palm against me made me want to arch my back in anticipation.
I gulped for air and figured he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t really want to do more. “I want to.”
I reached down to pull the shirt off but he was already helping, and suddenly my arms were tangled up and I nearly elbowed him in the nose. Then the shirt disappeared into the half-light of the bedroom, and I tried not to feel horribly self-conscious as Henry kissed me more and stroked my back and my breasts brushed against the soft hair on his chest. I shivered but it wasn’t from being cold, that was for damn certain.
His hand rested against my ribs, his thumb stroking just under my breast over and over, and he smiled against my cheek as he nibbled on my earlobe. “Your heart is beating pretty fast.”
“Haven’t done cardio in a while,” I said, struggling to breathe normally. I was almost paralyzed by indecision. What if he asked about taking off my pants? What if he didn’t?
“Ah,” Henry said. “That makes sense.”
But he was smiling, and before I could ask what he found funny, his head dipped lower and then he breathed against my nipple and then...
My hands slid into his hair as I tried to keep from flying apart at the seams. He licked my nipple and retreated until the cooler air made it harden and peak, then he eased closer to take it in his teeth, just enough to make my breath catch. I gulped for air and closed my eyes, holding onto his head, as he turned his attention to my other breast.
“Perfect,” he breathed against me. One palm hefted a breast while he laved attention on the other with his mouth, and the competing sensations made me squeeze my thighs together.
Heat coiled low in my stomach as he continued to torment me, one lick and bite at a time, until his free hand moved over my hip in a gentle caress that almost distracted me from the magic he worked elsewhere. I could hardly breathe and just held on, though my thoughts scattered until I could barely remember my own name.
I lay sprawled on my back as he leaned over me, and when I opened my eyes, I found him looking down at me with eyes that flashed gold. My heart jumped to my throat. Was the wolf in control? Did he want to… Did they have sex in their animal form? Was that what he expected from me?
Panic must have surfaced in my expression because he stilled, though his hand remained a casual weight on my hip. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re going to stay you, right?” My voice wobbled a touch. I hadn’t signed up for really weird shit. “You’re not going to turn into a wolf in the middle of…things? Right?”
His mouth turned up at the corners but he didn’t laugh. “No, babe, I’ll be me the whole time.”
“Good,” I said, and started breathing again. I’d have hexed the shit out of Deirdre if she hadn’t warned me about something like that.
Henry rested on his elbows next to my side and traced his fingers down my stomach. “What kind of things do you want to be in the middle of, hmm?”
My cheeks flushed but I couldn’t look away from his heated gaze. I shivered at the casual touch, the way he played with the drawstring on the front of my jammies. “You know.”
He tugged on the drawstring, eyebrow arched playfully. “Well...”
“Just…be careful with me,” I said. I had no idea where I found the words or the courage to say them. I met his gaze and meant every syllable, though. “I don’t trust many people, and this is…a leap for me.”
His expression turned grave, all hints of joking gone, and he placed a kiss on my bare side. “I swear. You are my treasure, my everything. I will do everything in my power to make you happy, to care for you, to protect you. I will be very, very careful with you.”
I nodded, even though it still felt like an awfully big chance to take, and reached down to shimmy the pajama pants down my hips. He was kind enough to help, stripping them off and tossing them aside to follow my T-shirt, and he went back to kissing and stroking my side and occasionally kneading my breast or taking my nipple between his teeth until I forgot that I’d taken my pants off.
I closed my eyes and lost myself