by Renee Rose
The light caught his eyes again, making them look amber, and he let out an animal-like roar. “Fuck!” He pumped harder and faster, making the entire bed bounce and hit the wall with a steady wham-wham-wham. It hurt but felt good all at once.
The people in the room next door pounded on the wall, and I giggled as Colton roared again and came. He parted my legs and dropped down between them, hovering over me as he thrust so deep, I thought he’d split me in two. His face contorted with his climax. Another thrust. A third. On the fourth, he shoved deep and stayed, and I came, too, like I was waiting for that moment. Which, I guess, biologically speaking, my body was.
I wrapped my legs around his back and rubbed my clit up and down against him as my internal muscles spasmed with release, trying to keep it going as long as possible.
Hol. E. Crap.
I was a changed woman. Or maybe I finally became a woman, I didn’t know.
All I knew was that nothing in this world would ever be as good as sex with Colton Wolf. I could barely catch my breath. My bottom was sore against the sheets, my pussy had just taken a pounding. I ached in all the right places but felt soooo good.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
That was what I’d been missing? He was still inside me, and I wanted it again. The question was would I ever stop wanting what I was realizing only he could give me.
COLTON
* * *
Mate.
Mate.
My wolf kept crooning it as I caught my breath. As the blindness that the incredible orgasms brought about receded.
Yeah, I know, buddy. I’m on it. Just didn’t want to mark her before I found out her name.
Or had her consent. She might like me taking charge, but she’d wanted it. Claiming her tonight? Probably not.
I dipped to savor her mouth, my cock still buried deep in her snug little channel. I eased back and slammed in again, hard.
Fates, I should’ve given it a rest. She had to be tender after the pounding I’d given her, but I couldn't seem to help myself. My eyes rolled back in my head with pleasure every time her muscles squeezed my dick. Her vanilla and cinnamon scent was up in my nostrils, doing crazy things to my brain. To my body. To have her taste on my tongue… shit.
I looked down at my little mate. Her eyes were closed, but the corner of her mouth was tipped up. Blonde hair was a tangle around her head. She looked well fucked—hell, my dick was still inside her. Sated. My wolf was pleased with himself to make her this way. So was I.
She thought this was a fling though. A little fun while waiting out a storm. A stranger fuck. Well, that was fucking wrong. I’d have to disabuse her of that notion soon. Telling her I was her fucking mate wasn’t the smartest move either. Tomorrow, I’d find out where she was headed and follow her there. Make sure she got home safe, and then make sure she knew I’d be by that evening to pick her up for our first date.
Hell, maybe she could even be my date to Boyd’s wedding. No, not could. Would.
I smiled, liking that idea. Nothing would make me more proud than to introduce my mate to my brothers.
But right now, I needed to take care of her needs. And they may not all include service from my dick.
I broke the kiss and eased out of her. While I didn’t want to pull out of her tight, hot pussy… ever, I needed to ditch the condom.
“I’ll be right back, sweetness.”
I disposed of the latex barrier, then cracked a bottle of water I’d bought at the front desk and brought it to her.
She sat up, so fucking gorgeous with her glassy eyes and swollen lips, completely uninhibited. Her cheeks were flushed from sex, her nipples hard little points from sucking on them. My whiskers left soft burns on her silky flesh. I couldn’t see the insides of her thighs, but I knew they were there. While my cum was inside the condom in the trash, she was fucking marked.
She drank thirstily, and I kicked myself for not offering it sooner.
“What else do you need, beautiful? Are you hungry? Or do you need something warm to drink?”
She shook her head, her lids drooping. “That was… wow. I’m ready to crash.”
I pulled down the covers and slid into the bed beside her. “Crash away, little girl. I’ll protect you. If you wake up and your pussy needs more attention, I’ll take care of you.”
She rolled up against my chest and let me wrap an arm around her. A leg was tossed over mine, and her pussy pressed into my thigh. Fuck, I was hard again.
Her soft lips found the hollow of my throat, and she kissed it. “Thank you, Colton.”
I kissed the top of her head. It struck me that with all the women I’d satisfied in all the years, I’d never dropped a kiss on any woman’s head. It was an affectionate gesture, not a sexual one.
My arms tightened around her. This one was special. No, more than fucking special. She was perfect. She was mine.
Soon she’d know that, too.
4
MARINA
* * *
I had no idea what woke me, but I looked around, not remembering where I was. The room was dark, illuminated only through the exterior light that slipped in through the sliver in the curtains. The motel.
It was the hard body I was sprawled upon like a blanket that had everything coming back in a rush. Colton stirred beneath me, his skin almost hot against my chest. His legs stirred, bringing the one I was practically straddling up and against my core. I was sore from earlier, but being with him like this made me eager for round two.
“No. Don’t,” he murmured, his head moving from side to side.
I lifted my head off his chest and looked up at him. I could make out his features, the tenseness of his jaw. I felt the way his body beneath mine went from relaxed in sleep to taut.
“No,” he said again, this time his voice cutting through the stillness of the night.
I ran my hand over him, touching all of him that I could to try and soothe him. “Colton,” I murmured, then repeated it when he didn’t respond.
All at once, he startled, then blinked. “What?” he said, his voice gravelly. His hand, which had been resting on my lower back, stroked up and down, then cupped my butt.
“I think you were having a nightmare.”
With his other hand, he rubbed it over his face. “Sorry.”
I pressed a kiss to his chest, felt his heat, the beating of his heart against my lips. “Want to tell me about it?”
He sighed and was quiet so long, I thought he wouldn’t answer. “Too many deployments. Afghanistan.”
I could only imagine what he saw, the horrors he’d had to face. I’d seen him naked, and he didn’t have a scratch on him. He’d come out whole physically, but emotionally…
“Thank you for your service.”
He flipped us, so I was on my back, and he loomed over. I could barely see his face, but he reached up and stroked my hair back with his big palm. “You’re thanking me? For what, doing my job or… ” He rolled his hips, his very hard dick sliding up my inner thigh. “Or servicing you with this?”
I giggled, pleased to see I’d been able to pull him out of his dream. I knew some things about him—that he was a Green Beret and career military. He was the middle of the three Wolf brothers, but I didn’t know much more than that. Even though I’d wanted to have a fling with him, there was more to him than just his hot bod and mad skills in the sack.
While it was obvious he wanted me, it seemed he was using his dick as deflection. I wanted it, definitely, but I wanted more from him, too. He was so dang big and strong, but he’d unintentionally let me see a vulnerable side. Something I doubted he let anyone know about.
“How long have you been in the military?”
His mouth dropped to my neck, and he kissed and nibbled there. Angling my head, I gave him more room.
“Since I was eighteen,” he murmured. He was a multi-tasker, answering my questions and making me hot.
“Career military then.” It was hard to concentrate when h
e was licking and sucking at that spot where my neck and shoulder met.
“I’m on leave for a week. I head back to North Carolina right away.”
I ran my hands through his short hair as he moved down to my collarbone. “Yet the nightmares follow wherever you go.”
He paused, hovered over my nipple, then lifted his head. “I’m sure you’ve got shit that doesn’t go away. Everyone does.”
I licked my lips, nodded. I thought of my life. I had nothing to complain about. Sure, my parents were a hot mess and divorced, but whose weren’t? My dad had been pretty much a no-show my whole life but paid for my college, which was a blessing. Although, per the bursar, he’d somehow forgotten for the fall. To him, money took the place of any kind of relationship. It was easy. Write a check twice a year and forget about me.
The only good thing about the guy was that he gave me a half-sister. Amazingly, I’d found out Audrey existed through a mail-in DNA test. Once I contacted her, we’d become fast friends, even though she was nine years older. She was eager to have me as her only bridesmaid. Knowing about my baking hobby, she’d even asked me to make her wedding cake.
Right this second, I was in bed with a gorgeous, generous man.
Yet I had issues. Who didn’t?
“You’re right.”
“What wakes you up at night, little girl?” he asked.
Absently, I stroked his close-cropped hair as I thought.
“Not being enough,” I said. The words came surprisingly easy. Maybe it was because we were in the dark, in a motel room in the middle of nowhere that I admitted that. That this night was a bubble, a cocoon from the real world. “You know how people have those dreams where they’re in public, and they’re naked? Or they’re in school, and they forgot to study for the test?”
In the darkness, I saw Colton’s lips curve up. “Sure.”
“Well, mine are like that, only in every dream, my dad is there, but he’s giving all his attention to someone else. Like my best friend or some random kid. Or his girlfriend of the week. Someone he deemed better than me.” I forced a laugh. “I know, wah wah. It’s nothing compared to what you go through. It’s not life or death. Good and evil.”
“Pain is pain,” Colton said softly, trailing his lips over my shoulder. “Comparisons mean nothing. So your dad’s a dick?”
My laugh was genuine this time. “You could say that. Not abusive or mean, but I could never earn his attention, you know? My parents were divorced. My mom worked her ass off to raise and support me while he just did the bare minimum. I mean, he paid child-support, but he didn’t come to my piano recitals or school functions or anything. We had biweekly visits that wouldn’t have happened if my mom hadn’t insisted on them and usually consisted of him taking his current girlfriend somewhere fun and me tagging along.” I sighed. “Anyway. I’m too old to have daddy issues.”
Those daddy issues had transferred into man insecurities, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
Colton growled. “Little girl, maybe you’re just looking for affection in the wrong place.”
I rolled my hips up and into him. “I’m naked and beneath you. I think it’s pretty obvious where I’m looking for affection right about now.”
He stilled, and for a second, I thought I’d said something wrong.
But then he moved one hand on my knee to open it wide. He settled into the space he made, then slid his fingers up the sensitive skin on the inside of my thigh to even more sensitive places.
“Gonna get you to scream my name again,” he said as two fingers slipped inside, found my G-spot with an accuracy that should have been frightening.
My eyes fell closed, and I let go. Colton wasn’t taking from me, he was giving. Not only was he generous with his orgasms, but he listened, focused on me. The last thought I had before his crazy skills shut my brain off was that he might have been right because, right now, Colton was giving me everything I’d been missing.
And wasn’t that as scary as could be?
MARINA
* * *
I woke to the sound of water running. Not rain, but a shower. I blinked, looked around. Oh shit!
I’d forgotten where I was.
I sat up. Okay, no need to panic. I was just in a motel room with Audrey’s brother-in-law, who didn’t know who I was. I should tell him as soon as he got out.
How would that conversation go? Hey, Colton, guess what? We’re actually heading to the same place. Surprise!
Would it be a good surprise or a bad surprise? Definitely bad. He was on leave, probably happy to fuck a willing woman. That was what sailors did on shore leave, right?
Butterflies took wing in my belly. I didn’t think Colton was a guy who liked surprises. And to him, would it be a surprise or deception? He’d spanked my ass for fun, but what kind of punishment would he give me for tricking him, especially since he only signed up for one night? I licked my lips. He might not even punish me. He could reject me outright. For some reason, the idea of Colton hating me hit harder than expected.
Sheesh. Was it because I’d slept with him? He’d rocked my world last night—and again at around three a.m.—but one night, and I got attached?
That was stupid. I’d been looking for a fling. I’d gotten it. He’d fucked a stranger.
My pussy ached from all the attention it got. It didn’t matter if he wanted to continue said fling for the rest of the week or not. I’d gotten what I needed. Insane man-made orgasms. Why, then, did the idea of him not wanting to see me again sink like a concrete block in the pit of my stomach?
I climbed out of bed. Actually, maybe it would be better to just bail because it was safer that way. Leave him before he left me. I’d have a few hours to get over it. Over him.
When Colton saw me at the ranch, he’d slap me on the ass and thank me for a good time. I just didn’t want to hear it right now.
Yeah, maybe I was chickening out, but I had zero experience with one-night stands and what happened the morning after. Especially when he found out I’d known who he was all along and had taken advantage of that. Most guys wouldn’t care about being used for their dick, but Colton wasn’t just a guy. He was Audrey’s future brother-in-law who I’d see off and on for the rest of my life.
I found my clothes laid out on the radiator where he must’ve put them to dry last night.
That little kindness made my chest ache. Colton was perfect. Running felt cowardly. I wasn’t really running—it was a safety check. He’d see me in a couple hours at the ranch, and I had to be A-OK by then.
I pulled on my shirt and leggings, grabbed my suitcase and slipped out the motel door, hoping I wasn’t making a huge mistake.
See you, soon, cowboy.
COLTON
* * *
I smiled when I heard movement in the motel room. My little mate was awake. I’d woken at my usual five for PT, my body so attuned to the daily regimen it was impossible to break. Even in a different time zone. But I didn’t get up and run the usual five miles. Fuck, no. I’d lain awake beside her until the sun rose before getting up, afraid I’d wake her. But she’d slept deeply last night. Peacefully. I knew, because I dozed lightly most of the night, so my wolf could watch over her and because it was hard to sleep with a hard dick, even after taking her twice.
My wolf needed to know she wasn’t going anywhere. That no one would hurt her. That she was here in my arms. For the first time in… forever, I was calm. No restlessness. No panic at not finding her.
Some of that over-protectiveness would ease after I claimed and marked her, but I didn’t care if it didn't. Protecting my mate was a goddamn honor. If it meant a thousand sleepless nights, I’d sign up in a heartbeat. Hell, there was no signing up. I was on the job.
I finished the shower and toweled off, pausing when I heard the click of the front door. My shifter hearing was strong enough to hear over the bathroom fan. She was probably getting something out of her car.
Still, that underlying anxiety that had ke
pt me awake all night made me throw open the bathroom door to get eyes on her.
And I did.
Fucking driving away.
Aw, fuck no. No, no, no.
Dropping the towel, I yanked on my clothes, grabbed my shit and ran for the truck, but her car was already out of sight.
Goddammit. My mate just left, and I didn’t even know her fucking name!
I took a breath, let it out. The morning air was cool, the rain had cleared away for a bluebird sky and a soft breeze. Inside me, the storm was still raging.
No, it was okay. I knew which direction she headed. I could catch up to her. Tossing my stuff onto the passenger seat, I climbed in and started the engine.
I would find her. When I did, I would not let out the steamball of aggression my wolf was throwing around. I would not scare her or come on too strong. Her ass would get spanked pink.
Before I could do that, I needed to goddamn find her.
I returned to the place we met last night—where the road had washed out from the swollen creek. The raised water was gone now, and I drove right past. The pillar she’d stood on caught my eye, making something cinch in my chest. My mate was out there. Alone. Not with me.
I’d find her. I had to find her.
5
MARINA
* * *
I pulled up to the ranch house and tumbled out of the rental car, looking like a rumpled mess in yesterday’s clothes. I knew Audrey and Boyd had their own little cabin somewhere on the property—Audrey’d told me all about the work they were starting on it—but I didn’t know where. Based on the length of the driveway, Wolf Ranch was huge, so I parked in the main circle drive, in front of the house, figuring I could get directions.
The screen door banged open, and my dark-haired half-sister came flying out to greet me. “You finally made it!” She pulled me into a warm hug. “Getting caught in the storm last night must’ve been so stressful!”
