by Amelia Jade
But a big dick was a big dick, and that shit was scary even as it was arousing.
Kase pushed forward at her signal, and she watched his face as he slipped inside. Both of them drew in deeply. His face tightened, and he clenched his teeth together. Michelle watched him closely, using her fingers to slowly pull him closer with one hand, and her palm on his chest to stop him with the other. Bit by bit he slowly disappeared inside, her body adjusting to this massive intrusion at an agonizingly slow pace.
“That’s all,” he joked when she pulled on his side again, only to realize he was fully inside her now.
“Good.”
He leaned in closer, kissing her cheek before nibbling gently on her earlobe, a weak spot of Michelle’s that had her tightening around his girth. She grinned when Kase hissed in surprise. Yes, she could do this.
“You can go faster,” she told him after a few minutes of rocking back and forth against one another.
“I know,” he said, his voice taut. “It’s just…it’s really tight.”
The smile that had been on her face since the start became a grin. “Oh. Well, take your time then. I wouldn’t want you to rush anything.” She dragged her fingernails across his back.
“That’s not helping,” he groaned, swelling inside her.
“It’s not?” she teased, whispering the words into his ear, then moaned softly while exhaling.
Kase twitched, but he didn’t—quite—lose control.
“You’re just going to lose out as well if you keep that up,” he admonished.
“I’ve had my pleasure,” she said, laughing. “This is about you now.”
He pulled back slightly to look her in the face. “Are you saying this doesn’t feel good?” He lifted his hips and then thrust back into her.
“Oh, fuck,” she gasped, her spine arching.
Kase repeated the motion. “Still ready for me to finish so soon?”
“If it makes you happy,” she said in hissed bursts. “Yes. But I won’t object to this either, if you enjoy it.”
“Nothing makes me happier than seeing you turned on,” he growled, his cock moving in and out of her nonstop now. Not hard, not fast—it would be a few more times before she could take that from him.
Instead he just thrust constantly, letting her focus on his pattern. That worked miracles, because something latched onto it, and a feeling inside her grew anew.
“I think I’m going to come again,” she told him. “Kase, I’m so close. Don’t stop!”
She’d never done this before. Always one and then done, which was perfectly okay with her; it left her satisfied and happy. This time, though—this time she wasn’t sure where it was coming from. It felt different, from deeper inside her.
Latching on to Kase, she held tight. They crashed together over and over, lost in the throes of the moment, letting their baser instincts take over as they became closer to each other. It was powerful, moving, and surprisingly intimate. She felt closer with Kase, more than just physically. This was an unleashing of pent-up emotions that, despite the long gap between seeing him, had somehow never faded, much to her then-irritation.
Now she relished it, kissing him hard, moaning her desire into his mouth, unable to control herself. She wanted him. Now. Here. And as often as she could have him. He would be hers, and in turn, she would be his. Two as one.
In the end, she never quite remembered how they reached it, but without needing to speak, as if they just knew what the other was doing, they reached their respective thresholds in unison. She tightened around him, the extra pressure more than Kase could handle. His muscles swelled as he all but called out her name.
Michelle shook constantly, a never-ending tremble as her body was pounding by wave after wave of ecstasy the likes of which she’d never experienced before. It ripped the breath from her lungs. All she could do was stare wide eyed at Kase, her mouth open in a silent scream as her system shut down, overwhelmed by the sensations flowing through her.
Then all at once the world snapped back into color and sound and she could hear herself screaming, Kase’s deep groans, and the feel as he emptied himself into her, something that had always aroused her.
They sank back down onto the floor, Kase on top of her but supporting himself on his elbows. Skin to skin they lay, gasping for air.
His lips pressed against her cheek in a weak kiss, all the strength he could muster.
“What the hell was that?” she asked after a few minutes, feeling up to speaking finally.
“I don’t know,” he heaved, his chest still rising and falling swiftly. “I’ve never felt anything like it. Ever. I…” He had no more words.
They locked eyes, and all of a sudden it was funny. She snorted while trying to cover up her giggle, which set Kase off. He rolled off her, laughing heavily. She joined him, and everything felt right for a moment.
“Do you want to do it again?” he asked, rolling onto his side to face her.
She lifted her eyebrows, gaze shifting to between his legs. “I can see that you do.”
“Maybe.” He winked.
“Yeah, yeah I do,” she said, biting her lip as he got back on top of her. “But take me to the bed first. This floor is a little hard.”
Laughing, Kase adjusted his arms and scooped her from the floor, holding her tight to his chest with an ease that amplified her already potent arousal.
The walk seemed far too long, despite only being thirty feet away.
***
She awoke the next morning and rolled over to find Kase already awake, fingers laced behind his head as he stared skyward.
Michelle bit her lip, wondering how she could phrase what she was about to say to make him not feel hurt.
“Listen, Michelle,” he said, noting that she was alert.
Wait a minute. No way. He’s not allowed to ask me to leave; I’m telling him I’m going!
The night before had been fun, there was no lying about that. The sex had been good. Really good. But the truth was, she shouldn’t have done it. Caving like that, it wasn’t the right move. She should be standing her ground with him. If he truly wanted her back in his life, then he was going to have work for it. Otherwise, she was just there for the funding for the lab, and she was not about to trade sex for that.
She spoke up before he could continue. “I should probably go.”
Kase looked at her sharply, then nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
It irritated her that he was in agreement. Had she not been worth anything more to him than a cheap fuck? Was he that eager to get rid of her all of a sudden? For a moment, she had second thoughts about her choice, but now was not the time to doubt herself. Not in front of Kase at least. Once she was outside, she could have all the second thoughts she wanted.
Slipping from the bed, she got dressed as quickly as possible, trying to pretend she wasn’t aware of his eyes roaming over her exposed flesh. Not because she didn’t like it, but because she did. Her goal now was to stick to her principles. To stay strong and fight for more money wherever it could be found. If Kase wasn’t willing to put it up, then she would go to the board and find out where it had been coming from up until now, and approach them.
This wasn’t over, not yet.
“Um, thank you,” Kase said.
“For what?”
“Uh.” He stopped speaking and looked away.
“Yeah. Anyway, I’m going to leave now.”
He nodded, displeasure evident on his face, though she attributed that more to his own inability to speak than to her leaving. He seemed perfectly okay with that.
Had the night before been a moment of weakness for Kase, too? So what if it was? You made your decision, and now you stick to it. You can’t be worried about his thoughts and feelings right now. You have a priority, and that’s securing funding, so you can start researching new cures again. It’s going to take time with all your research gone.
A pang of agony st
abbed her as she recalled that not only did she need money, but she needed to start almost from scratch. Everything she’d ever had was gone, wiped from the drives at the lab by whoever had broken in and trashed it. If she ever found out who had ripped such a priceless thing away from her, condemning her father to certain death, she would never forgive them.
The anger of those thoughts helped fuel her departure. She nodded goodbye to Kase, went down the stairs, and out the front door. The door closed behind her, but it didn’t lock. She could still go back in if she chose. Confront Kase over what was going on, get some answers.
No, she should leave. Stick to her guns. Be strong.
She stared out at her car, biting at her lower lip.
Chapter Thirteen
Kase
That was too easy.
He eyed the door out of the bedroom. Michelle wouldn’t be coming back through it. He’d heard the front door open and close, knew that she was gone.
No, not gone. Her car hadn’t started up yet, which meant she was still on the property. Kase had purposefully installed a gravel driveway for that exact reason. He liked to know if his enemies were approaching. Or friends, on the occasion he’d not felt like being bothered. It was easy for him to duck out the back and avoid any socialization he didn’t want.
Now it served as notice of when she decided to leave. What was she doing out there? More importantly, why had she been so agreeable to his suggestion that maybe it would be better if she left? What sort of agenda was she working on? It must have to do with his funding the lab.
“What else could it be?” he mused aloud, slipping from the bed and putting on some jeans.
Tightening the belt, he left the room, heading down the large curved staircase lost in thought, fingers tapping against the black powder-coated steel railing. Things didn’t quite add up.
First, there was the accusation from Michelle. While he had been in the lab that night, and Kase had been the one to erase the hard drives and cloud backups, that had been the extent of his intervention. The building was his, and everything inside of it was his. Breaking in wasn’t necessary. All he’d needed to do was use his key. He’d left the lab intact, which meant someone had come in after him and torn up the place.
Both the who and the why behind this mysterious player were still beyond Kase. His only idea so far was Jerrik. Could the Magistrate be the actual one behind that? In some sort of messed-up way, was he trying to play cupid to the two of them? Maybe he thought that with the lab destroyed, Kase would finally swoop in to save his mate.
“That’s stupid.” He discarded that theory. Jerrik had other things to occupy his time.
Then there was the thief who’d broken into his house. Another mystery. Or was it? What if they were related? What if they were the same person? Michelle had told him a little bit more about the break in. Of the desk through the wall, among other things. Whoever had done that possessed incredible strength.
Dragon strength.
Someone was following him. Watching him. Possibly even manipulating him. The problem was, Kase couldn’t figure out why. It was starting to bug him, but until he could figure out who the person was, there really wasn’t much he could do about it. That frustrated him. The strength of a dozen men or more, the ability to call liquid quicksilver from thin air, and in his dragon form the power to fly.
All of those gifts helped him exactly nil in his quest to understand what was going on.
Unless she’s right.
Kase snarled and turned away from the front door, moving deeper into his house as he cleared the bottom of the stairs. She wasn’t right. She couldn’t be right. Not about this. This was too real, too solid to be imaginary.
Just like the Outsiders in America had been real and solid.
“Shit.”
Kase no longer knew what he could trust, and what he couldn’t trust. Although he’d not lost complete control again since that fateful night, the signs were becoming clearer that maybe he wasn’t as in control as he’d hoped.
Michelle had seen that in him. Instead of running, however, she’d helped him. Calmed him.
He spun, looking back at the front door. Michelle. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to send her away.
Long legs carried him quickly toward the door. Flinging it open, he called for her.
“MICHELLE!”
“I’m right here.”
“Holy shit!” he shouted, stumbling back into the house.
Michelle was still there. Right there. Next to the door, leaning against the stone wall.
“Ooooh, such a potty mouth. You are a bad boy.”
Now recovered, he managed to give her a reproving glare. “Ha ha.”
She grinned.
“What are you still doing here?”
“I was thinking.”
“Me too.”
“Bet that hurt.”
He glared at her again. “My, you’re in a mood this morning.”
“You kicked me out after we slept together.”
“You wanted to go,” he shot back, not willing to sit there and take her barbs. “Was it that bad?”
Her eyes sparkled. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”
Kase stuck out his tongue. “You don’t get a second helping of dinner if you didn’t enjoy it the first time.”
Michelle blinked first, turning away as her cheeks darkened slightly. He’d won that round.
“What were you thinking?” he asked, taking pity on her.
“That maybe I should stick around for a bit.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “If that’s okay with you, of course.”
He considered her proposition, pretending to give it deep thought. If he were to agree immediately, it would arouse suspicion in her, and perhaps make her less reluctant to stay near him. By taking his time, she would hopefully accept that he had given it thought, without realizing it was what he wanted as well.
Which was important because…because…
“Yes, I think I’d like that.” Screw it, he wanted her around, too. He enjoyed it, even. She was, after all, his mate. “I have to go talk to someone, if you’d like to come along?”
She shrugged, pushing off from the wall she’d been leaning on and standing upright. “Sure. I can drive.”
Kase tried not to laugh.
“What are you laughing about?”
Apparently his poker face wasn’t as good as he thought. “Just how do you expect me to fit in your clown car?”
She made a face. “So I have to drive in that massive behemoth of yours?”
“It’s a pickup truck. It’s not even lifted,” he protested. “Look at the size of me. I need something I’ll be comfortable in!” Since I can’t fly around in my other form.
“Fine, fine. Who are we going to talk to?” she asked. “And aren’t you going to put on a shirt?”
He glanced down. He was only wearing jeans. “Right. Let me get dressed.”
She followed him upstairs. Evidently they were now comfortable around each other in various states of undress. He recalled a fond memory from the night before, when he’d first seen Michelle completely undressed.
“Do I get to find out who we’re going to talk to before we arrive, or is this some sort of mystery I have to solve?”
He smiled into a shirt as he pulled it over his head. “We’re going to talk to a sort of parole officer.” Kase turned to look at her. “Because like you said, I’m a baaadddd boy.”
Michelle groaned. “No, seriously.”
“I was being serious,” he said, dancing around her and heading back outside, not waiting around.
“Wait,” she called.
He kept walking, forcing her to hurry to keep up with him. She caught up to him halfway to the truck.
“You are serious, aren’t you?”
Kase winked. “Real bad,” he teased.
“You’re impossible.”
“
So you don’t want to come along?”
“You haven’t opened the door for me yet,” she joked, pointing at the locked truck.
He shook himself. “Of course. Your chariot awaits!”
Michelle laughed. “Giggled” would be closer. It was a lovely sound—light, airy, and lifted his heart. This wasn’t so bad. He could get used to this.
It would be dangerously easy.
Chapter Fourteen
Michelle
“This doesn’t look like a police station.”
She got out of the truck carefully. Even if it wasn’t lifted, she was still tiny, and it was a step up for her. So getting out meant slipping from her seat and dangling for a moment until she was clear enough to drop to the ground.
“I never said we were going to the police station.”
The building they’d pulled up to was anything but the squat ugly blob she’d expected of the local police station. It wasn’t huge, but the architecture was old. Tall spires decorated several corners, and arches spanned windows and doorways, with columns of beautifully carved stone supporting overhangs and parts of the building itself. Stained-glass windows painted pictures of various animals in action.
There a wolf stalked its prey. In another, what she thought was a dragon took flight, while in yet another a bear splashed after a fish in the water. Each one was beautifully done.
“What is this place?”
“Where I have to go.” He didn’t elaborate.
“Right. Question for you.”
He shot her a glance. “You can just ask, you know,” he teased.
Michelle stuck out her tongue as sassily as possible “I thought you said you were going out to live in the wild for a bit. Go camping or whatever.”
“Yes.”
“Well, why are you here then?”
“I kind of changed my plans when you showed up at my house. The person here is sort of like a parole officer. I report to them. If my plans change, well, then I have to report that.”
She frowned, pausing, as he pulled open the oversized wooden door. “Wouldn’t a simple phone call have sufficed?”
