by E A Price
“Edward’s human in case you were wondering,” he added a little hoarsely.
Barlow had never been serious about Roxanne and figured she wasn’t serious about him either. Then, he’d never been serious about anyone – he would never let himself get serious.
“What happened between the two of you?”
Susie gave him the worst nonchalant look he had ever seen. Worse than when he was eight, and he asked his little brother who ate all the cherry pies Gram-Gram made, and his brother replied that he had no idea – the little bugger had crust and cherry sauce around his mouth!
She wanted him to think she didn’t care. It was probably a good thing she never decided to become an actress.
“I broke it off.”
“Oh!” She let out the sound of delight before blushing profusely. “Umm, why?”
His beast huffed. “She was sleeping with Edward.”
“She was cheating on you?” Susie breathed in disbelief.
The fact that it was incredible to her gave his ego a nice little boost – not that it really needed it. He was always pretty sound in that department.
“We were pretty casual. Wasn’t the first other guy she was with, but he was first married one – I didn’t want to get involved with that.”
Though, his marriage must be at an end now. He heard rumors that Edward’s family was pretty wealthy. No wonder Roxanne wanted to marry him. She tended to go for wealthy guys. He wasn’t sure what she saw in him. Perhaps he came across as wealthier than he was. He took a huge slurp of his chocolate, earning him some disgruntled looks from everyone around him. Yeah, it was unlikely that anyone saw him as refined in any way.
“She kind of seems like a bitch,” blurted Susie, before her eyes flared. “Sorry, I only meant to think that.”
Barlow snorted with laughter. “She is – just stay out of her way, little darling.”
His wolf pawed the ground uneasily. Yeah, he would need to make sure Roxanne stayed away from Susie, too. Roxanne had no reason to do anything cruel to Susie, but Roxanne had a temper. One time she slapped a badger shifter so hard she knocked one of his teeth out, and all because she thought the young man was flirting with Barlow. He was, but Roxanne had no right to slap him.
He didn’t want anything to happen to Susie. A sense of worry and helplessness started clawing at his insides. No, no, no, this was not happening…
“Hey, Susie-cutie, come on,” cried Candace striding over to their table.
“Susie-cutie?” he chuckled, his panic momentarily forgotten. It suited her to a T – though, given the roll of her eyes, she didn’t agree. He winked at her. “I think I prefer little darling.”
“What’s on the agenda now?” sighed Susie, resigned to her wedding-related fate.
“Time for wedding manicures,” replied Candace.
Susie nodded and looked at Barlow. “You coming?”
“I am tempted, but I’m going to take a shower.” He grinned naughtily. “You coming?”
“I am tempted,” she teased, “but these nails will not paint themselves.” She waved her fingers. “See you later.”
“Yeah.”
Barlow watched her go; his little darling shook those curvy hips like there was no tomorrow. Made him think of Vegas. Made him think of how he had taken her from behind, his hands gripping her waist as he pounded into her…. Rawr.
He gritted his teeth and willed his erection to go. He should order another hot chocolate – that would relax him, and make things a little less rigid south of the border. Or perhaps just think of something not quite as sexy as Susie. Like Roxanne… Yeah, that would do it. All he had to do was think about when he dumped her, and she started throwing kitchen knives at him. Breaking up with her in the kitchen had been a mistake – far too many weapons.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have been that surprised Roxanne showed up – she did say she had family not far from Rose, but he hadn’t really thought about her.
It didn’t matter that she was there. He would stay out of her way, and make sure Susie did, too. Problem solved. Though, perhaps there was one good thing about Roxanne showing up. If he was not mistaken, his little darling had been a little jealous of her, and he had to admit, he kind of liked that.
*
“Which color would you like?” asked the manicurist.
“That one,” murmured Susie, pointing without really looking.
Her thoughts were preoccupied with Barlow and Roxanne. The skank all but licked her lips at him – right in front of both Susie and her fiancé. The fiancé wasn’t looking, but Roxanne knew that Susie saw her. She didn’t care! It was insulting. She knew Susie was Barlow’s date. Okay, yeah, so there wasn’t anything going on with them, but Roxanne didn’t know that!
But, Barlow hadn’t seemed interested in her. So even if Roxanne wanted something to happen, hopefully, it wouldn’t. But if Roxanne threw herself at him, would he say no? It wasn’t like he was involved with Susie – there was nothing stopping him.
Son of a monkey, she was going around in circles.
Susie had explicitly told him she wasn’t interested. Then he intimated he wasn’t either. But if that was true, then why was he even there? She was sure Barlow had been trying to start something with her, but he indicated he wasn’t and…
“Susie!” exclaimed Jules grabbing hold of her hand. “Black nails? They won’t go with your dress at all. I told everyone to get pink nails!”
“What?” Susie blinked at her hands, and yep, she was currently sporting midnight black polish. She gave the manicurist a sheepish look. “Oh, sorry – umm, can I have pink?”
The manicurist gave her a sour look and set about removing the black polish.
“You’re a million miles away,” said Jules.
“I know, I’m sorry.”
Jules giggled. “I’m not, I know who you’re thinking about.”
“I’ve been thinking about him too,” sighed Lila. “That ass…”
Candace kicked her and Lila snarled.
“Look,” said Susie, “there really is nothing going on with us. We spent the night together in Vegas, but that was it. Nothing has happened since then.”
“But you wish something was going on,” said Jules.
“Ow!” The manicurist was a tad rough while applying the new polish.
“I don’t want to get involved with him.”
“Pfft!”
“Did you just pfft me?”
Jules gave her a tolerant look that said ‘you’re acting like an idiot.’
“Susie, you’re thinking too much – just enjoy a nice fling with him. Let him be your rebound guy, I mean you enjoyed Vegas, right?”
“Well, yeah…” She was slowly coming to realize it had been one of the best nights of her life.
“So, what’s stopping you from enjoying another night or two?”
“Or three?” put in Candace.
What indeed? Fear of a broken heart, perhaps. Getting over what Allen did was hard, would she be able just to enjoy the sex and not come to care for him? Would she be able to get over Barlow leaving her?
Chapter Fourteen
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she quavered on finding Barlow wearing nothing but a towel. It wasn’t large enough for his huge frame, and he had to hold his closed. She kind of wished he wasn’t bothering.
Obviously, he had only just finished his shower. Drops of water still clung to his chest, and she wondered what it would be like to lick them up.
“You were quick.”
“Oh, yes,” she breathed, her attention completely taken by the sight of the wolf shifter in a towel.
“We got a wedding dinner planned or something?”
“Not really.” There was the cheese and wine thing, but she usually found there was far too much cheese and far too little wine at things like that.
“Seems like a missed opportunity.”
“A lot of the pack are exhausted from the snowboarding and the hiking we missed this m
orning,” she said. “Some are getting an early night, but a lot are going down into town for the wedding cheese and wine time. I think there’s some kind of firework display on, too. Jules’ mom and dad invited us to go down with them in their minivan.”
“Yeah, what time we going?”
“I said no.”
Barlow’s eyebrow quirked.
“I hope you don’t mind.” She had other plans for the evening – while suffering through her manicure, she came to a decision. Whether it was a wise decision or not she had no idea, but it was what she wanted.
He shook his head. “Nah. You tired or something?”
“Not really. I thought we could get room service.”
“Sounds good to me. I could go for three or four burgers, and this fancy TV gets all the channels – we could find a movie to watch.” He grabbed the room service menu with his spare hand and started leafing through it.
“We could…”
“You don’t sound interested.”
Susie rubbed her hands together nervously. “I was thinking about what you said earlier.”
“Oh?”
“You’re not interested in dating me,” she stated. It kind of disappointed her to admit it, but then, she was adamant she didn’t want to date him, either.
Barlow gave her a pained look. “Little darling, I’m not interested in dating anyone. I’m not looking for a mate.”
She powered through the embarrassed flush creeping through her body. “Well, after what Allen did to me, I’m not interested in trying to settle down either.” Not with a wolf, she added to herself. “But that doesn’t mean what happened in Vegas has to stay in Vegas…”
He stared at her. Was she being too subtle?
“Unless you don’t want to, that is.”
His lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh. “Little darling, are you trying to pick me up again?”
“Yes,” she hissed, her cheeks truly ablaze now.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?!”
Barlow dropped his towel and strode towards her, in all his naked, hard glory.
“Really subtle,” she gulped as he grabbed her and tossed her on the bed.
“Hey, I’ve got the green light, I’m not going to waste it.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” she gasped, even as her body squirmed in anticipation. “Why don’t we say we’ll be together for this weekend, and then when we get back home to Rose, it’s over?”
The words were sour in her mouth, but she figured this was the easiest way to safeguard her heart. A few days of naked romping and then it was over before she had the chance to become too attached.
Barlow grunted. “There doesn’t need to be a time limit.”
Susie shifted uncomfortably. What if he refused? Was she strong enough to get up and walk away? Given that he was standing over her, naked and unbelievably gorgeous, she wasn’t sure. “I think it’s for the best.”
“If that’s what you want,” he murmured and then smiled to show he wasn’t put out.
Dang. She kind of wished he would say that wasn’t long enough. Oh well, she would just have to make the most of the next few days, and thankfully, Barlow wasn’t wasting any time.
He pulled her sneakers off. Socks followed, then pants, her sweater and finally her underwear. Barlow stood over her grinning.
“Nice,” he rumbled.
He pulled her ass to the edge of the bed, and clasped a leg in each hand. His fingers kneaded the flesh as he bent over her, kissing her, suckling at her breasts, nipping her skin. He took his time, enjoying himself, teasing her and taking his fill of her body.
Susie relaxed back onto the bed, closing her eyes and relishing the feel of this sexy man devouring her body. Yes, this is what she wanted, this is what she needed and had been craving since Vegas. She hadn’t realized how tightly wound she had been until this moment. But she had been itchy and impatient all week, and it had come out in small, subtle ways – such as getting so annoyed at not being able to find a can of corn that she alphabetized all the food in her kitchen. But now, she felt lighter than air, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
She could feel the head of his erection brush against her tender, waiting opening. She wanted to buck her hips, force him to plunge inside her and fill her so incredibly full, but he held her tightly. He would not let this happen too quickly, and honestly, she didn’t want it to end so soon. Barlow seemed to worship her body in a way she never felt possible.
His lips made their way across her chest, adoring her breasts, before licking her stomach. His mouth left her for a couple of beats, and her skin felt cold without his attention. She was going to object, to complain, but the next moment his tongue pressed against her sex and her body arched in shock. Her back bowed off the bed, the only thing anchoring her were the hands firming gripping her thighs.
“Barlow!” she squealed.
He chuckled against her tender opening. “You taste delicious, little darling.”
Susie clutched at the bed sheets as his tongue lapped at her, exciting her and tasting her honey in a leisurely way. Some of the tension left her, and she just enjoyed the delightful hum buzzing through her body. Every time she started rocking her hips, started trying to get to her release, he would back off, allow her to mellow again, and then resume his sensual assault. He wanted to enjoy her, but he wanted to feel her come around his manhood, and that was just fine and dandy with her.
He toyed with her over and over, sending her to the edge and then hauling her back to do it over and over again. Her toes curled at the exquisite torture. It was so wonderful yet so unbearable that she wanted to scream.
“Barlow!” she howled as her body shook with unexploded passion.
He grinned as he rose over her, his hard length bumping against her weeping sex. She tried to wriggle, to take him in, but he held fast, teasing her – endlessly teasing.
“You monster!” she hissed.
Barlow grinned and with a growl, finally thrust inside her. Susie cried out in ecstatic relief as her body urgently clutched at him. He reached halfway before her inner muscles threatened to strangle him. Barlow let out a shuddering snarl and pulled his hips back only to thunder back inside her. He let out a triumphant roar as he filled her to the brim and Susie moaned in satisfaction. It had been far too long since they last did this, she had almost forgotten how marvelous he felt, how deliriously complete he made her.
Her back arched, and her hands gripped at the covers as Barlow started taking her with fast, desperate strokes. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one teetering on edge after all his teasing. Though, obviously, she had less control. Seconds later, she cried his name as pleasure flooded her body and she came undone around him.
Barlow howled as her body tightened around him even more. He barely missed a beat as his movements became frenzied. His eyes blazed with amber, and his fangs pushed forward as his body crashed against hers.
Susie gazed at him through hooded eyes. Her body was still soft and pliant from her climax, yet she could feel something stirring inside her, could feel herself reaching towards another release. Barlow pressed himself further into her body, pushing her legs back against her body, taking her with shorter, more powerful thrusts.
She whimpered, moaned and gasped as he gave her what she wanted, what she needed. She adored how he could be so playful, so patient and at turns so wild and potent. Who was she kidding? She just adored him, through and through. She had since she first met him. No, since she first saw him. She couldn’t explain why, but it was instinct - instinct that made her body tingle when he first walked into that club. Instinct that made her watch him and track his movements. But it was pure lust that persuaded her to talk to him. Thank goodness he had felt it too. How poorer would her life be if he had allowed her to ditch him at the club?
Barlow’s growls became almost frantic. He was nearly there, and she could feel herself racing towards another peak.
If only this never had to end. But it did
– when they got back to Rose, it would be over. But maybe it didn’t have to be… No, it did, but she never wanted it to.
It hit her - she was already falling in love with him. The realization propelled her to the edge and as her body exploded, so did Barlow’s.
Thunderous bangs echoed around them from the firework display, but even they were drowned out by her delighted screams and his glorious roars.
*
Barlow stroked her hair as she lay in his arms, a contented smile on her sleeping face. A smile he put there he thought smugly. His wolf snickered in agreement.
They had sex, then got room service, watched part of a movie, had sex, ordered dessert, watched part of a different movie and then had sex again. If she weren’t so tired, he would have considered ordering more food and then taking her again, but she was tuckered out, and he was content to just enjoy the afterglow with her in his arms.
His sweet, little Susie. His little darling.
His insides turned cold and his beast snarled unhappily.
No, don’t get attached. He should push her away before he really didn’t want to let her go.
This is why he dated women like Roxanne – women he wouldn’t get attached to. Women he would never mate and could leave at the drop of a hat.
But he had wanted Susie the moment he scented her, the moment he heard her beautiful voice. He should have just left her be the night he met her, but he couldn’t force himself to walk away. He’d thought he was safe, thought he wouldn’t see her again. Fate clearly had other plans.
Mine snarled his inner animal.
Panic bubbled inside. No, not his – she would never be his. He would not take a mate; would not risk losing her. He could never be sure he could keep her from running into danger, and he would not risk the pain.
His beast snapped his jaws. The animal could grouch all he wanted, but it didn’t matter anyway – Susie said she didn’t want to be with him, and as much as that annoyed him, it was for the best.
