"Why would I want it darker?"
She shrugged. Taylor had always insisted on absolute darkness whenever they made love.
She shivered as he unbuttoned her dress and dropped it to the ground. She expected him to pull away.
He didn't. He still wore that hot, hungry look as he stared at her in her underwear. Thank goodness it actually matched and it wasn't her old stuff.
Vane had never been more unsure of himself than he was at this moment.
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her carefully, afraid he might hurt her. Ever since he'd hit puberty, he'd heard stories of wolves who had killed human partners accidentally while mating with them.
Human bones lacked the density of his kind. Their skin bruised much more easily.
Carefully, he pressed her back against the wall so that he could feel every inch of her lush curves against his hardness. The smell of her perfume and skin intoxicated him. It was all he could do not to howl in triumph.
He nibbled his way from her delicate mouth, down her jaw, while he reached behind her and unhooked her bra. He heard her sharp intake of breath as her breasts were freed. They were a lush bounty. Pale and swollen, they overflowed his hands. He'd never seen anything more beautiful. She laced her hands in his hair while he dipped his head down to suckle her.
Closing his eyes, he groaned in pleasure as he ran his tongue around her puckered nipple.
He hadn't touched a female in almost a yeara record for him. But since the night his sister had died, his life had shot from bad to worse and there hadn't been anyone who appealed to him.
Not to mention that memories of Bride the one time he had seen her in the Square had haunted him. Midnight fantasies of him taking her in every position known. Of him exploring every single inch of her succulent body.
He'd spent hours damning himself for not leaving Sunshine to her own devices and following after this woman.
Protecting Sunshine had cost him everything, and for what? For a damned Dark-Hunter's happiness?
No good deed goes unpunished.
It was Fury's favorite saying. A rogue wolf, Fury was as unreliable and selfish as any, but there were times when the wolf was amazingly astute.
But now as Vane held Bride in his arms and felt her soft, tender body against his, he felt a strange sense of comfort that had eluded him all these past months. It didn't erase the pain he felt at the loss of his siblings, but it lightened it. And that alone made her priceless to him.
Bride couldn't think straight as she watched Vane savoring her breasts. He looked as if he were tasting divinity. Her body burned in rich desire. He was spectacular.
His eyes were hooded and dark She stared at his back in the mirror and wondered at the scars that marred his smooth, tanned flesh. She touched the ridges of them while he moved from her right to her left breast.
What had happened to him to cause so many scars? She'd never seen anything like it. Some of the scars were obviously claw and bite marks that looked like he had been mauled by some kind of wild animal. One in particular was deep and large. It went down his shoulder blade, up under his arm.
There was something so deadly about him and yet he held her with a gentle touch. He ran his hand down her stomach, burning a trail over her skin.
Her eyes half-closed, she watched him in the mirror as he dipped his tanned hand under the elastic of her black panties and touched her intimately.
Bride groaned at the sensation of his long, tapered fingers separating the tender folds of her body so that he could caress her. At the sight of his hand playing there in the mirror as he gently sank his fingers deep inside her.
She moaned at the sight and feel of him.
It was so odd to be able to see him from so many different angles. To see herself being loved by him.
She should be embarrassed and yet she wasn't. She didn't even feel self-conscious. If anything, she felt strangely empowered by it.
A man like this so hungry for her.
It was unimaginable.
Vane kissed his way down her stomach. Moving his hand, he actually pulled her
underwear off with his teeth. He removed her sandals, taking time to rub the arches of her feet before he tossed them over his shoulder.