Yeah, right.
Any man that kissed this good…this fast…Trouble. Big, big trouble.
She stiffened and jerked away. Her gaze collided with his. There was no mistaking the hot desire simmering in his eyes. Her heart stalled.
He wanted sex, all right.
A zing of excitement went through her, followed by a wave of disappointment.
Because Shay Briggs had sworn off men like Matt Keller.
“Let me get this straight, you’ll give me your secret formula if I sleep with you?”
“We won’t be doing much sleeping.” His grin made her tummy tingle. She swallowed.
“You don’t seem like the kind of guy who has trouble getting a date.”
“I don’t want a date.” His gaze locked with hers. “I want you.” He said the words with such conviction that if she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn he was talking about more than sex.
From this day forward, forever and ever, ’til death do us part.
Just as the notion struck, she stiffened. The man was propositioning her for sex, not a relationship. Proof in and of itself that he was exactly the sort she’d sworn off of when she’d nailed what’s his name with a handful of meatballs.
Girl, please. It’s not like you want to spend forever with this guy. This is a business agreement. You want something from him and he wants something from you. It’s a win/win.
It was, she realized. She didn’t have to worry about him possibly taking a hike after she disappointed him in the sack. After all, she knew he was going to take a hike regardless. And besides, it didn’t matter. She didn’t have any time or energy invested in him. Other than a few erotic thoughts since she’d spotted him in town, she had no preconceived notions when it came to Matt Keller. No visions of the two of them falling madly in love or walking down the aisle.
Okay, so maybe she’d had one itty bitty vision. Last night. But that had been her revenge fantasy. She and Matt had said yes and pledged their undying devotion with the entire town, including What’s his name and Miss Pumpkin, looking on. They’d embraced and kissed and ahhhh…
Shay shook away the crazy warmth that stole through her. This wasn’t about falling in love. It was business.
“Let me make sure I’m clear on this. We have sex and then you tell me your secret?” He nodded and her hormones gave an excited hell, yeah, followed by a tiny niggle of disappointment.
Not because she wanted more than one night. Hardly. She was bummed about having to wait an entire half-hour or so to learn the secret that would save her business.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get to it.”
4
“CAN YOU TURN OFF THE LIGHT?” Shay asked, once she’d followed him inside the cabin. “I like it dark.”
“Suit yourself.”
She caught a glimpse of an overstuffed leather couch and a rustic pine table before he hit the light switch and plunged them into complete darkness. Drapes covered the windows and shut out the faint sliver of moonlight.
She blinked and tried to adjust her eyes to the sudden change. Her gaze focused and she made out his large shape standing only inches away. The in and out of her own breaths echoed in her head.
He reached for her, but she inched backward.
“I think we should forego the preliminaries and just get right to it. This is business, after all.”
The last thing she needed was a slow warm-up. Time to focus on the frantic beat of her heart and the anticipation bubbling inside her. And the warmth…A strange sensation that spread through her chest when he murmured, “You smell really good. Like warm peaches and sugar.”
“Peach Pie Perfection—it’s this new facial I’m working on. It tightens the face and smoothes wrinkles.”
“You don’t have any wrinkles.”
“You haven’t seen me in a three-way mirror with floodlights.” And he never would. Because a man only interested in sex wouldn’t be the least bit turned on by the Stubborn Seventeen.
She’d learned her lesson once before. No getting naked in front of the wrong man. From here on out, she was saving the slow striptease for her future accountant.
“Take off your clothes,” he said as if reading her thoughts.
“You might want to stand back,” she told him, fighting down a wave of self-consciousness as she gripped the edge of her T-shirt. “This could get ugly.”
“How’s that?”
“I’m wearing a girdle.”
He grinned, a slash of white in the thick darkness that stalled her heart for several beats. “Don’t worry about me, sugar. I like to live on the edge.” He stepped closer and Shay forced herself not to turn and bolt for the door.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She kicked off her shoes and shed her jeans. Fingering one strap of the black undergarment, she wiggled one finger beneath and worked the elastic down one arm and then the other. Grabbing the edge just under her arms, she shoved the top portion down and freed her breasts. She ignored the cool rush of air over her bare skin and nipples and started to push the rest of the material down. She pulled and tugged and made about an inch or progress.
“Let me—”
“I’ve got this. Really.” She twisted away. While he couldn’t see her in the blasted thing, feeling her in it would be just as bad.
And it matters because?
It didn’t. Tomorrow, Matt Keller would be history. She had absolutely no reason to care one way or the other what he thought about her body.
She did.
Not because she liked him, she reminded herself for the countless time. Or because he made her feel warm inside when he smiled. Or because he liked the way that she smelled when no other man had ever even noticed. It was pure vanity. What straight, single, flesh-and-blood woman wouldn’t want the resident hottie to find her wildly irresistible?
She squirmed and shimmied, ignoring the strange sensation that he was actually watching her. Matt Keller might be staring into the darkness, hoping his eyes adjusted enough for a glimpse, but no way could he actually see anything.
Thankfully.
Finally, the black material sagged at her ankles. She shoved the tight thing off to the side and faced him.
“Okay. I’m ready.”
“No, you’re not.” His voice came from behind and she whirled.
“If you were ready,” he continued, his voice hitting her from the left this time, “you wouldn’t be nervous. You’d be wet.”
“How do you know I’m not?” she challenged.
“Because I smell fear, darlin’. Not desire.”
She summoned a laugh. “Sorry to bust your bubble, but I’m not afraid of you.”
“No.” The word was little more than a sigh that slid into her right ear and stirred her nerve endings. “You’re afraid of you.” The words hung between them for a long moment and she barely resisted the urge to forget the entire thing.
She was trading sex for a great big maybe—maybe he had a bonafide secret and maybe it was some crazy hair technique combined with his DNA, which meant that it wouldn’t work on anyone else. Talk about a longshot.
At the same time, she was out of options and incredibly turned on despite her self-consciousness. The air between them crackled with electricity and she could feel the heat rolling off his body, wrapping around her.
“I think you’re beautiful,” his deep voice slid into her ears.
A rush of warmth went through her, a feeling that had nothing to do with the chemistry sizzling between them and everything to do with the sincerity in his voice.
As if he really and truly meant it.
As if it mattered one way or another even if he did.
She stiffened. This wasn’t about falling into like with him. It wasn’t about falling, period. It was a one-night stand. Sex.
“You’re obviously horny as hell and can’t see a thing,” she blurted, eager to kill the strange flicker of hope in the pit of her stomach. “I could be Big Foot for all you care.”
“Maybe.” His warm breath teased the back of her neck. “Maybe not.”
She turned and caught the dark shape of his shadow directly behind her. She had a split-second of confusion because just a heartbeat before he’d been directly in front of her.
But then his fingertip touched her shoulder blade and desire sliced hot and potent through her. She caught a gasp and barely resisted the sudden urge to flip on the light so that she could see him.
The fierce gleam in his eyes.
His sensuous lips.
His determined expression.
But if she could see him, he could see her. And that would put a stop to things before they could get really interesting.
“Do you?” his deep voice sizzled across her nerve endings.
“Do I what?”
“Have big feet?”
Actually, her feet were the only part of her that hadn’t been affected by the Stubborn Seventeen, but she wasn’t about to enlighten him on that. “I’d say they’re average.”
“Sugar, nothing about you is average.” Conviction fueled the words and her chest hitched before she could remind herself that she was undoubtedly reading more into his words than he meant.
Wishful thinking got her every time, but not now. No, now she knew full well what to expect—nothing.
No expectations. No disappointments.
She held tight to the last thought; her breath paused, as he stepped up behind her.
She felt the tickle of his chest hair against her shoulder blades as he slid his hands around her rib cage and cupped the underside of her breasts. His thumbs flicked her nipples and she caught her bottom lip.
“Nice,” he murmured and desire spiraled through her.
He rolled the tender peaks until they were hard and throbbing. His hands fell to her thighs, burning into her flesh as his fingers slid up the inside until he touched her sex. His fingers parted the silky folds to tease and explore.
Her breath caught as he slid one finger deep inside. Instinctively, she tightened around him and he groaned.
“You’re not afraid anymore.” His lips moved against her ear, his tongue tracing the outline to dip inside. “That’s good. Really good.”
“I was never afraid—” Her breath caught as he slid another finger into her.
“You’re wet now,” he continued, the words little more than a satisfied groan. “And tight.”
His body trembled, as if the realization shook his control. He worked her then, moving inside her, stroking and plunging. She half-expected him to shove her up against the nearest wall and get to it. That’s what any other man would have done.
Matt pushed his fingers deep until the air lodged in her throat and her senses flooded with sensation. Just when she didn’t think she could take anymore, he withdrew, just enough to let her catch her breath, and then the delicious act started all over again.
He pleasured her over and over, bringing her to the brink only to prolong the sensation. As if they had all the time in the world. As if he was more concerned with giving her pleasure than taking his own.
As if.
“Please…” The word was a ragged gasp of air as her hands clawed at his forearms. As delicious as the feelings were, she wanted more.
Another deft movement of his fingers and she came apart. Shudders vibrated through her body and skimmed her ragged senses in wave after wave of sweet sensation. She slumped back against him, weak and damp, her breath raspy, her heartbeat a frenzied rhythm in her ears.
He caught a drop of perspiration at her temple with the seductive glide of his tongue. But it wasn’t the contact that stalled the air in her lungs. It was his voice.
“You’re so beautiful, Shay.”
A rush of pleasure sparked deep inside her and before she could remind herself that he couldn’t see her period, much less tell whether or not she was beautiful, she grabbed his hand and touched his palm to her lips.
Matt felt the sensuous press of her full mouth and his heart stalled. He felt her gratitude and joy, and a burst of anger went through him because he knew he was the only one who’d ever told her such a thing and truly meant it.
And then he felt an uncontrollable wave of possessiveness because he wanted to remain the only one who’d ever told her such a thing and truly meant it.
Now and forever.
You’ll know it.
It was just sex, he reminded himself as he touched her bottom lip with the pad of his finger. She drew him into her mouth and suckled him and all the soft feelings faded into a rush of desire.
Need hit him like a solid punch to the stomach and he closed his eyes. He groaned, his arousal throbbing, pressing between her buttocks, hot and desperate for entry.
“Wait—” she cried, but he was already pulling away from her. He reached his jeans in record time, retrieved a condom and slid it onto his rock-hard length. He drew back the curtains on one massive window.
Shay started to protest, but he took her hand, urged her up against the glass and stepped up behind her so fast that she’d barely managed a breathless “I really like it dark,” before he pressed his erection between her ass cheeks and rubbed.
Her protest ended on a sharp gasp. Her bottom lifted in sweet invitation as she leaned forward and planted her palms flat on the glass.
“It’s plenty dark,” he reassured her. He rubbed against her, once, twice, and felt the moisture slide around his cock. Pleasure splintered through him and a groan rumbled from his throat. He caught his reflection in the window. Two pinpoints of neon blue light gleamed back at him, a frantic change from the fierce predatory red typical of a werewolf.
He blinked, frantically trying to force the light away, but he couldn’t. Years of controlling what he was slipped away in the next few seconds as his primitive instincts took over.
Before she could blink, he swept her into his arms and headed for the bedroom. He urged her forward onto the mattress until she was on all fours, her bottom raised in undeniable invitation.
He stroked her, his fingertips trailing over the wet heat between her legs. She shivered and rotated her hips. He locked his arm around her, anchoring her for a full upward thrust until he was buried to the hilt.
The blood drummed so loudly in his ears, he barely heard her gasp of pleasure. Her body was warm and ripe, milking him even though they were both standing so perfectly still. For several deep, shallow breaths, he poised behind her, not moving or breathing. Simply relishing the sensation.
It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. The pulsing warmth. The stirring energy. He could feel it bubbling deep inside her and he had the sudden urge to stoke the fire until she exploded.
This was crazy. It was all about his pleasure. His release. His explosion.
Shay gasped, her body drawing him deliciously deeper as she arched back against him.
He felt the sharp graze of his teeth against his tongue and he chanced a glance in the dresser mirror to see the white gleam of fangs and the fierce purple of his eyes—
Holy shit! He had fangs!
Sure, he had fangs during the full moon. And a snout. And a body full of hair. But this…This was different.
He closed his eyes and remembered the feel of a similar pair of fangs sinking into his neck. He knew then that he hadn’t just been attacked by that vampire. He’d been changed—the eyes, the fangs, the perpetual hard-on, the sex.
Sex had always been great for him. But what he was experiencing with Shay gave new meaning to the word. It was hotter. Wetter. Wilder.
“She’ll fill your head. Your heart.”
The words echoed in his head a split second before Shay moved again and desperation rolled through him. Suddenly he couldn’t get deep enough, fast enough. He thrust into her, over and over, until he hovered on the brink of explosion.
She came quickly, crying his name as violent tremors racked her body. Heat rippled through him, feeding the hunger inside him even though he hadn’t had his own climax.
&n
bsp; Ecstasy drenched him, sucking him under and holding him prisoner for several long moments. But then he wanted more. He pushed into her again, once, twice, there. His heart gave a wild kapow and his own climax hit him hard and fast.
A growl rumbled from his throat and she stiffened in his arms.
“What was that—” she started to ask, the question catching on a gasp as he whirled her around and kissed her long and slow and deep.
He urged her back down into the mattress and eased down beside her. Folding her body close to his own, he closed his eyes. He needed to think. To make some sense out of what he’d just experienced.
The change in his eye color. The fangs. The damned hunger.
Even now, it waged a tug-o-war inside of him, demanding more than the sex.
His gaze hooked on the throb of her pulse and it was all he could do not to taste her.
Even crazier were the damned feelings churning inside him.
As much as he wanted to bite Shay, he wanted to hold her close. To tell her how beautiful she was. To kill any and every man who’d ever hurt her. To never let her go.
The vampire bite.
He knew that was to blame for the wild changes he was going through—emotionally and physically—and he fully intended to prove it. As soon as Shay dozed off, he was heading into town to talk to a certain pair of vampires.
In the meantime, he was going to do his damndest to keep from sinking his fangs or his cock into the woman falling fast asleep in his arms.
5
“YOU LOOK TERRIBLE,” Viviana Darland told him the minute he walked into the business office of Skull Creek Choppers later that night.
The custom motorcycle shop was owned by the town’s three resident male vampires—Garret Sawyer, Jake McCann and Dillon Cash. Garret handled the actual build. Jake took care of the design. And Dillon dealt with the high-tech computer software blazing on the various computer screens throughout the monstrous fabrication shop.
Blazing Bedtime Stories Page 4
