In many ways, Talon had not.
He was still the same fierce warrior who walked alone. The same man who put others before him.
She traced the line of his brows with her fingertip. Then she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
Startled, he jerked awake so fast, he actually fell off the couch.
Sunshine stifled her laughter. "I'm sorry."
Talon looked around groggily as he slid back on the couch, upright. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was. Clearing his throat, he frowned at Sunshine who was sitting back on her legs and watching him with an odd, weepy kind of look on her face.
"What were you doing?" he asked.
"I was kissing Sleeping Beauty awake."
He frowned at her words until he smelled something almost as enticing as her patchouli scent. "Coffee?"
She handed him the thermos from the coffee table. "And beignets. I thought you'd rather have those than my guava juice and cranberry muffins."
Talon looked at her suspiciously and wondered if a pod person had kidnapped her and was using her body. This couldn't be the same woman who had scavenged his cabin for hours looking for something "nontoxic" to eat. Nor the angry temptress who had banished him to a miserable day spent alone on her couch. "You're not mad at me anymore?"
"I want you to trust me, Talon. That hasn't changed."
Talon glanced away, unable to stand the pain in her eyes. He didn't want to hurt her, didn't want to keep anything from her. But he had no choice.
In so many ways she was his wife and in so many more she wasn't. He was having to learn her all over again.
But what surprised him most was how much he enjoyed getting to know her.
Sunshine was an incredibly sexy, entertaining and fun woman to be around.
She pulled a sugar-coated beignet out of the sack. "Hungry?"
Yes, he was, and not just for food. He was hungry for her body, hungry for her company.
Most of all, he was hungry for her eyes to laugh at him again and not be shadowed by hurt.
She lifted her hand toward his lips, offering him the pastry. He didn't take it from her hand. Instead, he leaned forward and took a bite of it, all the while watching her watch him.
Sunshine shivered as he nibbled the pastry, then he moved to kiss her lips. She moaned at the sugary taste of him.
Sighing in contentment, she forced him to sit back on the couch so that she could straddle his hips.
"Mmm," he breathed. "I like waking up like this."
She set the beignet aside and carefully poured him a cup of coffee from the thermos.
He looked a bit nervous as he watched her. "Please don't spill that on me."
She gave him an arch look. "I'm forgetful, Talon, not clumsy."
Still, he took the cup from her hand as soon as he could, and drank the chicory-flavored coffee. She screwed the top back on the thermos and set it aside.
Sunshine ran her hand through his tousled hair while he drank, letting the golden waves wrap around her fingers. His muscles rippled with his movements, making her burn with desire. He really was a gorgeous, irresistible man.
"Just think how much nicer I would be if you told me something personal about yourself."
He clenched his teeth. "You are relentless."
She ran her finger down the line of his whiskered jaw and watched his eyes darken as he hardened underneath her. "Only when I see something I want."
Talon pulled another beignet from the sack and held it up for her to eat.
She pulled back with a grimace. "That stuff is hazardous to your health."
"Baby, life is hazardous to your health. Now take a little bite and I'll answer a question."
Skeptical, but willing to try, she took a bite, then groaned at how decadent and good it tasted. It reminded her a lot of Talon.
Talon smiled as he watched her savor her beignet. Until he noticed the sugar that had fallen from the pastry to her breasts. His body hardened even more.
She took another bite and more sugar fell over the tops of her breasts.
His throat went dry.
Before he could stop himself, he dipped his head and licked the powdered sugar from the flesh in the deep V of her sweater.
She moaned in pleasure as she cupped his head to her. She laid her head on his and spoke. "So, how long have you known Wulf?"
Distracted by her taste and scent, he answered without thinking. "A hundred years."
He went rigid as soon as the words registered. "I mean, I um..."
"It's okay," she whispered before licking his ear and sending chills over him. "I know you're a Dark-Hunter."
He pulled back and frowned. "How do you know that?"
"A friend told me."
"Who?"
"Does it matter?" She slid herself against him and placed her hands on his shoulders so that she could stare at him. Her dark brown eyes scorched him with sincerity. "I told you I would never betray you. I meant that."
"You're not supposed to know that term."
"I know."
Talon glanced away as he feared what would happen to her if anyone found out she knew about the Dark-Hunters and their world. "What else did your friend tell you?"
"That you're immortal. She didn't know how old you were, but said that you sold your soul for vengeance against your clan."
He narrowed his eyes. "Did she tell you why?"
"She didn't know why."
"What else did she say?"
"That true love could restore your soul to you and free you from your oath to Artemis."
It was true and yet in his case it didn't matter. Free or not, he could never have her. "Provided I want my freedom, you mean."
"Don't you?"
He looked down at the floor.
She cupped his chin in her hand and forced him to look at her. "Talon?"
He took her hands in his and kissed each one, then held them. How he wanted a lifetime with this woman. It was all he had ever wanted.
It was the one thing he could never have.
"It's not an easy question to answer, Sunshine. I took an oath and I always stand by my oaths."
"Do I mean anything to you at all?"
Talon flinched at her question. He would gladly sell his soul all over again for them to spend the rest of eternity together. "Yes, you do, but you have to admit that we barely know each other."