long as she allowed before she continued to wash his hair. She was careful to keep the soap from his eyes. When it was washed out, she grabbed the conditioner.
“Turn around.”
He did and felt her crush her breasts to his back as she massaged the conditioner into his scalp. Shivers of mingled relaxation and lust skittered down his nape and spine. As she moved to dig her fingers gently into his scalp, her breasts caressed his back, her nipples catching. Her breathing quickened and he scented how much she needed him.
It took more self-control than he knew he had to stop himself from turning around and thrusting into her.
Instead, once she’d washed the conditioner from his hair and tied it back up for him, he turned her around to face the wall. “My turn.”
His gaze dropped down her slender back to where her hips sloped into a generous curve. Her ass really was the perfect heart. Bitable.
The word stopped him.
Although his human teeth couldn’t hurt her, he’d never take them to her, even in sex play.
He couldn’t chance it.
The thought of accidentally hurting her burned in his gut.
The urge to slip into her, to feel her alive and throbbing around him, grew stronger.
Kiyo reached out and caressed her ass cheeks, squeezing her as he brushed his erection near the valley between.
Niamh fumbled for the wall, gasping. “I thought … you were washing my hair?”
He pressed his dick more firmly between her cheeks, sensation ripping through him making his balls draw up tight. He gritted his teeth as she panted with need.
One day he’d take her there.
But not yet.
He needed to work up to that.
Reluctantly releasing her ass, he took the shampoo bottle in hand. “Tip your head back.”
She did and her pale blond hair, turned honey with water, hung past her ass.
He tried not to let his thoughts wander as he washed it, but after rinsing out the shampoo, he massaged the conditioner in and leaned into her so she could feel him hard and wanting. And he whispered, “Did I mention I like the blond?”
She shook her head.
“I do.” He kissed her neck behind her ear. “But I’d take you any way I could get you. You could have no hair, Niamh Farren, not a speck of it on that sweet little head of yours … and I’d still want you.”
Something like a sob sounded from between her lips, and he wrapped an arm around her, pressing his hand over her breast where her heart pounded as hard as his.
“When we ran in the woods, I’d never felt anything like it,” he admitted. “Like you were my pack.”
Her breath caught.
“It fucked with me. And I treated you badly. I don’t have words for how sorry I am.” He lifted her now-scarred wrist and pressed the most reverent kiss to it.
Niamh turned her head. He lifted his eyes to meet hers. Her lips almost touched his as she whispered, “I forgive you.”
Kiyo brushed his mouth over hers. “I want you,” he repeated and pressed his hand harder against her heart. “But I want this too. If you can’t give me that, you need to say so now because I can’t take one without the other. Not with you.”
Her whole body seemed to sag into him. “You already have it,” she confessed. “I feel like you’ve had it forever.”
Exultation and possessiveness roared through him, and he turned her swiftly in his arms, crushing her against him. “Are you ready?” he growled with need.
She grinned cockily. “I was born ready for you.”
Kiyo was surprised by the laughter that rumbled from his chest and in that moment, he fell even harder.
29
If she was dreaming, Niamh didn’t want to wake up.
Though Kiyo hadn’t said the words, he’d said more than she’d ever thought possible of him, and she knew he loved her.
She wanted to tell him the secret that hung between them, but she was afraid he’d scorn the idea of destiny trying to trap him. That he needed this decision to be his own. After all, he’d made his opinion on the true mating bond very clear.
She throbbed with so much love as Kiyo gently towel dried her body. When he was done, he dropped the towel to the floor and cupped her breasts in his hands.
Niamh’s nipples tightened almost painfully as he dragged his thumbs over them. She leaned into him, his own body still a little damp. The urge to touch him was overwhelming, like she wasn’t in control of it.