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Marco’s crooked smile looked softer than usual. “We saw you around, here and there. I don’t think I ever spoke to you except a formal introduction after the last alpha chose me—which wasn’t long before you and your mother vanished. You weren’t much more than a toddler most of that time, youknow.”
I arched my eyebrows at him. “So you’re not that much of a cradlerobber?”
He laughed. “I was still a kid myself, remember. When I was ten, I was a hell of a lot more interested in climbing trees and winning races than thinking about future mates.” The heat crept back into his gaze. “Of course, my interests have changed a lot sincethen.”
“Oh, yeah?” I padded a little higher up the branch I was on, giving him a challenging glance. It was easier to turn my attention back to the present than to keep dwelling on everything I couldn’tremember.
“Not convinced yet?” His grin widened. Then he sprang after me, so quickly Iyelped.
Marco had obviously been holding back before. He knew this feline jungle gym a lot better than I did, after all. I clambered up the branch, jumped over another, and dashed along a ledge, but he caught up with me. Tucking his arm around me, he pulled us down into one of the bowl-likebeds.
“Got you,” he murmured, his face just inches from mine. He’d angled his body so it wasn’t quite touching me, holding himself up by his elbow, but the warmth of him washed over me. It stirred up a wave of longing so intense I couldn’t imagine fightingit.
I pushed up toward him, and he claimed my mouth withhis.
The kiss radiated heat through my whole being. I looped my arm around Marco’s neck, wanting him closer, harder, everywhere. He teased his teeth over my lip until I whimpered and then tipped his head to kiss me even more deeply. At my tug, his body settled against mine. My breath caught at the solid, muscular weight of him. My hips arched toward his instinctively, and hegroaned.
“Yes, princess,” he murmured. “That’s theway.”
His hand traveled up my side, sliding the silk of my blouse over my skin. He cupped my breast through my bra. His thumb swiveled over my nipple, and I gasped into his mouth. Marco smiled into the kiss, teasing that peak harder with steady, knowing strokes. My fingers traced over his cheek and tangled in his hair. The swell of pleasure inside me was rising so fast I didn’t know how to rein it in, how to hold on to anything. It might just carry meaway.
Marco dipped his head down to trail his lips across my jaw. His hand left my breast to slip under the hem of my shirt. His fingers eased up over my bare skin, and he nipped the tender skin of my throat. I moaned, my body trembling—and a sharp pain shot through mypalm.
I stiffened, and Marco froze over me. He raised his head. The lust in his heavy-lidded eyes sent a fresh tingle through me, but the pain stopped me from getting swept up in itagain.
“What’s wrong?” hesaid.
My hand had balled into a fist. I uncurled my fingers from my palm and stared, bewildered, for a second before I understood what I wasseeing.
A small blue gem shone darkly in the middle of my palm. Marco’s sapphire earring. I’d nicked the stud off his ear without even realizing. And accidentally jabbed the pin into my hand. A small drop of blood was beading belowit.
Marco laughed low in his throat. “My Princess of Flames and her sticky fingers.” He sat back on the cushions, drawing me with him but leaving a little space between us. With his own nimble fingers, he plucked out the stud. Then he brought my hand to his mouth and slicked his tongue over the tiny wound. My heartstuttered.
But the desire coursing through me had dampened a little. I dragged in a breath. Maybe that was for the best. I still wanted him—damn, did I want him—but at least I felt in controlagain.
Marco tucked the earring into his pocket. He kept my hand in his, but he didn’t pull me to him again. Could he sense myhesitation?
“This thieving habit of yours is a bit of a strange one,” he remarked, with an easy smile. “Should I be worried you’ll end up robbing me out of house and home before the end of theday?”
He spoke so lightly I couldn’t help smiling back. “I, um, might also have pocketed a mirror from the guest bedroom. That’s it so far. I’m sorry. It’s kind of a nervoushabit.”
Marco cocked his head. “Can I ask how exactly one develops stealing as ahabit?”
My chest tightened, but he was looking at me with so little judgment that a moment later I started to relax. The four guys here were sharing so much of themselves with me. Maybe it was only fair they had a better idea who they were letting into theirlives.
“When I first lost my apartment, I didn’t have anywhere to go,” I said. The words stuck in my throat, but I pushed them out. “Mom had always warned me about the police and any kind of government authority, so they didn’t seem safe. I ended up getting in with a group of street kids this guy named Fisher had sort of... hired on. He owned a building where he’d let us sleep as long as we’d bring him stuff we’d stolen every day. And he’d give us a small cut of what he got fencing the stuff, so we could buy food and all that. I didn’tlikedoing it, because I know it’s wrong, but I was good at it, because of how fast I can be. And I didn’t know what else todo.”
Marco stroked his fingertips over the back of my head soothingly. “I think we’ve all been in positions where we had to do things we’d rather not for our own survival. There’s no shame in that,princess.”
There was, though. The shame of it still burned my cheeks when I thought about it. “I didn’t get away from Fisher until I was almost twenty. Kylie helped me. But it took a long time even after I met her, because he didn’t want me to go. I was his best thief. I was scared of what he’d do... But I did get away, in the end, and I haven’tmeantto steal anything in more than ayear.”
I’d been looking at my hands through my entire confession. Finally I lifted my gaze to Marco’s face. His eyes were gentle, but his tone was as dry and cocky asever.
“So my princess is a tough girl. I can’t say I have any complaintsthere.”
The last of the tension inside me released. I gave his shoulder a playful shove. “It seems like you’re a tough guy yourself. What’s the story with thatscar?”
I motioned to his eyebrow. The second the question came out, I knew I shouldn’t have asked it. Marco’s muscles tensed where his body was still aligned with mine. Shit. I opened my mouth to say never mind, and just then my buttvibrated.
