Page 80 of The Lunatics

He stilled, gaze locked on me. “Because you’re worried about what it might lead to?”

“Yes.”

“You have feelings for me.”

“Also yes.”

He leaned closer and waggled his brows. “Sexualfeelings.”

This was payback from the car ride. I couldn’t help but laugh, grateful that he’d broken the tension. “Yes, Michael.Sexualfeelings. And even though the past few days have felt like an eon, we really just met. I don’t want to let the forced intimacy of the bond confuse things between us before we get to know each other.”

He leaned back on his hands, away from me. “You know me better than anyone.”

“Do I? When’s your birthday? What’s your favorite color? Where is your favorite place to ski?”

“Those are just facts. Most of them useless.” He lifted a hand and tapped the side of his head. “You know what really matters. You knowme.”

The honesty in his words reverberated over the bond. I stared at him. Well, damn. I did know him. His steady presence, his careful thought, how he selected each and every word. The way he worked to put my needs and wants above his own even as I triedto do the same for him. How he looked out for me, already cared for me. What did his favorite color really matter compared to such knowledge?

“Fine. I won’t argue with you,” I said.

He sniffed, a hint of snobbery creeping back in, but with it, a whisper of humor, so that I knew his next words were teasing. “Good. Because you’d look childish if you tried. I am very logical and intelligent.”

I grinned. “Yes. I know.”

His humor fled. “Then what’s holding you back?”

I hesitated.

“Layla.”

“I’m worried that if we jump into something romantic too soon, eventually, one of us will regret it. The bond is overwhelming at first, and only gets worse before it gets better. Previously sane wolves have turned reckless. Done things out of character that they never would have otherwise. I’ve seen it firsthand with friends and packmates.”

“And you’re worried that we’ll join their ranks?”

I nodded.

His eyes bored into mine. “Tell me, in the time you’ve known me, have I given you even the slightest indication of foolish behavior?”

I thought back to dinner with his family and how even though a torrent of anger had run beneath his calm exterior, he didn’t let it show or give in to it. Of the night we escaped his house and how his cool logic and decisive action had gotten us out of there. And then his deadly focus with the vampire.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Then trust me on this, I’m not being irrational now.”

He leaned forward and moved toward me, shoulders rolling like they wanted to realign beneath him. His eyes were a muted brown halfway between human and wolf. I froze beneath hisfocus, suddenly knowing how deer must feel when I ran them down. Michael had me cornered. He’d logicked my back against a wall. I had wanted him since the first night we met, when I realized there was more to him than detached politeness and cultivated condescension. I’d hungered for the feel of his big body beneath my hands since I’d first seen him strip off a suit jacket.

He stopped only inches away, the warmth of his breath brushing over me like a caress. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers through my hair, pushing it back from my face. “I want you,” he said. “Every part of you. All to myself. I covet your smiles. Seeing them directed at anyone else makes me want to snarl like some sort of Neanderthal.”

“Oh, good. So it’s not just me.” I’d been aiming for teasing, but the words came out breathy.

Michael’s gaze dropped to my lips. “The sight of you grabbing that vampire out of the air… I know your feelings on what happened are conflicted, but you were absolutely glorious, Layla. I’ve never seen anyone move that fast. Not even his decomposing body, your shock, or the presence of the witch could cool my ardor. I wanted to push you up against the wall of the alley and fuck you right there.”

My eyes flashed wide, heat blooming in my core. So that’s why he’d locked down the bond afterward.

I should have been repelled by the fact that Michael wanted me in a moment like that, but Goddess help me, I wasn’t. The dark desire flaring between us was an unfamiliar, base thing, triggered by a primal part of myself I’d denied for years, right along with my anger and aggression. Even my conflicted feelings over the vampire’s death weren’t enough to stop an image of what Michael described from popping into my head. Of him thrusting into me against the wall, a body behind us, the witch watching, horrified.

The heat gathered in my core spread outward, turning my limbs supple. I leaned back, welcoming, and he pushed forward toclose the distance between us. My legs parted for him. He settled between them and fitted his hips to mine, pressing my underwear against me, making it impossible to ignore the fact that they were already soaking wet. My nipples tightened within my bra, each breath becoming a divine torture as they rubbed against the constricting fabric. I was ready and aching, primed for him to shove his way into me right here on the dirt floor of the cave.