Page 16 of Blood & Bond (The Bouchers #2)

“I won’t ever bite anyone but you ,” I stated firmly, sick of the ridiculous argument.

“Or the reincarnated me,” she replied with a shrug. “Right? Isn’t that how it works? After I’m dead, someone else will come back with my soul and?—”

I cut off her words with my mouth. The thought of her dead made me fucking crazy. She wasn’t going to die. Not ever. Horror made my movements jerky as I pulled her closer, tangling my hand in her hair.

It took long moments before I was calm enough to loosen my grip, but at that point, Lucy was as frantic as I was. Her nails dug into the back of my neck, and one of her hands had burrowed under my shirt and was splayed across my chest.

“We’re playing with fire,” I warned as soon as I had the ability to tear my mouth away.

“Funny,” she replied as her lips ran along my jaw. “Because the fire seems to be calming.”

“It’s an illusion.” I groaned as she pulled my earlobe between her teeth and gripped it gently.

I wanted her naked. It took every bit of willpower I had not to strip her there on the couch.

If I got her naked, it would be all over.

Any discussion about waiting and any autonomy she had left would be gone.

Once we took that step, our future was set in stone.

I was under no illusion that I could somehow keep from biting her once I was inside her.

Thousands of years of instincts ensured that I would tie her to me irrevocably.

It would happen eventually. I had no doubt. But for now, the possibility that she could leave me seemed to comfort Lucy, and I wasn’t going to take that from her.

“Baby, stop,” I ordered.

“I don’t think I can,” she said, almost apologetically. Her thighs tightened as she rolled her hips.

My mouth watered.

“You taste so good,” she said, her mouth on my neck. She let out a happy sigh.

I knew exactly how she felt because I was fighting against the same thing. The urge to get closer was overwhelming.

Bracing a hand beneath me, I lifted and turned, dropping her onto the couch.

“Dammit, Ambrose,” she hissed, reaching for me. “Come back.”

“I’m right here,” I assured her, my hands shaking as I reached for her jeans.

Lucy lifted her hips to help me tug them off. Sliding my fingers beneath the waistband of her jeans and panties, I pulled them down her thighs.

“Please,” she murmured.

“We should stop,” I replied, staring. How the fuck was I supposed to stop once I’d touched her? I knew I would—I wasn’t an animal—but I was already dreading the inevitable pain of refusing to follow through to the end.

“Okay,” she said, her voice wobbling a little as she pressed her knees together.

When I met her eyes, I knew she’d interpreted my hesitation as the exact opposite of what it was. I was trying to protect her, but all she’d understood was that I’d stripped her and then changed my mind.

“Do you understand how badly I want you?” I asked, pressing her knees apart again.

She let them fall wide, and I struggled to focus on anything else.

“You’re right, it’s probably not a good idea,” she replied hoarsely, but she didn’t make any move to sit up or hide herself. Her hands fidgeted at her sides. “It feels like a really good idea, though.”

“You want me?” I asked carefully. The words weren’t quite right, but she wasn’t ready for those yet. I still needed the confirmation that she was mindful enough to make the decision. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

“Is this a thing with you?” she asked dryly, trying to hide her embarrassment. “Need me to walk you through it?”

“Is this a thing with you?” I countered. “Too embarrassed to tell me what you need?”

Lucy’s mouth snapped shut as she glared at me.

“The question isn’t a hard one,” I said gently.

“Touch me,” she ordered.

Sitting on the edge of the couch, I pulled her leg until her heel rested on my knee, and I had the perfect view of the paradise between her thighs. Using a single finger, I gently traced over the damp skin. It was softer than silk and twice as delicate.

Lucy let out a shuddering breath and tilted her hips up.

“More?” I asked, watching as my finger began to glisten.

“More,” she confirmed. “More.”

Her thighs began to shake as I dipped in further, using two fingers to gather up the wetness and slide them over her.

I’d never gone so slowly in my life, but I couldn’t fathom rushing.

I was watching my mate , her pussy weeping with arousal while I learned every centimeter of her. It felt like a godsdamned miracle.

“More,” Lucy ordered as she used her arms to shove herself further down the couch. “Now. More, please.”

Looking up, I met her bright eyes as I thrust both fingers inside her, the palm of my hand brushing against her clit with the movement. Her eyes filled with tears an instant before her back arched almost entirely off the couch, and she climaxed.

It was the most surprising and beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Before I realized what I was doing, I’d dropped from the couch and buried my face between her legs so I could drink up every bit of her orgasm. Her hands tangled in my hair and pulled tight as she moaned my name.

I couldn’t get enough of her.

She came again, sobbing.

I was breathing her in, unable to force myself to move away yet, when someone knocked on the door.

Rage, unexpected and unwarranted, hit me like a battering ram as I lifted my face. Lucy had thrown her arms over her eyes and was trembling in the aftermath.

“What?” I barked, making her jump in surprise.

“Dinner,” Chance called, barely opening the door.

“Another inch and you’re fucking dead,” I called back.

He laughed and closed it again.

“Could he hear me?” Lucy asked, her arms still over her face.

“No.”

“But you said?—”

“Our rooms are soundproofed.”

“Weird,” she grumbled.

Leaning down, I pressed my lips gently against her clit. When she let out a little mewl of welcome, I pulled away again.

“Everyone deserves privacy,” I told her as I rose to my feet. “No one can hear us in here.”

“The heat is a little better,” she said, dropping her arms to look at me.

I let out a sigh. She still had her shirt on. I’d traced every inch of her with my tongue, but I still hadn’t seen her nipples.

“Hopefully, that’ll last through dinner,” I replied, helping her up. “But don’t count on it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You remember the first time you got to first base?” I asked, crouching to pick up her sleep shorts. I held them while she stepped into them.

“Vaguely,” she replied, setting her hand on my shoulder for balance. I turned my head and kissed it.

“Do you vaguely remember itching for second base once you’d hit first?” I asked, helping with her jeans.

“Okay, so we are talking about sex, right?” she said as she pulled her jeans up. “Not baseball?”

“Once you’d been kissed, you wondered what that feeling would be like on the rest of your body,” I said, watching as she buttoned and zipped them.

“But I already know what that tongue can do to the rest of my body,” she joked.

No. No, she didn’t. My hands went for her top, and if she was surprised, she didn’t show it as she immediately raised her arms above her head.

Beneath the shirt was the small tank top she’d worn to bed, and I yanked it down below her breasts.

Her nipples were soft and rosy brown. The moment I pulled one into my mouth, it drew up tight as she gasped.

I pinched the other nipple tight and rolled it until it hardened beneath my fingertips.

By the time I remembered that my family was waiting for us downstairs and pulled away from her, Lucy’s nipples were bright red and wet from my mouth.

“Dinner,” I croaked as I gently pulled her tank top back into place.

Lucy hissed as the fabric brushed against her.

“I’m not hungry.”

I laughed at the pout on her face. “Neither am I,” I told her while she pulled her T-shirt back on. “But if we don’t go down there, they’ll know exactly why we didn’t.”

“Maybe we’re talking,” she countered. “Getting to know each other.”

“Sure,” I said easily. “But do you want Charlie to do the first family dinner by himself?”

“Shit, Charlie ,” she hissed, her eyes widening. She raced for the door.

Following her into the hallway and down the stairs, I watched as she straightened her clothes and hair, reaching up to fluff the fringe on her forehead and weave her hair into a loose braid.

The relief she felt from the heat was temporary, and I had a sinking feeling that we wouldn’t even make it through dinner before she was miserable again and eye fucking me at the table.

Physical contact and intimacy treated the symptoms of the heat, but they weren’t a cure. Neither of us would get a reprieve until we’d cemented the bond, and even then, it took weeks or even months before we’d be able to separate for any length of time.

By the time we reached the dining room, everyone was already seated at the table, even Beau and Reese. Charlie must’ve showered. His hair was combed neatly, and his face shaved for the first time since I’d met him.

“Look at you,” Lucy said when she reached him, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. “You smell—” The words seemed like they got caught in her throat. She straightened. “Good,” she choked out.

“This is my sister, Lucy,” Charlie told Reese. “Lucy, this is Beau’s mate, Reese.”

“Hello,” Lucy replied, sitting in the chair I’d pulled out for her. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me in thanks.

“Nice to meet you,” Reese said kindly. “Charlie was just telling me about your trip. I’ve always wanted to go to Europe. That must’ve been so exciting.”

“It was epic,” Lucy agreed as I sat down beside her. “Until this one went and found himself a mate. Things got a little boring after that.”

Charlie let out an offended huff while Reese laughed.

“I can imagine,” Reese said, still grinning. “Lots of time stuck at the hotel, am I right?”

“Bingo,” Lucy said. She elbowed her brother.