The Mating Heat(8)

“You’re too thin,” he observed, boldly placing a hand on her belly. “I need to fatten you up before I devour you.”
Kara gave a bitter laugh. “Too thin? That’s a first. I’m large as an ocean liner.”
His gaze grew intent. “Lupine females were made to be lush and curvy. Your body is ripe for receiving mine, and for bearing young. There is nothing wrong with you that rest and a good hearty meal won’t cure.”
“Give me a steak and we’ll call it even. I'll skip dessert. Maybe I can have it later, at my brother’s house when you return me.”
His voice dropped to a dark whisper. “I’m not returning you, sweeting. But you can be dessert. I have a tube of edible oil I plan to use later, when I massage you all over. And then lick it all off.”
Her lower belly tightened as she imagined Ryder smoothing hot oil over her body, lingering and slow, a sensual caress as he rubbed and stroked…
Blinking away the erotic image, she shook her head. “You underestimate me.”
“And you underestimate my determination. I want you, Kara. You will be my mate.”
Her mouth went dry. “Is that a proposal? Hardly romantic.”
Ryder’s smile widened. “I can be very romantic. But you know I’ve always been direct when it comes to speaking my mind.”
Kara held up her wrists. “Still planning to keep me prisoner? Maybe you’ll toss me into one of Alastair’s old cells.”
“I closed that section of the basement. First act I did upon taking over.”
He came closer, so close he threatened to drown her in his rich scent. His big body was aggressive and filled with purpose. But the hand he placed on her scarred cheek was gentle.
Ryder ran a thumb across the ruined flesh of her cheek. His touch felt sensual and drugging. She wondered what the smooth stroke of his tongue would feel like between her legs…
“We will be lovers,” he said softly. “You will become my mate, Kara. You cannot fight what is between us any more than I can. You know you were meant for me.”
Slow, seductive images, hands stroking over her shuddering, wet flesh, filled with erotic promise…
Stop it!
Kara spoke in a firm tone. “Take off the handcuffs.”
“We could leave them on. Just for fun.”
“Take them off.”
“Come now, Kara. Don’t you want to play with the wolf?”
“Wolves don’t like being caged. You, more than anyone else, know this.”
Ryder’s mouth flattened.Fishing a key from his jeans pocket, he unlocked the handcuffs.
Then the teasing look returned as he set down the restraints on the nightstand. “Maybe you should tie me up. Have me helpless before you, letting you do whatever you wanted.”
Mouth dry she stared at him as he added, “Naked, of course.”
Evocative images teased her; a nude Ryder, stretched out like an offering for her exploring fingers.
His gaze grew heavy-lidded. “Do you remember our kiss? Not what happened after, hell, I’d rather erase that from both our memories, but how it felt to kiss me?”
She licked her lips, tasting the memory of his mouth upon hers. He’d been gentle, so tender at first, and then she’d and kissed him back with all the passion she’d hidden. The kiss had turned into a raging inferno, leaving her breathless, shaky and her loins full and aching.
“I want you to kiss me. Show me how much you want me, Kara.”
Kiss him again? Temptation flared. She inhaled his scent, and heat curled through her body.
Ryder stretched out on the narrow bed. “Do you wish for that, sweeting?”
Mesmerized by the gleam in his blue eyes, she stared at him, remembering the smoothness of his lips moving over hers.
“Imagine me lying here helpless before you. You lean in close to kiss my mouth. Would you like to know what I taste like? The pack leader now at your mercy?”
Kara nodded. As she leaned forward, he gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“I taste like dark, sinful chocolate and the bite of whiskey sliding down a parched throat. I taste like the wild rush of freedom as you change into wolfskin and race beneath the moon’s silvery light. I taste like a man’s tongue between your legs, slowly stroking and licking your succulent flesh. I am the caress of a hand against your bare bottom, a slow slap of your soft, pink core just before I mount you and push deep inside your most intimate place… stroking you deep and slow.”
Her nipples hardened to pearls at his evocative words. Ryder sat up and nuzzled the soft, unmarked skin of her throat. Moisture gushed from between her legs. She felt aroused with each hot breath against her skin, the brush of his whiskered jaw against the curve of her shoulder.#p#分页标题#e#