“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I guess I should’ve told you sooner.”
“Hell yes, you should’ve. There’s nothing you can say to me that will make me turn away from you.”
“But this morning….”
“This morning you ran away before you gave me a chance to explain. I could’ve spared you years of worry if you’d have just trusted me sooner.” He framed her face in his hands and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “This is the reason you’ve never accepted my claim, isn’t it?”
“I can’t be the mate you want or deserve, Stephen.”
“Kate, if there’s one thing you can always count on, it’s the fact I’m damn lucky to have you as my mate. We may piss each other off from time to time, but I’ll never stop wanting you. What you and I have is forever. Whether you can shift or not doesn’t matter one damn bit.” He grabbed her hand, settling it over the steady thump of his heart. “I’ll always love you with everything I have in me, Sunshine. There’s no changing what I feel for you. My heart is yours. It always will be.”
Tears slipped from her eyes. Her heart swelled. How could she have ever doubted him? This beautiful man had stuck by her side for years, irritating her, making her laugh, pushing her limits, but always remained constant and sure, his love never wavering.
She cupped his strong jaw, his soft stubble tickling her palms. “Oh, Stephen, I love you so much. I have for years. I thought I wouldn’t be the right mate for you, but I don’t want to live without you any longer. I can’t.”
“Then you won’t. Trust me with your heart as I’ve trusted you with mine.” He leaned his forehead against hers while his luminous blue gaze seared her to her soul. “Mate with me, Sunshine. Claim me as your own.”
The words invoked a flare of possessive need in her. He was hers, damn it. Nothing would change that, and no one could take him from her. He was her rightful mate. No matter how much she’d fought the inevitable, their fate was destined, and she was tired of running from it.
She trailed her hands up his chest and over his broad shoulders to twine around his neck. Tugging his face toward hers, she slid her tongue along the seam of his mouth. When he parted his lips, she kissed him, pouring every bit of the longing and desire she’d held at bay for him over the years into the action.
Kate couldn’t stop the flood of emotion any more than she could prevent her hips from shifting against his lap. With a slight reposition, his thick erection slipped between the outer lips of her sex. Releasing his mouth, she tossed her head back and rocked against him, the sensual friction making her more aroused and wetter with each intimate slide.
Stephen cupped her breasts in the palms of his hands with a gentle squeeze. Lowering his head, he twirled his tongue around one nipple then drew it into his mouth, sucking and nipping at her sensitive flesh.
Each pull of his mouth made her ache to have him fill her. She grabbed his short hair and hauled his face to hers. His tongue plunged into her mouth while his hands gripped her ass, moving her against his erection in an unrelenting rhythm. When she broke their kiss to suck in air, he licked across the line of her jaw to her ear.
“Put me inside you. I need to feel you wrapped around my cock.”
Emboldened by his words, she reached between them and closed her hand around his steely erection, feeling her own dampness on his hot flesh. He gripped her waist to help steady her as she rose enough to press the swollen head into her entrance. Once the tip slipped inside, he jerked her down onto his lap, burying his entire length inside her and drawing a cry from the both of them.
Some primal part of her demanded more. She wanted to drive him as wild as he’d driven her that morning. At that moment, she understood the desire to mark, to claim possession. She needed to have her mark of ownership on him.
Kate leaned forward and placed open-mouthed kisses along his neck. Lifting her hips, she allowed his length to almost slide completely out of her then she sank down on his thick cock again. Pleasure spiraled through her, tension building in her core.
Stephen groaned in her hair. “That’s it, love. Ride me.”
The light dusting of his chest hair scraped against her breasts while she moved up and down his length. His fingers dug into her ass as he lifted his hips, thrusting upward. She laved at the muscled flesh where his neck and shoulder met.
“Mark me, Kate.”
The rough rasp of his voice shattered her control. Grinding against him, she latched onto his shoulder and bit. Worried she’d hurt him, she stopped before her teeth broke the skin.
“Oh, fuck, yes. Harder. Do it, Sunshine. Bite me. Own me.”