The Bloodgate Warrior by Joely Sue Burkhart

but the latter refused to cooperate. I scrambled up and took him inside me, pushing too hard, too quickly, but I couldn’t wait any longer. He finally growled, low and deep in his throat, but he still didn’t do anything.
    “I need your hands.” I panted, barely biting back, please . There was no need to plead, because he immediately gripped my hips. The heat from his palms seared me, but he kept the punishing strength of his fingers under control.
    “Where do you want them?”
    “Everywhere.”
    He slid his palms up my waist, around to my back, up my shoulders, but it wasn’t enough.
    “Harder. More.”
    Again, he complied immediately, digging his fingers into me. As soon as he cupped my breasts and squeezed, I exploded. Crying out, I ground against him, filled up with all that magnificent length, but it wasn’t the same.
    Nor did he find release.
    Groaning, I drooped against his chest. His arms came around me comfortingly, which again wasn’t right. Not that it was bad, not at all, just…
    “Are you still afraid of me?”
    “I’m not afraid.” Not really. “Why didn’t you come too? Am I not…”
    He cut me off with a harsh growl. “I swore to allow you to do exactly as you willed so you could take me without fear. If I must bind my desire with all my magic so that you may overcome this fear, so be it. You are my greatest dream in the flesh, Cassandra Gonzales. Why would you find yourself lacking?”
    What a way to say a dream come true. My throat tightened with emotion—tenderness, need, an overwhelming sense of rightness and belonging. This man knew me like no one alive, even though I’d seriously doubted his existence.
    If he knows me so well, then the only person I’m lying to is me.
    I pushed up on my elbow so I could see his face. “It wasn’t the same as our dreams. Not as good.”
    “No.” He stroked my cheek in a feather light touch, but his face remained neutral and non-accusatory. “But it was still sweet indeed.”
    “I don’t want sweet. I want good, damned good, the kind that makes me scream. The real you.”
    “I’m here. I’m real.”
    “I know.” I rubbed his lips with my thumb. So soft, hiding the hardness of his teeth. I shivered, a soft sound escaping my mouth that made him growl deep in his throat. One little defenseless sound from me earned more of a reaction from him than all my oral torment. “I want all of you.”
    “You don’t know what you ask, Cassie.” His arms tightened about me—protectively, not aggressively—as though he needed to protect me even from himself. “I am a creature of magic, blood and yes, violence. The dreams we shared are only the beginning of my true self revealed to you.”
    “Then show me some more.”

Chapter Seven
    Once I gave him the go-ahead, I figured he’d roll me beneath him and give me what-for. Yet he shocked me by keeping our positions exactly the same. In fact, he didn’t even change the pressure of his hands. All he did was look up at me, his eyes growing more shadowed and heavy by the moment, and my unease—and arousal—grew.
    I tried to pretend like I wasn’t freaked out by his silence. “Are you sure you can be all He-Man aggressive warrior on the bottom?”
    He smiled a slow, knowing curve of his lips. “Do you think I need to be on top to take you the way you want?”
    “How do I want you to take me?”
    His nostrils flared like he’d just scented a tasty bite of prey. Instead of answering, he asked me another question. “Have you figured out what was missing yet?”
    I swallowed, fighting to keep my gaze level with his. I didn’t want to think about it too hard.
    “Why wasn’t it as good as in the dream, Cassie?”
    I’d never heard him say my name like that. Not gentle with affection or teasing, but hard with warning and heavy with promise. He didn’t change the weight of his hands on my thighs, yet I felt the impending threat. By his tone and his words, he was building up to a full-fledged