I remained still as a large hand rose from my hip to my breast. His calloused finger tickled, stroking with a barely-there touch that caused my nipples to bead as though they reached for his attention. “I don’t know why I’ve been blessed like this,” he murmured, his finger trailing up my chest to my chin. I lifted my gaze to find his own waiting. “But I’m certainly not going to let them know they’ve fucked up.”

Tempted to smile, I found I couldn’t when his touch reached my cheek. My eyes fluttered closed, his fingers whispering over the curve of my cheekbone. When they opened, his lips parted, and his brows lowered. “Beautiful,” he rasped.

I’d felt what it was to be adored. More so, I’d known what it was to have declarations given so often that I hadn’t realized it wasn’t the quality of one’s words that mattered.

Until now.

Until this wolf collected my body to his as if needing it for more than just a satiating of his arousal—as if he needed to tell me all he was feeling without words.

As if words were not enough to describe it.

My arms looped around his neck, and his mouth fused to mine as he carried me from the bathing room. He didn’t take us into the bedchamber. He lowered before the fire he’d built upon our return to the cottage.

“Your lovely ass will get cold,” I warned, inhaling his scent at his collarbone and shivering when his hands feathered down my sides and up my back. My legs tightened around his waist, his cock nestled against my stomach.

He kissed my shoulder. “It’ll quickly warm up.”

I laughed. “Will it now?”

He hummed and pressed me tighter against him, and for some minutes, he simply held me. The gentle adoration of his fingers and hands over my body both liquified and thickened my blood. I melted against him though I was growing restless, murmuring, “Are you going to fuck me?”

“Soon,” he grunted.

Frowning, I lifted my head from the crook of his neck to stare at him. He smirked when my eyes narrowed. “Hungry, wildflower?”

I brushed a thick strand of hair from his face and traced the violent edge of his cheek as I tucked it behind his ear. “I’m not quite sure what I am anymore.”

Growing wholly still, he watched me intently while my eyes and fingers explored his cruel beauty. After a minute, he relaxed beneath me. “Is that a bad thing?” he belatedly asked.

I paused at his mouth, and his lips parted when I smiled and ran my finger over his lush bottom lip. “It doesn’t feel like it.” Laying my forehead against his, I skimmed my lips over his cheek. “I’m wondering if that’s all that matters.”