gave in and touched her, reached beneath the damp cotton and sank into her heat? She wanted him too badly to wait any longer.
"You have to ask for it," he warned. "That's the deal."
He was killing her with the desire blazing between them. Waiting wasn't what she wanted. "That's your deal." Her voice was hoarse, unrecognizable to her own ears. She was changing, here in the dark and in his arms, becoming some other woman. She should have been frightened by the effect he had on her but the sensations filling her were too sweet, too hot. All she wanted was more .
She parted her legs, sensation uncurling in her. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." His voice was hard and uncompromising behind her. He thought he'd scared her off.
Fine. Two could play at this game. "I could ask you—" She licked her lips. It was dark inside the retreat he'd built for her, but instinct warned her he could see her just fine. Was watching her. A naughty thrill zinged through her. She could give him something to watch.
She didn't want to be alone, fighting to make it out of the Preserves with murderous rogues tracking her. Those rogues caught up and her forbidden attraction to Vkhin was going to be the least of her problems. She couldn't count on anything but this handful of moments, wrapped in the dark and the warmth of this male's arms. Maybe he wasn't offering a happily ever after or even more than just this one night, but she didn't want to be left alone here and he was the only exit she had.
He shifted behind her. The smell of leather filled their shelter as he tucked that duster of his closer around her. "Ask me, Ria." That sexy growl convinced her. "Whatever you want, all you have to do is ask."
Dropping her head back onto his shoulder, she tried to look up at him but she was no cat and their shelter was dark. All she could make out was the shadowy outline of his face. She'd seen him on vid like this a dozen times or more. Hard. Knowing. He'd fought for the Fallen, fought to keep M City safe from the rogues. He might be Heavens' bad boy, but he'd done everything in his power to stay on the right side of the line in the fight against M City's monsters. He wasn't good, but he wasn't the bad guy, either. The lines that had been drawn in this battle weren't that simple. Now, wrapped in his arms, the lines were blurring even further.
His mouth moved against her neck, a hot, seductive glide of male skin and warmth that promised more. Much more.
"I shouldn't." God, she shouldn't. She was hyper-aware of his arms, hands. He hadn't moved an inch, still and waiting. He was all predator, stalking her like the sweetest of prey. The thick ridge of his erection pressed against her backside, making her deliciously aware of his strength through the layers of clothing separating them.
"Probably not," he agreed as his mouth found her ear. He was her anchor in the darkness. Comfortable and yet strangely familiar. She'd watched him for weeks, but he kept to himself too much. Even when he'd hunted with his fellow Fallen, he was reserved, those dark eyes shuttered and wary. She hadn't learned anywhere near enough to satisfy the curiosity burning through her.
"I've been watching you," she admitted. He'd gone about his business in M City in that long duster and the worn blue jeans that clung to his muscled thighs with each sure, confident move that he'd made. He'd prowled the alleys, meting out the Fallen's own brutal brand of justice, and she'd watched. Every night, she'd watched him go out and fight, and she'd fought the urge to follow him back to his base when he'd finished. To strip off those jeans and see what he was hiding beneath the worn fabric.
"I know," he rumbled. "Tell me what you saw, Ria."
"I've seen you fight." His tongue explored the curve of her ear. Tasting her like he could eat her up. She shivered, because, oh, God, his touch was pure wickedness. She shouldn't have felt that simple touch so strongly, but she did.
She'd never seen him take a woman.