Heat spread across his cheeks, and he only just managed not to look down at his crotch. By the hardness of his cock, he suspected he was on display. No way in hell he was giving his sister that kind of ammunition for future ribbing. But he refused to be embarrassed by his feelings or his need to reacquaint himself with Sari.
“You are coming home, right?”
“I will, but only to sort out matters with our folks.”
He’d begun to turn toward the door, but the peculiar sound in her voice hauled him back. “What do you mean ‘but only to sort out matters with our folks’? You make it sound like you’ve got somewhere else to be.”
“Harry, my world is different now, my life nothing like it was before.”
“If you give me some crap about needing to go and find yourself, or some such, there’ll be hell to pay.”
She chuckled, the sound utterly charming and soothing. As she got to her feet, he noticed the elegance in her slender physique. The woman didn’t look like she was ten years shy of half a century. No way, no how. Had she always been that beautiful? Shame to say, but he couldn’t recall.
“I don’t think I belong in suburbia, honey, but I’m not about to go on a quest either. No, I have unfinished business to take care of.”
He shut one eye and frowned at her, his mind drawing a blank of anything that might fall into that category. But it was her life, and he needed to let her live it. Shit, she was half-tiger. It wasn’t like she couldn’t take care of herself, was it?
She stepped toward him, laid a gentle hand on his arm, and planted a barely-there kiss on his cheek. “Go, she’s waiting.”
Exiting the room, Kai’s mind connected the dots between the two women, both half-feline, and their shared super senses. He had this to look forward to for a long time, didn’t he? A smile spread across his lips. Yeah, he could live with that.
“Looking for me?”
He pulled up short at the sound of a feminine purr and turned to see Sari posing provocatively in an open doorway. Wrapped in a thin bed sheet, nothing hid Sari’s arousal, and it made his mouth water. Absolutely delicious. The world fell away. All he could think about, see, hear, and smell was her. Her luscious smile and wicked wink made him move. Kai stalked toward her, determined to feel her skin under his again.
Chapter Fifteen
The pure hunger in his eyes made her belly quiver. His purposeful stride ate up the distance between them until his hands curved around her hips and hauled her against him. Neither said a word as he backed her into the room and kicked the door shut. The masculine scent slipped into her bloodstream and the drumming of his heart made her pussy throb.
“You are an awesome lady,” he growled before lowering his head. His lips captured hers in a kiss that defined power. A second later, the sheet fell away and she stood naked.
Kai took a step backward, his gaze hot with intent. Everywhere his eyes roamed her body, liquid fire followed. She burned for him in the most primal of ways. Image after image scrolled through her mind of them together, and though the scenery changed one thing remained the same: The love. Didn’t matter if they were writhing on a rug before an open fire or using the jets on a hot tub to their advantage, their connection all came back to love.
“I’m going to make love to you everywhere I can think of, Sari. It will take me months to exhaust the possibilities.”
She chuckled and arched her back. Satisfaction filled her when his gaze fell upon her breasts. “Only months?”
Despite the urge to throw herself at him, Sari held her ground. The air between them virtually vibrated with sexual tension, and though she wanted his heat inside her in the worst of ways, she adored the admiration in his eyes. He licked his lips and her tongue longed to do the same. Standing here, naked for him, she filled to bursting with the power of her sex. How long could he stand there, fully dressed? The bulge pressing against the fly of his jeans had to be uncomfortable, and the beads of sweat on his brow attested to the heat he felt.
Why didn’t he just take her?
He blinked, the movement lazy and full of passion. “Oh, you want longer? I can do longer. Wouldn’t mind if you got creative once in a while…”
Sari smiled but didn’t take the bait. If he was willing to indulge her creative fantasies, they could be at this for a very long time. “Take off your shirt, Kai. I want to touch your skin.”
She watched his fingers release the buttons one by one. The firm skin revealed with each one dried her mouth. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and bit it to stop from going to him.
“Is this the right time and place for this?”
Words failed her. Watching him set off triggers within her she didn’t know existed. She never had been to a strip show before, and the slow, deliberate movement of his fingers quickened her heartbeat. If she tried hard enough, she could imagine how they’d feel on her skin. As it was she could easily taste his salty scent on her tongue but she was greedy and she wanted more.
She nodded. “No time like the present.”
The shirt slid over his shoulders and down his arms until it landed with a soft whoosh on the floor. Dragging her gaze back up to his face, she found he’d moved closer. Less than a foot separated them. His heat warred with hers. Her mind strayed to the big solid chest that tapered down into narrow hips. Hips still clad in denim.
Cheeky light filled his eyes. “Is this how it’s going to be? You ordering me what to do?”
“The jeans. Lose the jeans.”
He chuckled and unbuckled the belt. “You can hardly wait,” he teased. When she reached out and trailed her fingertips down his hard stomach to the edge of his jeans, he sucked in a breath. It broke the moment and he had the pants and boxers off and her pinned to the wall in a blink.
“I don’t want to wait,” she whispered before kissing the corner of his mouth. Sari let her lips linger, to give her senses half a second to register every touch, scent, taste and sound.
“Neither do I.” He lifted her and wrapped her thighs around his waist. His hard cock settled at the entrance to her pussy and when she gave a nod, he pushed into her in one, long stroke. “God, I missed you.”
He kissed her, his tongue prying open her lips before ravaging her mouth. The probing caresses spiked her temperature, and she pulled his hips closer with her legs.
“I couldn’t stop worrying,” he said when he ripped his lips away from hers. “Wondering if they’d hurt you. I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”
“Hush,” she whispered, smoothing her palms down each side of his face. “I’m here. You got to me in time. Now you’re inside me, where you belong. Where I want you to stay.”
Trapped between the cool hard wall and the hot hard male, Sari didn’t want to be anywhere else. Feeling his weight against her, solid and safe, made her long for a life with him. Could he see a future for them? She wasn’t talking about the sexual exploration and gratification he promised, but the whole package. Waking up together, doing laundry, balancing bank accounts, marriage, kids, the works. Did he want that? With her?
“You’re worrying,” he said. She hadn’t noticed he’d stopped thrusting and simply throbbed within her. Could they have this discussion in the middle of sex? “Whatever it is, we’ll work it out.”
Seize the moment, Sari.
Her heart skipped a beat before the errant thought hit her like a locomotive. He was right. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
“There are things I need to tell you, Kai.”
He kissed her. “I know everything I’ll ever need to know, but you can tell them to me later. Right now, let me make love to you before the cavalry arrives.”
She chuckled. “I thought you were the cavalry.”
Would he ever get enough of her? Kai didn’t dare to consider that thought as he lifted her away from the wall and carried her to the bed. Call him a caveman, but he wanted her in bed. Even if it was just the once.
Laying her down, he took another long, lazy look at her sen
sational body. She really was beautiful. And his. She seemed determined to shove more ugly history between them, but he wouldn’t let it color his view. Whatever she’d done, whoever she’d been before they turned her into this spectacular creature, it didn’t matter.
His cock throbbed in protest of being pulled out of her, but he ignored it for the moment. Trailing his hands down over the mounds of her breasts, Kai knelt between her spread legs. He rubbed her stomach with long sensual strokes, paying no special attention to the scars there. Avoiding the hot, wet pussy, he massaged her inner thighs before lifting her legs. With her ankles resting on his shoulders, he pressed his thumb into the pit behind her knee and smiled when she arched toward him.
“Forget the past, Sari. All that matters is now.”
Without a word, he dropped his head between her quivering thighs to take a deep breath of her musky scent. The woman turned him on without trying, how could he not love that? But tasting her, dragging his tongue through the wetness of her valley reminded him what he missed most. Having her inside him any way he could drove him to breathe her in and swallow her taste so it flowed through his veins. When they were apart, he’d felt her presence evaporate from his system, and he’d hated every minute of it. Knowing she could be hurt when he finally found her again had almost driven him wild with worry.
But they were together again, and he wouldn’t let her out of his body. He needed to restock and refill his stores of her, and sucking her clit into his mouth did just that. Her hips bucked, but he welcomed the thrust against his tongue. The tiny nub shuddered, and he backed off, not wanting her to come just yet. He focused his attentions lower, flicking her entrance with his tongue and blowing a stream of air over her lips. The womanly moans from above told him he was doing something right.
Straightening, he pressed a kiss to her ankle and guided the head of his cock to her opening. He met her gaze, saw the warring emotions within her. Somehow, he’d help her sort them all out. Later.
He pushed the head inside her wet lips and marveled at the heat. The grip of her pussy on him was fierce and demanding. It would always be that way, and damn, he looked forward to it. Finding new and inventive ways of satisfying this woman had become a goal he anticipated with fervor.
“Kai,” she called. “Make love to me.”
He was slipping if she had to ask. With a smile, he pushed deeper into her fire, loving the way she welcomed him, hugged him. He lifted her hips and angled his, caught her gasp when he leaned down to kiss her. Flexibility came in handy when it allowed him to get this deep.
Her hands threaded into his hair and held on while he rocked them, the friction of each thrust almost too much to bear. Kai sat up on his knees. Her thighs fell apart and he watched his cock slide into her, taking him to the hilt. His balls slapped against her ass with each plunge and it took all his effort not to lose himself in the motion. Her inner walls pulsed against his cock, alternately squeezing and pulling him deeper. He watched her fingers fly over her clit, then pushed them out the way so he could take over.
He rubbed the little button, circled around it, then flicked it. Sari moaned, her eyes closed as she rocked up and down on his shaft. Her skin shivered and rippled, her nipples stood to attention. There was not an inch of her he didn’t want to explore over and over. It wasn’t like his usual self, but that lousy good-for-nothing two-bit boyfriend was a thing of the past too. With Sari, he’d make up for every short coming he’d ever shown when it came to women. And then some.
Paying more attention to her pleasure than his, he leaned forward to lick the trickle of sweat between her breasts. She swore, wrapped her legs around him and held him to her. Her body gyrated and the heat swallowing his cock brought him so close to the edge. She came first, her body vibrating through the orgasm. He kissed away the sweat along her neck before finding her lips and diving between them. The woman sure understood the power she had over him, kissing him with sweet murmurs and suckling his lip with delight.
“What about you?” she puffed, out of breath. “You need to come inside me, now.”
He smiled. “I’m not wearing a—”
“I know, baby,” she whispered, her hands still in his hair, her nails scratching his scalp. “It’s okay.”
He kissed her nose. “Can you come again?”
Her bright smile said so. The squeeze of her thighs around his hips said so. The wet heat clinging to his cock said so. “You know I can. Just don’t hold back, Kai. I want all of you.”
He’d never before wanted to give his heart to anyone, and even less so after Jessica tore it in two and jumped on it. With Sari, he sensed the safety in opening up and showing all his faults and weaknesses. Intuitively, he knew she wouldn’t willfully or maliciously damage him. Strangely enough, it wasn’t his heart he worried about. Sure, he’d been lied to and betrayed but they paled into comparison against the events Sari had lived through.
Yet she was willing to trust him, to try and move past all the previous hurts because she wanted to be with him. It moved him and touched something so deep inside his throat tightened and his heart hiccupped in his chest.
He smiled. “Are you sure that’s what you want? Me? Warts and all?”
“Warts and all, babe.”
With a kiss to her cheek, he pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Sari. You’ve got me.”
Her small hands cupped his cheeks as she guided his mouth back to hers. Buried inside her, he lost himself to the rhythm of their passion. She held him against her breast when he came and brushed her fingers through his hair while he grappled to catch his breath. If this was any indication of their future, he would die one hell of a happy man.
“Are you ready?” he asked, fixing the toga-style sheet at her waist.
It didn’t need fixing, but she was glad for the touch anyway. Returning the favor, she straightened the collar of his shirt and managed to brush a finger against the stubble on his jaw. The man looked good enough to eat, again. With mussed hair and that sleepy, satisfied grin, he had her heart in the palm of his hand. Did he know it?
“I am. Let’s go face the cavalry.”
The cavalry. Like she needed to be rescued again. Kai had been more than enough the first time around, and while she might want to spend the next fortnight locked in a room with him, she would not let that room be in The Facility. They needed to get out and start taking care of the remaining hybrids Rex had so thoughtfully left behind. He might not care, but she did and she wouldn’t leave them to fend for themselves or go hungry or live out here like feral cats.
“Who is the cavalry, exactly?” she asked, taking his hand.
Kai yanked the door open. SL 9 stood dormant. “Well, I suppose Detective Kane will probably be in charge.”
She stared up at him, then thought better to question anything. Out there on his own, Kai would have resorted to whatever means necessary to find a way to break in and bring Zimmerman down. Sari wondered if anyone could have found the place in time to stop the truck. She doubted it.
Together they walked toward the elevator, Kai pressing the button before turning his face back to her. She liked it when he looked at her like that, with eyes full of affection and hope. No one had ever looked at her that way. Well, perhaps her folks had, but she’d been too young to remember. She found it difficult to summon an image of them these days, and with no photos to remember them by, her memories grew fuzzier by the day.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Kai smiled. “Like what?”
“Like you want to hug me.”
He laughed and did exactly that, sweeping her off her feet and spinning her around. “You mean like this?”
“Yes.” She giggled, only his arms tight around her ribs made it tough to breathe. “Put me down!”
He stopped moving but didn’t let her go. “Never.”
“Be serious.”
“I am. Obviously I can’t carry you around for the rest of my li
fe—no, wait, you’re light enough. Maybe I could.” He winked. “But I’m not letting you go. You got a problem with that?”
So close to his mouth, she couldn’t resist a quick kiss. “Only in that I can’t breathe, Kai.”
Her feet touched the cool concrete floor and his arms eased a smidgeon. “Better?”
The elevator doors dinged and slid open. The sound of a man clearing his throat caught both of them off guard. Kai stumbled and stepped on her toes. Sari swallowed the yelp and looked passed him to the tall, well-built man in brown trousers, white sweater, and blue corduroy jacket. He gave a nervous smile then looked away, as if to offer them a minute to compose themselves.
“You must be Harrison. I’m Detective Kane.”
The men shook hands. Then they both turned to her.
“And you must be Sari Jones.” Kane stepped toward her, his hand held out. She took it.
“Is everyone safe?”
He nodded and glanced at Kai. “I brought back-up, but it seems your man here beat me to the punch. Still, there’s hot coffee and medical personnel if you need them.”
The moment her hand left Kane’s, Kai scooped it up in his. “Thank you, but the only things I really need are some clothes.”
The three of them rode the elevator in silence. Kai’s fingers laced with hers as his thumb drew tiny circles on her palm. She stood close to him, soaking in his heat. Not because she was cold. Far from it. But being wrapped in his essence gave her strength, an added boost she’d grown remarkably addicted to. Sari knew she could stand on her own two feet, and she could do it whenever the situation called, but having Kai by her side showed her how much more she could accomplish. He believed in her, and that was more than enough.
“Detective?”
He leaned forward to look past Kai at her. “Yes, Sari.”
“I think I’m going to need your help.”
He smiled and nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ve taken care of a few things for you already.”
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