A Mate's Denial(21)

She shook her head, pulling him back to her mouth. While her hands tunneled through his hair, he continued his exploration, one hand gripping her ass, the other heading north under her shirt. He could have ripped the thing off by now, but there was something exquisitely erotic about this slow, deliberate, almost accidental discovery.

His hand on her breast stopped their kiss. Kerrigan’s breath caught. Trager stared into her eyes as his thumb rubbed slowly across her nipple. He felt it harden and tighten. Her teeth came down on her bottom lip, clearly holding back a moan. He didn’t want her holding back.

Push.

“I want to taste,” he whispered. He was wolf, he was man, and he wanted to lick his mate into submission.

She nodded. It was tiny, infinitesimal, but it was a yes.

Trager lost all reason, pushing her against the wall, and grinding his erection into her hips. She moaned into his mouth, and he broke away to lift her shirt over her head.

He leaned back to look at his treasure. His mate’s breasts were round and full, and tipped with tight rosebud nipples. She was perfect.

Everything he needed.

Trager felt giddy at her beauty.

“Say something.” Her voice shook, causing his gaze to snap up. The vulnerability in her eyes shocked him. “My… my stomach… I’m sorry. It’s… I’m sorry.”

The hell?

Trager dropped his gaze to the area. But there was nothing wrong. It was soft. Rounded.

He stared into her eyes. She was blinking rapidly, probably trying not to look away. In that moment, he learned something important about her. His mate, as confident and fearless as she’d proven to be, had zero confidence in her own body. She’d been treated poorly. Somewhere down the line someone had made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. Like she owed whoever undressed her, an apology.

It made him shake with anger. Made his wolf gnash for revenge…

But Kerrigan came first.

He stroked the corner of her mouth with his thumb. “You take my breath away. You’re everything I imagined, but even better.”

Her eyes flared wide.

“That’s right. I’ve been thinking about you every day I’ve been away. You’ve haunted my dreams. I wished to see you like this, to feel you. And now that I have…” He dropped his forehead to hers, palmed her breast. “Exquisite.”

A whimper escaped as she pushed her chest harder into his hand.

He pulled her hair until her eyes lifted to his. “You will never apologize for your body again. Do you understand me?” He would show her how beautiful she was. She’d never doubt again.

“Yes,” she breathed.

Another yes. He was collecting them for that day when she said no. He wanted to remember all the yeses.

Reverently, he kissed her neck, making his way back to her breasts. When he licked one pebbled tip, Kerrigan went slack, slumping against the wall. Trager grinned against her skin, lapping at the spot before sucking it between his lips.

She gasped. “Trager.”

Oh, yes. His name from her lips. He slammed his mouth to hers, tongue taking, taking, and giving.

“This. This is why I stayed away. I didn’t want to rush things. But with you, I’m desperate. I can’t control myself. How do you do this to me? Make me crazy?”

She shrugged, kissing him back just as fiercely. “Dunno. Same way you make me crazy?” She skimmed her hand down his chest, her fingers curling. “This isn’t how I do things. I’m careful. I’m… I’m…”

Yeah. He wanted to wipe that careful streak right out. He wanted to make her as reckless for him as he was for her.

“Your bed, where is it?” Nibbling at her earlobe distracted her from answering, so he paused.

“Um, door on the left.”

In one smooth move, he’d lifted her into his arms and started for the room.

“Whoa! Wait. You can’t carry me.” She stiffened.

“I can, and I am.”

He laid her on the bed before yanking his shirt over his head and removing his shoes. He left his jeans on even though they were squeezing him too tightly. Judging by her expression, she liked what she saw. He kneeled beside her, on the bed, running his palms all over her exposed skin.

“I want to see the rest of you.”

Slowly, like he was unwrapping a cupcake, he peeled her pants down, exposing her black cotton panties and the sweet curve of her thighs. He pulled them from around her ankles and tossed them on the floor.

Trager ran a hand roughly over his mouth. Like this, with nothing but a scrap of thin fabric covering her, he could smell her arousal strongly. He needed to do something about it. He needed to satisfy her in some way. His wolf cried for it.

He popped the button of his jeans, and slid the zipper down some, to give his cock relief.