Fuck it.
Doc removed his hat, tossing it aside, and then reached behind her, unlatching the bra, as he grasped between the cups and yanked it away. His mate’s breasts were the softest little mounds of flesh tipped in rosy pink. He cupped one with a shaking hand. Aw, damn that felt right.
The amount of time he could tolerate being away from her was growing shorter and shorter.
He wanted to see her eyes, the way they burned with her cat when she was enjoying what he did to her. But if he met her gaze, she’d see what was in his, and it was too much. More than she was ready for.
Instead, he pressed his forehead to hers as he kneaded her flesh and stoked her desire, tweaking her hardened nipples until her breathing became hitched. Inching her jeans over her hips, he planted tender kisses along her neck, grazing his teeth over her jaw.
“Owyn,” she whispered, barely more than a breath.
Scream it, he wanted to say. But it wasn’t right, not when her doubt still stung so badly. Not when they’d made a deal, and she wanted to stick to it.
His throat ached with emotions he couldn’t stomach. His cock ached with need. He wanted to punish her for making him feel so much when she didn’t feel the same.
Enough.
Pushing Doc’s jeans and panties to the floor in one fell sweep, he gripped her waist, lifting her onto the table and stepping between her slender thighs. Her hands curved around his cheeks and she pulled his mouth to hers while he worked his belt open.
The sweetest lips, the sweetest taste. That was his Doc. He could drink what she offered forever and never get tired of it.
Finally getting his erection free, he spread her legs wide and tilted her hips upward so he could rub his hardness against her swollen clit. Doc gasped at the touch, bracing her hands on the table behind her.
He couldn’t wait another second.
Inside, panther growled.
Owyn looked down to watch their bodies connect as he inched his way in her hot slit. When he was buried to the top, his eyes fluttered shut at the sensation.
They’d done this so many times. In the beginning, just to fulfill a need. Trapped by the clan’s no-mating rule and not wanting to go that far anyway, they’d made a promise to come to each other if their sexual appetite demanded release. Friends with benefits, is how he’d presented the idea. But the truth was Doc was his mate and the thought of her ever being with another male made him crazy with rage. Even back then, when he didn’t love her.
But now, his feelings were so much more intense. And strangled. It made everything with her feel so powerful.
He eased out of the tight grip of her body, and jerked her hips back into his, throwing her off balance so she’d have to hold onto him. With a gasp, her arms flew to his neck as he began a rhythm of steady, solid thrusts.
Doc pressed her cheek to his, so her mouth was right at his ear. So he could hear every rush of breath. Every tiny whimper and moan. He loved it when she did that. Like she wouldn’t let their secret circumstances keep him from hearing her.
“Owyn,” she breathed, as her nails dug into the back of his neck and he increased his speed. His name wasn’t bathed in pleasure the way it usually was. Instead it was… sad. And there was that smell again. The one that felt all wrong on his beautiful mate.
Make it go away. Vanquish it. Make her happy.
He pressed her closer, one hand tunneling through her hair to cradle the back of her head. “Tell me what you need?”
If he only knew what to do, he’d do it.
“Just you. Just this.”
Her whisper shredded him. Just this.
Just fucking in the closet. Just personal as long as no one sees. Just enough to take the edge off until the next clandestine meeting. But still doubting he’d stay true to his word.
Just this.
And he could give it to her. The same as he’d done for years.
Slipping his hand between their bodies he found her clit and pressed gently as he continued the back and forth rhythm. She was nearing release, her body tightening around him in the most satisfying way. Another push and she went over the edge, convulsing in his arms as she sank her teeth into his shoulder to muffle her cries.
The pinch of her tiny fangs was enough to make him come and he pounded into her, breathless.
“There’s only been you. Only been you. It will only ever… be… you.” His voice broke on the last word as he came inside her.
There was so much more he wanted to tell her, but he was broken. Weak. Could barely form words and trembling all to fuck as he slowed to a stop.
“I’ll never break our agreement, Doc.” His lips brushed her skin with the promise. “Never. I swear.”
Slowly his panther faded to the background, satisfied for now, and his mind came back to him.