She hadn’t heard him return, and it had been days since they last touched, but she would never forget the exquisite sensation of his body against hers or the way he could turn her bones to liquid.
“I’ll get that for you,” he murmured.
It took everything she had not to lean back into him as she dropped down from her tiptoes. When his hand settled possessively on her hip, it sent a shiver down her spine. He plucked the book from the shelf and handed it to her.
When she took it from him, their fingers brushed and a fiery spark shot through her. Her legs trembled, and she was afraid her knees might give out. Instead of stepping away, the hand on her hip pulled her back and nestled her against his chest.
“Jaws,” he murmured as he turned the book over in front of her. “One of my favorites.”
His breath stirred her hair, and he lowered his head until his lips nearly brushed her ear. Despite knowing she should keep her distance from this man, she’d dreamt about his kiss often and wanted another one.
She shouldn’t do it, but she found herself lifting her head and turning toward him. Her eyes held his as his hand slid from her hip to her belly. His muscles bunched around her, and when he growled, his eyes shifted to silver.
The abrupt color change, and what it represented, astounded her, but before she could react, his head bent and his mouth claimed hers. And there was no doubt it was a claiming kiss as it was relentless, possessive, and so demanding the only thing she could do was yield to it.
When her mouth opened and his tongue swept in, the book slid from her fingers. It thudded against the floor. She wanted to turn and wrap her arms around him, but he held her so firmly against him that it was impossible to move.
Then his hand slid beneath her shirt, brushed against her skin, and caused her knees to shake. His touch left her desperate for more.
Each caress of his fingers and stroke of his tongue awakened something inside her that she’d never known existed. She knew what it was like to wake aching from dreams, and she’d satisfied that with her fingers, but she could never douse this hunger with anything less than him.
Was this what it was like to be shadow kissed? The possibility should terrify her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care as his fingers skimmed up her belly and across the bottom of her bra before his thumb circled her nipple.
When her knees gave out, his other arm cinched around her waist, and he held her up as he touched her more intimately than anyone ever had before.
She wanted—no, she needed more.
This time, when she tried to turn, he let her. She moaned when his hand fell away from her breast, but then he gripped her hips and lifted her off the ground without breaking the kiss. Her legs instinctively encircled his waist, and the rigid evidence of his erection rubbed between her thighs.
She clung to him as he braced one hand against the shelves while his other hand cupped her ass. Her pulse raced as every part of her became centered on him. It felt as if the very fabric of her being was shifting and becoming something different, something more alive and free.
She’d never expected to feel this way, but she relished the freedom, abandon, and carefreeness she’d never experienced before.
Over the years, she’d read countless romance novels and seen more than a few love scenes in movies and on TV, but she’d never expected this all-encompassing yearning for another.
Her fingers sliding down the front of his chest pushed aside buttons until her hands met his flesh. Beneath her palms, his skin was hot, and she felt the solid, thundering beat of his heart. When her nails scraped his flesh, he nipped her bottom lip with fangs he didn’t have only seconds ago.
Only when he first arrived and was out of control with his terror for Brokk had she seen his fangs and silver eyes. Those two things were signs a lycan was losing control, and a lycan on the verge of losing control was extremely dangerous, but his slipping composure only excited her more.
She didn’t know what that said about her, and right now, she didn’t care.
When he bit her lip again, she mewled and wiggled against him. She stopped caring that he was part dark fae or that he would probably feed on her and break her heart if she wasn’t careful; she just wanted more of him.