her enchanted

by Hartley, Emilia

  What lengths would Nessa go to just to keep a man in her life, possibly even in her bed? She’d never been that kind of woman before. Men always had to come to her. She wouldn’t go chasing someone who didn’t want her. Yet, this situation was obviously different. Caz looked at her as though he wanted to devour her several times over. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to stay. That much was obvious.

  Nessa only had to wonder if she wanted him bad enough to fight off a witch. Those weren’t the kind of thoughts her clients usually had to deal with. They were too concerned with wearing the right thing and hoping their beasts liked one another.

  “Just because my biceps are as big as my head, doesn’t mean I don’t know a few words. There are days when I can’t stand the sound of my own garage, so I listen to a history podcast while I work.”

  Nessa’s brows raised. “I would not have assumed from looking at you that you like history.”

  His brows arched. “You dare assume anything about me?” Holding her gaze while a spark danced in his eyes, he turned and popped a shrimp into his mouth.

  Nessa wanted to kiss the salty, spicy sauce from his lips. The thought struck her. It sent a hot bolt though her core where it pooled like warm caramel. She shifted her position, crossing one knee over the other to hide the warmth that blossomed between her legs. His tongue darted out, catching the sauce left there, and her heart flipped.

  Nessa had never been the daring type. When she and Lia were young, she’d gone into an abandoned house that was said to be haunted only because she hadn’t believed it. Now, she feared everything that loomed behind Caz, and yet she was still drawn to him. If she took this step, she would fall head first into trouble.

  But, Nessa did it anyway. She reached for his jaw. His short beard was surprisingly silky beneath her touch. He let her move him, watching carefully from behind lidded eyes. Her heart thumped with each passing moment. She could stop. They could pretend she’d never started.

  Screw that.

  Her lips brushed his. It was featherlight, mostly because she was still holding back. Beneath her fingers, Caz stilled. She felt his breathing stop, saw his hand clench in his lap. He waited for her. If she let him, Caz could push forward for her, stepping past all the insecurities and hesitations she still held onto. He didn’t, though.

  Caz waited for her to make the next move. Her heart thumped faster and faster, wilder and wilder, until she pulled away. Shoulders rising to the pace of her uneven breath, she tried to control herself. The cat inside her was scratching to be let out, to run and rub itself all over Caz. All Nessa could do was swallow her groan, unable to decide if she was annoyed with her horny cat or if she was annoyed with herself for stopping.

  Beside her, Caz licked his lips. “Best part of the meal, if I do say so,” he whispered.

  Nessa pretended not to hear him, only to save her heart, keeping her eyes on the table before her. Her skin came alive. The fabric of her skirt rubbed against her legs and the cups of her bra felt too small. Nessa shoved a scallop into her mouth to distract her reeling mind.

  “Do you think we could find dessert at your place?” The way Caz said dessert made her think he didn’t really mean dessert.

  When she looked up at him finally, his eyes burned, and he bit his lower lip. Her beast flew out of control at his expression. Immediately, Nessa understood the meaning of dessert.

  Her lips formed a wide O before spreading into a smile. Her stomach tightened, warmth blooming again. Truthfully, she wanted nothing more in that moment.

  ***

  Lost in their lust, they didn’t bother to hide what they were doing. Nessa let her hands rove over Caz’s arm as he shifted gears. He never stopped growling. The bear filled his eyes, making them swirl with gold.

  “Take something off,” Caz demanded. “I can’t touch you, but I want to see skin.”

  Excitement shot through her. She swallowed, trying to come up with a defiant response to make this last longer. Instead, she found nothing more than a desire to do as he said. She unknotted the tie in her button-down shirt and let it slide over her shoulders. It revealed nothing more than a bit of cleavage since she was wearing a camisole beneath it.

  Caz’s hand tightened on the gear shifter. She thought it might break beneath his grip.

  “That’s it?”

  “What makes you think you deserve more? You still haven’t fixed my car.” She shook her shoulders, stealing his attention.

  “I helped you out this morning. And I bought you lunch!”

  “So, you think you can buy me?” She teased him further. It was working, his jaw tightening and the gearshift groaning beneath his grip.

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  “It’s a convertible! I’m not going to take my top off for nothing. Tell me your deepest, darkest secret, and you might get me to take my top off.”

  “I better get nipple if I’m going to reveal myself like that.”

  Nessa laughed, but said nothing to alter the trade. The moment stretched on while Caz considered her request. He glanced at her, eyes dropping to the small amount of revealed cleavage. Nessa didn’t have a whole lot to offer up top, but she was still a modest kind of girl. She hadn’t been raised in a pack like other shifters. Nakedness hadn’t been normalized for her.

  “Everyone in the Monterey Pack thinks I was a born shifter,” Caz began. She heard the way his voice tightened as he worked through the words. He paused, swallowing before going on. “They don’t know that I was a changed shifter. I think Nikolai’s father would have a lot to answer for if I hadn’t put him down.”

  The words put a weight on Caz’s shoulders. Nessa watched him sink into the seat, his grip on the gearshift growing slack. She hadn’t meant to destroy the mood like this. This wasn’t what she’d wanted. She’d expected Caz to admit to peeping into the girl’s locker room as a teen, not to confess to murder.

  She never meant to adhere to her end of the bargain, but she felt as though she had to now. The shift in his mood was her fault, and she needed to do something about it. So, she pulled the hem of her camisole from the waist of her skirt and tugged it over her head.

  Caz growled again. It seemed to be the only way he could communicate when Nessa removed her clothing. She wondered if he would lose the ability to speak altogether if she took off her bra, too. Grinning, she waited for him to make the demand.

  “That bra is not what I expected,” he said instead.

  She glanced down at herself. The balconette wasn’t something she wore normally, but something about it had drawn her that morning. The soft gray lace was dotted with tiny flowers, making her feel delicate. Little, darkened crescents of areola peeked above the cups, drawing Caz’s attention away from the road.

  He jerked the car into her driveway. She was grateful for the high fences on either side and the car port above them. Just as she unbuckled herself, Caz gathered her into his arms. He carried her inside, knowing just where he was going.

  They tumbled into the King-sized bed together, his lips already exploring her neck. He was so much larger than her. Caz was nearly a foot taller and definitely as wide as two of her. Beneath him, she felt safe. She clung to him, gripping his shirt as if he might drift away from her.

  His massive, rough hands ran up her waist and over the small cups of her balconette. She felt the need to apologize for how small and unimpressive her breasts were, but before she could make a sound Caz undid her bra and tugged it away. His mouth descended upon her nipple. The flick of his tongue drove all sense of language from her mind.

  There was only the sensation of his warm lips on her breast. He could take nearly all of it into his mouth.

  “Caz,” she managed to breathe as she arched into him. Her fingers wove through his hair and pulled.

  “Every time you say my name, I want to hear it louder. I want to hear you scream my name by the end of the night.”

  “So narcissistic.”

  He pushed the skirt over h
ips. “You’ll be screaming my name because this will be all about you.”

  Before Nessa could ask, his head disappeared beneath her skirt. She felt the nuzzle of his nose against her panties. Just as she thought he would pull them away, he reappeared.

  “They match!”

  As quickly as he appeared, he ducked again. His fingers hooked into the sides of her panties. She lifted herself to help him get them over her hips. “What a wet little pussy.”

  Nessa burned with desire. She wanted his lips on her, his tongue inside her. She couldn’t wait any longer. All day, she’d been dreaming of this moment. It’d felt like a far-off possibility, something that would never happen. Instead, she found herself drowning in him that night. It was so unlike her. Her legs had been closed for years.

  Now, after a day with Caz, she was letting him have his way with her. Unlike all the boys she’d known who only wanted to get their dick in, Caz made this about her. He seemed to feed off her pleasure, as if it were the only thing that gave him strength.

  Behind the closed door of her bedroom, swaddled in his arms and nestled in the mounds of blankets, Nessa could ignore what was happening. They could think of only one another, of the things they would do to each other given the chance.

  His tongue slipped between her folds, drawing a gasp from her lips. Pleasure erupted in her core. She fisted her hands in the blankets beneath her as his tongue made concentric circles, growing faster and faster. His fingers danced lower. They slid along the wetness of her desire until they plunged deep inside her. Once more she gasped, the sound becoming a moan as it dragged out.

  His mouth closed around her. He suckled and teased her while his fingers made their way in and out of her, ever so slowly. Nessa didn’t know how much of this she could handle. Each sensation set off fireworks inside her. It was uncontrollable, each burst of pleasure making her eyes roll back.

  Her chest vibrated. The purr came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. It rumbled through her body and mind while her orgasm built. Caz looked up at her with molten gold eyes. His bear worshipped her, eagerly lapping at her pleasure while her legs clenched around his shoulders.

  Casimir Frost was between her legs.

  It wasn’t something Nessa ever thought would happen, and yet it wasn’t something she wanted to give up. She would happily fight tooth and nail for this to become her life. Was this what the other mated pairs felt like? Was this ocean of pleasure, a depthless need to caress one another, what they experienced?

  She barely had time to think about it before Caz’s tongue tipped her over into orgasm. She plummeted through the sensation, weightless and drifting. It rippled through her body and down her limbs, tingling in her fingertips and toes. Her purr grew louder the longer she lingered in the sensation.

  Slowly, it began to fade. Only aftershocks remained. They danced through her with each beat of her heart. She thought, once they faded, she would return the favor, but before she could move Caz was leaning over her.

  His pants were gone, and his cock hung, erect and throbbing. She watched as he lowered it over her to rub against her already too sensitive areas. The moisture caused by her orgasm helped him slide over her, not yet entering as he teased the last of her orgasm into a torrent.

  Nessa arched into him, grabbing his shoulders. The small motions were individual firecrackers going off inside her. Caz didn’t have a rhythm. Instead, he coaxed her with fast thrusts and maddeningly slow retreats.

  “I can’t…” she breathed, unable to complete her thought when he thrust again. This time, he plunged home inside her.

  Her nails dug into his shoulder as rationality returned. She gripped his chin and made him look her in the eye. “Condom. Now.” It was the best she could do, unable to string any more words together.

  Caz sucked in a breath through his nose. The beast swirled in his eyes, all too eager to please Nessa. He slipped out of her and spun to find his fallen pants. Nessa, unable to bear the thought of wasting time, twisted to reach her nightstand. Lia left a box in Nessa’s room months ago as if her sister would magically develop a sex life out of nowhere. Thinking back, it was almost prophetic.

  She plucked a foil wrapped condom from the drawer and slapped it into Caz’s hand. He had enough awareness to look at her.

  “No kids yet, eh?” he joked.

  “My mother counted herself lucky when she had me. Cat shifters give birth to litters. You can’t imagine how many cousins I have.”

  His face paled. The urgency of their lovemaking dissipated but didn’t disappear completely. She watched Caz roll the thin layer of latex over his all too ready cock. Once it was in place, he leaned over her slowly. This time, his cock poised at her entrance, he took his time. She wrapped her legs around him as he entered her, bit by bit.

  It had been longer than a while, Nessa thought. Pain pierced through her and the purr in her throat died. Caz must have caught the slight grimace on her lips because he slowed, moving to cup the side of her face. Their eyes held while he moved. His rough thumb grazed her cheek, and she turned to kiss the inside of his palm.

  The touch of her lips on his skin brought a greedy growl to his lips. His head ducked just as he reached the hilt. Teeth dragged over her collarbone. It ignited a spark, like a match over the box, and made her nails bite into his skin.

  He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her from the nest of blankets until she straddled his hips. She rocked back and forth over his cock so that her clit rubbed against him. It was better than what he’d done with his tongue, reaching every spot all at once. His cock glided over the right spots deep inside her, creating a harmony that sung through her core.

  She thought she would fall into it again and lose herself to the sensation, but Caz held onto her. His lips roved up her neck. He nibbled the lobe of her ear and growled so softly that a shiver raced up her spine. She shuddered in his arms. A small orgasm burst inside her, like a bubble.

  The purr returned. Caz tightened his grip on her, his eyes burning. When he leaned toward her again, he whispered. “If you keep vibrating like that, this isn’t going to last much longer.”

  Nessa smiled. His words made her feel accomplished. Her purr deepened, growing louder until it filled the room. Caz groaned. His fingers curled against her back, and his eyelids fluttered. Nessa took control, stretching her strokes so that she crashed into him over and over.

  His nails raked down her back. He was close, she could feel it. Her own orgasm was heavy inside her. It begged for release, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Her strokes shortened, rubbing her clit against his groin until a groan escaped her, too.

  Caz let out a cry. His body spasmed beneath her. The pulse of his cock sent her over the edge. Together they tumbled into pleasure, holding tight to one another as their breathing synced.

  Caz said nothing, choosing instead to lean forward and kiss the exposed skin of her neck. He held her while laying her back onto the bed. The skirt still wrapped around her waist was crumpled and wet from their lovemaking. She shimmied out of it and threw it to the floor while Caz left the bed.

  She wanted to reach for him and draw him back, but he slipped free of the condom and disappeared to throw it away. Her heart clenched for a moment. The room was empty, yet heady with the scent of their coupling. Everything had happened too fast, and she reeled. Caz had only just come into her life, and the baggage that he carried was heavy.

  A witch hunted him, and, if Nessa got too close, the witch would take her, too. The longer she lay on the bed and thought about it, the more Nessa realized how little she had to lose. Lia and Miles had retreated into their own lives. For them, the world had shrunk down to baby Mattie. There were only a handful of others in Nessa’s life, every friend distant or protected by another pack.

  Nessa didn’t want to let go of Caz. She wanted to give him the happiness he deserved. That didn’t mean making a match for him. The feeling in her chest told her the match might have been made already. She wanted to hold onto him f
or herself, so that they both might find some happiness in this world.

  He reappeared in the bedroom door just as a decision cemented in her mind. She reached for him, still sprawled naked on the bed. His gaze was hungry for her. It devoured every inch of bare skin and made her heart race.

  He closed the space between them, climbing atop the bed to lay behind her. His inked arms tugged her into his chest. In the circle of his arms, she fit perfectly. Her small body was shielded by his, and after a while, she heard his breath settle into a pattern of sleep.

  Sated and happy, her cat grew sleepy, too.

  ***

  Asleep, Nessa had purred in his arms. She’d looked so small and fragile. Caz couldn’t bring himself to stay wrapped around her. Not while his mind tumbled out of control. The beast inside him clung to the small woman. It growled fiercely with its sudden possessiveness. All the more reason to walk away, he’d thought.

  To clear his mind and quiet the beast, Caz stepped outside. On the small patio, the night blanketed him. The sound of distant sirens and the airfield not too far away created a low hum.

  This was different, Caz thought. He let his head fall back. The stars above him were tiny and danced in their depthless multitudes. He’d always loved that he could see so many stars above his city. He could hope to look at those stars for the rest of his life, but what he’d just shared would never be his again.

  This time, Caz did not pour himself into a woman for a moment of reprieve. Instead, the union had been extraordinary. He had no desire to throw his life away and forget. He’d wanted to live through every moment. While buried inside Nessa, Caz had tried to commit everything about her to memory. The way she purred when he stroked her. The way her eyelids fluttered when he slammed inside her.

  Never again, he thought. Never again would he be able to love her like that. He wouldn’t love anyone like that again, but it was the thought of Nessa that sent a dagger through his heart. He felt it rip through him.