Page 53 of Red Zone Awakened

“Hey!”she protested while trying to push up from the bed.

“Settle.”He held her shoulders to keep her in place as his mouth found her neck.

The scent of the grapefruit bodywash she’d used seemed out of place.Grapefruit wasn’t her scent.She was made for night flowers—jasmine and gardenia.Scents that screamed sultry nights and long, slow, sweaty sex.

“Mace,” she complained, struggling to get out from underneath him, to remain in control.

“Yeah?”He teased her neck with his tongue before nibbling her earlobe.

He felt her body melt.Heard the low moan from her throat.That was more like it.

Mace trailed kisses along her jaw and down her neck, where he nibbled at her shoulder before gently but firmly biting at the tense muscle he found.A needy groan escaped her as she writhed beneath him.She was melting into the bed now, so Mace relaxed his hold, keeping her there as he moved down her back—kissing, nipping, licking.

Her spine was sensitive.He’d noticed that in the nightclub when they danced.Every time he’d caressed her spine or pressed his hand to the small of her back, she’d shivered and moved closer.While swirling his tongue down the delicate line of her spine, he moved his hold to her hips.They were tiny, just like the rest of her.So small and yet so formidable.Around her, he felt like an ungainly bull—all brute strength and lack of finesse.But shelikedhis strength, his size.It turned her on.And he could live with that.Even better, he could use it to make her fly.

Clasping her hips tighter, he gently pushed her deeper into the bed, watching as her fingers curled into the white cotton comforter.With a smile, he rubbed his chin back and forth against the small of her back, letting his stubble rasp her skin.

“Mace!”she gasped, pushing up into him.

That was the sound he wanted to hear.More desperate, less commanding.

His hands covered her behind, kneading the alabaster globes as he kissed and nibbled at her lower back.

“Mace, do something,” she wailed.

“I am,” he breathed against her.

Kneeling beside the bed, he grasped her waist and easily flipped her back over.Her wet hair was wild, sticking to her cheeks, obscuring her view.She batted it out of the way with an irritated lack of focus because her attention was on him.

She glared down her body at him.“What are you doing?”

“A crap job, apparently, because you still seem to think you’re in charge.”He shook his head as he spread her legs.

“Oh.”Her eyes widened.

“I was about to say, yum,” he rumbled at the sight of her pretty pink petals waiting for him.

Instinct had her trying to close her legs.Mace just held on tight, grinning before pressing his mouth to her core and inhaling the heady perfume of her need—for him.

Mine, his subconscious growled as he tasted her.

Ours,his other half whispered in agreement.

Mace knew he should examine their reaction to the woman laid out before him like a feast, but he couldn’t.His mind was on Keiko.On the small sounds of desire and desperation she made as her hands threaded through his overgrown hair.

So she wanted to forget?A reprieve from the stress and grief?Well, he’d ensure she couldn’t even remember her name by the time he was done.

And it would be his pleasure.