He slapped one of her ass cheeks.

“Ow! What was that for?” She scowled at him over her shoulder.

“When I say you’re gorgeous, you don’t laugh.”

He looked dead serious. “Why not?”

He leaned over her, caging her against the countertop, one arm on either side of her. “Because you are.”

She shrugged. She knew she was cute on her good days, but gorgeous?

“Are you calling me a liar?”

She blinked. He sounded almost pissed. “Um. No?”

“Good.” He yanked her shirt off, his fingers going to her bra clasp before she could take a breath. “Your back is lean and strong, capable of carrying any burden. Just like you.” He undid the clasp and stroked the bra away, his hands hot on her skin. “Your arms can wrap themselves around a Bear most find terrifying and love him until he can’t breathe without filling himself with you.”

She met his gaze in the mirror. His eyes dared her to lie to him, to tell him it wasn’t love.

She nodded. She wouldn’t lie to him. Not ever to him.

Some of the anger leached away, warming the dark brown eyes of his Bear. He rested his palm against her chest, nestling it between her breasts. “You’ve got the most loving heart I’ve ever been privileged to know. So don’t tell me you aren’t gorgeous. Everything about you is beautiful.”

Damn. He was going to make her cry. “I’m not perfect.” She’d screw up, she always did, and if he put her on a pedestal, she’d destroy them both when she fell off of it.

He smiled. “I never said you were. I said you were beautiful. I know the difference.” He slid his cock between the folds of her pussy, getting the tip nice and damp. “You’re stubborn, but you’ve had to be to survive. You’ve got a smart mouth. Sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or fill it full so you’ll shut up.”

“Hey!”

He laughed softly and began to slide into her, filling her up. His scent surrounded her, making her feel safe and loved. “And I’ve told you not to wear these boots to work. They scream ‘Fuck me’.”

“You did not, and they do not.” He was all the way inside her now. She bit her lip and moaned at the fullness.

“I want to bend you over every time I see you in them.”

She shot him a sultry look in the mirror. He brushed her hair way from her neck and nibbled, his gaze locked on hers. His tongue snaked out and stroked the mating mark.

“I thought I had everything necessary to make me happy. I had a good job, a family who loved me and accepted me. I could go out on my Harley and see the world, and they’d be waiting for me with open arms.”

She raised a brow. She had a pretty good idea what he was leaving out. “And all the action you could handle?”

He shrugged. “What do you want me to say?” He thrust, jarring her forward.

“Once I saw you, none of it mattered.” He thrust again, driving his point home.

“Without you, I have nothing.”

She reached back and stroked his cheek, smiling when he kissed her palm. “Not true. You have everything I lost.”

He began to finger her clit, driving her toward the edge. “Remember explaining red to a blind man? Explain what a mate means to someone who has never had one. Then explain to your mate why you cherish every breath she takes.” He licked his mating mark again. “Now explain to your very stubborn mate that she is your necessity. Nothing else is worth shit without her.”

“Alex.” She sighed. She knew what he meant. He was her home, her heart. Her necessity. “I know. Believe me, I know.”

He smiled. He understood what she was, and wasn’t, saying. He bit down, throwing her over the edge into orgasm.

Her head flew back, her hands clenched the countertop. She groaned, long and low, the orgasm rippling through her. If he hadn’t clamped his hands on her hips at the last moment, she would have hit the floor.

He used that grip to begin truly pounding into her, his point finally made. He hammered her relentlessly, driving her through the orgasm and to the brink of another one.

Holy shit. The man was a machine. How did he keep doing this to her? She’d just had an orgasm so intense she thought her brain might explode, and here he was, pushing her toward another one that felt like it would shatter her world. He kept her pinned in place, his teeth sunk into her neck, his hands dug into her flesh.

One of his hands lifted from her hips to tangle in her hair, keeping her head up.

She could read what she could see of his face. He wanted her to watch what they did to each other, even if she could only see it from the stomach up.

She didn’t need to see much more than that, she could feel it. And oh, how good it felt. She reached down and began to strum her clit, chasing after the orgasm his body promised her. He moaned against her neck, his face grimacing. His fangs sank even deeper into her. She felt the tug on her hair, the pleasure/pain at her throat and exploded around him. It robbed her of breath, her mouth opening on a silent scream, the sensation so intense she almost blacked out.

He lifted his head and groaned. “More.”

Oh fuck no. More might kill her.

He licked the blood dripping from her mark. His power filled her, healing the puncture wounds instantly. “Hold on tight.”

Hold on? “Whoa!” He lifted her again, keeping her seated on his cock. He managed to get them to her tattoo chair, draping her over it. His hands landed on the padded armrests, using them for leverage.

Gonna have to disinfect the cha-air… He began to fuck her hard, groaning behind her. Her flesh slid on the slick vinyl.

“Come for me.”

Nuh-uh. No way. Too much more and she’d pass out for real.

“C’mon, baby. I know you’ve got it in you.” Flesh slapped against flesh, the sound so erotic she could feel her body beginning to respond. “God, I love fucking you.

So hot and wet, so tight. Gonna make me come, baby.”

Good idea. Tabby hid her face in the chair clenched her muscles, squeezing his cock as hard as she could.

“Oh, shit!” Bunny slammed into her and came. His arms strained against the chair. She thought she could hear the sound of metal bending and hoped they weren’t about to break anything.

He damn near sobbed as his orgasm drew to an end. “God. Love you, baby.”

She smiled. “I know.”

He kissed the spot between her shoulder blades. “And?”

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Tabby?”

She could hear the uncertainty in his voice. Even after everything they’d shared tonight, he still doubted? “Love you too.”

He sighed. “Thank you. Stubborn woman.”

She peeked through the small space where the armrest joined the rest of the chair. “We still need to clean up.”

He moved his hips, his cock flexing inside her. “One more for the road?”

She turned her head as much as her position would allow her and glared up at him.

He lifted off of her. “Fine. But your ass is mine when we get home.”

She couldn’t stop the stupid, silly grin that crossed her face.

Home. She loved the sound of that, even if home right now was a hotel room. And she loved the man who’d given it back to her.

The phone rang at four in the morning. Bunny opened one bleary eye and glared at the nightstand where he’d dropped his cell before collapsing into bed.

“Alex?”

“Shh.” He rubbed Tabby’s back with one hand and snagged his phone with the other. “Go back to sleep, baby.”

“’Kay.” She squirmed, settling back down.

He didn’t even check the caller ID before answering. “’Lo?”

“Alex? It’s Dad.”

“Mm-hmm.” Wait. Wasn’t he supposed to be with Chloe tonight? Heart pounding, Bunny sat up. “Chloe?”

“She’s awake, son.”

Yes! “Then it worked?”

“Yup. We owe Julian more than ever.” William chuckled. “Your uncle is considering adoption. Your aunt says it’s a done deal.”