“Of course you do,” he said with a chuckle. “I hadn’t connected.” He cupped the back of her neck, rubbing her soft skin with the ball of his thumb. “Everything you’re saying is very sensible. We’ll take all the time we need in order to be sure. And I realize I have no idea what I’m really talking about. I’ve smiled at babies. I’ve held one or two. But I have no real concept of what it would be like to raise a small child. Even with all those qualifiers in mind, I’m drawn to this, Melly.”

Her expression softened. “I guess a lot will depend on the next year and what we end up deciding to do. If you truly want to go back to rule the Nightkind demesne, and I’m committed to going back to making movies, we might end up with too much of a commuter lifestyle.”

He shook his head. “Now you’re coming up with obstacles that don’t need to be there. If we want to have children, we should try to have children, and we’ll work out the rest. You could take a break from making movies for a couple of years, and I don’t need to go back into a situation that has danger lurking around every corner. I may not know much about children, but I do know one thing – they don’t stay young and small for long.”

“That’s true.” As he massaged her neck, her head drooped and her eyelids grew heavy.

Watching her beautiful face, he whispered, “Do you want to go clean up the kitchen now?”

Languidly, she shook her head. “No. But I am hungry.”

He started to smile.

She wiggled down his body until she came to the fastening of his jeans. As she unzipped him, he drawled, “Are you going to grab on and start sucking again?”

She snickered, her expression filling with mischief. “Yep. You got a problem with that, soldier?”

He was already so hard for her, his cock ached. “I can’t imagine ever having a problem with that,” he growled. “Just so we’re clear.”

He lifted his hips so she could tug off his jeans. Earlier, when he had slipped out to go fishing, he hadn’t bothered to pull on boxers, and as he kicked off his pants, his full erection bounced on his abdomen. Sitting, he pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it after the jeans. Then he propped one foot on the floor, parting his legs.

“Mmm,” she murmured as she looked up the length of his nude body. It was such a satisfied little sound, he had to grin. Spreading her flattened hands against his abdomen, she rubbed up and out in a wide, sweeping caress that encompassed his torso.

Then she entwined her fingers with his, urging his arms down by his side. Intrigued and aroused, he complied, watching her ravenously as she shackled his wrists with her hands.

The silent reference was unmistakable. His mind flashed back to pinning her on his bed while he sucked and licked between her legs. The memory caused him to growl underneath his breath even as he angled his hips so that she had better access to him.

It was the gentlest of sex games, getting inside his head and playing off his memories. She couldn’t hold him in place if he didn’t let her.

He let her.

Lowering her head, she began to lick, kiss and nibble at the skin of his flat abdomen. His muscles tightened as the sensation ran all over the surface of his body. She moved all around his cock, which lay distended and aching on his stomach, but she never focused on it. Instead she focused everywhere else.

Because of the angle and movement of her body, she still ended up touching him. Her cheek came into contact with the hypersensitive skin at the head of his erection. Then her jaw brushed against the shaft. A lock of her hair fell forward over her shoulder and tickled at his balls, which had drawn up tight in anticipation.

Every glancing caress made him hotter, harder. When she rubbed her nose affectionately in the dark hair that sprinkled his torso, he hissed, “Come on, get on with it, damn it.”

“Hold your horses,” she said against his skin.

Tension vibrated through his arms as he fought conflicting urges. He needed to break free of her hold, sink his hands into her hair and demand that she take him in her mouth.

But he also needed to subject himself to her desires. She gave him the gift of her compliance when his need for dominance took control. He would do no less for her.

She felt his struggle in his body’s response to her. Angling her head, the dimple in her cheek appeared as she gave him a naughty smile. “You’re still such a sexy beast, your majesty. Sexy and beast – two of my favorite things.”

The sight of her pulled him out of his preoccupation with his growing urgency.

She looked so happy. The sight fed all the dark places inside him. Tugging gently with one hand, he silently asked to be freed, and her fingers loosened.

He ran his fingers along her cheek and stroked her soft, smiling lips. “I adore you, you know,” he told her quietly. “Just so that we’re clear.”

Adore. What an exotic, extravagant word. He couldn’t remember ever saying it to anyone before.

Her smile deepened. She pressed a kiss against his erection, and it flexed in reaction. She whispered, “I adore you too.”

Lowering her head, she licked around the sensitive edge of the broad tip. His indrawn breath was clearly audible in the peaceful silence of the cabin. With a small, contented sound, much like a purr, she grasped him at the base and took him in her mouth.

She still held one of his wrists. Turning it in her grasp, he took her hand and rubbed her fingers. With his free hand, he stroked her hair.

Liquid fire cascaded along his nerve endings as she worked him. Opening her throat, she took him all the way in. She was such a generous lover. She used her lips and tongue with single-mindedness, creating a wet, tight suction and rhythm that made him crazy. Gasping, he gave up on control, fisted his hands in her hair and raised his head to stare at her as he pumped into her mouth.

The pleasure quickly became too intense. He pulled her head up.

She made a disappointed moue. “Hey, I was busy with that.”

But he had lost his sense of humor.

“Come here,” he muttered. As she changed course and readily shifted up to him, he drove his mouth onto hers, plunging as deep as he could with his tongue. The fire she had lit in his veins wouldn’t let him slow down.

With a heave, he flipped them so that she landed on the couch while he sprawled on top of her. She gasped at the drastic change, her hair flying in her face. While she shoved the curls out of the way, he stripped off her soft, loose pants.