Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

He stilled under her touch, staring at her intently. “Do you have a tattoo? Like Friday’s baby snake tattoo?”

She swallowed hard. “I have some marks that have appeared on my back. They’re faint, but Friday thinks it’s the beginning of a tattoo.”

“That’s a lot to take in, princess. Are you okay?”

“I’m doing what a wise man once told me to do,” she said drily. “I’ve locked that shit up in a box, and I’ve thrown away the key.”

His smile was slow and sexy. “I am a very wise man. Wise enough to know a good thing when I see it.”

A delightful shiver went through her body at the look in his eyes. “Well, you might want to use some of that wisdom to keep the fur ball away from me, because I still have the urge to sit on him.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Keiko trailed her fingers down his cheek. “You weren’t the only one who said things because they thought you were dying.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah.” Her heart stuttered at the memory of watching him fall. Watching him die. Before she’d saved him. “I told you that I was mad at you for leaving me. That I’d follow you into the next life and make you suffer for eternity. That you’d cost me my job and my l

ife and you weren’t getting off that easy.”

With a smile, he leaned in and nuzzled her throat. “Sounds brutal. Anything else you felt the need to tell me while I was unconscious?”

Sighing, she angled her head to give him more space, delighting in the soft kisses he trailed up to her jaw.

“Only that you’re the most infuriating man I’ve ever met and a poor excuse for a Viking.” Her voice was breathless as her eyes drifted closed.

Mace’s hands dipped under her shirt to caress her back, his touch searing her skin and making her desperate for more. He nipped at the edge of her jaw. “I’ll work on my Viking skills.”

“You do that.” She wound her fingers in his hair and tightened her legs around him, feeling his hard length pressing against her soft, hot center. A needy moan escaped, and she heard his answering gasp.

There was a hairsbreadth of space between them, and she used her tongue to close it. He groaned, angling his head and taking her mouth in a slow, sensual kiss.

“I missed you,” he whispered against her lips.

She nipped at his bottom lip, then soothed the sting with her tongue. “You were unconscious.”

She felt the snap on her bra give way, and then those big hands of his slid around to her front to cup her breasts, rasping over sensitive nipples, making her groan.

“Not unconscious,” he said as he nuzzled her throat. “Asleep. And all my dreams were of you.”

“You’re making it hard to think straight,” she complained at the onslaught of sensation his hands, mouth, words caused within her.

His lips descended on hers again in a kiss that was demanding and just a little desperate. She lost herself in it. In the feel and taste of him. In his sandalwood scent that engulfed her senses, wrapping her in him. She was so far into him that she didn’t realize they’d moved until her back pressed against the soft sheets of his bed.

Breaking their kiss, he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “This time,” he said, “I have to see you.” And then, with teasing touches, he undressed her.

Keiko kept her eyes on his face, unwilling to miss a single second of his reaction. What she saw there made her feel beautiful, loved, desperate for more.

“Kiss me,” she demanded as he ran his hands down her body, caressing each curve, learning her.

He shook his head. “Nuh-uh. This time, we’re taking it slow.” And then he leaned forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth.

She clasped his head to her breast as she arched up into him, desperate for more, moaning her pleasure. Wondering if she would ever have her fill of this man.

“I need you inside me,” she begged.

“We’ll get there.” He stretched out on the bed beside her, leaning over to take her other nipple into his mouth.