by Carmen Fox
I flattened my breath. Waited. My wide-open heart beating down the seconds.
He let go and, with a spin, twisted me back-first onto the mattress. His weight trapped me underneath him.
“What was that?” I gave a laugh that soared across the room as light and free as a feather.
The mattress still rocked by the time he had his mouth locked around my nipple. His tongue went in for the kill—and it was the sweetest of deaths. My nipple puckered to attention, my limbs lay still. I was boneless, entirely at his mercy. All I could do was let the waves of bliss roll over me.
He slipped his hands down to unbutton and unzip me.
When he lifted his head, he shot me a glance that was pure wolf. Dangerous. Dominant.
I knew not to toy with him then. Not until he eased off.
He rolled down my pants, taking my panties with them. His gaze burned a path into my flesh from my thighs up to my eyes.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. His flushed face had lost the shuttered look he typically carried with him like a shield.
“And you’re still dressed.”
He chuckled deep in his throat. “Feel like doing something about that?”
“Not sure my feelings have much to do with this, but sure.” I jostled out from under him.
To hell with the women from his past. They weren’t here today. I was, and I would make sure he wouldn’t think of them tonight.
I started with his T-shirt, got side tracked by the solid plate of his chest and the ink on his arms, dedicated a second’s pause to his tight stomach, before I zeroed in on his jeans.
He leaned back onto the bed, hands curled around two tufts of bunched-up blanket.
His zipper opened willingly to reveal his boxers. He was ready for me, too.
I placed my lips on his bulge and grazed him with my teeth.
He twitched.
“Everything working as it should, I see.” I got rid of his remaining clothes, socks and all, and glided my hand over his lower stomach, charting the subtle ridges that spoke of sit-ups and discipline.
He propped his torso up on his elbows. Not a smidgen of shame at his nakedness, and no reason for it as far as I could see either.
“You’re looking pleased with yourself, princess.”
“Checking out the present I’ve unwrapped.”
“And?”
“It’s what I’ve always wanted.” I fawned with a coquettish tilt of my head. “How did you know?”
“Oh yeah?” The huskiness in his voice cast my words in a different light.
I hadn’t meant to say “always.” He was my right now, and always had no place in his bed tonight.
He flipped me onto my back, and his mouth stopped my protest. His next kiss was as ferocious as his touch was gentle. My breasts, my ribs and hips vibrated under his grazing caresses, and just as tenderly, he slipped his hand between my legs.
I was already wet.
He teased me, tiptoed around the hot spots with precision, and finally slid his fingers into me.
I gripped his shoulder against the intrusion, but opened my legs. This taster of what was to come filled my body with tingles and shivers that cascaded and overlaid and drove me all but completely insane. I kissed the salt off his shoulder, coated myself in his sweat, in his scent.
He removed his fingers and positioned himself between my legs.
“Hang on.” I traced his winding tattoo up his arm and then pushed him away by his chest.
He supported himself on his hands. “You change your mind?”
“I go on top.”
“Excuse me?” His eyes narrowed.
My skin tightened as the onset of his dominance rippled like soap bubbles down my arms and spine. Harmless, yet so damn sexy.
“I. Go. On. Top.”
“Not tonight.” His words sprang forth like a steel spear. “I made plans.”
“You’re adorable when you’re wrong.” I bucked my hip and dislodged him, but he was too heavy to shake.
His dominance exploded over me, burned into me, commanded my body to submit.
My arms slacked, my neck relaxed. How could he want me still when my flesh was screaming?
“Shh-shh.” His power surged across me, fixing me to the spot.
I gasped for breath, a shallow attempt, and his dominance entered me. Every ounce of his power leaked into my skin and found its way into my blood, yet it didn’t hurt. Didn’t frighten me. Merely filled the empty hole inside.
I held his head above mine and stared at him with a new calm. “I go on top, or this isn’t going to happen.”
“Why does it even matter?”
Why? Because I wasn’t ready to submit, no matter what my treacherous body demanded of me. I was equal to him in every respect.
And I was not like one of his usual conquests.
“It matters.” I kept my tone even, not in spite of his dominance, but because of it.
His dominance so deep inside me had woken my alpha urges. A borrowed power, but a renewed glimpse of what I could be. Of what and who I was.
I softened my tone. “Your choice.”
He inflated his cheeks and exhaled through tight lips. “Knock yourself out.”
“Seriously?”
He’d been in charge. Why give in now?
He rolled onto his back, flaunting his lick-worthy abs and broad chest. “Hey, when a beautiful woman asks to ride you, you don’t say no.”
“Is that your life’s motto?”
If he mentioned his previous lovers, I’d punch him.
“That’s every man’s life motto, princess. An instinct we’re born with.” He beckoned me with a finger. “Come on then. This time you’re getting your wish.”
On my knees, I stalked toward him and climbed on top. “What exactly did you mean by ‘this time’?”
A smile spread across his lips, and he withdrew his dominance, all except for the small pool within me. “I’m saying I’m yours.”
The tremble in his voice fanned my desire. He meant he was mine now. For the next hour or so. Not in general. Right?
I scouted his face, as he scouted mine.
Drake knew the score. One night of fun, a way to pass the time. That was all this was.
And I was going to make it count.
My teasing motion didn’t satisfy either of us. I needed more. As he said, for tonight, he was mine, and I’d be damned if I let this opportunity pass.
“Move up toward the back of the bed.” I sat up to let him slide out.
He obeyed with a glance that didn’t completely relinquish control.
We’d see about that.
After he’d stuffed two more pillows behind his back and rested almost in a sitting position, he winked. “Go on then. Blow my...mind.”
Cocky son of a bitch.
I lowered myself onto his proud shaft with deliberate slowness, soaked in every stretch, every bump against my lining.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” His lids flickered as his shoulders pressed into the pillows.
I smiled sweetly. Driven by the power in my thighs, I rose, inch by inch, careful not to lose him.
He reached for me, but relaxed the second I began my next descent.
He felt large inside me, bigger than on my first move down. The pressure he exerted against my muscles was exquisite, so much so I gave a satisfied moan.
I wasn’t typically vocal during sex, but something told me he didn’t mind the feedback.
On my next dip, I changed the angle by a fraction—and struck gold.
Damn.
“Hell, yeah,” Drake mumbled.
His rough tone trickled down like syrup, and I repeated the motion, eyes closed, once again hitting the right spot.
I squeezed my hands onto his moist abs, drove up, then down. Up. Down.
Drake’s grunts chased my moans. His mass ground against my raw insides, laid bare my nerves. They fired in quick succession, feeding a newly found addiction that f
orced me to go faster. Harder.
Drake was a drug I didn’t want to purge from my system. The high was too intense, too beautiful to abandon. Slave to the sensation, I rode him with painstaking precision, turning every stroke into a masterpiece.
He slipped his hand into my wetness, caught my clit with the tip of his finger. All I could do was claw at his skin as he massaged me gently.
His length crowded into my center, fulfilled and distended it until nothing else mattered.
Despite my best intentions, I was no longer in control. Neither was Drake. A fire had grasped us, and we were clinging to each other for mere survival.
“You’ve no idea how good you feel.” Drake flicked and teased me with his fingers, pushing me to ever increasing heights.
If he knew who I was, or what I wasn’t, would he change his mind?
He grabbed my butt, and I moved my hip forward, descending onto him with a deep moan.
“Don’t stop.” He groaned with his mouth clamped to my breast. “Fuck. Don’t ever stop.”
A ball of pressure built inside, a coil that tensed with each stroke.
Oh God.
I gripped his shoulders, rode him with untamed lust.
“Fucking—” He breathed the word through his teeth without relinquishing my nipple.
“Trying to,” I whispered.
He laughed, gripped me tighter, and urged me down his length once again.
I deepened my strokes, while my core pumped hot with blood. The deep burn grew, intensified until it obliterated my reasoned thoughts. God, I wanted him for myself. Right now. Tomorrow. And every damn day after that.
I tipped back his head, forced my mouth onto his. At the moment of orgasm, he’d exhale his release into me. I’d safeguard his confession. Make it a part of me.
My muscles seized, and—oh hell yes—my core trembled. A spark ignited my flesh, adding to the inferno raging in every cell of my body, and I came with a deep moan.
Drake pulled me onto him once, twice more. His drawn-out grunt was the first piece of reality that pierced my bubble of bliss.
Unable to hold myself up any longer, I leaned into his neck and calmed my pounding heart with his earthy scent and his warmth.
He slid one hand behind his head and laughed. “That was a hell of a ride, princess.”
He had no idea.
I stroked his soaked chest, moved the short hairs sticking to his face to the side, and kissed him. Not with passion, but because I had no words I wanted him to hear.
He’d listened to me come undone, but he’d never know of the inner turmoil he’d caused. My possessive digs at his other women, the loss of control, the depth of the pleasure he gave me... He’d never find out.
On the surface, my carefully crafted image remained largely intact. I’d been in charge. I hadn’t submitted.
At least...on the surface.
Eighteen
A tattooed rocker giving me the finger fell into focus first. Next, the frame in which the picture was mounted, then the rest of the wall. I moved my gaze to the gentle up and down of Drake’s chest beneath me.
What now? Did I simply get up and act as if nothing happened? Or was I expected to slip out of the house and do the walk of shame?
I was no prude, so the fact that we’d had sex wasn’t a problem. But I also wasn’t a dreamer and, despite my mid-coital delusions, wasn’t harboring ideas of happily ever afters. Drake, on the other hand, was an unknown. The photos in his hall had all but convinced me that he’d appreciate the one-and-done.
If it weren’t for the use of the phrase “this time.”
“This time” he’d let me go on top. Did he think I’d be his bed bunny for the duration of my stay?
The feel of his skin under my fingers, the pressure that had spread my walls with such delicious pain... No, the act itself wouldn’t leave my memory for a while. His horizontal skills, no doubt acquired over many, many sexual encounters, only strengthened my belief that he’d be pragmatic about this.
“Are you going to speak at some point?” He pushed a strand of my hair back that wasn’t even in the way.
“What’s the time?” I lifted my head and glanced at his alarm clock. “It’s nine already. We should get up.”
“What for? There’s not much to do today. Or did you dream up new leads?”
“I’ve indulged your notions about a human killer, but it’s time to dip my toes into your world.” I sat and rubbed my eyes before ruffling volume back into my flat hair. “First, I want to speak to Raven’s friend.”
“Sable?” He ran his hand from my shoulder down my breast to my stomach, sabotaging my concentration. “She lives in Florida with her husband now.”
“Do they not have phones?”
“Now that you mention it, I think they do.” His smile melted my professional demeanor into a swoon.
Not again. I’d had my night of fun. Why didn’t it feel enough?
“Mind if I take a shower?” I rolled to the side and picked up my clothes.
“‘Wham bam, thank you Drake’ is all I get?” He shook his head. “All that hard work for nothing.”
“What work?” I raised my eyebrows. “You just laid there.”
“That’s how you wanted it. Besides, I told you, next time—”
“Yeah, about that.” I slipped into my pants using the blanket for cover. “It was great and all, but I’m here to do a job. There’s not going to be a next time. You know that, right?”
If I sounded harsh, it was more for my benefit, but his expression hardened anyway.
He scoffed. “Calm down. I didn’t ask you for a Moon Promise, princess.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” I eyed his solid shape, the symmetry of his face, the intricate symbols running down his arms. “What do your tattoos mean?”
He lifted his head and stared at his left bicep, as if seeing it for the first time, then fell back into his pillow. “Nothing. I had a couple of scars from my misspent youth, so my brother said to ink it over. Made sense when I became a protector.” His gaze drifted, and he smiled. “I was told scars are scary, but tatts are mysterious. Women dig that.”
“A woman told you that, right?”
“Are you saying she lied?”
“Who can say if she lied or not? I’d have to get to know her first.”
He laughed. “Fair comment.”
He rolled onto his front and crawled toward me until his head was in my lap. “Come back to bed.”
I ran my fingers through his hair, soft despite its regimented appearance, and then wiggled out from under him.
Reality in his head had to look totally different than mine. In my world, cozy lie-ins with a man were reserved for mated women. And even though Drake ticked all the right boxes for a mate, I never asked him to fill in the questionnaire.
“Maybe later.” I pressed my remaining clothes against my breast and got out of bed. “I expect breakfast when I’m done.”
“Oh yeah?” His laughter faded as I hurried into the hall.
The bathroom had neither key nor lock, yet Drake didn’t sneak in to lather shower gel over my skin with his generous hands, or to make every inch of me feel both clean and dirty at the same time. He’d never know, but I wouldn’t have told him to stop.
So much for willpower.
I finished up with a necessary cold rinse, then dried myself and got dressed.
Drake’s bathroom cabinet contained hair mousse, a comb, deodorant, toothpaste, and a single electric toothbrush.
I padded into the bedroom, which was empty now, and then into the kitchen. My wet hair fell loosely over the shoulders of my buttoned-up jacket. “No spare toothbrush. You’d think someone like you would be prepared.”
Drake stood by the stove, frying up something that smelled fantastic. He was freshly showered and gave off the same scent as me, a mix of minty sharpness and soft fruit. The cabin didn’t look large enough to offer a second bathroom, but then I hadn’t yet ventured up the sta
irs.
“What do you mean, someone like me?” He stabbed at something in the pan as if only now trying to kill it.
“You know. A guy who likes the ladies.”
“Who says I like the ladies?”
I chuckled and sat in one of the chairs. “Last night only gave me a glimpse of Drakeland, but I’m sure boys aren’t allowed in.”
He turned, no humor in his expression. “What makes you think I sleep around?”
“Nothing definitive.” I blew air into my warming face. “We’ve known each other a few days, and we’ve already had sex.”
He pushed the frying pan off the heat and focused his attention on me, arms crossed. “And that means I do this all the time?”
I pushed my jaw out. “I don’t know. I assumed.”
“You assumed.” The monotony in his voice carved deeper than a note of hurt could have.
“Sorry.” I moved around the chair’s hard surface. “Isn’t a reputation as a ladies’ man every guy’s dream?”
“Maybe for the men you date.” He wheeled around and resumed making breakfast. “For the record, this isn’t the city or royal court. We don’t just screw anyone.”
“I said I’m sorry. What do you want from me? How could I know you aren’t the Triangle’s answer to Casanova?” I glared at his back and pointed to my right. “There are fewer species of insects than you know women, judging by the pictures in your hall.”
“They’re friends, that’s all. We’re a small, tightly knit community, remember?”
For a while, the crackle of what I hoped were bacon and eggs drowned out his heavy silence.
“Any plan beside calling Sable?” he eventually asked.
“Think there’s a way we can get a hold of Raven’s case file?”
“One of the cops is a wolf. I’ve already told him to pass along whatever he can, but I don’t expect to hear from him until tomorrow.”
“Right. In that case, just Sable for now.”
“As an aside, I’ve already done that. She knows nothing. Or am I now incompetent as well as a sex pest?”
I straightened the tablecloth. “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said. I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t know about your girlfriends and stuff.”
“Right.” He transferred his weight onto his right leg.
