“Yes.” His voice was hoarse, his eyes glowing with his wolf in the billowing steam. “Cassie, you really need to leave.”

In response, she pressed herself against his naked body, her breath catching at the feel of his hard erection pulsing against her lower stomach.

She hadn’t expected it to be so large. Not only long, but thick. And hot. It burned against her skin like a branding iron.

Or maybe that was just her fevered imagination. Not because she was nervous. Or uncertain. But because she was so damned hungry for him.

She might be a virgin, but she had zero doubt that she wanted Caine. He was, in fact, the only man she’d ever wanted.

All of him.

“You don’t want me?” she demanded.

His hands gripped her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh as if he were caught between the urge to yank her closer and shove her away. “So badly that I can barely think straight,” he breathed.

She allowed her fingers to skim over his shoulders and then up the curve of his throat. Her touch was tentative. A Were was extremely selective in who was allowed to touch their neck. The fact he made no effort to halt her exploration proved he already accepted her on the most intimate level.

“Then make love to me.”

He tensed, his eyes dark with pain. “No.”

Stubborn man. Thankfully, she could be just as stubborn.

She threaded her fingers through his damp hair, deliberately rubbing the tight buds of her breasts against his chest, groaning at the tiny darts of sensation that arrowed straight to the pit of her stomach.

Oh . . . my.

“Why not?”

Caine swore, his fingers biting into the flesh of her hips. “I won’t take your innocence because you’re feeling sorry for me.”

She stilled, tilting back her head to study him in confusion. “Is that what you think? That I feel sorry for you?”

“Why else would you be in my shower?”

“Because I want . . .”

He frowned as she struggled to find the words to express the need aching deep inside her. “What?”

“This.”

She might not have the words, but she knew what she wanted. Besides, talk was overrated under the best of circumstances. And in this moment, it was completely superfluous.

Cupping his face in her hands, she went up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to his in a kiss of blatant longing.

Caine froze and Cassie felt her heart sink. So much for her awkward attempt at seduction.

Then, just as she was about to pull back, Caine’s arms lashed around her body and he hauled her off her feet so he could deepen the kiss with a satisfying urgency. Unlike her, the male possessed all the experience and skill necessary to turn the fumbling connection of their mouths into pure magic.

Sheets of heat blasted through her as his tongue expertly parted her lips and dipped inside. She trembled. Sweet heaven. It was just as wonderful as she’d dreamed it would be.

The hungry press of his lips. The enticing stroke of his warm tongue. The arms that held her so tightly she could barely breathe.

But she needed . . .

What?

Hell, she didn’t know. Only that Caine still wasn’t close enough.

Using her innate strength, Cassie wrapped her legs around his waist and they both moaned as her most sensitive part rubbed against his fully erect shaft.

Oh yes. That’s precisely what she needed.

The thought had barely drifted through her fuzzy mind when Caine lifted his head, regarding her flushed face through eyes that glowed with sapphire fire. “Cassie,” he groaned, a feverish color staining his high cheekbones. “Christ. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

She licked her tongue up the length of his neck, capturing the droplets of water clinging to his bronzed skin. “Not yet, but you’re going to teach me.”

He released a shuddering sigh. “I am?”

The heavy scent of his musk wrapped around her, his cock twitching against her.

“Hmm,” she husked.

“No.” His hand skimmed up her back to cup her nape. “Wait.”

She nuzzled at the pulse hammering at the base of his throat, wondering what she was doing wrong. It was never this hard in the romance books to get a man to make love to a woman. They were always ready to get down to business.

“Now what?” she muttered.

He moaned as her teeth lightly bit his neck. “This isn’t the time to be making life-altering decisions.”

“Life-altering?” she tilted back her head to meet his smoldering gaze. “Isn’t that a little melodramatic?”

His gaze skimmed over her flushed face to the small breasts that were begging for his attention.

“Pet, when I make you mine it’s going to rock your world,” he said, his need making his voice rough.

“I want it to be rocked now,” she murmured, not above pleading. “Please, Caine.”

His jaw tightened as his gaze skimmed downward, lingering on the small tattoo that marred the skin just beneath her belly button. “You’ve already been used enough.”

Cassie barely resisted the urge to cover the crimson hieroglyphic that flickered with an unsettling shimmer. It wasn’t as if Caine hadn’t already seen the mark of the demon lord. Or felt the chill that clung to the strange tattoo.

“This isn’t about being used,” she corrected softly. “It’s about sharing something wonderful. I need you, Caine.”

There was a charged silence as Caine’s savage need visibly battled with his conscience. Cassie held her breath, knowing that she’d already said too much.

The last thing she wanted was for him to do something he might later regret.

Then, with a low growl he moved to the back of the shower, lowering her onto the wet marble bench. Gently, he tugged her legs from around his waist, although he kept them parted so he could kneel between them, his face on level with hers.

Oddly, their new position felt even more intimate, a sensation only emphasized as his gaze ran a searing path over her breasts and down to her feminine core, already damp with her arousal.

“Caine,” she breathed, tracing the curve of his noble brow and down the narrow line of his nose.

His eyes were more wolf than human as they lifted to meet her steady gaze. “Christ, you’re so beautiful.”

She offered a dimpled smile. “No, you’re the beautiful one.”

He captured her fingers, which had been exploring his face, pressing them to his lips. “I’m an immoral bastard who has no right to paradise,” he corrected in harsh tones. “But if you want to offer me heaven, then I’m going to snatch it with both hands.”

Cassie’s lips parted, but her words went unsaid as he leaned forward to place an openmouthed kiss at the base of her neck. Oh. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders, her head falling back to offer him greater access.

Stroking his lips up the curve of her throat, he took a minute to trace the line of her jaw before at last finding her mouth to claim it in a kiss of sheer possession. Her wolf growled in satisfaction as her lips were crushed beneath his hungry onslaught, her nails scoring down the smooth skin of his back.

Still surrounded by the thinning steam and the quiet hush of the outrageously expensive suite, they might have been alone in their own world. There was nothing beyond the feel of Caine’s kiss and the light touch of his fingers as they tucked her hair behind her ears.

Cassie moaned. The water was turned off, but she felt as if she were drowning beneath the tidal wave of sensations crashing through her.

As if sensing her rising passion, Caine eased his kiss, allowing his lips to sweep over her upturned face. Tenderly, he caressed every line and curve before turning his attention to the sensitive flesh of her neck.

“Yes,” she breathed in encouragement, shivering as his hands moved slowly downward, at long last cupping the swollen fullness of her breasts.

“So perfect,” he muttered.

She barely heard his soft words as she arched in pleasure, her eyes sliding shut as his fingers lightly teased the puckered tips of her nipples. Who knew her breasts could be so sensitive? Or that his touch could offer such pleasure?

A pleasure that went from sensational to shattering as he dipped his head even lower and sucked one nipple between his lips.

A soft cry tumbled from her lips as she shoved her fingers into the thick strands of his hair, shifting restlessly on the marble bench.

So this was what all the fuss was about, she conceded, trembling as his tongue and teeth sent her up in flames. She never, ever wanted him to stop. And yet . . .

There was an empty ache between her legs that demanded attention.

“Caine,” she murmured, trusting he would know what she needed.

“Patience, pet,” he countered.

She wanted to protest, but then he turned his attention to her other breast and she decided that patience wasn’t such a bad thing. Especially when she felt his clever fingers drift along the curve of her hip and down the length of her leg.

Her head pressed back against the tiles as he suckled her with a growing insistence, his searching fingers drifting up her inner thigh. He was close. So close.