Page 97 of Protect Me
His expression twists with pain, and he says, “I promised myself then and there I would never do that to my mate. If I was ever lucky enough to find her, I’d never leave her alone like that.”
“Killian.” I reach for his hand and squeeze it.
He stares down at it as he continues. “The hardest part was waiting for my dad to return so I could give him the news. When I did...it was fucking awful. He lost it. Quit working. Started drinking. He died six months later. I swear. I think the fucker died of a broken heart. Losing his mate was too much for him.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I threw myself into work after that. It was the only thing I was good at.”
“And that’s how you met Duncan?”
He grins ruefully. “I got hired to take his ass out.”
“What? You were supposed to kill him?”
“Something about him being on a revenge mission of his own. Whoever hired me was scared they were next. Some ex-sniper asshole. Anyway, it didn’t take me long to find him, but then I realized he was a lion shifter like me. I’d never met another one, and I was curious, so I cornered him. Was ready to fight him with my bare hands—or claws—just to see what he was made of. You know, have some fun with him.”
“Right. Because killing is fun.”
He chuckled. “Didn’t take more than a few minutes for us to realize neither one of us really wanted to kill the other. We’ve been friends ever since.”
“That’s incredible.”
“Yeah, I think it made me start to believe in fate or something again. Like, when I lost my parents, I thought the whole Universe was a fucking asshole. But after I met Duncan, I realized maybe there was a bigger plan for me. Something that led me there.” His eyes gleam with meaning, and he says, “And here. To find you.”
I melt a little at his words. He stares at me with so much adoration and awe that I can feel it emanating from him. And I can’t sit here without holding him any longer. Sliding out of my seat, I come around to stand in front of him and wrap my arms around his waist, tucking my head beneath his chin.
“What’s this for?” he asks, hugging me back.
“For telling me who you are,” I say.
“It doesn’t scare you?” he asks.
“Nothing about you scares me, Killian.”
He hugs me tighter after that. For once, it’s not about sex or endless flirting. In the silent embrace we share, there is connection and acceptance that go far beyond the physical. And in this moment, I think I might love him—I think I might love them all.
* * *
Thirty minutes later,I’m out of the shower and getting ready for rehearsal. Killian stands in the doorway, his gaze on me as I slip into a pair of shorts. The seriousness from earlier is gone, and in his eyes is the familiar gleam that I’ve come to recognize as dangerously horny. “It should be a fucking crime to cover up such perfect skin,” he says.
I turn around to face him, noting the way his gaze drops to my still-bare breasts as he bites into an apple. His chest is bare, every inch of tattooed, pierced flesh on display, and the low-slung sweatpants he tugged on earlier are doing literally nothing to hide his growing erection as he watches me dress.
He takes a bite of the apple he’s holding. Fuck, I want to be an apple. “And it should be a crime to look as good as you do, yet here we are.”
“You think I look good?” he asks as he crosses into the room, apple in his hand. He reaches me then leans down and presses his lips to mine. Sweetness from the fruit dances on my tongue as heat burns my flesh. “How good?” he whispers against me.
I lean in closer, brushing my pebbled nipples against his chest. Then, I slide down his body until I’m on my knees. I look up at him as he takes another bite of the apple then grip the waist of his sweats and tug them down to free his hard cock.
Killian’s gaze darkens though he takes yet another bite out of the apple, and somehow the fact that he’s eating it makes this feel even more erotic. I swirl my tongue around the head of his cock, licking up the drop of precum on his slit.
He moans.
I close my mouth around him and suck him in deep, feeling him all the way at the back of my throat and then still needing to wrap a hand around his shaft so I can make sure every inch of him is being pleasured.
“That’s right, baby, don’t stop. You hear me? Stop for fucking nothing.”
Right as he says it, the door opens then closes.