His brows drew together. “Angel?”

In answer, she plunged her fingers into the heavy thickness of his hair.

“I have wanted you from the moment I saw you in the doorway of my lab,” she confessed in soft tones. “I didn’t know what hit me.”

His soft chuckle brushed over her cheeks, his eyes darkened to indigo.

“Trust me, the feeling was entirely mutual.” Holding her gaze he slid his hand down the flat plane of her stomach until he could unfasten her jeans. “I tried to convince myself that you were just a part of the job, but I knew from the beginning I was lying to myself.”

Her body felt as if it was on fire as he expertly rid her of her remaining clothes. Then, still holding her gaze, he slid slowly downward. The rub of skin against skin made her shiver with excitement.

His lips touched the base of her throat before moving to her collarbone, tracing the delicate line with the tip of his tongue. Only when she was clutching at his broad shoulders did he allow the teasing kisses to travel down the curve of her breast.

“You’re so warm,” she whispered.

“All Sentinels run hot.” He shifted just enough to capture the tip of her nipple between his lips.

“Oh.”

She nearly came off the bed at the avalanche of sensations rushing through her body.

He was good at this.

Really, really good.

While his tongue and even his teeth pleasured her nipple, his hand slid down the curve of her hip. Angela squeezed her eyes shut, allowing herself the pleasure of exploring the broad width of his back, relishing the feel of silken skin over hard muscle.

She was growing lost in the surge of building sensations when his fingers encircled the back of her thigh and tugged her leg over his hip.

Her eyes widened as she felt the hard thrust of his arousal press against her most sensitive spot. She’d expected him to roll her onto her back, not to remain on their sides.

“Like this?”

He smiled at her hint of surprise. “We can do it anyway you want, but I’ve wanted you for a very long time. This seems . . . safer.”

“Safer?”

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m several sizes larger than you.”

Her own lips twitched. “Yeah, I’d noticed.”

His smile faded as he studied her with an oddly somber expression even as his fingers drifted up and down the back of her thigh, the light touch sending shocks of excitement through her.

“I’m also a Sentinel, which means my strength can be hazardous if I’m not careful.”

She held his gaze. “I trust you.”

His eyes briefly closed, as if her soft words had touched something deep inside him. Then, lifting the indecently long lashes, he met her gaze with a stark need that pierced straight to her heart.

“I’ve never wanted a woman like I want you, angel,” he said, his voice husky. “I can’t be entirely certain of my control.”

That newly discovered thrill of power flared through her. She didn’t know how she’d ever managed to capture the interest of this astonishing, sexy, compelling man. But for once she wasn’t going to allow her self-doubts to ruin the moment.

Angela leaned forward, nuzzling the corner of his sensuous lips.

“I’m certain.” She kissed a path along his knotted jaw and then the strong column of his neck, addicted to his intoxicating taste. “You would never hurt me. Not intentionally.”

He sucked in a deep breath.

“No, I would never intentionally hurt you.”

She slowly kissed a path back to his lips, her hips rubbing against him in blatant invitation.

“No more talking.”

Framing her face in his hands, he claimed her lips in a kiss that she felt to the tips of her toes. Oh . . . yes. She shivered with pleasure, her mouth parting to allow his tongue to tangle with hers.

Drowning in the heat of his devouring kiss, she stroked her hands over the hair-roughened skin of his chest. A delicious excitement curled in the pit of her stomach as he tugged her leg higher on his hip, the tip of his cock sliding through her damp clit.

She hissed in pleasure, her nails digging into his chest.

Easily sensing the growing urgency of her desire, Niko pulled back, his face strained as he struggled to maintain control of his spiraling desire.

“Angel, I can’t wait,” he rasped. “I need to be inside you.”

His rough voice sent a flare of aching desire through her.

“Yes,” she breathed, shuddering as his fingers drifted over the curve of her hip.

With infinite care he explored the tender skin of her lower stomach before heading ever lower.

Angela muttered her approval as he covered her lips in a hungry kiss, but even distracted she gave a strangled groan when his seeking fingers stroked through her damp heat.

“God, you feel good,” he muttered. “Are you ready for me?”

Ready?

Hell, she’d been ready for weeks.

Another stroke or two of those clever fingers and she’d be reaching paradise alone.

“Please, Niko,” she muttered. “Now.”

His low hiss filled the air, his erection pressing eagerly against her damp heat.

“Next time,” he muttered.

She blinked in confusion. “What?”

He gazed deep into her eyes, a thin layer of sweat coating his face.

“Next time I intend to spend hours pleasuring you.”

A sly smile curved her lips. “Or maybe I’ll pleasure you.”

“Oh, shit.”

His control snapped.

Just like that.

Reclaiming her lips, Niko’s hands shifted to her lower back and with a forward thrust of his hips he was entering her in one sure stroke.

She gasped, but not from fear.

Exquisite pleasure blazed through her and she pressed her face into the curve of his neck. She’d never done anything but the traditional missionary position. Now she realized that the current arrangement allowed her to feel every slow stroke into her before he was retreating and returning with a slow, insistent thrust.

“Niko,” she breathed, feeling overwhelmed.

It was more than the extraordinary bliss of feeling him moving deep inside her. It was the sense of intimate connection with this man that went beyond the physical.

“I knew it would be perfect,” he whispered as he continued his measured pace. “I knew you would be perfect.”

“I never realized.”

“Never realized what, my sweet angel?”

“That this could be so—”

“So?”

“Life altering,” she breathed, her body moving in perfect rhythm with his.

His low laugh echoed through the air with an unmistakable satisfaction.

“You belong to me now,” he vowed.

Belonged?

If she’d been in her right mind, she might have protested the possessive comment.

But instead she arched her back as her body began to tighten with a shimmering anticipation. His steady, unrelenting pace was stoking an inferno deep within her that threatened to combust.

“Angel,” he breathed, giving her leg a tug higher as he angled his hips upward.

His slight shift was enough to press him even deeper within her and with a shocking force the tension that coiled between her legs abruptly shattered into a thousand pieces.

She cried out and wrapped her arms around his neck as he gave two more deep thrusts before he was reaching his own climax.

She held on tightly as they both struggled to recover from the explosion of sensations, their ragged breaths the only sound to stir the air.

Chapter Seven

Niko ran a shaky hand down the damp skin of Angela’s back, his face buried in her apple-scented hair.

Man, he ached to press her even closer to his trembling body. To hold her so tightly she would never be able to escape. But even now he feared he might accidentally crush her.

She was so fragile. So vulnerable.

The knowledge frightened him on a primal level that threatened to make him do something extremely stupid.

Like lock her in his rooms at Valhalla and never let her out.

Something that this fiercely independent woman would most certainly protest.

“You’re quiet,” he at last murmured, lifting his head to study her with a searching gaze. She’d never looked more beautiful with her hair tangled around her flushed face and her lips still swollen from his kisses. But he was a Sentinel. He didn’t miss the hint of unease behind her air of sleepy satisfaction. “Are you having regrets?”

“No.”

She used her finger to draw an aimless pattern over his chest, seemingly unaware that the light caress was enough to kick his libido into overdrive. Of course, just being close to this female was enough to send his libido into overdrive. Or catching her scent. Or seeing her across the room . . .

He swallowed a groan, grimly leashing his insistent desire.

This wasn’t a fleeting afternoon of delight.

This was the start of eternity.

Together.

He needed to know what was going on in that clever, always unpredictable brain of hers.

“What is it, angel?”

A brief hesitation. “I was just thinking that we don’t really know much about each other.”