by Amelia Jade
She wanted to comment on how clean everything was, until the truck made a right turn into a section of town that was a stark contrast to everything she had seen before.
“Here we are,” Evan said, and her spirits dropped even more.
They were in the middle of a concrete haven. The streets were paved, though in disrepair, and the sidewalks were unbroken with even the slightest hint of greenery. In front of them, the drooping façade of an old apartment building presented itself. Although the letters themselves were gone, she could still see where it had once said “Sapphire Luxury Apartments,” the letters outlined in black grime on the faded and crumbling reddish-orange brick exterior.
“Oh.” She was unable to keep the dejection from her voice at the less-than-stellar accommodations they had been provided with.
“It may not look like much now,” Evan assured her. “But that was part of the challenge Garrett gave us. To make it great again.”
She looked uncertainly at the five-story building in front of them.
“The difficult we do first, and I guess the impossible will just have to take a little longer,” she muttered, exiting the truck as Evan killed the engine.
The empty parking lot at the rear of the building where they were currently located was devoid of cars, the asphalt cracked and broken with bits of unpleasant greenery growing in several places. The lines were faded and scratched.
“This is going to cost a lot of money to fix,” she said, slinging her bag across her shoulder. It had been returned to her upon her release, and by the looks of things, they hadn’t bothered to rifle through it either.
“Probably not as much as you think, and besides, we’re paid very well to work in the mines,” he told her.
She looked up at him, feeling some of the optimism in his voice reach out and latch onto her, buoying her spirits somewhat.
“You really think so?”
“I do,” he said, throwing his arm around her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go inside!”
She had doffed her jacket after leaving the truck, and now his hand connected with her exposed skin. The connection was instant, and without realizing it she found herself leaning in to him, their bodies pressing together.
But that wasn’t what hit her the hardest. The moment they touched, she felt fire bloom where their flesh melded together, the intense heat boiling out and flowing across the rest of her back, down her arms, and into her legs as well. It wrapped her in its heated glow as she struggled to maintain her balance.
It tingled at first, the sensation building until it became almost too painful to bear, but it never did. It morphed until the pain mixed with the pleasure of his touch. It reminded her all too well of several nights she had experienced before. Nights that she knew would be dwarfed if she were to spend time alone with Evan.
Which she must never do, she commanded herself. Not before she had a better feel for the town and her new life here, at least. If it turned out that Evan hadn’t come around for the better, she didn’t want to attach herself to him, no matter how intense the connection between them.
And wow is it intense, she thought with a shiver, trying to contain the urge building between her legs, a desire that told her she needed to get Evan alone as fast as possible.
“Are you okay?” Evan asked, looking down at her as she pulled away from him slightly. His voice was strained and full of tension.
Apparently I’m not the only one feeling this, she noted, licking her lips quickly before responding.
“Yeah, just a gust of wind, that’s all,” she told him, despite the fact that there wasn’t a shred of breeze in the air.
Evan didn’t respond, and instead reached out to open the door and allow everyone inside. There they piled into the elevator. Being in such close proximity to Evan made matters much, much worse, especially considering she was standing in front of him. With one sway of her hips, she would be able to brush her ass against his crotch.
Several times she teetered on the edge, fighting tooth and nail against the urge to do just that. In the end, she was saved by the ding of the elevator. Pulling herself forward, she exited onto the floor, looking around.
“Uhh,” she said, her attention focusing elsewhere now. “What’s that all about?” she asked, pointing at the giant hole in the wall.
“That is where a shifter was thrown through the wall by a larger, angrier shifter,” Evan said with embarrassment, his tone indicating that he had been the one to go through the wall.
“Ow,” she said. The walls didn’t look overly thin.
“Not the most pleasurable thing in the world, I assure you,” he said with a wry grin.
“So, which room is mine?” she asked, returning his smile but forcing herself to avoid meeting his eyes. The other shifters in their crew were already giving her odd looks, and she didn’t want to start any rumors about her on her first day.
“Pick,” he said, spreading his hands wide. “There are more rooms here than there are us, by quite a large margin.”
She did, inspecting several rooms, now emptied of all belongings except for a mattress wrapped in plastic. It was a rectangle. The door opened into the center of the room, which also happened to be the common area. To the right, the kitchen was hidden behind a wall as it paralleled the right-hand wall. To her left was a winding hallway, with a washroom and closet on the left, and two rooms, one on the right, and one at the end of the hallway.
Faded hardwood was everywhere except for the large bedroom at the end of the hallway, where ugly beige paint was slapped on the walls. The dilapidated balcony with its broken railing and stained concrete threatened to dull her spirits more, but she pushed it aside, and forced herself to determine the potential of the room. Painting the walls, sanding and staining the hardwood, and a few other cosmetic upgrades, and it would look brand new. Knowing that she could make it her own, Victoria set about unpacking the few things she had brought with her.
Chapter Four
Evan
He shouldn’t be here.
Walk away. His brain was commanding him to do the right thing, but the rest of him wasn’t listening. Even as he told himself to go in the opposite direction, his long, powerful legs continued to take him forward. Toward Victoria’s room.
He paused outside the door.
407.
The seven was knocked slightly askew, and as he reached up to straighten it the brass dragged slightly across the door, making a scraping sound. Inside, he heard someone move, footsteps padding slightly toward the door.
Shit. She heard that.
“Hi,” he said as Victoria opened the door.
She had changed. The gray tank top she had been wearing was replaced by a simple, maroon V-neck that revealed just a hint of cleavage. It clung tightly to her breasts, making their ample size visible for anyone to see.
He remembered the way his body had raged with desire as they walked through the parking lot, a fire burning within him as they touched. It was all he had been able to think about ever since—the sensation was gone, but it left an imprint behind. He wanted to feel it again, to become completely immersed in her, to press their bodies together as he touched his lips to hers, their embrace a circular bond.
“Hello,” she said, and he saw her jaw tighten as she swallowed.
His voice left him abruptly as the light brown of her eyes drew him in, ensnaring him with her piercing gaze. She wasn’t oblivious to what was going on between them, he realized abruptly. She’s been feeling the same thing, experiencing everything I have! But is she okay with it?
“I—” he began before faltering. He didn’t know what to say.
“Did you want to come in?” Her voice was barely audible, but he could see the uncertainty on her face.
“I’m not sure if I should,” he managed to say. “You barely know me. I could be a bad man.”
“Are you?” she asked breathlessly.
“Not anymore,” he answered with complete honesty. He had been a bad pers
on, but it was something he vowed to leave behind. That was a deal he had made with himself before he had ever been offered the chance to become an Alpha once more. Now that he had that opportunity in front of him, he was determined to prove his worth.
“Shame,” she said as a grin blossomed across her face. Whatever had just happened, he saw Victoria suddenly regain much of her initial confidence. “I kind of like bad men.”
Her answer wasn’t what he had been expecting, and Evan felt a similar look appear on his face. “How bad?” he asked, his voice dropping an octave as he stood up straight, doing his best to loom over her in a ridiculous pantomime of some evil villain.
Victoria laughed. The tension between them melted away, for the moment at least. Evan had no doubt that it would be back, but just then and there, he felt at ease with her.
“Tell me your plan to take over the world,” she replied, batting her eyes at him in a decent impression of some innocent movie heroine who was charmed by men that thought big.
“We start small,” he said, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. “First, we take over this room,” he pointed behind her. “Then we expand our control to the entire floor. From there, we take the building, the town, and then eventually, the world. But it’s all hush hush, ya see?”
She giggled, but didn’t pull away. Neither did Evan as he turned to look at her.
It wasn’t his first mistake, but it was the catalyst. All of a sudden he became very, very aware of just how close they were. He could smell the faint scent of perfume, something he would never have expected her to wear. But there it was, just the lightest whiff of it reaching his nose. Her nostrils flared as well, taking in his scent.
Her pupils dilated as he watched, and her breathing became deeper. The change was almost instantaneous, and Evan felt it happening with him as well. It was too much; he couldn’t fight the force of his desire for Victoria. It was stronger than an onrushing train, blowing aside any restraint he may have still possessed.
“Hi,” he said, his voice low and so soft he could have used it to caress her the way he longed to with his hands, to feel her, to touch her. Evan knew he was losing his battle with the gravity of the situation, slowly becoming sucked in past the point of no return, and he saw it in her face as well.
“Hey,” she said, and all of a sudden they were right back where they started.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Victoria didn’t respond aloud, but the single jerky nod of her head was all that he needed. She stepped back from the door and he moved inside, closing it behind him. The moment the door clicked closed the hold was broken, and the pair practically threw themselves at each other.
Being a female shifter, Victoria was taller than any woman he had been with before, and he barely had to lean over to kiss her. He simply tilted his head and watched as she went up on her tiptoes. His arms swooped out as she flung her hands around his neck, holding tightly while he picked her from the floor and slammed her shoulder blades into the now-closed door.
“I thought you said you were a good boy?” she asked wickedly, her hips grinding against his.
Evan hesitated. He wanted this; he knew that. Victoria wanted it as well. There was no doubt that they both physically desired each other. His bear was riled up and demanding that he push forward, eager to spend the night with her, losing all sense of control.
But…
Victoria pulled back when he didn’t respond instantly. “Listen cowboy,” she said, “I’m a grown woman, and I know what I’m doing. There’s something going on between us, and I think you’re smart enough to realize that as well. But right now I can’t think straight because most of me wants you. So here’s the deal: we’re going to just forget what we should be doing, and we’re going to focus on what we are doing. Then, in the morning, we can figure out how badly we’ve stepped into the trap, okay?”
Evan stood up straight, shocked by the blunt, analytical tone of her voice. The fact that her legs were still wrapped around him as he held her aloft dulled the seriousness of it somewhat, but not enough to matter.
She was right, he realized. There was clearly a strong pull between them, a pull that meant…he mentally shook his head, not ready to believe that he could be so lucky. For now he decided to do as she said: live in the moment, and worry about the consequences later. He could learn about who she was later. It wasn’t going to happen right now, not with the way the two of them were agitated and in need of the physical comfort of each other.
Once again his bear knew better than he did.
“Are you trying to use me for sex?” he asked playfully in response, pushing her up against the wall.
“No,” she said with a smile, shaking her head meekly.
Having seen just a sample of how strong and capable she was already, Evan had a hard time believing the look on her face. He had to admit that it made her infinitely more kissable all the same.
“Well, let’s start with a kiss then,” he said, leaning in toward her.
“Let’s,” she murmured just before he pressed his lips softly against hers.
The same blossoming of warmth he felt every time they touched was there yet again. An excited shiver ran across his skin. Making a hungry noise, he redoubled the intensity of his kiss, expecting to catch Victoria unawares with his sudden ferocity. To his surprise she not only matched him, but her hands tightened around his head, pulling Evan even tighter in to her as they tasted each other for the first time.
He had expected a slow exploration of each other’s bodies, a loving and tender session of tentative firsts. Instead, raw passion, desire, and a bone-achingly deep need for one another descended over them, wiping away any thoughts of slow and gentle.
Without warning Victoria’s hands grabbed the collar of his shirt and ripped, tearing the simple cotton off of him as if it were no more than a piece of paper. Her hands ran across his firm body, muscular and toned even after the long months in jail. They had been fed well, and Evan had maintained a rigorous program of calisthenics to keep himself and his crew in shape.
“Nice muscles,” she growled, breaking away for air.
“All the better to hold you up with,” he replied, before pushing his face into the crook of her neck. He had intended to simply kiss her, but when she dug her nails into his back, Evan growled in mild pain and dug his teeth roughly into the thick skin of her neck, clamping down right near the major artery running up the side.
Victoria gasped and he felt her shudder slightly. She liked it. A smile crept across his face as he continued to alternate kissing her skin with sharp, quick nips at her exposed flesh.
“Hold on tight,” he told her, taking his hands away until she was supported only with the wall at her back, and the legs around his waist. He reached up to grab her shirt.
“Wait, don’t rip it!” she protested. “I don’t have many spares.”
Without waiting for a response from him, she reached down and pulled the shirt up over her head, exposing the soft, tender flesh of her upper body to his hungry gaze. His hands practically pawed at her breasts, scrambling to undo her bra and let it fall to the side. Evan felt clumsy and awkward in his movements, succumbing completely to the needs of the moment. It brought him back to the heady days of his youth, when he had less than zero idea of how to treat a woman.
But it wasn’t quite the same. It had the same single-minded driving force, but he knew now what worked, what didn’t, and just how to use his tongue on her hard nipples to elicit that soft moan that drove every man wild.
There it is, he thought to himself as Victoria did just as he wanted. The sound made his cock even harder, and he pressed it between her legs mercilessly as she ground her hips into him, as if she could feel the surge.
“You need to fuck me already,” she growled, demanding from him exactly what he longed to give her.
“I agree,” he managed to get out, his deep voice so passion-fueled it barely sounded like him.
Swinging her arou
nd, he none-too-gently lowered her to the ground. A savage grin broke out on Victoria’s face as they both began to rip their clothing off, more anxious to be naked and fucking than caring about stripping the other partner down. There was an urgency to their coupling that he suspected neither of them had felt in a long time, if ever.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked as they finally doffed the last remnants of clothing.
“You, slowpoke,” he replied. “I was naked far quicker than you were,” he said, teasing her.
“That’s because I’m lying on my back, cowboy.”
“That’s my new name now, is it?” He grinned, shuffling between her legs, until his hard cock was lined up with her opening.
“Well, I figure if I keep calling you that, maybe you’ll get the hint and tie me up,” she said, raising her hands above her head and pressing the wrists together as she winked at him suggestively.
With a growl of desire, Evan used one massive hand to grab her wrists and pin them there, while the other guided his cock between her legs, pressing against the swollen flesh. He rubbed the tip back and forth, coating it in her wetness so that it would penetrate easier.
“Fuck, you’re so hot,” he said, his eyes ranging across her body, taking in the muscular figure. It may be hidden by a softer layer, but he knew the power that lurked below the surface.
“You really think—”
He didn’t give her a chance to finish, her words turning into a gasp mid-sentence as he pressed inside of her at last, the first few inches of his cock sliding deep within her without warning.
He paused for a moment, giving her time to adjust to his size.
“Holy shit that feels so—”
He thrust his hips forward all the way until they pressed up against hers, cutting Victoria off mid-sentence once again.
