Mia hadn't run screaming for the hills. Last night proved that she had the mettle to stand at his side, and not only that, but she actually cared for him, despite his curse.
I love you, she'd whispered in the dark of night, as if that made revealing her secrets safer. He knew she was scared of opening herself up, but so was he.
"You're starting to freak me out." Mia tapped his shoulder playfully. "You're staring at me like I have two heads."
Adam swallowed slowly. "I'm staring at you because I just realized that I love you."
Her lips parted in surprise, then she smiled.
"I want you," he admitted. "I want a future with you, and everything that comes with it. I've always wanted a wife and children, but I don't think I wanted them for the right reasons—I wanted a smokescreen, not a family of my own. Or maybe that was tied up in it, hell if I know.... But you. I want you for myself. For the real me, both man and monster."
"Stop calling yourself a monster."
He shook his head. "We can't pretend it doesn't exist, Mia. I'm done pretending."
Those gorgeous brown eyes narrowed. "This Cane sounds like a monster. You're just a man with a beast riding beneath his skin. Words matter, McClain. Call it your beast, or the warg within, but stop calling yourself a monster."
"Adam," he argued. "I want you to call me Adam."
"That's not the point. You're...." Mia looked flustered again, her eyelashes fluttering as she peered down at him shyly. "Adam."
A word full of intimate meaning. Of longing.
He'd never heard his name sound like that on anyone's lips before. It was something a man could get used to.
Catching her up under the hips, Adam twisted until he could lay her flat upon her back on the blankets beneath him. Cradling himself between her thighs, he looked down at her, drinking her in as if to imprint the sight of her on his memory.
"Still sore?" he whispered.
"Maybe a little," Mia replied, then dragged his head down for a heated kiss. "But there was something you said about my lips... and your cock?"
Mmm. Sounded like heaven.
* * *
"Hello!"
The voice jerked him out of the pleasure of the aftermath of Mia's tender destruction of him. Adam started, then realized it was Sage, standing courteously behind the rock overhang that hid them from view.
"Are the pair of you decent?" Sage called.
Mia erupted into a sudden laugh, her eyes warm with scandalous need. She'd just come up from under the blankets. "No! Don't you dare come around that corner."
"Okay." There was a hint of laughter in Sage's voice. "I guess you worked out that argument brewing between you and McClain. Just letting you know I'm cooking breakfast if you want some. Then we need to hit the road. There's still no sign of pursuit, but some of the others don't want to tempt fate. That general might still be out there somewhere."
Mia looked down at him, sliding a pair of fingers over his mouth. Adam bit them, then smiled up at her. He flipped her over onto her back, then started working his way down her body.
"Tell her I won't be needing breakfast. I'll have already eaten," he whispered, and licked his way south of her navel.
Mia's eyes widened, and she dragged the blanket over his shoulders as he vanished lower. "Be right down, Sage!" She curled up on her elbows. "Don't you dare!" she whispered at him, shooting a shocked look toward the rock wall her sister stood behind.
"Yeah, right," Sage called, but he could hear her footsteps vanishing into the distance. "Just don't be too long."
Smooth, silky brown skin.... She was beautiful. And he could scent her wetness, smell how eager she was for him to touch her. Eager forhim.
"McClain," Mia scolded. "We need to...oh."
Adam took his time worshipping her. Every last lick of her sweet pussy notched her a little tighter.