Food and sleep on his mind, he followed his nose to the kitchen…and froze mid-step when he caught sight of Seven a few feet away, standing next to the dining room table.
His eyes were so confused. He had no idea where to look first. Soft, subtle makeup, sexy side-parted curls trailing down over smooth shoulders, glossy red lips, and the dress…
Jesus. Christ.
The dress was halter-style, a bold shade of fuck-me red, and was cut low enough in the front to display a hint of cleavage, but not enough to reveal too much. The skirt of the dress flirted with the tops of her knees, but was slit high on either side, giving him a damn-near mesmerizing glimpse of her firm, toned thighs.
His gaze lowered and he couldn’t help but smile. She was wearing her shit-kicking Doc Martens with her elegant, high-end dress.
She followed his gaze down to her shoes and she bit her lower lip. “The shoes Harper suggested I wear were highly impractical.”
“Those are perfect,” he rasped, surprised he could even form words he was so fucking turned on. “You’re beautiful.”
Seven smoothed her skirt and shrugged. “Marina did the hair and makeup. The dress is Harper’s. I probably would’ve just worn my regular clothes.”
Which would’ve been perfectly fine and a great travesty all at the same time. She was gorgeous in her regular clothes, but in this dress…damn.
“In fact,” she went on, “I’m thinking I should just go change…”
Her nervous spill of words halted when he moved toward her, grabbed her hand and lifted it to his mouth, brushing his lips gently across her knuckles. “I wasn’t talking about the hair, makeup, or dress. You’re beautiful. Don’t you dare change anything.”
And just when he was pretty sure that was a crazy understatement and that he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life, her eyes lifted to his and she smiled. That smile pretty much decimated what was left of his thoughts. If he had to remember his own damn name at this point, he was reasonably certain he couldn’t do it.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, gesturing to the table. “There’s a ton of food.”
Food? What the hell was that? He was pretty sure there was nothing in the world other than this perfect woman in front of him.
Then his stomach rumbled. Loudly.
Oh, yeah. Food.
Her smile slipped into a smirk. “I’ll take that as a yes,” she said.
Good thing. Especially since he hadn’t exactly found his tongue yet.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Seven leaned back in her chair, more stuffed than she’d ever been. “I can’t believe I ate all that,” she said, amazed.
Lucas mimicked her posture. “I know, right? I swear to God she puts heroin in that stuff. There’s no other way to explain how addictive it is. I quit being hungry twenty minutes ago, but kept eating anyway. God bless that woman.”
“She scares the crap out of me,” Seven admitted.
“Me too. I’m pretty sure she scares the crap out of everyone.”
They’d talked about more in the past hour than they had in weeks, Seven realized. Lucas’s emotional wall was as low as it was ever going to be.
She took a deep breath. It was now or never.
“Can we talk about something important?” she asked.
“Yeah. I was wondering if you were ever going to explain all this,” he said, gesturing to the table, then to her.
He didn’t look nervous about talking with her, or nauseated like Riddick looked when he was forced to talk to anyone. That was a good sign, she decided. And on Harper’s advice, she’d spent a fair amount of time planning out what she was going to say.
So, feeling pretty confident in her plan, she said, “I did all this to get you to have sex with me.”
Lucas choked on the mouthful of beer he’d just swallowed.
She blinked at him. Well, that was unexpected. She hadn’t meant to say that at all.
He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, staring at her with a shocked expression. Shock and…something else. She wasn’t sure what. Horror, probably.
“I don’t know why I said that,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to say anything about sex until much later in the conversation.” She stood up, her movements jerky. “I’m just going to go start the dishes—”
Seven gasped as Lucas grabbed her hand and tugged her down into his lap.
“You can’t drop that kind of bombshell on me and run away,” he said, his voice lower than usual. “I need a minute to think because what you said made all the blood leave my brain.”
Truth. And not because her powers told her so. She could feel very clearly where his blood had gone when it left his brain. Huh. Maybe she hadn’t wrecked everything after all.
After a long, long pause, he shifted her so that she was sitting sideways on his lap and said, “I don’t want to have sex with you.”
The hard-on beneath her would disagree, she thought, but the words were like an icepick to her heart nonetheless. “OK. I’ll just—”
His arms banded around her when she moved to stand up again, locking her in place. “I’m not done.”
His eyes were locked on hers, and the longer he held her gaze, the warmer she felt. He looked so serious that her breath got caught in her throat.
“I don’t just want to have sex with you,” he clarified.
“What do you want?” she asked, barely recognizing her own voice. She was pretty sure she’d never sounded so breathy in her life.
“I want everything.”
Her eyes widened. “Everything?”
He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “Everything. Look, I don’t want our first time together to be about raging hormones,” he said, letting his fingertips slide under the hem of her skirt to rest on her thigh. “I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Our first time. That sounded good. It implied there would be many, many other times. She gave in to temptation and slid her hand into the collar of his shirt, sighing as her fingertips met the warm skin and corded muscle of his shoulder. She could only imagine how amazing his skin would feel against her own.
“You sound like Violet,” she said. “Do we have to talk about our feelings now?”
He moaned and his fingers tightened on her thigh. “If you keep touching me, I probably won’t be capable of talking for much longer, so I better go first.”
She liked that, too. The thought that she had that kind of power over him? It made her feel sexy, bold, and more beautiful than any makeover ever could.
She also liked that her lips were so, so close to his. All she had to do was…
“I’ve had just sex plenty of times before.”
Seven frowned. Wow, the word “plenty” had a strangely ice-water-like effect on her libido. And she wasn’t quite sure what that had to do with anything. “I had just sex once before, too,” she said.
“With who?” he asked, sounding surprised—which was a little insulting—and possibly a little jealous.
“Another cleaner.” She shrugged. “I was curious.”
He pulled back enough to look her in the eye and raised a brow. “Curious? And what did you think?”
“It was pleasant.”
“Pleasant?”
Nodding, she said, “Very…pleasant.”
“Well, good to know where the bar’s been set,” he muttered, then gave his head a hard shake. “Sorry. That wasn’t where I wanted this conversation to go. I meant to say that shifters— wolf shifters, anyway—can have sex all they want, but they only truly mate once, and that’s for life.”
She already knew that. She’d known what he was insinuating from the moment he said he wanted more than just sex. He wanted her to be his mate. She wanted to be his mate. So why were they still talking when they could be…mating?
With that in mind, she leaned in and pressed a small kiss against the corner of his mouth.
A muscle in his jaw jumped and his whole body went still benea
th her. “Do that again,” he growled.
His voice was rough, hard, and she wasn’t sure if he was making a demand or issuing a dare. And she wasn’t sure she cared.
Seven slid her other hand into his hair and kissed him again. Only this time, it wasn’t just a chaste press of her lips against his. She ran her tongue across his lower lip, taking her time.
Lucas shuddered. His hands shifted, one moving into her hair to cup the back of her head, and the other sliding down to the base of her spine.
“Are you trying to distract me?” he asked in a rough whisper.
She cocked her head to one side and thought about it for a moment. “That wasn’t my intention. But…am I?”
“God yes.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“God no.”
Seven couldn’t help but smile at what felt like a huge victory. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, pressing her teeth into the soft skin just hard enough to let him know she was serious.
And that was all it took to break his control.
Lucas’s mouth moved over hers as if he’d been starving for her his whole life. His hands tightened on her as if he couldn’t get close enough.
Yes.
This is what she’d been wanting ever since that night in the alley…this overwhelming pleasure, heady desire. It consumed her, let her forget about everything and everyone else in the world.
Seven squealed when he stood up abruptly, taking her with him. One sweep of his hand cleared the table, sending plates and food and glasses crashing to the floor.
Lucas set her on her feet, only to flip her around so quickly she had to brace herself on the kitchen counter. His hands roamed her back, found her zipper, and slid it down. He made a hungry noise somewhere between a growl and a groan as the dress puddled at her feet, leaving her completely naked, except for her boots.
“Harper said the underwear I usually wear would show through the dress, so I decided not to wear any,” she explained breathlessly.
“God, I love the way you think.”
He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled it aside, exposing her skin, then he trailed open-mouthed kisses across her shoulder, up to her ear, and back down again, voraciously, like a starving man.
His hands—God, his hands…work-roughened and so warm and strong and perfect, driving her absolutely crazy—were everywhere, fingers bumping over every rib, smoothing over her stomach, sliding over her breasts…she lost count of all the places he touched her, and still it wasn’t enough. She wanted more.
She wanted everything.
Seven reached back and grabbed his hips with both hands, pulling him tighter against her. And when he bent his knees and rolled his hips into her, she cried out—a desperate, hungry sound that he prolonged by kneading her breasts and rubbing his thumbs over her tightened nipples.
“Please,” she finally begged.
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want everything,” she choked out. “I want everything with you.”
His hum of approval vibrated through her entire body, raising goosebumps in its wake. Her fingertips tightened on his hips and she sucked in a deep breath when he nudged her legs apart with his knee.
Lucas cupped her jaw with one hand and tipped her head to the side so he could capture her mouth with his. And his other hand…oh, his other hand. It slid down between her breasts and over her belly, clearly determined to make her melt into a puddle of want and need right there on the floor at his feet.
Of their own volition, her hips bucked forward. And clearly her hips knew what they were doing, because the movement caused his middle finger to glide over her clitoris, setting her entire body on fire.
He swallowed her broken, needy howl and his erection jerked against her back, hard as iron and insistent. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anyone or anything in her life. She wanted him as wild as she felt, as he made her feel. But still he insisted on moving his finger in slow, gentle circles over her clit.
That just wasn’t enough anymore.
Seven grabbed his hand and shoved it lower, showing him exactly what she wanted.
His growl of approval mingled with her sharp cry of pleasure as he parted her, sliding easily along her slick folds, and plunged two fingers deep inside.
God, yes.
She’d imagined what having him touch her like this would feel like. The reality of him was so much better than her imagination. His fingers were hot and rough and exactly what she needed, exactly where she needed them.
She wanted to tell him to cup her breast with his free hand, but coherent speech was outside her control at the moment. Thankfully, he seemed to know her body better than she did because he did it without being told. Thank God. It seemed all she was capable of doing at the moment was clinging hard to his hips in an effort to remain on her feet.
He played her body so expertly—fingers dipping and sliding in and out of her, palm applying just the right amount of pressure to her clitoris—that she was already embarrassingly close to orgasm.
Being out of control—especially this out of control—was so foreign to her that she knew a moment of panic. Instinct told her to pull herself together, turn around and take what she wanted from him. Don’t let him know the kind of power he had over her body.
She tried to turn in his arms. Maybe if she took a moment to come to her senses, to level the playing field a little, she’d feel better.
But Lucas didn’t let her have it. He wrapped his arm around her, just under her breasts, pulling her back against him in a vice-like grip she doubted she could’ve broken even if she was at full strength. And at the moment? She was far, far from at full strength.
“Come now,” he ordered, his hot breath sliding along her throat where his lips and teeth were busy working even more dark magic on her poor, untried senses.
She shook her head and bit her lip, but when his fingers picked up their wicked pace and he gently bit the skin where her shoulder met her neck, she was lost. Seven gasped and arched back against him, control all but a memory as she tumbled headlong into the first wave of her orgasm.
She convulsed in his grip, heard sounds she was pretty sure she’d never made before in her life falling from her lips. And still Lucas didn’t pull back. Instead, he pushed her higher, faster, forcing her to feel every throbbing, bone-melting second of her release, making it last as long as possible.
When it was all over, when the last wave of her release rolled through her, when she was completely unraveled from top to bottom, she went limp. He swept her up into his arms and starting walking toward his bedroom.
“More?” he whispered, looking down at her with hot, hungry eyes.
Could she take more? He’d almost killed her with nothing more than a few kisses and his hands on her body. He owned her with nothing more than a few kisses and his hands on her body. Could she handle all of him?
This was Lucas, she reasoned. Lucas who took her in when no one else could. Lucas who rescued her from the bowels of hell. Lucas who checked on her every night when he thought she was asleep to make sure she was safe.
There was really only one answer she could give.
“Everything,” she whispered back. “Give me everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
They should be talking, Lucas realized. He’d said he didn’t want their first time to be all about raging hormones, and he’d pretty much done nothing but let his hormones get the best of him all night.
But he was too far gone now to talk. Truth be told, he’d been too far gone the moment he saw her in that dress, looking happy and hopeful and so damned beautiful it hurt—actually hurt—not to touch her.
They’d talk later.
Much, much later.
Right now his thoughts were pretty much solely of the take, mark, mate variety. The man was still in control, but the wolf wanted his say in the matter, too. And both the man and the wolf wanted Seven.
His blood pounded through hi
s veins as he deposited her on the bed and gazed down at her.
Watching her while she’d come apart in his arms, learning what she liked, what drove her crazy, finding his own pleasure in giving her what she needed…he’d never felt anything like it. He’d never felt more powerful than he had in that moment.
And, Jesus, was there anything more beautiful in the world than Seven, flushed and happy and satisfied, gazing up at him through lids that were at half-mast, waiting for him to join her in that bed? If there was, he’d certainly never fucking seen it.
Her breasts were flawless. Firm and round, large enough to fill his hands, with tight pink nipples that made his mouth water for a taste. And her waist was so tiny he was pretty sure he could span it with his hands. Or maybe it only appeared that way due to the rounded flare of her hips. Whatever the case, she was breathtaking, and there were about a million ways he wanted to fit that tight, perfect body against his.
He had no idea what the hell he’d done in this life to deserve such beauty, but he certainly wasn’t going to question it.
She squirmed on the bed and reached a hand out toward him. “Now,” she whispered urgently.
Lucas shook his head and grinned down at her. “I’ve waited forever for you. There’s no way I’m rushing this.”
Her growl of frustration was the sexiest thing he’d ever heard in his life.
And that was his last thought before he found himself tossed through the air. He landed flat on his back on the bed.
Before he could so much as blink, Seven was on him, straddling his waist, gazing down at him with a mix of triumph and lust and need shining in her eyes that was so damn beautiful it took him a minute to comprehend what had just happened.
“Was that…did you just…Seven, did you just use your telekinesis to throw me onto the bed?”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Yes.”
He thought about that for a moment, before saying, “God, that’s hot.”
Seven let out a relieved breath, followed quickly by a loud, needy moan when he leaned up, cupped one of her breasts and sucked on the nipple of the other. Arching her back to give him better access, she fisted her hands in his shirt and ripped it wide, scattering buttons all around them.
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