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She wrapped her legs around his hips, holding him captive. Clearly, the man didn’t understand who he was dealing with. Alex didn’t do anything in half measures. When she told him she was his, she meant it.

Fire burned in her belly, and she nailed him with a determined glare. “I don’t turn my back on the ones I love. Even if I couldn’t have saved you, I would have gladly taken my place beside you in the sun.”

Jericho’s emotions burst over her senses, blazing across her nerve endings. His feelings were a roaring wildfire she had no hope of deciphering.

“Alex,” he groaned before capturing her lips. His tongue swept in to tangle with hers, sweet and decadent.

His rough warrior’s hands slipped under her shirt to cup her breasts, thumbing her nipples to stiffened peaks. Calloused palms abraded her flesh, and she arched her back, welcoming every teasing caress. After a tantalizing moment, he dragged the T-shirt over her head. Cool air kissed her skin.

“I warned you, you wouldn’t be wearing it long.”

Alex grinned. “You are a man of your word.”

He grasped her legs and freed himself from her grip. Pulling away?

“What are you doing?” She panted, unable to hide the uncertainty that crept into her voice.

The hungry gleam in his eyes put her doubts at ease. “Fulfilling a fantasy I’ve had of you since the last time I placed you on this counter.”

Jericho had been fantasizing—about her? The thought did wicked things to her pulse. She’d had a couple of fantasies herself. So far, every one of them had paled in comparison.

He clasped her ankle and bent her knee, placing her foot up on the granite. The position tilted her backward, and she caught her balance with her arms behind her.

Her face warmed. Breasts jutting, legs parted—exposed. Until last night, she’d never been completely naked in front of a man, and here she was, displayed like a sensual sacrifice.

“Don’t move,” he demanded before she could think to cover herself.

His head lowered, and he captured her jutting nipple in his sweltering mouth. Hot flicks of his tongue teased the sensitive peak. Heat ignited in her blood, chasing the chill from her flesh.

With each teasing pull, her body coiled tighter. She whimpered when his mouth abandoned her breast. Unwavering, he kissed a path along her ribs and stomach, pausing to dip into her belly button.

“Tickles.” She squirmed in protest.

He pressed his face against the inside of her thigh and closed his eyes as though pained. She sensed him reining in his emotions, gathering his control.

“Jericho?” She met his gaze, startled to see the bright copper flicker to silver before shifting back again. Muscles flexed in his jaw, and the look he sent her was full of promise.

“Now that my Chosen is fed, I believe it’s my turn.” One arm circled her hip, and the other wrapped around her leg. He lowered his mouth to her thigh, swirling his tongue over the vein he discovered there. Her pulse quickened.What? He couldn’t mean to—

“Holy hell!” she cried out as his fangs punctured her skin. Heat radiated from his bite, shooting straight to her sex. She gave an involuntary arch of her hips, and Jericho growled a low warning. Endorphins flooded her bloodstream, rolling through her in a decadent wave, warming her from the inside out.

Her head fell back, a useless weight upon her shoulders. Every thought, every nerve ending, centered around the fire building between her legs. His mouth, God, his mouth, was mere inches from where she was desperate to have him. One touch. That’s all she needed, just one to send her over the edge.

Her arms quivered. “Jericho, I… I can’t,” she pleaded, not sure she could handle much more. His fangs slipped from her flesh, and his tongue swirled reverently over the wound.

She inhaled a full breath, the first since his teeth pierced her vein. Then his lips closed over the center of her core.

“Jericho.” His name wrenched from her throat. She writhed against his mouth, and his groan vibrated against her sex, adding to her pleasure.

“Dreamed of tasting you like this,” he grated. “Reality is better.” He slid two fingers inside of her while his tongue rubbed determined circles over her swollen bundle of nerves. He feasted on her, stroking, licking, driving her mad.

In seconds, she erupted, shattering in an explosion of ecstasy. She soared, knowing Jericho would catch her when she plummeted to earth.

His touch gentled, easing her down with tender strokes.

Finally, he gathered her in his arms.

“I had no idea feeding could be so…erotic.” She panted, resting her forehead on his shoulder. “That was incredible.”