A guy kissing her neck.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” He asked just before his tongue swirled around that spot where her neck and her spine met. Her knees almost buckled, but she stopped by reminding herself that the guy wasn’t human.

Her fingers dug into the wood. “Is this really the time for you to get horny?”

“Sorry, shifting does that to me. Shifting and you.”

No, no, no! He wasn’t going to get away with being charming now. “Mace—”

He cut her off. “I’ve wanted you since Mr. Shotsky’s biology class.”

Unbelievable. A naked freak has her slammed up against her own closet door so she can’t get to her gun, but some trite bullshit about ninth grade had her creaming like a porn star. Exactly what was wrong with her? And could she pass it on to any children she may have?

Mace’s hips pushed up against her, and she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning. “Christ, Dez. I wanna fuck you so bad, my whole body hurts.”

Okay. She had two choices here. She could tell Mace what he wanted to hear. Get free and splatter pieces of him all over her nice wood bedroom furniture. As human she could probably use her .9mm on him.

Or…she could be honest with the big idiot.

“Mace…” She took a deep breath. “If you let me go now, I’m going to blow your brains out.”

Mace didn’t move. He barely breathed. This was the moment. This. Right now. If Dez really wanted him dead, she would have lied her ass off to get away from him and…well…blown his brains out. Instead, she warned him. Warned him that if he let her go, she’d kill him.

Okay. The woman had completely confused him. And how he handled it from here would decide everything for them.

“That’s kind of a problem, baby. Me being partial to breathing and all.” He nuzzled her neck and her heart started beating faster, but he didn’t smell fear. He took that as a good sign and decided to barrel forward—slowly.

“Why don’t we do this…” He slid one arm down her body, feeling the soft skin under his fingers. “Let’s get rid of all this unnecessary paraphernalia. Make it easier for us to have a civilized discussion.” He grasped Dez’s holster with her .9mm in it, pulling it off her jeans and with practiced aim tossed it to her dresser across the room. It landed with a rather loud thunk, and Dez’s body jumped next to his. But he still didn’t smell fear. He smelled something else altogether.

Lust.

He lightly kissed the tip of her ear. “Any other weapons, Dez?”

Her forehead resting on the door, she muttered, “You don’t expect me to answer that honestly, do you?”

He leered. “I guess I’ll have tocheck then.”

“Guess so.”

Mace slowly dragged his hands down Dez’s arms. He used every ounce of his self-control to not rip her jeans off and start fucking her from behind. A sudden move like that could blow it all. Dez trusted him. Trusting him even though she knew he wasn’t human. Not completely. That meant more than he could ever say, and he wasn’t about to ruin it by being…ya know…a guy.

Dez closed her eyes as his hands slid down her body, across her breasts, lingering for a moment at her nipples, which caused her entire body to convulse. Damn sensitive nipples. Every time her ex had touched them, she practically ripped his throat out. That wasn’t the response she had with Mace, though. She wanted him more than she ever had before. And she’d wanted him a lot before. Yet knowing he was only partially human had changed everything for her. She dealt with humans every day. Every day she found herself disgusted and appalled by their bullshit. Trusting human-Mace seemed like a stupid idea to her. She didn’t trust, understand, or really even like humans. She knew what they could do. The damage they could cause.

Animals, though, were all about survival. Mating, hunting, feeding—simply keeping their species alive. They didn’t hurt each other out of spite. They didn’t humiliate others to make themselves feel better. When they hunt and kill it is only for food, and they never do anything morally reprehensible to the corpse afterward. Dez understood animals. She always had. Now she understood Mace, and that made all the difference in the world for her. He was the first man she could ever truly trust.

Although that particular thought made her want to pass out.

“You stopped breathing again, Dez.” She let out the breath she had been holding. “Good, baby. Keep doing that and you’ll be fine.”

His hands slid around her waist and he crouched low, bringing them down the outside of her legs. He found her secondary weapon in an ankle holster and a small blade strapped to the other ankle. He took those and tossed them on the dresser.

He returned to his crouch behind her. “Spread your legs,” he ordered. She caught that moan before it could pour out of her mouth along with the potential begging that might follow. Silently, she complied.

Mace slowly dragged his hands up between her legs, his right hand sliding between her thighs and pushing against her crotch. Her whole body jerked like someone attached a live wire to her. She knew she was wet. Now he knew it, too, if that very primal grunt of satisfaction rumbling up from his chest proved anything.

He rubbed his hand against her crotch, and Dez dug her short nails into the closet door. “Anything else I need to be on the lookout for, Dez?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she shook her head.