Devon probably should have backed away, but she felt trapped by that compelling gaze. His eyes shimmered with a need so basic and primitive that her nipples tightened. That need called to hers. Tempted her. Invited her in. Drew her closer.
He skimmed the tips of his fingers down the column of her throat. “Be honest, kitten. It’s not your demon that’s so opposed to this; it’s you. You have it in your head that all I want is to use you and then toss you aside.”
“Don’t you?” she challenged.
He lowered his mouth until it was only an inch above hers. “You want to know what I want to do to you?” he whispered softly. “I want to explore you. Savor you. Possess you. Over and over and over. Until I know every inch of you.”
Her stomach fluttered. Clenched. Twisted.
He kissed the corner of her mouth, traced the curve slightly with his tongue. “It would be using you if all I cared about was what I got out of it, but it’s not like that. You know it’s not. Outside my lair, you’re the only thing I give a shit about.”
Those words swathed her like a warm blanket. She wouldn’t melt. She wouldn’t.
“Love your scent.” Tanner brushed his nose along her elegant neck and breathed deep, letting himself drown in her sweet scent. The siren-call of it wrapped around him, heated his blood, thickened his cock. She was an enticement he couldn’t ignore. An obsession that just wouldn’t fade. A drug he’d always crave, no matter how many times he had her. And didn’t that just beat all.
There would be no fucking her out of his system—he knew that. Accepted it. And despite how very smart and perceptive his little hellcat was, she just didn’t see it. That baffled him.
He sank his fingers into her hair and gently stretched out the curls, loving the silky feel of them. “I’ve always been good at abruptly disconnecting from all feeling. I do it whenever I’m in an intense or dangerous situation. But when I realized you’d been taken, there was no distancing myself from the rage. Even my hound went ballistic.”
Taking her hand, he circled the mark on her palm with his thumb. “There are few people who matter to me, and even fewer who matter to my demon. It sees most people as replaceable. Disposable, even. They’re pretty much generic to it—few stand out from the rest.
“But you made it see you. Made it see you as an individual, not a hellcat. And now it wants you. I don’t know for how long. I don’t know if it could ever really acknowledge you as its equal, just as I’m guessing your feline would struggle to see my demon as its equal. But I say we take advantage of however long our demons allow this to go on. They could put up a resistance any day, kitten. We’re at their mercy on this.”
Devon nearly jumped when he clamped a possessive hand on her hip. She should shove him away. Should refuse his touch. But, dammit, she didn’t want to. Wasn’t even sure if she truly could. What pulsed between them was so electrically charged that she’d bet they could power his entire building with it. How did you fight something like that?
“Let me give us what we both want. Let me make you feel good.”
She closed her eyes as he scraped his teeth over her pulse. Fuck if he wasn’t seduction itself. His words, his mouth, his voice … It was like he had molten sexuality flowing through his veins.
He lifted his head, locking his gaze with hers, and she felt captivated by the sheer unadulterated hunger on his face. No one had ever looked at her like that. No one. “I need this, kitten.”
Despite her intentions, she all but melted. “Tanner …” She was going to cave. She knew she was. The tips of her fingers tingled with the need to touch him—a need that wouldn’t be denied much longer.
“Let’s just be done dancing around this thing and take what we want for as long as we can get it.”
Devon licked her lips. “It probably won’t be long.”
“Probably not. So why waste more time?” He swept his thumb over her lower lip. “Your mouth drives me crazy.” His eyes snapped to hers, gleaming with demand. “Give it to me.”
The note of authority in his voice punched its way inside her. She swallowed. “What will you do with it?”
His lips curled slightly. “Own it.” His clever, carnal mouth swooped down and took total possession of hers.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Need exploded in Devon’s stomach. Little sparks played across her skin, as if she’d been plugged into an electric socket. She gripped his shoulders, so shaken by the sheer intensity and ferocity of his kiss that she might have pulled back if she’d possessed the willpower. Instead, she melted against him as his mouth consumed hers; stealing her breath, sucking her into a maelstrom of sensation, relentlessly hacking through every bit of resistance she had.
She lost awareness of everything but him, his mouth, his hands. Felt feverish with the pressing, crushing need to have him inside her again. Filling her. Stretching her.
Tanner groaned as soft hands slid up his shirt and splayed on his chest, sharp nails pricking his skin. He angled his head, making the kiss deeper, harder, wetter. He was lost. Lost in her taste and scent and the searing heat of her mouth.
His cock was so fucking hard it was painful to walk as he herded her through his apartment and back to his bedroom, stripping them both of their clothes as he went. Standing at the foot of the bed, the breath almost left his lungs as he drank her in. She was all wicked curves and soft skin. Had the most phenomenal breasts—round and high. His mouth watered at the sight of those tight, rosy, pierced nipples. Fuck if she wasn’t … “Perfect.”
He fisted her hair and snatched her head back, arching her spine so he could suck one hard bud into his mouth and tug on her piercing. Spurred on by her little moans, he teased her nipples, alternating from one to the other as he licked, suckled, and scraped them with his teeth.
“I’m going to come all over these one day,” he told her. Growling low in his throat, he sank his teeth into the side of her breast, injecting his venom into her bloodstream.
Hissing, she straightened and glared at him. “That hurt.”
“You liked it.” He grunted as she bit into his chest in retaliation. The burn of her venom went straight to his aching cock. Cursing, he tossed her on the mattress. “Lie back. Good girl.” He joined her on the bed. “Now stay still.”
“Stay still?”
“I warned you I wanted to explore and savor,” said Tanner, sliding his fingers over the flock of butterflies that had been tattooed on her side. He also wanted to make some memories that would keep him warm and sane when she was gone. Wanted to make memories for her—ones from which she’d never escape.
The mark on her palm wasn’t enough for him. He needed to leave some mark on her soul. Needed to make this so good for her that no other man she had in her bed would ever measure up—not even whatever male she took as her mate. That made Tanner a bastard, he knew that, but fuck if he wouldn’t claim and keep some part of her. “Just lie back and enjoy.”
Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, an hour later—Devon really couldn’t be sure—he was still busy indulging himself, and she was so hot and shaky she looked close to feverish. His mouth and hands, so warm and skilled, explored and teased her body … but they always skirted her pussy—a pussy that felt so excruciatingly empty it was painful.