Page 121 of Beasts of Mine

Water moved over stones behind him while a bird called from somewhere high above us. Tavian and Luca had gone quiet enough that I could almost forget they were still there, and with Malek standing close enough that his cedar scent filled every breath, forgetting them was becoming surprisingly easy.

“Can I kiss you?” Malek asked, his thumb brushing once through the hair near my nape while he watched my face and waited for my answer.

My pulse jumped beneath the place he had just scented. Malek had been my first connection here. Before Tavian’s constant teasing and Luca’s quieter presence, there had been Cat beneath the roots, injured and stubborn and watching me with the same golden-brown eyes now fixed on mine. I had sat beside him during a storm, changed his bandages, argued with him about resting, and fallen asleep knowing the massive leopard outside my shelter would keep anything dangerous away.

Now I knew what his mouth looked like when he was trying not to smile. I knew what his hands felt like in my hair, and I wanted him to kiss me badly enough that pretending otherwise seemed ridiculous.

“Yes.” I answered Malek as my fingers curled into the front of his shirt, the fabric warm beneath my palm when I closed some of the remaining distance between us. Malek didn’t rush the last few inches. His eyes dropped briefly to my mouth before returning to mine, giving me more than enough time to change my mind even after I had already said yes. I didn’t. If anything, waiting while his breath brushed lightly over my lips made my grip tighten in his shirt.

Then his mouth touched mine.

The first kiss was soft, almost frustratingly so. Malek brushed his lips over mine once, warm and careful, the slight roughness of his lower lip catching against mine before he pulled back barely enough to change the angle. His hand stayed at the back of my neck, fingers resting loosely beneath my hair rather than holding me there, while his other palm settled against my waist.

He kissed me again, and the second lasted longer. His mouth moved slowly over mine as though he were learning what I liked instead of trying to impress me. The faint taste of fruit lingered on his lips, and the cedar surrounding me grew stronger until the damp earth and running water became little more than background.

A quiet purr started again in his chest, and I felt it through the hand pressed against him before I really heard it. My body reacted immediately, some of the tension in my stomach loosening at the vibration even while a different kind of heat gathered lower. I leaned closer until the front of my body barely brushed his, and Malek followed the movement without taking more.

His lips parted slightly against mine.

I opened for him.

The tip of his tongue brushed mine, light enough that the contact felt like another question, but heat still traveled through me as my fingers tightened involuntarily in his shirt. Malek made a low sound against my mouth before easing back just enough that I could open my eyes. His lips were still close enough to brush mine when either of us breathed, but he seemed perfectly prepared to stop there.

I stared at him.

“That cannot seriously be all you planned to do.” I told Malek as I tightened my grip on his shirt and pulled him back before he could put any real space between us. The change in him was immediate. His eyes dropped to my mouth, and the purr vibrating through his chest roughened until a growl threaded underneath it. His fingers flexed in my hair while the hand against my waist became firmer.

“You wanted slow.” Malek reminded me, his voice lower now as his gaze lingered on my mouth.

“I wanted you to start slow.” I corrected Malek, pulling him the final inch closer until his chest met mine. “I didn’t say you had to stay there.”

Malek kissed me again.

This time there was nothing tentative about it. His mouth came down over mine harder, still controlled but hungry enough that the difference made my stomach tighten. His arm slid more securely around my waist as I rose onto my toes, bringing us fully together, and the purr in his chest deepened when I kissed him back with the same urgency.

His tongue swept over mine again, and I met it willingly. One slow stroke became another as the kiss deepened, and when he retreated, I followed without thinking. The sound Malek made was rough and pleased. My hand slid from the front of his shirt to his shoulder, feeling muscle tighten beneath my palm as he drew me closer. I released the fabric with my other hand and reached behind his neck instead, my fingers finding the short hair at his nape.

Malek growled. The vibration rolled through his chest and into mine, low enough that I felt it everywhere our bodies pressed together. My glands pulsed beneath the scent he had already left there, and his hand tightened around my waist—not enough to hurt, only enough for me to feel the difference between the restraint he had started with and what he wanted now.

Malek changed the angle of the kiss, the rough edge of his jaw brushing my cheek before his mouth found mine again. The neat separation between one kiss and the next disappeared. His lips moved over mine, slowed long enough to make me follow, then deepened again when I did.

I stopped caring that Tavian and Luca were somewhere nearby. I caught Malek’s lower lip gently between mine, and the growl that answered went straight through me. My fingers tightened in his hair as his arm drew me closer, his tongue sliding over mine when I opened for him again.

The soft first kiss hadn’t been uncertainty.

It had been restraint.

Heat gathered low in my stomach while Malek kissed me until my lips felt warm and sensitive. Every time he slowed, I found myself following him for more, and each time I did, another rough vibration moved through his chest. Then his thumb slipped beneath my hair and brushed the skin just below my ear, close to the gland he had scented.

My whole body reacted. A pulse went through the sensitive spot beneath his scent, and my own honey-and-jasmine fragrance sweetened enough that even I noticed it.

Malek did too. His breathing changed as he inhaled against my lips, his arm tightening around my waist for a brief second before he deliberately loosened it again.

That tiny movement told me as much as the kiss had.

He wanted me.

But he was still paying attention.