He shrugged and scooted closer to her, his arm around her shoulders. “Depends on the individual. I can go for weeks if necessary. It gets easier as we get older. But we get restless and a little achy if we go for too long. Like when you spend too much time sitting and your body starts to get edgy for some exercise? It’s like that.”
“No pain?”
“No pain. You’re still worried about Zoe?”
“It’s hard to believe after more than a year of her episodes, we won’t have to go through that ever again. I’m so relieved and yet I still feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“She won’t have the pain again. But I’m afraid we do have another shoe waiting.”
“The other tigers.” She didn’t have to ask. They’d gone round and round this same conversation for days.
He nuzzled her neck. “You know, we have to leave so early and we probably won’t have much privacy for the next week.” He bit her ear, tugging gently at the lobe. “Zoe’ll probably sleep another half hour or so.”
She smiled as he kissed his way down her throat.
“Want to sneak into the back?”
“Have to be quick,” she warned.
He picked her up and before she could gasp, he was closing the door to his bedroom.
“Dios, that was fast,” she breathed, her heart thumping with so much excitement that she might have been embarrassed with anyone but Vlad.
He chuckled and pressed her against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist. “So we have more time for this part.”
He kissed her, and the taste of him swept her up, tumbling her into that wonderfully erotic place only he could take her.
Her hands moved over his shoulders, gripping hard as she ground herself against his erection. “Better get our clothes off,” she muttered before kissing him again.
He set her on her feet, stripped, slipped on a condom and pulled her back into his arms before she could do more than push her jeans and underwear off. She chuckled. “You’re taking the ‘quick’ thing seriously.”
“Don’t want to take time away from the fun part.” He cupped her heat, rubbing a finger along her entrance, dipping into her once before moving his finger to her clit.
She dropped her head back against the wall, biting back a groan.
“I love the way you look when I have my hands on you,” he said, circling her clit in just the right way to make her moan.
She bucked against his hands as her orgasm approached fast enough to surprise her. “I love having your hands on me.” She gasped and gripped his shoulders tighter, coming up on her toes when everything in her tightened.
He nuzzled her neck, pushed the collar of her shirt aside with his mouth, and bit down on the sensitive skin between her neck and shoulder. The sensation sent her careening into her orgasm, everything in her bursting apart in a breathless moment.
She would have slipped to the floor in a boneless heap but for his strong arms. He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist again, and slid into her. And, just like that, her body lit up again. The friction of his cock stretching her set her nerves jumping with sensation. With each thrust, she tightened and squeezed him, wanting every part of him. He was hers, for this time, in this moment, he was all hers and she took every hard pounding thrust with possessive demand.
When he came, she watched his release, the way his muscles tightened, his jaw rock hard, his eyes closed, and she triumphed in knowing she’d done that to him.
He hugged her close as they both settled slowly, then he pulled back and kissed her. After a quiet moment when she could tell he was listening for Zoe, he patted her ass, right on her tattoo. “We’d better get dressed in case she wakes up.”
Rose grinned as he set her on the floor and kissed him one last time before she let him go clean up.
Slipping into her jeans, she once again had that content, nostalgic sense that this could be their future. Sneaking off for a quickie during naptime. Dressing fast afterward, so they didn’t get caught. Almost like a normal family life…
Except their lives were never going to be “normal.”
She sighed as the worries descended again, dampening some of her afterglow and contentment.
She was back on the couch watching Zoe sleep when Vlad joined her.
“What happens if your brothers show up at the compound while we’re there?” she asked.
He pulled her into his arms. “Back to worrying?”
She chuckled, but without much humor.
“They can’t do anything to you at the compound,” he said. “You’ll be surrounded by bodyguards.”
“But Alexis thinks we need an escape strategy. That’s a very ominous suggestion.”