The Wolf Marshal's Pack (U.S. Marshal Shifters 3)

Maybe it was. They did say that finding your mate had all kinds of unexpected side benefits. Maybe this was one of them.

Or maybe it just felt impossibly good to have her in his arms, soft and sweetly warm and everything he’d ever wanted.

Aria said, “I know this might be pushing things, but...”

He couldn’t imagine anything he wouldn’t do for her. “What?”

She tilted her head back, looking up at him. Her expression radiated love and longing; her lips were slightly parted, and her pupils were wide and dark.

“Exactly how tired are you?” Aria said.

12

They headed straight for the bedroom, frantically trying to undress each other as they went.

“I’m not even a little bit tired,” Colby said, before almost tripping on the rug. “Incredibly uncoordinated at the moment, apparently, but not tired.”

“Coordination is overrated.”

She needed to believe that, anyway, since her fingers kept slipping off the sleek, small buttons of the dress shirt Theo had loaned him. Why on earth had she helped him back into it after she’d bandaged his ribs? She should have known that, as hotly as things had been burning between them, she’d just want it off him again in a couple of minutes.

Only now, careless and eager and turned-on, she was being outwitted by buttons.

Was this how guys felt about women’s bras?

Colby made one attempt on his own behalf, but the moment the first button snagged, he said, “Just rip it.”

“But it has to cost—”

He kissed his way up the side of her throat, from the juncture of her neck to her earlobe, which he teased slightly between his teeth. When he spoke, his breath was warm against her ear.

“It’s costing me precious time spent touching you.”

That was a cost-benefit analysis she could get behind. She’d just never done anything this... obviously, openly lustful before.

But now she was with the one guy on earth she knew, without question, wanted her in the exact same way she wanted him.

Aria grabbed either side of Colby’s shirt and tugged it open with all her strength. Ivory-colored buttons shot across the room like an explosion of shrapnel.

She had just seen his bare chest a few minutes ago. But then she’d been concentrating on patching him up. She’d only been looking for where he was hurt.

Now it was like she was seeing his body all over again. His chest was mostly smooth, but he had a thin, barely-there line of soft, dark hair running down the center of him, pointing towards his cock like an arrow. If she’d been standing even another foot away from him, she wouldn’t have been able to see it. Now she stroked her thumb against it, feeling the little hairs smooth out underneath her touch. She ran her hand down, following where they seemed to want her to go, and she heard Colby breathe in sharply.

Aria grinned—and teased him, skimming her hand to the side so that she followed the waistline of his jeans instead. He had high, gorgeous hipbones, and she left her hands cupped against them as they kissed again.

He made a low, growling sound and suddenly Aria was up in his arms, her thighs wrapped around his waist, his hands cradling her ass. They were still glued together at the mouth.

She’d never had a guy pick her up before, and it seemed to activate some extremely primal center of her brain. It was like a whole row of lights had lit up on some panel inside her: Yes, please, more of this.

She fought off her currently sex-obsessed hindbrain long enough to say, “This isn’t hurting you?”

Colby shook his head.

“I could lift you with one hand tied behind my back.” He kissed her collarbone, which seemed to be another thing that made her go berserk. “I just like both my hands right where they are, thanks.”

“Yeah,” she said breathlessly. “Me too.”

He went on carrying her down the hall, the two of them entangled in so many different kisses and touches that it felt like her body was dissolving into his. Aria’s bare back collided with a door, and she reached behind her to turn the knob.