“Cassidy.” Diego slid all the way inside, resisting closing his eyes as she squeezed around him. He wanted to see her face. “Beautiful.”
Her eyes flicked back to the deep jade green he was falling in love with. She was hot inside, so damn hot. He’d never met anyone like her.
When he thrust in again, Diego lost his tight control. He squeezed his eyes shut and just felt her, her body so soft under his, sweet hot sin on his bed.
Cassidy forgot how to breathe. Diego closed his eyes and turned his head, water from his hair dripping to her shoulder. He was heavy on her, his strong body enclosing and overwhelming hers.
She loved it. His mattress was firm on her back, his long, strong body hot on hers. Diego was inside her, and he fit just right, as though he belonged there and always had.
Cassidy wanted more of him, and more and more. She begged shamelessly with her body, arching into him, running her fingernails down his back. He smiled, opening his eyes to look down at her again. Cassidy loved his eyes, dark enough to drown in.
The heat she’d felt in the shower tightened even more on her heart and fanned out through her body. It was hottest where they joined.
This shouldn’t happen. Can’t happen.
But it was, and her heart and body sang with it.
Diego smiled at her, his eyes wicked and warm. He kissed her, swallowing her next gasp.
Slow thrusts grew faster. Then faster. Diego kissed her face, her lips, her neck. Cassidy’s hips moved to meet his, sensations flooding her. All thought shut down. There was nothing in the world but her and him, their heat, this feeling.
Body on body, skin sliding on wet skin. Diego inside her, part of her, the craving to be joined with him—forever.
“Mi ja,” he whispered. “My beautiful, beautiful Cass.”
His warm voice brushed liquid syllables over her. She’d loved his voice since the first time she’d heard it.
Diego couldn’t get enough of her. That little smile, her green eyes, the scent of her body, the feel of her around him. This was right. This was home.
Thought dissolved into frenzy. Nothing existed but feeling. Cassidy’s softness, her squeezing him so hard, her bare foot teasing on his leg. Breasts beneath him, hot mouth, scent of her desire, hips rising to meet his.
Never stop, always be here. With Cassidy. With the woman who should be his. Now and forever.
Words came out in Spanish, the language of his heart. “My love, my soul. Always mine. Always, Cassidy.”
No more words. Their bodies met and melded, kisses turning to fire. His blood burned. He wanted all of her, more and more. Mindless. Feeling. Mine!
Diego’s body shot the last of his frenzy into her. She moaned, moving with him, just as frenzied.
Diego wanted to stay inside her forever, but he settled for lying on top of her and gathering her against him. She breathed a sigh and smiled at him.
The smile was full of warmth, of caring, Cassidy who’d come to save him from himself. The darkness that had dogged him and eaten at his heart had eased somewhat. Because of her.
Diego knew, as he kissed her again, that he had to have this woman in his life. For always. No matter what he had to do to get her there.
They made love twice more, and at the end, Diego was as awake and alert as he had been when they’d started.
Cassidy drowsed though, and he let her, liking the way she looked curled under his sheets. Diego finally rose, quietly so he didn’t disturb her.
He did a quick rinse off in the shower, tucked a towel around his waist, and went out to see what he had in his kitchen. He should offer her chilled champagne, but he’d be lucky if he had a couple of Coronas in the fridge.
The noise he heard was soft, impossibly soft, but it raised every trained sense he had. Someone was outside.
Diego quietly closed the bedroom door, cutting off the glare of the bathroom light he’d never turned off. In the living room’s darkness, he crept to the window and looked out.
His front door led to a small outside balcony that served as a doorstep for his apartment and the one next door. Open stairs ran from it down to the parking lot. At the bottom of the staircase, a shadow flitted into view and then almost instantly vanished.
Diego moved noiselessly across the living room, set the two beer bottles down on the counter, went back into the bedroom, and picked up his gun from the dresser.
Cassidy propped herself on one elbow. “What is it?” she asked sleepily.
Diego’s heart beat swiftly, both with adrenaline and at seeing the beautiful woman he’d just had sex with rising from his sheets.
“Someone outside.”
“Oh.” Cassidy lay back down. “It’s just Kyle, one of Eric’s trackers. He’s here to protect me. He and Brody.”
Of course. Eric, rightly so, wouldn’t have let her leave Shiftertown without them, not with Reid running around loose.
Diego put the gun back into its holster on the dresser. “How did you get in here, anyway?”
He hadn’t cared when she’d suddenly appeared in his bathroom—it was enough that she was there—but he was calm enough now to be curious. The front door had been firmly locked when he’d entered the apartment.
Cassidy smiled, a wicked, tempting smile that made him want to crawl right back into bed with her.
“Kyle, the Lupine, is very good at picking locks. But he won’t be coming in. I took his lock picks away from him.”
“Devil.” Diego turned off the light in the bathroom, shut the bedroom door, and came to the bed. It was warm under the covers with her. “Tell me something. Why is Brody one of Eric’s trackers but Shane isn’t? Or is he?”
Cassidy pulled Diego into the comfortable nest with her. “Shane is Nell’s second. There’d be a conflict of loyalty if Shane worked directly for Eric.”
“But not if Brody does?”
“Brody’s lower in the bear hierarchy. And Eric has one male from each Shifter family working for him in some way. It’s another way he keeps the peace between species.”
“Your brother is too damn clever for his own good.”
Cassidy shrugged. “He’s a good leader, and he makes use of all his resources.”
Of which, Diego realized, he himself now was likely one. But he didn’t want to talk about Eric and his trackers. “Come here,” he said.
Cassidy put her arms around him, and Diego held her close. He drew a long breath and let it out. “I killed a man tonight,” he said.
Cassidy started, then she stroked his back, soothing. “Oh, Diego. What happened?”