“Could you grab that for me?” she asked, pointing at a can of diced tomatoes.

He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I’ll grab anything you want me to, Miss Shepard.”

She laughed and whacked him with the spoon in her hand. “I’ll thank you to keep your mind on the food, Mr. Thorpe.”

He moved in, and she could feel his body close against her back. His hands settled on both sides of her, trapping her between the counter and his body. “Don’t worry, I always think of my appetite when I’m around you.”

Her breath hitched and then he stepped away with a chuckle, far too pleased with himself. Suddenly, her breasts ached, and her body thrummed with need. Maybe if they finished dinner early, they could run back to the room. Thoughts of the night before rushed through her mind. His touch. His tongue. His arms holding her so close.

Flushed, she worked on the lasagna with Noah’s help. Halfway through the prep, they moved almost silently, side by side. He started handing her things before she even asked for them, and they fell into a comfortable harmony.

She spread the first layer of sauce in the pan, and he watched her, his chest flush with her back.

“Smells good,” he murmured in her ear.

The noodles went on next, a thin layer. “Hand me the ricotta?”

He reached to the side and then slid the bowl to her. She grabbed a handful of the mixture, while his hand caressed her bare shoulder softly.

She shivered. “That’s not helping, Mister.”

Soft, his lips brushed the back of her neck. “I can’t help it. The lasagna smells so delicious.”

“Then why are you smelling my hair?” Her voice was breathy and weak, but she didn’t care. Not if he’d just keep doing that.

“You smell even more delicious.”

She threw the rest of the layers together in a warm daze, barely noticing if they were in the right order. She pushed the pan into the oven and then went to the sink to rinse off her hands. The clock hanging above the stove revealed that there wasn’t a lot of time before dinner. An hour, which was just long enough for the lasagna to cook. Dammit. No time to run back to the room. It was at least a ten minute round trip, and she really needed to stay by the oven, just in case.

Noah disappeared into the living room. A few moments later, his arms came around her again, and his body pressed even closer than before. His frame lined her body, barely close enough for her to feel him, all of him. He pressed a kiss onto the bare skin of her shoulder.

“We don’t have time to run back to the room,” she said, her whole body screaming at her to make the time. “I have to take the foil off in twenty-five minutes or so.”

His body pressed closer, and she could feel his erection on the small of her back. “Who said anything about the room? I locked the front door.”

She felt her hair slide off to one side, and then his lips and tongue traced their way up her neck. His touch was so soft, but it sent shocks through her body, and her stomach clenched in need.

“But—”

“I need you. Now.” His teeth nipped the muscle between her shoulder and neck softly and she couldn’t remember what she was going to say. She shuddered against him, and his hands traced her sides. With one quick motion, he spun her around, and then his mouth was on hers.

When he’d kissed her before, there had been a hesitancy, at least at first. But now, all uncertainty was gone. He kissed her with force and passion. His tongue dipped into her mouth and warred with hers. His clever, clever hands roamed over her body, massaging and caressing. Pinching and grasping.

Every thought that tried to form kept slipping from her. This wasn’t right, part of her mind insisted. People make food in here. But somehow, the location, the knowledge that someone with a key could easily interrupt them, stoked the fire within her even more. Brought her to the point of desperation.

One of his hands slipped under her shirt and bra, and he slid his thumb over her nipple roughly. His other hand gripped her ass, pulling her hard against his body. She slid her hands up to his neck, then to back of his head to tug on a handful of his hair. His hunger infected her, and she writhed against him, feeling herself already slick with need.

He set her on the counter, which still held a few ingredients she hadn’t put away. But she ignored them as his hands roved over her again. One slipped between her legs, and she was so glad she’d worn a skirt.

“Noah,” she gasped out when he touched her heat.

He leaned back in and kissed her, softer this time, as his hand stroked her. He slipped under her soaked panties and pushed a finger into her.

“Oh,” she cried out against his lips. It was all almost too much. Too erotic. Their almost public location. His roughness and obvious need. His disregard for anything but being with her, right then and there. Her body cried out with need.

Noah stepped back, taking her underwear with him. He tucked them into a pocket and gave her a wicked grin. Then his hands were on her again. She pressed her hands onto the counter behind her, supporting herself, as he pushed down her shirt and bra with one hand, revealing her right breast. His other hand slipped down to stroke her again, and she felt herself at the brink so quickly it was almost embarrassing.

He watched her as he touched her, and she closed her eyes and threw her head back, unable to meet his intense gaze for too long. It was like he could see her—really see her. Every weakness she tried to hide, every insecurity beneath her surface. And it left her feeling open and raw. Disconcerted, but so needy she almost didn’t care.

He leaned in and nipped her neck again.

“You’re so wet, Alice.” He shuddered against her as his lips brushed the vein in her neck.

Suddenly, she could practically feel it. His teeth sinking in her neck as his cock thrust into her body. She yearned for it so painfully. The words were on the tip of her tongue. Not an insult. A demand.

Bite me.

The urge to sink his fangs into her thrummed in his mind, so powerful he had to pull away from her neck, even as he pushed two fingers into her body and pinched her nipple before rubbing away the sting.

Her mouth was slightly open, and her eyes wide, filled with passion. Her lips were swollen from his kisses. And there was such want in her expression that he could almost fool himself into thinking she knew what he wanted from her neck.

She moved as if to speak, but stopped as his rhythm increased, moaning instead. He needed to see her, needed to make her come. Needed to watch her break apart around him, even more than he needed to taste the sweetness of her blood.

He leaned down and licked her, sucking on her sex even as he fucked her with his fingers. She yelled out and he reached up with his free hand to cover her mouth automatically. No matter how much he wanted her here, in this very nearly public place, he didn’t actually want anyone to walk in on them.

The orgasm shook her body, and she bit his hand, hard. He glanced up, and seeing her teeth sunk into his skin almost pushed him over the edge.

He yanked the condom out of his pocket and then pushed her back onto the counter, knocking off a container of ricotta and a mostly empty can of tomato juice. Her hands moved over his body and gripped him through his pants. Fire shot through him and he groaned against her lips.

He wanted so badly to sink his fangs into her. Could almost taste her blood, so sweet on his tongue, mixing with the taste of her arousal. Her blood rushing into his mouth as he fucked her.

Damn.

He’d nuzzled her neck again, but pulled away as she tried to tug him closer. With her help, he shoved his pants down, just far enough to put the condom on. Then he crawled onto the counter with her. She pushed his pants down farther so she could grip his ass.

“Fuck,” he muttered, trying to get his cock into place.

“A little more challenging than a bed.” She chuckled and kissed him.

She wrapped her legs around him and he pushed into her. Two thrusts, and he could feel her tightness wrapped around him. So warm. So wet. So tight. Fucking paradise.

He stopped there, taking a moment for the sensation to sink in. Reveling in how perfectly they fit together. He’d been so fucked up after that phone call. After he’d decided there was no way out of the wedding. And that not telling Alice the truth of it all would be leading her on. Lying to her. But when she looked at him with her face so full of concern and caring, he came to a realization.

He needed her.

Not just for the short term—during this cruise—but as a real part of his life. Her smile filled the dark corners of his heart in a way he’d never experienced, not once in his very long life. And if you couldn’t take a chance on someone like that, what the hell could you take a chance on?

It was all too soon, he knew that. Too soon to talk about forever. Too soon to make promises. Too soon to spout his feelings like a lovelorn teenager.

But part of him wanted to.

And he knew, no matter what else happened, he wasn’t going to lose her. He would get out of the wedding. Somehow.

She moaned beneath him and urged him on, her hands gripping his ass and her body writhing against him. He moved, thrusting and touching and coaxing more from her. And with her abandon, she pushed him to the edge.

“Come for me, beautiful,” he gasped out, his thumb moving on her most sensitive place while he drove himself into her, barely able to hold on enough to remember she was human. That he could hurt her if he wasn’t at least a little careful. His mouth closed over her breast, and he bit her nipple. Not hard. Not nearly as hard as he wanted to.

She broke apart, crying out his name while her body convulsed around his. The orgasm hit him violently, and he drove himself into her hard, reeling from the power of it. Then he collapsed onto her, his body spasming. Her scent surrounded him, and he found his face in her hair, his mouth open against her, and his fangs a millimeter away from her skin. One little movement was all it would take. So fucking close.

He took a shuddering breath, and pulled away.

Chapter Nine

The heavenly smell of lasagna in the air roused her from the half-trance kitchen sex with Noah had put her in. They’d both put back on the bit of clothing they’d lost in the heat of passion, and then Noah held her against him for a few minutes. Silence hung over them, so heavy she feared breaking it.