by Laina Kenney
“Please touch me. I’ve dreamed for so long that I want it for real.”
“What do you want, pretty girl?” His voice was husky and sent shivers through her.
“I want your hands and your mouth. I want everything,” her voice failed, and she cleared her throat, but it still came out more air than voice. “I want you. I want you to want me.”
One strong arm wrapped around her waist, and he kissed her eyes shut.
“You have me. You already have all the best of me.”
“I want your body,” she said, and opened her eyes in time to see a look of vivid triumph cross his hard features.
“You may have that as well, pretty girl.”
He held her loosely, pressing tender little kisses on her face.
“Emma, I am not a poet, but I can say honestly that I love you. This feeling that ties me to you is so strong, it couldn’t be anything else.”
She had the wild urge to laugh. The little frown on his face said almost more than his words. He seemed so baffled.
“You’re adorable,” was all she could say.
Kuhr pulled her to his chest and one hand snaked down her back to smack her bottom.
“I am not adorable. Warriors are not adorable.”
Emma stifled a giggle.
“What can I call you, then? Cute?”
He winced.
“Have some respect, woman. You cannot call me cute, especially if we are socializing with other Cadre members and their mates. I would never hear the end of it.”
“But there are no other people here,” she said and ducked her head to lick his throat and nip at the stubble on his chin. “It’s just you and me, mate, and I should be able to call you adorable if that’s what I feel.” Her hand skimmed down his ridged belly to grasp him gently.
His gasp gratified her.
“The word certainly doesn’t…diminish you.” He was growing longer by the second under her exploratory touch, his flesh firm and resilient.
She unzipped him and sank to her knees.
“When my mate has her hands on me, there is no force in the universe that could ‘diminish’ the strength of my feelings.” He pushed upward with his hips and his cock slid against her damp palm, the heavy denim between them rasping across her skin. She tightened her fingers experimentally and enjoyed his responding groan.
She gathered her courage and pulled him free of his fabric confinement, marveling at the strength of his desire for her.
“I’m so glad to hear that.” Her tongue swirled around the wide head. “It is always a good thing when a woman is in need and a man rises to the occasion.”
He pulled in a hard breath and sweat beaded on his body.
“I need more.” His voice was hoarse.
She blew a warm breath over him and pressed sucking kisses over and around the velvet knob.
“You’ll get it. Just wait for it.”
His chest heaved on a breath.
“No more waiting.”
“I thought you were the same man who told me that I could set the pace.”
“Your touch has burned a hole through my good intentions.”
“It will be worth the wait,” she coaxed, and hummed in happiness as she slid her whole mouth over and down.
“Emma!”
She was just finding her rhythm when he pulled her up and away with a resounding pop.
Before she could utter a single protest, his mouth was on hers, his hands fumbling with the fastening of her red jeans.
She was stripped to the skin in a matter of seconds, but he was still almost fully clothed. It was deeply erotic, being naked in the wilderness while only his rampant cock was exposed through the unzipped fly of his jeans.
“Emma,” he said, and her name was accompanied by his hands turning and positioning her body over a fallen tree. “Emma, say yes. Let me.”
She pushed back into his touch as one finger swirled and dipped into her creamy heat from behind. He slid his wet finger down and circled her throbbing clit.
“Yes. Any way you want.” She sighed as he parted her wet flesh.
“Every way there is,” he said, and his breath warmed her feminine folds before he sank his tongue in for a long intimate kiss that had her gasping. Caught between the scrape of the rough bark and the swift motions of his smooth silky tongue, she writhed in blazing erotic joy.
“Kuhr, hurry,” she said. She was flying so high, she didn’t want to lose the brilliant sensation.
“No,” he said, and his refusal was muffled by the tender folds where his mouth was buried. He licked deep and sucked her flesh like a favorite candy.
It was glorious and maddening, and she wanted it to go on forever, but it wasn’t quite enough. She wanted him inside her, buried to the hilt and stretching her.
He was holding her on a razor’s edge of pleasure, never giving enough to catapult her over. The delicate flicking of his tongue did wonderful things to her nervous system, but it wasn’t what she needed. She needed more.
“And more is what you shall have.”
She panted his name on every breath by the time he stood again and fitted his hard penis to her moist opening. Her hot core gripped at the broad crest, but it still wasn’t enough. She ached deep inside where only he could reach.
He stroked up and down against her lower lips, but didn’t enter until she arched back into him with a little moan.
He pushed in and pulled out, a little farther each time, creating a fiery friction with each long outward draw. His big hands gripped her hips to hold her still for him.
Emma hung her head down and panted. He was built on a massive scale, and she needed every bit of it.
“More,” she managed, but he continued his endless push and pull, just a little deeper with each smooth thrust.
“You are so small, my mate. So tight. Ah. Give me a moment.”
“Kuhr, I need—Ah!”
He withdrew on a groan and slammed home with breathtaking force, shoving inside to the hilt.
“Kuhr!” she shrieked and then just shouted, “Yes!” as he forged in again, and her body detonated on impact.
He kept going, sinking his teeth into the nape of her neck and thrusting with vigorous motions, back and forth until her body wept and tightened around him in a second radiant orgasm.
Dimly, she felt his release, the heated fluid blasting in rapid pulses. She laid her cheek against the cool bark of the tree and let herself float on the waves of pleasure. A thought surfaced and she spoke.
“About your little girlfriend—”
“She is not my girlfriend.” His voice was hoarse, and he cleared his throat. He nipped her neck over his bite and made her squeal. “Mated males do not have girlfriends.”
“Okay. Just to clarify, did you ever kiss her?”
Kuhr raised his body from her and leaned over to look down into her eyes. She felt as much as saw him. He brushed a soft kiss on her temple, brushing aside the damp hair with his lips before kissing a second time.
“No.”
“Not ever?”
“No, not ever. No kisses, no chess, no dates, nothing that I have shared with you. Nothing. You are everything.”
Emma kissed his chin and relaxed into his embrace.
“Okay, she can live.”
Chapter 18
Kuhr and Emma walked back to the picnic site hand in hand. As soon as Iselle spotted them, she and Balke approached.
“There’s food left,” Iselle said. She didn’t ask any questions, but Emma could read the avid curiosity in her eyes. They had been friends for too many years to miss something so obvious.
“I’d love to grab a brownie at least. I’m starving.” As soon as she said it, Emma’s eyes cut over to Kuhr to find a wicked grin curving his chiseled lips. The mouth that had just tasted every part of her body drew her gaze like a magnet. She felt her cheeks heating in renewed desire.
Iselle licked her lips, looking happy and guilty at the same time.
�
��The brownies are all gone. Every crumb.”
Emma shrugged. That was normal. Iselle couldn’t leave a pan of brownies alone, always claiming that they whispered her name. It was a standing joke that only highlighted the truth.
“Maybe just a couple of cookies, then.”
Balke cleared his throat. “The jars are empty.” Iselle looked sideways at him, and he tried to adopt an innocent expression. “It was the children. Mostly the children.”
Emma smiled and shook her head. She couldn’t regret missing a meal when her gorgeous mate had kept her so satisfied by making a meal of her. She could still feel twinges in unexpected places, but she wouldn’t trade them for the world.
“Is there anything left at all?”
“Not anything that you brought,” Iselle stated. “But there’s food left, yeah.”
On cue, Emma’s stomach growled.
Kuhr offered his arm, and Emma slid her hand through to rest on his muscled forearm. The heat of his skin sent a shiver down her spine. If he kept looking at her like that, she would pull him aside again and feast on him instead.
“May I escort you to the tables, my lady?”
Chapter 19
The drive home seemed long because Emma was exhausted. They had stayed far later than she had intended, but Kuhr’s old friends and her new ones were wonderful company.
“Pull over,” Kuhr said.
Emma lifted her foot off the gas and glanced over.
“My house is a block over.”
“We have been gone all day, and so have Iselle and Balke. I want to check first before I allow you to come in sight of anyone at the house.”
Emma shivered, but pulled over to the curb and parked.
One strong hand wrapped around the nape of her neck and pulled her startled mouth in for a quick hard kiss.
“Don’t get out until I come back for you,” he whispered against her lips.
“No, don’t leave me!” She grabbed his arm, and he swung back toward her.
His fangs glinted, and the glow of his eyes was somehow unnerving.
“I need you.” She let him see her fear, hear it in her voice. It was okay, somehow, since it was him, to show her real need.
“I will protect you, my Emma.” His accent was more pronounced, and the fangs caused a bit of a lisp, which only made him seem more dangerous. “I will be back before you know it.”
Emma shivered in spite of herself.
He stroked one big hand over her hair, and then he was gone, his large frame barely visible in the gathering twilight.
Emma peered out in the direction in which he had disappeared, but she couldn’t see a thing.
On impulse, she pulled out her phone and pressed his number. A sudden thought struck her, and she cut off the call before it could begin. If there was someone out there who shouldn’t be, she didn’t want to give away his presence when his phone rang.
Kuhr’s face appeared at her window, and she jumped, then breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Where were you?” she asked in a whisper, and it came out as a demand. “I wanted to call your cell, but I didn’t.”
“Hunting,” he said, and the cool tone of voice made her shiver. Looking into the unfathomable darkness of his eyes, she somehow knew he didn’t mean hunting in any way that she understood it.
He stroked a finger down her cheek.
“Do not be afraid of me,” he said. “I will never harm you.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she denied immediately. “I’m afraid for you. Big difference.”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t understand her. “I offer my protection freely.”
“I knew it.” She poked him in the chest and had the pleasure of watching his eyes widen. “You were ‘hunting’ as you call it to catch the guys who are after me. Leave it to the police.”
His smile was nothing more than a baring of teeth, but she didn’t step back.
“I will protect you as is my right,” he said.
“Leave it to the police,” she repeated. “They do this every day.”
“The police will do what they can. I do what I must.”
Emma huffed. “You’re deliberately not understanding me. It’s clear that we’re not going to be able to agree about this. Is it okay to go into the house, or not?”
Kuhr stepped back and opened her car door.
“The way is clear.”
“Fine.”
He escorted her to the front door and opened the door with the key he already had.
“Since when do you have a key to my house?”
“I have had a key since I became your bodyguard. No, before you decide to become angry, think. How would it be if you were attacked, and your bodyguard was locked outside? How safe would you truly be then?”
Emma shivered, but said nothing.
“Emma, keep the door locked and stay quiet until I return.”
“I thought you said the way was clear?”
“Yes, but I scented something foreign. I need to locate the guard on patrol. Stay inside.”
His tone was firm, and she knew he meant well, but his orders just put Emma’s back up.
“Fine,” she said, but he was already out the door and gone.
She changed out of her skinny jeans and into her blue flannel pajamas and a fluffy robe. The air still held a bit of spring dampness, and she needed to be warm.
Emma went back to the kitchen and put the kettle on. Might as well have a cup of tea while she waited.
She looked at the cookie jar, but after all the goodies she had sampled at the picnic, she just wasn’t hungry.
As the kettle whistled, she turned to the back door, but the sound she thought she heard didn’t repeat.
She shrugged and poured the hot water into her grandmother’s teapot and added two bags.
The delicate scratching sounded again.
Emma put down the tea, pulled her robe close and belted it tighter before walking to the back door.
The view through the peephole shocked her for a moment, but she sighed and opened the door for Liliya.
The girl hesitated on the doorstep, nervously shifting her balance from foot to foot. In jeans and a hooded sweater, the girl looked much more like a teenager and less like a man-hungry vamp.
Emma smiled. Had she ever been that young?
“Hello, Liliya,” she said. “Come in.”
The girl skittered sideways through the door and stood, clutching her hands in front of her.
“I didn’t think you would let me in,” she said. “You know.”
Emma pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and indicated that the girl should sit.
“Tea?”
Liliya nodded.
“Yes, please.”
Emma poured a second cup, brought it to the table, and set it down in front of the girl.
“Milk or sugar?”
“Just sugar, thank you.”
Emma stifled a laugh as she watched the girl add three spoons of sugar to the tea. It was a child’s cup.
Emma waited, but Liliya sipped her tea and said nothing.
“Is this a social visit?” Emma asked when the silence became uncomfortable.
“My mother made me come,” Liliya said, the words running together with her speed. “She told me I need to—I wanted to—I’m sorry.”
Emma nodded.
“It’s okay.”
“I didn’t mean to cause—It’s okay?” She sounded so surprised that Emma did laugh a little.
“Yes, it’s okay. No hard feelings.”
“And—” She seemed to search for words. “Are things all right with you and Kuhr?”
“Yes.”
Her bite mark itched like mad, but she didn’t rub or scratch it. She didn’t intend draw Liliya’s attention to that, or to get into how very right things were between her and her gorgeous vulfen mate, even with his high-handed orders.
Fine, she could be the bigger person and forgive, but Liliya wasn’t like he
r best friend or anything. She hid a grin. Only a best friend deserved those kind of X-rated deets.
She got up to fetch the cookie jar. Anyone who put that much sugar in her tea would have a sweet tooth, Emma was certain.
Just as she grabbed the jar, she thought she caught another faint scratching sound outside. There couldn’t be another wolf at her door. That would stretch credibility a bit too far for one night.
She turned in time to see Liliya sniff and turn pale.
A shift in the air awakened something Emma didn’t recognize, but she couldn’t dispute the urgency of the information. There was someone outside, someone trying to be quiet breaking in. Kuhr would just use his key and walk right in, and Liliya was inside already.
Emma was across the kitchen in a heartbeat and grabbing the girl’s arm. She pointed to the little room off the kitchen and Liliya went into it with wide eyes, but without a protest.
Emma grabbed a few items and went in behind Liliya, shoving the girl back into the far corner and pushing her in the small space between the freezer and the wall. She would be safe and unseen there.
“Stay,” she whispered, and the girl nodded.
Emma turned back and stood just inside the door of the little room, where she could see any shadows on the floor.
Kuhr had said not to move, to stay quiet, to stay where she was until he could return to her.
Right. Great plan, Ace.
Except that the bad guys didn’t seem to know that they were supposed to just twiddle their thumbs until her manly man got back.
She took a quick look around the little side room. Aside from some older cooking utensils, and a few assorted cans and jars, she didn’t really have much to work with, and she couldn’t really turn on the light and start rummaging through drawers with an angry drug dealer or two searching through her apartment.
A thump and a clatter sounded followed by a hissing curse and she grinned. Apparently someone had found her old-fashioned umbrella stand.
Another voice hushed the first one, and her grin faded.
Two at least, then.
She recognized at least one of those voices, and her heart skipped in fear. If they found her, she was in trouble.
That man had no mercy in his soul, and she already knew that he liked to torture women. She refrained from glancing back toward Liliya’s hiding place.
