by E A Price
“I really need to get to work,” he said in what she thought was a reluctant way, though that may just be her imagination.
Maris nodded. “Can I see you tonight?” she asked softly.
Clay may be a big, tough reindeer, but when it came to relationships he was as skittish as a baby deer. She feared that if she pushed him, she’d spook him and it would be their first date all over again.
He reached across the table and she placed her hand in his.
“I’ll come by after work.”
“I’ll get some groceries,” she said almost giddily.
His smile started to look pained and she squeezed his hand.
“Don’t back out on me now,” she warned.
Clay shook his head. “I’m not, I want to be with you… while I can.”
Maris raised an eyebrow. “While you can? Are you going somewhere?”
He let go of her hand and she withdrew her own, placing it on her lap, rubbing her fingers together, enjoying the lingering tingle of his touch.
“No, but we can be together until you find someone else.”
“Until I find someone else?” she repeated slowly.
“I have no plans to mate again, but you will find someone.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
Clay winced. “Look let’s not dwell on that.” He pulled out his wallet and dropped a few bills on the table. “I have to go, but I’ll see you later.”
“Yes,” she murmured in agreement.
He stood and smiled down at her. She tried to return it with the same excitement she had felt only a few moments ago.
Clay leaned down and gave her a brief kiss. “I’ll see you later,” he promised and walked away whistling.
Lord, she hoped she wasn’t making a mistake.
Nineteen
“You’re in a good mood,” said Ariel mildly suspiciously as he stepped into the elevator.
Clay realized he had been whistling a jaunty tune – that alone was completely unlike him, but the fact that he was smiling was also probably a shock to his niece. Ariel was in her early twenties, and unlike his nephews, she couldn’t remember Crystal, and so she had no idea what he was like before he lost her. He’d actually once been a pretty happy guy. Not super happy, but pretty happy. Course, Ariel just knew him as the grouch.
“I suppose I am,” he admitted cautiously.
He wasn’t about to tell anyone why. He wasn’t embarrassed about being with Maris. In spite of her poor reputation amongst the females, he was well aware of the lust she incited in half the males in the herd – including the mated males. He imagined that he’d be the envy of half the herd if they knew, but he didn’t want anyone to think that she was using him, that she was trying to sleep her way to a high position in the herd. Just as he didn’t want anyone to think he was using her to assuage his loneliness – because he kind of felt like he was using her.
Ariel shuffled the files she was carrying, and Clay offered to give her a hand, which she gladly accepted.
“What is all this?” he asked as he relieved her of several heavy box files.
“Just notes and ideas for the Caribbean shoot. I won’t be there because I have a prior commitment, but I want to go through all this with the team member who will be there.”
“Right, of course,” he muttered.
Maris was about to go away to the Caribbean for a few days. To frolic in the sun and sea and sand, surrounded by dozens of half-naked, buffed young men. He was assuming the latter to be the case. Hmmmm.
“Who’s going with her?” asked Clay, mildly worried it would be Chelsea. She was the head of her department, and she usually took all the interesting work trips for herself.
“Lia,” replied Ariel.
Clay let out an inner sigh of relief. Lia was much like Ariel, young and kind, and probably wouldn’t cause Maris too much bother. Though she wasn’t very assertive and her shyness probably didn’t make her the most obvious candidate to run a project like this.
“Indeed.”
“Yes,” said Ariel before biting her lip. “I don’t think she wants to go. Lia’s much more interested in the artistic side of our projects, and she’s not a very good manager. Chelsea insisted on Lia, and Lia was too scared to say no.”
Right. Chelsea was finding small ways to sabotage the project.
“I was thinking about asking Branch if I can send someone else with them. I don’t know, maybe one of the enforcers, to back up Lia’s authority. But that would mean going behind Chelsea’s back, and she already dislikes me because she can’t yell at me.”
Chelsea was a harridan to her staff, but even she wasn’t foolish enough to rage at the alpha’s sister.
Clay didn’t really have a free hand, so he settled on placing his little finger on her hand and giving her a reassuring look. “Leave it to me.”
Ariel smiled at him. “Thank you, Uncle Clay.”
Yes, he already had a plan forming in his head, and while it was mostly selfish, it would also assuage Ariel of her worries too.
*
“How about this one?” suggested Marla holding up a risqué bikini that was even too risqué for Maris.
“I’d prefer one with straps,” admitted Maris.
They were shopping for her trip to the Caribbean. Ariel had given her a company credit card and asked her to buy a variety of new swimsuits, sarongs, and sundresses, and her mother – who took shopping to an art form, had insisted on coming with her. Maris was glad she had, she wasn’t feeling overly enthusiastic about the trip now. Not when it would take her away from Clay.
Marla pulled out another suit in her size, and Maris nodded. “That’s more like it.”
Marla added it to the pile for her to try on. Maris wandered over to dresses and started flicking through the rack. She pulled out a dark green sheath dress and held it up against her body, admiring the color.
“That’s not a sundress,” said Marla joining her.
“Oh, ah, no,” mumbled Maris, “I just like it.”
She was, in fact, considering buying it for her date with Clay that evening. She was sure she had plenty of dresses at home, but well, tonight was special… sort of.
Marla gave her a sidelong glance. “Is it for someone special?”
“What? No!” denied Maris, perhaps a little too eagerly. She cleared her throat. “I just like the color.”
“I see,” said Marla in a weirdly quiet way.
It was weird because her mother was never reticent – about anything. Nope, if she had an opinion, she voiced it. Maris had perhaps only ever seen her this quiet back when she was younger and used to ask her where her dad was. That was not a subject Marla wanted to discuss, and Maris now knew why.
“I’ll just try these on.”
She marched towards the dressing room before her mother decided to stop being reticent, but as soon as she got in there, she really wished she hadn’t been so hasty.
Jason was in there - in the ladies’ dressing room - holding a bra.
“Maris,” he said, in slight annoyance.
“Jason,” she replied staring pointedly at the bra.
He looked at it, and his usual cocky confidence returned. “Just shopping with my sister,” he said with a smirk.
“Right.”
Yeah, sure. She wondered if Clay went out and bought bras with his sister.
“Jason, honey, can I have the red one? Want to help me put it on?”
One of the doors opened, and a hand appeared outside one of the cubicles.
“Sure thing, sis.”
“Wha…”
He pushed the bra into the hand and quickly shut the door. Jason strode towards Maris.
“What’s that Mom?” called Maris loudly. “Sorry, gotta go.”
She quickly left and told her mother they all looked great and she was buying them all. Damnit, was he everywhere she looked?!
Either Jason had a girlfriend – and therefore his lecherous phone calls were even grosser than she init
ially thought, or he really was too close to his sister, and she really didn’t want to get in the middle of that. She was definitely changing her phone number now.
Twenty
Maris ran to the door when Clay knocked, pretending like she hadn’t been on tenterhooks for the last hour, looking up whenever she heard the remotest rumble of a car.
His hand had barely connected with the wood when she threw it open and hurled him through.
He chuckled against her mouth as she kissed him just a tad feverishly.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he murmured when she let him up for air.
He placed his hands on her hips, his fingers gently stroking up and down.
“Are you late? I hadn’t noticed,” she lied, rubbing her cheek against his. Even her beast had been stamping her hooves impatiently.
“Aha.”
She blushed as he beamed at her. Perhaps her doorway attack had given her away.
“You look very beautiful,” he cooed.
“It’s a new dress,” she preened.
His hands moved around her body, resting on her rear. “It’s lovely.”
“I went shopping today, for clothes, for the shoot. I leave in a few days.” She was already sad about being away from him.
“Ah yes,” he said, “about that…”
Maris looked at him expectantly, half-hoping he would beg her to stay. “Yes?”
“I thought I’d come with you.”
She blinked in surprise. “Really?”
“Yes, if that’s okay.”
“Of course, it is, I’m just…” Amazed he wanted that, but a few days away from the herd, just the two of them sounded frankly marvelous. “Of course, it is. That would be wonderful.”
She kissed him again and giggled. “You should see all the wonderful clothes I bought. Come on, let me show you.”
Maris dragged him upstairs to her bedroom. After a brief fight with Fifi who was trying to claw one of the new sundresses, the cat was locked out of the room, and Maris pushed Clay to sit down on her bed. She pawed through the bags pulling out the bikinis and holding them up.
“What do you think?”
Clay almost gulped. “Very, very nice.”
Maris smiled as she realized she could scent his arousal. It was masculine and honey-like and oh so gratifying. But as much as she enjoyed being desired, she wasn’t going to push him.
“Do you want to…”
“I haven’t booked a room,” he blurted.
She dropped the bikinis back into the bag and looked at him quizzically. “A room?”
Clay gazed at her uncertainly. “At the resort. I wondered if we might…”
“Share a room?” Her heart bumped excitedly.
“Yes, but if you don’t want…”
“Of course I want to!” she nearly guffawed and then righted herself. Had the way she grabbed him and nearly mauled him at the door been too subtle for his liking? “But if you aren’t ready…”
Clay stood and held out his hands, and she eagerly took them. He pulled her hands to his lips and kissed them.
“I’m ready.”
“Clay, unless you’re sure…”
“I’m sure, I…”
His words were lost as she pressed her lips to his. Clay groaned and wrapped his arms around her.
That was all she needed to hear. Almost seven years ago, something had started, something had awoken inside her, and finally after years of feeling a slow desire growing inside her, finally she could let it free.
She often wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t stopped that kiss all those years ago. But that didn’t matter right now, because now, he would be hers. Maybe not for forever, but for a little while at least, and that was more than she thought she would ever have.
Maris released his lips and stepped back. She kicked off her shoes and started undressing. She was surprised to find she was trembling slightly. He watched in rapturous attention as her dress fluttered to the floor.
Taking her clothes off in front of other people was nothing new to her. She really didn’t pay any mind to it usually, but she was nervous in front of Clay. Maybe because he was different to all the photographers, wardrobe assistants and lighting technicians who had seen her stripping off before - she actually cared whether Clay found her attractive. Plus, she had only actually ever stripped down to her birthday suit for one man, and while he had been appreciative, she couldn’t say that she overly enjoyed what followed her getting naked. Taking a deep breath, she slipped out of her panties and dropped her bra to the ground.
Clay let out an animalistic growl as his dark eyes devoured her.
“Your turn,” she breathed, pleasure heat rushing to her cheeks at his response.
“Right.”
He chuckled a little nervously but duly started undressing. Maris bit her lip, enjoying herself immensely as his clothes dropped to the floor. She had briefly seen him naked on a few of the herd runs, when all herd members, young and old, stripped off to go running. She hadn’t looked too closely – it was bad manners to stare, but she saw enough to know he was broad and muscled and gorgeous.
“Beautiful,” she murmured, eager to get her fingers on his fine body.
“You should see what I’m seeing,” he muttered, his eyes almost as wide as saucers.
Maris flushed a little more. “We’ve both been naked on herd runs.”
“Yes, but I didn’t dare look.”
Maris took a step toward him and brushed her fingers over his chest. “Afraid you wouldn’t be able to contain yourself?” she teased.
“Yes,” he replied earnestly.
She was so close his erection pressed against her stomach. Clay let out a strangled groan.
“You don’t have to contain yourself now.”
“Maris.” Her name came out on a shuddering breath.
“Clay,” she cooed in response.
As his hands found her waist, he leaned down and pressed his mouth to her shoulder, kissing and nibbling on her flesh. Maris ran her hands over his chest, tracing his muscles and delighting in the feel of his smooth skin. Her hands traveled down his body until they were clutching at his quivering member. Clay grunted against her skin as she gently stroked him.
She wasn’t sure who made the move, who initiated it, but one moment they were standing and the next they were toppled to the bed. She continued stroking, while his mouth explored her flesh. He moved a hand to one of her breasts, caressing, squeezing and kneading the flesh of one and then the other. They explored, touched and kissed one another’s body, taking their time.
But it was starting to get to the point where Maris worried they were just delaying the final act. She knew she was because she was nervous. Her one sexual partner hadn’t exactly given her a lot of experience or inspired much confidence in her sexual prowess. Usually, he finished before she had the chance to get completely undressed.
Maybe Clay was delaying too; perhaps he was nervous because of how long it had been for him. Or perhaps he was delaying because he wasn’t sure he wanted this. But she was sure she wanted this, she had been sure for a long time.
Maris placed her hands on his hips and gently moved him over her. He allowed her to do so, carefully nestling against her body, moving one arm under her, cradling her shoulders while his free hand cupped her face, stroking her cheek. His sex pressed against hers, eager and impatient to be within her.
She let out a small sigh of satisfaction in feeling his weight over her. He wasn’t heavy, but he wasn’t light either, his weight was just reassuring.
She took his face in her hands and gave him a nervous smile, and he returned it – just as nervously.
“Okay?” she breathed.
Clay nodded.
“Nervous?”
He hesitated briefly but then nodded again, his cheeks turning slightly red.
“Me too.”
She laughed softly, pleased that he wasn’t trying to hide it. He wasn’t trying to be macho or gru
ff about it. He was being sweet and honest, and she loved him for it.
Maris almost gasped as she realized – she did love him. It had snuck up on her, but she did, and oh, she never wanted to let him go. But one day she might have to…
“Maris…”
She brought her lips to his and pushed her hips against his, straining to take him. Clay groaned against her mouth as his manhood twitched.
No, she wasn’t stopping to think about the future, to think about what this would mean tomorrow. She wanted this man, wanted to be with him, and if she only had him for a little while, well then, she would make every one of their moments count.
Clay apparently wasn’t hesitating anymore either. He pushed a hand between them, making her almost yelp as he caressed her clit, and then grasped his hard and waiting length.
His mouth still on hers, he thrust inside her, leisurely but powerfully. Maris had to pull herself away from his kiss, to throw her head back, as every breath and every thought was driven from her body to make way for the wonderful feelings this elicited.
“Clay,” she quavered, not sure she had ever felt anything so exquisite in her life.
Clay brought his hand to her face, holding her cheek, making her look at him. His eyes were wild and dark like his beast, and she knew her own were too, but his expression was still tender, still kind, but also tinged with excitement.
Maris lifted her hips slightly, enjoying the feel of them joined together. He was a large male, but there was no pain, no discomfort – she was made for this.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Never better,” she giggled.
His smile lost its nervous edge, taking on something far more predatory, and perhaps just a little prideful. There had perhaps been a little doubt in his mind that he could bring her pleasure, but she had never worried about that. Just his smile made her a quivering mess.
He surged inside her again, and she gasped at feeling the incredible fullness. Maris wrapped her arms and legs around him as he moved in and out of her, taking her like she was meant to be taken.
Oh, how she wanted this never to end. She had dreamed of it, fantasized about it for so long, and now it was here, she wanted to remain in this moment forever – forever joined with him, forever basking in the look of love and reverence being directed at her. But no, it couldn’t be. She knew as she delighted in the delicious sensations running through her body that it had to end, that as much as she wanted to stay like this, that something heavenly was coming and soon.
