She grunted mentally at the description she gave their night of carnal pleasure, but she had never been one for looking at the world with rose colored glasses, she was not about to start with Eli Ramsey. No matter how amazingly beautiful he had made her feel. Or how amazingly beautiful the man was. That way lay dragons.
Talk about a man with heartache written all over him. All that she had come to know about the man and he was phenomenal in bed as well? How was that fair?
Well, she would just have to ride this ride for as long as it lasted and then chalk it up to a vacation fling. So what if she could still feel his touch everywhere on her skin. It would fade, and he would lose interest and move on to his next conquest. Frankly, she was a little surprised he had not already moved on. Wasn't that the way of casual sexual affairs? But from the look in his eyes he was nowhere near done with her. And if she were honest with herself, and when was she not, she was nowhere near done with him. So, win win. If she could keep her heart out of the mix.
The trick, she decided, was in remembering that no matter how the man looked at her, or touched her, or made her laugh, he was not to be taken too seriously. Quite frankly after a life time of weighing every decision and taking everything as life and death, she could use a little casual fun of the Eli variety.
"You ready to head back?" His voice caught her out of her thoughts and she blinked up to find him close enough to touch once again. Still naked though, which meant she had to visibly struggle to keep her eyes on his face. "We stay out too long, and the others will come looking for us." He kept talking even as he handed her clothes to her. His eyes trailed down her body in obvious pleasure. "And if we stay any longer they will see exactly what we have been up to, because we'll be up to it again."
She started to pull on her panties over still damp thighs. The silk wanted to cling to her wet skin. Eli watched her struggle with blatant fascination. She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to shift the focus from her thighs and wet silk. "Are you going to get into trouble if someone finds out?"
It took him a moment to shift his attention back to her face and a further few seconds as the question worked its way in his obviously distracted brain. "Everyone is going to know we started something. No helping that when you are dealing with shape-shifters, but as for getting into trouble? No." He grinned that sexy as hell grin again. "I'm not going to get into trouble. This isn't exactly going to come as a shock to them."
Maggie fought against gritting her teeth. "Fuck a lot of your protectee's do you?" she asked turning away to yank her gown on angrily.
"That's not what I meant Maggie," he said all humor gone from his voice. His big hard hand gripped her shoulder and turned her around even as she struggled to get her clinging dress into place. "I don't fuck clients," he continued in that same steady voice, but the look in his eyes belied that casual tone. He was dead serious now and if she was not mistaken just a bit pissed off. With her. "But not a man or woman in my pack is going to be surprised that you are the exception to the rule."
"Really?" she asked doubtfully, not trusting what she thought was his meaning. "Why is that?"
"Because any fool can tell when a man has met his mate. And a mate changes all the rules."
Maggie blinked at him for a long minute trying to make sense of what he was saying and the steel hard resolve in which he was saying it. New to this shifting reality she might be, but that sounded a whole lot like what Rebecca had with her men, and how a few other couples had introduced themselves. My mate was not something the shifters took lightly. That sounded like a lot more than a casual vacation fling, and so did the look in his eyes. She licked her lips and tried to come up with a way to ask the question without pissing off the suddenly dead serious shifter male in front of her. She cleared her throat delicately. "Are you saying you think I might be your mate?"
He tugged just a little at the neckline of her freshly donned and still clinging gown. And she did not need to look to feel the bite mark he had given her that still pulsed with a strange heat. She wondered absently as she noticed it again if it was somehow infected already. Briefly she toyed with the idea that if this was a movie she would turn into a panther at the next full moon. Her eyes whipped up to his when he spoke.
"I claimed you," he said. His thumb brushed over the bite and instead of the pain she expected she was flooded with pleasure at the caress. She gasped, and her head fell back as she fought the need to move closer to Eli. "It doesn't usually take with humans, but sometimes a shifter gets lucky and his human mate has something in her family tree that allows the mark to take root."
That caught her attention and she gasped in enough breath to knock his hand away so that she could speak. "Are you saying," she gasped out with a little lingering shiver of pleasure. "That I am part shifter?"
"A very small part since I can't smell it on you, not enough that you will ever shift, or even notice the difference, but just enough apparently, that the mating mark took hold. He took her hand and caressed his thumb over the sensitive skin of her knuckles. "Makes me wonder what it's going to feel like when you finally get around to claiming me back."
She blinked at that, her mouth falling open. "You expect me to bite you?" Her free hand went to the bite mark on her shoulder and covered it. She had never been particularly adventurous in bed, some might even call her limited experience boring, if they were being truthful. She had certainly always found it so and just assumed she just wasn't any good in that department. But Eli was making lie to all her preconceptions. With what they had already done, and she was really hoping to do again, the thought that of biting Eli was still enough to have her almost purring at the thought. And that was just not like her.
The thought of biting someone had honestly never entered her mind, nor that she would like to have a man’s mark on her skin. But she could not deny that the feel of Eli's 'claiming' on her skin was hot, and the idea that she could do the same to him... That was strangely titillating. What in the world was the man doing to her?
He must have seen the confusion on her face because he grinned and kissed her hard and fast. "Any time you want to bite me duchess, I'm fucking there."
Maggie cleared her throat and took a cautious step back and away from the temptation that was Eli Ramsey in all his naked glory.
"I thought you said we needed to get back?"
It was way passed time in her book for a dose of reality, and she wanted to talk to Rebecca about what the mating really meant. Maybe it meant different things to different shifters? Like marriage to some and a casual fling to others?
She was not even sure what she wanted the truth to be in this case, but she could not deny even in her present state of avoidance that what she was feeling, both in her own skin and from Eli, seemed anything but the casual she was expecting.
She just had no idea where they went from here.
"I need to talk to Rebecca," she finally said out loud. It was really the only thing she was sure of.
Eli ran his hand down her cheek and back into her wet hair, pushing it back behind her ear. "The post mortem with your girlfriend will have to wait until morning darlin’." He finally said before he took her hand back and started leading her the wrong way. "It's about three in the morning by my recon, and her mates, not to mention the baby, would not be happy to hear us knocking on the door this early. And I like my spleen where it's presently located. Inside my body." He leaned down and grabbed her forgotten towel, and that damn vibrator, and handed both to her before taking her hand back and leading the way back to the hotel.
Maggie blushed. Why that would cause the reaction after everything that had happened between them that night she had no idea. Whether it was the vibrator, or the fact that he had her so discombobulated that she had forgotten it was the middle of the night, she had no clue. Whatever it was had heat flooding her cheeks and embarrassment tinging her voice when she finally spoke. Trying for her usual cool.
"Of course, I didn't actually mean we should track down Reb
ecca right this moment." Though that was exactly what she had meant when she said it. "I meant at her earliest convenience."
Eli laughed, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hauled her into the heat and harness of his unforgiving side. She was tempted to poke him but figured that would only amuse him and bruise her finger. The man really was built like a warrior. All hard muscle beneath that hot skin. She glared at him instead, ignoring valiantly how good that naked skin looked and felt rubbing up against her side. "Is the man handling completely necessary?"
"Can't help it Duchess." He said with a wicked grin flashing at her from the perfection of his moonlight gilded face. "You get that cool Grace Kelly lady of the manor tone and it makes me want to ruffle you all up." His voice dropped impossibly low and she could swear she felt it in her toes. "In all kinds of dirty ways."
She did not say a word after that. The full body shiver she could not control was answer enough. When he growled and started moving faster up the path back to her hotel room she didn’t protest. She might think it a good idea to gain some space and perspective on this new whatever it was that she had started inexplicably with Eli Ramsey, but now all she wanted was to climb the man like a tree and take a great big bite out of him.
It had been too long since he had been inside her, she decided, not even thinking how ridiculous that thought was, when her body was still pulsing with the phantom feel of his touch. One sentence from the man in that sexy deep tone and she was past thinking about anything, but the call of his body pressed so close against her own.
How far is the hotel anyway? She wondered a little desperately.
"Did you have to travel half way across the fucking island?" Eli muttered his thoughts obviously mirroring her own. The disgruntled tone and the similarity to her own thoughts had her doing something she could not remember ever doing with anyone but Eli Ramsey. She giggled. Immediately she wanted to swallow the ridiculously girly sound, but his eyes had already dropped to hers, humor beginning to light through the little boy pout she had found so funny. "You think this is funny?" he motioned to the massive erection currently bouncing along with each of their steps and she had to bite her lip from laughing again.
The sight of him so big and hard and so dauntingly there caused other reactions throughout her body besides humor. Humor at his predicament was only among the top five emotions she was currently cycling through.
"I'm not the one who told you to traipse through the jungle without your clothes," she said as soon as she could throttle back her laugh. "This is hardly my fault."
"Trust me darlin' everything about this," he motioned again to his bobbing cock. "Is most definitely your fault. I just had the best sex of my life, sex that drained me dry not an hour past and still," he looked down at his cock as they walked looking both incredulous and bemused. "I've never been so hard in my fucking life."
The thrill of his words created another cavalcade of emotions to go through her. That he wanted her was blatantly obvious. That he wanted only her was clear in his words. Words that she had no reason to doubt and that gave her a warm glow to join the heat in her blood. The man had managed in the short span of their acquaintance to make her feel playful, wanton, and now irresistible. All things that she had never felt with a man in her life.
"Well," she finally said a little breathless, her eyes lifting from his cock with an effort back to the trail ahead of them. She cleared her throat. "I'm afraid the only response that comes to mind is: Sorry, not sorry."
A chuckle burst out of him at her words
Maggie could not stop her own smile and she looked up briefly to catch the back to happy grin on Eli's face. All consternation wiped clean. The man could shift on a dime, she thought, liking that his humor had returned so easily.
He hugged her tighter into his side for just a moment, but it warmed her further, that little show of affection.
"Pick up the pace darlin'" he said pulling her even closer to his side and walking faster. "You keep being so damn cute along with your sexy, the pack will find us come morning rolling around in the damn bushes like the wild animal I'm feeling like at the moment."
Maggie picked up the pace. Not because thought of more jungle sex sounded bad, but because it sounded too damn good. She was too practical to discount things like insect bites, wild animals and probable detection by others to dismiss all her inhibitions, but it was a near thing. So, she walked faster toward the privacy and comfort of her hotel room hoping they would get there before she lost what was left of her mind and jumped Eli herself.
***
They didn't make it to breakfast. And finally had to order in lunch. But no one besides room service, delivered by a radiantly grinning Celia, one of the Hale pack she knew in passing, bothered them. Despite all the hats she had been wearing lately and how much work was probably piling up in her absence no one came looking for her, and her phone stayed uncharacteristically silent. She had to conclude, when she gave herself a moment to think of anything besides Eli and what he was doing to her body, that he was right. Shifters knew exactly what had happened between them, and apparently everyone thought it was a dandy idea. Or they were too afraid of Eli's reaction to interrupt.
Either way, it was a long sweaty satisfying morning. The best that she could remember ever having, and that made this week she had spent with Eli the most fun she had ever had.
The man can even cuddle well, Maggie thought absently as the fans circulated the ocean breeze across their damp exposed skin.
She was surrounded by hard hot male, the scent of Eli clinging to her even after they had showered off the scent of sex and fell back into the bed exhausted once again. It should have been uncomfortable, the way he was wrapped around her so proprietarily, but it was as if she was made to be in this man’s arms. A man who not only was the complete antithesis of the man she expected to end up with, but also one who turned into a wild animal at will. Talk about a mind bender.
As had been happening all morning and half the night Eli seemed to read her thoughts. His words a soft caress against her neck where he was nuzzling the bite he had placed on her, and then reinforced throughout the morning. "You were made to be in my arms."
She really hoped he meant what he said when he claimed her as his mate because she doubted she would ever find another man to compare to this one, and she had a feeling she was never going to even want to try.
"You break my heart after this and I will dedicate my life to making yours a living hell." She had not meant to say that out loud but after a moment of loaded silence she felt Eli's mouth against her neck curve up into what she knew was a satisfied cat grin before he spoke without bothering to lift his head.
"That seems fair."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Stephen made his move the same morning the Hale Alpha's came out of seclusion with baby Samuel to join the pack for breakfast. Samuel Jeffery Hale had grown into a beautiful baby boy in just the short time since they had seen him last, and his parents were practically beaming with good health and joy. Flanked by the three alpha males, Rebecca held her son and assured everyone with just a look at her bright eyes and happy smile that all was well with the pack alpha female. Between that and the serenely gurgling baby having more than doubled in size, Maggie could feel the tension from the pack evaporate. She had not realized it was there until it was gone but it amazed her how reassured everyone was by the sight of the Alpha's.
Eli caught her looking around and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "In a wolf pack the health and well-being of an Alpha pair trickles down to the others. And in wolf society that's especially true as many of their laws are based on two things, owning land, and an alpha female. If something happened to Rebecca it might open them all up to challenge from outside packs for their land. Which in turn means that their own families and futures would be in danger." He shrugged when she gave him wide eyes. "Not to mention Rebecca is universally loved just for who she is. So, it's no wonder that the pack would be anxious until they
were assured of her health." He pulled her closer into the side of his hard body and grinned down at her. "No matter how well you kept things going in their absence."
"And I really need to thank you for that," Rebecca said having been divested of her baby by a beaming Marcus, she had come up beside them while they were talking. "It was knowing you were handling everything that gave us the time we had."
Maggie had been fighting back the tears since she had seen how well her friend looked after the scare they had. She lunged out of Eli's arms and wrapped herself around her best friend. Her abrupt movement had the whole room stilling but Rebecca just sniffled and wrapped her own arms around her. "Don't ever scare me like that again," Maggie said oblivious to the tense moment she had created. By the time they stepped back and looked at each other smiling wide the room had returned to its regular program of cooing at the baby.
"I'll do my best," Becca murmured. "It was not as if I enjoyed it myself." Then she looked up and caught sight of her mates, gathered around the poor wolf who was holding Samuel. If it had been anyone else but Malcolm she might be worried he would drop the baby in fright when he caught sight of the Alpha males all surrounding him and watching so fiercely, but Malcolm was ignoring them in favor of smiling down at the now awake Samuel. The ladies of the pack were at his back trying to snatch their own looks while they cooed and laughed at the baby’s smile.
Maggie blinked at the sight of that smile. "Should he be smiling like that already?" she asked. "The books I read said that did not happen until the baby was one and a half to three months."
Becca beamed brighter at her son, as if his abilities proclaimed him a genius already. "He is an Alpha," she said as if that explained everything. Then she caught her friend’s doubtful eyes and laughed. "He might be part human, but he is mostly wolf and, according to everyone who actually knows, that means they develop early. The more Alpha they will be in life the faster you start seeing their personalities shine." Then she looked a little less pleased. "Griffin’s mom told me he went from baby to boy in a blink of an eye, and I should enjoy babying him while I have the chance." She sighed. "I guess I can't really complain. It also makes him almost impossible to hurt and he won't catch the illness or diseases that humans need to worry about."
Shielding Her Page 10
