A Tiger's Treasure (Tiger Protectors Book 2)
Page 5
“Then what are you hiding from me?” he said. “I know you’ve been keeping secrets.”
“I knew you were too,” she snapped.
He shrugged. “Well, you know mine now. So tell me yours. I like to think I’ve proven trustworthy by now.”
She nodded. Even though her brain was slightly nervous because if he was a shifter, then he could in fact be who she was looking for, a part of her just knew Carter couldn’t do something like that. Murder someone in cold blood. She’d never known him to be anything but honorable.
“I… came to the precinct with ulterior motives,” she said, twisting her hands nervously. “I told you I became a cop after the disappearance and presumed murder of my parents, but I didn’t tell you it was this precinct that handled their case. About ten years ago.”
Carter’s face went blank. “Wait, so you’ve been investigating us?”
“No,” she said. “I’ve been investigating the case. But there are huge holes. Someone has messed with the file.”
Carter folded his arms. “And you’ve been looking at it.”
She nodded. Why did he have to look so handsome when he was serious?
He rolled up the cuffs of his shirt and then grunted and stood. “I’m going to change. You want something soft to get into?”
She flushed at the implication, but he just tilted his head, waiting for her response. Nerves ripped through her, and she shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
He sensed her hesitation, though. “I’ll bring you pajamas.” Then he disappeared down the hallway and into another room. She heard rustling and just waited for him to come back.
When he did, she had to keep her jaw from dropping. He wore a loose, thin sleep tee that grazed all his perfect muscles and left his arms almost completely bare. They were long, roped with muscle, with fine wrists and beautiful, deft hands.
She swallowed as she took the pile of clothing he held out to her. She guessed it couldn’t hurt to get more comfortable, even if she could sense Carter’s eyes on her as she took the clothing and hurried to the nearest door that looked like a bathroom.
When she was in, she shut the door behind her. What was wrong with her? She was supposed to be focusing on the case, not thinking about how hot it was to be alone with him in his apartment.
This was the kind of thing that should stay in her messed-up fantasies about him that she’d been having ever since she’d been assigned as his partner. Nothing between them should happen. But she was feeling more and more of her wolf trying to take control.
He’d brought her a long-sleeved hooded sweatshirt that nearly buried her once she put it on. But she couldn’t resist raising it up and smelling it. It was fresh and soft, and she felt so safe in it. It didn’t help that it was so big she felt like a little girl again. She turned to face the mirror, laughing at how swallowed she was in the soft gray material.
Then she pulled on the flannel pajama bottoms he’d brought out. She tied the waist tight and rolled up the bottoms so she could walk. Then she took her hair out of its pony, wet it, and pulled it back into a tight bun so it wouldn’t be in the way while facing Carter.
The simple act of touching her hair made her think of his hands. She was losing it. Was it simply because she was an alpha female and she’d seen a strong male fight for her? Was it simply biology? Or did it have to do with the fact that she truly respected Carter? That he was one of the best men she’d ever met and deep down, she’d wanted him from the first time she met him?
She had a sneaking suspicion it was all of the above.
She took a deep breath and opened the door. Now she just had to somehow get through a conversation with him and get to bed without begging him to get naked.
Should be easy enough. Not.
Her heart was racing as he looked up at her, his eyes slowly scanning her, heating as he watched her walk forward. The tension in the room was palpable. Seeing one another outside of uniform, having just fought together, having each other’s backs, and having just started sharing secrets—it all felt too intimate.
And despite their different species, she could feel her animal call to him. Feel her pheromones fill the air.
She saw his eyes widen in response as he sat slightly straighter.
He motioned for her to come over, clearly trying to stay calm. Perhaps he had the control to ignore the situation. That they were an unmated pair, alone and safe, dressed only in pajamas.
But she wasn’t. She walked toward him all right, but when she got there, instead of going to her chair, she came over him on the couch, straddling him before he could see what she was doing.
She wrapped a hand around his neck and registered his look of surprise and the hunger of sheer want just before she took his mouth in a hard kiss.
They could talk about secrets later. They could talk about her parents later. They could talk about dragons and tigers later. Right now, she just needed him inside her.
* * *
Carter froze as Amy kissed him. It was the second time she’d basically attacked him, and his instincts were warring with his common sense.
The tiger in him, so close to the surface after the fight, was screaming to claim the female.
But he couldn’t do that. He’d always known taking a mate wasn’t in the cards for him. And besides, the idea of a wolf mating with a tiger was incomprehensible. They were too different. Cats and dogs.
But then he made the mistake of letting his hand rest on her soft waist, and she made the mistake of gently testing him with her tongue against his lips, and he made the mistake of opening voraciously to entwine his tongue with hers in a hot, wet embrace. And she made the mistake of reaching down to his pants, feeling his already hard member.
He lost all rational thought and growled, flipping her over on her back beneath him on the couch. She nearly purred as she looked up at him. The wolf in her was strong, powerful, its pheromones filling the air, begging him to take her.
But this was Amy. His partner.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
“I’ve wanted this from the moment I met you,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be complicated.”
“We’re partners. It’s not professional,” he said.
“We’re also animals,” she growled. “And right now, I need you.”
He nipped at her ear. “Your pheromones are crazy.”
“Alpha female,” she said. “To attract males.”
“But I’m not the right male for you, am I?” he asked quietly. “You need an alpha wolf.”
“Someday,” she said. “Not today. Today, I need you. I don’t even know why.”
He started to pull back. “That’s not good enough. Not to ruin our partnership.”
She pulled him back. “Come on. We can both work through this. We’re adults. Why can’t we have a little fun and still work together in the morning?”
He thought about that. Did it actually make sense, or was his lust-filled brain just trying to rationalize?
She was so beautiful beneath him. If he really looked back, he’d always kind of known she wanted him. Even before she’d gotten drunk and said she wanted to see him naked. And kissed him. And if he were really honest, he’d always wanted the same.
She was hot and strong and the first female he’d connected with in a long time. Maybe ever.
So why not indeed?
He brushed a hand along her face, and she flushed. But it was Amy. They’d just had a hard day. They’d just found out that nothing was as it seemed.
And yet somehow that made it more okay to acknowledge the animals inside them that wanted to mate.
“So are we dating, then?” he asked. “Is that what you want?”
“I’m not looking for anything serious,” she said. “Not until I do something first.”
“And then you’ll have to be with someone else,” he said.
She nodded. “For my line.”
“So all I get is a few nights with you and then ou
r work relationship.”
She reached up to stroke his hair, sending pleasant sensations screaming through him. “I can make it worth it.”
“You’re already worth it,” he said. “In fact, you’re worth waiting.”
She frowned up at him, dark eyes glittering impatiently. “There’s nothing to wait for. You and I both know you never know when you’ll have another moment. You have to take what you have because you never know when it’s all over.”
He’d lost his mom, and he now sensed a deep loss in her that answered it.
She was right. You never knew what you could count on in the future.
He wanted her now. His tiger was roaring. And he’d been ignoring it for a long time, and it hadn’t made him happy.
If it was what she really wanted and they were able to stay professional after, then what was the harm in it?
He leaned down and took her mouth in a hard kiss, feeling her squirm up against him. It was an amazing feeling, exhilarating. If they both wanted it, then what was the problem?
And besides, he was in too deep to turn around now. He’d just have to hope things wouldn’t be too awkward in the morning.
5
Amy couldn’t believe what was finally happening to her. The first man she’d really wanted was all over her, surrounding her with his strength.
He looked just like he had from one of her fantasies, except she’d never expected her strict, buttoned-up partner to ever do something like this in real life.
Damn, he was hot, his muscles straining in the light tee he wore, which dropped low in front so she could look all the way down it to see a perfect set of rippling abs.
She’d always suspected a banging body under all that office wear, but it was different seeing it. She felt her whole body nearly go weak with lust for him.
He was powerful, and she wanted him.
He picked her up in his arms and headed for the bedroom, but she grabbed his collar and stopped him. “Not the bedroom,” she said.
He raised a dark eyebrow, and she struggled slightly so he would put her down. Then she used her wolf strength to push him against the nearby wall, pressing her mouth to his. His hands twisted in her hair as he took her in a harsh kiss that seemed to go on and on, making her knees completely weak.
She didn’t want a clean, sterile romantic hookup in his bedroom. She wanted it here. Hot. Up against a wall, on the floor, the carpet. Anywhere.
She knew it was a little weird, but she wanted to be out in the open, where her animal was free to get a little wild.
When he pulled back, giving her room to gasp in a breath, she shook her head. “Here. Not the bed.”
He nodded and whirled around, pulling her to the couch and dropping her down on it before pinning her against it.
She’d wondered how her partner would make love. Would he be stiff, hesitant? Missionary position? A one-pump chump? Now that she thought about it, those were odd things to wonder. But not when you were an unmated female with intense hormones and a super hot man right next to you every day.
It was honestly amazing this hadn’t happened their first week. It had been easier to keep distant from him when they’d both been keeping secrets.
His mouth crushed hers, his huge arms surrounding her, his heat warming her. He was nothing like she’d imagined. Hot, in control, a little wild as he pulled her sweatshirt over her head and she growled in approval.
He grabbed her waistband and yanked her lower on the couch beneath him, giving him room to pull her hands over her head so he could look down at her.
“You sure?” he asked.
She just grinned at him, wiggling in her bra to signal he should take it off. To her shock, he flashed a claw and cut it down the center. Before she could get offended, her breasts came free of the constraining fabric and his lips were on her nipple, sucking voraciously.
She was instantly wetter, clenching her legs together as pleasure shot through her, centering on those perfect lips worshipping her breast. His free hand came up to cup her other, and she sighed as it then moved down, over her ample waist, gently squeezing each roll as if that part of her were just as hot as her breasts or her ass, and then feeling down to her waistband and gripping her hips. He growled against her lips, letting her feel the tiger inside him, and she nearly came right there.
“Mine,” he said, pulling the pants down and slipping a hand into her panties. She clenched her thighs around his hand, trapping him against her as he began to move, rubbing between her folds in a way that made fireworks go off inside her.
The pressure was building, building, and then gone, and she cried out as she went over the edge and his mouth came up to catch her cries.
She gasped as he bit down lightly on her lower lip and arched against him and the tension washing in waves inside her. She’d never felt anything like this on her own. Then again, over the years, it had mostly been her and her vibrator whenever her hormones got too difficult to control.
She’d never been around alpha males of her kind, so she’d mostly been able to keep her hormones in check. But something about Carter set all of them off, made him impossible to resist.
Still, as his hand stripped off her pants and then tore off her panties, baring her to him, she couldn’t help but think this was some kind of dream and she’d wake up in the morning, wet and frustrated, sad she’d imagined the whole thing.
Stuff, stern Carter would never be here, laving her breasts, surrounding her on all sides, pinning her with one hand and working her rapidly toward another orgasm with the other.
He pulled back to look down at her as she got close to coming, and when she did, she saw him watching intently, just before she closed her eyes against the intense pleasure nearly making it impossible to breathe, let alone think.
No human should feel this good, she thought as pleasure rushed through her, making her tense and release over and over again as she arched in relief. When she opened her eyes, panting, she saw his eyes glowing, a much lighter green, like they were backlit. His lids were heavy; his long lashes fluttered closed and then open.
When he bit his lip, she saw the vague shape of a fang instead of a canine. Then he closed his lips again, covering it. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and he looked at her hands impatiently.
Then he stood and walked out of the room.
“Carter?” she asked, sitting up, still shaky from orgasm, body still tensed and ready to be pleased.
She wanted more from him. She wanted him to take her and dominate her. To give her all the pleasure she could take and take all of the control from her.
When he came back, he was holding a tie in his hand.
Oh, yes.
He grinned at her as he reached for her hands. “I need you to stay still for this,” he said, wrapping the tie expertly around them.
“Control freak,” she said.
He nodded, a keen look in his green eyes as he finished tying her hands together. She tested them and they held. But it was completely comfortable, if firm. He held the end of the tie in his hands, letting hers dangle.
“Now, where should I put this?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Wherever you want.” He helped her stand on shaky legs and led her to a nearby chair. He sat her in it and then looped the tie over the top knob on the back of the chair, tying it so she was tight.
She was bared to him, naked and wet. And then he knelt between her legs.
In her dirtiest dreams, she’d still never pictured him like this.
He spread her legs apart as she pressed back helplessly against the chair. She was completely open to him, and he gave her a pleased glance as he moved in to lick her pussy.
She groaned in pleasure, pulling against her ties as sensation moved through her at his expert touch. She could sense him listening to everything she did, his hands keeping hold on her thighs, registering every squirm.
No matter what happened after this, she’d never forget it. Her night of passion with a tiger.
She cried out and writhed against her bonds, knowing if she really wanted to, she could tear them apart or yank them off of the chair. He knew that too.
But she didn’t want to. For much of her life, she’d been alone. Capable. Taking care of everything. Just once, she wanted someone else to take control. Carter was the only one she’d trusted to do it.
And if she’d known it would be so damn good, she would have seduced him sooner.
But as good as he felt licking her, what she really wanted was that thick length she’d felt earlier. She wanted it plunging inside her, filling her, and making the wolf in her quiet.
Just the thought of it, him above her, plunging in, nudged her closer to the edge. Carter seemed to sense it and stroked carefully with his tongue in a slow circle.
She screamed as she went, convulsing against his mouth as he lapped at her, catching every bit of her pleasure as his hands kept her legs apart as she desperately tried to close them. She was forced to feel everything, and everything felt almost too wonderful.
When she was done, he rose up to look at her. She was flushed, out of breath, her curls coming out of her bun on all sides of her face. “I want you,” she said. “All the way.”
He reached up for her hands, and she growled, pulling away. He chuckled, for a moment looking like the regular, calm Carter. Just a sexier, dressed-down version.
From his straight nose to his strong jaw to his dark hair, everything about him was model and perfect and just how it should be. So she’d never have guessed he could get this kinky in bed.
Then again, with how overprotective he was, how he liked to do everything himself, she guessed she should have known.
“Calm down,” he said as she tried to move so he wouldn’t untie her. “I’m just moving us to the bedroom. If we’re doing… that… I want to make sure I’m not hurting your back.” He lifted her still-tied hands off the chair and picked her up over his shoulder.