his muscular thighs straddling my midsection …
My face was beet red and I was breathing heavily as he lifted his soft brown eyes from my arm.
“Milena?”
His tone was gentle, yet firm, serious, yet … intimate. I bit my lip. How had I not adequately noticed it before? Kai wasn’t just good-looking, he was unmistakably hot! And the way he was studying me now left me feeling like I needed to take another shower … a cold one. I swallowed hard.
“Milena?”
He had great lips, too .
“Y-yeah?”
“I’m sorry about my behavior earlier.”
I forced myself to cease staring at his mouth and look him in the eyes. “I didn’t mind.”
Oh, hol-y Mother Mary! Had I just said that aloud?
“I didn’t mean to react the way I did,” he continued. “I didn’t even mean to fall asleep next to you like that. I just … haven’t slept very much in the last week, I suppose.”
He definitely hadn’t, it occurred to me, remembering how he had spent days sitting up by my bedside at Alex’s house during my first recovery, and then watching over me alongside Alex throughout most of my second. And of course, he’d mentioned earlier in the garden that he had been up all night analyzing my blood.
“It’s okay,” I assured him. “It was my fault for startling you.”
His lips curved into the feeblest hint of a smile. “I guess I’m just not used to sleeping with anyone.”
Oh, Lordy! Had he really just said that out loud?
“I mean … it won’t happen again,” he amended.
We were both silent as he drew my blood, filling three small vials. For once I barely noticed the needle piercing my arm, as I was too distracted by the confusing tightening sensation in my lower belly that his smell and presence was causing.
“So you’re not mated?” I cringed as I heard myself blurt nearly the same mortifying question I had asked of Kaleb. If anything, it was even more inappropriate to be asking it of Kai under the present circumstances.
He didn’t answer or even acknowledge my question as he proceeded to remove the needle from my arm and apply pressure to the point where it had pierced my vein. At first I thought perhaps he hadn’t heard me, or that he’d chosen to purposely ignore the question altogether, but then he replied with an emotionless, “It’s complicated.”
I was on the brink of stammering an apology for prying when he released the pressure on my vein, removed the gauze pad, dipped his head and briefly swept his hot tongue over the underside of my elbow. Twice.
And I just about soaked my borrowed knickers.
Although he had done it in his detached, doctorly manner, as if he were administering a strictly clinical procedure, it wasn’t lost on me that whatever tiny pinprick there may have been from my blood draw had long since healed over due to my newly improved healing capabilities, making his little tongue treatment completely unnecessary.
And it was that knowledge that had me instantly wet. Kai had wanted to lick me. Oh, my God!
I was struggling to breathe as he raised his head from my arm. His hooded, dilated eyes roved my features, and my stomach somersaulted. My lips parted, my thighs clenched. What the hell was happening? Holy hell, were we about to make out?
But then he drew back and looked away from me, rising up to his full height. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. “Fuck me,” he murmured.
He took several deep breaths, breathing through his mouth, before kneeling in front of me on the floor. He leaned in, but didn’t look at me as he pulled the collar of his white T-shirt to the side, craning his neck in order to reveal a crescent-shaped scar at the juncture of his throat and shoulder. When he spoke, his words were stiff, clipped.
“I was mated,” he confessed. “My wife … she died.” His tone was hollow. Empty. “I didn’t.”
I was dumbstruck by his most unexpected revelation. I stared mutely at the marking on his
My face was beet red and I was breathing heavily as he lifted his soft brown eyes from my arm.
“Milena?”
His tone was gentle, yet firm, serious, yet … intimate. I bit my lip. How had I not adequately noticed it before? Kai wasn’t just good-looking, he was unmistakably hot! And the way he was studying me now left me feeling like I needed to take another shower … a cold one. I swallowed hard.
“Milena?”
He had great lips, too .
“Y-yeah?”
“I’m sorry about my behavior earlier.”
I forced myself to cease staring at his mouth and look him in the eyes. “I didn’t mind.”
Oh, hol-y Mother Mary! Had I just said that aloud?
“I didn’t mean to react the way I did,” he continued. “I didn’t even mean to fall asleep next to you like that. I just … haven’t slept very much in the last week, I suppose.”
He definitely hadn’t, it occurred to me, remembering how he had spent days sitting up by my bedside at Alex’s house during my first recovery, and then watching over me alongside Alex throughout most of my second. And of course, he’d mentioned earlier in the garden that he had been up all night analyzing my blood.
“It’s okay,” I assured him. “It was my fault for startling you.”
His lips curved into the feeblest hint of a smile. “I guess I’m just not used to sleeping with anyone.”
Oh, Lordy! Had he really just said that out loud?
“I mean … it won’t happen again,” he amended.
We were both silent as he drew my blood, filling three small vials. For once I barely noticed the needle piercing my arm, as I was too distracted by the confusing tightening sensation in my lower belly that his smell and presence was causing.
“So you’re not mated?” I cringed as I heard myself blurt nearly the same mortifying question I had asked of Kaleb. If anything, it was even more inappropriate to be asking it of Kai under the present circumstances.
He didn’t answer or even acknowledge my question as he proceeded to remove the needle from my arm and apply pressure to the point where it had pierced my vein. At first I thought perhaps he hadn’t heard me, or that he’d chosen to purposely ignore the question altogether, but then he replied with an emotionless, “It’s complicated.”
I was on the brink of stammering an apology for prying when he released the pressure on my vein, removed the gauze pad, dipped his head and briefly swept his hot tongue over the underside of my elbow. Twice.
And I just about soaked my borrowed knickers.
Although he had done it in his detached, doctorly manner, as if he were administering a strictly clinical procedure, it wasn’t lost on me that whatever tiny pinprick there may have been from my blood draw had long since healed over due to my newly improved healing capabilities, making his little tongue treatment completely unnecessary.
And it was that knowledge that had me instantly wet. Kai had wanted to lick me. Oh, my God!
I was struggling to breathe as he raised his head from my arm. His hooded, dilated eyes roved my features, and my stomach somersaulted. My lips parted, my thighs clenched. What the hell was happening? Holy hell, were we about to make out?
But then he drew back and looked away from me, rising up to his full height. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. “Fuck me,” he murmured.
He took several deep breaths, breathing through his mouth, before kneeling in front of me on the floor. He leaned in, but didn’t look at me as he pulled the collar of his white T-shirt to the side, craning his neck in order to reveal a crescent-shaped scar at the juncture of his throat and shoulder. When he spoke, his words were stiff, clipped.
“I was mated,” he confessed. “My wife … she died.” His tone was hollow. Empty. “I didn’t.”
I was dumbstruck by his most unexpected revelation. I stared mutely at the marking on his
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