from David and his secrets.” She smiled, transforming her entire face. “Then I’m going to kick his ass and make him tell me the truth.”
Her strength and resilience sucker-punched him. She’d been slapped with a flashback less than an hour ago, and here she was ready to fight back. This was the deal he’d made, teach her to defend herself. Why was he getting tangled up in worry about anything else when he had this beautiful woman in his arms? “As long as I’m there to watch.”
Kat was his for the night. Cupping her neck, he ran his thumb down the smooth skin of her throat. “Are you numb? Or are you feeling?”
Warmth blossomed in her face. “Feeling.” Swallowing, she rubbed her palms up his sides. “I want to keep feeling.”
Her eyes begged him, beseeched him, and most of all, saw him. She didn’t look through him like people had when he was a kid, or with the calculating edge his other plus-ones had. She hadn’t asked him for a damn thing except to teach her to fight and make her feel.
He was all over that and brushed his mouth against hers. Tangy berry and rich chocolate. Pulling her tighter to his chest, he sank into her mouth, tasting and savoring her. Still not enough. Tunneling beneath her shirt, he spread his hands on her taut belly to caress her silky skin.
Damn, he wanted all of her. But not here.
Breaking the kiss, he groaned at her flushed face, swollen mouth, her eyes wide and soft with desire. He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “I’m not fucking you against the car in my garage.”
Heat flared in her eyes. “That would be wrong.” She sucked his thumb into her mouth.
Her hot, wet tongue licking him wrenched another groan from him. But he hadn’t missed that heated flicker in her gaze. “You want it against a wall? Want me to drive my cock into you so hard, you’ll feel nothing but me until I make you come? Think you can handle that?”
She shuddered, her fingers digging into his sides. “Yes. I can take it.” Her breath hitched. “And want it.”
Fuck. His blood boiled and swelled his cock brutally against his zipper. Just as he reached for her, he remembered his blood work. “Shit.” Shoving his hand into his pocket, he dragged out his phone and quickly found the screen he wanted. “My blood test results.”
She skimmed the screen. “You had the test done Monday.”
First thing that morning. “You can’t take chances with the metal in your leg.” Infection or illness could be more serious for her than most people. “Your decision. I can use a condom.” Kat had told him she was on birth control, and unlike most women, he trusted her. He held his breath, struggling with his raging desire to slide into her body with no barriers, nothing between them.
She handed him the phone back. “No condom.”
His control snapped. Sloane scooped her up in his arms, starling a yelp from her. “I’ve got you.” He carried her inside, up the stairs to his room and kicked the door closed.
She dug her fingers into his biceps. “Don’t treat me like I’m broken.”
That tripped his switch, and he took her mouth, destroying that word. Broken . She was not broken. Her taste fed his hunger, inflamed his need. Bracing her against the door, he spread her legs and rubbed his erection flush to her heat through their clothes.
Kat sucked on his tongue, riding the ridge of his cock.
Every instinct he had went hot to give her what she needed. Make her come. Make her feel him and only him. No fear terrorizing her.
Sloane tore his mouth from hers, gulping in air. “Am I treating you like you’re broken? Or like the woman I’m so hot for, I’m going to strip and take you against a wall?” Just like he’d wanted to do in the gym.
“No holding back.” She clung to his shoulders. “I need to feel alive. Whole. Not broken.”
That word again. The fucking flashback had messed with her self-confidence. Setting her down, Sloane tugged off her shirt and bra. Dragged her