~

 

“So you’re saying I’m going to die first?” Angela didn’t know what else to do than to rib him some more.

“More than likely if you keep up with the attitude, Missy,” he grumbled another growl, but his eyes sparkled with amusement.

“I like my attitude – it keeps me sane,” Angela folded her hands on her lap and lifted her chin in defiance.

“Keeps you sane or sends everyone else around you nuts so that you appear to be the only sane on in the room?” He asked.

“That’s good too,” Angela gave a little nod.

“I’m your mate…”

“Thank you for the recap…”

“You’re welcome. And as your mate…” He pushed up to his feet and she turned her head to look up at him. “Budge over so I can sit down because that chair is like a whole damn torture chamber rolled into one.”

Lark motioned for her to do just that and she looked back at him with a certain amount of disbelief – she didn’t move a muscle as they just stared at each other…

“I feel my life ticking away…” Lark grumbled, and she snapped her head back on her neck, raised her eyebrows in surprise, but then a small smile bowed her lips and she snorted a chuckle.

“Fine…” she tried to huff but it didn’t come off, she was too busy trying not to laugh. She budged over enough so that he had some space to sit beside her on the bed. “Don’t get the wrong idea – you’ll still end up on your pride.”

She’d expected Lark to sit facing her, but the man turned and placed his backside next to hers and his back against the pillow as she pulled back a little and stared at him in disbelief…

“You want tucking in too?” She bit out.

“I’m hot stuff, sweetheart,” he shot back as he turned to look at her with a wolfish grin on his lips, and then he winked, and her eyebrows shot up towards her hairline…

“Ha!” She snorted, turning to stare ahead of her rather than look at the sexy demon in bed beside her.

She was definitely warming to him – in more ways than one.

“Nice comeback line,” he teased.

“You really don’t want to know what’s on my mind right now,” she lied again, and he could pick up on her lies in a heartbeat…

“No, you mean – you don’t want me to know what’s on your mind – me naked – me wrapped around you…”

“I feel queasy all of a sudden,” she bit out, but her cheeks flushed a bright red, and her heart danced a little jig within her chest…

“Admit it, you like me,” he said and she stayed deafly silent. “It’s why you ran away, because you knew that you couldn’t fight the overwhelming urge that you had to rip off my clothes and have your wicked way with me – all over this bedroom…”

“That nausea is definitely picking up…” she grumbled back.

“You like me – I can tell...” he reached out and placed one large weathered hand over her much smaller ones.

She felt the tingle that ran over her skin and it didn’t just happen on the outside, but on the inside too. She liked the warmth that spread from his touch, inside and out, it filled her with a sense of connection that she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“Maybe on a frosty day in hell,” she offered back, and watched the devilishly handsome grin take his lips wide.

“Wanna mate?” he wiggled those eyebrows once more.

“No…”

“I bet I can change your mind…” he turned in the bed to look at her.

Angela didn’t say a word, although there were more than enough of them swirling within her mind to choose from. The man was like chocolate cake – the more she looked – the more she wanted it.

She didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. Fate had picked them for each other, and now that she was thinking a little more clearly, she could see how they fitted together.

The man was pretty easy going and he hadn’t run for the hills to get away from her barbed tongue, and never would. She even had to admit that she was enjoying his company, even if he did have a hungry look about him.

“Does that involve hitting me over the head with a club and dragging me off by my hair, caveman style?”

She watched that devilish smile of his grow…

“That involves me taking you to a place where you’ve never been before.”

“The Caribbean?” She offered innocently.

“Maybe it’s best I draw you a map…” he leaned in, half expecting her to pull away and use her acid tongue to tell him to keep his distance, right up to the point where his lips met hers…

He couldn’t hold back the growl that rumbled through his chest, and she seemed to press a little closer to him as the sound of it filled the air.

Mine…

His wolf tried to push forward, and Lark pushed it right back into its cage…

Not yet old friend … he told his beast … but soon … very … very soon.

 

~

~

~

 

“I’m going to bed, you can do what you want…” Sarah said back over her shoulder as she started for the stairs, and Nathan was right there every step of the way.

“I’ll come with you then,” his deep gravelly tone reached right inside of her and sparked another wave of excitement.

“Except that…” Sarah shot him a glare over her shoulder as she climbed up onto the first step, but that smile on her lips egged him on.

“That’s like a tease too far…” Nathan’s playful tone kept her off guard.

“I wasn’t teasing…” she chuckled, getting another couple of steps towards the top, and there he was, right behind her, getting a great view of her backside…

“So you meant that I could do what I wanted and I want to be with you…”

“With me?” She shot a look back over her shoulder, just as she reached the top step, and her toes caught that last stair and pitched her forwards towards the landing….

Nathan reached out and scooped her back against him before she could hit the ground. Her fingertips touched the carpet, but it was short lived … the pounding of her heart within her chest from the near fall and his arms around her wasn’t…

“With you, Sarah…” His hot breath was against her ear and her cheek and it felt like a caress to her senses. The jolt to her womb set the damn thing off again and it was making its presence known. “I want the feel of you in my arms. I want to be inside of your body…”

“Ok, hold on…” She said, but he lifted her, walked the last stair and placed her feet back down on the floor…

Then she felt his breath against her skin as he nuzzled between her neck and shoulder and took her scent. The deep rumble of a hungry growl filled the air all around them, and she felt that vibrate right through her back.

Excitement almost floored her. She inadvertently tipped her head to one side to give him a little more room, and his beast roared within him – taking that as a submission on her part…