She knew where they were the moment the elevator doors opened. The humid air and distant sounds of moving water spoke volumes.

She smiled and melted against him.

“If you want,” his voice was rough in her ear and she could hear how close his bear was to the surface, “I’ll take you back to bed.”

“But you brought me here,” she answered on a sigh, “under the trees.”

He dipped his head and pressed a kiss on her neck, nuzzling her skin against his nose, his cheek, his lips. “Under the stars.”

She took in a long breath and let it out, her hands moving up to his shoulders. “I just want to feel you all over me,” she admitted the truth to him. “I want you inside me, filling me up. As long as it’s you, Valerio, I don’t care where we are.”

She felt him move, a sudden twist of motion before she heard a flutter of cloth.

When he crouched down and laid her on her back she felt the finely woven cotton spread out under her body. She flushed and knew he could see the color rising in her skin.

“Mia bella,” he told her, “you’re beautiful.”

She bit her lip. Her natural reaction was to deny his words, but if he saw her as beautiful then she would see herself through his eyes. He protected her like she was made of glass. He kissed her as if she tasted better than champagne.

And when she felt him crouch over her, his warmth covering her like a blanket. She wanted to grab a hold of him and pull him down. She wanted to feel his skin against hers, but she let him set the pace.

He was giving her a gift and that was enough to keep her still. She’d had tastes of his passion, and she was ready to drink her fill.

And so was he.

His lips ghosted over hers, dusting kisses along her jaw, down her neck, and then settling at the point where her shoulder began, just above her collarbone.

His mouth fitted against her skin and she felt the building pressure as her blood thrummed through her veins. She knew from a rather frank conversation with Natale that he would make his mark there, so feeling his teeth lightly press against her skin, his tongue tracing along the edge of the tentative mark, her skin heated even more.

She arched her back, pressing her body against his. It wasn’t something she could control, just an unconscious gesture from her body reaching for his.

And his hands answered that need.

He pulled back and moved beside her, starting at her hips, holding her still with his hands, he tilted her a moment later, his fingers hooked into the waistband of her pants and pulled, a swift peeling motion that laid her bare from her waist down.

* * *

He saw Allegra lift her hands to cover herself. It was habit, he realized, trying to cover herself so she couldn’t be seen. Careful of her hands and her wrists, he smoothed his hands up to her elbows and gently laid her arms beside her body. When he felt her still her movements, he let her go and moved down to her feet.

It was dark in the conservatory, but he could see her laid out before him. Her pale flesh glowed with heat against the pristine white sheet that he’d spread underneath her body. He wanted to have her here where he felt the most like both sides of his soul, but he wanted her comfortable… cared for.

He wrapped a hand around her ankle and felt her tense. The movement only managed to play into his need, bending her leg at the knee.

Valerio mirrored his touch on her other ankle and she gasped as he moved a few inches forward, his hands still on her ankles, and her legs fell open slowly before his eyes.

He leaned forward, his hands traveling from her ankles and up, his thumbs trailing along her calf and to the insides of her knees. She was sensitive, ticklish there, and instead of pulling away he watched sensations roll through her curvaceous body.

“I want to taste you.”

She didn’t tell him yes or no.

Instead, he watched a curious expression cross her face as he turned and moved his hands slowly onto her thighs, his fingers splayed open against the silk of her skin. “I’ve dreamed of putting my mouth on you,” he told her, leaning closer. “Have you had the same dream, Allegra?”

She shook her head, a half-wild movement that managed to ease the tension in her body, and open her legs even more as she laid before him.

“No?” He pressed a kiss on her hip and then another an inch closer to her bellybutton.

“No, but I’ve dreamed,” she gasped as he kissed her other hip, “of you… and me.”

His bear leaned heavily on him, pushing against their link with a metaphysical shoulder. He wanted out or he wanted Valerio’s fangs in her flesh. Soon.

“Tell me, Allegra.” This time, he didn’t lift his lips away for another kiss, he trailed them along the soft swell of her belly until he pressed a kiss just inches away from her silken curls. “What did you dream?”

Her breathing was ragged, but not painful… breathless and needy as she lay as still as she could beneath him.

“I dreamed…” He turned his head, and trailed his cheek across the tender flesh at the top of her thigh and watched her fist the blanket in her hands. “I dreamed of tasting you.”

Something broke inside of him. The thought of her mouth on him, her tongue hot and wet against his flesh, made him tremble with need.

He moved, like the predator he was, laying himself on the ground between her legs. He slid his arms under her thighs and reached around to seize her hips and lift her to his waiting mouth.

He stroked her with his tongue from one end to the other, dragging the tip of it under the silken hood of flesh. When the tip of his tongue grazed against her he felt her thighs tighten, squeezing closer. He began again, parting her lips and delving his tongue into her sweetness before reaching the end and circling her clit.

A cry was wrung from her lips and her thighs tightened again.

He couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. He could hear her panting and even a few muttered curses as he continued the tender torture of her flesh.

“Come, Allegra.” He opened his mouth and used his teeth to nip at the flesh of her thigh. “Let me have all of you.”

“No, no.” She reached down and managed to comb her fingertips through his hair. “Please, no.”

He stilled in a heartbeat. Getting up on his hands and knees over her, searching her expression for pain or revulsion. “What’s wrong?”

“I want us together when it happens.” Her admission warmed his heart, but he felt at a loss for the abject worry in her tone.

“And we will, Allegra. When I mark you, we will.”

She shook her head, her bottom lip pinned between her teeth.

He lay on his side and smoothed his thumb over her chin, whispering gentle words to her. “Tell me what has you so upset, Allegra.”

“Not upset,” she said the words but her expression made her a liar, “I just… I don’t have more than one.”

It took him a moment to understand what she was saying, but before he could argue, she was already talking again.

“Not even when I did it for myself,” she mumbled. “Please don’t-”

He ended her plea with a kiss and reached for the hem of her tank top. “I won’t. Not tonight.”

He sought to reassure her, but he also sought to reassure himself. Allegra deserved to enjoy being loved, it was the most personal physical pleasure that anyone could experience.

“Tonight,” he helped her remove her tank top, discarding it on the blanket before he removed the last bit of clothing covering his body, “the first will be together and after that, we shall see.”

She opened her mouth to argue and he ate her words as thoroughly as he had intended to devour her heat. Moments later she was moaning into his mouth, grabbing at his shoulders, pulling him closer.

Valerio reached down, smoothing his hand over her belly, to trail his fingers between her thighs, teasing her tender flesh. She was still wet from before, but a few well-placed strokes of his long fingers had her knees falling open beneath him, creating a cradle for him.

Allegra’s body stretched around his fingers, muscles pulling him in while a rush of need coated his skin.

Her hips pushed up, and Allegra turned her head to the side, baring her neck and shoulder to his hungry gaze.

“Soon, please. I don’t… too fast.”

* * *

She felt the shift in him.

As if he’d flicked a switch and opened another part of himself.

Everything she felt as she lay bare beneath him, her body begging for his touch, was sensual, needy.

She didn’t feel hesitation like before. She didn’t worry about pain. That was behind her, and Valerio was everything ahead of her… and she wanted the joy that came with him. Wanted it like her next breath.

When he reached for her she had less than a moment to wonder what he had in mind. His hands on her hips tugged her closer, pulled her up against his chest, took her mouth in another soul-searing kiss as he lowered her down.

She felt him lean closer, keeping his mouth on hers even when the difference in their height made it difficult to do. And then she felt it, a warm ache between her thighs, the way his body pushed slowly inside of hers.

And it was like his light in the darkness, slowly building, expanding inside of her.

Allegra felt full, but not nearly full enough. She leaned back, ever so slightly and he slid his hands up her back to give her the room she needed but also to hold her securely.

He leaned over her as she tightened her legs around his waist, breathing out against her skin to let her know what he meant to do.

“Yes,” she gasped and then pulled in a breath as his lips closed over the tip of her breast. His tongue rolled over her nipple and it tightened from the sensation of its rough texture. He pulled her deeper into his mouth for a second time as she sank deeper onto him. The sensations were addictive as his mouth paid homage to her other breast, wringing moans from her throat.

When he was fully seated in her body, when she felt her backside touch his thighs, she groaned and sat up, reaching for his shoulders. The shift in her body rocked her clit against him and she gasped, feeling a ripple of sensation pulse through her core.

“Allegra.”

She felt her name as a vibration passed from his body into hers and she moved closer, leaning into the sensations.

“You mean everything to me, Stellina. You have given me my soul.”

She melted against him, enjoying the solid hold he had on her hips. Allegra had always been a big girl, but he held her as if it was barely any effort to lift her up and pull her down as he thrust into her body. It was an otherworldly feeling, being so full and yet so free at the same time.

She’d had other lovers, but not one who seemed completely in tune with her needs and aching to make her wild. Allegra felt cherished, she felt adored, and if he managed to keep up that same amazing pace, she’d be boneless and trembling in his arms in minutes.

* * *

He felt every sigh and moan through her body, the sounds stroking his need. She was glorious in his arms. Her hair fell about her shoulders and gave him a tantalizing view of her breasts. They were pale in the moonlight, blanching the normal honeyed glow of her skin.

As she rode the waves of building pleasure he looked his fill at his mate and felt the building sensations between them both. He was drowning in her, holding on to the rush of his own orgasm as he waited to bring her to the same precipice.

Her breathing changed, a subtle hitch in its rhythm.

Her inner walls clenched once, and again, repeating over and over, drawing closer to the contraction before it. Her skin heated against him until her body threatened to send his up in flames.

And there, as he held his own breath, a shudder rolled through her ending on a throaty cry that burst from her lips. As her body bore down on his, he gave in to his own release. Gathering her close in his arms he set his mouth at the juncture of her shoulder and her neck, swept his tongue over the spot once to taste her perfect flesh, and then he bit down.

His bear broke through, fangs penetrating her skin as his body filled her core and joined them forever.

He held her against him as the sensations rolled through them both. The taste of her blood on his tongue had pushed him over the edge and he’d emptied himself into her body, not just physically, but from his soul.

Finding Allegra in a city of over eight million people was enough of a challenge, but they’d already weathered a few storms together. And when he shared his mark with her and took her blood, they’d completed a connection that was even more rare.

He felt the shift of energy in Allegra when her body stirred against his, her thighs tightening around his waist, her lips trailing over his heart.

“Allegra?”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s go back to our bed.”

She sighed and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “Okay.”

His bear lifted his head inside of him and made a sound that nearly reminded him more of a feline purr.

Wrapping an arm around her incredible body, he stood, holding her to his chest, the sheet fisted in his free hand.

He started for the elevator, cradling his mate against him.

As he pushed the button to call the elevator Allegra stirred against his shoulder, her sleepy eyes widening as he felt her body contract around him. “Valerio?”

He pressed a kiss against her temple. “Yes?”

“You’re still-”

“Yes.”

“And I’m still…” he felt her muscles ripple over his length again and then heard a moan from her lips.

“You most certainly are.”

He loved the realization that colored her cheeks with a blush. “I hope you’re not tired.”

He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor. “Not in the least, love.”

She sighed and it sounded like a laugh of giddy anticipation. “Good, I’m hoping you’ll prove me wrong.”

He nipped at her earlobe with his teeth before laving the bite with his tongue. “I’m going to prove you wrong at least a couple of times.” The elevator began to move. “Hold on.”

She shook her head. “I may never let you go.”