Page 4 of Shattered Stars

“But you’re going to kick me out of your bed anyway.”

“Not kick,” he says, “gently nudge.” I scowl at him and he sighs. “You know I don’t want you to go, Rhianna. You know I’d rather spend the next few hours fucking you into this mattress until you’re actually begging me to stop.”

“I don’t think I’d ever beg you to stop,” I admit, combing my fingers through his beard in a way I’ve been dying to do since I met him. He catches that hand in his and kisses my palm softly.

“You’re making this very hard for me.” I go to argue some more, but he beats me to it. “We can’t risk someone seeing you leave this cabin, Rhianna. We can’t risk someone catching us together. You have to go before morning rises.”

“Why does it matter? You’re my fated mate. I’m yours. Surely the rules won’t apply to us.”

He closes his eyes, real pain flashing across his face. “It will matter. It will probably matter more. Besides, if they learn about us, how long before they learn of you and Azlan too? And then there will be questions for all of us.”

“Why does it matter to them who we’re sleeping with?”

He twerks an eyebrow at me. “Rhianna, you are not as stupid as you look.” I pinch his toned abs for that dig. “You understand enough of this world to know how things work now. Fated mates are believed to be strong and powerful. A woman with two fated mates – and not just any mate–”

“Phoenix Stone!” I tease.

He lifts his eyebrow again. “No one’s going to give a shit about me. I’m talking about Azlan. The man in black. The authorities’ enforcer. Heir of the Kennedy family.”

“I give a shit about you,” I say.

“You do?” he says, rolling on top of me. “How much of a shit?”

I pinch my finger and thumb together. “Just a little one. A teeny tiny one.”

“Humph,” he says, “then I take it back. No nudging. I’m definitely kicking you out.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and smile up at him. His eyes are so beautiful – blue like the sky at early morning – I could stare into them for an eternity.

“I don’t think it’s just my eyes you like, sweetheart,” he says, grinding one very large, very hard cock against me.

“That’s true. I like your bike too.”

“That’s it!” he says, unclasping my hands, rolling off me and flinging back the covers. “Out!”

I pout at him and refuse to move. “I don’t want to go,” I say.

The tease in his features dies away and something more tender replaces it in his expression, something I’d never seen until last night.

“Rhi,” he pleads.

“It’s going to hurt,” I whisper, my hands falling to rest on my belly. I’ve been here before. I know just what it’s like. And this time I fear it might be even worse. The two bonds in my core, locked together in place, seem stronger than ever, more powerful, more unbreakable.

“We’ll see each other soon enough,” he says, kissing my hands, kissing my stomach, kissing my shoulder.

“That’s not what I’m saying. Separating will be agony. The bond …”

His eyes drop to my stomach and then to his. “Ahhh,” he says.

“It took days to be able to bear being even a few paces from Azlan’s side.”

A smug grin lands on his face. “Erm, sweetheart, I’m guessing you and Azlan didn’t …” he pauses, “consummate the bond straight away.”

I shake my head. “Not until after I left the hospital.”

“That was causing the pain.”

“I know that. But it took a lot of–”