Chapter 706 Chapter 706
Deva lay there with her back facing the wall of the tent. She tried to leave enough space for Taggart if he came in, but this two-man tent was designed for two small sized men. Would he even be able to stretch out in it? She didn’t think so. She couldn’t because she’d piled everything by her feet, so there would be room for him.
She didn’t know how long she’d been in here, but it felt like sleep wasn’t going to happen. As she was debating on going back out to watch, so he could rest, he unzipped the door. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, then realized he’d hear if she wasn’t breathing. Did she fake sleeping? A second after that thought, she admitted it would be a juvenile thing to do.
Keeping her eyes closed, she listened as he got out of the suit and his jacket. She heard him run his hand over the sleeping bag to find the way in, and then he got in it.
The rustle of the material against the tent floor went on for a few seconds as he got comfortable.
When his breathing settled, she opened her eyes. He was laying facing her and was looking at her. He grinned and she realized it was probably because she looked ridiculous with the sleeping bag pulled up to just below her eyes.
“You are cold?” He whispered.
“A—” She lowered the material so what she said wasn’t muffled. “A little.” It was more the dampness, but decided she didn’t need to go into detail.
He shifted and she heard the zipper on his sleeping bag. “Come be closer. We stay warm.”
Before she could respond, he grasped the material of hers and pulled her closer. He undid the top part of the sleeping bag and put his arm around her and pulled her ever closer.
When he was done, she was laying with her head on his bare chest, his arm around her holding her against him. He was right about one thing. She was warm now.
“You leave all clothes on. Is why cold.” He whispered against her hair.
“I don’t usually camp in the snow.” His skin was so warm and his scent, she could taste it.
“You have good life. This make me happy.” He moved his hand up and down her arm.
She hadn’t thought of that. About her life with her family and the way she’d grown up. “I was lucky,” she whispered. “Many weren’t.” She had known families affected by missing members or ones that had been killed.
“Is true. Still is good you have good life with family. Family is important.”
“Even when I want to strangle my sisters, I still love them.” She smiled.
“Is violent side to you. First you want shoot Taggart. Now you strangle sisters.” His tone was light. He was teasing her.
She propped herself up on her elbow, so she could look at him. “What would you have done if I’d gone down to that tent and you were sitting up here watching me run around naked?”
He smiled. “It no happen. I be there with to run around naked. I shoot man in tent so he no see you naked.”
She stared at him for a second. “Fine. Bad example. What if it had been me that jumped off the yacht and swam to the shore?”
He searched her face for a moment. “Easy. I jump and swim with Deva to shore.”
He was infuriating and sweet at the same time.
“I can no say I take risk no more. I do no see in future so I can no say it, Deva.” He was playing with her hair as he talked, and it felt like this was something they had done a hundred times before. It was intimate, but comfortable.
She rested her chin on his chest and looked at him.
“I try to do as you ask to no—” He paused like he was searching for the words. “I want house in woods with my beauty mate. I do.” The look he gave her was intense. “But we can no stop to do our job, Deva. We can no do that.”
He was right. She may not have done great things, but he’d taken on countries to save people and get them to freedom. “I don’t want you to stop, Taggart, just—” She inhaled and got lost in his scent for a second. “I just want you to be more careful and not take chances if there’s another solution.”
“I can do this. For you, I do this.” He grasped the back of her head and shifted so he could kiss her.
His mouth was gentle, giving her little kisses like he was testing if he should kiss her wholly. Deva turned her head and stretched up so their mouths could touch fully. She didn’t know if it was him that changed the temperature of the kiss from warm to hot, but she didn’t care either.
The pressure varied with each movement, and somewhere in that he had rolled to his back, and she was on top of him now. His lips demanded and she complied. Her tongue challenged his and he accepted. When he broke the contact, both of them were out of breath.
“Take off shirt. Is warm.” His voice rasped.
Deva lifted her weight from him, and he grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Bare flesh on bare flesh sent heat through her. She moved down and kissed his collarbone. She could feel the ridges of his scars and kissed her way along them. They weren’t ugly to her. They were just part of the man that had proven he was a survivor. When she reached the one across his throat, he hissed out a breath and then grasped her waist and rolled so she was on her back.
She tried to move but was trapped in the twisted sleeping bag.
“Is too many materials.” He said something else that sounded like cursing, but she couldn’t be sure. He lifted his weight and tugged the sleeping bag while she shoved it down.
There was no pausing to see if they’d accomplished it. As she was pushing it out from between them, he leaned down and licked his way up from her belly to between her breasts. He was saying something in his own language that sounded sexy, so she hoped no words were required on her part—because she couldn’t think past his mouth on her skin.
Her cat was going crazy inside her. She wanted Deva to claim him. Mark him. Right now.
Taggart’s teeth scrapped against her throat, and she grabbed a handful of his hair so he couldn’t move away. He growled against her skin, and the vibration ignited her whole body. He nipped her neck hard and then lifted his head.
“In my country men no mark mate. She mark first.” His accent was thicker, and voice was deeper and it took a few seconds for his words to register. He gave her such a heated look, that she was surprised she didn’t catch fire.
“It’s the same here.” She could barely form words.
“Is good.” He kissed beside her mouth and then along her jaw. “You tell Taggart if you want him. Cat does, but what about lady?” He rolled again, and so he was on his back.
Was that a question? Her brain wasn’t working. Her mouth was full of sharp teeth, and she knew her cat had already decided. Deva grasped his hair and pulled his head to the side, and then scraped her teeth along his shoulder. Taggart growled but didn’t move. She licked the side of his neck and then moved back to his mouth. “Yes.” She whispered and hoped it was answer enough.
She kissed him, and her tongue moved over the sharp teeth in his mouth. He returned her kiss with intense passion as his hands worked her jeans over her hips. Deva stopped and pushed them to her knees, then pulled her legs free. It was then she realized he hadn’t just taken off his shirt, he’d taken everything off.
She paused on her hands and knees above him and looked at his face. There was no gentle, sweet expressions looking back at her. He looked like a predator and it surprised her that he could just lie there resting his hands on her knees lightly. He was controlling himself much better than she.
“You no have to do if you no want.” He whispered in barely clear English.
Her cat moved through her. Normally, Deva only made decisions when she was calm focused and made sure it felt right. Her animal usually went with that.
Right now, if Deva didn’t hurry up and decide, she was afraid it would be her animal straddling this man and not her. Leaning down, she kissed him. He returned the kiss, but his hands only flexed against her knees. It dawned on her that he might be afraid he’d lose control if he touched her.
Her cat went completely still, and Deva understood she was letting her be in control of this. Breaking the kiss, she lifted her head and looked at him as she reached down and then lowered herself onto him.
He clenched his teeth and sucked in a breath, but he was not going to take control of the situation. Her legs were shaking as she fought to stay still. Leaning down, she nudged his head so he’d turn it, and then she whispered. “I accept you as my mate, Taggart.” She bit into his neck without hesitation.
Taggart growled and then grasped her waist tightly. As soon as she moved her mouth from his flesh, she was on her back again, and he was moving in and out of her with slow thrusts that collided their bodies in just the right way.
Deva hooked her feet behind his knees, altering her position so he could go deeper.
He began talking against her ear, and she honestly couldn’t have cared what language he was using as he rocked her closer to the edge.
“Is no word good enough in all tongue for this.” He rasped and then kissed her neck roughly. He reached down slid his hand under her hips, and lifted her. “My mate.” He growled, and then his teeth pierced her skin.
She moaned loudly. Remembering where they were, she turned her head and bit his arm so she wouldn’t scream as she went over the edge.
Taggart removed his teeth from her flesh and then kept licking over the bite. It caused cascading ripples of aftershocks to go through her. She panted, trying hard to breathe and couldn’t speak to tell him how it felt.
“Now—” He paused to breathe for a second. “We do again. With no so many pausings.” He kissed her lightly and then started moving once more.