of its presence. Feeling her heart thudding against his chest, he turned up his smile a notch. “Well, there’s no need to ask a question you already know the answer to, is there?”
She parted the plump curves of her lips as if preparing for a retort that never came. Instead, he swooped down to capture her mouth. The touch sent shockwaves through his entire body, his heart speeding with the contact. The kiss was his endeavor, but the intensity floored him nonetheless. Della’s startled gasp met that first erotic touch, and he savored that too. It powered him into another and another, each one deeper, more devastating than the last, and Della met each one with a passion all her own. Whether due to his seduction plan or her emerging Omega nature, she kissed with a hunger that belied her outward indifference. Parting those perfect lips, the slide of her tongue had him groaning deep in his throat.
Intoxicated, he thrust a hand into her hair, reclaiming control as he nibbled the pillowy contour of her lower lip. The tender flesh slid between his careful teeth as he pulled away and forged a path over her jaw and down to her neck. She shuddered and moved her hands to grip his upper arms. This touch, combined with her heated kisses, destroyed the rest of his self-control. He’d waited long enough, his body screamed, and he answered. Ripping her collar aside, he dove for the meaty pouch of her trapezius, teeth clamping down but not all the way through.
Della shrieked in alarm, clutching and scrabbling against his chest. “No! Don’t!”
Ignoring her cries, he nursed on the spot, pulling her iron-rich blood to the surface with a combination of gentle nips and powerful suction. Goosebumps spread over her skin, and she shimmied and wriggled and tried to get away. Every resisting, feminine twitch made his teeth ache to clamp down and finish the job.
Cal hooked an arm around her waist, hindering her escape. Saliva flowed from his gums, her scent and taste drawing him further and further under her spell. A rumbling growl built from deep in his chest, ready to explode right at the moment something cold and sharp jabbed under his jaw.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cal
The sharp prick dug into his skin. Angled into the hollow where his pulse hammered, the stab rendered his body inert. A mess of confusion, instinctive fear, and disbelief drenched his lust in cold water.
