“I don’t know,” he murmured, his fingers absently toying with the pendant. “Maybe nothing.”
She hid a grimace as she quivered beneath the feel of his light touch. She’d just had the orgasm of her life, and already her body was eager for more. Clearly she needed a distraction.
“Jacob heard from Jian while you were sleeping,” she forced herself to say.
“What did he want?”
“He said he would meet us at the airport.”
“Good. The sooner we can hand over the pendant, the sooner we can return to Greece,” he muttered. “For now…I want to discuss us.”
She felt her heart miss a beat. Maybe more than one.
“Us?”
His fingers slid to cup her chin, tilting her head back so he could inspect her pale face.
“More specially, about our future.”
Her muscles tensed. Was this the big kiss-off? Was he about to tell her that she’d overstayed her time in his household?
“What future?” She pasted a teasing smile to her lips, determined not to allow him to see her pain. “You said I was fired.”
“I also said I had a new job in mind,” he corrected in husky tones, his gaze sweeping down her naked body.
Her mouth went dry, a strange sense of breathless anticipation tightening her chest.
“What job?”
A slow, utterly intoxicating smile curved his lips. “Mate.”
Sloane trembled, caught between shocked disbelief and a desperate hope.
“But you don’t even like me,” she breathed.
His hand tenderly cupped her cheek, his features softened with an emotion she never dreamed possible.
“I’ve craved you from the second I caught sight of you. Which was why I worked so hard to keep you at a distance.” His lips twisted with regret. “I was just too arrogant to accept that I might have met my match.”
Sloane knew exactly what he meant. Hadn’t she done her own share of denial?
And in the end, all she’d accomplished was making herself miserable.
Still, it seemed crazy to think that he’d been enduring the same torment.
“Mate.” She licked her dry lips. “You’re sure?”
“Never more sure,” he swore, lowering his head to press a slow, lingering kiss on her lips. “You are the only woman I want in my arms. Tonight and forever. Say yes, my sweet Blade.”
There was only one answer. Lifting her arms, she wrapped them around his neck.
“Yes.”
~
Tiege wasn’t happy.
After arriving in Hong Kong, he’d expected to remain just long enough for his jet to be fueled and the pendant to be handed over to Jian. He wanted to be in Greece where he could lock the doors to his villa and spend the next few centuries alone with his mate.
Instead he’d discovered a limo waiting for him that whisked him across the crowded city to a home hidden behind high brick walls and several layers of security. His mood wasn’t improved as he was led by a uniformed servant to the elegant office at the back of the house and left to wait for nearly twenty minutes.
Usually he would have appreciated the floor-to-ceiling bookcases that lined the walls, along with the stunning view of the nearby beach.
Not today.
Dammit. He’d done his part, hadn’t he?
Time to enjoy his reward.
The memory of Sloane sleeping on his bed, her naked body covered only by a thin sheet, seared through his mind. He’d hoped to be done with this exchange before she woke. She was still getting used to the idea of being his mate.
Now he had to worry she would wake up and freak out because he wasn’t lying beside her.
At last there was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Jian entered the room looking fresh as a fucking daisy in his designer suit while Tiege was rumpled, jetlagged, and casually dressed in jeans and a cashmere sweater.
“What the hell is going on?” Tiege groused, tossing the necklace on a lacquer table. “I told you I would meet you at the airport to give you the pendant.”
Jian smiled as he slowly strolled toward a door behind the large desk. “I needed to show you something in private.”
Tiege clenched his hands as he followed his friend. “Dammit. Hurry up. I have a beautiful mate waiting for me.”
“Mate?” In the process of unlocking the door, Jian glanced over his shoulder in surprise. “Congratulations.”
Tiege felt a tingle of pleasure race through him. Mate. It still stunned him.
He’d seen how close his brother had been to Portia. And a part of him had always envied their relationship. But he hadn’t truly understood just how deeply he would be connected to Sloane.
It was as if she’d filled a hole he hadn’t realized existed.
“I don’t want your congrats,” he muttered, plagued by a restless ache at being separated from Sloane. “I want to be in bed with my woman.”