Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Her hands came up of their own volition. She wasn’t going to be passive and put this all on him. He didn’t kiss women. Like her, he found kissing others much too familiar. If they were in this together, she was participating fully. She was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to be sexually intimate with him. She was the one afraid her past experiences would prohibit her from having a normal relationship. He was being gentle. Taking care to introduce her to their world of shared intimacy and vulnerability slowly and carefully.
His lips merely feathered along hers. Teased and coaxed. Always gentle. Little flashes of flickering flames seemed to touch her and were gone, leaving her wanting more. He didn’t try to rush into kissing her. He took his time, savoring the taste of her. The feel of her. Outlining the curves of her lips with his tongue. Memorizing her. She caught the images in his mind. All the while, he never closed his eyes, staring into hers as if he could see right into her soul.
Maya had never been so aware of another human being. He was everywhere. Surrounding her with his strength. His heart. Letting her into his mind. Pouring into hers slowly. Carefully. It wasn’t an invasion or a takeover. It was a joining. A promise. He deliberately shared himself with her. Opened himself up to her. Made himself vulnerable.
Maya did the same, staring into his eyes. Giving herself to him the same way. A vow to him that he would be her only. She would give him everything she was. There was no expectation of perfection. Both accepted the other for the broken, damaged person they were. They were going into the relationship with their eyes wide open.
He slanted his head, and his mouth settled on hers. Her lashes fluttered down as he rubbed his lips over hers and then traced the seam with his tongue. The floor tilted and rocked. She gripped his shoulders, needing an anchor so she wouldn’t go spinning off into space.
6
Gorya couldn’t believe he was kissing a woman. Kissing. The world seemed to be going up in flames all around him. The floor beneath his knees tilted and rolled. It had been her eyes, staring into his, grounding him. Her long lashes had come down and he was thrown immediately into a turbulent vortex, a combination of terror and exhilaration.
He hadn’t known true terror since he was a child watching his mother and father being murdered. He’d faced death so many times during his childhood and teen years, he’d become immune to fear. When one didn’t care if they lived or died, fear became ineffectual, completely powerless. He was always in control. He’d learned to accept torture and never break character. Never give away his superior skills. Everything had changed for him in one single decision. One woman.
Her scent. Her touch. And now this. Her taste. He hadn’t expected to want to keep her. To want to be with her. It took every ounce of discipline he had not to tremble when he knelt before her, between her thighs. He hadn’t realized he had anything gentle or tender in him. He’d thought there was only violence left in him—the brutal side that had become dominant. It had grown to the point he hadn’t wanted to be around his cousins because it was getting harder for him to want to hide his differences.
Almost from the moment he’d entered the building where Theo Pappas had trapped Maya, he’d felt different. He just hadn’t known why. He’d only ever felt that insane protective instinct once—when he’d been in his teens and he’d seen those grown men raping a child. He’d never thought more clearly, and yet he hadn’t been thinking logically when he’d killed every single one of Patva’s enforcers. The reaction had been instinctive. Necessary. When he’d breathed in Maya’s scent, that same protective drive had begun to form in him and grew in strength the closer he got to her.
He hadn’t believed anything in the world could terrify him. He’d lived through torture and loss and seen depravity at its worst. He was ready to let go. He wanted to leave before he completely succumbed to the brutality that lived inside him. He didn’t want his leopard to betray their code any more than he wanted to do it. Just when he had formed their plan to exit the world, Maya and Wraith had entered their world. Rogue reacted instantly, claiming Wraith.
Gorya told himself he had no choice; he had to claim the woman and give Rogue his chance at happiness. He felt the joy in his leopard. His cat deserved happiness after the truly miserable life he’d led. But the truth was, Gorya wanted Maya for himself—he just didn’t know what to do with her. He had no idea if he could be decent to her—and she deserved decent.