Declan - Heart of a Tiger (Royal Taiga Streak #1) - J.R. Loveless Page 0,53

Sean had experienced over the last couple of hours was entirely new to him. The test to scan his body had been overwhelming to say the least, but he’d managed to hide his discomfort well enough. Years of practice at hiding his fear from his father, no… from Carl had made him an expert at it. When Declan had insisted on buying the two packages of candy for him, he’d felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want Declan spending so much money on him.

Now they stood in the bakery and he knew Declan expected him to choose some of the amazing looking cakes in the case before them. Yet Sean couldn’t shake off the feeling he should protest even more. “I don’t need anything,” Sean murmured, closing his eyes and trying to pull away from Declan.

Declan didn’t let him go completely, but he did remove his fingers from Sean’s chin. “I want you to have everything, Sean. You’re my ma-man and I want to spoil you.”

Sean heard Declan stumble over what he expected had been the word mate. It reminded him they weren’t supposed to discuss things about shifters in the open. He bit his lip. “It just makes me feel wrong,” he murmured.

“Why?” Declan asked as he took Sean by his elbow and moved them into a secluded alcove away from the others in the store.

“Because I don’t have any way of paying you back,” Sean managed.

Declan jerked as if struck. “You don’t need to pay me back, Sean. I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” Sean said, not realizing until right then that he was, in fact, happy. Happier than he’d ever been in his entire life.

A light Sean didn’t understand flooded Declan’s eyes. “Did I say something wrong?” Sean asked.

“No,” Declan rasped. “Not at all.”

“You look upset.”

A wet chuckle emerged from Declan and he yanked Sean into a firm hug, burying his face in the space between Sean’s neck and shoulder. The brush of Declan’s warm lips over his skin sent a shiver down Sean’s spine and he couldn’t contain the small gasp of breath from his mouth. “Sensitive there, my sexy mate?” Declan whispered across Sean’s ear.

Sean gripped the back of Declan’s shirt when he felt the slickness of Declan’s tongue trace the same path. “Declan,” he panted.

When Declan pulled back, a hunger stared back at Sean from the depths of Declan’s hazel eyes. “We will continue this back at home,” Declan promised, his voice deeper and rougher than usual.

The idea of more of those strange, pleasurable sensations left Sean in a daze as Declan led him back to the counter. He barely registered Declan instructing the man named Harley to fill a box with one of every kind in the case. Declan chatted easily with Harley while he constructed a box and began placing items in it, Sean’s hand clasped firmly in Declan’s. He couldn’t say how long they were in the bakery or when they returned to the drugstore to pick up whatever medication Cameron had given them. He couldn’t quite be sure if those feelings were good or bad.

It wasn’t until they were back in the Tahoe that Sean managed to clear some of the fog in his brain. Declan had taken Sean’s hand in his as soon as he pulled into traffic, heading toward home. The heat and strength of Declan’s thigh on the back of his palm sent strange tingles of electricity along his arm. Hairs on the back of his arm stood on end practically. “Declan?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Are you going to do what you did in Dr. Cameron’s office again?” Sean asked, nervous but excited.

“Do you want to do that again?” Declan asked in return.

Sean frowned. “I don’t know. I-I always thought it was supposed to hurt. It always hurt for Sam and Tara.”

Declan growled, a low angry sound in his throat. Sean tensed, wondering if he’d said something wrong. The noise faded and Declan glanced at Sean for a moment. “What we did in Cam’s office was nothing like what Sam and Tara experienced. Your body as my mate was prepared for it, ready to take me inside of you, despite how abrupt I started it. Sam and Tara did not want what was done to them. No one should go through what they did.”

Sean fingered the hem of the shirt he wore. “I liked it,” he whispered, staring at the speck of dust on the vent in front of his seat.

“I’m glad,” Declan said. “I felt like an insensitive