Hendrik for days.”
“About him bringing the children into his clan!” Slowly, deliberately, Esme unclenched her jaw. “We have to find homes for a dozen children. After what they’ve been through, they don’t want to be separated. It’s complicated.”
Gavin stopped his restless movements, watched her. “So, you’re not leaving with them?” he asked, eyes narrowed.
“It depends!” she hopped off the bed, frustration getting the better of her. “Every day, I’ve waited for you to talk to me. Every day, I’ve waited for you to ask me to stay.”
Her voice fell into a whisper.
“But you didn’t.”
He took one hesitant step towards her.
“I didn’t keep you safe.” His voice dropped so low that she could barely hear him. “You’d already had so much taken from you, your clan, when you were taken before, and I didn’t keep you safe.”
“But you saved me at the end,” she whispered, taking another step towards him, closing the gap. “We knew going into it nothing about that mission was going to be safe.”
“So many things were taken from you,” his gaze raked over her. “How can you not want to just go back to your family, back to the clan, even if it’s a new one?”
“Choices were taken from me,” she said, throat tight. “Don’t try to take this one, as well, by assuming you know what I want.”
He nodded slowly. “What do you want?” He was so still, as if one wrong word could break him.
Ridiculous.
Nothing would break her giant.
Hers.
If she could be brave.
Braver than she’d ever been.
“I want to see what we have between us,” she said, reaching for his hand. “I want to make a new life, here, with you.”
Her heart pounded in her ears as she watched his face, watching the wariness melt into hope, and something more.
“So, now, what do you want?” she asked.
“You,” he stated flatly, as if the moment she touched him all his all doubts had finally burned away. “You beside me, in the morning when I wake, at night when I fall asleep.”
The ice around her shattered as his words filled her with joy, and then his dark gaze touched off a different kind of heat.
A feral grin split his face, as if he could feel her response to him.
He took another step towards her, pulled her into his arms so that he could nuzzle the curve of her neck.
“I will never get enough of you,” he purred, lips brushing over her skin.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, curved her body into his.
“Then what are we waiting for?” she whispered. “Outside, under the stars, and a bed?” She nipped at the lobe of his ear and his arms tightened around her.
Lifting her he walked until the illusion of trees faded as her back pressed into a smooth wall instead of rough bark.
“We’re not waiting for anything,” he said as his hands slid up the curve of her thigh. “Not anymore. Never again.”
His tongue plundered her mouth, thrusting, twining against her own as he pulled her more tightly against him.
Even through her breeches she could feel his hard cock, and in a burst of wickedness she wiggled against him, rubbing her core against his length.
He pulled away for just a moment.
“Be careful, mate,” he rumbled.
“I am being careful,” she whispered. And then did it again.
His teeth nipped lightly at her neck as he pressed against her, she froze as sparks of pleasure spiraled through her, from her neck, from her core that rushed together to meet deep in her belly, pushing her with startling speed towards the wave crashing over her.
“Gavin,” she gasped.
He bit and nipped at her skin again, thrusting against her mound until she screamed, clutching at him, all the world around her fluttered in and out of existence.
Only half aware of his movements, he carried her to the bed and then with maddening slowness unfastened her boots, drew her clothes off her languid limbs, then tore his own off.
“I told you to be careful, mate” he murmured as he knelt between her thighs.
She barely had time to register his intent before he slid his strong hands under her hips, lifting her slightly to bring her slick folds to his tongue.
One stroke, a second, and then he pierced her with his tongue, and her heels drummed on his shoulders as she shattered again.
Slowly, reluctantly he released her, kissing his way up her belly, kneading at her breasts until he settled between her legs.
Gavin was everywhere, her skin on fire from his touches. She could feel him