Willow claimed his mouth again, biting his lips, sucking his tongue deep into her mouth. His hands cupped her ass and squeezed before her back slammed into a wall. Willow couldn’t wait any longer; her sex was wet with need, her heart pounding like thunder.

He pulled back from her mouth to unbutton his jeans but Willow slapped his hands away to do it herself. She cupped his hard cock through his jeans, loving the hard thick length as it more than filled her palm. She stroked him up and down once before sliding his zipper down and pulling his thick erection out.

He felt even better in her hand, blazing hot and smooth as silk. She tightened her fist over him and dragged her palm up and down his shaft.

“Willow.” It was a warning, and she loved it.

“Lyonis.” As if she’d given him some kind of permission he yanked her pants down until they drooped around her ankles, then cupped her ass, lifted her back up, and speared her with his cock.

They both moaned as he filled her up, stretching her wide and filling her deep. He gave her no time to adjust before he was filling her again and again, slamming in hard and fast. Willow’s ass beat against the wall and she didn’t care. She fisted his hair again and slammed her mouth against his. He bumped some deep part of her, pushing her closer and closer to exploding.

She was insanely wet, making their sex noisy as he pressed in and out. His thick tongue thrust in her mouth in time to his thrusts and soon she was being fucked everywhere by him. Willow couldn’t stave off her orgasm. It boiled up and toppled over too fast for her to catch it.

Tearing her mouth away from his, she screamed as her orgasm ripped through her with astonishing speed. Muscles rippled and trembled, her sex milking his cock as he tunneled through her. Lyonis was right there with her. He buried his face in her neck on a groan, and then his teeth clamped down on her neck as he slammed in deep and held himself there.

Willow cried out again as she felt him shooting hot and deep inside her, pouring his seed into her. She rocked her hips back and forth on him trying to wring out every drop from him.

As their blood cooled, Lyonis slowly pulled out of him with a wet pop. He dragged his lips up her jaw and kissed her, his lips playfully. Willow felt lightheaded, elated. That is until he spoke.

“Mate with me.”

Shock stunned her. It was the first time he’d ever asked her and not demanded it or prophesized it like it was ordained to happen. He cupped her jaw and looked into her eyes; there was no escape.

“Please, mate with me. I want you more than anything. I crave you more than I ever thought possible. I need you, Willow. Please say you’ll be my mate.”

Willow’s mouth opened and closed as she quickly thought of what to say. As if seeing her denial, he rushed on.

“I promise to care for you, to love you. I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy. Just say yes.” It was as close to begging she’d bet he’d ever got. And Willow couldn’t bring herself to say yes.

Her mind raced with the possibilities. What was worse, the idea of mating with him wasn’t nearly as scary as it once was. Worse, a part of her jumped at the idea.

He pressed his forehead against hers and Willow softened even more. He would be great to her. She knew that.

But David said the same thing. Willow stiffened in his arms and fought until he put her down.

“I’m sorry but I can’t.” She couldn’t meet his eyes as she pulled her pants back up and pulled her shirt down. Her cheeks were flaming red and her stomach twittered with nerves. He didn’t answer for a long minute.

“Why don’t you think about it?” Willow’s heart did something surprising then. It rejoiced. She pressed a hand over it to control it. God what was wrong with her? Was she really considering this?

“Look at me, Willow.”

Slowly she dragged her gaze up to his. His eyes never ceased to make her think: beautiful. A lovely light blue like a clear sky yet brighter and more vivid.

“Promise me that you’ll at least think about it.”

Willow nodded before she could stop it. He hugged her tight. For a moment, she couldn’t believe she was actually considering it. But then it wasn’t that surprising. She actually...liked him.

“Just remember what I said.” He pressed his lips to hers one more time then left the room.

Willow collapsed against the wall, her heart roaring in her ears. She looked down at the ground and found the brown paper bag. Picking it up she pulled out the pregnancy test kit.

Her heart skipped a beat as she pressed a hand to her flat stomach.

“Are you in there?” she said softly.

She leaned back against the wall, her throat tight, and a strange excitement inside her.

“Jackie, wait up!” Jackie pretended not to hear him.

It didn’t work. Thane rounded on her, backing her against the wall. Quickly she threw up her hands to keep him away. A lot of good that did. He looked at her hands with laughter in his eyes...as if they could keep him away. He slapped them away and leaned into her, one big arm resting by the wall at her head.

“You’ve been running from me for days now. Why do you think that is?”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “I haven’t been running from anything. I’ve been doing this thing called work. Maybe you’ve heard of it?” The corner of his mouth tilted up. It gave her the distinct felling he didn’t believe a word that just came out of her mouth. Funny, neither did she.

“Little liar. You can’t act like the other night didn’t happen.”

She sighed. “Nothing happened as far as I’m concerned. Why don’t you back the hell up? Stephanie’s waiting in the office to get interviewed. You know...by us.”

Jackie used all of her strength and pushed his shoulders in a hard shove. He went stumbling back and she strutted away towards the office. If he thought she was some untrained free bitch, then he was wrong—and stupid. She was as well trained as he was.

Booted feet pounded after her. “We’re going to talk about this.”

“No were not,” she said quickly.

“God dammit, Jackie. We have to.”

That stopped her. It wasn’t what he said, but the desperation in his voice, something she’d never heard from him. Slowly turning around, she crossed her arms. She’d need every ounce of defense against him.

“Alright, go ahead.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it. As he fumbled around for words, he combed a hand roughly through his long black hair. Jackie followed the movement. She’d never thought much about his hair before. Sure she’d thought it was nice looking, but now it was different. She’d actually touched it in her bare hands. She’d gripped the heavy strands, which she now knew were soft as silk, long enough to wrap around her hand several times.

She blinked as she realized he’d said something.

“Sorry, what?” His eyes darkened in a way that sent butterflies scurrying in her belly. He started towards her. Jackie told herself to back up, but she was glued in place. He caught her against him. His arms so strong and long they seemed to cover her up completely.

“I said...you know what this means.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Jackie considered lying. Yeah, she did know. But did that make anything better or right? Nope. He pressed his face into her hair, then his lips found her ear and she couldn’t stifle the shiver that wracked through her—it happened too fast, too startling. “

Say it, Jackie. I want to hear you say it.” Jackie was practically shaking in his arms. Her cheeks were flushed but not from embarrassment. There was a roaring fire building in her body. She’d never heard his voice sound like that—as if touching her brought out his beast, as if he could barely control himself.

She took an unsteady breath. “No.”

He laughed the sound dark and erotic as his hands gently traced over the contours of her bottom. Her eyes slid shut and she waited anxiously for him to grab her hard and bring her close. But he didn’t. He continued to barely caress her, lightly cupping her in caressing strokes, teasing her with the possibility of his touch.