Everything in Bryony's body hummed with a deep knowing that this was right. That this was what she wanted. Oh, this man. This sexy, hot wolfen. And this kiss. He pulled back, looking at her hard, a question in his eyes.

Still mesmerized by his brilliant gaze, dazed by the kiss she could feel all throughout her body, she silently nodded. Without another word, Wyatt growled, reached forward, and scooped her up in his strong arms. She couldn't stop the girlish squeal of first startlement, then appreciation at how incredibly strong he was. Geez, what a girl she was being.

Geez, how she didn't care about that right now.

Holding her tightly to his chest, he took swift steps toward his large bed. Gently setting her down, he stepped back to look down at her in sheer worship. "You're the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life, Bryony.” His words were said with such truthful devotion that all girlish squeals died in her throat as she stared up at him with wide eyes. Without even a moment's hesitation, he added into the hush, "I'm going to show you right now how beautiful you are. Every single inch of you. I've been dying to do this ever since our last kiss."

Bryony gaped at him, feeling the warm hum of anticipation skitter through her entire body. In her head, she flashed right on the images of exactly what he was going to do to her. Do with her. And what she would do with him.

The foreknowledge, the decadent vision, made her blush so hard in mingled excitement and awe that Wyatt's sensual mouth curved into a grin. “Really? It'll be that good? Excellent,” he murmured. A hungry gaze took over his face now.

Bryony managed to nod. “Yes,” she whispered, looking back at him with the same amount of hunger.

Yes, this was exactly what she wanted right now. No more talk about demons, visions of blood, being hunted, or thoughts of a permanent future. Just—this. With Wyatt, right now.

“Come here to me.” She reached her arms up to him as excitement shivered through her.

“As you wish, my sweet little sexpot.” His grin now edged with a feral arousal, her wild, sexy Wyatt obeyed her so quickly she breathed laughter.

The bed creaked slightly as he settled onto it, his weight a welcome feeling against her every nerve ending. “Too many clothes. Off now.” His voice was a focused mutter as he reached down to tug off her shirt, then help her shimmy out of her jeans.

She helped him as much as she could, wiggling and shifting and lifting her butt off the bed. When he momentarily lost his concentration as she thrust her hips up off the bed, it was so flat out sexy her breath caught in her throat.

Wyatt was her man. Her wolfen.

Her mate.

Or not quite yet. For that to happen, he had to officially claim her. Just the thought of that, of what it meant, sent pleasure skittering up and down her spine, radiating out through her limbs in a tingling shot of excitement.

Pleasure, and another frisson of concern. Was it what she really wanted? What would it really mean?

Right now, she decided as she looked into the smoked depth of his eyes, that didn't matter. She didn't want to think about tomorrow, but right now, the word mate just felt right. All that did matter was that she wanted to connect with him. Right now, in every way possible.

She'd thought about this moment off and on for years, subconsciously using Wyatt as the perfect fantasy man to whom no others could hold a candle. She could admit it now. Especially now. The breathless reality of the moment was even more thrilling than she'd ever imagined possible.

"I've pictured this for a long time." Wyatt's voice crackled with desire. "It's shaping up to be even better than I ever dreamed."

Bryony huffed out a laugh, her entire body feeling alive as she watched the edgy, gorgeous man above her quickly stripping off his clothes. "I was literally just thinking the same thing. I guess that means it was fated to be." She said the last part somewhat teasingly, lips curved into a smile. But Wyatt's expression turned serious, although it didn't lose any of the hunger.

"Yes." His voice was slightly hoarse. "I never thought it could be, but yes."

She felt a ripple of something deep and powerful inside her as he said that. It was like every cell in her body yearned toward him, urging her to get close to him. She didn't examine it too closely. It was very slightly frightening. Instead, she pushed it away for now. For now, she just wanted to be with him.

"Come here." Her voice edged into a low hoarseness also as she lifted her arms to him, urging him to join her.

He wasted no time, kicking off his pants and surging toward her.

"Wait. Wow." She eyed him in all his naked glory, stunned once again. It was like looking at the most perfect male specimen ever. Every muscle in his body was chiseled, from washboard abs to muscular thighs. But the most important, most exciting thing to her, was that he was Wyatt. Her Wyatt. Knowing she was with him turned her on more than she ever had been in her life.

He stood still for her inspection for mere moments before shaking his head. "Enough. If I don't touch you right now I might explode." With that, he closed the last distance to her on the bed, half nestling with her and half hovering over her, supporting his upper body on his forearms.

"I need to kiss you," he said so softly it felt like butterfly wings across her skin.

He did exactly that, his mouth claiming hers with a strength that was as tender as it was fierce, as wondering and exploring as it was also oddly knowing and familiar. It was as if they'd been doing this their whole lives, yet it was also so stunningly new that Bryony's body broke into a deep shiver. Wyatt abruptly broke off the kiss, pulling back to study her.

"Is this okay? Am I being too rough?" He sounded genuinely concerned, but she sensed the longing as well.

She shook her head, lifting a hand to rub his face, reveling in the feel of his beard. “No," she whispered. "I love it. Kiss me again, harder. I want to feel your beard scratching on my face."

With a groan, he complied. His long, hard body stretched out on top of hers, sinking onto her more. He fisted one hand in her hair, gently holding her head on the pillow. His other hand cupped the side of her face and neck. He kissed her so long, so deep, it seemed as if she could feel their souls joining already.

"Damn, you taste incredible," he murmured against her face, turning his head to kiss his way down her cheekbone.

She pushed her head into the pillow, running one hand along his back and pushing into him as his lips traveled to her collarbone, then down one breast. He caught the nipple between his lips, sucking and gently biting, then moved to the other one. She cried out, pushing her breasts into his mouth and shamelessly shoving her pelvis against his. Lightly moving his mouth on her softness, his tongue came out to swirl around the rock hard nipples, back and forth from one to the other.

"Wyatt," she gasped, the sound of it bouncing around the little room.

In answer, he gently disentangled his other hand from her hair and let it travel down her side, stroking down her ribs, curving over her breast. Then he spread his fingers across her soft belly, stroking her. Slowly, he curved his hand down, then let a finger travel to explore her soft, wet center. Bryony cried out as he gently pushed one thick, broad digit inside, gently swirling around in her wetness.

"I've been dreaming about this nonstop for the past week." His voice vibrated through her body.

Feeling half dazed by the building ecstasy, she just nodded. Driven by some deep, primal urging she didn't understand but felt was right, she leaned forward to kiss him, hard, at the spot where his neck met his shoulder. He sharply inhaled, the vibration from it seeming to rattle down his spine beneath her fingertips.

"Inside," she commanded in a low gasp, more sure of this than anything in her life. "I want you inside me, Wyatt. Now."