Page 120

She crossed the room, trying not to stare at the huge bed, to open the blinds on the sliding glass doors. Outside, a small terrace ran the length of the room, with steps leading down to a grassy strip behind the B&B.

“And private.” Adric dropped his duffel bag by the door and hung his jacket next to hers.

She turned to face him. Picturing why they might need privacy made her shove her hands into her back pockets, and then take them out again.

Relax, damn it. You want this, remember?

Adric leaned against the door on the opposite side of the room, arms crossed, a small smile on his face. “Want a drink? Mark keeps wine and beer for the guests in the breakfast room.”

“Water’s good for now.”

He nodded, and going to the small refrigerator near the door, removed two plastic bottles and held one out to her.

“Thanks.” She forced her feet to unscrew from the floor. She took the bottle and gulped water, avoiding his eyes.

“Rosana.”

She jerked her gaze to him. “Yeah?”

“It’s okay.” He set his water on an end table. “There’s no rush.”

“There isn’t?” Oh, she was being such an idiot about this. But her insides were a big knot of tension.

“Of course not.” He caressed her shoulders. “Are you hungry? We could go out for a late lunch.”

“Not really. I had a big breakfast.” Which was churning undigested in her stomach.

“Then why don’t we go to the beach while the sun’s still out?”

She sent him a relieved smile. “That would be nice.”

“Okay.” He brushed his lips over hers.

They walked the two blocks to the beach.

It was a crisp, sunny day. A number of the houses were shut for the winter, but they passed a couple of humans out running, bundled up against the cold, and a woman pushing a baby in a stroller who took one look at Adric and made a wide circle around them.

A pint-sized terrier barked at them from a covered porch, and a tomcat trotted across the road on its way to some important rendezvous.

They left their boots at the head of a path through the dunes and wended their way through the scrubby bushes and grasses to the water.

They were on the Delaware Bay, a large estuary at the place where the Delaware River emptied into the Atlantic.

An icy wind blew from the northwest, but the bay’s winter-blue surface was calm.

Long, low waves slid in, broke against the sand, and then slipped back out.

Adric took her hand. She tensed, and he brought her fingers to his mouth.

“Hey. I told you, there’s no rush. I’m just happy to spend some time alone with you. If you’ve changed your mind, I’ll live.” He gave her a crooked grin. “I won’t like it, but I’ll live.”

Her heart turned over. He was being so damn sweet. “It’s not that. At least, it’s not just”—she waved her free hand— “ that .”

“Then what’s the matter?” he asked as they started walking barefoot along the bay’s edge.

“You know I’m a Seer.”

“I figured that out when your eyes went all scary black on me.”

She nodded. “Well, I never know when touching someone will set off my Sight, especially someone’s hand.”

“Even someone you know?”

“Yeah. At home, they think I’m a little strange.”

He frowned. “Your clan doesn’t know you’re a Seer?”

“Just my family and a few close friends—but no one else.” She lifted her chin. “I’m going to tell them. Soon.”

“Good. You shouldn’t have to hide your Gift.”

“That’s what Isa says. She’s the woman who helped raise me after the ice fae captured my mom and dad.”

“She’s right.”

“You didn’t tell anyone, did you?” Rosana asked.

“Just Marjani, but she can keep a secret. I’ll make sure she knows to keep it quiet. And if you don’t want to hold hands, that’s okay.”

She tightened her grip on his fingers. “No. I want to hold your hand.” She took a deep breath. “I want to do everything.”

“Good.” His smile was wicked. “Because trying to be nice about this is fucking killing me.”

She chuckled—and her tension eased. After all, he’d seen her in the grip of a vision, and it hadn’t freaked him out. Much. He still wanted her.

They continued walking in a companionable silence, the wind ruffling their hair, the sand damp beneath their toes. Overhead, seagulls wheeled and shrieked.

She slid Adric a look. She’d never seen him so relaxed, almost boyish, his spiky hair tousled, a slight smile curling his sexy mouth.

She knew so little about him. Oh, she knew he was the bad-boy Baltimore alpha, the man who gleefully provoked Dion every chance he got.

That he hadn’t won alpha in a challenge, as honor demanded. Instead, it had been a sneak attack. And worse, the alpha had been Adric’s own uncle.

Some of the Rock Run men, like Davi, sneered that Adric was a coward with no respect for fada tradic?o , tradition. But Leron Savonett had dragged Baltimore into the Darktime, an internal war that ripped his clan apart. Even Dion said Adric’s uncle had been a self-centered, sadistic cabr?o .

As far as Rosana could tell, if Adric hadn’t killed his uncle when he had, his clan would’ve been wiped out.

Adric angled his head in a very catlike way. “You’re frowning.”

“I am?” She smoothed out her forehead.

“No, don’t hide. Tell me—what were you thinking?”

She hitched a shoulder. “That I don’t really know you.”

“You know the important things.”

“But I want to know the unimportant things.”

“Like what?”

“Like…do you bleach your hair tips?”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “It happened the first time I shifted to cougar, and never changed back. It grows spiked-up like that, too. My dad had the same hair.”

“Huh.”

“Here’s one for you. What’s up with the claws? Your animal’s a dolphin, isn’t it?”

She let the short but sharp black claws slide out. “Otter. We can shift to other water animals, you know. We’re not limited like you earth fada. I just prefer my dolphin.”

“Limited, huh?” He grabbed her, tickling her until she was breathless with laughter.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” He kissed her on the mouth and then released her, keeping an arm around her shoulders as they resumed walking.

“I have more,” she said. “What’s your favorite color? The one dessert you can’t pass up? What do you do for fun? I don’t even know how old you are.”

“Peach ice cream. Music—I don’t play an instrument, but I like to dance. And thirty-three turns of the sun—eleven older than you.”

Of course, he knew her age. The man probably kept files on everyone in her family.

“As for my favorite color”—he swung her to face him—“that would be blue. The deep blue of the ocean out there, where the color is so intense you can almost feel it.” He nodded at the horizon.

“The blue of your eyes.” He cupped her face, his fingers warm against her chilled skin.

“Sometimes I forget how incredibly blue they are.”

She swallowed. “Yeah?”

His own irises were a brilliant golden-brown. She swayed toward him, entranced.

“I mean it.” His voice was a low rasp that reverberated in her body. “I love your eyes. Almost as much as I love your face, your body. Your smile.”

Her heart gave a hard thump. “My smile?”

“Um-hmm.” His fingers curled around her waist. He reeled her in, slowly, deliberately, until her body was flush against his. The firm muscles of his chest pressed her breasts, his erection hard against her belly. “Your smile is so wide and happy. It makes me…want.”

“Want what?”

“You.” His mouth whispered over hers. A barely-there touch that made her catch her breath.

Excitement skittered up her spine. Her breasts felt full and heavy, the nipples pushing against the silky chemise.

His tongue teased the seam of her lips, coaxing her to open to him. When she did, he tunneled his fingers into her hair, holding her still as his tongue explored the soft cave of her mouth—the sides, the sensitive roof.

She rose on her toes and twined her arms around his neck, sucking his tongue deeper. His groan made everything female in her clench.

Her leg was around his hip now, her sex rubbing against his.

Somewhere nearby, a seagull screeched.

Adric lifted his head, his breath uneven. “Let’s go back.”

She swallowed. “Yes.”

Adric’s heart was thumping, his dick so hard it ached.

Rosana strolled beside him, her mouth swollen from his kisses, her bare feet dusted with sand, her hair a silky black waterfall down her back.

She was a pagan priestess in red leather and jeans. The kind of woman who dropped men to their knees.

He shoved a hand through his hair. The woman shredded his control. She’d all but melted in his arms, making those needy little noises, rubbing against him. Driving him insane with her unpracticed, uninhibited moves.

He shouldn’t even be here with her. This could never go anywhere. But Rosana just had to crook a finger and he was there.

Her very innocence was a beacon to a man like him. A man who’d seen so much darkness, done so many dirty things that he’d never be truly clean.

He set an arm around her shoulders, pulled her closer. Because he could. He had one night with her, and he was going to enjoy it to the fullest.

She came readily. Their hips bumped, and she giggled, a young, happy sound.

His heart twisted. If only things were different…if only she were a member of his clan, a woman he could claim as his own.

You couldn’t claim her even then .

He was basically a dead man walking.

A less selfish man would stop this before it began, but he’d waited six-and-a-half years for her. He was damned if he’d turn back now.

He nuzzled her hair, breathing her in. His hand went to her round ass.

“When I get you back to the room,” he murmured in her ear, “I’m going to strip your jeans off you. But I won’t take your panties off. Not right away. I’m going to tease you first. Make you hot and wet. Make you beg a little.”

She moaned his name. The spice of her arousal teased his nostrils.

He smiled and ran his hand over the curve of her bottom. “Then, I’ll peel your panties off—but not fast. We’ll go slow, because it’s your first time. And I want to drive you a little crazy. And you’ll let me, won’t you?”

Her pretty mouth formed an O. Her breath sped up, and she hunched her shoulders. She nodded rapidly.

Gods, she was so young, and so much less experienced. On some level she’d been his since age sixteen, when they’d first met at Cleia & Dion’s mate ball.

And so, she’d waited for him.

He didn’t know why he was so sure, but he was.

I’ll be her first. His chest squeezed.

No other male had touched her. The primitive part of him reveled in that. He wanted to take her, long and hard. Imprint himself on her so that she’d always remember him.

But he also wanted to take care of her. Show her how special she was. Caress her. Love her.

He was a hard man, some would say a cold-blooded killer. But he’d done what he had to, survived when a softer man wouldn’t have—and saved his clan besides. For Rosana, though, he’d dredge up whatever tenderness he could.

They exited the beach and stopped to put on their boots.

The wind had picked up. It whistled through the dunes, whipped Rosana’s long black curls across her face. She captured them in one hand and beamed at him, her irises a deep sapphire in the fading light.

“Race you back to the B&B.” She took off down the street, surprisingly agile in the high-heeled boots.

He blinked, and with a predatory grin, loped after her. His cougar loved a chase.

He stayed behind her until they were almost to the B&B, because hey, watching that ripe, pretty ass wasn’t a hardship. Then he lunged, grabbing her waist and swinging her into the air.

She gave a shriek of laughter and grabbed his shoulders. Long legs wrapped around his hips.

“Beat you.” He gently closed his teeth on her full lower lip and continued walking. “What do I win?” He nibbled his way down her neck.

“No fair.” She angled her head so he could taste the tender underside of her jaw. “We didn’t agree to anything for the winner.”

He reached around her to open the door to the B&B. The stairwell was silent, his animal-enhanced senses telling him they were alone in the building. He headed up to the second floor with Rosana wrapped around him like a sexy vine.

He let his cat into his smile. “Where the fuck did you get the idea I play fair?”