10. It's Time

~ JESSE ~

Cazz stood in front of the door for a half a second, hands still on the beam, head cocked as if he was listening to something. There was a strange tension in him that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But then he turned and found me with his eyes.

In that space in my chest where I'd been connected to him, I felt the spear of desire that rocked through his body. It made my breath catch.

When he began to walk towards me, it was with the slow grace of a predator, the fire in his eyes burning inside me as he locked on, only the rapid rise and fall of his chest outwardly giving away the tension in him that I could feel. A few strands of his hair fell over his eyes, but he peered out at me through them, like a wolf in the grass and when he spoke, his voice was guttural, so deep it seemed to come up from the stone beneath my feet, and barely loud enough for me to catch the words.

“You’re stronger than I gave you credit for,” he murmured, prowling towards me.

I swallowed, but my heart was racing and my breath shallow. “Don’t underestimate me,” I breathed.

“Why do you submit? Why choose it?” He’d reached me again, stopped right at my toes, looking down on me. He was so tall, his chin was almost on his chest when he held my eyes from this close. That hair fluttered around his face, framing the diamond-sharp cut of his jaw and making his light eyes seem even brighter.

I couldn’t resist, I reached up to trace the line of that jaw, felt the steel of it under his butter-soft skin.

“You shaved for me.” The words sounded so pathetic, but he gave a one-sided smile.

“If that is all it takes to please you, this will be easy,” he said dryly. Then the smile fell and he reached for me.

My breath caught again when he began to slowly trace the neckline of the dress with one, calloused finger. But I made myself stand there, not try to push his hand away or cover myself.

The material of the dress was so light that when he trailed that finger down, over the fabric and my nipple stood to meet him, his touch on the sensitized tip felt as thrilling as if he’d touched my skin.

But instead of pulling the dress down, or kissing me, he took hold of my shoulders and turned me around so my back was to him.

I was tense at first, unable to see him. But then he stepped in, his warm chest pressing right at my back, his breath fluttering on my ear.

Then he lifted his hands and began to trail the tips of his fingers from my neck, to the point of my shoulders, then down my arms.

“There is a lie among the males of your kind that seduction is centered on… sacred places.”

I shivered as the skin under his fingertips bloomed, the hair on my arms rising to meet his touch as he trailed them softly, slowly down my forearms. “Every square inch of your skin hides one thousand nerve endings. Each one a tiny seed of pleasure. Did you know that?” His voice was rough, guttural.

I shook my head and he chuckled and dropped his chin so his breath puffed, hot on my neck. Then he opened his mouth on the skin under my ear and sucked, sliding his tongue as if he tasted the salt there.

My breath caught. Closing my eyes, I tipped my head back and aside to give him better access.

A deep, approving rumble began in his chest, vibrating against my back. He rewarded me by lightly dragging those fingers back up my arm, so slowly that the goosebumps rushed ahead of his touch to sensitize the skin before he reached it.

I shivered.

“Do not be afraid, Jesse. I will paint you in pleasure,” he rasped, his touch trailing all the way up my arms, then to my shoulders, then down to trace the lines of my collarbones… and when I bit my lip, he took my chin in one hand and turned my head, forcing me to meet his eyes. His stunning, sapphire eyes that glowed so chillingly cold it was like being doused in ice-water. “But do not deny me.”

“I won’t,” I whispered. “I don’t want to.”

He shuddered then, his eyes closing for a moment and his chin dropped so his lips brushed the top of my shoulder. “How you feed my power so acutely, I do not know. But it is… stunning, Jesse. If you can do this before we’ve completed the bond… I barely dare to hope how it will be once we have.”

I tensed, then, knowing what that meant. And he felt it.

With a low growl, he let his hands slide down to my waist, then my hips. He kissed the side of my neck again—softer, slowly, but his breath was getting faster, and I could feel the hardness of him against my back.

“Submit to me, Jesse, and I will show you pleasure you didn’t know existed.” His hands slid down to the outsides of my thighs, then he began slowly furling up the skirt of my dress on both sides, concertinas of fabric gathering in his hands as the hem slowly climbed my legs.

My breath got faster too, goosebumps pebbling my back and raising the hair on my arms again.

“I will,” I whispered. “I told you… protect me and I’ll give you everything you want.”

He groaned like he’d been struck and leaned into me so I felt the heat of him from my calves to my neck.

“Then it is time, Kitten. Now… prepare yourself,” he rasped. “We’re going to make you truly mine.”