“Careful, sweetheart,” he murmured in her ear. “You start that and I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to stop.”
Her breath hitched in the back of her throat. He could see the wheels turning in her head, weighing her options and the risks. He knew where he put his answer. Anything to sink into her.
She let go of a soft breath. “Someone could see.”
Her scent thickened with the words. Fuck. The thought of getting her all riled up and feeling naughty had him almost harder than he could bear. He wanted to see her lose all her inhibitions completely.
“I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He rolled his hips against her again and groaned as her fingers tightened around his cock.
“Lorne,” she huffed a laugh.
“You started it,” he baited. Gentleman that he was, he pushed to his hands. Rogue that he was, he pressed down and captured her lips for another quick kiss.
Finally on his feet, he offered her a hand up.
She darted away from him as soon as she had her footing. Eyes crinkling with laughter, she called over her shoulder. “I know where we can go.”
Sweet fuck. He growled and stuffed himself back into his jeans. Merciful skies above, she would be the death of him.
He ran after her, bear pushing to the surface with concern. She’d needed help on the walk in, but every ounce of hesitation dropped away as she jogged ahead.
A growl rattled in his throat as his bear’s worry turned to determination. Their mate wanted to play. He wanted to catch her.
His longer strides made quick work of her shorter ones. Another laugh bubbled out of her, grin stretching from ear to ear when she glanced over her shoulder. She darted to the side as soon as he got close, zigging and zagging to keep just out of his reach.
Tough girl. Tempting girl. She riled up his bear the longer she avoided him. Little human wasn’t the one in charge.
He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and jerked her to a halt. Spinning her around, he backed her up hard against a tree trunk, arms lifted above her head. Her panted breath sounded loud in his ears.
He rolled his hips against hers and grinned at the tiny noise that left her chest. “Didn’t anyone warn you not to run from the beasts?”
She lifted her chin and met his eyes. “Maybe I wanted to get caught.”
Growl on the tip of his tongue, he claimed her mouth in a harsh kiss.
* * *
Reckless. This was reckless.
It wasn’t like she’d suddenly grown an exhibitionist side. No, it was all Lorne. Her blood bubbled in her veins with an utter need to feel him.
Leaning hard into her, he trailed biting kisses down her neck. A needy moan breathed past her lips as evidence of what he did to her. Those kisses, and the thick erection that hit her just right, were enough to want to strip down right there even if a thousand eyes watched from the bushes.
Sloan giggled and Lorne jerked his attention to her with a question written in his frown.
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Just thinking what a bad influence you are. Turning me into a delinquent.”
He blinked slowly, eyes brightening under heavy lids. “We’re just getting started, sweetheart.”
Her heart jumped in her chest. Dirty promise from a sexy man. She didn’t need shifter senses to know he told the truth.
Sloan ducked under his arm and ran back down the trail and toward the parking lot. Home. They needed to get home before she combusted with need.
Lorne bit off his growl and raced after her.
Laughter spilled out of her lips as she ran. Reckless. Free. Her heart pounded with more than just the activity. He was dusting off cobwebs and setting up shop inside her chest and she wasn’t flinching.
Then there was no sound except for her breathing. No footsteps followed her. No growls or laughs or puffs of air.
She slowed, then spun around in a circle. The spot between her shoulder blades prickled with the sense of being watched.
A branch broke, and she whirled to find nothing. Not even a darker, Lorne-shaped shadow.
Again, to her other side. Another snap. Closer. Her heart thudded against her chest.
Don’t run from the beasts.
Yeah, she felt hunted. Her stomach dropped with excitement.
Lorne zipped from behind a tree and knelt mid-stride, throwing her over his shoulder. His hand came down on her ass with a hard smack that stopped her struggle. She was entirely in his thrall when that hand dipped between her legs and massaged her as he speed-walked to the parking lot.
Lorne threw open the door of his truck and let her fall on the seat. Gold eyes watched her as he followed her inside and pressed her back against the leather.
“I told you not to run,” he said thickly.
Her thighs tightened involuntarily at the sound. Gritty and gravelly, all sexed up and animalistic. No one else could compare.
“I told you I wanted to get caught.”
He toyed with her, that was abundantly clear. The strong hands holding her steady, the ease with which he flipped her over his shoulder. Lorne had control.
It wasn’t something she usually enjoyed. Control was what she clung to when life threw curveballs at her. She couldn’t stop those, but she could manage how she took them.
In his arms, she wanted to let go. She liked how he made her feel. Smaller, but no less important. He was stronger, but that didn’t make her weak.
Sloan nipped at his earlobe and he groaned. He had control, but she wasn’t powerless.
His fingers curled into the waist of her jeans. Gold eyes stayed on hers until she gave the tiniest nod. Then they swept down her body to the inches of skin he revealed.
“Fuck, sweetheart,” Lorne groaned. His lids dropped closed and his nostrils flared like he needed to suck down her scent.
No one had ever looked at her like Lorne. His eyes held everything she wanted. Lust, desire, pure need. He wasn’t scared of her or afraid to hurt her. They were just them, two people who were coming together for something fun.
No, not just fun. She couldn’t put a name to it, wouldn’t until she could be sure, but there was a tilting of the world around them.
Lorne pulled her jeans off her legs and knelt just as he tugged her to the very edge of the seat.
His tongue swept between her folds as expertly as his fingers earlier. Sloan pressed her fist to her mouth to keep her cry quiet. He licked and lapped at her like he couldn’t get enough, satisfied groans filling her ears. His growl vibrated through her, too, buzzing against her like a damn toy and with twice the reaction.
Lorne drove his fingers into her and she was done. Her eyes clenched closed as pleasure ripped through her, nerves sparking all the way up her spine until she thought her head would burst.
She guided him up, heart pounding with every exaggerated movement. Hand next to her hips. Knee between her thighs. Elbow by her ear. He crawled up her body and settled between her thighs.
“Should make you beg,” he said in his deep, gritty voice.
A shudder ran through her. Yes, begging. Yes, more. Yes to everything.
She shoved at his jeans until they were down his thighs and his cock pressed between their bodies. Sweet fuck. She knew what she’d felt before, but wrapping her fingers around him underscored just how long and thick he was. He hissed and bucked his hips with her firm stroke.
He had control, but she reveled in her power.
With a twist of his hips, he jerked out of her grasp and lined himself up with her slick entrance. Lorne pushed to his hands. His eyes found hers, bright and gold and beautiful, at least until her own fluttered shut.
He pushed slowly into her, stretching her wide as he parted her with controlled thrusts. Shallow, deeper, an inch at a time. Maddening. Blissful.
Sloan caught her lip between her teeth just as he slid the last inch home. His strangled groan sounded like heaven. All for her. All because of her.
And then he moved and the stars he’d created bef
ore were a distant memory to the fireworks bursting behind her eyelids.
“Fuck, Lorne,” she ground out in his ear. “Don’t stop.”
His growl vibrated through her and the world narrowed down to nothing but the sound of flesh coming together, growls and groans, and the feel of the sexy shifter filling her completely.
Lorne bucked into her faster. Harder. She could barely hold on, let alone breathe. He had her doped up and craving the next hit.
Pressure built in her middle as his thrusts turned harder and more erratic.
“Sloan,” he growled. “Come with me.”
Holy hell. She was close already, but the words prodded her closer to the edge of red hot passion. She teetered right on the cliff until he rose up enough to bring his hand between their bodies. One swipe of her clit, another, and she arched into his touch.
“Lorne,” she gasped as he roared her name.
He tensed, hips jerking again as warmth flooded her. He laid a biting, sucking kiss on her neck and stroked into her, throbbing out his release and pulling her aftershocks along with him.
When he finally collapsed against her, Sloan had a small smile on her lips. Euphoric. There was that word again. No wonder the Jimmy Culpeppers of the world were worried. They couldn’t compete.
Her small laugh jerked Lorne’s full attention on her, eyes sweeping to her face, then her neck. Worry creased his face. “Didn’t expect that when I ran,” she said in explanation. Bringing up Jimmy just didn’t seem right.
He leaned back down and huffed a laugh in her hair. “Couldn’t be helped.”
With a groan, he stepped back, and they fixed themselves in satisfied silence.
“Where to, Agent?” he asked when he took his place behind the wheel.
Sloan swallowed. That was her out if she wanted to take it. She didn’t feel a lick of shame or awkwardness. No desire to peel off from an ended date. Hell, she wanted more. She wanted to wake up to him.
Sloan glanced at him from the side. Strong jaw, covered in a scratchy beard. She’d never kissed a man with a beard before. She liked the sensitive rawness it left behind. “I’m not that far.”
He gave her a hooded blink. “If that’s what you want.”
She met his gaze without flinching and nodded. Leftover warmth and new heat spread through her at the thought of not giving up on the night for many more hours.
Devilish grin on his face, Lorne lifted two fingers in greeting to the patrol car turning down the road just as they pulled away. “How does it feel to be a delinquent, Agent?”
Sloan passed a hand down her face and laughed.
Chapter 15
Sloan rested her head against the window and watched the night blur. The woman in the reflection couldn’t keep a smile off her face.
Next to her, Lorne let off a pleased sigh. His hand hadn’t left her thigh since he started up the truck and drove them away from the park.
She liked that he wasn’t one of those roll over and fall asleep sort of men, or the type who rushed out the door as soon as he finished. She didn’t need a full-on cuddle session, but some intimacy was nice. The silent, content drive back to her place and the subtle promise of the night continuing kicked her smile up and warmed her blood by another ten degrees.
Sloan struggled to identify the feeling that coursed through her. Physical euphoria from intense, star-inducing orgasms, sure. But the sensation went even beyond that. She felt solid. More real and centered and present than ever before. Like roots had spouted under her feet and secured her to the town and, more importantly, to Lorne.
She stood at the edge of something important. The dark side of a doorway, right where the light spilled from indoors. She was mere steps away from the place she needed to be.
Her logical side snorted. The thoughts were a little too woo-woo for her tastes.
At her direction, Lorne turned off the main road and down a residential street. “Surprised you aren’t at the inn,” he said.
He drove past a cluster of homes before making another turn down her street. Only a couple of neighbors lived near. Trees in the front yard hid most of her driveway, and the back butted up against wilderness. After years in a noisy city, the quiet was a nice change.
“I stayed there just long enough for my landlord to see I was a real person. I didn’t want there to be any excuse to make this assignment temporary.”
He glanced at her for a quick second. “You really believe there’s good to be done there, don’t you?”
“I do.” Sloan lolled her head to the side and studied his profile. “Everyone deserves justice. I’d rather fight from the inside than give up on that idea.”
Lorne turned up her driveway. Set off from the road was the small, one bedroom cabin she’d been lucky to snag. She’d panicked about her sudden move until the listing popped up. The little cabin had given her hope.
The headlights glinted off the ground in strange ways and Sloan straightened in her seat.
“Stay here.” The words whipped out of her mouth as she jumped from the truck even before he pulled to a full stop.
“Like hell I will,” Lorne growled.
Sloan shot a withering look over her shoulder. The noise bit off into a curse when she didn’t stop. Between the man upset in his truck and the possibility of someone still on the property, she put her focus on the latter. Lorne’s disapproval could wait.
Years of practice pushed her into high alert. She cataloged everything over the sound of her racing heart. Cracked and broken windows on her Jeep. Front door kicked in with wood splintered from the force of the blow. A dent behind where it banged into the wall.
She seethed. They wanted her scared and their tactics hadn’t worked. Stalker photos and snake skins weren’t enough to satisfy them. They had to up the ante and fuck with her personal space.
Assholes.
“Fucking Jimmy,” she muttered.
“Who?” Lorne asked from behind her.
Sloan tried to hide her surprise. Freaking shifters and their silent steps. She really was at a disadvantage sometimes.
“Jimmy Culpepper.” She spat out his name like it was poison. “My former partner. This isn’t the first time he’s sent someone to fuck with me because he’s looking for revenge. They’ve just never been this destructive.”
“They’ve done shit like this before?” Agitation rolled off the man in harsh waves. He shook his head, but it did little to clear the air between them. “One, you’re going to tell me all about that. They don’t get to do anything to you again.”
So simple. A single, declaratory sentence. Sloan wished it was that easy. She’d have chanted it the entire drive across country.
She brushed past the broken door, shoes crunching on glass. The inside of the house was just as trashed as the outside, but she didn’t have time to worry about the items needing to be replaced. The inventory could come later, once she had a chance to clear the house and make sure no one lurked in the dark corners. The shaking of her hands could start then, and she could give in to the violated feeling that pressed at the edge of her mind.
Right then, she wanted to secure herself.
Cautious steps forward, pausing to listen. She made her way into her bedroom and the gun safe she kept there. She punched in the code and drew out her weapon and badge, securing both to her waist.
Bathroom, clear. Bedroom closet, empty.
Motherfuckers wouldn’t drive her off easily. They could rip up her couch cushions and break every dish in the cabinets, but they only pissed her off and made her dig in her heels. She had no intention of ceding any ground to vindictive assholes. They’d already forced her from one home. They didn’t get to do it a second time.
Sloan was ready to breathe fire when she reached the living room again.
Lorne stood in the middle, slowly turning and surveying the damage. His chest heaved with rapid breaths and his fists opened and closed at his sides. A long, low growl rattled in his chest. “This was my fault. I led him rig
ht to you.”
She paused and flicked her eyes to Lorne. The words didn’t make sense. “You didn’t do anything. This was Jimmy’s people.”
The dark edge of his voice didn’t fade. “This was Ian. His scent is all over the damn place. Not even an hour old.”
She stopped with her hand on the knob of the coat closet. No wonder he wasn’t tearing the place apart to make sure no one was hiding away. He could smell if they were alone.
Her brain stuttered over the rest. Ian wouldn’t have made even the top ten of suspects who’d trash her place. “Why? I didn’t do anything to him. He has no reason to come after me.”
“He wants me to suffer.” Lorne scrubbed a hand through his hair and paced away from her, another growl sawing out of his chest.
“Well, fuck that. He’s going to be disappointed.” Sloan punched in the number to the office.
Lorne whipped back around. “What are you doing?”
“I’m calling this in.” She gestured to the mess with her cell.
“I’ll handle this.” He reached over his head and pulled off his shirt. Darkened fingertips were a clear sign of his intention to go after Ian.
Sloan placed herself between him and the door, call temporarily forgotten. “You will not. That’s not how the law works, Lorne. This isn’t your problem.”
“He came after you because of me. That’s exactly how the law works.” His fists tightened at his sides and his eyes flared gold. “I won’t let him hurt you. Not like—He’ll pay for this.”
Not like Lilah. That was what he cut off.
Danger filled the air and coiled down her spine. Right alongside it was a feeling of...
No. She shoved away the sensation of belonging or being more than just herself. Those were idiot ideas when the man in front of her looked ready to commit murder.
“You’ve done your job. You figured out who did it. Now let the professionals track him down,” she said calmly.
His upper lip lifted in a snarl. “My job? My job should have me out there right now. My bear is ripping me apart to make sure he never comes near you again.”
Breaking Fate: Book Three: Black Claw Ranch Page 12
