Change of Heart

carrying what I realized was a long-sleeved button-down shirt for me to put on. After I slid my arms into it, he wrapped it around me. "But I'm not sorry." I heard the amusement in his voice as I received a kiss on the back of my neck. It still ached but no longer felt as though a hot dagger had been driven into my flesh. I buttoned up my jeans and turned around. When I looked up, I noticed him watching me, his gold eyes glittering.
    "What?" I smiled at him.
    He shook his head before motioning me forward. "Kiss me."
    I walked into his arms and wrapped mine around his neck, drawing him down. I slid my tongue over his bottom lip, and he opened for me, the sigh rising up out of him, his breath 145
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    warm in my mouth. I let my tongue explore him as I claimed him. The noises he made deep in his throat, the way he kissed me back, ravenously, the way he pushed against me, clutching at me, all of it told me that he was right where he wanted to be. When he lifted his lips, pulling away just barely, his mouth hovering over mine, I felt him shiver hard.
    "You should see your eyes."
    I lifted up, slipping my tongue back into his mouth, and I tasted him again, savoring the feel of his trembling reaction to me. The need there in the low moan, his fingers digging into my back, the way he held me in his arms, molding me against his big, hard body—all of it spoke to his desire. When I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, I broke the kiss to take in some air.
    "I can smell me all over you." His voice was hoarse, full of raw need.
    "Is that a good thing?"
    "Oh, fuck, yeah." His eyes were absolutely molten.
    I took a step away from him since the air between us was thick and hot.
    "I think now we should take a shower."
    He was already acting like I belonged to him.
    "C'mere," he said, closing the small distance between us and slanting his mouth down over mine. The kiss was possessive and hard, his hand fisted in my hair so I couldn't move.
    The way he manhandled me, the way he kissed me, I had to be careful, or it could easily become all that mattered.
    When he pulled back, I just stared up into his eyes.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    After several long, silent minutes, he smiled slowly, the corner of his mouth curling seductively. "What?"
    "Your eyes are really beautiful," I told him.
    Instantly his hands were all over me. He bumped my chin up with his nose and kissed my throat before he bit it gently.
    "You are the beautiful one... my mate... your eyes... so gray... they get dark and smoky when you look at me." His voice was like honey.
    My heart fluttered.
    "We need to go to your place."
    I felt like I was under water.
    "And get all your stuff."
    "Wait." I tried to clear my head, which was hard when he was so close to me. "I can't just—I have a landlord and a job and...." Defending my life to him made me realize how insane I had been for thinking I could just walk away from the new family I had at work. My boss, my friends—running out on any of it was crazy. Why was my first instinct always to run?
    "You're cute when you're flustered."
    I needed to get my bearings, and he wasn't letting me.
    "Let's go get your stuff," he repeated, not asking, telling.
    It was endearing and annoying at the exact same time.
    "Listen, I just think we need to slow way down," I said, taking several breaths before I slipped around him, backing up away from him.
    "Do you?" he said, following fast, allowing me no personal space. He touched my hair, brushing it back out of my face, running his fingers through the length of it to where it fell 147
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    around my shoulders. "After what you just allowed, you want to slow down?"
    How could I explain what had happened when I wasn't sure myself? It would be hard to tell him that I never did anything crazy or dangerous when it was all he knew of me. I was careful, never reckless except where this man was concerned. For my mate, I was wild.
    "God, you're thinking so hard," he chuckled, bending to kiss my forehead, my eyes, my nose, and finally my mouth.
    When he sucked on my bottom lip, I lifted up into him and into the kiss. The sharp sound of someone barking out his name from the other room made me jerk in his arms.
    Instantly, my heart was in my throat.
    "It's alright," he soothed me as he went to the door and leaned out.
    I waited, and when he stepped back in, he told me that he had to go downstairs. There were people he had to talk