Collin turned to the brunette and nodded. “Nice to meet you,” he greeted as he pulled out his seat and settled onto it.
“And you,” Emily replied, smiling coyly. “Tania has told me so much about you,” she said, placing her hand on his forearm where he’d settled it on the table. “I feel like I already know you.”
Oh fucking shit, no!
Collin clenched his jaw as he glanced over at Tania. His sister smiled smugly. Yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing. Damn matchmakers. His family, the whole lot of them, tried to set him up at every opportunity.
Fending off their attempts was fucking exhausting. And now, they’d done it right in front of his lover...a shifter lover who thought he was his mate. His heart thudded in his chest as anger surged through him.
Forcing a smile he didn’t feel, Collin used the action of picking up a menu to dislodge Emily’s hand. He gave her a small smile as he stated, “Tania always liked telling stories.”
“She does,” Emily gushed. “She told me about the time you stopped a robbery at the market and took a knife through your thigh.” She reached down as if to touch his upper thigh where the jagged gash had once been and now a scar remained. “So very brave,” she crooned.
Collin grabbed her hand before she could touch him. Smiling tightly, he stated, “I’m still on the clock, Emily. Officers have a policy against engaging in open displays while on duty.” Okay, so it was more like an unwritten rule, but still, it had saved him more than once from allowing his family’s chosen ladies free rein of touching him.
“Oh, shame,” Emily replied softly. Then she smiled in a way that would probably make a straight man drool. “How about behind closed doors? Ever play cops and robbers?”
Good god, Collin mentally groaned. He did not need this.
“It’s a shame you have to defend people like that,” Rocio commented, interrupting them as he leaned across the table toward Collin.
Happy for the interruption, Collin lifted one brow as he peered at his older brother. “What are you talking about? Defend people like what?”
“Faggots,” Rocio muttered, frowning, as if just the word left his mouth dirty. “I mean, that guy was right, ya know? We shouldn’t have to mingle with people like that. And he’s the one who had to leave.”
Collin narrowed his eyes. For some reason, maybe it was because he’d just gotten laid with a hot guy—and said hot guy was sitting across the room—he just couldn’t bite his tongue like he normally did. He wrapped his hands around his coffee cup, just so he didn’t make a fist, as he softly replied.
“I’m a cop, Rocio,” Collin stated, glaring. “I uphold people’s rights. Homosexuals,” he stressed the word, which caused a surprised look to cross his brother’s face, “have rights just like everyone else. We fought wars to end persecution.” He spat the last couple of words out, just keeping the growl out of his tone.
Rocio’s brows furrowed in a scowl. “Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you’re okay with...with—” His cheeks heated. “Them.”
Collin let out a long, slow breath. “That’s right,” he snarled, keeping his voice low. “No, I don’t have a problem with people who are gay. I’m not a bigoted asshole who would rather ridicule things he doesn’t understand as opposed to accepting that I don’t always have the answers.”
His face red, Rocio opened his mouth to reply, but Emily interrupted by putting her hand on Collin’s arm and saying, “Well, I think it’s fantastic that you’re not a bigot, because my sister is a lesbian. She and her girlfriend have been together for six years now.”
“Yeah, but two chicks together is hot,” Rocio muttered.
Karla, who sat next to Rocio and across from Clarisa, smacked him upside the head. “That’s a double standard. You can’t be okay with two women together because you think it’s hot, but curl your lip at two guys,” she snapped. Karla pointed toward the other side of the restaurant and stated, “Like those two guys who were going to help Wren. One of them is gay and engaged to Nurse Leroy, who is also gay. He set little Anthony’s broken arm last year and gave him a lollipop for being so brave.”
Even Collin couldn’t help gaping upon hearing Karla’s rant. Holy fuck. Would his oldest sister back him that way if he came out? It was different though, right? Different when it was your own family that was gay, not when you were talking about some acquaintance?
“I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation to have in a restaurant,” his mother stated. “Now, I think we should hear Clarisa’s news.” She stared pointedly at Clarisa, his youngest sister who’d been gaping at the four of them.
“Your mother’s right,” Antonio stated. His father cleared his throat and also focused on Clarisa. “Clare, tell your siblings why we’re celebrating today.”
“I, uh, I’m—” She paused and licked her lips, as if needing a moment to remember after the unexpected conversation. “I’m pregnant. Four months now.”
Collin’s other two sisters squealed, leaped from their seats, and ran to his sister. They sandwiched her in a hug, jabbering and shaking as if hopped up on sugar.
Emily squeezed where she still gripped Collin’s arm as she crooned, “Aww, that’s so wonderful. What about you, Detective. Do you want kids someday? Tania says she does one day.”
Two of his sisters were married, Karla and Clarisa. His middle sister was not, although Tania went through boys like most girls went through shoes. She always seemed to have a date. While his older brother was also not married, he had a steady girl everyone expected him to propose to...eventually.
Collin was the only one who, according to his mother, wasn’t trying to find that special girl. How was he supposed to tell her that he didn’t want a girl? He didn’t want to get married and raise five bambinos like his own parents did? He really just wanted to focus on his job during the day and find someone to fuck every night.
Not someone. Tristan.
Collin didn’t recognize the voice in his head, but he knew it spoke the truth. If he could go home and fuck the sexy man into the mattress every night, he’d be golden. He’d loved holding the sexy shifter, at least, for the few minutes he’d allowed his mind to not fuck everything up.
Suddenly, the whole mate thing began to appeal...well, what he knew of it anyway.
Emily bumping her shoulder into Collin’s own and saying, “If you don’t want kids right away, that’s not a big deal. Gotta take advantage of being young and have fun while you can, right?”
“Uh, I’m really too busy for what most consider fun,” Collin hedged. “My work takes a lot of time. I stay focused on that.”
“Can’t be all work and no play, Detective,” Emily teased. She rubbed his arm, scraping her nails along the fabric of his long sleeve hard enough so he felt it through the cotton. “Come with me to a movie. I’ll show you how fun it can be.”
Collin open and shut his mouth. He racked his brain, trying to figure out how to extract himself from the situation. Emily’s forwardness threw him for a loop. She was practically throwing herself at him. What the hell had Tania told her to make her this...desperate?
A waiter and a waitress arrived then, freeing him from having to answer. He took that opportunity to slide his chair back and stand. “I need to hit the men’s room,” he explained to Tania, who gave him a funny look. As he passed, he told Jimmy, the young waiter who’d served him the day before—had it only been then that he’d been admiring this young man’s ass—to fix him the usual. If he were lucky, by the time he got back, the food would have arrived.
Striding to the back, Collin pushed the door open and went straight to the sink. He turned on the faucet, cupped his hands under the fall, and splashed some water on his face. Sighing, he rested his hands on either of the sink and hung his head.
Damn this double life. Collin loved his family and he didn’t want to lose them, but damn.
Talk to Emily.
Rubbing a wet hand over his face, Collin wondered what would happen if he did. He could take the woman
out to dinner and explain that he was flattered but gay...of course, then she’d run right to his sister with that information. However, since she had a gay sister, maybe she’d be more understanding.
Collin groaned, feeling like his head would explode.
When Collin felt hands land on his back and rub, he just about jumped out of his skin. He lunged forward and banged his thigh against the sink. Then, he tried to spin, but the hands had moved to grip his hips, holding him in place with surprising strength.
“Easy, sweets,” a voice he recognized growled.
Lifting his head, Collin met his lover’s dark-eyed gaze in the mirror. “Tristan,” he whispered. His body relaxed into the man’s touch even as his cock took interest, roaring to life. “What are you doing here?”
Flattening himself against Collin’s back, Tristan slid his arms around his torso. He flattened one palm on his stomach as he cupped Collin’s erection with his other. Two strokes had Collin’s dick flooding to full arousal, filling out the crotch of his jeans.
“I was eating lunch with my friends,” Tristan stated gruffly. “Then you walked in and took out the trash.” He increased the pressure on Collin’s dick, rubbing him firmly through the fabric. “So fucking sexy.”
Collin tightened his grip on the sink, struggling to control his need to buck his hips. His lover slipped his other hand down and massaged his dick’s head through the fabric with the tip of his finger. Collin moaned as pre-cum oozed from his shaft.
Holding Tristan’s gaze, Collin saw how his lover’s dark eyes narrowed and his lips curved down into a snarl. “Then, I see that woman all over you.” He reached down and cupped Collin’s balls, squeezing lightly...just enough to cause the best kind of pain. “You are my mate,” he insisted. “While I understand that you’re not out, I would appreciate it if you didn’t allow another, woman or otherwise, to drape themselves all over you.” He growled. “I hate having her smell on you. I want to fuck you hard and fill you with my seed. I want to bathe you in my scent.”
Collin groaned, feeling Tristan rock his hips against him. He felt the hard ridge of his lover’s cock slide against his cloth-covered ass. He shuddered at the pressure on his testicles, his cock twitching with need.
“I will slide my shaft into your channel,” Tristan continued. He moved his hand back to Collin’s dick and rubbed faster. “I will fill you up with my cum and you will come from the feel of its heat warming you from the inside out.”
He shuddered at the images Tristan’s words conjured. It’d been years since he’d allowed someone to tap his ass, but the more Tristan rocked against him, the more he wanted to feel him stretched wide open. His cock jerked and leaked in his jeans, pressing and filling his fly nearly to the point of pain. If he weren’t in jeans, he knew he’d have leaked a visible wet spot already.
Collin moaned and shuddered in Tristan’s grip. “H-How do you ramp me up so fast?” he asked, groaning. “You make me so fucking hard I can’t think.”
“I am your mate!” Tristan snarled. “We are meant for each other by Fate’s decree. Your body will always crave my touch, will sing only for my hand.” Holding Collin’s gaze in the mirror, his eyes seemed to give off a feral glow. He opened his mouth, revealing extended canines, which he scraped up and down the tendons of his neck. “You and I,” he purred. “We were meant for each other.”
Collin gaped at the man in the mirror as his body flashed hot with desire for everything the alligator offered him. He wanted to belong to someone, to be accepted for whom he was, to be loved and cherished. He’d never had hope for that before, but now...now he did.
Feeling his balls tighten, Collin hissed. He could feel his orgasm approaching. The tell-tale tingle in his spine heralded how close he was.
“Please,” Collin hissed. “Can’t come in my pants,” he muttered, having enough presence of mind to know what a bad idea that would be. “So close.”
Tristan responded by making quick work of his fly. In seconds, the cool bathroom air hit Collin’s hot dick, making him gasp. Then, he groaned as his lover’s calloused hand wrapped around his shaft.
“Say you will come to the estate tonight, Collin,” Tristan ordered even as he began jacking his prick in a fast, steady rhythm. “Say we will discuss you being mine.”
“Yes,” Collin hissed. “Fuck, yes.” He would say anything to get the pressure on his dick to tighten, to go faster, anything.
Tristan chuckled roughly. “Oh, my sweets, we will get to the fucking,” he assured, growling softly. “But not here.” Tristan tightened his hold and began jacking swiftly with one hand. With the other, he pressed something slightly scratchy over the sensitive head of his prick. “Come, Collin. I got you.”
Gasping, Collin lowered his gaze and saw that Tristan held a napkin to the head of his dick. He shuddered as his lover rubbed the paper fabric over his head lightly, back and forth. Sparks shot down his dick to his balls, pulling them flush in less than a second.
“Look at me,” Tristan demanded.
Collin snapped his focus back to the mirror and his lover’s gaze. The desire, lust—hell the need—staring back at him took his breath away. He felt as if his heart skipped a beat, then he felt his eyes widen in shock as his body tipped over the edge into bliss. His body bucked and jerked, but Tristan held him steady as his balls unloaded his sperm into the napkin as his orgasm roared through his system.
Groaning in pleasure, Collin sagged against the slightly shorter, far more slender male behind him. His lover had no trouble holding him up. Soaring on his endorphin high, Collin reveled in his shifter’s strength.
His shifter?
Oh, hell, yeah. Collin wanted to make him his. He suddenly looked forward to the coming evening.
Chapter Nine
Walking away from Collin, still aching and hard, had been the toughest thing he’d had to do...ever. After watching his lover come, he’d wanted nothing more than to slide his pants down a bit further. Tristan’s cock had throbbed and he’d desired to shove his cock up his flushed, blissed-out mate’s ass.
Instead, Tristan had tossed the tissue into the sink and righted his lover’s pants. Once he was certain his human could stand on his own, he’d grabbed the napkin and thrown it into the trash.
Tristan had returned to Collin’s side and cupped his jaw. Standing on his toes, he’d pressed his lips to his lover’s in a chaste kiss. He’d smiled at the dazed look on Collin’s flushed face.
“I will see you this evening, Collin.”
Collin had reached up and gripped his upper arm, stopping him from moving away. “What about you?” he asked, lowering his second hand to cup Tristan’s hard cock.
Grunting at the contact, Tristan had felt goose bumps rise on his skin as he’d bucked into that hold once, twice before getting himself under control. Panting hard, he’d reached down and removed his lover’s hand. At Collin’s confused, even hurt, expression, Tristan had assured, “That was for you, to remind you of who you belong to now.”
“Wh-Who I belong to?” Collin sounded a mix between blissed-out, confused, and irritated.
Tristan had smiled, then pecked another kiss to Collin’s lips. “Yes,” he whispered. “You belong to me just as I belong to you.” He smiled as he gazed into the other man’s eyes. “I look forward to tonight.”
Collin licked his lips, then nodded. “Me, too.”
Nodding once, Tristan’s smile firmly in place, he’d crossed to the door and unlocked it. While he was a shifter and couldn’t give a rip about nudity, he was in a human town. Plus, he’d suddenly discovered a jealous streak he’d never encountered before. He and his alligator were possessive of their human, not wanting anyone else to see his beautiful man.
After looking back and admiring the view one more time, Tristan had left the restroom and his mate. He’d returned to the restaurant proper and found Caladon and Leroy at the hostess desk, checking out. While Caladon paid, Leroy spoke quietly to Penelope. Tristan heard the words barbeque, Golren,
and good guy.
Tristan lifted one corner of his mouth as he met Caladon’s eyes. The boa constrictor shifter just smiled. He’d sat with the pair over a meal, listening to them banter and flirt, tease and taunt. It’d been an interesting experience, but he’d felt his alligator’s agitation under his skin. He’d wanted to get away from everyone, go back to his pond.
Eyes narrowing, Tristan turned and swept his gaze over the large gathering for a moment. Obviously his mate’s family, Tristan wondered which ones were siblings and which were extended family. His skin crawled at the idea of being subjected to that kind of boisterous group. Not to mention, he’d overheard the one man’s words. Not the most supportive group.
Tristan turned his back on them and headed out the door. Once in the open air, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He heard his name called and looked to the left, spotting Golren and Taolma lounging against a blue SUV.
Reaching them, Tristan looked up at Golren. “It seems it won’t be long before you get that barbeque,” he told him. “I overheard Leroy talking to Penelope about it.”
Golren’s eyes widened, taking on an interesting shine—anticipation, maybe—before he asked, “Really? What’d she say?”
“Don’t know,” Tristan replied. “I didn’t stick around and listen.”
“Why not?” Golren actually sounded offended.
Scowling, Tristan grumbled, “Because being in the restaurant was damn near torture.” He growled low in his throat. “Too enclosed.”
“I know what you’re talking about,” Caladon said from behind Tristan, announcing his presence. “I went to see Leroy at the hospital once and nearly freaked out in the elevator.” He stopped beside Tristan and grimaced. “Now I always take the stairs.”
Taolma pushed off the vehicle he leaned against and moved right next to Tristan. The taller, slender young shifter grinned cheekily as he sniffed at him, then teased, “Well, I think you found a way to relax. Nice cologne.”
Caladon frowned as he sniffed him, too. “I thought you said you found your mate.”
Paranormal's Love 11 - Hot-Blooded Alligator Page 7
