“I know what I want.” She paused. “I’ll keep in touch, if that’s all right.”
He snorted. “Like there’s any choice, since you accidentally agreed to become a werewolf’s mate.”
Stephen stared at the mark on her shoulder, and then he turned and opened the door.
“I need a few minutes,” she said. “Tell them I’m still working on the stain.”
Rose held onto the edge of the sink after he’d gone, staring at her haunted expression in the mirror.
Was she jealous of Caleb?
“Yes,” she whispered.
She was, by God. Jealous of the bond the men felt. They tried to share that bond with her, but how could she give herself over so completely? She wasn’t her mother. They were strangers to her. Plus, she was human. Caleb jumped right in because he was a werewolf. He acted on animal instincts she did not possess. He seemed blissfully happy, damn him. Yet she didn’t dare operate under those rules.
So yes, she envied him. Envied them both for what she couldn’t give herself over to.
Several minutes passed with her rubbing furiously at her shirt to dry it before giving up. There was no use delaying the inevitable. One werewolf down, one to go. She’d face Caleb when she got back to the table, probably hear several choice words from him in private later, and then it would be over.
With a sigh, she flipped off the light and left. She didn’t glance down the hall as she wandered out of the bathroom, so when a hand grabbed her arm, she let out a shocked gasp.
“It’s high time you and I had a talk,” Caleb said. “Right now.”
Chapter Eleven
“Where are you taking me?” Rose demanded as Caleb half dragged her up the hallway. “Do you even know where you’re going?”
“Stephen gave me the grand tour before you got here.”
He pulled her into a room partway down the hall. There were hand-carved wood furnishings and a fluffy double bed, but compared to the rest of the house, it didn’t seem grand enough to be the master suite. A guest bedroom, no doubt.
Caleb, who’d ditched his hat somewhere before ambushing her in the hall, raked a hand through his hair as he leaned his back against the door. He reached behind him to twist the lock, as though she might run for it. Good guess.
“Are you out of your mind?” she whispered loudly.
“Funny, I was about to ask you that. And there’s no need to whisper. Everyone’s still outside.”
He strode up to her, and she backed away until she realized she was headed straight for the bed. She veered off and held her ground in front of a tall chest of drawers. Caleb stopped a few inches from her and slipped a finger beneath the strap of her tank, dragging it away from the scar on her shoulder.
“Here you are, flauntin’ Stephen’s mark for the world to see without the faintest clue what it means,” he said. His eyes sparkled in the dim light spilling in from a tree-shaded window.
She shrugged the strap back into place. “I’m not flaunting anything.”
“That scar ain’t only meant as a warnin’ to keep other werewolves away from you, you know.”
She eyed him warily. “His mark can do that?”
“It alerts other wolves so they know that you’ve been claimed. Too bad it doesn’t seem to have alerted you to that fact.”
“It alerted me to plenty of things I had no idea I was agreeing to at the time.”
He tried to move closer, but her hand shot out between them. As soon as her palm was against his hard chest, she regretted it. Longing flooded her. Longing and warmth.
“I’ll tell you what I just told Stephen,” she went on, dropping her hand and breathing through her mouth in a feeble attempt to avoid his heady, male scent. “I’d planned to let you know about Hawaii before I left the barbecue. I only blabbed it out in front of everyone because Jo was making me so angry. I’m sorry I let you find out that way.”
His nostrils flared. “That ain’t what you should be sorry for.”
“You’re right. There’s more I’m sorry for.” She hugged herself and stared at the tempting flesh visible around the neck of his open collar. “Starting with that picnic at the falls.”
“You ain’t sorry about that. I felt you give in to us, Rose. And I’ve felt how badly you’ve wanted to ever since.”
She frowned. “I can’t help having certain physical reactions when I sense the two of you going at it like animals. But the rest of what you expect, well, it isn’t fair to ask.”
He sighed. “I take back what I said before. I’d rather you thought with your heart and not your head.”
“I don’t. I can’t flip a switch and be eternally linked to a werewolf pack. I’m not like you.”
“That switch flipped the moment we met.” While he hadn’t inched any closer, his presence somehow loomed much nearer. “You’re just scared.”
“Of course I’m scared.” She sidestepped him and headed for the door, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around. “I barely know you. I didn’t even know your kind existed. Now you can feel everything I feel, and I can feel you. It isn’t natural. It isn’t right.”
“Runnin’ away ain’t gonna change that. You could take a job in China, and you’d still sense us.” He loosened his grip but still held on to her arms. “But I don’t think you’ll be able to leave. You’ll realize that the farther you leave us behind, the harder it will be to stay there.”
“Stephen already tried saying I wouldn’t be able to go. It didn’t work.”
“Then I bet he didn’t say it like this.”
Their lips met gently, sending sparks shooting through them both. She could feel the chemistry bouncing in his body as readily as her own. He groaned and slid his arms around her, pushing his tongue into her mouth. She could taste tangy barbecue and the male heaven that she’d missed desperately.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “We should get back. People will wonder why we disappeared.”
He trailed kisses along the side of her neck. “They think I’m checkin’ a problem with Stephen’s car.”
“You’re just trying to change my mind,” she said, gripping his bulky, flexing shoulders as his lips set fire to her need. “But it’s already set.”
“Let me make love to you, Rose.” His tongue traced a wet, tingling line along the scoop neck of her tank. “Then you can decide whether you really intend on sayin’ good-bye.”
Her nipples hardened into long buds. “You already made love to me.”
“No, I haven’t.” He straightened, and golden fire undulated in his eyes. “Stephen claimed the right to bed you first, and he made me watch while he took you. Then you climbed on me like a wild temptress and rode me like I’ll never forget.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and sensually tasted each fingertip. “I don’t regret a second of it. But I reckon it’s my turn to show you what I’m capable of.”
The feel of his tongue on her sensitive fingertips jump-started a hot throb in her clit and a trickle of fluid between her legs. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Let’s settle this the way we started it,” Caleb murmured. “Just the two of us.”
“What, now?”
“Now’s all we’ve got.”
He tried pulling her toward the bed, but she yanked away. “We can’t get on the Jarvis’ guest bed and do that. They’ll know.”
He glanced at the expensive-looking, puffed comforter that was a fair match to the violet in his eyes. “All right. Let’s not muss up the finery.” But when he turned to her, it was clear that she hadn’t talked him out of his plan—just the venue.
Caleb pushed up the front of her shirt by running his hands underneath, and his seeking fingers slipped beneath her bra as well. He skimmed her hard nipples, moaning at their stiffness while he rolled them between his fingers. All the while, he was walking her backward. With so many sensations flooding her body, she was barely aware of the motion until she found herself against a wall. He leaned over to flick her hardened buds with his tongu
e.
Her gasp signaled the end of her protest.
He tugged at her skirt, gathering the long, wispy fabric until he could slide a hand along her bare, trembling thigh. His werewolf-enhanced body heat couldn’t match the fire his touch ignited in her.
When his fingers dragged over the crotch of her skimpy panties, her legs weakened.
“I hope you ain’t too attached to these,” he said. Before she could wonder, he gave her underwear a violent yet exciting tug. She heard seams tear as he stripped the flimsy nylon off her.
“God, feel how wet you are for me,” he said, dipping a finger inside her. Her body practically convulsed with pleasure, and she opened her mouth in a silent cry that he further squelched by covering her lips with his.
“I can’t wait,” he said, his hand moving to his zipper. “You were in such a hurry for me to take you by that waterfall. I was a fool for puttin’ you off. Not this time.”
With that, he dropped his jeans around his knees and lifted her up, pressing her harder against the wall. She was high enough that he could lightly bite and tease her nipples without bending over, and she held onto his shoulders for support. She slipped down along the wall slowly, and she thought he was losing his grip on her until she realized he was lowering her on purpose.
He took hold of his hot, hard cock and slipped it inside her as soon as her cunt was where it needed to be. And oh, yes, she couldn’t pretend it wasn’t right where it belonged. The low, feverish moan they both let out as he sank deep into her attested to that.
“Feel how much I want you, Rose,” he said as he gripped her hips and thrust himself into her. “Feel how I can’t live without this. Without you.”
She pushed him back enough by the shoulders for her to see into his glowing eyes. “But you have been living without me. You and Stephen are so into each other that every time I turn around, you’re making love. I barely see how you would find time to miss me.”
He grunted in frustration and shoved himself inside her harder. “Don’t kid yourself, darlin’. We ain’t been the ones drivin’ each other into a frenzy.” He fucked her with deep, animal gyrations from his hips that grew faster and harder with each sentence—and so did her throbbing need. “You’re the one we’re thinkin’ of. The one who possessed us, body and soul. You asked for time alone, but we couldn’t stop actin’ out our need for you. We’ve tried to recapture that perfect moment when you were between us, but it’s no good. None of it works the same when you ain’t part of it.”
Caleb’s voice broke slightly on the last, and when he looked up at her, the gleam in his eyes wasn’t only from their golden depths. They were glossy with the emotion she felt swirling around them both, the longing and frustration of a man who was baring his soul. He believed every word he was saying.
And so did she.
A pang shot through her chest when their gazes locked. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer, eager to get as much contact between their bodies as possible. He had hold of her ass now, bouncing her on his cock while he showed her just how much he’d missed being with her. Pressure soared in her clit until she was ready to explode with pleasure, not to mention the sense of completion she felt pouring out of him. Yet the thought of giving in completely, of crashing over the edge as she’d done the last time, frightened her in a way she’d been naive to before. Now she knew what was at stake.
Caleb must have sensed her hesitation. “Let go,” he murmured. “Let me in.”
In the end, it wasn’t the relentless, expert grind of his hips, or even the sweet, tender kiss he pressed to her lips. It was those words that undid her, shoving her into the abyss where she knew nothing but total surrender to her body and his. Pure, romantic passion filled the air. His love for her shimmered in the midst of that chaos, twining around the invisible cord of connection between them that she hadn’t wanted to face.
Somehow, impossibly, she loved him too. She loved them both.
Climax shook her, but the realization of the feelings she’d buried pierced right through to her core. They rode it out together, her arms tight around his neck while he kissed her and gave her his cum. Her closed eyes burned as tears of release squeezed out. By the time Caleb finally stopped pumping against her, her cheeks were wet.
“What is it?” he said tenderly, brushing a tear away with his thumb. “Did I upset you?”
“It’s not that.” She couldn’t explain more, though. She just sniffed and held on while he lowered her to the floor.
Caleb cradled her to his chest, stroking her hair and rocking her gently while she let the inexplicable tears flow.
“I’m sorry,” she said after a couple of minutes. “I don’t know why I’m being so ridiculous.”
“You ain’t nothin’ of the sort.” He lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes until she felt dizzy. “Thank you for lettin’ me show you how I feel.” He paused. “And how you feel.”
She let go of him and tugged her shirt down into place. “I can’t deny that I want to be with you and Stephen, even though I’m not sure I’m ready. But I love being a nurse. I don’t want to lose this job. I have to go.”
“You don’t have to figure anythin’ out right now.”
“Yes, I do. I’m supposed to leave in three days.”
“Fate has a way of findin’ solutions.” He bent down and picked up her ruined panties. She gave him a shy smile as he folded the small thong and tucked it away in his jeans. “Better wash that beautiful face and get back outside. I’ll wait a spell before joinin’ you.”
She nodded and headed for the door, her legs wobbly and her mind full of tangled and conflicting thoughts.
“And Rose?”
She turned to him while she twisted the door lock.
“Don’t be shocked if Stephen’s a little tense when you get out there. I’d wager he’s had a rather interestin’ time tryin’ not to let on that he was just thrown in the middle of an uncontrollably arousing sex-o-gram.”
She grunted as she walked out. She definitely knew the feeling. Lucky for her, she’d been able to weather those storms without an audience. Poor Stephen.
Chapter Twelve
By the time Rose had tidied up her tear-stained face and returned to the deck, daylight had dwindled. Everyone had left the table except Stephen. He sat alone, practically shooting sparks from his eyes as he watched her return to her cold plate. His expression made it clear that Caleb’s warning had been an understatement.
“I had you alone in a bathroom,” he whispered to her under his breath, “and I managed to act like a gentleman even after you stripped off your top. Caleb has you for ten seconds, and I’m treated to such a raging hard-on that I didn’t dare try to speak, let alone stand up.”
She poked at the remains of her food. “I’m sorry. But welcome to my world the past three days.”
He watched her closely. “Why are your eyes all red? What else was I sensing?”
“Nothing.”
“Everything all right?” Jo asked, wandering back to the table from a group chatting nearby. “Thought maybe you’d fallen in.”
Oh, for the love of Pete, Rose thought. Would the woman never give up?
“The stain took a while to get out,” Rose said coolly, “and my shirt took a while to get dry enough to put back on.”
The woman stared at her the same way Stephen had when checking out her puffy, bloodshot eyes. “Delores has a backup plate of food warming in the oven,” she said in a tone that dared Rose to refuse.
“How incredibly thoughtful. I’ll get it right away.”
Rose bolted for the house before Jo or Stephen could get in another word, and Delores happily handed over the fresh plate. Rose managed to eat at the island counter in the kitchen, nodding to several of the couples as they wandered in to bid Delores farewell. An attempt to help with the mound of dishes, however, won Rose a quick shooing.
On her way back through the great room, where the few remaining guests stood chatting, she
inconveniently managed to bump simultaneously into Jo and Caleb, who had converged from opposite directions.
“What happened to you now?” Jo asked, but for once, she wasn’t picking on Rose. She was talking to Caleb.
He and Rose both glanced at the spot on his shirt that Jo pointed at—a dark stain that Rose had undoubtedly left behind when she’d cried on his shoulder like an idiot.
Caleb had the good sense not to flinch guiltily like Rose did. “I got somethin’ on my shirt when I had my head under the hood of Stephen’s car.”
Jo took in Rose’s puffy eyes, then his shirt again. If she put together anything fishy, though, she didn’t mention it.
“Everything okay with the car?” Rose asked, proud of herself for asking in a smooth tone.
“Shipshape. Things were runnin’ so rough I wasn’t sure the engine would make it. But I think the timin’ was just off.”
His smile set her pulse at a dizzying rate, and she knew it wasn’t Stephen’s car he was referring to.
The two of them left Jo and walked outside together, where Stephen had finally managed to get on his feet. Everyone else was inside, except for Ted. He was still fussing around with the smoker and grill.
Rose sipped some wine while the three of them found a corner on the deck.
“I won’t bother to mention it would have been counterproductive to my cause if you two had been caught fucking in my boss’s house,” he chided.
“Funny how the way you don’t mention it sounds pretty much the same as you mentionin’ it,” Caleb said.
“I’m sorry,” Rose said with a hot rush to her face. “It just happened. We tried to be discreet.”
“Discreet to some, maybe,” Stephen said to her. “Overwhelmingly apparent to others.” He shifted the bulk in his slacks to make his point. “So I take it this means you’ve changed your mind about leaving.”
She shook her head. “Caleb asked for a chance to be with me again, and I gave it to him. But nothing’s changed. I still have to go.”
She flinched at the awkward, weighted shift in their senses.
Disobedient Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 16
