Present

The low sounds of breaths drawn harshly into heaving lungs loomed into the long silence that followed their lovemaking, peppered with the nearly inaudible pop of the tender kisses Duke layered along Caitlyn’s jaw, the side of her neck and across her shoulder. He released her knees in part to make her more comfortable, but mostly so he could have every supple inch of her making physical contact with his skin.

Beneath him, she quivered still with each tiny aftershock that passed between them. Her slender arms twined about his neck, but instead of clinging to him for dear life, she held him gently now. The clean floral of her hair and skin was overlaid with his scent, like an invisible brand upon her, soothing to the possessive beast inside him who’d claimed her as his own.

“I didn’t mean to be so rough.” His regret suffused his whispered voice in the semi-darkness. “But when you woke me up, touching me and with the things you said,” he shook his head, “my self-control