soul housed was of no relevance. It was still a soul in need. It was still a soul who was dying. And that is why you felt compelled to take away its pain in its final moments. That is when you and your parents knew for sure you were linked with Death.”
“Yes,” Mordecai agreed, reaching up and linking his fingers with Dana’s. He was warm all over, the feelings of grief and loss that had bombarded his system for the past ten hours were nothing but echoes now. Dana had taken it all away. “You were watching me even then?”
Dana shrugged a negligent shoulder. “I was watching everyone. It is kind of what I do.”
Mordecai felt trapped in her gaze and he moved slowly to cup her face in his palms. “Tell me, Great Mother. Do you ever get tired of watching? Do you ever just want to do?”
Dana’s breath caught in her throat. “Oh, you have no idea how much I want to do.”
“I think I do,” he murmured, before lowering his head to hers and covering her lips with his own.
It was like a galaxy exploded behind his eyelids. Colours and lights filled his vision and his whole body felt like he had been struck by lightning. His body was alive with sensation as the soft mouth beneath his pecked at his lips teasingly a few times before opening and accepting the hungry caress of his tongue. He mapped her mouth, their tongues duelling and stroking, even as his hands gripped her full hips and pulled her forward and up. She gasped when she felt his hardness and he growled, capturing her mouth again and swallowing the sounds of her pleasure. He let his hands roam over the curve of her delicious arse, rubbing it and imagining it red with his handprint.
“Ah, you might want to hold off on the whole sex thing until you’re behind closed doors.”
Tobias’s voice penetrated Mordecai’s lust-filled fog, and he pulled back, breathing harshly. Casting a single dirty look at his paladin, he glanced back down at Dana – and nearly came in his pants. Her lips were swollen and shining and deliciously red. Her cheeks were flushed, and her pupils were blown wide. Her breath was coming in short pants, making her breasts push into contact with his chest repetitively. And her glorious hair was in disarray thanks to his hands fisting it. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “I want to sex you up so bad.”
Dana’s eyes widened and she took a hasty step back. She patted at her hair as if that were going to fix the mess it was in, looking everywhere but at Mordecai. “Uh, we can’t be doing that.”
Mordecai ignored the raging hard-on he had, amusement creeping in when he observed her obvious embarrassment. “Why not? As I recall, we were rather good at it.”
Dana coughed, her cream cheeks turning an appealing pink. “It is not that I don’t want … I mean, I want. But … you do not even like me,” she ended, rather lamely.
Mordecai gestured to the hard length of his dick, clearly outlined by his pants. “I like you just fine.”
Dana frowned at him. “That is not what I meant. I am not going to sleep with you just because you turn me on. You hate me, Warden.”
His amusement fled in a second. “I don’t hate you.”
“Since when?” Dana challenged.
Mordecai eyed her for a moment before spinning and taking a few deep breaths. It was hard to concentrate when temptation was standing so close to him. And that kiss? It had been explosive. The chemistry he’d told himself had been a lie all those years ago clearly was not. He hadn’t remembered anything incorrectly. It had been the best sex of his long life, and he had no doubt another romp between the sheets with Dana would be just as incredible. But that wasn’t all he wanted from her. Was it? He didn’t actually know, and that meant Dana was right to stop. And to question him. He might not have all the answers, but he did know one thing. He turned back to face her.
“I don’t hate you, Dana. If I’m being honest, I believe I really did hate you once. I hated myself as well,” he was quick to add. “But I don’t hate you anymore. I don’t hate myself anymore, either.”
“That …” Dana drew in a deep breath, the beginnings of a smile on her lips. “That is good to know.”