Natural-Born Protector / Saved by the Monarch by Carla Cassidy

minutes the last of their clothes were gone and they began to explore each other with hands and mouths.
    Hank wanted to take her fast and furious, not giving himself time to think, time to breathe, but with a surprising sense of command she set the pace…slow and leisurely and excruciatingly intense.
    Her mouth moved down his jaw and neck, down to his chest and he gasped as every muscle in his body tensed. The silky strands of her hair teased him at the same time her warm lips tortured him.
    He was only willing to be a passive participant for so long. He wanted to taste her skin, to hear soft breathless moans escape from her lips.
    He rolled her over on her back, taking command of the situation. His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs grazing over the tips, and she mewled with pleasure.
    He captured one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking and rolling his tongue around it. She tangled her hands in his hair, pulled him closer, closer still, as if afraid he might stop.
    His blood surged thick and hot as his hand moved down her stomach and touched her intimately. Gasping, she tightened her hands in his hair. When his fingers began to move against her, rubbing in a rhythmic pattern, she arched her hips up to meet his touch.
    His excitement rose as she writhed and moaned with pleasure. Every muscle in her body tensed as her moans grew louder, higher pitched and then she cried out and shuddered.
    Gasping breaths followed as she reached to encircle his hardness with her hand. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look into hers, not wanting to emotionally connect in any way. He wanted to keep this all about the sex, all about the simple act of physical release. He didn’t want to want Melody. He just wanted to want the warmth of her body, the uncomplicated sex act without baggage.
    He gasped again as she stroked the length of him and he throbbed, barely maintaining control. As if she knew how precariously close he was to losing it, she removed her hand from him and instead reached across him to pick up the foil packet from the nightstand.
    He took it from her, knowing that if she touched him again he’d explode. It took only seconds to pull on the condom then he crouched above her, between her thighs and entered her.
    Her midnight-blue eyes drew him in as their gazes locked. In that moment the deep, painful loneliness that had plagued him for the past two years ebbed and for just a moment an edge of happiness fluttered inside his chest.
    With that flutter came a crashing sense of guilt and he slammed his eyes closed and gave himself to the physical sensations her wet warmth evoked in him.
    Her fingers clutched at his back as he plunged into her and all civility fell away as he took her with hunger and demand.
    Meeting him thrust for thrust, she was wild and abandoned beneath him, raking her fingers first across his back and then grabbing his buttocks to pull him in deeper, harder.
    The tension inside him built to impossible heights and the last of his control slipped away at the same time she cried out and tensed beneath him. Knowing she’d climaxed, he allowed himself to let go, a hoarse groan escaping him as his release crashed through him.
    He collapsed to the side of her, his heart pounding more ferociously than he could ever remember. His breaths began to slow at the same time as Melody’s and within minutes their breathing had returned to normal.
    She rolled over to her side and looked at him. He knew he should say something, but an awkward silence grew between them. She finally broke it. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.
    He smiled. “I’d say I’m more than okay. What about you?”
    She returned his smile. “I’m more than okay.” Her smile fell slightly as she continued to hold his gaze. “This was probably a mistake, wasn’t it?”
    “Why do you say that?”
    She sat up and clutched the sheet to her chest, a frown dancing between her eyebrows. “I need you as a friend and as a support in trying to find