I swallowed thickly, my heart fluttering inside my chest like a hummingbird’s wings. He stepped forward till his thighs hit the edge of the bed. I looked up at him. He reached out a hand to cup my cheek. My brows arched up as I felt his fingers tremble slightly.

He gave a crooked smile. “I guess I’m not so confident without the booze,” he said.

“You’re…,” I licked my lips, barely believing what I would say next. “Nervous?”

He cocked his head to the side, his dark waves falling over his brow. His smile turned sad. “Pathetic, huh?”

I shook my head. “I’m nervous, too.” I fiddled with my fingers. “I was a little tipsy myself.” I offered him a grin in return, hoping that would ease his spirits.

But why am I trying to comfort him?

It was mind-boggling, but my inner wolf didn’t care. She rolled on her back and whimpered with delight.

Drake leaned over me and placed a hand on my shoulder, gently lowering me onto my back. He looked down at me, awe sweeping over his features.

I shrank into the mattress, my hands coming up over my chest. “What?”

He shook his head slowly. “Nothing…I’m just amazed at the fact that you’re as beautiful now as you were that first night I made love to you.”

I raised a brow. “Was I supposed to become ugly as I aged?” I teased.

Drake’s eyes snapped wide. “No, no.” he hurried to add. “That’s not what I?—”

I slapped his arm playfully. ‘I’m just teasing.”

A wicked grin stretched across his cheeks. “Shall I tease you back?”

Before I could utter another word, Drake lowered his head and licked up the column of my throat. A delicious shiver wracked my body. Then his teeth nipped at my ear softly before his tongue lapped away the hurt. My lips bucked of their own accord, a soft sigh escaping from my lips.

He chuckled, amused at how he’d affected me, but I was too aroused to care. Drake sat back on his heels and pulled his tunic over his head, tossing it to the floor. No alcoholic haze dulled my senses. I was able to see his body with clarity. His solid pecs were well padded with muscle, grooves, and planes dipped across his abdomen finishing in a tempting ‘v’ that dipped into the low waistband of his leather pants.

My mouth watered with moisture as I watched the smooth play of muscles roping his biceps. He curled his fingers underneath the hem of my sparkly black blouse. I raised my arms, allowing him to tug it over my head. That, too, ended up discarded on the floor. The tube top had made wearing a bra with straps impractical, so I had forgone one. Now my breasts were bare before Drake, my nipples thrusting upward under the cool air—as if they were straining to reach Drake. My sex fluttered, and my folds became slick as the thought of his mouth on my breasts sprang to mind.

My teeth sank into my lower lip, and I squirmed underneath his slow perusal.

Please stop looking at me and just touch me!I wanted to shout the words to the ceiling.

Drake pressed a kiss to my throat again, then his lips trailed down lower, skimming over my collarbone and even further down still. Breathy pants of anticipation breezed from me as he placed open-mouthed kisses along my tingling skin.

Then his mouth found my nipple, and my world burst into a kaleidoscope of colors.

His tongue flicked over my nipple, sending electric jolts shooting down my spine. I buried my hand in his hair, fisting the strands; I pressed his head down, wanting him to take me. He placed his lips around my right nipple and sucked hard. My back bowed, a cry of pleasure cresting from my throat.

Then, his hand splayed across my abdomen, the warm heat of him seeping into me. My lower belly tightened as his fingers massaged my tender flesh. He released my breast with a wet pop before his mouth found my left nipple. His hand drifted lower, slipping under my skirt. He cupped my sex, and I whimpered, arching toward him as tiny waves ofpleasure zapped through my core. His fingers slipped between my folds, rolling the little nubbin of flesh at the apex of my thighs. I huffed in ragged pants.

He released my nipple and breathed, “Stars, you’re so beautiful. You’re perfect.”

Drake whispered several more things, sweet nothings, into my ear, but I was sucked under the tide of delirium that I scarcely heard him.

“K-keep…,” I breathed, my heart thrashing against my ribs. “Keep touching me there.”

“With pleasure,” Drake purred. His fingers worked, slipping inside the moist heat of me, sending me higher toward the peak of ecstasy. And, oh, how I chased that high. I writhed under him, my hands raking through his hair, running down his back, and cupping his firm ass. I ground myself against his hand, racing closer to the edge. My breaths came out in anxious mews.

“Please let me come, please,” I cried.

Stars, I was so close.

Then he withdrew his fingers and the high I was so close to cresting deflated. I almost cried.