“There’s nothing to be confused about. The decision is simple.”
She makes a dismissive sound. “I suppose you’re going to tell me I need to listen to my heart?”
“No, listen to mine.” Taking her hand, I place it over my chest. “Can you feel that?”
“It’s going a mile a minute,” she whispers.
“This is what you do to me, Ivy. You make my head hurt, my stomach turn, and my heart beat out of my chest. I can’t get you off my mind, and all I want to do when you talk about bonding with another werewolf is tear someone’s head off.”
She laughs. “Maybe you should see a doctor. Or a therapist. Those things don’t sound pleasant.”
“You make breathing and speaking difficult. I never thought a woman like you existed. You’re a dream, my richest fantasy, a myth I didn’t think I could believe in. And I’m hungry for you, Ivy.” I squeeze her hand against my chest and then drag it down my abs to my straining erection. “I’m starving. Desperate to be as close to you as possible.”
Her lips part as her hand cups my shaft over my slacks. “You’re rock hard.”
“I’m definitely that, too.” My head spins, so I rest my forehead on hers. “I crave you when you’re not in my arms, pressed against my body this way. Nothing feels right without you anymore. Even though I know we can’t be together—that I’m not the one you should declare as your mate—I can’t stand the thought of you with anyone else.”
Her breathing quickens as if desire is sparking inside her, and when she looks up into my eyes, I’m stunned—given a rare glimpse into her soul. I’m struck speechless by its beauty.
“This is the last time we’ll be together,” she whispers as she begins to stroke me outside of my pants. “We’ll say good-bye and leave everything on the table. No regrets. Just me and you and this moment, right here and right now, holding on to everything we can before it’s stolen from us.”
Hell yes.
Groaning in sweet agony, I crush my mouth to hers and smother her lips with a scorching kiss. She opens up quickly, whimpering as her tongue dances with mine. I feast on her breathless noises, strip the cloak from her shoulders, and as her fingers go to work unfastening the buttons of my shirt, I jerk down my pants and free my straining cock.
“This moment isn’t going to be enough for me,” I mumble against her succulent lips, “but it’ll have to do.”
“It’s all we have.”
She draws my lower lip into her mouth and sucks softly, sending chills scattering to the base of my spine. Dropping her head back against the wall, she arches her body into mine. “I don’t know how you do this to me.”
“What?” I kiss her chin, her neck. “Tell me what I do to you.”
“You fill me”—her chest heaves as she struggles for air—“with passion.”
“Oh, give me a few seconds, baby, and I’ll fill you with so much more.”
Ducking beneath my arm, she perches on the edge of Lukas’s desk and slowly spreads her legs, revealing her flawless and gloriously nude body.
Thought…gone. Only clawing, gripping need remains.
I’m on her in a heartbeat and settle my hips between her thighs as I rope my arms behind her back to drag her closer. My mouth slants over hers, and my hands skate up her back as I sheathe myself inside her in one long, smooth stroke. Bracing her hands on the desk behind her, she leans back and rocks her hips against me, taking me all in.
“Ivy,” I say on a groan as my body goes rigid. “You’re…everything.”
She smiles, but it’s fleeting as I thrust deeper, harder, slamming her hips against mine. I can sense her pulse racing as easily as my own, and every hard clench of her heart calls to me on a level I can’t explain.
Mine.
Widening my stance, I grip her hips and knead my fingers into her lush backside as I plunge into her trembling depths. Her full breasts bounce in an erotic rhythm that matches my thrusting, and I’m speared with lust. Reaching between our bodies, I brush my fingers over her clit. She gasps, her mouth falling open, her hair falling over her shoulders in a golden wave, her cheeks flushed pink.
There’s nothing more than this—than her.
Keeping my fingers on her pleasure spot, I pull my dick out slowly and then ease inside, sinking deep, all the way in. As the sound of skin smacking against skin echoes through the office, the crescendo rises, and I stiffen, blood to bone.
“Reaper,” she pushes out on a moan. “I’m so close—don’t stop.”
As I roll her clit between my fingers, she bites down on her lower lip and muffles a cry as her core pulses and squeezes around my dick. I topple over the edge with her, releasing my seed into her pussy, holding her gaze as I fill her up completely. When I’ve wrung the orgasm from her body, she rises up and coils her arms around my neck.
“Lie to me, Reaper. Tell me this wasn’t the last time.” Her voice is soft and breathy, a sensual caress against my ear. “I don’t think I could handle it if I really knew this was over.”
“We’re not even close to being finished, Ivy.” I stamp a kiss of possession on her mouth. “In fact, we’re just getting started.”
“I want to believe that so badly.”
“Then believe it, baby. They’ll have to tear you from my arms when the clock strikes one.”
“No, they won’t,” she says, her voice going dark. “I’ll go willingly.”
Well, hell. Talk about an ego buster.
“I talked with the Omega after I freaked out,” she goes on, sliding her thighs against my hips, “and she made me realize a few things about our futures and how intertwined they are. She put things in a certain way that made me understand…”
“What, Ivy?”
She stills in my arms. “I’m choosing Lukas.”
Fuck. Me.
The world stops. Even as the sound of pounding footsteps descends upon the office, I’m stunned stupid. Can’t move.
“Someone’s coming.” Panicked, Ivy whirls around me, snatching my clothes off the floor. “You have to get dressed. If we’re caught like this, you’ll be thrown out of the pack, and I won’t be able to get in.”
She chose Lukas?
If she wants him, that’s fine by me, but if that’s the case, what just happened? Why would she come here seeking me and then let me fuck her on his desk?
No, something’s not right.
Beside me, Ivy scrambles for her cloak and tosses my pants at me.
“Hurry up.” She ties her cloak closed. “Why aren’t you moving?”
As I step into my slacks and yank them up my legs, the door flies open, slamming against the wall. Lukas bulldozes into the office, and when his attention flips from my gaping fly to Ivy’s guilty expression, waves of aggression blast into the room. I can’t even get two words out before he roars with rage. Coarse black fur covers his skin as his clothes tear to shreds and fall to the floor. His nose elongates and fangs drop from his gums.
“Get behind me.” I outstretch my hands to protect Ivy and face my cousin head on. “Whatever happens, don’t get between us.”
With the shifting energy of the full moon pulsing through my veins, I ball the tension swirling in my gut into a hard knot and then burst through my skin with an enraged howl.
If Lukas wants Ivy, he has to get through me first.
To be concluded…
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Acknowledgments
Sincerest thanks to Candace Havens, Liz Pelletier, Curtis Svehlak, and Rhianna Walker, for being my ultimate dream team.
Hugs, thanks, and love to Aggie Smith for your friendship and brutal honesty; to Laurie Shaw for sharing in the excitement; to Lisa Sanchez for always being there, even when the times we see each other are few and far between; and to Lora Walker for your willingness to plot over the phone, even when you have a million things going on.
<
br /> Justin, as always, you’re my rock, my love, my light, and my home.
Kelli and Gavin, let me tell you a story. Mama doesn’t want you to read this version of Little Red Riding Hood until you’re an adult (in your words, that’s thirty years old) and married. Even then, you shouldn’t read chapters one through four. The End.
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kristin Miller writes sweet and sassy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and steamy paranormal romance of all varieties. Kristin has degrees in psychology, English, and education, and taught high school and middle school English before crossing over to a career in writing. She lives in Northern California with her alpha male husband and their two children. You can usually find her in the corner of a coffee shop, laptop in front of her and mocha in hand, using the guests around her as fuel for her next book.
www.facebook.com/AuthorKristinMiller
www.twitter.com/kristinmiller02
www.kristinmiller.net
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