her to turn her back on her father, or even a true mate, who could give her children.
“I’m going to make love to you now, Carmen,” he murmured against her lips and when she didn’t object, he tasted her, slowly kissing her, amazed at the willpower her nerves gave him, the tenderness that filled him. The way his need to please her, held his absolute need to claim her, in check. And she wasn’t human, and there would be no pain with her first time, but he wanted this to be memorable.
Shi began to kiss his way down her neck, and she slid a hand to his face. “Shi.”
He leaned back to look at her. “What baby?”
“I hate I’m the reason you had to leave.”
“You’re also the reason I’m back.” The only reason he’d had to live beyond dedication to protecting his race in longer than he could remember. He slanted his mouth over hers, and this time the kiss consumed them, the passion blossoming into something raw and real, like nothing he’d ever felt.
He traced the lace of her bra with his finger then his tongue, unhooking the front snap and freeing her breast. She gasped as he filled his palms, lapping at one of her rosy nipples. She was delicate and sweet, still untouched by the hell of wars their race battled despite the loss of her family, and he wanted to protect her, to please her.
Her fingers slid to his hair and he inched lower, kissing his way down her stomach to the top of her leather pants. She lifted to her elbows immediately, panic in her eyes. “Easy,” he murmured, his hand flattening on her stomach, silently urging her to lay down. “Relax.”
“I’m trying. I am. I’m just-”
He pressed his mouth to the V of her body and she moaned and fell back onto the mattress. Shi let the heat of his mouth caress her, unzipping her pants as he did and then not giving her time for more objections. He reached for her leather pants and skimmed them down over her hips, tugging them from her legs. She tried to sit up, but he quickly pulled her legs to his hips and slid his fingers into the slick, wet heat of her body, his gaze raking over her pebbled nipples. She was hot for him, ripe and ready, and he intended to take everything she’d give him.
“Do you know how badly I’ve wanted to taste you?” he asked, holding her stare. “How many times I’ve thought about how sweet you’ll be?”
“Shi,” she whispered and she didn’t have to say more. He could smell her nerves, her arousal, her need.
He leaned in and licked her, and she quivered beneath his tongue. Shi’s cock thickened at her response, the promise of finally being inside her so close, his body ached with the promise. But not yet. Not quite yet. Now he wanted her pleasure, her orgasm, her walls to come down, and for her to give him her satisfaction, her release.
Shi flattened a hand on her flat stomach, suckling her sensitive nub into his mouth, licking and teasing her, until she was wet and swollen and ready for more. Then, and only then, did he gently eased one finger inside her, stretching her. Preparing her for him. She moaned with the sensation of him filling her, lifting her hips upward, and he answered the silent plea for more by slipping a second finger inside her. She dug her fingers into the bed, stiffening, and then he felt her muscles contract around him, her body shaking with the intensity of her release. He licked her to completion, slowly bringing her down, even as his own body grew hotter and harder.
When she buried her face in her hands, embarrassed from her pleasure, Shi was on top of her in an instant, kissing her, the taste of her on their lips like fuel on a fire. Suddenly, they were burning wild, touching each other, kissing each other. Moving together. Somehow his pants were gone, and he was spreading her legs, settling his cock into the slick heat of the V of her body.
He leaned back to stare down at her. “It won’t hurt,” he promised, sliding his shaft up and down the