Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 532(@300wpm)
Which was not a sentence she had ever expected to apply to her life.
“Careful,” Severin murmured
“Ravik won’t let Cassie fall,” Ravik rumbled behind her.
“Yes, well, thank you both,” Cassie said, trying to ignore the warmth of Ravik’s palms through her thin nightgown and the careful pressure of Severin’s fingers at her arm. “While I appreciate not face-planting into the lizard-sex mattress, maybe we could all take a breath?”
Ravik immediately pressed his face to her hair and inhaled deeply.
Cassie closed her eyes.
“That was not an invitation to sniff me.”
“Cassie smells good,” he rumbled. “Smells right.”
“I know. You’ve mentioned that.”
The strange thing was, as soon as he breathed her in, she felt the tension in his body ease. His hands loosened at her waist. His chest brushed her back and the low, restless growl in his throat faded into a sound almost like a sigh.
Severin saw it too—she knew he did because his expression changed, sharpening with that intense scientific focus. But he didn’t say anything, which was smart. Because if he said the words “scent sample” right now, Cassie might shove him off the bed. Not that she actually could, since the bed filled the entire room but still…
“Let’s get settled,” he said instead. “We need to find a good, er, position.”
The bed was so large that it should have been easy to find a place that didn’t feel intimate, but somehow the opposite was true—maybe because the warm bedding gave under her knees and the amber lights made everything feel soft and secret. Or maybe because the walls were literally carved with alien mating scenes which she was trying very hard not to look at.
Cassie crawled toward the center because there was nowhere else to go, feeling ridiculous and exposed despite the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. She was certain she was flashing her behind at both of them since she didn’t have any panties on, but neither warrior said anything.
Ravik followed immediately, staying so close behind her that his hand brushed her hip every time she moved. Severin followed more slowly, looking as dignified as a six-foot-six Blood Kindred could look while crawling across a giant Visskous sex bed—which was to say, more dignified than anyone had a right to look, Cassie thought.
Ravik, on the other hand, had no dignity whatsoever. He simply dropped onto his side of the bed—the left side—and reached for her.
“Cassie sleeps here,” he rumbled.
“Cassie has not agreed to a location yet,” she corrected him.
He patted the space in front of him.
“Here. Here is good. Here is warm and safe for Cassie.”
She looked at Severin who looked at Ravik, then back at her.
“I think he’ll rest best if he can hold you from behind,” he said apologetically. “That way he can breathe your scent without restricting your movement too much.”
“Restricting my movement at all is not really a phrase I want to hear when I’m about to go to bed,” Cassie pointed out.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
The look in Severin’s pale blue eyes was sincere and his apology that actually sounded like an apology—not like a man saying words so she would shut up like Mitch and Sskarth so often had. Cassie couldn’t help liking that.
She sighed.
“Fine. But if he starts anything—”
“I’ll stop him,” Severin said at once.
“And if you start anything?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
His eyebrows rose in response.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. And my eyes are up here.” She pointed to her face.
Severin’s gaze—which had drifted down to her breasts, probably because they were jiggling with every movement of the mattress under the three of them—rose quickly to her face. A faint flush touched his high cheekbones.
“I will not start anything, Cassandra,” he said, frowning. “You have my word as a warrior and a male of honor.”
“Well, thank you.” Cassie nodded but a part of her was imagining what it would be like if he did start something. He wasn’t as big as Ravik—who was practically a mountain—but he was still head and shoulders taller than her. Also, she’d heard from friends aboard the Mother Ship about the ecstasy of a Blood Kindred bite and his fangs looked awfully long and sharp right now. What would it be like to have him bite her and inject his essence—which she’d heard caused instant orgasms?
Stop it, Cassie—stop thinking like that, she scolded herself. What’s wrong with you anyway? I thought your sex drive was dead?
Well, she’d thought it was dead—or at least that it had gone into a coma. But being between the two big Kindred and smelling their warm, spicy scent seemed to be reviving it in a big way.
Ravik patted the bed again.
“Cassie,” he rumbled. “Come sleep.”
“All right, all right. I’m coming—keep your pants on. I mean that literally, by the way,” she added.
She lay down carefully, keeping the blanket clutched around her as best she could. The bed was warm beneath her—not just soft, but actively warm, like the mattress was heated from below. It should have felt strange, but instead it felt wonderful against her exhausted body. Every muscle she owned seemed to give a sigh of relief at the same time.