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I took a beat to weigh my answer. “As near as I can tell, but I would like to get her up off the floor. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to wake her.”
“I would offer to carry her back to the bedroom—”
An involuntary rumble started deep in my chest at the thought of him putting his hands on her, even innocently.
He dipped his head. “That’s what I thought.”
Heat raced up the back of my neck at what I’d just done. There was no denying I had a primitive side. All creatures did. But I’d worked hard to keep that side of myself caged. Reacting like that, to a friend no less, was exceptionally bad form.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
He pulled himself up and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees with a smirk. “Yes, you do. If our roles were reversed, I’d be a growly, grumbly sonofabitch too.”
Unlacing my fingers from Never’s, I set the pendant on the table. It took some effort to get myself off the couch and lift her off the ground without waking her. In part because I wasn’t yet fully healed. Every movement felt rusty, but eventually I got her situated in her own bed.
The logical part of my brain said I needed to go back out and start working out a plan to deal with the shadow, but the woman in front of me was all-consuming.
Leaving her clothed was the smartest option given my limited control, but her clothes were still covered in blood, dust, and ash. So, I worked quickly to peel off her shirt and jeans in the most efficient and non-sexual way.
It was no use. My blood was already racing at the sight of her in just her underthings, despite her unconscious state.
What does that say about me?
Rather than dwelling on it, I toed off my boots, pulled my shirt off over my head, and climbed into the bed behind her. Gathering her close with her nearly bare back flush to my chest was like coming home after a long, lonely journey.
I wanted her as close as I could have her, for as long as I could have her. Which, given her depressingly short mortal life, wouldn’t be long enough.
Minutes ticked by in relative silence, her steady breathing the only meaningful sound in the room. Except with each steady inhale and exhale, the innocent press of her warm body against mine morphed from comforting to arousing.
She shifted her hips, pressing back into me, and I had to swallow my groan. When she did it a second time, her sumptuous rear end nudging my length, I gave into the urge to let my lips brush along the back of her neck.
Only she didn’t respond.
Is she teasing?
Or was she still sleeping and unaware of what her body was doing?
I traced a lazy line with my fingertips, down her side to her hip and along the line of thin fabric clinging there. “Never,” I whispered.
She mewled in response.
It was encouraging, but still not a clear indicator she was awake. A better man would have stopped right there. Which was to say a better man would not have slipped his hand beneath the barely there fabric of her panties. He also wouldn’t have had to bite his own lip to stay the rumble of satisfaction that tried to escape when he found her deliciously slick and hot.
I eased up onto my elbow to get a better look at her. Her eyes were still closed, but the look on her face spoke of anticipation.
“Is this what you want?” I asked quietly.
She didn’t respond with words, but it was almost as though I could feel her awareness. As much as I longed to keep going, with my pulse ramping up and my body primed, I was struck by the fact that I didn’t know her well enough to take those tiny responses as permission.
“Give me one word, Never. Yes or no?”
She arched languidly in my arms, pushing back into me once more.
“I’m going to need more than that if you want me to keep going,” I whispered, leaning in close to her ear.
If she heard me, she gave no indication.
I tried to stop myself, but my treacherous hand moved anyway, sliding further down. My fingertips skated along her wetness until I found her clit. Guilt was eating at me, making me question every heated touch.
