by SM Reine
Mom was still shaken up about Maizy having been left on the side of the road and every so often, I caught that look in her eyes a mother gets when they’ve come close to losing the most precious thing to them. I admired her courage and resilience for all she had been through in the last week, and I guess like me, she valued family even more because of it.
During dinner, I noticed Maizy hiding her meat beneath her mashed potatoes. Denver waltzed over to the microwave and heated up a hot dog. Her eyes brightened when he dropped it on her plate and she hunched over with a big smile on her face, looking like she had just gotten away with something. Maybe she had. He appeared satisfied with himself, although he tried to hide it from the guys. Maybe it wasn’t a “cool guy” thing to have a little girl think you were the best thing since peanut butter and jelly. Despite his idiotic methods, I trusted Denver with her more than I did the others. Reno was too rough around the edges and I still didn’t know what to make of the twins. Wheeler was the smarter of the two, though you’d never know it by all the tattoos, not to mention he seemed to be a moodier guy than his brother.
Jericho mentioned getting another tattoo and my mom told him he already had one too many.
“Boys, we’re going to be staying the night out,” Austin announced, walking into the room with a swagger I couldn’t help but admire. His dark jeans were loose (in a good way) and his tight black shirt was tucked in, showing off a nice leather belt with a silver buckle.
Jericho whistled mockingly.
“Who’s we?” I asked.
“Me and you. Let’s go.” He flicked an icy glare at Jericho, who had scooted his chair right beside me—so close our arms touched. Reno took the spot on my left and everyone else looked spread out. I guess I didn’t think about how it might look to be sandwiched between his brothers until Austin came in and made me aware of it.
The extra space at the table allowed them room to move down, but they chose to sit right beside me. I just thought they were being consolatory because of the recent attack.
“Why should I go?” I looked at Austin and he gave me the look. I didn’t really need an answer because I knew where he was going with this. The tingling had been coming and going with more frequency over the past few hours. Maybe I was just hormonal, but either way, I didn’t want to stick around and find out.
I got up from the table. “Going out, Mom. There’re a few movies in my bag if Maizy gets bored.”
We had spent the past hour talking about my dad. She didn’t think he’d come back for her and even if he did, I doubted he stood a chance against the Cole brothers. Anyhow, he had no idea Austin was back in town, nor would he think to show up here.
Damn, Austin was doing his lean on the frame of the kitchen doorway and I got the shivers again just looking at how snug his shirt was. I could almost see his abs through the thin fabric, and the bold ink patterns on his upper arms were so striking I wondered if it had hurt to get them.
Jericho snaked his arm around my upper leg and nestled against me. “Stay with us,” he said in sweet, syrupy words, nuzzling into my shirt. “I’ll play my guitar and sing a song for you.”
Austin crossed the room before I could reply. He gripped the back of Jericho’s chair and pulled it out, dumping him on the floor. “I think we all know what’s up, boys. You need to learn to put that in check, because our numbers will grow. And now that we have another female in the house, let me reiterate to you all that respect is something we live and die by when it comes to one of our own.”
He meant Ivy. She’d passed on dinner and gone to lie down in one of the twin’s rooms. I had a feeling she was having adjustment problems and needed time to herself. The house really closed in on you after a while with all these men.
“Come on, Lexi. Let’s go,” he said, holding out his hand.
Something restrained flickered in his eyes—something hot. When I took his hand, I gasped at the warmth and saw a muscle twitch in his cheek. He had already packed an overnight bag for me and loaded up the car.
When we drove off, I finally asked, “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise.” Austin flipped on the radio and we listened to Bush singing about breathing in and breathing out. Which was exactly what I was doing. I rolled the window down, hoping if I was leaking any kind of sex perfume, the outside air would keep Austin from having to put up with it.
He pulled up to a stretch of property that reminded me of how Ivan’s house was set up, with a generous amount of cleared land in front and a thicket of woods around the back. It looked like a mansion, but not pretentious. The square windows were fogged over and needed replacing. They showed signs of wear, as shutters were broken and pulled away by time. A covered porch ran along the front and around the sides with a balcony off one of the rooms on the second floor. It looked like there was an attic, but I couldn’t tell from the front. I could imagine how beautiful impatiens and roses would look on the top balcony in the springtime. It must have been a grand place in its prime.
“Is this the house you were talking about buying?”
“I bought it,” he confirmed, switching off the radio. He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and melted me with his pale eyes. “Are you okay? You know what I mean. We haven’t really talked about what happened with Beckett.”
It wasn’t cold but I shivered. “I’m still trying to process it. I’m not sure I want to deal with it right now.”
“Well, stuff like that messes with your head. So whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here. Doesn’t matter if we can heal or not; some scars are beneath the skin and mark us in ways we least expect.”
“Thanks.”
He shut off the engine while I gaped at the house. “This is our new home,” he said. “You were right; the other place wasn’t me.”
“Why were you at my apartment the night Beckett came over?”
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “Just wanted to check up on you. Make sure you didn’t need anything.”
“Is that all?” I glared at him because it sure didn’t feel like all. He clammed up and I got mad. “Tell me lies, Austin,” I said, mimicking the song we had listened to on the way over. I slammed the door and stormed up the steps.
“Lexi, wait,” I heard him call out from behind. “Don’t run off before I explain.”
I turned on my heel and watched him slowly walk up the steps. We lingered on the porch, lit by a half-moon that kept peering out from behind a gathering of brooding clouds. A cool wind brought the sweet smell of rain, and a cricket chirped from beneath the porch.
“Well?” I tapped my fingers on the wall behind me and a smiled tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“I showed up at your apartment to bring you a birthday present, but I saw the flowers from Church and clearly I’m out of my league when it comes to that kind of thing.”
“What present?” I stopped drumming my fingers and cleared my throat. Austin bought me a gift?
After a few seconds of clenching his jaw, he finally swung his left arm around from behind his back.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh. My. God.”
Lollipops. My absolute all-time favorite candy and he’d made them into a bouquet. When my face began to hurt, I realized it was because I was smiling so hard the corners of my mouth were getting introduced to my ears. Austin didn’t lift his eyes but had a defeated look on his face as he turned the candy in his hand and stared at it.
“I wanted to surprise you and… it was obviously a dumb idea. You’re not twelve anymore and I should have gotten you something better. Perfume, or real flowers.”
“Are you kidding me, Austin Cole?” I snatched the bouquet and dipped my nose in, smelling the sweet bliss of sugar. “This is the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen.”
Then my lip quivered and I felt like a fool. “Wes used to give these to me whenever he wanted to shut me up about something.”
“I know,” he admitted. “He told me about your addi
ction years ago. No need to make a big thing of it. I’ll get you something better.”
Austin wanted to get me something better? Impossible. Just the fact he wanted to do something for me made my knees shake a little bit and my heart flap around like a nervous hummingbird. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to walk away thinking he didn’t just blow my mind.
I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. “I love that you know me so well,” I said. “This is better than roses by a mile.” Then I smelled him and he wasn’t wearing cologne. What’s more, I noticed he was smelling me when I felt his nose tickle against the crook of my neck.
When I stepped back, I plucked one of the candies from the cluster and ripped away the wrapper with my teeth. Immediately, I sucked on it and then held out my tongue, spinning the candy in circles.
Austin’s eyes were following every movement as he watched the whole affair. His lips parted as he eyed my mouth. “Keep doing that,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
Then he shocked the hell out of me when he leaned down and licked the other side. I felt his tongue slide against mine and I froze. Then he did it again, only this time more slowly until he pulled the candy away and began sucking on my candy-coated tongue as he cupped my face in his warm hands.
The tingles were roaring.
Suckers fell to the floor with a whack! My right leg wrapped around his waist as he lifted me up by my thighs.
The kiss was deep, wet, and salacious. My chin burned from how rough he was with his whiskers as we angled our heads to the left, then the right, and nibbled each other’s lips while discovering our groove. That comfortable groove you get into once you learn someone through their kiss—their moves, their rhythm, the intensity of how they use their tongue, even where on your mouth they linger during the kiss. Upper lip, lower lip, left side kisser, or all over the place.
Our kiss became so expert it was as if we had been lovers in another lifetime. His hand turned the knob and he stumbled forward, almost falling before he regained his balance and walked into the dark house. The wood creaked beneath his feet as he kicked the door shut behind him—my legs still wrapped around his waist and my fingers disappearing in his dark hair.
The kiss never stopped.
It echoed in the empty house as every sound we made was amplified. Sucking and licking—the wet sounds of our lips greedily giving in to the raw nature of passion.
Decades in the making.
At least on my end.
I moaned into his mouth and a growl rose from his chest—the deep, throaty kind that made me squeeze my legs a little tighter. He was walking me somewhere, and that somewhere was a room with a mattress and sheets.
Austin lowered me onto my back and the aroused look in his eyes caused me to fist the sheets. Moonlight trickled through the tall window when it wasn’t hiding behind the clouds, and I could make out the contours of his body through shadows and light.
Then an ache like I’d never felt before struck me so hard I curled my knees up and cried out. Austin moved on top of me like it was affecting him in the same way—clawing at my shorts as he kissed my legs hungrily, coveting me with every stroke of his tongue. Austin had a beautiful mouth—the kind of lips a woman wanted all over her body.
“We can’t do this,” he panted.
Confused, I swallowed hard and looked down at him. “Why not?”
I shivered when he lifted his eyes to mine. “You want a baby?”
That killed a little of the fire. I wasn’t exactly ready for kids, at least, not that very second. Kids were the kind of thing you discussed and decided on. Well, most of the time.
“You’re extremely fertile when you’re in heat; that’s how it works with Shifters. It comes around once a year, maybe less, and it can last hours or days,” he said, his breath warming my skin. While he was talking, his nose pushed up the hem of my shirt so he could taste my stomach. “If I take you, then you’ll get pregnant.”
“Condoms?”
Austin chuckled. “Wouldn’t work with Shifter sperm. We don’t just have an army; we have a legion of—”
I touched his lips with my fingers. “Austin, please don’t kill the moment talking about your sperm.”
Then he sucked on my finger and the tingles roared through my core and melted down my thighs. Oh God, I wanted this.
“Complain all you want,” he murmured against my stomach. “But you’re going to learn tonight the only way…” He pressed his face against my belly and I felt how enflamed his cheeks were.
I grabbed a fistful of his hair. “Finish what you were about to say.”
His bristly jaw scratched my skin as he looked up. “The only way to taper it down and get you out of heat is to give you orgasms.”
Plural.
A smirk turned up the corner of my mouth. “No complaints here.”
“No sex.”
“Okay, I have a complaint,” I said, propping up on my elbows. “Exactly what are we doing here?”
An intense, dark look swirled in his eyes that I couldn’t read—one with hidden secrets and meanings that drove me nuts. “Do you really want to ruin our friendship with sex? I don’t want our first time to be because of raging hormones,” he said, curling his fingertips inside the hem of my shorts and sliding them away from my hips, down to my knees, and finally my ankles. I felt every second of their slow journey and it drove me wild. “It’s going to be without all the biology bullshit. Just me and you and no regrets.”
I knew he was talking, but my ears were starting to hear that wah-wah sound Charlie Brown’s teacher always makes in the cartoons. Maybe it was the fact that the only thing between Austin and me was a pair of black bikini bottoms.
His thumb hooked beneath one of the strings, inching closer to the center. My heart could have gotten a speeding ticket, as it refused to slow down no matter how much I concentrated.
“What are you going to do then?”
His eyes answered me before his mouth did. They were hooded and dripping with heat. “I’m going to make you come.”
Which almost did. Just the words rolling off his tongue and the way he was looking at me made every muscle in my body tense.
“As many times as it takes until you’re over this, because that’s how an alpha looks after his women. But over my dead body are we going back home so I can sit and watch my brothers look at you the way they were doing at dinner.” A palpable flicker of jealousy sparked in his eyes. “I don’t run the kind of pack where we share.”
Which implied packs existed that did. Austin had promised me independence with no strings attached. Most women went into a pack mated because sometimes the men would get possessive and fights would break out. That’s why he was adamant about his brothers treating Ivy as a sister and had planted the suggestion in their head so they would be more inclined to protect her than mount her.
Then he got right back to business and put his mouth on my sex, moving his lips over my panties as if he were making out with me. I moaned unabashedly and abruptly pushed his head away.
“What’s wrong?”
I blushed. Hard. Then my knees pulled up and I flipped over to my side, staring at an outlet on the wall.
“Lexi?” His hand brushed over my hip and Austin laid behind me, propped up on his elbow so he could stare at my shadowy profile. “Did I do something to upset you? Don’t lie to me.”
I couldn’t. The simple fact was no man had ever gone down on me. Even Beckett was more of a receiver than a giver when it came to sex. How embarrassing was that?
“I’m sleepy,” I lied.
“Bullshit. Turn over and look at me before I tickle the crap out of you, and don’t think I won’t do it.”
He totally would. I once stole his car keys and stuffed them into my bra when I was nineteen and the designated driver. Austin had chased me to the car, which made me run even harder. I dove into the front seat knowing Austin would never dig in my bra. Instead, he pulled off my shoes and tickled my feet un
til I screamed bloody murder. That was the only time I’d ever seen Wes turn on Austin. He yanked him out by the collar and coldcocked him. I guess from a distance, it looked kind of bad with me on my back in the front seat screaming while Austin was holding my legs.
“Since when did you get all shy on me?” he asked, thunder rumbling in the distance.
Austin’s fingers tickled my skin as they slid down to my hips. I elbowed him away. “Don’t.”
“Then tell me what’s wrong, because you’re not going anywhere, and I sure as hell ain’t going anywhere. Whatever it is won’t leave this room. You can trust me.”
A few taps of rain touched the windows and flashes of lightning illuminated the room. “I’ve never had a man do that to me.”
The air was so quiet I actually heard the high-pitched whine of a mosquito buzzing around my ear. I waved my hand around to shoo the insect away and ended up smacking Austin in the mouth. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to do that,” I said, rolling onto my back.
He was grinning, but not because I slapped him.
Then I blushed again, and I wasn’t a big blusher, but I’d just revealed something very personal and his first reaction was to laugh? I was about to run out of the room in T-minus 3… 2…
“I’m not going to even ask why, because it doesn’t matter. I’m only going to guess the men you’ve dated didn’t know a damn thing about the most erotic thing you can experience with a woman. To run your tongue over that secret place, to slide it in and taste her as you suck and stroke her until she screams out your name.”
His fingers had wandered down between my legs while he spoke, expertly caressing me.
“I’m not one of those boys,” he said softly in my ear. “I’m a man who knows how to take a woman and give her what her body needs.” His fingers slid between my folds and by then, he knew with absolute certainty I wanted him.
“I can’t do it,” I admitted. “It’s too… I don’t know. Personal.”
