Logan reached across Marie's svelte body and momentarily stopped the elevator between floors.

"Logan?"

"I shoulda asked you before. I needta know what kinda experience you're lookin' for tonight." He'd planned on having this conversation in the truck on the way over, but that's not quite how the night had unfolded. Instead she'd wrapped those long legs of hers around his hips and they'd rumbled along, enjoying each other and the scenery whipping by, and all the things he should have said and done had gone straight out of his head the second she'd squeezed him tight and whispered, 'more' and then 'faster' into his ear. Goddamn. He'd nearly laid the bike down.

"What?" It was practically a squeak and it made him wonder how smart bringing her here actually was. Probably not very, but then he'd never been good at restraint in general.

"Watchin' or bein' watched. What's your pleasure?"

Her mouth went dry. Surely he didn't mean...

"Not that." Jesus. He was burning up. "Lotsa people come here just to feel other people's eyes on 'em. They like it. Showin' off. Feels good bein' wanted."

"Not to me. Not like that. I just want to watch. The only eyes I want near me are yours." He tried to ignore the hot stick of satisfaction following that little confession.

When he'd made the offer to take her here, he hadn't imagined her dressed like that. While it was fairly conservative compared to the attire of the average female patron, she wore her innocence like a banner and that was going to garner all sorts of unwanted attention.

"That lady was right. You look delicious. It's gonna be a steady stream of people askin' permission to touch ya."

"It is?" She wasn't convinced.

"I would."

"Really?"

"Hell yes."

"I don't want that. Not from strangers. If I could just watch alone with you, that's what I'd choose." It was possible, but he knew what would happen if he took Marie to one of the rooms with a red door and arranged for them to watch a private sex act together. His control was nowhere near that good. It was possible he wouldn't even be able to keep a lid on it in a crowd, and he wasn't about to manipulate her into anything she wasn't ready for. Hell, he wasn't even sure he'd do if she came to him of her own free will. Not here. Not tonight. Not with the deck so stacked against her.

"I can fix it for ya, if you want."

"Fix it?" Logan nodded. "What are you gonna do, pee a circle around me so that everyone who comes by knows I'm the property of the Wolverine?"

"Somethin' like that." She'd been teasing but it actually hadn't been all that far from the mark.

"Okay."

"Just like that?"

"I trust you."

She shouldn't. Not with what was running through his head. But it pleased him that she did.

"C'mere then." He pulled her close by the tails of her scarf. "Take your coat off and turn around."

What was he going to do, put his coat on her instead? That idea felt a little Mayberryish for someone like Logan. She did as he said, trembling a little as she felt him step closer behind and brush her hair aside. She caught his slight intake of air as all her creamy skin came into view. Her insides felt like jelly. The warm heat of his breath tickled her neck and her eyes widened when she realized he was lowering his head.

"You gonna give me permission to touch you?" he whispered silkily, pulling the iridescent loop of her scarf from her neck with one thick finger.

Marie nodded, her throat suddenly too tight to speak.

It felt like forever before he lowered his mouth that final distance. He breathed her in, tongue flicking along his lip, so close he could almost taste her.

She felt his teeth where her nape joined her shoulder, lips pulled back so her skin couldn't hurt him. Just there, on that spot below the black ribbon he'd tied earlier. The pressure increased. "Mmmm..." It slipped out before she could stop it.

A growl rose in his throat and he suddenly bit down hard.

Her hum of pleasure became a clipped shriek of pain.

"Ow!" She jerked from his grasp but he didn't let her go far, checking the motion with an iron grip on her hips as she thrashed in his teeth. The sudden pain of the stinging bite quickly became something else, something slippery and hot; a creamy rush she couldn't stop even if she wanted to. She pressed her thighs together, very aware of the warm wetness between them. Logan jerked against her in response and the bite became wilder. Sharper. The urge to move back into him and rub against his big body was strong. His tongue came next, bold and strong as he flattened it and dragged it sensually over the mark he'd just made. "Unnngh….." It was hot and wet and made goose bumps rise over her whole body. The fleeting touch was quick enough that it didn't trigger her skin, but not nearly long enough for either of them.

He made a low sound she'd never heard before; a primal growl that was unapologetically male.

When she looked back over her shoulder at him, his hazel eyes gleamed golden. The Wolverine was very close to the surface. She'd only seen that look a scant handful of times; and only then in the heat of battle. Never like this, smoldering with something beyond the edge of human words.

"L-Logan?"

"It's still me, kid." But only just. He stepped back to look at his handiwork, rubbing a thumb over it for good measure. The indent was deep. He hadn't meant to break the skin, but his canines were sharper than most and he'd been unable to resist the wildness that had risen up in him at the feel of her in his teeth. The taste of her in his mouth flavored with a hint of copper made it very difficult to keep control. Satisfaction curled through him, thick and heavy. It pooled between his legs, a sultry persistent throb. In a few minutes, the stinging indentation on her skin would rise up into a vivid red wheal, branding her as his. He liked the idea of that far too much.

"You bit me," she said, reaching for the easier words because what she'd really wanted to say was, 'Do it again.'

He seemed to hear it anyway.

"I did and you liked it." And fuck if he hadn't wanted to do it from the first moment she'd walked in his door tonight and asked to watch him shave.

"So did you."

He didn't deny it. "Everyone who sees it'll know you're mine." The stark honesty of his words shook them both. "It should stop all but the most determined."

Wait. What? Had he done it because he'd wanted to or merely to keep the others away? Everything with him was always so confusing.

"You licked me." She couldn't even wrap her head around that.

"You needed lickin'." She shuddered again and not just because nobody had ever licked her before.

"Why?"

Because he wanted to.

That reply probably wouldn't be smart. Focusing on the words, on answering the way a man would, was helping push back the animal. It was clawing at him, driving him to put his mouth on her and taste her again. To push her down on the floor and rip away the satin and leather so he could lick and bite and spread that luscious scent over them both. He shoved the wildness back, panting a little with the effort. It didn't help. He could taste her in the air. A sweet musky tease that made it all too easy to imagine pushing her legs apart and tasting her the way he really wanted.

"'Cause this club is for people like us. Mutants mostly. Some humans. It should keep anyone with feral senses away. It ain't the best scent to ward off another male, but it'll do for tonight."

"Not the best scent...?" In a flash, she suddenly realized there was another, much more intimate scent that would undeniably mark her as belonging to him. Sweet smokin' Jesus. She turned unsteadily in his arms.

The golden light was back in his eyes. "Do I really need to tell ya, darlin'?"

Marie shook her head 'no' and bit her lip, pushing down her glove and silently offering up her arm in response. He smiled at the goose bumps on her milky white skin and carefully, deliberately, wound the scarf back around her neck, arranging it to show off his bite.

"Me too, only one really big one instead of a thousand little ones." He wasn't going to push her, but he wasn't about to deny the beast his due. He damn sure wanted her to know what she did to him. He knew what he did to her. It sat smoky-sweet on the back of his tongue, even now.

Ah, God. The world felt very spinny.

She risked a quick look and was aware he'd probably notice. He did. She saw a flash of teeth that didn't quite give the impression of smiling and she was confused by the sudden urge to sink to her knees before him. Her mouth watered. He made no move toward her but he didn't shield himself from her view, either. He welcomed her eyes on him. The restrictive denim hid nothing. He was rock hard.

Her fingers twitched with the unconscious desire to touch him and his jaw clenched as he fought the Wolverine for control.

Marie cleared her throat softly. "Wow. That's quite a-"

A warning growl rumbled in his chest.

"Compliment," she finished, trying for a brazenness she didn't really feel. She felt vulnerable. Wild. Reckless and on the edge of something she didn't quite understand. It scared her and drew her closer with each breath. Her heart beat wildly in her breast, yet as naïve as she was, something inborn told her to stop pushing him. They were too close to the flashpoint.

"I was gonna go with 'quite a comment on my sanity' but I like yours better."

Her answer was to smooth her glove back up before lifting her fingers to touch the mark he'd made on her neck. He closed his eyes, shaken that had been her response.

"Don't touch it," he said gruffly, pushing her hand from her neck with a rough shove.

He was going to lose it if she did.

Shock and surprise he could deal with. Even the sweet rush of desire. But approval? That was the slipperiest slope when it came to her. It always had been.

Setting her from him, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Christ, he needed a drink. "Don't put your coat back on, darlin'. Let 'em all see it." He touched the mark again, a fleeting brush of his thumb that denied her skin the pleasure of his power. He tried to ignore her shiver. It was a losing battle. His voice dropped. "I know you're nervous, but it's just a buncha regular folks havin' a good time watchin' somethin' hot. You'll be safe with me. You just keep your chin up and walk in there like you fuckin' own it." He swallowed. "They'll look, yeah... because, goddamn, baby." She was perfection. "But they'll keep their distance if you wear it real proud."

She nodded and he started the elevator again. They rode in silence for long moments.

Finally, Marie spoke. "Did you mean what you said to that jerk, downstairs?"

That he was going upstairs with the hottest woman who'd ever walked into this place.

The door opened and he slid the heavy grill aside before placing his hand possessively on the small of her back.

"Yeah, kid. Every word."

Up next: Under Pressure. Marie and Logan wind up in a private alcove and another line in the sand gets blurred…