someone was awake. The heat wrapping around me as strong arms slid around my waist told me it was Maddox.
“You should have lit the fires, Kitten,” he rumbled. “I left them stacked for you.”
“I wasn’t that cold,” I assured him. When he rubbed his bristly cheek to my temple, I closed my eyes and sank back against him.
“No?” Was that hope in his voice?
“No,” I admitted. “Took a bath, came up here, got some food. Not really cold. Probably these fuzzy slippers that Fin found me.” Fuzzy kitten slippers. No, I hadn’t commented on them at the time. They were warm, that was all I cared about. Maddox chuckled, he liked them.
“Good.” Satisfaction unfolded in his tone, and he slid a hand inside the robe. “You’re wearing my shirt.”
Yeah, I didn’t ask how he knew whose shirt it was. “You didn’t need it,” I told him instead.
When he slid his fingers under the shirt, I laughed as he teased down to my thighs and then up. “I like you smelling like me.” Then he nipped at my ear before stroking my hair to one side. It was still damp, but he hesitated when he bared my neck and I stilled. “May I kiss you here?” He stroked a single finger along the side of my neck. “I won’t bite. I give you my word.”
Something unfamiliar unfurled at the solemnity of his promise. Truth resonated in each word, and I bit my lip to keep from groaning. The hammer of my heart though, I couldn’t control that.
“I promise, Kitten,” he whispered, close but not actually brushing my neck with his lips. The little puffs of his breath tightened the coils in my belly. “I won’t bite you. No one will ever bite you there again if you don’t wish it.” His voice darkened toward the end. “I’ll kill anyone who tries.”
The promise of death shouldn’t turn me on so much, but fuck if it didn’t. Tilting my head back to his shoulder I looked up to meet his gaze. The slitted eyes of his dragon stared back at me solemnly. He meant every single word.
A shudder rolled up my spine. I believed him.
Blowing out a breath, I eased forward. He loosened his hold but didn’t remove the cage of his arms fully, and for that, I was grateful.
I didn’t want him to move away. Shrugging out of the robe, I let it fall to pool at our feet. With one hand, I gathered my hair and pulled it all over one shoulder and then turned my head enough to bare that part of my neck.
“No teeth.” The words came out trembling and without an ounce of the confidence I usually injected into my voice.
“No teeth,” he assured me, and then pressed his lips to the base of my neck where it joined my shoulder. The pressure sent little shocks pulsing from my skin to my pussy and back up again. The gentle nudge of his leg sliding between mine had me adjusting my stance.
With care, he began to nuzzle kisses along my neck, inching higher with each one. The hum in my system began to ratchet higher. Maddox settled hit hands on my bare hips and pushed his shirt up. I had on nothing below it, and the fact that he ground against my ass sent liquid heat to dampen my thighs.
I reached behind me as he reached a pulse point and sucked gently, just his lips and mouth and the sensuous trace of his tongue. Terror and pleasure twinned as the erotic tease continued. He wore jeans, but they weren’t zipped or buttoned. I slid a hand in to wrap around his cock easily. It was thick, pulsing, and hotter than the rest of him.
“Kitten,” he whispered. “You feel good.”
The barest scrape of his teeth to my earlobe, and then he went back to kissing along my throat. My head was all the way back now, baring it for him as he ran his hands up beneath my shirt to cup my breasts. The first pinch of his fingers to my nipples, and I couldn’t hold back the groan anymore.
He thrust against my hand, but that wasn’t what either of us wanted. I twisted in his hold, then pushed down against his jeans. Without a word, he released me and shoved them down to his feet before stepping free. Meeting his gaze, I hooked my hands to the hem of his shirt and pulled it off.
Bites littered my chest, and