“Before you go,” Ashanti called out, “Rochester was partially correct. We do need to do more to educate you, on the process, on the goddess and her many faces. Be here in the morning for breakfast.”
I bowed my head, my mind too full but my mouth empty. I mumbled my thanks and then beat a hasty retreat.
Mark matched me pace for pace, his eyes on me when I looked up, not able to see the beauties of Aragide but for me. I stopped when we got to the door of my room, Aen leaning in and kissing my cheek before he opened it.
“Be gentle,” he warned and then stepped back.
So here I was, back in front of my door, just a girl, looking at yet another guy, not entirely sure what to do with him.
“I’m sorry…” we both said, trying to fill the silence, then snorting when we realised what we’d done.
I took in that smile hungrily, that spontaneous response that seemed to belie the label of enthralled. It faltered under my gaze, fading away as something else rose. Desire, need, that seemed to be a constant with my men. They wanted so much. But there was something else. I frowned for a second and then said in wonder, “You wanted this.”
His head jerked up, turning away to stare down the hall.
“You offered me an adventure, Kira. My head said no,” those piercing eyes swung back to meet mine, “but my heart had other ideas. I was lost the moment your lips touched mine. I didn’t want to be. I’d put a lot of good years into being a sentinel, but…that doesn’t change. I was a good operative, but now I’m something else. What is that, Kira?”
She rose, sharp and cutting the inside of me with the longing I’d tried to hold down.
“Mine,” I said, snapping my teeth on the word. My hand shot out, grabbing that damn suit jacket, while my other unlocked the door, and I pulled him in.
Chapter 10
I should’ve been thinking this through. I should’ve told Mark about my situation, about the guys, the trials. I should’ve stopped, taken a deep breath, collected my thoughts, and then proceeded.
I did about one third of that.
I turned when my hand went to the doorknob, ready to have a conversation, to broach this with Mark, but he stopped me with a long, searing look.
“As if I wasn’t hard enough,” he growled, taking one step closer, then another. “Knowing I was coming to see you. Knowing I was going to throw myself at your feet and beg you to take me as yours. You had to come to the meeting looking like a fucking wet dream.”
Anything I had to say was shoved to one side as he closed the gap between us, a little gasp escaping as his arm went around me. Yes! my mind screamed YES!
“Why do I feel the weight of years of longing when I touch you?” he asked, lowering his lips to mine.
“Maybe that’s your cross to bear for holding out for so bloody long?” The words were harsh, stopping his progress for a moment before the magic happened. He smiled. Mark did it so seldomly, it caught all your attention when he did. I just stared, the incessant semaphore of lust tapping a frantic SOS out on my clit fading for a moment as I looked him over.
“But no more, right?” he asked, reaching past me and holding me tight as he opened the door.
An explanation rose swiftly and died on my lips when it creaked open, but we stumbled into an empty room. One with a massive bed. He walked me backwards a couple of steps and then stopped, taking it all in.
“This is for your consorts.”
“You heard about that, did you?” I straightened up, stepping away from him slightly, giving him some space. “We…sleep in here, I guess. It happened the other night, so we’re still trying to hammer that out. There’s seven of them.” I shrugged, not sure how to soften that fucking blow. “I’m not there with most of them. One I’m unlikely to ever be.”
“Liam,” he said with a snort.
“Yeah, him. The others… I have no blueprint for this, Mark, no mental model. I’m just bumbling along, going with my gut, hoping no one gets hurt.”
“Bumbling?” He moved in closer, reaching out to run a finger along the neckline of the ridiculous bustier. “That’s not what it felt like the other night.”
“Yeah? And what did it feel like?” I asked, unable to stop myself from shivering.
“Coming home. I’m sick of being out in the cold.” He leant down and brushed his mouth with mine, forcing me to follow as he pulled back, wanting more. “I want you, Kira.”
“So have me.”
That was apparently the right thing to say as he herded me back against the bed, waiting until I sat down on the edge to pull off that bloody black jacket and toss it on the floor. I watched every move those big broad hands made, unbuttoning his cuffs, then his fingers running down the front of his shirt to undo his buttons, revealing that muscular chest inch by delicious inch. He smiled at my close inspection, slowing the process down a little as if to tease me, until the door clicked open.
Jake poked his head through the door, taking in me, the bed, and Mark in one quick look. He slid inside, shutting the door behind him, and approached me.
“Hello, love,” Jake said, sitting down and fitting me into his side, his lips brushing the top of my ear. “Whatever have you brought us?”
When I looked at him, there was something catlike and hard in the gaze he directed at Mark. The other man watched him, swallowing when Jake’s arm went around me. Mark’s fingers stilled, going limp around the button he’d been working on. His muscles bulged, tensing, readying himself for anything, but what?
“This one’s hungry,” Jake said. “He stinks of need for you.”
“Doesn’t everyone,” I muttered, blanching when I realised how arrogant that sounded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
Jake shook his head.
“No, that’s about right. First step to dealing with a problem is admitting it’s there.” Jake’s eyes swivelled from me to Mark. “Do you dream about her? Sleep feeling her skin against yours, her legs tangled in yours, feeling that moment she opens so sweetly, ready for you to sink so far down inside her, you stop existing as separate people?”
“Yes…” Mark grated out, those big hands going to fists.
Jake rolled me around so I straddled his lap. I could feel, see what he was keeping back, Jake. He gave me three short glancing kisses then dipped me down, holding me so my throat, my mouth, my fucking cleavage was all on display for the former sentinel. Those grey eyes took all of that in with one hot look.
“We share.”
Jake delivered the statement in a flat, unvarnished tone. It was a line in the sand for Mark to step over or not, and for a moment, I hung there, wondering if he would.
I shouldn’t have.
Mark bent down, his hands cupping my head as his lips slammed down on mine. The rough scrape of his beard, the sharp intake of breath, the open mouthed, messy kiss had my body thrusting up against Jake’s, drawing a groan from him. He jerked me up finally, Jake, holding me sheltered against his chest as we both looked at Mark.
“You brought a thrall home? Was this the bit of tasty that had you coming in your pants our first night?”
“Yes and yes.”