Nadia shook her head again, and the tip of her tongue slid out, moistening her lips in a long sweep. The tips of her blunt, white teeth chewed on the corner of her mouth. She turned those soulful eyes on him. “I want—” her breath faltered and her chest rose with a tense inhalation. Twisting the hem of her shirt in her fingers, she focused on the wall behind him, breaking off their connection.

Time stilled as her lips parted and closed again as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t. “You,” she pushed into his mind, and he could feel her fear, and overwhelming need.

He closed the distance between them, grabbed her face with both his hands, ignoring the metal on his arm. Sliding his fingers along her jaw, he cupped the nape of her neck and pulled her forward. He bent his head, stopped fighting against everything he knew he wasn’t supposed to do, and gave into everything he wanted.

She gasped and he covered her mouth with his, hard and seeking, deep and urgent. And, she tasted like sweet wine.

Her arms laced around his shoulders, pulling him into her with a desperation he recognized. The rounded curves of her breasts crushed into his chest. He was lost. He propelled them backward, needing to feel her fully against him, desire crashing into him with every passing second. Fisting her hair, he yanked her head back, trailing kisses along her throat to her jaw and back to the hollow below her ear. She squirmed and rubbed against him. Warm heat and silken skin, utter desire prodded him to capture her thigh, drag it up to his hip and notch the apex of her body to his hard, throbbing length. The bite of her nails pricked his upper arm. That sweet pain only spurred him on.

“More, Gunnar. Give me more.” Her raw demand prodded him to let loose the caged beast roaring for freedom.

“I’ll give you what I can,” he promised.

And he meant it. That didn’t mean he’d take anything for himself. He couldn’t compromise her in any way. Even in his delirium, he had the honor not to do anything that would end with consequences.

He slid his hand under her top and shaped along her ribs, to the unyielding material of her bra. “Now, kjaere, let me feel you.”

Her eyelids fluttered and drooped. She leaned her head back to the wall exposing the elegant column of her throat. Cheeks flushed and whimpering with desire, she swallowed hard and implored, “Please, Gunnar. Don’t stop.”

A deep yearning crashed into him and Gunnar didn’t want to stop. “I won’t,” he reassured, the promise in his tone something he could do nothing to conceal.

∙•∙

Her first kiss. And, it was Gunnar.

Just like she’d dreamed and fantasized about for the last few days.

Hot, passionate, and stirring low in her belly, his kisses woke the female within her. It was wanton, needy, and clawed for more. The tip of his tongue brushed her teeth, the sensitive flesh along her lips and teased the space between. He explored and she met him there, eager to feel the warmth of his kiss deepen as their tongues dueled, lips pressed, bodies aligned together. It was too much.

It was perfect.

Rough fingers brushed her sides, along her ribs and it didn’t tickle or scratch her skin. The touch provoked her, coaxing her need with gentle caresses. A moan tangled in her throat and he captured it in his kiss, swallowed it back and an echo of his desire rumbled in his chest.

“Nadia,” he whispered against her mouth. “So sweet and hot.” His strong fingers pressed into the small of her back and held her firmly in place. He rocked up on his toes and brushed the solid length of his body flush to hers. “Why can’t you be mine?”

She heard his anguish, the same pain in his voice reverberated inside her heart. It’d only been a few days since they’d met but something inside her knew Gunnar was hers. Maybe biology? Or emotions. Either way, she hated not being allowed to follow her heart.

She covered his mouth with her fingers. “Don’t, please. Just pretend, for now.”

He nodded, but fire sparked in his eyes. It was alive, elemental, and the torment of their situation pierced her straight to her soul. She grabbed his shirt, fisted the material like it was her lifeline, her connection to him.

The heavy metal of his fixator came into view as he trailed a finger down the side of her face to her chin. Pressure directed her head back and exposed her throat further. Warm breath feathered across her pulse points, and little kisses followed. Her grip on his shirt tightened. Against her ribs, her heart beat hard and fast. Intense. Yes, take from me, she commanded in her thoughts, but didn’t allow him to share that desperate plea.

“I want to taste you, kjaere. Just a sip.” His growled whisper overset her and she pushed up on her toes in an unspoken consent.

His cheek brushed across her collarbone and the weight of his head settled on her shoulder. Ragged breaths wrenched from his chest. “I can’t. I won’t be able to stop.”

“Gunnar,” she muttered his name and licked her suddenly dry lips. “Only a little. Please. I want to feel your fangs on my skin. I want the bite. Yours.”

“I’m losing control.” He trembled, the muscles in his back tense as steel. She pressed him closer, a silent nudge. The tip of one sharp canine scraped fleetingly in a crude arc. The sting lasted only a second before his hot mouth covered the tiny wound and sucked. A moan shuddered inside her.

Gunnar shifted and pushed harder against her, pinning her to the cabinet and holding her still. “Ah, Nadia. You’re like nothing I’ve ever tasted. It’s paradise. You’re my paradise.”

Desperate for every possible sip, he sucked at her skin, rasping with his tongue. The miniscule amount he’d taken would hardly bond them but the intimacy was there anyway.

“God, I want you at my throat, taking from my vein,” he muttered, and his breath feathered along her pulse points. An elicit image popped into her mind so dark and erotic. She imagined tasting him, drawing his essence into her mouth and inundating herself with him.

Strong yet restless fingers tripped down her arm to her hip. His thumb trailed the edge of her waistband, stroking and raising her need with each teasing swipe.

“Let me touch you, Nadia.”

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