Colton's POV
Her lips tasted like trouble. The kind that wrecks a man.
But I was already halfway destroyed the second she opened her mouth to me.
Pulling her in, my hands rested on her waist and I gripped tightly.
I loved her scent. How her body got warmer at my touch. Her lips were soft and when she moaned, I lost my mind.
Her soft hand moved up my chest and my heart pounded in my chest.
What was she doing to me?
I wanted her, I wanted more. I needed everything she was ready to give.
Her hands moved higher, past my neck and I almost howled. It felt so good. Her fingers found the back of my neck and went higher to my hair. That was bliss.
She pulled softly at the strands and I felt the animal in me get hungrier. A pleasure filled groan escaped my lips.
Her kiss got sloppier and her mouth opened to welcome my tongue in. I caught her bottom lip with my teeth and softly but on it. She gasped softly and my ache grew.
Her voice was enough to make me wild. The bulge in my pants started to grow under my jeans.
Her lips parted and my tongue found hers. She tasted like honey and... strawberries. No, she smelt just like strawberries.
She moved slightly, just enough that her knee grazed the thick ache between my thighs.
A deep, low growl escaped my lips.
I wasn't supposed to break first. She was. That was the game.
But I was already unraveling. Coming apart at the seams because of her.
And the worst part? She didn't even know what the hell she was doing to me. Or maybe she did.
Because from the first moment I saw her…she made me weak.
My hands moved down, tracing the contour of her waist lower and lower to her hips.
I slapped her ass, it was squishy, plump and flawless. I pulled her against me, hungrily.
She gasped into my mouth, but didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned in.
My hands crept under the edge of her dress and pushed it up as it moved up to her thighs.
Her bare skin made me want to take her right there.
Fuck. Me. I had to stop. I had to... damn it.
Her skin burned under my fingertips. Hot, silky, tasty, almost dry skin was ruling my mind.
My wolf was clawing at the inside of my chest.
"Mine. Mine. Mine."
I kissed her harder, needing to taste every breath she gave me. Her warm scent, sweet, and dizzying filled my lungs. My tongue devoured her, and every sound she made sent fire straight through my veins.
I wanted to strip her bare.
I wanted to bury myself so deep inside her she'd forget her own name.
I wanted to claim and mark her.
But I pulled back.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I had to.
Her lips were red and swollen. She gazed at me with those puppy eyes. I felt her shaky breath. My hand was still on her ass.
She looked like a fantasy—and I was two seconds from sinking my teeth into her neck like the beast I was.
I was barely holding on.
I stared at that smooth column of her throat. Exposed. Begging.
My fangs ached. My jaw clenched.
"Mark her," my wolf ordered.
My wolf pushed again. Harder this time.
"Claim her."
I stepped back so fast it hurt. My fists balled at my sides.
"You need to shower and change your clothes," I said, my voice rougher than I meant for it to be. "Get some rest."
She blinked, confused, cheeks flushed, lips still parted.
I bit down a curse.
"Take a hot bath," I added, sharper this time. "You'll catch a cold. I won't… I won't interrupt."
Like I ever had.
She looked like she wanted to say something. Maybe she even started to.
I didn't wait.
I turned and left before I did something unforgivable.
~
The bathroom that connected both our rooms was silent for a beat. Then I heard the soft hiss of water rushing through pipes.
She was in the tub.
That same tub I could walk into if I turned the handle and crossed the room.
But I didn't.
I sat on the edge of my bed and dug my fingers into my scalp, hoping the pressure would drown out her image from my mind.
Her dress. Her skin. That moan. Her eyes.
The way her body arched against mine like she belonged there.
She'd undone me, piece by fucking piece.
I remembered her dancing the night before, barefoot in lace, spinning like she had the world wrapped around her finger. She laughed with her whole body, like she had no idea she'd broken me with a single smile.
"Don't fight it," my wolf murmured. "You'll suffer."
I scoffed and answered. "We already suffered."
"Five years. That's how long you've punished yourself. Let her in. She's not Merida."
"It's not love," I growled.
"Liar."
"I'm rejecting her."
"Don't you dare," my wolf growled.
I stopped breathing for a second.
His voice didn't sound like a command this time. It sounded like…heartbreak.
"Work it out for yourself first," he recommended.
I sucked in a deep breath and rose from the bed, pulling my shirt off and discarding it on the floor.
The bathroom water was no longer running. I heard the door from the other side open and guessed she was in her room.
I stripped off the remaining clothes and opened the bathroom door. I was right, she had gone.
The steams curled everywhere and her sweet strawberry scent lingered.
I stepped in and my brain played tricks with me. I pictured her naked, bathing.
I shook my head and the thoughts away.
"You want her, don't you?" My world snarled.
I ignored him, and walked over to the shower.
My hand paused on the handle, then I breathed out slowly.
"You want her, don't you?" My wolf repeated.
"Stop talking," I said, but he didn't.
"Ignoring her will only kill you," he breathed.
Then he was quiet and I was grateful.
My eyes moved round the bathroom and dropped to the towel rack—her pale pink towel was missing.
"Of course, she took it with her. Stop thinking nonsense, Colton. She's too young for you."
I entered the shower, turned the cold water on and let it crash against my body as punishment.
I needed it. Hell, I deserved it.
The ice burned my skin, jolting,numbing. I closed my eyes and arched my head back.
I reached for my soap, grabbed the nearest bottle, poured a handful into my palm, and started scrubbing it over my chest.
I smelt strawberries. That was odd. I stared at the label.
It wasn't mine but hers.
Mine, the coconut flavour sat right beside it, untouched.
I huffed a breath and chuckled.
But I didn't switch soaps.
I kept washing with hers. Letting it seep into my skin like she already belonged there.
The scent clung to me, sweeter than before. Like she'd branded me without trying.
My fingers slowed as I rubbed the lather across my chest, down my abs. My muscles tensed.
My head dropped forward as I felt the first flicker of heat crawl back through my veins.
I tried not to think about her. Her curves. That mouth. The heat in her eyes when she looked at me like I was the only man alive.
But the images came anyway.
I pictured her in that tub. Water rising. Her skin glistened. Her fingers between her legs as she whispered my name—
My hand pressed against the wall, with my head bowed.