by Nancy Gideon
“Naw. Flew into Baton Rouge to stay under the radar then picked up bikes there. We’re not stupid. Just a little crazy.” Rico caught his brother’s head in the crook of his elbow and pulled him in for a near suffocating hug. His knuckles rubbed roughly over dyed black hair. “What’s with the new do?”
Cale shoved away, laughing. He couldn’t stay angry. He was too damned happy to see them. “I’m incognito as simple nobody, Mick Terry.”
“Does that mean we don’t have to take any shit off you?” Colin drawled, grinning as he clasped Cale behind the neck to give him a firm shake.
Covering the large hand with his own for a fond press, Cale groused, “No more than you usually do.”
“What the hell was that?”
He turned to the youngest of his many half-brothers who all topped his modest 5’9” by almost a half foot. Kip still stared out at the dance floor in bewilderment.
Their sexy dance had debuted at a birthday party to help their oldest brother Wesley woo his first lady love into bed, but Cale just grinned instead of offering explanation. “Before your time, little man.” He pulled his youngest brother down to his shoulder and held him there for a long minute. He’d been lost in this world that was not his own, but now felt steady and strong again.
“You call that discreet?”
Silas’s dry remark cut through Cale’s enjoyment. As he pushed Kip away, the female crushed to his side squirmed free. Watching her fling herself on MacCreedy with a happy cry still ripped like a gutting blade.
“Silas! It’s so good to see you!”
As her cousin lifted her off the floor in a fond embrace, Cale got a glimpse of ink where jacket and pants separated at her hip bone. A tattoo?
Frowning slightly, he took in the changes as a whole—the sassy cropped hair, bold makeup, aggressive manner, and choice of clothes. And tattoo! Dragging his more than willing brothers across four states without a word to him? What had come over this gentle female in the span of three weeks?
His eyes narrowed as Silas brushed her soft cheek with a kiss and said tenderly, “I didn’t know you were visiting.”
Her quick glance jumped to Cale as she snuggled into the tall Shifter’s shoulder. “I wanted it to be a surprise. Aren’t you glad to see me?”
“Of course I am. How did you find us here?” Caution edged that question.
“Nica told me. It’s not a problem, is it?” Her pretty features scrunched up anxiously.
“No, of course not,” he crooned, the sole of diplomacy. “It’s just that the timing’s kind of awkward right now. I can explain everything to you later. We need to be careful here. Things aren’t what they seem.”
“Mick, who are your friends?”
The soft intruding voice turned their attention toward a solidly built, somewhat flamboyantly dressed man whose full pursed lips contrasted sharply with an ice pale gaze. The way his palm caressed proprietarily along Cale’s shoulders had his brothers’ brows raising.
“These are some pals of mine from way back. We used to hang together when I was working in one of their hotels in Reno. Colin, Rico, Kip, this is Casper Lee. He’s gotten me a job here in New Orleans.”
Three heads nodded in acknowledgement, betraying no reaction other than curiosity. Lee’s stare roved incrementally over each of them in turn before he pronounced, “Why didn’t you mention that you had such impressive friends, Mick?” His attention fixed on the blonde at Silas’s side. “And who is this enchanting young woman?”
Silas surrounded her with a protective arm. “Katy’s here to see me. We go way back, too. Don’t we, sweetheart?”
Playing along, she batted big eyes up at him, her hand stroking his chest lightly. “I hope me being here won’t cause any trouble for you.”
He smiled. “Not as long as you stay out of my lady’s reach and behave yourself.”
“I will,” she promised, tucking in close with a suggestive wriggle that knotted Cale’s belly tight.
Lee’s white blond head turned back to Cale. Though his tone remained pleasant, those chilly eyes filled with dark promise. “We need to talk about tonight, Mr. Terry, but it would be boorish of me to push our business in front of your pleasure.” That last purred with insinuation. “Tomorrow.”
Cale nodded, grateful for the reprieve in consequences he’d known wouldn’t last for long.
Smiling, letting an appreciative gaze linger over each of the attractive newcomers, Casper bid them a good evening and returned to his perch at the bar.
“I need a shower,” Rico muttered.
“That was uncomfortable,” Colin agreed. “Who’s your new friend, Cale? Or should we call you Mick?”
Silas spoke up sharply. “Who he is, is none of your concern. This is none of your business.”
Colin’s eyes narrowed. “You’d be wrong about that, MacCreedy,” he growled. “What concerns our king, concerns us. And what we decide to do about it would be none of your business.”
Before the mood escalated beyond simple posturing, Cale put up his hands. “Back down. This isn’t the place. Where are you guys staying?”
Rico’s gaze roved over the target rich environment. “Haven’t decided yet.”
“Can I trust you not to get into any trouble?”
A wide grin. “Sure.”
Cale gripped his arm, pitching his voice low. “I’m serious, Frederick. We’re outsiders here. The truce between our clans is shaky. Don’t stir things up, and don’t mess with their females.”
“Not unless we’re invited.” He removed Cale’s hand from his arm with a crisp deliberation. “And we’re always invited. That goes with being a prince in the House of Terriot. Drinking, dancing, fighting, and fucking. It’s what we do best. About the only things we ever do these days. Since we can’t fight, we might as well indulge in the other three.”
“Diplomacy. Try practicing that.”
“That goes with the crown, bro. Not my bag or my baggage.” His notice strayed to a scantily dressed redhead who cast heavily made up eyes his way. “Excuse me. I think my room’s available.”
Shaking his head, Cale turned to Colin, the more reliable of the two, and pointed to their wide-eyed, barely out of his teens brother. “Keep a close eye on him.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Kip sputtered as Colin draped an arm across his shoulders and promised, “Like glue,” before leading him off into the temptation of a table full of college girls. Cale watched after them, smiling wistfully.
“Hey.”
He turned back to Silas, frowning because he still hadn’t released the petite blonde from his embrace.
“Head in the game.”
“It is,” he vowed. He studied the way MacCreedy’s fingers capped one slender shoulder.
“Hey!”
The sharp call had his glare snapping up.
“Take it outside before you give everything away.”
“I’m not giving anything away!”
Silas inclined his head toward his cousin, Kendra. When Cale’s gaze followed, his expression altered without him being aware of it until MacCreedy snorted, “Yeah, right. Outside. Remember who you’re supposed to be.”
Sucking an angry breath, Cale did as told, stalking through the posing mob and out into the crowded parking lot. The night air was only slightly cooler on his face as he paced along the walk, seething with frustration.
The son-of-a-bitch! How dare the bastard chase him from where he deserved to be! Where he needed to be.
The flash of his fierce glare fell on a quartet of motorcycles. Nice rides, lean and muscular. And the view only got better when the lithe little blonde from inside strode over to one of them and swung a slender leg over the seat, straddling the powerful bike between her thighs as she strapped on a helmet. His heart catapulted into his throat.
Cale gave a start as keys were pressed into his hand.
“To my place,” Silas told him quietly. “I’m going to pick Nica up from work. She gets out in about an hou
r. Be gone when we get there.”
By the time Cale glanced up to thank him, MacCreedy was already striding away.
He gave the keys a toss in the air and grabbed them tight in his fist. Well, all right then.
“Hey, mama. That’s a pretty mean machine you got there.”
She gave him a flirty smile. “That’s the way I like them. Remember?”
Oh, yeah. He did.
She patted the seat behind her, making him blink and straighten in objection. “You expect me to ride bitch?”
“If you want to ride this one, you will.” Her tinted face plate came down to mask a sassy grin.
Well . . . hell.
He did. So he would.
Glancing around to make sure no one observed his humbling situation, Cale climbed on the back and scooched up to fit tightly against the driver. The bike’s engine revved to life. So did his as she took his hands, placing one flat against her belly and tucking the other between her thighs. Then they roared out onto the street.
*
The instant the door opened into darkness, they fell inside, attached at the hungry lips.
Pushed up against the hallway wall by the urgent press of her mate’s hard frame, Kendra Terriot let desire overwhelm thought and breath as the ash of missing him ignited in desperate flame. Desperate for the heat of him, for the exciting feel of his tough contours bumping impatiently into hers, for the prowling eagerness of hands moving over what soon became way too many clothes. He must have felt the same because even as she toed out of her boots, he was skinning off her motorcycle pants.
“The door,” she whispered.
He twisted to secure the lock then his tongue was down her throat and his hands tearing open his over-crowded jeans. In a hurry to get to what was foremost on his mind.
His single-minded urgency reminded Kendra of other things.
She turned her head to the side, tilting it back so wet kisses poured hotly down her neck. “Are you angry at me for coming without telling you?” she asked.
It took him a moment to realize she was speaking, another beat to respond. “I’ll be angry if you don’t. Soon. If I’m doing it right, you won’t have to tell me about it.”
She smiled at his bold arrogance. “Did you miss me?”
“Until I thought I’d explode. Like now.” Tugging one hand to the evidence of that claim, he captured her mouth once more, greedy, plundering, devouring, unable to taste her deep enough, hard enough. Her fingers slid up into his hair, clenching, pulling back to lever a slight separation. His eyes gleamed, cool silver fire in the dark.
“And I missed you every minute, my prince. Those minutes that became hours, then days, then weeks . . . without explanation.”
The hint of her displeasure slipped through the roar of lust, making Cale hesitate and cautiously offer, “Aren’t we making up for that now?”
Kendra leaned toward him until his strong body trembled with razor-edged restraint. Her lips grazed softly over his, stirring a sound more growl than groan.
“No quickie slam bam is going to make up for my loneliness, my worry, or for our empty bed.”
Now he groaned. “Dammit, Katy, I’m at critical mass here and you want to talk?” He arched against her, tunneling the achy throb of him along the grove between her thighs. “How ‘bout we take the top off things first. Then we can talk all night if you like.” His palms cupped her bare bottom to squeeze tight, coaxing her hips to match the sensuous sway of his own. “I’m dying here, baby. What do you want from me?”
“I want slow hands, my king.” Hers captured his face as if holding something more precious than life itself between them. “I want you to make it worth my wait. I want all of you for as long as you can make it last.”
The stretch of his smile pushed into her palms. His teeth flashed bright. “It’s not like I won’t be ready to go again in the time it takes us to get horizontal. Then I can give you all the time in the world.” He waited expectantly. Silence. His heavy sigh. “You don’t ask for much, my queen.”
“Would you ask me to settle for less?”
“Never.”
He lifted her easily, letting her legs belt his waist and her arms circle his head and shoulders. “Where to?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been here. I thought you had.”
“No. Not on the preferred guest list.” He glanced in either direction, opting to go toward the light at the end of the hall where it opened into a shadowed living/dining area. He looked up toward the source of illumination and muttered an impressed, “Quite the nightlight.”
Following his gaze upward, Kendra had to agree. A huge skylight in the high, slanted ceiling looked out onto a towering hotel, the glow from its many rooms providing a soft gold reprieve from the blackness of the condo without intruding on its intimacy. Cale took advantage of her distraction to draw a damp path up her throat and lick around the delicate curve of her ear. She shuddered in response, her heart fluttering when he lifted away to murmur, “I’ve been starving for the sight and taste of you.”
“Take your fill of anything you like. And then take me.”
“I’m a glutinous bastard. I like it all. Every bite.” He caught her lower lip between his teeth for a nip and tug. “Every sip.” His tongue teased hers out to play over and about his. “Every swallow.” He sucked hers inside, drawing fiercely, smashing his mouth over hers until they both were bruised and close to out of control.
Kendra gripped his shirt collar and yanked it open, popping buttons until she could peel it off his glorious shoulders to adore muscle and heated skin. He just as roughly stripped off her moto jacket and whisked her sweater over her head, making her moan in complaint when their lip lock was interrupted. He returned for more with an insatiable demand.
“I need to sit down, lie down, or fall down,” she breathed into his heady kisses, feeling as though the earth had shifted as he lowered her to perch on the edge of the couch. Instead of joining her, he kicked the coffee table aside and went to his knees between hers. Showing her how much he revered, admired, and desired her with the leisurely sweep of his mouth across smooth flesh. Tracing her collarbone, the tendons of her throat, the faint scarring on one shoulder where they’d become one in the wild manner of their kind. His alone, forever.
For as long as he could make that forever last.
Her torso bowed as he concentrated on one sweet bud, buffeting, licking, sucking until her ribcage jerked, until her breathing labored. Her knees rubbed up and down his arms, her heels riding the ridge of his spine, her hips rocking closer and closer in invitation.
His palms grazed sleek inner thighs inciting a craving that shivered down her legs. She said his name, part prayer, part petition. Then breath and movement stopped as he slowly explored her like some new discovery he’d spent years searching for instead of just three lonely weeks. Rubbing, circling, plunging.
Mouth slanting over hers, he savored her fragile sighs, her hurrying gasps, drinking up the intoxicating taste of her pleasure until his mate cried out, shuddered helplessly, then finally went limp beneath him.
“Worth the wait, my queen?”
Her eyes opened, filled with dark, dreamy satisfaction. Providing a momentarily sated smile, she whispered, “Most definitely.”
“Then you’ll love what comes next.”
A wicked gleam flashed through her gaze. “You?”
“Most definitely.” Cale grinned wolfishly. “But not yet.”
CHAPTER TWO
Silas stepped across his threshold and frowned when the light behind him hit upon the scattering of clothes in his hall. He bent and cautiously lifted a wispy pair of pink panties from a pool of boots and leather. Growling his displeasure, he first checked the bedrooms, finding them both empty, before stalking like an irate chaperone into the condo’s living spaces. There, he found his worse-case scenario tangled in uncaring slumber on his floor.
“Hey.” He gave Cale a nudge in the ribs with his toe. Bleary eyes blinked up
at him.
“Oh, hey,” his unwelcomed guest muttered, instinctively cuddling the sleeping female sprawled across him closer, eyes sinking shut again.
“Hey!” There was nothing gentle about his kick. “Get your bare ass off my living room rug before Nica sees you.”
Appreciation of that threat woke Cale completely. Brows lowering and eyes squinting into an irritable glare, he asked, “You want me to jump out the window?”
“Only if I was sure the fall would kill you before my wife does.” Fists knuckling his hips, Silas considered the options and found them all wanting. “Oh, hell. Up the hall, door right after the bathroom.”
Cale grinned. “Thanks for the hospitality.”
Silas grumbled a fitting obscenity and started collecting the rest of their discarded clothing, brows rising over a scattering of ten dollar bills that fell out of Cale’s jeans, while his distant relation, flashing way too much anatomy, carried an oblivious Kendra to the appointed room. Silas followed, tossing their garments in behind them with a glum, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
*
Waking up wrapped in warmth and contentment, Kendra sighed and slowly opened her eyes to the most glorious sight imaginable. Nose to nose with her mate, she took a leisurely moment to simply adore him, from rumpled artificially blackened hair that stuck out in all directions from the tugging of her hands, to the sweep of thick lashes across strong cheekbones, to the slight part of lips she could still taste when wetting her own in remembrance of the night they’d shared.
A warm glow kindled in her belly.
What a night.
For as long as he could make it last. He’d risen to her challenge enthusiastically. Again and again.
Before desire began to pool and demand attention, Kendra distracted herself by glancing about the windowless room housing the big bed they’d slept in. No memory surfaced of how they’d gotten there, but she could see their clothes on the floor by the closed door. Apparently, they were still at Silas and Nica’s. She blushed, wondering over the state of the living room. The evidence that they’d had sex—wild, noisy, furniture breaking, earth shattering sex—shouldn’t shock their hosts. Still the thought of having it, vigorously, under Silas’s roof made her uncomfortable. But without regrets.
