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for grabbing your ass, and watching you break his finger all on your own. And you fighting with Lucius over…something or other. He was a dangerous, rough man, but you weren’t scared of him.”
    “Lucius got his way by bullying people. If you stood up to him, he’d usually give in.” She drew in a shaky breath. “It wasn’t my usual crew, but they were good men—even the grabby ones. And now they’re gone.”
    The urge to take melted into the need to soothe and pet. He stroked her back and tangled his fingers in her unfettered hair. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
    “No. I was the one at the helm.” Her lips brushed his ear. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
    “You were shot down by bloodsuckers. The only reason you’re alive at all is—”
    The memory crashed into him. Panic. Fire. Men scrambling across the deck as ropes snapped, tilting the airship so sharply that one sailor pitched over the side with a scream that went on forever.
    Paralee murmured something and smoothed her fingers over his brow. “You pulled me from the wheel when we started to list. Wrapped your arms around me and told me to hang on to you and not let go.”
    “That’s how it happens sometimes.” His voice sounded hoarse, distant, even to his own ears. “The mating, I mean. There’s usually a powerful lust there already, but the need to protect can trigger it.”
    “Then I guess that’s when it happened.” She fell silent, then laughed softly. “I thought it meant you’d be humping me constantly. If anything, I’ve been the aggressive one.”
    “That’ll change soon enough, love.” Tomorrow, by sunset, he’d fall on her like a madman unless she seemed utterly uninterested.
    “The new moon.” She eased back and met his gaze squarely. “I’m not frightened, Merrick. If you’re worrying about that, you can rest easy.”
    It eased part of his worry, but not all of it. “Not frightened is a far cry from eager.”
    She released him, and her belt clicked as she unbuckled it. “You can rest easy about that too.”
    Maybe lust hadn’t retreated as far as he’d thought, not when he needed no encouragement to slide his fingers around her body and tug at the buttons on her pants. “Are you going to let me feel how eager?”
    “Yes.” Paralee kissed his jaw and the corner of his mouth, then pulled her camisole up over her head. “Touch me.”
    He couldn’t decide where to touch first. Freeing two more buttons allowed him to inch his fingers down the front of her trousers, but her hardened nipples seemed sorely neglected. Urging her back, he closed his lips around one firm peak before working his fingers low enough to find her clit slick and ready.
    She grabbed his hair and rocked her hips into his touch. “Oh, fuck.”
    “That’s right, sweet girl.” He gave her a hint of teeth, a tease of what was to come, then focused his attention on the heated flesh beneath his fingertips. “Do you want my fingers inside you?”
    “Yes.” Her hoarse whisper rasped through the stillness.
    Not enough. He wanted the words on her lips. The pleas. “Yes, what?”
    “Fuck me with your fingers.” She wiggled on his lap and sucked in a sharp, hitching breath. “Make me come.”
    Awkward at this angle, but he savored the challenge. He’d fucked women in odder positions just for the novelty of it, but this time it had nothing to do with the challenge or the victory. Just his own unwillingness to let go of her, even for the time it would take to turn her around.
    Besides, she was so damn hungry for him, she might not give him the chance.
    Sliding his hand lower, he worked his fingers just inside her cunt, teasing her with penetration as he kept the heel of his hand rocking against her clit.
    Paralee whimpered and angled her hips down, taking his fingers deeper. “You don’t exactly play fair, do you, darling?”
    He locked an arm around her waist and trapped her in place in spite of her squirming. “Not even a little.”
    “As