“And Charlotte is great. And so is Ginny. And I don’t want to leave you,” Lucan adds, the abnormally strong eye contact adding so much weight to his statement. “Ever.”
I can only stare at him.
With no small amount of shock, I can’t fail to notice he’s staring right back.
I’m frozen, and I don’t unfreeze when Lucan takes two swift steps forward, slides his hand up my nape, and fists his fingers in my messily tied up hair. It tumbles down, bouncing against his wrist and fanning out.
His gaze is level but full of nerves, and I don’t move a muscle as he leans in and fits his lips over mine.
CHAPTER 41
SUSAN
I feel like I’ve never been kissed before. Lord, this feels good. My body is hot everywhere and my knees—I can’t feel them, and my hands find Lucan’s arms and then his chest and then they’re on his shoulders. My arms slide around his neck, and his lips are whisper-soft.
They’re also firm, so strong, sliding over mine, his breath a silent rush between us, and if his eyes are open, I can’t tell. Because mine have slid closed, and the heat of him, his scent, his hardness everywhere he’s touching me and I’m touching him—I’m instantly drunk on it.
“Susan,” he groans, his chest broad and exciting against mine. His heart is pounding, and something about this makes me hold onto his neck tighter, makes me tilt my head, makes me take control of the kiss that started bold but has turned cautious.
Or maybe it’s simply that my partner is untutored. Lucan sucks in a breath like he’s shocked or maybe on the verge of heart failure when I lick the seam of his lips.
This sound from him—this reaction, considering the way I feel his heartbeats slam harder from his chest into mine—has my eyes sliding open to watch him from under my lashes, my gaze suddenly feeling heavy-lidded as I tease his lips into parting enough to admit my tongue.
His eyes are wide, and the fist he’s made at my nape still grips my hair, but he isn’t using it to guide me. Now he’s just holding the heck on.
His other hand, which had been at the small of my back, slides up, cradling me to him. There’s not an ounce of demand in his touch, yet I can taste the strength of his desire. That Lucan desires me—me—it’s… revolutionary.
He wants me.
His breath shudders from him, his chest actually shaking with the expulsion. His eyes and breathing and the gentle way he’s holding me… it’s like he’s in a state of awe.
“More,” I whisper to him.
“Mommm?” Maggie calls, the back door clapping shut as she enters the house.
We both go stock still.
I almost don’t hear the hissed “Shhhh!”
But I do hear it. It comes from Charlotte or Ginny. Not like a ‘lower your voice, we’re tired of telling you that you’re being too loud’ but a ‘QUIET, don’t interrupt them!’
I pull back from Lucan like the police have shined a spotlight on me. Although it must be too late. I’m not surprised at all that Lucan was so distracted that he missed noticing their arrival (that a werewolf could be so distracted with a simple kiss has me thinking we should feel a little proud of us, honestly), but Ginny or Charlotte must have seen us kissing.
Kissing! Me! Lucan!
Kissing.
My pulse is racing. I can feel it everywhere—my thumbs, my wrists, my heart.
Also? I’m throbbing between my legs, and all we did was kiss.
He doesn’t want to leave me. That’s what he said. And when he met my eyes like that, said the words like they were being dragged from him, I believed him.
I glance over.
Lucan is breathing like he’s run a marathon, and he’s staring off to the side, at the wall on the opposite side of the kitchen. He hasn’t moved a muscle since I drew back.
Maggie still hasn’t come around the corner. The fact that she hasn’t made another sound confirms my suspicion: Ginny or Charlotte intercepted her so that she wouldn’t interrupt us.
Clearing my throat twice, I call, “What is it, honey?”
There’s no answer.
Not chancing another look at Lucan, I step around him on legs about as steady as rubbery celery sticks. When I round the hallway, I find all three girls, and Maggie is being gagged by Charlotte’s hand.
Charlotte and Ginny look vaguely guilty. Maggie looks confused.
Without me having to tell her, Charlotte lets her sister loose.