God, she was done thinking. It was just such a relief to give in, give up, let go, in this sacred, private space.

And when she felt his hand drift down onto her breast, she surged up to him. “More …”

She was the one who pulled up her T-shirt—and then took that thing off like it was tearing up her skin. And as the cool air hit her nipples, they peaked and he let out a growl.

“Don’t hold back,” she said. “I want it all.”

As he lowered himself down to her breasts, his muscles surged under his skin, his arms flaring out in a bow as he suspended his talented mouth over her collarbones, her sternum … the underside of both. The kisses were soft, just a little tickling of his lips, but she felt everything and relished the exquisite tease of it all.

Finally, he nuzzled at her, then … licked at one of her tips.

Calling out his name, she speared her fingers into his thick hair, torqued under him, and pitched her head back. In response, he latched on to her nipple, sucking for a time before rolling it with his tongue and flicking at it. The pleasure felt too much for her to hold in. Writhing against him, she swept her hands down to the small of his back and then she wrapped her legs around him.

So that her core was where his erection hit.

Now he was the one growling, and as if he couldn’t control his pelvis, he started pumping against her—

All at once, he stopped everything. Pushed himself off her. Held himself over her.

His eyes were closed and he was breathing through his open mouth. Looking down between their bodies, she saw his massive arousal, poised, ready … straining.

“Daniel?” she asked.

For a moment, she was worried he was going to put an end to it all. Had she done something wrong—

“I got to slow the fuck down,” he panted. “Fuck … Lydia …”

As he moved to the side, his sex brushed against her hip—and he hissed and bit his lower lip hard enough to nearly draw blood.

“Don’t stop,” she begged.

His lids popped open. “Oh, I’m not going to. Hell no.”

With that, he lowered his mouth to her breast again—but he didn’t stay there. He started going down her body. First, it was off to the side, on her ribs. Then it was across her stomach … and on to the curve of her hip.

At first, she wasn’t sure what he was doing—but then she closed her eyes and bowed up.

Because she realized exactly what he was doing.

His thumbs hitched the waistband of her PJs and she lifted her hips as he pulled down the loose plaid flannel. And then they were both naked. Thank God.

Daniel continued on, his mouth kissing a path to her waist, to her hip … and going lower still. When his palms caressed her thighs, she bent up her knees and opened herself.

“Lydia,” he moaned as he drew his tongue along her lower abdomen.

Now she writhed, her peaked breasts undulating toward the ceiling.

“I can’t wait anymore,” she gasped.

Well, didn’t he follow direction well.

His mouth swooped between her legs, pressing a kiss to the top of her sex before he swirled into her with his tongue. With a growl, he became a whirlwind at her core, sucking her in, lapping at her, penetrating her with his fingers at the same time.

As she looked down her body and got an eyeful of his dark head between her thighs, the sight of him coupled with the hot, wet sensations pitched her into a release that shot through her like a thunderbolt, her pelvis thrusting forward, her spine arching again, every cell in her body blowing apart.

Daniel rode it all through with her, keeping the orgasm going, his two fingers inside of her finding a rhythm that brought her to the brink again just as the first release was subsiding.

He was a master of pleasure. He was power and control. He was, in a strange and undefinable way, taking not just her sex, but her soul. She was …

Claimed.

 

Daniel had been prepared for hot. He got surface of the sun.

He’d been ready for getting into it. He was desperate.

He’d been psyched for a release. He was hit by a frickin’ tsunami.

As he worshipped Lydia’s core with his mouth, he was lost in the feel and taste of her. The noises she was making. The way her nipples and breasts bounced as she jerked and thrashed her way through the pleasure he gave her. And when he eased back a little and watched his slick, glossy fingers go in and out of her—

His voice exploded out of his throat. “Fuck! ”

All at once, his arousal went haywire on him, the orgasm he had been holding back, the pain in his balls, the urgent need to release, getting away from him. Like a teenager, he pumped into the towel that was wadded up under his hips, ejaculating—

“Damn it,” he hissed.

Lydia lifted her head and looked over her tight-tipped breasts at him. “What?”

Looking up from her glistening sex, he closed his eyes. And then he spoke a line he’d never thought would come out of his mouth.

“This never happens to me.”

“I don’t understand—”

When he sat up with the towel in his lap, she looked down at him. Looked back up.

“I swear, this has never happened to me before,” he muttered.

“Did you—”

“I mean, I’ll be ready to go again.” He stared at her through lowered lids. “That is not going to be a problem with you.”

Bringing his fingers to his mouth, he sucked them in, and then deliberately split them with his tongue—and was gratified by the way Lydia gasped with an erotic jerk. Unable to resist, he planted a palm by her waist and held himself over her. Putting his hand back where it had been, he stroked her sex, thumbing the top of it. Then he lowered his head and flicked one of her nipples with his tongue. He worked her slow at first, but that didn’t last. Faster and faster, he went—and when she started to come again, he took her mouth.

And swallowed her cries of release.

It almost made up for his lack of self-control.

Almost.

OKAY, HE’S ASLEEP now.”

As Lydia stared through the Plexiglas door into the transition pen outside the WSP’s clinic, she monitored her wolf’s slow, easy breathing as he lay on his side with his eyes closed. She’d hated tranquilizing him, but she had to do what was right by the animal. Her feelings couldn’t get in the way.

And didn’t that truism generalize. Especially after what she and Daniel had done in her guest room about two hours ago.

Her emotions had been in turmoil ever since. After those orgasms? She could feel herself getting attached to him in ways that he wasn’t going to want, and she wasn’t going to enjoy in the long run.

With a hot flush coming on, she glanced across the exam room. Daniel was looking at her as he leaned against the counter and sink. In fact, it felt like he hadn’t stopped looking at her since he’d learned all kinds of things about her body—

“Do you want me to go inside there and pick him up?” He glanced at the Plexiglas door. “I can take him to the ATV?”

“I think you’re strong enough to carry him, right?” She put her palms forward. “And don’t worry, he really is out, and we’ve got a good thirty minutes until he wakes up. You’re safe.”