by Mandy Harbin
She heard stomping feet just before a shout. “Ariel!”
She turned off the water and grabbed a towel, patting herself dry and just barely getting the towel around her body before the bathroom door shook. She heard a bang from the other side of the door just as he rattled again. This time, the hinges groaned and the door splintered.
Holy shit. Rob was sweating and panting and dirt streaked down his face, but he was a god. How could a dirty man, sweating in flannel, with wind blown hair look as hot as this? Her belly tingled and she gripped the towel tighter.
He looked at the door and frowned at the chair. Then he looked up at her, eyes narrowing. “Toby said—”
“It doesn’t matter what Toby said.” She leaned down and turned on the shower again. “You’re filthy and I just showered. Strip.”
“Excuse me? I’m working. I get dirty, angel.” He crossed his arms.
“And I’m working too. You seem to be doing okay so far. We’re going to take it up a notch. I need you to take off your clothes and get in the shower.”
He slowly reached for the top button on his shirt. “More torture, huh?”
“If you like.”
“You gonna watch?” he asked, eyebrows raised as he held open the top of his shirt.
“If I like.”
He hummed in the back of his throat but continued to remove his shirt. Holy hell in a hand basket, the manual labor he must’ve been doing just before he ran in here caused his muscles to grow menacingly.
“You’re dripping wet.”
“Maybe you can do something about that later.” She knew he was referring to the water still sluicing off her skin, but she couldn’t pass up the innuendo.
He shut his eyes, his jaw ticking. “You’re fucking teasing me again,” he said through gritted teeth.
“But you’re not tied up now, are you? Progress.” She shrugged.
He growled, sounding a little bit pissed and a whole lot scary, but Ariel stood her ground. He unzipped his pants and pushed them down, underwear and all.
And he was hard and leaking already.
“I see my brusque tone hasn’t cooled your ardor.”
“You’re wet and naked under that towel, angel. Your clipped tone is only making me want to subdue you even more.” He stepped closer to her, invading her space and trapping her against the counter. “My nature is to make you submit to me, and you’re ordering me around like a little fucking puppy. You keep this shit up and I’m going bite back.”
No matter how hard she tried, Ariel couldn’t contain the shiver of desire that crawled down her spine. It’s just a natural response of a woman to man.
“Is that what you want? To bite back?” she asked breathlessly.
“Angel, you make it through this testing shit without becoming my mate and it’ll be a fucking miracle. I want nothing more than to make you mine forever.”
Then Rob swore under his breath, a look of pained regret in his eyes, and whirled, getting into the shower and slamming the glass door closed.
Ariel felt a pang of sadness at Rob’s sudden withdrawal, but she refused to analyze why.
Some things are best left unexplained.
Chapter Six
Rob scrubbed his skin like cleaning it would clean his soul. What the hell was wrong with him? He knew his animal wanted to claim her, but he had no intention of voicing that. At least not when he was considered lucid under this medication. It was almost as if in that moment, his lion had control of everything and it was only through sheer will alone he kept from crushing his mouth to hers. He guessed that was because the medication he’d been shot up with was working, but at what cost? And how well did it actually work if his lion was able to overpower him, if only for a few seconds?
The door to the shower opened and his head snapped in that direction.
Shit, shit, shit. Ariel was naked. And she was stepping into the shower with him. Fuck. He so didn’t need the temptation right now, which he guessed was exactly her reasoning why now was the time to test his will. He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to force out the image of her waiflike figure out of his mind.
“Rob,” she breathed, and touched his arm. His eyes opened and the compassion he saw in them almost brought him to his knees. “We’ll go slow. If you want me to stop, just say the word. Okay?”
He blinked the water from his eyes and ran his hand through his wet hair, watching her, gauging her. “The problem is, angel, I don’t want to stop. And you’re going to.”
“Yes.” It wasn’t a question, but she’d answered him anyway.
He shut his eyes again, trying to find the strength to resist the need, but when something hot and wet encased his dick, he gasped, eyes flying open.
“Oh fuck,” he breathed, watching as Ariel took him into his mouth. She was on her knees before him and he had to grab the side of the wall with one hand to keep from digging into her scalp. With the other, he adjusted the showerhead so she wouldn’t be pounded with water. It was instinctual to make sure she was protected, and he didn’t fight that reaction.
Her mouth was like heaven and hell. The sweetest feeling he’d ever experienced and the most dangerous, the most tempting. He warred with himself to shove her down on the shower floor and take her verses being still and enjoying her mouth on him.
He couldn’t help it. He slid his hands into her hair, knotting his fingers in her soft locks while he started to thrust into her mouth. She moaned around him, taking him deep and then swallowing. He shouted, squeezing her hair tighter. But the she let his dick slip free from her welcoming heat.
“Let go.”
He groaned, fingers flexing convulsively, not wanting to let her go. He slowly shook his head.
“You let go right now, or it stops.”
He growled at her and her eyes got wide.
“Rob? Are you okay? What’s my name?” The tremble in her voice stabbed at his heart and he unlocked his fingers from her hair without giving it another thought. He rubbed his fists in his eyes, trying to breathe through his need.
“Ariel,” he rasped, answering her.
“Do you want to stop?”
Oh God, if she stopped now, he might just die right there. If she didn’t think he could do this, she might think him weak and not want to do it again. Or worse. Turn to Jack. He growled. No fucking way would he let that happen. “No,” he said a little too harshly, but at the moment, it couldn’t be helped.
“Look at me.”
Rob opened his eyes and his mouth went dry. She was sitting on the shower floor, her legs spread where he could see her beautiful pussy. She tweaked her nipples, watching him, a soft moan escaping her supple lips. He groaned, starting to move toward her. He needed to touch her, smell her, taste her.
“No, Robbie. Stay there. Just watch.”
“Shit, angel.” He fisted his hands but stayed put. Then the little vixen’s hands slipped from her breasts to her legs, one resting on her thigh, the other diving right for her core. “Son of a bitch,” he groaned as she started to masturbate. His cock was hard as steel and aching for the attention it had lost.
“You can touch yourself. Let me see you stroke that beautiful cock, Robbie.”
He gritted his teeth as he complied, taking his dick in hand and roughly jacking from root to tip. She moaned, her head falling back on her shoulders as she started playing with her clit.
“Fuck, you’re so hot,” he growled, roughly jerking with one hand and squeezing his balls with the other. “I can come from this vision every day of my life.”
She looked at him then, eyes tempting him, drawing him to her. Then she moved her hand from her pussy and sucked on her fingers, moaning.
“No fair,” he panted, still working his prick.
“Tastes so good. Almost as good as you.”
He groaned, shaking his head, fighting the need to…come? Take? He didn’t know. He was just fighting some internal battle he didn’t have time to identify.
Then she sh
oved her hand between her legs again and within seconds, she was screaming, writhing on the floor, thrusting her hips up in the air as she came. The sight was so erotic he stilled, mesmerized by the beauty of his mate taking her own pleasure. When she sighed and sat up, looking at him, he squeezed his dick painfully and began to fuck his fist with raging need. He was going to come and shoot all over her, her breasts, her tummy, her pussy. He was going to mark her everywhere.
“Stop.”
He growled at her, shaking his head and working his fist faster. The hell he was going to stop. Fuck that.
“Rob, I said stop. You don’t get to come.”
He dropped his dick like it was hot coal and roared at her, crouching down and growling in her face. She squeaked. He knew he scared her, but he couldn’t stop.
“Your fangs.”
He licked his teeth and sure enough, his fangs had descended. Did that mean his lion was trying to take her or was it because he was too pissed to focus?
She moved slowly toward him on her knees. She softly rubbed her hands up and down his thighs like she was gentling him. Then to his surprise, she licked his cock.
“You don’t…I mean…I’m sorry I…” He couldn’t make out a clear thought. He didn’t know what he was feeling. He didn’t want her to do anything that made her uncomfortable, but he was aching for her. He needed her to make him come. He just couldn’t bear the thought of making himself come again after she left like he’d had to do yesterday.
“Shh.” Her lips wrapped around him and she swallowed him. He yelped at the sudden intensity of her mouth on his very sensitively aware dick, his hand clutching her shoulders in effort to keep from holding her head like he’d done earlier.
“So good,” he moaned over and over, gently thrusting his hips, trying not to overpower her. “Please don’t stop, angel. Please, please don’t stop.” He didn’t care that he was begging. He’d beg his mate every day if he had to. He never wanted the sweet heaven of her mouth to ever leave him.
She reached up and gently squeezed his balls. He spread his legs a little more to give her better access, but was constrained by the size of the shower to move too much. It didn’t matter. She fondled him one last time before moving back and massaging his perineum. He groaned, squeezing her shoulders, but trying not to hurt her, his thrusts becoming a little more demanding.
Then she pressed her finger at his pucker and instinct took over. He bore down until she breached him, shouting as she entered him and sought his prostate.
Right fucking there!
He roared, his thrusts turning frantic, and then she used her hand and mouth in tandem on his dick, moaning around him while she assaulted his sweet spot.
He couldn’t hold back. God, it was too good. “You’re gonna make me cooome… Oh, fuuuck!” He released her shoulders, one fist flying into the tiled wall beside him and the other reaching out to grab the bar on the shower door because instinctively, he knew if he didn’t let go of her, he’d bruise her, hurt her. And that was unacceptable.
She continued to swallow him as he shot down her throat, taking his seed and his strength with him. When he had nothing left to give, he collapsed to his knees before her and took her into his arms, his lips crushing hers. He didn’t care if she thought this was just a test. He had to taste her, and the temptation of his seed in her mouth was too much to resist.
She tasted of his musk and something much sweeter and he was immediately addicted. It was a taste he’d never forget and always crave. When she pulled away, he dropped his forehead to hers, breathing hard.
“Thank you, angel. I know you didn’t plan for that to happen, but I-I, um, just thanks.” He couldn’t tell her what he wanted to tell her. If she truly knew he had no intentions of ever letting her go, she might bolt right now. He had to be careful if he stood a chance of winning her heart.
“The pleasure was all mine,” she whispered.
He disagreed, but said nothing. It was safer that way.
* * * *
Ariel stared at herself in the little blue negligee she’d brought with her, finding the strength for this next test. God, she knew this didn’t conform to any professional or ethical standards, but she was having a hard time remembering that. After the shower incident yesterday, she’d stayed away at dinnertime, trying to gather her thoughts. She couldn’t explain the draw she had to Rob, but she knew if she’d continued with this next step last night, she’d have thrown all ethics out the window and just fucked him. She couldn’t do that. If she slept with Rob then there was no way not to become emotionally attached.
Which was not the same as falling in love. It couldn’t be since love was just a state of mind.
But if she became attached to him, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her objectivity. Therefore, she needed a little reprieve before continuing with her temptation testing.
But she was beginning to wonder who she was testing more, her or Rob. The last years of her marriage to Will had been methodical at best, so this uncharted territory with Rob sparked something deep inside her. It didn’t matter. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it.
From the reports she was getting from Thomas on Jack, he was doing well with the medication. Of course, he wasn’t being tested like Rob, but it relieved Ariel that Jack wasn’t experiencing any adverse side effects. It gave her room to focus solely on Rob.
She’d made dinner plans with him for tonight. It’d been over twenty-four hours since she’d last laid eyes on him, and she was feeling antsy. Did that mean she missed him? She hoped not. She tried to tell herself that it was her work she missed. But she figured Rob needed this time away, too. She didn’t need to push him too hard. It wasn’t like every single woman he encountered would drop to her knees and suck his dick or even tempt him subtly. If he did this well with her aggressive tactics then he could survive in a world with less overbearing women.
The thought of Rob being with another woman made her heart race and a cold sweat break out. Maybe it just meant she was possessive of what this man could do for her sexually. It didn’t have to mean anything more.
Surely it didn’t.
The soft knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. She took a deep breath and strode over to it, channeling a self-confidence she did not feel. When she opened the door, her gaze landed on the snippet of chest peeking out from the few buttons Rob had left undone at the top of his shirt. She swallowed, trying to find the saliva that suddenly dissipated. Lord, the man was sex on a stick. Sinewy and tanned from working outside with an aura of barely contained beast radiating around him. Her eyes traveled south as she took him in. His jean-clad thighs flexed under her perusal and she had a sudden urge to rub them. She refrained. Realizing she should make eye contact, she started to look up, but the sight of his dick, hard and straining in his jeans, made her gasp and rather than look up slowly at him, her head snapped up.
Rob’s eyes were narrowed, his jaw working as he seemingly ground his teeth. “You’re practically naked.”
Right. The little nightie. She licked her lips. “I’m covered in all the areas that matter.” She turned to head toward the kitchen, and the groan she heard from Rob reminded her of what the backside of this ensemble looked like. It was lacy blue with matching thong, but where the front hung down just past her pussy, the hem gathered up toward the back, leaving her ass completely exposed. She looked over her shoulder, but was too intimidated to look directly into his eyes. “I hope you like spaghetti.”
She heard the door shut behind her, the click of the lock almost deafening. She gathered some plates and started scooping the pasta onto one when she felt his hands stroke her arms gently. She shivered at his touch and cursed herself for responding so quickly to him.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered in her ear, his breath heating her skin. Then his lips found her neck and she wasn’t sure how she managed to put the plate on the counter instead of letting it crash to the floor.
Ariel tilted her neck, giving him
better access as she told herself it was a natural impulse because this wasn’t supposed to be happening. Tonight, she’d planned on testing his will power without ever actually touching each other. Maybe she should’ve started with this test first. Too late to worry about that now.
“The test tonight is temptation without touching,” she panted. Oh crap, he was squeezing her sides and grinding his cock against her butt cheeks as he continued to kiss and nip at her neck.
His mouth moved to her ear, and his hot breath fanned her overly sensitive skin. “Then I fail.”
She only had a moment of shock at the guttural sound of his voice before he whipped her around and crushed his mouth to hers. His kiss was rough, his scruffy beard growth abrading her face while his hands fisted in the nightie that adorned her body. God, he was so raw, so animalistic that she was totally lost in him. The little noises that sounded as if they’d come from deep within him vibrated against her, making it difficult for her to continue resisting, but his humming turned into a growl when his wicked finesse wasn’t pushing her into complete submission. He bit at her lips when his tongue didn’t get the entry it demanded.
“Let me in.” He shoved his leg between hers, rubbing his thigh at her core, and she moaned as heat flooded her. He took advantage of her weakness, sliding his tongue in as she made that needy sound. And she didn’t have the desire to even try to stop him. He tasted of scotch and man and she was getting drunk off his kisses.
Her world tilted as she found herself lifted into his arms and being carried across the room.
To the bed.
And she still didn’t care about right and wrong. She needed him as much as he seemed to need her. I’m just horny. Although that wasn’t the clinical term for her current state of mind. Her body demanded, and she was powerless.
She landed softly on the bed, his mouth still on hers, insistent. His hands explored her body, but didn’t touch her breasts or her pussy, driving her need higher, making her want him even more than she thought possible.
