by Haley Weir
She sat up on her elbows and watch as he slowly lowered the swatch of black fabric. He read the subtle shifts in her expression as he revealed his aching member to her gaze. Tilly could not have suppressed the sigh of approval anymore than her startled blush. What he hadn’t expected was the comment that burst from her lips. “Holy cow! How the hell do you walk around with that in your—”
Michael covered her mouth with his hand. “No talking.” He removed his hand and kissed her gently. It wasn’t the steamy sort of kiss one expected while lying naked in bed with someone they were about to have sex with. It was far more intimate and almost domestic, making the kiss somehow more awkward than her comment. Michael distracted them both by bringing her hand down to his erection.
Tilly leaned back on the bed, situating herself on the pillows as he crawled up the length of her body. Michael opened her bedside table and cursed when he couldn’t find condoms. “I said it’s been a while. There hasn’t been a need for condoms.”
Part of him revealed at the idea of her being without a lover, but Michael Adair didn’t have casual sex without a condom. He picked his pants up from the floor and dug around for his wallet. There was one condom, but he had to squint in the dark to check the expiration date. The whole thing was almost sad for the rumored playboy.
He tore open the package, but Tilly snatched it from his hand. She surprised him by placing it over her lips and dipping toward his waist as he knelt on the mattress. Suddenly his rigid masculinity was engulfed in slick heat that caused his hips to thrust instinctively. Tilly’s hand around his shaft kept him from hurting her as she slid the condom down his length with the other hand.
Michael pushed her onto her back and spread her legs. Tilly guided his crown to her channel and kissed his lips. He couldn’t wait and neither could she. Michael seated himself inside of her body with one deep thrust. She screamed into the kiss and held him tighter while he stilled his hips, allowing her to adjust to his size. He waited on trembling arms until she began to move against him.
His eyes glowed faintly in the dark, illuminating her lovely features as they contorted into an expression of bliss. Michael lifted her hips from the mattress, tilted her pelvis, and stroked that place inside of her that caused her eyes to roll into the back of her skull. Tilly lifted her torso of the bed and rocked against him. Michael felt her clench as she fell back onto the sheets.
Tilly’s body quivered as he pounded into her, prolonging her orgasm until he found his release. Michael bit her neck hard and Tilly was hurled into another climax that caused him to hiss through his teeth when he pulled away. He climbed off the bed and tied off the condom before tossing it into the wastebasket and heading into the bathroom. Michael cleaned himself up and then searched for a rag and got it wet.
When he returned, Tilly looked blissed out of her mind as she dozed off. He pried her thighs apart and cleaned her tender flesh. Michael wanted to hang himself when he saw what he had done to her. A hand cupped his cheek gently and forced him to meet Tilly’s gaze. “It’s okay. I’ll be sore in the morning, but it was worth it.”
“I was too rough,” he groused. “I could have torn you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“That doesn’t excuse the fact that I acted like an animal.” Michael chucked the rag into the hamper by the door and sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry. I should have been more gentle and I shouldn’t have bit you.”
He felt the mattress dip as Tilly moved to kneel behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I liked it,” she said. “I would have liked it more if I didn’t have a date tomorrow night. We’re two consenting adults. We both needed a little release and to ease our curiosities and we did that. Some rough sex every now and again does the body good….or something about milk or doctors and apples.”
Michael turned his head and kissed her cheek. “Go ahead and get some sleep. I’ll just send you an email about the fundraiser. We can get together some other time and talk it over.” He removed her arms from his shoulders and shimmied into his slacks. Barefoot and feeling like a whore without payment, Michael shuffled down stairs and gathered his things before slipping out the front door. He checked to make sure it had locked properly behind him and then drove back to the loft.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alexander Collier stared at the photograph on the wall. His lovely wife draped an arm around each of their children as she smiled lovingly into the camera. Alexander remembered that day with a clear memory . In fact, he remembered everything about his wife and children. The expensive bourbon swirled around as ice clicked against the glass. He gulped down the liquor and walked over to his desk.
Four of his mercenaries sat across from him with weary expressions on their pitiful faces. “My son did this to me,” Alexander snarled while he pointed to the burn scar on his cheek. “He attacked me and then set out test subjects free before joining forces with Brock Wasting and blowing up Sector A. This is the second time those bear shifters destroyed my life’s work. All that I have sacrificed has gone up in flames because of them; I want answers.”
“The bears have a leader we were unaware of,” one of his men stated. “Michael Adair has connections in very high and very low places. He knows everything about you and the experiments. Things some of your men don’t even know.”
“Then he clearly has a rat on the inside!”
“No one is left,” another mercenary chimed in. “You killed Corey’s old team and he’s fighting with the shifters now. The soldiers don’t have access to top-secret information and neither do your contract workers like us. If anyone could be leaking data to the bears, then it has to be one of the doctors.”
Alexander considered that for a moment, but shook his head. “No. It can’t be a rat. There’s no one who would risk my wrath by being a spy for those abominations. Perhaps this Michael Adair is simply better than we assumed in the beginning.”
“He has more control than I’ve ever seen in a shifter. The videos Logan sent us are proof that he isn’t a mindless beast. He can shift in increments and, if that isn’t impressive enough, we’ve watched him decimate your men.”
“How?” Alexander asked.
“When we took his brother Brock Wasting to Sector A, Michael Adair and one of the other bears was there. The younger one got injured, but the way their leader fought before he even shifted, he took out at least a hundred of your men without spilling a drop of blood. He was immune to our special rounds and electric shock.”
Alexander stood up from his chair and braced his hands on top of the desk. “He isn’t immune, you fools. He built up a tolerance. Clearly we aren’t the first hunters to cross his path. That freak knew our ways well before I sent Corey to Haden Springs.”
“What do we do?”
“Flush him out. Isolate him,” Alexander commanded. “I want to find out what makes him so special. Perhaps he’s the key to what we’ve been searching for.” His men left the room with determination. Alexander walked over to the bookshelf and pulled back the panel on the wall. He typed in the key code and a secret door opened with a swoosh of air. A long staircase was revealed itself and Alexander stepped into the darkness without hesitation.
Once he reached the landing, lights flickered overhead. Tanks lined the walls that were filled with his failed experiments, preserved as a reminder of how far he had come since the beginning of his trials. Alexander continued down the nightmarish path into the depths of his home until he stopped in front of chamber that kept his comatose wife alive until he found a cure for her illness. “They think you left me,” he whispered to her. The machines beeped in time with her faint pulse.
If his beautiful Julianna could respond, then he liked to think that she would be proud of him. Everything he has done was for her. Wiping Corey’s memory and training him to be a weapon while suppressing his abilities had been for her. Using the shifters and their inhuman healing to keep her alive...all of it. The experiments, the killing, the secrets,
and the pain he endured—all of it had been for her. “We will be together again.”
Alexander turned away from her chamber and over to the tank that encased his greatest creation. He placed his hand on the palm scanner and drained the liquid from the tank. Glowing blue eyes stared back at him as Niko expelled the fluid from his lungs. The creature looked like neither man nor beast, but was Alexander’s solution to both. Humanity was a flawed and shifters were unnatural, so he decided to play god and used taboo science to create something that would blur the lines of the natural and supernatural. “You can come out now Niko. I have work for you.”
“Do you still want me to take out that little pup of yours?” the creature asked in a voice that sounded like a thousand insects fluttering their wings. “Six men have died in the last week trying to kill Corey.”
“Good. I don’t want my son killed. I want him captured. There’s a difference. And I did not create you with the capacity to feel fear.” Alexander’s burly chest puffed out as he strolled past Niko. He tossed the creature a robe and gestured for him to follow. “Michael Adair is who you must focus on. My men will hunt Corey down.”
“Michael Adair?”
“The leader of the bear shifters hiding out in Haden Springs.”
Niko followed Alexander up the stairs and into the private study. “Why is he important? You’ve never mentioned him before now.”
“Because I was unaware that he existed,” Alexander replied. “When my son decided to revolt against me and destroy Sector A, he destroyed all of the data he had collected on his mission to that dusty little town. Find Michael Adair and bring him to me. If he resists, kill him. I can always bring him back later. After all, I only need his blood.”
***
Dawn arrived on Saturday morning and Tilly hadn’t slept a wink. She sat up with her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared out at the rain streaming down her window. After Michael left, she got the impression that she insulted him somehow. But he knew the score; there was no way she would ever involve herself with someone like him. But even as the thought passed through her mind, Tilly knew something had changed.
She didn’t know if it was her newfound knowledge of the way he viewed love or if it was what had transpired between them last night. There was no doubt in her mind that an hour with Michael had been the best sex of her entire life. And she had gone and told him that he was basically a vibrator that she used to scratch an itch and satisfy her curiosity. “Stupid,” she grumbled as she hid under the covers.
Her phone rang and Tilly remembered that she had left it on the bathroom counter before throwing her clothes in the dryer. She hurried into the bathroom and hit the answer button before the call could end. “Hello?”
“Tilly, what happened?”
“Nothing.”
Destiny clearly didn’t believe her for a second. “Yeah, right. My brother called this morning and said Michael is in a really bad mood. Corey...scented you on him and shot me a text to make sure nothing had happened between you. Nothing happened, did it?”
“A lot of things happened, actually.”
“Tilly!”
“What?” she asked defensively. “Why are you getting so worked up about it?”
“Because I know for a fact that Michael isn’t as bad as people think. Sapphire would kill you if she found out you hurt him in some way. I know they used to hate each other, but things have changed. They’re good friends now and she’s protective.”
“Woah! Why wouldn’t any of you check to make sure I’m okay?”
“You’re a big girl,” Destiny scuffed. “You can handle it. Michael on the other hand hasn’t hooked up with anyone since he kissed you. Sapphire thinks he’s—”
“Just because he hasn’t gotten laid in a few weeks doesn’t mean he’s a good person. The first day I met him he practically called me a hooker! He’s an arrogant prick who thinks he’s entitled to whatever he sets his sights on, but I’m not for sale.”
“If he’s such an arrogant prick, then why did you sleep with him?”
Tilly went quiet.
“Exactly. You saw something different in him, something that told you he isn’t what people make him out to be. Brock can barely stand his brother on a good day and even he thinks something is going on between the two of you.”
“No offense, but please stay out of my personal life.”
“We’re friends, Tilly. And whether you like it or not, Michael is part of that circle and we don’t want to see either of you hurt because of this.”
“Don’t worry. I have a date tonight.” Before Destiny could make her feel any worse, Tilly hung up the phone. She filled her day with meaningless activities until it was time to get ready for her date. The jeans she wore made her butt look nice, but not like she was trying too hard. She paired it with a white t-shirt and added a black blazer to dress it up just a little bit. With a quick shake of her blonde waves and some lip-gloss, Tilly thought she looked good enough to eat greasy food at a diner.
The rain stopped, so she walked down to Sunset Diner. Her favorite waitress Pam was working and Tilly gave her a quick hug. “I’m on a date tonight. How do I look?” she whispered in the older woman’s ear. “Too much? Too little?”
“You look wonderful, sweetheart. I think he’s over there.” Pam pointed to the back of a man’s head and sure enough, he wore a green sweater. Tilly took a deep breath and wandered over to the booth. Derek stood up and she was taken aback by his height and chiseled features. Dark brows with dark hair, pale green eyes, a jawline that could cut glass, and a shadow of a beard dusting his face. Tilly had to stop herself from drooling when she noticed how broad his shoulders were. They gave way to a tapered waist and narrow hips, but muscular thighs and a nice butt, from what she could tell. “Hi, I’m Tilly Riker.”
“Derek Manfred,” he replied. Tilly felt a little thrill race through her at the sight of his pointed canines. They weren’t horror film pointy, but the kind that made his smile charming while making her think of places she’d like him to sink those teeth into. “You wouldn’t be Miss Tilly, would you?”
Oh no. “Yes. I am.”
“My daughter Aria is in your class. She loves you.”
“This just got awkward for me,” she sighed. “I can’t date the father of one of my students. You understand, right?”
“Actually, I don’t. So long as you don’t show favoritism and it shows that we started dating at an appropriate time or subjected Aria to any confusion that might affect her performance or mental health.”
“You seem to have given this a lot of thought.”
“I’ve had a crush on you for a long time,” he confessed. Derek sat in his seat and Tilly followed his lead. “I should warn you. It might be hard for you to resist showing favoritism if we decide to keep going with this. I hear I’m one of the hot dads.”
“Confidence is sexy. Cockiness? Not so much.”
“Then why did you blush?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I heard Tilly had a great time on her date,” Corey said between gasps of air. He held the punching bag as Michael nearly tore the thing to shreds with the ferocity of his punches. Corey let go of the bag and Michael chased after him. He slammed the jaguar against the wall. “Hey! You were the one that said she meant nothing to you. I thought you would like to know that your service successfully hooked her up with someone.”
“She doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah? Tell that to my spine when you’re done peeling it off the wall.” Corey shoved Michael and moved from between the large bear and the wall. Michael paced back and forth across the floor, grumbling under his breath. Tilly meant nothing to him, which was why he was eager to go on a date as well. Not that he had agreed to any of the messages that had been sent to his second mobile phone, but he could have.
That was the point.
Michael could have gone on a number of dates, but he chose not to because he was afraid word would reach Tilly that he had been with s
omeone so soon after they slept together. Clearly, she hadn’t been deterred by similar thoughts. “Do we know him? Her date, I mean. Did Destiny say whether he was someone we knew?”
“She said his name was Derek Something-or-other. His daughter is in Tilly’s class, I guess.” Corey sat on the bench and massaged his sore arms.
Michael stretched above his head and wondered if he knew anyone named Derek. “Derek Manfred?” he asked, giving Corey a pointed look.
“Yeah. That was it. Why?”
“He works with my brother. One of the firefighters on his shift.” Michael grabbed his jacket and threw it on, not bothering to hit the showers before he ran out the door. He jumped into his Charger and was out of the parking garage of the private gym in less than three minutes, a personal record of his. Michael drove right over to Tilly’s house, parked in her driveway, and left the car running while he went up to the front door.
She didn’t answer when he rang the bell twice, so he knocked loudly. Angry footsteps came running down the stairs, causing his sensitive ears to twitch. Michael could smell her shampoo before the door even opened. She stood in front of him with a flushed face and soap trailing down her temple. “What?! Don’t you know that it’s polite to call someone before you just show up to their house?”
“You have to stop seeing Derek.”
“Why am I not surprised you already know?” she snorted bitterly. Tilly flung open the door, but didn’t look back at Michael as she walked up the stairs while clutching her towel. He followed close behind and nearly swallowed his tongue when she let the towel drop before stepping back into the shower. Hot water sloshed over her curves and trickled down her back in a way that made him drool. “People really need to mind their own business. I get it’s a small town, but I can barely sneeze without someone down the street finding out about it in a few seconds.”
“Derek is bad news, Tilly.”
