The Bite Before Christmas - Argeneau Series - Book 15.5 Page 0,22

his shoulders and pulling him to half-cover her. She ran her hands over the flannel covering his back, wishing it wasn’t there, and suddenly it wasn’t, and she was caressing his warm skin, her fingers gliding over shifting muscle.

When Teddy suddenly broke their kiss and removed his hand to pull away, Katricia’s heart actually stopped beating briefly and she blurted, “Please don’t run.”

Teddy had been ducking his head, but paused and raised it to peer at her with surprise. “Run?”

Katricia nodded. “Marguerite warned me that I should let you get to know me better before I told you we were life mates. She said you might be overwhelmed if you knew too soon and might run. I—” She paused when he suddenly pressed a finger to her mouth to silence her.

“Tricia,” he said solemnly. “I’m not running. I’ve seen what life mates can have. I’ve seen how good it can be between them, and never dreamed I’d be lucky enough to enjoy that. I have no intention of running.”

“Oh.” She peered at him uncertainly. “When you stopped kissing me, I thought . . .”

“You thought wrong,” Teddy assured her firmly and then smiled and said, “I stopped kissing you to do this.” He then ducked his head again, but this time managed to finish what he’d apparently intended when he’d broken their kiss. His clothes weren’t the only thing now gone, her T-shirt was, too, leaving nothing to prevent his mouth closing over the nipple of the breast he’d been fondling.

“Oh,” Katricia breathed as he sucked the nipple between his lips. She slid her fingers into his hair and arched into the caress.

He wasn’t running. They would be life mates, she thought dazedly, legs shifting restlessly as he drew on her nipple. Christ, she didn’t remember anything feeling this good when she’d still enjoyed sex. But then if it had, she probably wouldn’t have tired of it, Katricia acknowledged, curling her fingers in his hair as he suckled her. When he let her nipple slip from his mouth and blew on the now-damp bud, she moaned and shifted beneath him, her back arching to invite him back. But instead of reclaiming it with his mouth, he covered it with his hand and kneaded gently as he raised his mouth to claim her lips instead.

Katricia opened to him at once, welcoming his tongue when it slid inside. Her hands then began moving over him, traveling his chest and exploring the wide, hard width. He might be older, but Teddy kept himself in good shape, and she squeezed the muscles of his chest, and then pinched at his nipples even as he pinched and tweaked hers. They both groaned in response and then Teddy released her breast and moved his hand to her hip to urge her on her side to face him fully before his fingers slid around to find and squeeze one butt cheek. Kneading and massaging the firm flesh, he urged her tighter against him and she felt his hardness against her thigh and then he suddenly released her behind and slipped his hand around between their bodies.

Katricia gave up on his chest and clutched at his shoulders with a gasp as his hand dipped between her legs. Just his one kiss and his brief caress had her so damp his fingers slid silkily against her hot, wet flesh. Katricia sucked on the tongue thrusting into her mouth and raised her leg to wrap it around his hip as she ground herself into his touch. Teddy took advantage of the room she gave him to maneuver and slid a finger inside her even as he continued to caress her with his thumb and Katricia broke their kiss on a cry, her body arching and straining upward. The action even shifted her several inches upward on the sleeping bag, but Teddy’s hand simply followed and he lowered his mouth to her breast, laving the small globe, before sucking almost all of it into his mouth.

“Teddy,” Katricia moaned. Need was a living thing inside her as she rode his hand, but she wanted his mouth on hers and him inside her, and . . . She wanted everything with a need that was almost frightening, and her voice was almost a growl as she pleaded, “Teddy, please. I need you inside me.”

He immediately let her breast slip from his lips and shifted up to claim her mouth again, silencing her, but merely continuing to caress her. Moaning, Katricia immediately slid her