“I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear, sending shivers through her body. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Don’t be. You did what you had to. Maybe if I was smarter, I wouldn’t have gone to work, or I would have stayed the night at a really busy place rather than walk back through the night.” She eyed the dragonsbane. “I didn’t even use what you got me.” Not that she would have had much of an opportunity to. He’d been so swift, so fast, and she couldn’t exactly shoot at someone for just sitting there and looking. Even if she did have ample evidence that he planned to seriously fuck things up for them. “I thought Macey might’ve been killed.”
“She was lucky,” Kieran said. “She’s also annoyed as hell, because she got caught unawares. Says she didn’t even have time to squeeze out one bullet. The only reason she’s not worse injured is because he wanted to get to you as fast as possible, before you got wind something was up and made it to safety.”
Not that Tegan exactly believed her house to be particularly safe from a raging dragon, but eh. Kieran hugged her for quite some time, and at one point, she found the mood drifting from casual comfort, heartfelt emotion, to something… more. She couldn’t keep her mind from straying, from focusing on this perfect shifter so close to her, cradling her, protecting her. Who spoke with such conviction, who made her heart beat faster, and who she admired from the bottom of her soul, because he had morals and he stuck to them.
Relentless drama aside.
The excitement continued to crawl through her skin like kindling flame, gradually consuming every last cell. Her mind thought about kissing him, touching every part of his body, getting lost in him altogether. Fuck. A little hornier than she anticipated. She tried not to let it dominate every last rational thought she had left in her body, but well, it proved challenging, to say the least.
Her hand started acting of its own accord, touching lightly along Kieran’s strong palm, fingertips trailing over the back of his knuckles. Her hand continued to glide, traveling up his bare arm to the shirt sleeve, and now he reacted, drawing back slightly to examine her with wide eyes, pupils blown. She gave him a little, impish smile, moving her hand down his side, across his stomach, to rest between his legs, above the clothing.
He definitely took the hint then. Answering her smile with a wicked grin, he arranged their bodies so she rested comfortably below him, and he kissed her hard on the lips, with a relentless passion that she honestly didn’t expect. She groaned and adjusted her hands to wrap around his shoulder blades, pulling him in closer, longing for more contact.
“Someone’s eager,” he whispered, teasing, sliding a palm across the skin under her shirt, all the way up to her braless chest. “Very eager. You’re not wearing anything?”
“Wasn’t expecting to go out today,” she replied, sighing into the contact. “Hate wearing those things if I can possibly avoid it.”
“Understandable,” he murmured, kissing at her neck, starting to pinch and tease her breasts. She bucked up into him, but he rose up as well, as if concerned for the baby within. Which also led to a rather interesting rearrangement of their bodies where she ended up on top, straddling him, tugging off his shirt and letting him take off hers in return. Skin pressed against skin, they explored each other’s mouths further. She sank more and more into that pool of desire, her mind melting into it, wanting nothing more than to forget everything but this moment, to be devoured utterly by ecstasy.
He tugged at her loose pants, and she needed a moment to pull them off, and his, and maybe spent a little too long just admiring his exposed body, from the hunger in his eyes to the waiting erection that promised so much pleasure.
“God, you’re amazing,” he said, clutching at her hips when she moved forward, excitement building, pushing her body against his again, and reveling in the intimacy of their bodies with no barriers between them. The burning heat of his skin contrasted with the cold on her back, and when she finally positioned herself to let him inside, she gasped in pleasure, body burning up further. The passion infected every last drop of blood within, and the burning turned into tingling pleasure between her thighs. They moved together as one, chasing their own releases, encouraging each other with elicited sounds and the rough brush of their lips against chin and cheek and mouth as they did so. Her heart beat as if running a race, and she didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to lose the delicious feeling, but it always reached a peak, and always trundled down afterwards.
That peak was always so brief, yet so overwhelming. Her body shuddered as it hit the top, and the wave of pleasure swamped through, until she lost almost all energy. She retained just enough to let him tumble over the edge as well, and they flopped together on the sofa, sweatier than before, hearts beating frantically together.
She hugged him fiercely, even though maybe his heat was starting to edge on unbearable, and rested her cheek against his shoulder. “Have to say, I’m really enjoying this.”
“Me too,” he said, slightly out of breath from being ridden so relentlessly. Also seemed like he wasn’t too used to women taking the lead. “Definitely not complaining.”
“Should hope not.” She closed her eyes and huffed out a sigh. “Almost feels like we’re a couple at times, and I like that. Don’t worry, I know we’re not, it’s just… sometimes it’s easy to trick my brain.”
He remained silent at that statement and sucked in a deep breath. “I know what you mean. I… don’t want to lose this. I like it. I like you. But I’m unsure how you want things to be, and to be honest, I’m unsure how I want things to be as well.”
Her heart, which previously managed to calm down, picked up the pace once more. “Wait…” She squinted at him, curious. “You’ve been wondering more about whatever… this is?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I? I’ve never had any reason to dislike you the entire time we’ve been together. You’ve been perfect, honestly. So of course there’s a part of me that wonders what it might be like if, well… we raised the child together. But I’d hardly ask that of you, because you have entirely different expectations. I’m not here to trap you or whatever. I’m here to make sure this works out for all of us in the way we want.” His voice sounded nervous, eager, and he looked at her with almost fear in his eyes, clearly wanting to know her response.
Oh gosh. Being put on the spot made her just as nervous, having to confront those murky feelings she preferred avoiding when possible. “I… honestly, I don’t really know what I want. However… I like this as well. I like being with you. I don’t want you to just vanish after I have the child, but then doesn’t that mean I’d be accepting responsibility to be a mother after all? It’s confusing.”
“Take your time to think it over,” he said gently. “I’ll stand by whatever decision you make. I only wanted you to be aware of my stance.”
“Thank you. It helps.” And honestly, it intrigued and thrilled her, to know he wanted more time with her.
Maybe the future wasn’t set in stone, after all. Maybe they could end up together. Loving each other. Being there for the child, letting her grow up in perfectly healthy circumstances, yet still being able to work on Tegan’s personal business. Because oh, did she have some plans for that little cabin, and the land by the lake. Despite Whitefall Creek’s quaintness, its relative isolation from the rest of the world, it’d be a wonderful place for a child to be raised up in, so long as the parents were good, and the opportunities always present. And Tegan felt confident Kieran would be a fantastic father.