by Moira Rogers
Julio met her gaze with a shaky sigh, all traces of humor gone. “He wasn’t even coming for you,” he told her quietly. “I would have killed him if he had been.”
“I know,” she replied just as softly. “We are the way we are. It’s how we’re built, the way we’re supposed to be. You need to protect me. I understand.” She pressed one hand to his chest, fingers spread wide over his heart. “I need to protect you too. That’s what you have to understand about me.”
He covered her hand with his, then pulled her into his lap. “Sera.”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “One more thing. I don’t break, okay? I bend. The rest of you stand strong until you shatter, but I ride the rough spots so I can get back up when they’re over. But sometimes that means I don’t learn, because I never get hurt badly enough to teach me a lesson.”
His brows drew together in a frown. “I don’t know what that means.”
Of course he didn’t. She sighed and closed her eyes. “I get it all tangled up. Dominance and submission. Life and sex. I threw myself into you all the way, and it wasn’t fair. I forget that the people worth submitting to… It’s not play, not for you. It’s another responsibility, and I shouldn’t have acted like you wouldn’t take it seriously.”
The world tipped, and she landed on the bed with him looming over her. “I take it seriously,” he whispered. “And you’re worth it.”
Sera’s breath caught. “We don’t have to. I don’t need games to want you. You’d make it hot even if it was just missionary under the covers with the lights off.”
“You’re not listening to yourself.” He leaned closer, until his breath heated her lips. “This isn’t play for me.”
The urge to submit trembled through her. She relaxed into the bed, slid her hands up to his shoulders and then over her head. “What is this?”
He followed the lines of her arms to grasp her wrists. “Pleasure, if you want it.”
Oh God, she did. So much she was shaking with it, so much she wanted to beg him not to stop. But it was always about what she wanted. What she needed. “What do you want?”
“To take you,” he rasped. “To watch the look on your face when I do it.”
She wiggled her wrists, teased him with the hint of a challenge. Forced him to tighten his grip until the strength in his fingers melted something low in her belly. “You want to hear my dirty, shameful secret?”
“No.” He scraped his teeth over her jaw. “But I’ll listen to a little bit of your truth.”
“I’m a simple creature.” She had just enough leverage to turn her head and brush her lips over his ear. “I know you hated the fighting. But you were fighting to protect me, and that made me feel…”
He licked her earlobe. “Cherished?”
That was as close a word as any. Human words didn’t capture the feeling, but she tried.
“Cherished. Safe. Turned on.” She shivered and arched her head back, all but begging him to shift his mouth to her throat. “Like you can fill up my empty places, and that’s before the sex starts.”
“I’d try.” He kissed the side of her neck, then parted his lips and repeated the caress, hot and wet.
Thought scattered, and she pressed her breasts against his chest with a sigh of pleasure.
“You do. You already do.”
Julio held both her wrists with one hand and slid his other down, under the hem of her shirt.
“Say it again.”
An order, for all its gentleness. She squirmed for a breathless moment in an attempt to urge his hand higher. “You get me so hot.”
The noise he made was half laugh, half groan. “You feel it, don’t you? We could stay like this, and it’d still be pretty damn fun.”
“What? Dry hump like teenagers?” She tried to sound outraged, but it was difficult with giddy laughter threatening to spill over. Fun—the one thing that had been missing from sex for so long, because it was harder to laugh with strangers. She rubbed up against him with a throaty moan before biting his chin. “Is all the squirming cranking your engine?”
Another groan. “Actually? You smell really, really good.”
She smelled like some off-brand bottle of travel-sized shampoo she’d found at the drugstore, and maybe strawberry bubble gum. Nothing fancy, nothing that should have put that glazed look in his eyes. Then again, the scent of his skin under the sweat and blood was just as intoxicating. “Pheromones,” she whispered against his jaw. “Lots and lots of pheromones.”
“Mmm.” His hand drifted higher, sliding up to the lacy edge of her bra, and she closed her eyes and focused on the soft drag of his fingertips across suddenly sensitive skin.
He was wrong about one thing. He might not be playing games, but this was play. The beautiful, perfect kind. Not about rules or roles or trying to fulfill someone else’s expectations, but slow exploration and laughter mixed with pleasure. She wasn’t a game to him, because sex was the game, and they were playing it together.
His fingers were still locked around both of her wrists, his hand large enough to cage her easily. She flexed and tugged against his grip solely for the rush of heat that followed.
Anticipation, tightening her nipples and making her so wet she was almost embarrassed. “You like tormenting me, don’t you?”
His palm covered her nipple through her bra, caressing in a slow, firm circle. “Why wouldn’t I like this?”
“I don’t—” The word caught on a whimper, one of helpless need. “More.” That was an easier word to say, and it encapsulated everything throbbing inside her. “More, more, please, Julio. I need more.”
“That’s it.” He dragged her shirt up with his teeth and watched her as he curled his fingers under the top edge of her bra cup.
She hissed in protest and ground up, rubbing against his erection as encouragement to go faster. “You could be inside me already. I’m so past ready, and wouldn’t this be more fun if you were already inside me?”
He smiled, slow and wicked. “Not fun enough for you like this, I guess.”
Too much fun, and perversely even more so when he denied her. The usual twinge of unease didn’t even accompany the thought—not when he was so smugly pleased with himself and her reactions. Maybe she was still a little bent, but he didn’t seem to care.
She wouldn’t care either. Instead she wiggled underneath him. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.
Maybe you should teach me a lesson.”
“Dirty.” They rolled, and she landed on top of him. “Why don’t you be in charge for a while?”
Sera laughed and shoved her hands under his shirt, pushing it up. “You think I don’t know the difference between being on top and being in charge?”
“Show me you do.” He grasped her hips and drew her into a smooth rock over him. “Take off your top.”
Crossing her arms over her body, she gathered up the hem and stripped the shirt over her head slowly enough to make it a striptease. “What else?”
Julio thrust up, and the hard line of his cock rubbed against her. “Your bra. Off.”
She held his gaze as she twisted her arms behind her back and undid each hook, knowing he’d hear the soft clicks. Slow and teasing, like she wasn’t five seconds from grinding her way to orgasm. The bra ended up on the floor, and she cupped her breasts without waiting for permission, eyes drifting half-shut as she pinched her sorely neglected nipples.
His hands slid over her skin as he slowly sat up and eased his tongue between her fingers. It rasped over her nipple, hot and wet, and he squeezed the fingers of her other hand tighter on her flesh.
“Oh, oh hell—” The duality of sensations made the room wobble. Rasping pleasure from his tongue on the left and a sweet edge of pain on the right as he pinched her own fingers until she moaned. She was panting before she realized it. Begging. “Take me. Take me, I don’t even care how, please, I want to be—” Yours.
He growled and popped the button off her shorts. “Naked.” Even as he breat
hed the command, he was arching up, digging his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans.
It was the first time she’d thought about condoms, and that froze her in place for a heartbeat before lust overcame hesitation and she squirmed off his lap to shed her clothing. It didn’t matter if she hadn’t remembered—he had.
She kicked her shorts and panties off the bed, then gathered his shirt in her fists and finished the job the fight had started, tearing the fabric from his body.
Julio had already opened his pants, and his hands shook as he rolled the condom down over his cock. “Come here.”
For the first time she disobeyed. Instead of crawling over his lap she licked his newly bared shoulder, then trailed kisses down the flexing muscles in his upper arm. His erection was enormous—maybe not porn-star ridiculous, but thick enough that she might need to learn new oral-sex techniques.
If he’d let her get her mouth around him. Right now he was stroking his thumbs over her shoulders, and she knew he was ready to grasp tight at any moment and pull her back into his lap.
Shivering, she closed her teeth on his biceps.
He snarled her name and pulled her astride him, one hand splayed across her back. “I want you.”
“So take me.” She nuzzled his throat, shaking with the restraint it took not to lift her hips and drive down onto him. “Anything you want.”
He hissed in a breath as his cock rubbed against her, and he lifted her far enough to position himself. “Anything?” The muscles in his arms flexed, and he began to lower her slowly.
The sensation stole her breath. He was thick, all right, solid and wide and pushing into her as her body yielded in slow motion. “Anything,” she gasped, and tried to rock down faster, to end the torturous friction along neglected nerves with one rough thrust.
But he held her tight, his eyes drifting shut as his throat worked. “Slow.”
Sera whimpered and licked his lower lip. “Not that your ego needs any help, but you’re really damn big.”
“Too big?”
She laughed against his mouth. “No, you cocky bastard.” He surged an inch deeper, and she caught her breath and clutched at his shoulders. “Not for this, anyway.”
He growled and held her closer, pressing her chest to his. “You’re so wet.”
“Getting wetter every time you growl.” His open pants rubbed against her thighs as her hips settled against his, and the fabric made it even hotter. As if he needed her so hard, so crazy, that he couldn’t be bothered to undress.
He’d gotten her naked, though, and she liked that too. “This isn’t what I expected,” she whispered against his cheek. “I thought you’d bend me over and ride me like a Discovery Channel special.”
His answer was a tease and a promise. “Not this time.”
“Evil bastard.” Her knees against the bed gave her leverage, but he wasn’t letting her ride.
There was nothing to do but feel him, hard and huge inside as she squirmed in helpless little rocks.
A low growl rumbled in his chest, and he slid one hand to the small of her back, tilting her hips closer so her clit rubbed the base of his cock. “You want something? Take it.”
The slippery friction set off trembles, and she whimpered and pressed her forehead to his shoulder, not ready for release to claim her. Not when she’d dreamed of this a thousand times, when he’d been her fantasy for almost a year. She had to fix every bit of it in her mind, savor the slide of skin and the way his hands felt when he touched her with confidence and command.
She had to make this last forever.
Julio’s mouth was everywhere, licking and nipping at her throat and shoulders. He bent her back until he could close his lips around her nipple, sucking hard, and thoughts of forever shattered into need and now. She cried out, scrambling to clutch at the back of his head, and her plea came on a sob. “Fuck me. Please, please, Julio, please fuck me—” He lifted her hips and slammed her down—hard. So hard it should have hurt, and maybe it did. Not as much as his shoulders had to hurt when she raked her nails across them with a snarling cry. The roughness snapped the leash on self-control, and she surged up and bit his chin in rough challenge. “Fuck me.”
Instead of another hard thrust, he rolled his hips up against hers. “No patience,” he rumbled.
“I like it.”
No patience and no self-control. She’d never wanted so hard without being caught in the grip of the mating urge, but that desire had always held a sick edge of helplessness. She’d submitted to it because she didn’t know how to stop, because biology hadn’t made her strong enough to deserve a choice.
This was choice. It was her choice when she licked his throat and set her teeth there, marking him as the roll of her hips shoved her higher. It was her choice when she planted both hands against his shoulders and shoved with all of the strength in her, driving him back against the bed so she could take him even deeper.
It was her choice to stare down at him, panting and so close to the edge, and give him everything. “Fuck me. Fuck me like I’m yours.”
His jaw tightened, and his nails bit into her skin. He gripped her hips and dragged her closer as he drove up, not just once this time but over and over. Her hands slipped from his shoulders, and she clung to the bedding and moaned every time he fucked up into her.
Four times, five at the most, and it was all she could take. Every muscle in her body seized at once, drawing tight as she strained toward relief. A desperate keening noise escaped her lips, a plea for something, and then her entire body was in movement, squeezing and clamping, and she bit his chest to keep from screaming at how good it felt to come around his cock.
Julio went rigid, his muscles shaking and tense. Then he rolled her beneath him and ground against her with a tortured groan. One hand wound in her hair, and he pulled her head back and bit her as he shuddered.
It was so fucking perfect she rubbed up against him, slicked her pulsing clit against his shaft until pleasure fractured again. Sharp and fast, too fast for another deep, muscle-clenching orgasm, but it still forced a cry from her throat as Julio eased his grip on her hair.
He was panting as he propped himself up on his elbows. “No patience at all,” he murmured with a smile.
Sera laughed and nudged her hips against his. “Who needs patience? We’re shapeshifters.
Don’t tell me you can’t go again if you want to.”
“Of course I can.” His smile turned to a dirty grin. “That’s not the point.”
Her fingertips were still tingling. She curled her toes in the sheets and tried to decide if the sensation was lingering pleasure or something deeper stirred by his smile. “I was too turned on for epic sex. There’s such a thing as too many orgasms, you know.”
“You don’t say.”
Yeah, Julio had probably driven women over that edge before. God knew she’d let him push her into exhausted madness, whether it took a day to recover or not. She slid her fingers down his back and grinned when they bumped into his jeans riding low on his hips. “I take it back.
You should totally tie me to the bed and see how many it takes.”
“Tomorrow. Or the next day or…whenever.” He kissed her softly.
It was a sweet kiss. Warm lips and lazy tongue, the kind of kiss that said he had nowhere to be and nothing he’d rather be doing. Just like his words.
Whenever. Like they’d be together in a week, or a month. Like there wasn’t going to be a time when he couldn’t say, Hey, honey, I’m going to screw you silly tonight. She was reading too much into a tiny word, more than the word should possibly mean, but he was still kissing her, licking her, loving on her as if the fucking had been nice but this was the prize.
She was stupid to fall into it. Josh was out there somewhere, and he’d chase her until he found another coyote to knock up, or he ended up dead. And he was the least of it, because there was only one of him. There were dozens of wolves who would look at her and see something disgusting. A coyote
corrupting one of their leaders, an excuse to challenge him, disobey him.
Worse than being a changed wolf. Worse than being human. She was alien, an exotic kink, a dirty secret, and she’d ruin any chance he had at making a difference in their world.
But he was still kissing her. Still touching her, and she’d lied to Anna because there wasn’t anything little about how she felt. She was falling in love with Prince Charming, and midnight would be here before she knew it.
Chapter Nine
Julio was getting used to waking up with Sera in his arms.
It made him not want to crawl out of bed. So he snuggled closer and nestled his face in the crook of her neck. “More sleep.”
“Mmm.” She’d showered and braided her hair before bed, but little pieces always escaped, and they tickled his nose as she tilted her head. “Morning. Or good night again. Whichever.”
“Morning.” The slanting light drifting through the curtains was too diffuse to be anything but.
“Early.”
“Then we can stay in bed.” Her voice was husky with sleep, and warm. Unguarded. “You don’t get to leave. I’d get cold, since you wouldn’t let me put on clothes.”
Because he hadn’t been willing to give up the soft press of her bare skin against his. “Like your tiny pajama shorts would keep you warm anyway.”
“You just like my ass,” she mumbled. “Don’t deny it. I know you’re an ass man, Mendoza.”
“Guilty.” Hers was round and firm, and his mouth watered as he smoothed his hand down over her curves.
She stretched sleepily under his touch, all but purring as she rolled onto her stomach. “Lucky me. You should spend some time appreciating mine.”
Her back arched, thrusting her backside up on display. “Must not be too cold,” he whispered, sweeping the sheet aside. “You’re encouraging me to do this.” He leaned down and bit her ass.
Her moan of appreciation was just getting interesting when a knock rattled the door.
“Mendoza? Put some clothes on and open the door, would you?”
Wesley Dade. Julio sat up and scrubbed a hand over his face with a groan. The biting retort died on his tongue when he realized there was no good reason the psychic should have been standing outside his motel room.
