Chapter 587 Chapter 587
She wanted to close her eyes, but her cat managed to get her opinion in on it and she wanted the bear in front of them. “So, you want to do this?”
“Do you?”
All she could hear was the two of them breathing. Accepts you kept playing on repeat in her mind. Her brows furrowed, “are you going to kiss me or what?”
“Kissing I can do that; it’s the or what part, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Don’t expect a user manual from me.”
He smirked, “of course not.”
She bit her lip and looked at his mouth, “just do what feels right.” She lifted one shoulder and let it drop, “we’ll see if this works.” It sounded shallow the way she’d said it like it was a tryout for some position or something. Her brain wasn’t working with her right now and her cat, well, she was all for team bear.
“Do you expect it not to work?” He rested her chin between his thumb and finger, she could feel the warmth of his hand cover the whole side of her face. “We’ve been staring at each other for over a week now.”
Had it been that long? She didn’t even know what day it was. She hadn’t slept since meeting the man, and now he wanted all these answers she didn’t have. “This,” she gripped his forearm, “talking now, is not necessary.”
He leaned down, and she could feel his breath on her mouth, “what if I want to tell you what I want to do to you before I do it?”
She could taste him, and her cat wanted in on it now, “or-or you could just do.”
“You’ll tell me if I need to do more or less?”
“Mmhm,” His mouth brushed against hers, barely a whisper of a kiss. Her cat wanted to bite him. Shit. Leaning back, she looked up at him, “if um we’re doing the whole deal—you know that involves bites, right?” She was really going to do this. And then what? Take the half-breed home to meet her folks? That was never happening.
He pulled off her hat and worked the tie out of her hair, “I’ve seen them on the others. It’s an important part?”
His fingers threading into her pulled-back hair sent shivers over her body, “yeah, it is. It’s uh,” she licked her lips, “basically like a wedding band, but very permanent.” He leaned down, and she felt his breath on her neck, she tilted her head to the side, “so, you need to make sure you want that because it doesn’t wash off or anything.”
Griffin straightened and looked down at her, then clamped his teeth together and rolled his lips back. “I can’t call on animal teeth to do that.”
Blaise’s cat was trying to come out through her chest to be near the man. “You don’t know you can’t.” She ran her tongue over her teeth, checking to make sure her cat would at least let her run their body. “Whatever is meant will be, Griff.”
“That would make a good greeting card.” He grinned.
The man had a warped sense of humor, how had she missed that? Oh, yeah, because she’d been running like her tail was on fire. “Griff?”
He cupped her face in both of his large hands and for the first time in her existence, Blaise felt like one of those tiny women. “Mmm?”
“You need to kiss me.” Stick with the facts; suited her and her cat just fine.
“You stopped me to explain about bites.”
She nodded as best she could when her face was sandwiched between his big paws, “now you know.” Her cat moved through her. Shit. “Oh yeah and there’s another part.”
“What other part?” He grinned, “the part I don’t know anything about?”
She smirked, “no, uh, you can’t touch me until I mark you.” She shrugged her shoulders, “it’s so the woman has control, and the decision is hers.”
He leaned down, pressed his mouth gently to hers, then dropped his hands away and straightened up, “after what I’ve witnessed, I agree, one thousand percent.”
Blaise blinked and then looked him up and down, “I didn’t mean right this second. I meant,” she flapped her hand in the air, “when we get there.”
His grin was quick as he moved and pulled her closer to him. “This is awkward.”
She frowned, “we haven’t done anything yet.”
“Not that,” he tilted his head to the side, “I still don’t know how to drive this new-sized me.” He gripped her waist in his large hands, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” Her cat was ready to come out and bite him, so he’d shut up and do something.
“Can we take off your weapons? I don’t think getting stabbed would be very enjoyable.”
“Shit.” She stepped back and undid the belt for her holster, then reached down and undid the strap around her thigh. She held it out, and he took it, then she went to work pulling the various knives out. Back, hip, thigh, she bent down and pulled one out of her boot, then paused, trying to remember if that was all. Nodding to herself, she turned and set them on the table and then looked down to make sure she’d remembered everything.
“Only four?”
She shrugged, “the rest are beside my seat, too uncomfortable to wear them while driving.”
“Of course,” he smirked and then sobered quickly. “My bear is being weird.” He rolled his eyes, “well, weird for him.”
Blaise nodded and moved back to stand in front of him, “my cat wants out to claim you.”
He raised an eyebrow, “but she’s not coming out, right?” He motioned between them, “this is between us, with only two legs, right?”
Blaise snorted, “no, she’s not. Some things I’m definitely in control of.”
“Good to know.” He put his hands on either side of her face and leaned down and brushed his mouth over hers, “I like your taste almost as much as the way you smell.”
“Mmm,” she really didn’t want to talk all the way through this. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head back down to kiss him again. His kiss was slow and gentle, and she was okay with that, for now. She didn’t want to rush him and make him self-conscious about his lack of experience, but she wouldn’t be able to do this if the speed didn’t accelerate. He cradled her into his body. They fit together like no one ever had with her, making her cat come closer to the surface.
As the kiss deepened, she could taste blood and it set her on fire. Reality hit her and reminded her that blood meant someone was bleeding; she pulled her mouth from his and ran her tongue across sharp teeth. “Sorry, she’s not behaving.”
Griffin licked the blood from his lip and held her look. “I’m not bothered by it. Quite the opposite, actually.” His voice was deep and husky and vibrated through her.
She grabbed a hand full of his hair and pulled his head back down while walking backward and hopefully aiming them for the sofa she’d seen by the window. When her foot hit something, she broke the kiss. It was the bags she’d brought in. “Truck is wide open out there.”
“Are you concerned about it?”
“We don’t want our stuff taken.”
He straightened up and glanced at the window, “you figure there’s a lot of traffic out here?”
She knew there wasn’t; half the roads on the way here hadn’t been traveled in days. “No.”
“Is this you having second thoughts?”
Blaise cocked her head to the side and looked at him, that sounded like coward to her ears. She shook her head, and then her cat was so close that her vision changed, and she knew she was looking at him with eyes that were more her feline’s than her own. Her cat was done waiting, and there was nothing Blaise could do to persuade her to behave.
Grabbing the side of his open jacket, she pulled him toward her, then turned and used her foot to pull his. He stepped back and then sat on the couch. Blaise followed him down and straddled his lap. She shoved his jacket to get it off him.
“Go close the door.” He sat forward and worked the jacket off.