by Alice Cooper
Cole turned up his nose as he looked around the room. His senses were on overdrive. Most of the women here were wearing pheromone enhancers, and it made his hair stand on end. They were beautiful, slinky, and seductive, but the fake aromas that wafted off them were giving him a headache.
One of them trailed a finger down his abdomen, and he shuddered as he tried to politely remove himself from the situation. She pouted. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“Hungry,” he murmured.
A smile curved across her face as she mistook his meaning. She rubbed her body on him. “I think I have just the thing,” she whispered. A tongue darted out and tickled his ear.
“No,” he said more firmly. “I mean I am actually hungry. Excuse me,” he muttered.
He moved so quickly that she nearly fell over. “What the hell is wrong with you,” she snapped, but he was already trying to blend in the crowd.
It became clear that he was alpha male in the group. There were several cats and wolves, and even a bear, but he was the highest-ranking member of the group. The men frowned as the women flocked to him, but this wasn’t what he wanted. If he just wanted a fling, he could have one at any point. He was looking for something more substantial than that.
Of course, it was possible that these women were as well, but fucking a shifter was a trendy thing to do nowadays. If he couldn’t tell whose scent was real, how was he going to pick out who wanted something long term and who just wanted a fling?
One woman was still following him, and he groaned. He slipped through the service entrance and watched through the small window as she circled around trying to find him again.
“I know the cupcake tray in empty, but it’s going to take me a few minutes to finish them,” a voice said wryly.
He whirled around. The baker that he’d caught a quick glance at earlier was staring at him with icing in hand. He immediately felt himself stirring. Now here was a woman.
She was tall with luscious big breasts and an ass that a big man like him could really get his hands on. She was dressed in a hot little red number, but it was covered in flour and icing.
The best part? She smelled real. And she smelled good.
Really good.
He stirred. “Couldn’t wait,” he said with a smile. “Something in here smelled delicious.”
She narrowed her eyes. “As I’ve already told several guests, I’m not here for a date. I’m just here to provide something sweet.”
Cole laughed. “I bet you do have something sweet.” She blushed furiously, and he decided to keep going. “But I meant the cupcakes, not you, sweetheart.”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and he knew he had her on his hook. “Well, you’re just going to have to wait outside like everyone else,” she hissed. She pointed to the door.
He moved easily into the shadows hoping to slink around and get a better look at that ass, but she kept a sharp eye on him. “Are you confused? The door is that way.”
He loved that sharp attitude she had in her voice. “There are worse things than to be locked in a small room with me, baby.”
“First of all, my name is Sasha. Not baby. Second of all, I’m not interesting in flirting with you. And third of all…” her voice faltered when he moved closer. If she tried to say she wasn’t attracted to him, she’d be lying. He could smell the spike of lust in her body. Just looking at him made her wet.
And it made him hard.
He hadn’t had a reaction like that in quite some time.
“Third of all?” he murmured as he took a step closer.
He watched, fascinated, as she swallowed hard. He figured she’d take a step back, but she clearly had more spine than that. She held her ground until he was only inches away from her.
“Third of all, I don’t like someone’s leftovers,” she said before spinning on her heels to stalk away.
His mouth dropped open. “Someone’s leftovers? Hold on just a second!” He reached out to grab her arm. “I haven’t been with anyone tonight.”
“Please,” she rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen practically every woman here drooling all over you.”
“Been keeping an eye on me?”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on everyone,” she said prissily. “I like to know who’s enjoying my goods.”
“I haven’t quite sampled your goods yet.”
“Baked goods,” she snapped. She pulled her arm away and went back to decorating the cupcakes.
He wasn’t about to let her go that easily. Cole cocked her head as he watched her hips swing back and forth, and a sound of approval slipped out. Without even thinking, he slipped up behind her and pressed her body to his.
“Personal space!” she hissed. “Didn’t I already go over all the reasons that I wasn’t interested?”
“Let’s see,” he mused. He ached to put his arms around her, but he knew that it was too soon. “I believe you didn’t like that I called you baby. And that’s okay. I like Sasha just fine. Sexy.” God, he wanted to lick the column of her neck. “Secondly, you said you weren’t here to flirt with me. And that’s okay as well. I have something way better than flirting in mind.” He heard her inhale sharply, and he leaned over to watch her breasts heave. God. He was going to have to bend her over the table and take her right here. “And then you said you didn’t want anyone’s leftovers. I can assure you, there has been no one here to catch my eye tonight. Except you.”
She whirled around. “Back off. You may not lick the column of my neck, and you certainly may not bend me over the counter.”
Shocked, he stumbled back quickly. “What the fuck did you just say?” he demanded.
She grabbed a spatula and waved it in his face. “I don’t care if you think you can tell that I’m aroused because you’re supersensitive to that kind of thing. No means no. And until I give you permission, you are not touching me!”
“I didn’t say that out loud.”
Irritation crossed her face. “Of course you did. I heard it plain as day. Not that it matters. It ain’t happening.”
“Dear God,” he muttered. “At a fucking Hairy and Fluffy party no less.” He craned his neck back as she continued to try and use the spatula to ward him off. “Stop that,” he muttered as he grabbed it. “I heard you loud and clear. No touching.”
The relief was obvious on her face. “Great. Back out to the party with you.”
He shook his head. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not? Are your legs broken?”
“I can’t do that because you’re my mate.”
Chapter Five
Sasha nearly dropped the spatula. She felt as though she were about to have a heart attack. Mate? She’d heard the term of course. Shifters mated for life. They were soul mates. Meant to be. One love forever and all that crap.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said as she tried to gain control of herself. “How could you possibly know that? You don’t know a damn thing about me.”
You can hear my thoughts.
She stared at his mouth. It hadn’t moved. “Ventriloquist,” she accused. “Just a simple party trick.”
“It’s not even all that common,” he continued, staring at her. “Every mate and the shifter share a special bond, but hearing someone’s thoughts is fairly special.”
She shivered. Those eyes were so damn intense.
Tell me what you want.
She swallowed hard. “I want you to leave,” she said. Her voice trembled, and she cursed herself for that.
Lies. Tell me what you want.
He closed in on her and the air thickened. This time, she didn’t stand her ground. She backed up until the table hit her butt, and she pressed into it. He stopped, just inches from her, and she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She could only feel.
Tell me what you want.
“My own bakery,” she whispered. “A house, a backyard, two dogs, and three kids. One of those SUV crossovers, but it needs to get good gas mile
age. I want to take a cruise, and I really want my sister to quit setting me up on horrible dates,” she babbled.
A slow grin crossed his face.
Tell me what you want right now, he demanded.
“Kiss me,” she moaned.
He leaned down, and she reached up to grasp that beautiful head of curls. As his lips crushed hers, she could only whimper. It was intense, demanding, and it turned her system into overdrive. She could the hard rippling muscles of his arms as she tried to hold on. Her knees were already buckling, and she would have slid to the floor if it weren’t for his hands that came around to cup her ass and pull her towards him.
God, he was so hard. She moaned as she rubbed herself mindlessly against him.
One kiss. It had just taken one kiss for him to turn her into a goddamn mess.
“Sasha honey, how are those cupcakes coming?” The door banged open as Lydia came in, and while he broke the kiss, he kept his lips close to hers as he stroked her cheeks.
“Bakery is closed for tonight,” he announced.
“So I see,” she said with a smile. “Feel free to get to know each other elsewhere.”
It was like someone had dashed cold water on her. Sasha pushed him away. “Christ,” she muttered. “I don’t even know your fucking name.”
“Cole Grayson.” His hand came up to grab her hand. “I’m thirty-five years old. I’m a firefighter.”
It was all she could do not to moan. God. He was a firefighter? How was she not mounting him on the floor right then and there?
“Never been married. No kids. I’m the second in command of my pack, I love my mother, and I want to kill my siblings most of the time. I like cold beer, rare steaks, and bakers. God, I love bakers. Please, let’s go anywhere but here.”
Her mind was racing. God, she wanted him. But she didn’t take strangers home. But the more he touched her, the more her body was screaming to have him. Maybe if she had him just once, he could let go of all this mate stuff. She’d be satisfied. He’d be satisfied. And they’d go their separate ways.
“I live just around the corner,” she whispered hesitantly.
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” he growled as he leaned down to claim her lips again. She melted into him.
The door banged open again. “Out,” Lydia commanded. “Now!”
He grabbed her hand and dragged her out into the meeting room. She barely glanced around as they headed to the exit.
“We’ll take my car,” he grunted.
“Oh no,” she said. “We’ll take separate cars.” She wanted him to leave when it was all over with.
He stopped and stared at her. “This isn’t just a once night deal, Sasha.”
“How about a one night at a time deal,” she said swallowing hard.
He leaned over and traced her lips with his thumb. “You’re going to a hard nut to crack, aren’t you?”
“I’m not a shifter, Cole. In my world, we date for awhile before we settle on happily ever after.”
He nodded. “Okay. One night at a time. I’ll follow you.” He seemed to have a hard time letting go of her hand, but once he did, he was off like a shot to get to his car.
Her heart was in her throat as she unlocked her own door. What was she doing?
Chapter Six
It killed him to watch her drive in front of him. It had never occurred to him that his mate wouldn’t just fall into his arms. Isn’t that usually how it worked?
Of course it didn’t. She’s never seen the connection between a mate and a shifter. She’s couldn’t smell him the way he can smell her.
And he couldn’t read her thoughts.
The connection wasn’t complete. Tonight, he would make it complete. Tonight, he would show her what she meant to him.
She pulled into an apartment complex, and he jumped out of his car as soon as it was in park. Before she could even open her mouth, he’d put his arms around him and drew her in for a kiss.
Her mouth was like a drug, and he wanted to get a fix every chance that he had.
“Cole,” she muttered. “Baby, let’s go inside.”
Baby. I like that.
She screwed up her face. “Okay. Before we go inside, let’s get one thing straight. I am inviting you inside because you are intoxicatingly attractive, your kisses make my insides melt, and it’s been a long, long, long, long, long time since I’ve had sex. I don’t usually take strangers home, but I don’t want you thinking that I buy into this whole mate thing.”
“Sasha.” He leaned over and cupped her chin. “I am not going to ask you to do anything you don’t want to do. If all you want is tonight, then I’ll leave you alone. But I am asking for the chance to make you understand what we have here. What we could potentially have here.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay.” The keys were clanging in her hand, so he took them from her, and she led him to the apartment. Stopping to kiss her gently, he inserted the keys and pushed her slowly into the apartment.
He could tell she was nervous. “Bedroom is back there,” she murmured.
He gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to scoop her up, haul her to the bedroom, and slide himself inside her, but that wouldn’t do anything to convince her.
“Let’s just sit on the couch for a bit,” he suggested.
Sasha shot him an incredulous look. “Sit on the couch?” she repeated.
“I want you to be comfortable,” he said. He reached out and slid a finger up her bare arm, and he smiled as she shivered.
“I don’t really want to be comfortable. I want you inside me,” she muttered, and he closed his eyes. Christ. She was making it hard.
“That’s the point,” she snapped. “To make it hard.”
He chuckled. “Then you can make it hard from the couch.” Cole leaned down to kiss her, and as she moaned, he backed her slowly to the couch. When he released her, she sank into the cushion.
He joined her. “Tell me about your life,” he said as he ran a hand up her leg. They parted immediately, but he kept his hands around her knees, tickling the backs of them, stroking her calves.
“Okay, but I can’t really focus when you’re doing that,” she murmured. “Maybe we can talk about my life afterwards?”
He took his hands away, and she whimpered. “Okay, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just touch me.”
Leaning over, he ran his tongue down her neck. “What do you want out of life?”
Sasha gripped his shirt and angled her neck. “I want…you to keep doing that.”
“Come on, baby. That’s not an answer,” he said as he pulled away.
She cupped his chin and turned to face him. “I want to be happy. I want to grow old with a man I love and trust, a man who loves and trusts me. I want to raise a family. I want to know that I’ve made an impact on someone’s life.”
He raised his eyebrows. God. She was perfect. He leaned over to kiss her, and he traced a finger along the neckline of her dress. “Are you still nervous?”
She shook her head. “I’m nervous when I think about it, but when you’re near, I’m not nervous anymore.”
“Good. That’s good baby.” God, the way she was squirming had him hard as a rock. “Tell me what you want in a man.”
She smiled coyly and rubbed her hips over his cock. He hissed his breath. Clearly she was using her newfound mind reading talents against him. “Sasha,” he moaned.
“No.” She hiked up her dress and straddled him. “I’m through talking.”
She rubbed herself against his jeans and moaned. With one hand, she began to slip the buttons of his shirt out of their holes. When she finished, she spread his shirt and leaned down to lick his chest.
He jumped. Her tongue was warm and wet over his skin. “Sasha,” he protested. He cupped her chin and forced her head up. “If I make you come, will you give me my answer?”
She almost mewled in response, and he growled and leaned up to possess her lips. “Undress for me, sweetheart,” he whispere
d.
He watched in puzzlement as she leaned over and flipped off the lamp. He could hear the rustling of clothes, but before she could return to him, he reached over and flipped the light back on again. She gasped, looking like a deer in headlights. “Cole!”
He drank her in. God, she was beautiful. “Why are you hiding in the dark?” he whispered.
She blushed. “I jiggle. I didn’t want you to see that for our first time.”
“First time?” he raised an eyebrow. “So you agree there’s going to be more?”
“It depends on how good you are tonight,” she shot back.
He laughed and reached for her. “Don’t ever hide in the dark. I love the curves of the woman.”
Sasha walked slowly towards him, and as she sat on the couch, he leaned over and cupped a breast. “I love a woman with a big bust,” he murmured as he leaned over to lick her nipple. It elicited a low guttural sound from her, and he did it again.
“Pinch it,” she whispered. “Pinch my nipples.” He complied, and she moaned. Her nipples were sensitive, and she did love a man who would take the time to play with them. As he blew his breath on them, they tightened, and ran his rough thumb in circles around them. She squirmed, and liquid heat pooled between her thighs.
He stroked the skin down her sides, and as he reached her hips, he leaned over. “I love a woman with an ass that fits my hands,” he murmured. Before she could react, he lifted her to cup her and pulled her down the sofa.
She shrieked with laughter, and he settled between her legs. He ran a tongue over the underside of her knee, and she shuddered. That rough stubble on his cheeks running across her skin made her even hotter. “I love these long, long, long legs,” he said. He ran a finger from her toe to her knee, and then he lightly traced the inner portion of her thigh. She held her breath as he inched closer and closer to that sweet spot.
“Cole,” she murmured. “Please.”
“Please what?” he asked.
“Touch me. For fuck’s sake, touch me.”
He laughed and touched the dewy lips of her sex. “No hair,” he whispered. And finally, after what seemed like years, he slipped a finger inside her.
