Kane opened his mouth to interrupt her, perhaps to apologize, perhaps to reassure her, but Sophia stilled him by placing her fingers over his lips. “Please. Just let me get this out.”
When he nodded, she pulled her hand back. “I was so angry and hurt instead of questioning why a model-beautiful woman would be coming out of an alley, and just walk right up to some guy and kiss him. I was too focused on the fact that you let her kiss you to even think about how odd that was, or anything else. I should have put it together, should have known, but it was Jamie who figured it out, and only after I was forced to admit what happened because Edward reported you missing.” She expelled a hard breath. “I’m sorry, Kane. If I had questioned things sooner, said something sooner, you never would have been held for so long or injured so badly.”
Kane’s hand cupped the back of her head, his fingers combing through her hair. “First,” he said, “I’m the one who’s sorry you had to see that, and if the roles were reversed, if I’d seen you being kissed by some random guy, I wouldn’t have been thinking logically either. I’d have been looking to kill something.” He stopped for a moment to kiss her forehead before he added, “Second, you haven’t known me long enough to put your absolute faith in me. You saw some woman kissing me, you didn’t see me push her away, and you saw me leave with her instead of meeting you like I was supposed to. Hell, yeah. You should have been pissed. I would have been.” Another kiss, this one on her cheek. “As for Jamie figuring it out, she’s been around me for over twenty years, you’ve known me for a handful of days.” He punctuated that statement with a kiss to her other cheek and then one on the tip of her nose. “You havenothingto be sorry for.”
His hand cupped her face, his thumb stroking over her cheek. “It’s amazing when you think about it. We’ve known each other for such a short amount of time, yet I already know that I want to spend forever with you,” he said looking deeply into her eyes so that she could see the honesty of his statement. “I think I fell in love with you that very first day when I saw you pulling snacks out of your bag.”
“I thought you were the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. Even my dragon was impressed.”
Kane’s smile was positively smug as he teased, “Kane Fletcher, dragon whisperer. I’m adding that to myresumé.”
Sophia’s bark of laughter was embarrassingly loud and she covered her mouth with her hand before burying her face in Kane’s neck. The sight of the artery running down the length of his throat had her head popping back up. “My blood’s stronger than bagged blood, right?”
“Oh, hell yeah,” he told her. “Much stronger, but I’m good, don’t you worry about me.”
Sophia’s tongue flicked out to moisten her lips. Just thinking about Kane drinking from her again had her lower abdomen clenching and her sex pulsing with need. “But, if my blood heals you faster,” she said, her voice breathy and suggestive. “You’d be up for some vigorous exercise that much sooner.”
Kane let out a growl. “Ah, love. I’m already up,” and with that said, he sealed his lips to hers in a kiss that curled her toes.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sophia broke the kiss, throwing her head back with a gasp. “Drink first.”
“Naked first,” Kane countered, pulling at her shirt and then pulling it over her head once Sophia raised her arms.
Her bra was shed a second later and what sounded like a purr rumbled out of Kane as he cupped her breasts and squeezed gently. “You are so beautiful,” he breathed, his lips latching onto a stiff nipple.
Sophia’s breath hitched, her eyes closing to indulge in the feeling of his tongue flicking over her sensitive flesh. “They’re too small,” she panted.
“They’re perfect,” he countered, moving to lavish attention on the other breast.
Cupping the back of his head in her hands, she held him closer for a moment, before she reminded him, “You need to drink.”
His eyes flicked up to hers, and pulling back slightly, he gave one last lick to her nipple before saying, “You’re not fully naked yet.”
Rolling away from him, she went to unbutton her jeans when his hand on hers stilled the movement. “I want to do it,” he told her.
Undressing had never been so erotic. Despite her urging him to hurry, Kane took his time, licking and sucking every inch of skin he revealed until Sophia’s body was so sensitized and needy she thought she would scream if he didn’t enter her soon.
“Kane, please,” she moaned, her ragged breathing loud in her ears.
His hands skated up her thighs, over her belly to cup her breasts once more as he rose over her. His fangs were fully distended, she saw, his brown eyes gone red with hunger. Her own eyes, she knew, were the gold-flecked green of her dragon. She licked her lips in anticipation and arched her neck to give him better access.
She felt the sting of his bite and her hips lifted under his, felt the seal of his lips on her throat as he drank and the giddy, slightly light-headed feeling like she was drunk. “I want you inside me,” she gasped.
Spreading her legs wider to receive him, she felt the blunt tip of his erection at her entrance and tried to nudge him inside with her hips. He didn’t make her wait. She moaned as he thrust home, thick and long, filling her up so perfectly. Wrapping her arms around him, she gripped his strong backside, urging him to thrust faster, harder.
Kane detached from her throat, his tongue stroking over the mark he’d left upon her skin before he threw his head back with a growl. She was so tight, gripping him so perfectly, while her potent blood raced through his system like wild-fire. Leaning up slightly, he slid a hand between their bodies, his thumb finding that silky wet and swollen bundle of nerves that was his best friend. Sophia’s cry of pleasure was music to his ears and sent what felt like a bolt of lightning shooting down his spine. He was going to come, he couldn’t hold it back. His thrusts became jerky, his breathing turned to short, staccato pants, and as he felt her inner muscles clamp around him in a stranglehold. He let out a hoarse, guttural groan as she cried out his name, her orgasm pulsing sweetly around him as he released inside of her.
Kane collapsed with a harsh expulsion of breath and quickly rolled to the side so he wouldn’t crush her with his weight before pulling her into his arms. “I love you,” he panted, stroking her hair and her back.
She kissed his shoulder and her hand stroked his bearded jaw. “I love you, too.”
Letting out a little sigh, Kane settled deeper into the pillows, his eyelids heavy with that logy feeling of having just fed. “I like hearing you say that,” he murmured.
“I like saying it.”
Her fingers were moving over his chest, drawing patterns and he imagined having her in his bed every day, the warmth of her body close to his as they both drifted off to sleep. The thought was as close to heaven as he could imagine.
