by Anna Lowe
A strangled sound came from his mouth as she leaned into another kiss. “The pack…” he murmured, then trailed off.
She almost wished he was wearing a shirt so she could grab the collar and shake the last bit of resistance out of him. “This isn’t about the pack, Kyle.” Her voice cracked, and she gave up on words completely, letting her eyes have a try. The man was like a marine: Semper Fi was tattooed onto his soul, and Twin Moon pack was his Stars and Stripes. But didn’t he know that duty didn’t preclude love? She nearly said it out loud. Duty wasn’t everything in life. Not by a long shot. Because what meaning did duty have if it wasn’t backed by love?
She brought her thumbs gently under both sides of his jaw and stroked from his neck out to the chin and back. The prickle of his stubble was like the striking surface of a matchbox, setting off another flare of carnal need.
“You think this will only make things worse?” she asked, and it was almost a dare.
He nodded slowly, though his pulse hammered and the angle of his lips cried for more.
“Then I want worse,” she said.
The flicker in his eyes flared, and then his lips caught hers in a kiss that had her whole body melting into his. As his tongue slid across hers, her free fall became a soaring climb into space. His hands tightened around her waist, and when a sigh escaped his lips, she knew she wasn’t the only one rocketing away on this crazy flight.
The kiss went on and on as she pressed into him. Whatever mess they might get themselves into, it would be worth it if she could stay this close. She let her hands explore his back, her pulse skipping at every bump in that heated terrain. Her hips started to rock with little nudges that grew more insistent with every quick breath. Kyle’s hands slid down her back, and then lower, tugging her good and close and fluttering every one of her nerves.
“Mmmm,” she mumbled over the hum in her ears. Was that her wolf purring or his? “I’m thinking maybe this was meant to be.”
“This?” he whispered, lips barely leaving her neck.
“This.” She wrapped her leg around his, pushing her hips to his groin.
His hands slid even lower, and the solid comfort of them had her imagining a hundred unrushed mornings waking up beside this man. Naked, sated, close. A lifetime of mornings—that’s what she wanted. To know that this wasn’t just tonight, but forever. There’d be no more spinning like a compass without a north.
“Take this off,” he urged, tugging at the hem of her shirt.
She smiled into his lips. “But it’s my favorite shirt.” The yellow one he’d given her.
“You’ll get it back.” He drew his hands up, and the shirt came with them. “Later. Much later.”
The cool slide of fabric over her skin was replaced by the heated touch of his work-hardened hands—quick, clever hands that had her bra off like it was never there. Like there’d never been any barriers between them.
“Later…” she mumbled, struggling to follow her own train of thought. Action was easier, like stretching her shoulders up and back, ready to cede him everything. Because all she wanted was him, any way he liked as long as it was now. His fingers spread wide, teasing her breasts, and a thousand brush fires roared through her nerves. Hands that big and tough and strong would be capable of holding the two of them together if fate tried to pry them apart.
“Maybe,” he murmured, running his lips along her jaw.
Her skin tingled under the delicious scrape of his stubble, and a shiver of anticipation zinged right down to her core.
“Maybe this was meant to be?” She wanted to sound disappointed, but that was hard with every sensor in her body bouncing off the charts.
“Probably.” He was teasing her now, with his words and with his fingers. They closed over her breasts and stroked.
“Probably?” she squeaked, arching her back as her nipples stood at attention. Something about his touch made her feel bigger, fuller. Prouder, almost.
“Definitely,” Kyle said, dipping to let his lips close over her aching bud.
Need speared through her body as she fisted her hands in his hair. When she moaned and ground her hips against his rigid cock, his lips curled in a smile. Home became a place to latch on to, to wind her legs around.
“Definitely meant to be,” he murmured.
His arms closed around her and lifted, and the bob of his sure step told her he was carrying her inside. Her bones were mush, her blood pounding as the screen door creaked and the bright light of day grew muted. Kyle’s weight shifted as he pushed the door to his room open with a foot then lowered her slowly to the bed in a dreamy journey that had her heart singing. In just a few steps, the man had taken her far away from trouble and into a soft, safe place. A place where two lovers could give and take and give all over again.
Vaguely, she wondered if love could really move so fast. But maybe this wasn’t as fast as it seemed. Maybe it was slow—something years in the making, until two souls separated could once again unite.
“Gotta get rid of these.” His fingers ran along the edge of her shorts.
Her body danced under his searing touch, wiggling as she stripped eagerly out of her remaining clothing.
“And these.” She bit her lip as she dipped into the waistband of his jeans then eased the zipper down. “Definitely need to get rid of these.”
He jerked under her touch, and she bit back a smile. Greed took over and she pushed down his clothes, letting his cock spring free. He was big and startlingly, deliciously wide. A little like his eyes right now, as they roved along her body. God, this was going to be good. This was Kyle. Big, bad, buff Kyle. The friend who had never, ever let her down.
The moment she spent anticipating was a moment too long, because Kyle took over again, and all her arms could do was snake up and out of the way. A strong, masculine hand flattened her on the bed then spent a long time on her torso.
“Nice,” she purred.
“Nice?” he growled, letting his callused fingers rub her belly, then scoop along the curve of her breasts. A rumble built in his chest, and hell, if he wasn’t shy about showing his pleasure, neither would she be.
“Great,” she managed, giving in to the whimpering sounds building in her throat.
When his fingers explored her folds, then worked her from the inside, she surrendered completely. She climbed under his touch, writhing in pleasure.
His eyes swept upward to meet hers again, glowing yellowish blue like the outer edge of a bonfire—the parts that lapped around the edges of a charred log and threatened to consume it entirely.
“Stef,” he murmured, and it was the groan of a bear who’d finally found his way to the honey.
She closed her eyes and gave herself over to the feel of him tasting her breasts, sampling her lips, exploring the walls of her sex. And through every singular sensation, she tried desperately to memorize it all. The tweak on her nipples, the pressure of his thumb over her clit. After the uncertainty of the past days, she thirsted for this solidity, this confidence.
Then it hit her. She’d been rolling with the punches of life instead of fighting back for too long. Maybe it was time to exercise a little control. Did she dare?
Dare, a voice urged. An animal voice deep inside her. One that felt like it belonged there.
Before she could lose her nerve, she sucked in a quick breath and led their bodies into a sideways roll until Kyle was prone beneath her, his eyes wide.
To hell with forbidden. She’d banish the thought from his mind. She kissed her way down his abdomen in a long, quick slide. Not that she wanted to miss any detail of his chiseled torso—but if she didn’t go quickly, she might overthink what she was doing.
Enough thinking, her wolf nodded. Trust the instincts that brought us to him.
Her tongue was at his navel now, but she kept sliding down. She needed to take him in the light of day, to know it was her human side and not the beast doing the talking.
The thing was, she’d only ever taken a man in
her mouth once in the past, and that hadn’t been so much her own desire as the guy’s request. Once had been enough, though, or so she’d always assumed.
Not any more. The burning need to do this—for herself, not just for him—possessed her.
Take our mate, the wolf inside her urged. Show him what we can do.
She eyed the crown of his cock then ducked closer until her lips greeted the glistening tip. His whole body hardened—a moment of truth. Would he let her take him like this?
Believe me, our mate wants this.
She shook inside but continued, whispering down the length of him, all the way into the curls of his groin and back up. God, he was long. Wide. Hard—for her. A tingle raced through her spine at the power she found in that moment. She licked the cleft of his velvety tip, first tentatively, then more insistently as her thoughts scattered to a thousand corners of her mind. North was full of heat; west was fiery as a sunset. South was churning with warm, wet anticipation, and east—east wanted her to hurry the hell along. This was her man, her home. She belonged here.
“Right there,” he breathed, guiding her head.
Claim. Mate.
She opened wide and took him in one long, greedy gulp. Warm and solid as tensile steel, his cock filled her mouth and overpowered every sense but one.
Home.
Home tasted like the Southwest. Bold and tangy, big and fresh. Alive, as the rippling action of his abdomen told her. His fingers in her hair were screaming, Yes, yes, yes. She came up for a breath of air then swooped in again, determined to bring him to the very edge. One taste, then another, and another, until she was consuming him with desperate abandon.
“Stef,” he whispered. Then all that came out of him was a throaty groan.
She fisted a hand around the base to keep up the rhythm when she pulled back and blew lightly. This was what she’d heard about but never experienced before. The sensual haze wasn’t only his, but hers. The need to claim, to glory in her own power.
She’d never felt more alive, more capable. When her lips pulled back his foreskin and her tongue shot out to lap up the first dewy drops, the mountain under her moaned.
It really was him, trembling under her. It really was her, having the nerve to take it this far.
It really was love, powering it all.
Love, her wolf agreed. Told you so.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Stef.”
Kyle wasn’t breathing, wasn’t moving, except for his lips forming her name over and over. His fingers were threaded through her silky hair, trying hard not to clutch her closer or to push her away. Because Stef was taking him to a place way, way off the charts, where no woman had gone before. Where he never dared follow—until now.
“Right there,” he breathed, thought, or groaned. Could have been any of the three.
He’d started with defenses a mile high that had PACK and DUTY graffitied all over them like a subway wall. The needy sheen in her eye set off an inner rumble, the first tremors of an earthquake. When her lips formed words—words like yes and more—the first fissures appeared. And when those lips touched down on him, the whole of the castle keep came tumbling down, one watchtower after another while he went deaf and blind to everything but the message coursing through his blood.
Mate. Mine.
He closed his eyes and gave himself over to the sliding sensation of her lips, the weight of her hands on his thighs. She took him deep then pulled up, tugging the foreskin before plunging back down and setting him flying on another rush. He heard the rattle of a shaky breath and knew it was his own. He was balanced on the razor’s edge, wondering if any minute now the wolf would come ripping through his skin with a roar. The position was too submissive, too off guard for a wolf.
Like I’d go anywhere right now. The beast was lost in a lusty, helpless purr.
Stef came up for air and glanced his way, her lips glistening. “Is that good?”
“So good.”
He managed that much before she formed a perfect O with her lips and closed over his cock, obliterating all thought. His world became a cascade of pleasure as she took him so far, he was teetering on the edge. That it was forbidden only added to the high. He was a kid on a carnival ride long after midnight, glorying in the rush.
You’re supposed to be protecting her, not making things worse.
That’s what he’d been told, but Christ, here he was, getting blown by her, getting ready to bury his balls deep in her welcoming body—center-of-the-earth deep. If that didn’t provoke the North Ridge wolves, nothing would. But the entire desert seemed to be urging him into seventh heaven and for once, he wouldn’t deny himself. She was his; he was hers. It was as simple as that—or at least simple enough for right now. He’d leave complicated for later—or better yet, never.
And yeah, he’d like to see Cody turn his back on a moment like this with his mate.
Just watch you don’t fuck things up.
He wouldn’t. He’d find a way to make it work. Somehow.
The thought gave him the willpower to jackknife up.
Stef sat back on her heels in surprise. “No good?”
“Too good.” He pulled her in for a smothering kiss then broke off just long enough to explain. “But coming in your mouth is not where I want this to go.”
The taste of him on her tongue set off his wolf again.
Take! Claim! Mine!
And not just the wolf, but his human side, too. Mine!
“And where do you want this to go?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with desire.
“Here,” he grunted and rolled.
She came right with him, drawing her legs up along his thighs, locking her heels behind him. Whatever she did to shape those legs—running? biking? soccer?—worked because they were taut and sleek and roped with muscle. Aligning her body precisely with his and drawing him in.
“This okay?” he asked, pinning her arms over her head.
She smiled, sweet and sultry. “I haven’t been this okay in a long time. Maybe never.”
She arched her back, pushing the soft pillow of her breasts toward him. If anyone came along then to tell him shouldn’t or forbidden, he’d throw them out a window. Because Stef was right in what she’d said. They were meant to be.
He slid in. A hundred exclamations knotted in his throat as she tightened around him. He nearly lost it right there but fought back the urge to release, focusing on the glow of her multicolored eyes. He wanted this to last an eternity, to get everything exactly right.
“Kyle,” she groaned in a whole new note when he angled his hips, finding the perfect spot. His head bobbed over her nipples with every renewed thrust, bedding his cock deeper and deeper. He gave himself over completely to the interplay of hard and soft as her body first yielded, then clenched over every inch of his length. He wanted to fill her until there was no her and no him but only them. To purge the void inside himself and fill it with the comfort that was all her.
Harder, she begged. Deeper.
Was he was reading it on her lips or hearing it in his mind?
Take me, he could swear he heard as Stef angled her head to one side.
The sight of the smooth white flesh of her exposed neck made his canines pinch against his gums. He ran a hungry tongue over the emerging points of his fangs.
One bite! One bite was all it would take to claim her as his own. All of this would be finished. All the loneliness, the emptiness in his life.
Mate! his wolf screamed as he dipped closer.
Thu-thump. Thu-thump. He could feel the blood rushing under her skin. His teeth extended and scraped over her neck, honing in on their mark.
Yes! his wolf crowed, and a thousand spirit wolves with it. Claim!
He was dipping his head the last hair’s breadth when a single defiant voice cried out.
Stop!
If his thoughts had been playing out in a theater, a thousand heads would have whirled around. It was the squeaky voice of a boy facing a
foe greater than himself. The boy he’d once been.
No! the boy cried. Not if you only want this for yourself!
His inner wolf snickered. She wants it, too! Look at her beg!
You’re no better than him! the boy shouted.
An icy cold gripped his mind. Did the boy mean his stepfather? Did he mean Ron, the man who attacked Stefanie?
I’ll show you better than Ron, his wolf grumbled, retracting his fangs.
Yes, the boy whispered. Show me. Do it right.
“Kyle,” Stef breathed. “Don’t stop.”
He swept aside the boy and the wolf and focused on the sweet friction along his cock as it slid against the ridges of her inner walls. Focused on Stefanie, who called his name over and over. On the pinch in his balls telling him he was close, blissfully close. When she convulsed around him, her climax shaking her hard, his wolf roared and he thrust madly, losing his rhythm. His vision flashed and his hips jerked. One push, two, and he shattered inside her, coming with his own throaty groan.
He heard her murmuring, telling him how good it felt, her voice modulating as a second wave of pleasure shook her, then a third. He stroked her hair, losing himself in her glow of her skin. He’d emptied himself into her, but all he felt was full—full of something sweet and rare.
When Stef opened her eyes, the colors swirled in delight. The honest brown, the earthy green, the hopeful gray, all of it blending and separating like a kaleidoscope. She smiled a shy smile then leaned forward to meet his lips.
He gloried in the honesty of that kiss. It wasn’t the triumphant glory of a bite, but it felt right—righter than the bite would have been, at least tonight. He settled for a thousand kisses and the promise of later, gazing down the length of her body as her breath came hard and fast. The points of her nipples were rising and falling like a tide. She was so beautiful, so perfect.
So…his.
“Hey, you,” she whispered, running a finger over his lips.
