Prince of Wolves - Tasha Black Page 0,17
staying?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Don’t worry,” he told her, getting up. “We have a place.”
“Is that place by the rhododendrons in my backyard?” she asked.
“Maybe,” he replied, not meeting her eyes.
She glanced over at Ronan, who was sleeping hard on the sofa, paws draped leisurely over the side.
Don’t do it, Ashe, her brain tried to warn her.
“It would be a shame to wake him,” she said quietly.
9
Varik
Varik looked on at Ashe, watching Ronan sleep, and felt something breaking in his chest.
A man could not be the best bounty hunter in the realms for a hundred years if he fell prey to his impulses.
Varik made a plan and followed it. His analytical and ruthless approach to his work made him wildly successful. And that made him sought-after in Faerie.
He had worked harder than ever this past quarter century, doing all he could to win a prize he sought for Ronan more than for himself.
Would he let it fall apart for one night in the arms of this mortal, raised in Faerie, because of his meddling?
But in that moment, looking into her beautiful dark eyes, he knew the real question was how he could ever find the strength to deny her, even if his very life was on the line.
She glanced down at her hands again, making his blood boil with her constant tendency to blame herself for her lot in life.
He knew she wasn’t aware that she projected these sudden drops in confidence as if she were waving a flag.
She probably had no idea that he wanted nothing more than to grab her by the shoulders and press his lips to hers, show her that her desire was not one-sided.
“Let’s see if there’s anything comfortable here that you could sleep in,” she said, hopping out of her chair and rushing to the dresser beside her bed.
He followed her slowly, his heart pounding as if she were going to fly the moment he stepped too close.
But she held perfectly still, as if awaiting his touch.
“Ashe,” he murmured into her hair.
She turned, tilting her chin up to look him in the eye.
It struck him again how delicate she was, so soft and vulnerable next to his hard angles and bulging muscle.
Yet she gazed up at him with perfect trust.
He reached out across the divide of years and realms between them and stroked her cheek.
She leaned into his hand, eyes closing briefly, as if she heard sweet music.
“Ashe,” he said again, as if he had forgotten all the other words.
She saved him, opening her eyes and going up on her toes to press her lips to his.
A dozen sensations swept through him at once, rocking him to his core as if he were a young boy again, stealing his first kiss.
Her lips were so soft. She smelled like milk and honey.
He tangled a hand in her hair, pulling her closer, thumbing her jaw so that he could taste her more deeply.
She pressed herself closer, as if she couldn’t surrender herself fast enough.
He growled against her mouth and lifted her in his arms, carrying her to the bed and laying her down with as much gentleness as he could muster.
She waited for him, bewitching him with those dark eyes.
He crawled in after her and slid one of the straps of her tiny shirt to the side so that he could press his lips to the tender flesh beneath.
She trembled in his arms.
He slid the other one down and kissed her other shoulder.
“Varik,” she murmured.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, looking up at her.
He would. He would stop, no matter what, if this wasn’t what she wanted.
“No,” she whispered. “Please don’t stop.”
Flames of lust licked at him and he lifted her shirt, peeling it up over her head as she wiggled to help him.
Her breasts were lush and perfect. He lowered his face to lavish one pert nipple with a kiss and then the other.
Ashe arched her back as if begging him to take them into his mouth.
He hummed as he suckled the first, while rolling the other gently between his thumb and forefinger.
Ashe made a strangled sound of pleasure that nearly pushed him over the edge.
But he was determined to go slowly. He continued to toy with her breasts until he could feel her body tensing.
His own need coursed through him in sympathy with hers.
He nuzzled down her belly and slipped his fingers under the waistband of her pajamas and panties.
She lifted her hips to help him remove them.
He sat back