Rae grabbed for Wulf as he collapsed in front of her, his legs folding as he dropped. She managed to get an arm around him and slow his fall, mainly because he was reaching for her. His arm dragged on her waist. “Wulf!”
“Honestly, I’m fine,” he mumbled.
“You’re not!” She unwound his arms from around her waist, but he kept reaching for her. His fingers clutched her wrist and her arm. She asked, “Does your chest hurt? Can you see? Can you breathe?”
He grabbed her shoulder and dragged her down, grappling her until she was lying against him, her head pressed to his chest. Under her ear, his heart beat steadily but fast, so very fast.
She looked up at him. His eyes were squeezed shut. Lines of pain radiated from the corners. She said, “You’ve got to tell me if you’re okay.”
He nodded. His jaw bulged at the sides, and he kept his chin tucked to his chest.
“Promise me that your chest doesn’t hurt.”
He nodded, but his arms tightened around her.
Rae twisted in his arms, reaching up to him, and brushed her lips across his in what she had meant to be a tender kiss. Surely he needed tenderness right now, a gentle touch.
Wulf’s arms locked around her, and his kiss burned across her mouth. He swiveled and pushed her down on the thick carpet, scrambling over her body.
Oh. It didn’t take a Ph.D. in psychology to figure out that Wulf had exactly one way that he allowed himself to express emotion. Rae crawled backward on the floor under him and kicked the door closed.
Wulf reared up and pulled his suit jacket off his arms, flinging it away. He swarmed over her, pinning her down with his body. His collar was already open and he hadn’t worn a tie that day, so he wrenched his shirts off over his head, a wince creasing his forehead when he pulled on the scarred side of his back too much.
The desperation in his dark blue eyes startled her, and he grabbed her again, kissing her hard and driving his tongue into her mouth. One of his hands was tangled in her hair, and he unbuttoned her blouse with the other.
When he broke off the kiss and bent his head to rake his teeth over her neck, she said, “Wulf, don’t you think we should talk—”
He covered her mouth with his hand, while he chewed his way down her open shirt and pushed her bra aside with his chin.
Rae knew that she should be protesting about now, that what would be most psychologically healthy for Wulf would be to express his emotions and talk about what had happened that afternoon, how it had affected him, but his hot mouth found her breast and he sucked on her, drawing her up and running his tongue over the peak.
Passion caught her, and she arched against him, whimpering.
His hands became rougher, grabbing her skin and shoving her clothes away. He unzipped her jeans and yanked them, managing to get them off one of her legs while he clawed at his own pants, kicking them off and prying her legs apart with one of his knees.
She reached for him, trying to bring him up to kiss her again, but he trilled his tongue against her clit, sending zings ricocheting through her until she was shaking and crying out with need. Wulf climbed up her, his strong fingers almost bruising the skin on her ribs and shoulders. He fit his body between her legs and his mouth on hers, kissing her again, and he pressed himself inside her. His shoulders were still shaking in her arms, and he stroked into her, filling her and releasing.
She moaned against his mouth.
Wulf buried his face in her shoulder, panting, and lunged into her. She pushed her hips up, grinding her clit against him as he drove himself into her.
She was spiraling tighter with each thrust, holding onto him as he pounded cries from her. Rae held on around his neck, her body a taut arc under his as he shoved himself up and into her. Her body clenched, and the hard stab of his cock into her rubbed inside her and on her. A deep tension strained until she fell over the edge.
Pulsing waves rocked her, and she clung to Wulf as blood roared in her ears and his body shuddered in her arms. His muscles rippled down his back, and his breath blew harsh near her ear.
Rae gasped and held him tightly, her head still spinning.
Wulf held himself off her body with his forearms and breathed on her neck below her ear. “You can’t leave your security,” he choked out. “I thought you were kidnapped.” She could hardly hear his harsh whisper. “I thought you might already be dead.”
She stroked his back, the side without the terrible scar, trying to reassure him. “I’ll tell my mother what they did, and she’ll make sure that they never try anything like that again.”
He wrapped his arms around her, and his arms strained as they tightened. “I am begging you. Stay with your security.”
“I won’t leave them. I promise I won’t.”
His voice lowered. When Rae managed to squirm so that she could see his face, his eyes were squeezed shut.
He whispered, “I thought I had lost you. I thought you were gone.”
She wound his arms around his neck and pressed herself to him, holding on. She wanted to say something flippant, something to make him laugh like he couldn’t get rid of her that easily or she was too stubborn to be killed, but he was far beyond that.
She said, “I’ll never leave them again.”
“Flicka used to run from her security when she was a teenager,” he whispered. “She thought it was a game until one man got her into a car. Her security got her out just before he drove off.”
Rae gasped, “Oh my God.”
His teeth were clenched so tight that his cut jaw bulged on the sides. “I can’t lose you.”