Mystic Valley: Last Hope

She'd insisted on driving her own car back to her apartment, though he hadn't seemed to want to let her out of his sight. She needed the space, the distance, to sort through and separate what she wanted from what she'd felt from him. It had been a long time since she'd last let someone else's lust control her own, and she'd vowed it would never happen again, not if she could help it. She had to make sure she knew what she wanted before he touched her again.

Liar. The tiny voice in her head was sure, damning. You know what you want. You want him to make you scream. What you don't know is if that's what he really wants.

She shouldn't have invited him home with her. She wasn't frightened of him; she knew he had no interest in hurting her. He only wanted to bring her pleasure, to find his own in the hot depths of her mouth and body. But she also knew it might mean she was his. No matter their emotional involvement, even if the human part of him felt only casual fondness for her, the animal inside him might see her as his mate.

She had to be ready for that possibility.

"Come in." She held the door for him as she tossed her keys onto the hall table with a clatter, then shrugged out of her oversize cardigan. "Are you hungry? I could make something."

His hand slid over her hip and drew her back against his body. "I don't know how empathy works." He leaned down until his breath skated against her neck. "Do you even want me at all? Or is this all my fault?"

Kiara fought a shiver, then sighed and licked her lips. "I want you. My control is good. You don't have to worry about making me do something. At the hospital, I... It was too much. Trying to keep everyone calm, and then...then..."

She felt his lips against the top of her ear, a soft caress that disappeared too quickly. "Lars doesn't bring out the best in me."

He was aroused, and she pushed back against his hardness without thinking. "What does?"

Adrian ran his hand around to her stomach and pinned her body against his with little apparent effort. "Nothing about today. I don't usually pick up women by molesting them at work."

"Funny, but I could have sworn it was the other way around." She turned to face him and his hand caught her scrub top as she twisted in his grasp. She tugged the layer of polyester and cotton over her head, leaving her clad in a thin tank top.

He hissed in a breath, and the world spun as his arm wrapped around her waist. He lifted her up and pushed her back against the wall, then trailed a hot line of kisses over her neck before nipping lightly at her collarbone. "I was molesting you in my head. That's pretty much the same thing when it comes to psychics, isn't it?"

"Sometimes." Kiara braced her hands on his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his thighs as excitement thrummed in her veins. "It would have been hard to tell, since I was busy mentally undressing you." She bent her head and traced her tongue around the edge of his ear.

He groaned. "How about actually undressing me now?"

A tiny flicker of sensation so foreign it must have been his edged past her shields and into her consciousness, arching her off the wall. "Second door on the right," she breathed, her voice hoarse, her fingers already curling into his T-shirt. "Take me to my bedroom."

"Bedroom." The word left him just before his lips seized hers in a blinding, sizzling kiss. His tongue swept across her lips once in imperious command before he forced her mouth open and set about a thorough exploration that left her shaking, gasping for breath, as he made his way down the hall, one hand feeling along the wall as the other held her easily, her hips crushed to his.

When they reached the bedroom, Kiara raised her head. Her own lips tingled as she lifted her hand to his and brushed her thumb over his mouth. "There's something you should know."

His lips closed over her thumb, and he swiped his tongue over it before letting go. "What?"

She whimpered, unable to help herself. "If I lose control, so will you."

"Okay." He dropped to the bed and fell backward, pulling her down on top of him. "How out of control will it get? I don't want to hurt you."

Her cheeks flamed with heat. "I don't know. I've never had sex with a shifter before, but it...it isn't usually a problem." She wiggled back and pulled at the hem of his shirt, revealing a taut, muscled stomach. Her mouth went dry. "I don't always lose it. When I do, it's because I'm coming. And then...so will you, I guess."

Adrian made a sound that was half laugh, half groan. His hands tangled in her tank top, dragging it up her body and over her head. "I guess I'll live with that."