by Diana Seere
With a final glance up the path, she turned and climbed over the boulders to reach the springs.
No, it would be impossible.
Sitting on a large stone, she dropped her face into her hands and breathed in the steam, imagining drowning in it.
“I was thinking we would swim a little later, but now is as good a time as any,” Gavin said behind her.
She didn’t move, but her heart thudded a hello.
“I can feel your distress, darling.” He walked across the boulders in graceful, relaxed strides to her side. There he waited, saying nothing, not even touching her.
“Your brother hates me.”
“I’d prefer they all did,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Edward was quick enough getting his hands on you. I expected it of Derry, but Edward is usually too reclusive to—”
“I meant Asher. The one who matters.”
He scowled. “He doesn’t matter.”
Disappointed that, as usual, he wasn’t going to talk to her in any substantive way, she moved away from him to touch the water. Its heat warmed her fingertips but not her heart.
He watched her, matching her long silence with his. Finally, he said, “It’s not you, Lilah. You must know that. Some years ago, Asher experienced a great loss. He’s never recovered, possibly never will. He doesn’t want me to suffer the same fate.”
“His wife and child died.”
“How did you—” Gavin paused. “Yes.”
“Everyone dies.”
He paused again. “Yes.”
“He wants you to stay alone for the rest of your life because he suffered a tragedy?”
Taking an audible breath, he moved to stand behind her at the water’s edge. He kissed the top of her head, then dropped another on her temple. “It’s the depth of my...attachment to you...that worries him.”
Worry dissolved under the siege of his touch, now coming from all sides. His arms came around her, his knee slid between hers, his mouth captured an earlobe...
“You’re attached to me?” she asked, breathless.
He reached around and dove his hand under her jeans, under her panties, into wet heat. “Quite.” He began to stroke her, easily holding her weight as she sagged against him.
“I...I think I’m falling in love with you, Gavin,” she said, shuddering as he licked the pulse at her throat.
“Take off your clothes.”
She smiled. “Did you hear what I said?”
He pushed his finger higher, deeper, his voice lowering. “Did you?”
A soft cry escaped her. “I can still see part of the ranch through the trees. Somebody might come—”
“Somebody better.” He withdrew his hand, pushed her away, and pointed at her pants. “Off.”
Nodding, breathing hard, she kicked off her boots, fumbled with the zipper on her jeans, and wriggled the tight denim over her hips. She bent over to pull off her socks and remove the jeans completely, knowing she was giving him a show of her ass and getting hot at the thought. When she began to pull off the panties, he stopped her.
“Save those for last,” he said, gazing at her with unblinking eyes.
Licking her lips, she smiled and pulled the sweater over her head. Now she stood before him in the lingerie she’d bought just for the trip, the first selfish purchase she’d made in years.
Except, from the ravenous look on his face, perhaps it wasn’t selfish at all. He tore off his clothes and caught her in his arms, unbalancing her over the edge of the pool. “You like to tease me, do you?”
His palm stroked the swell of her ass, testing it.
“No,” she whispered.
He spanked her, not very lightly, and she gasped. “Don’t you?” he asked.
“Yes, yes I do,” she said, writhing in his arms, arching her back to feel the sting of his palm again.
“Get in the water.” He turned her and gave her a gentle push.
She had to bend over again and put her hands on the rocks for balance, smiling to herself at the second show she was giving him. Hoping for another spank, which had made her wetter than she thought possible. She sank into the water, surprised at its depth, its heat. The surface reached her nipples, teasing them erect under the lace cups she wore.
He climbed in after her and grabbed her.
“This can go.” He unlatched her bra and tore it from her. Her full breasts bobbed into his waiting hands. Ducking his head, he kissed her hard, pinching her nipples as his tongue invaded her.
She felt so light, so lithe in the water, sliding her legs against his strong, muscled thighs as she arched against him. He dug his fingers into her ass and squeezed, pulling her legs open, teasing her fearlessly. Straddling his thigh, she groaned into his mouth, not caring about his brothers or the guests or her job, only caring that he fucked her right away, right now.
“Gavin,” she moaned, reaching for him, catching his hard cock in her fist. “Fuck me, Gavin, fuck me.”
He pulled away, clamping his hands over her wrist, stopping her from stroking him. “Suck me.”
The command in his voice made her tremble. “All right,” she said, dropping low in the water.
He was already climbing up on a boulder so she could reach him. There he leaned back on his elbows, shifting his hips into her face. His long, velvety cock arched up between them.
“Beg me first.”
With a smile, she floated over and settled between his legs. The boulder was smooth under her hands, the steam hot in her mouth.
“Please, Gavin, may I suck your cock?” she asked playfully.
“Say it like you really want it.”
She dropped her gaze, imagining the noise he’d make when she drew him into her mouth. The pleasure she could give him, take for herself.
“Please,” she said, all serious now. “Please let me suck you.”
Clenching his jaw, he nodded. “All right.”
She’d never considered herself an expert of this particular skill, and for a moment she paused, afraid to disappoint him. But he let out a sigh, a tender smile flickering across his face, and her confidence returned in a flood of lust and love.
She licked her lips, and then she licked him.
Gavin groaned as her lipsticked mouth enveloped his rock-hard erection, the slide of her warm, wet mouth the best form of love she could give him right now. He’d heard her words moments ago and had been stunned into silence. If she listened to his heart in the space between them where words were not needed, she would know he returned the love.
But right now her lips told him so much more than words.
Tentative but eager at the same time, Lilah worked him, making blood rush through his veins, his body taut. Senses on fire, he pushed his hips against her thick sucking, the scrape of teeth tantalizing as she pulled up, flicking the tip of her tongue against his cap as her wet palm stroked him from the root on up.
“Lilah,” he murmured, one hand supporting him on the rocks, the other stroking her hair. Without changing her pace, she looked at him, eyes tipping up with a look of coy innocence that nearly made him explode in her mouth.
Enough of this. He wanted to bury his cock in her sweet flesh. He backed away and in seconds had her on the side of the pool. She squirmed as he dove between her legs, his body floating in the water, tongue finding her tender clit. The sound of her sigh, then hitched breath, made his cock twitch.
The beast within was rising up. He needed to be careful.
She sat up before he could slip a finger inside her pink heat, robbing him of the pleasure he took in that pause before entry. That moment, suspended before giving her what she wanted, when he knew it was coming. Knew he would give it to her. Knew only he could give her that ecstasy.
She slid into the water, surprising him, but yanked him to her, in for a kiss. Her kiss was fire and steam, bold and taking.
“You’re so hard,” she said, panting as she broke the kiss, her hair half-wet and streaming out on the water’s surface like that of
a mermaid. The lush flesh of her breasts bobbed between them, her nipples caressing his own hard chest.
He pressed their bodies together, his cock pinned between. “Yes,” he murmured, nibbling a line from her collarbone to her earlobe. The steam from the hot water rose up in clusters, random tendrils and small clouds their only company.
“Not just in the flesh, Gavin,” she said simply. He paused, ears perked, and waited for her to say more. She remained silent, though her fingers danced on his back, his waist, his ass.
“Mmmm?” was all he could manage as seconds ticked by.
“You’re a hard man to read. To understand. To know,” she explained. Her words held no judgment. He used her pensive moments to touch her with great care, hands enjoying the endless slopes and turns of her hips, her ass, her ribs, her.
Just her.
With a gentle rocking movement, he began to shift his hips up, thrusting against her belly. “You’re getting to know me now,” he murmured against the soft pulse at her neck, sliding the wet, ropy hair off her shoulder.
Her little sigh of desire made him nearly come right now. She was so soft. So inviting. So authentic and trusting. As the dark Montana sky blanketed them with stars you could not hope to see in Boston, he kissed her until he couldn’t tell where his body ended and hers began.
“This isn’t just about sex,” she whispered as they broke away from each other. Her fingertips played with his lips, the steam rising up from the hot water as the nighttime air chilled them. “I can tell.”
“No. It’s not just sex, Lilah. It would be so much easier if it were.”
Her eyes searched his face, looking for something he knew he needed to hide. What would she say if she knew the truth? Would she be disgusted? Horrified? Reveal him to the world? Destroy the Stanton name and fortune? The risk of a human learning about a shifter was so great. Asher’s warnings ricocheted through his mind.
Yet love for Lilah bounced through all four chambers of his heart.
He hid his face in shadows, knowing that if she could see his eyes she would see too much.
Her hips moved, then a gentle kiss on his neck. Her head dipped to bite his nipple, the move hungry.
“Why do you say that, Gavin? If it were just sex, I think it would be more painful. I can’t know you like this,” she hissed, her hand cupping his ass, sloping down the lines of his tense muscles, “and not know you here.” She slid her palm up his hip, his ribs, his chest and rested it against his stunned heart.
A twinned pulse rammed through him, her hand a supernova, the Beat a shockwave of emotion and need.
With one swift movement he was in her, cock sliding into her slippery refuge, his breath urgent against her ear as he moved inside her, slow yet deep.
“Be careful what you wish for, Lilah,” he murmured as she moaned, her elegant neck vibrating against his shoulder.
“I’m not wishing for anything, Gavin,” she gasped, her words halting and hitched. “I am asking outright. Let me in. Let me know you. Let me love—”
His mouth stopped her words, the fire inside making the water feel like it was boiling purely from their mutual heat. His tongue took hers and made it submit, though she didn’t require much insistence. Lilah’s heart battered her fear like a hammer and Gavin felt every blow.
He sought to chase the fear away, one pleasure-filled thrust at a time.
Perhaps he was also chasing away his own, but now was not a time to think. The feel of her creamy skin under his masterful hands made him will away all uncertainty. The rush of animal lust overpowered him, driving thought into the shadows. The pore-by-pore pinprick sensation he’d grown to understand began its slow march across the landscape of his body, and he fought the change that was imminent. Why now? He was supposed to resume control once they’d mated. And yet...
His cock burrowed in her, the friction between his hammering and her welcoming was a divine space. Each thrust made her fingernails rake his back, each hoarse cry from one of their throats a call to Mother Nature. A thank-you.
A hello.
“I— Oh!” Lilah said, words gone now as their bodies glistened in the moon’s light, Gavin’s muscles broadening, his body one large sheet of instinct in flesh form. Their cries mingled in the night as their frantic pace splashed water onto the stones. Gavin was long beyond caring as he rammed her against the edge again and again, her body begging for more, legs wrapped around his waist, one knee cocked up to give him better access as he poured his seed inside her, bathing her inside and out.
Lilah’s nails drove into his buttocks, her body twisting and writhing with climax after climax, her pussy walls pulling him, drawing him in. Pinning him in place.
And then.
His vision changed, nostrils flaring as the scent of her juices pierced the veil of lust he wished he could enjoy. The shift was beginning and he struggled to control it, ears perked for the sounds of the woods. What the hell was happening? His eyes adjusted, the light more than enough to see the layered darkness, and he slumped against Lilah’s loose form, pulling out.
Eye contact right now simply would not do. Would she see his wolf eyes?
He forced himself to plant a simple kiss on her neck, teeth aching to nibble. If he bared his lips he might show fangs. Gavin’s nose picked up a pack of wolves in the distance, an owl, a raccoon near the trash cans at the back of the kitchen.
And two people fucking in the bushes near the sunroom off the east wing of the main house. The man wore far too much cologne, and as he inhaled deeply, he realized it was his own brother, Derry.
The woman was on her second sex partner of the night.
If he could smell Derry from here, then Derry could certainly detect him.
He kept his head down, eyes unable to stop taking her in. The harsh light of regular moonlight was no match for the subtle view he had now, her body a relief map of pure urge.
If he thought that he was speechless with pleasure when he was in human form, he was sorely mistaken. In those moments he could, with great will, speak.
Right now he could not.
With a great lunge he pushed off her body and landed on all fours, the cool night air broken slightly by the thickening fur that filled in as he carefully sprinted into the shadows the trees afforded him in the night.
Lilah did not call his name.
If she had, he likely would not have understood it.
Chapter 14
Lilah turned, dizzy from the hot water and the lovemaking, reaching out for Gavin but catching only tendrils of steam.
Why was he running away? She heard movement in the woods. Maybe somebody was coming up the path and he was hiding to protect her from being seen with him.
She ducked her shoulders beneath the surface of the water, her heart pounding in her throat as she tried to catch her breath without making a sound. Even alone, she didn’t want to be found here. She was naked with her clothes strewn all over the rocks. Not exactly professional Platinum Club cocktail waitress behavior.
But she waited for several long, silent minutes, not moving, and nobody arrived.
And he didn’t return.
Thinking he may have seen or heard something earlier that she hadn’t, she decided to get dressed and find him at his house. He was probably waiting for her. She cast out her feelings, searching for him with the sixth sense that grew stronger every day.
Yes. There he was. Not far.
Mine.
Not knowing if it was her own voice or his that echoed in her head, she hurried into her clothes and shoes, not caring she was dripping wet, and climbed over the rocks to the path. She couldn’t wipe the dumb smile off her face.
It’s not just sex, he’d said. It would be so much easier if it were.
He wasn’t ready to tell her he loved her, but he did. She knew it. Felt it.
He’d shown her the only way he knew how—yet. His body showed her what his mind and heart weren’t ready to express.
That’s what she hoped, anyway.
Desperately.
The night was turning cold, the sky deepening into black now that the moon had set. Shivering in her wet clothes, she jogged up the path to the house she felt was his, knew was his. A gorgeous, outsized cabin nestled in the woods greeted her, its wraparound porch dotted with welcoming benches and chairs to take in the lake view in the valley to the east.
The door knocker was heavy, cold iron. She dropped it on the door, licking her lips and shifting her weight from foot to foot, eager to get inside to the warmth, the privacy, and him. To the love he wasn’t ready to talk about.
No response. She tried to feel his presence like she had before, but this time she felt nothing but wild silence.
Where had he gone?
Confusion battled hurt and indignation. There had to be some explanation. He’d been called away. Something important. In the midst of their mad passion at the pool, she hadn’t been sharp enough to realize what had happened. He’d explain when he could. She had to believe that.
So she returned, damp and increasingly exhausted, to the lodge and her own room with its empty bed.
In spite of her concerns about Gavin, she fell asleep in seconds, not moving from where she fell until she woke, just before dawn, in a cold sweat. She’d been having the most alarming dream about a pack of wolves. They chased her through the Montana woods, then through the streets of Boston, almost tearing her to shreds on the sidewalk in front of her apartment. But she got through the gate just in time, slamming it in the face of the largest wolf, a huge, furious animal with mottled gray fur and sharp eyes.
“If you love him, leave him,” the wolf said.
His voice was Asher Stanton’s.
Body shaking, she stumbled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, the words echoing in her brain. Too much stress, too much sex, not nearly enough downtime. She was bound to be on edge, a little crazy.
But the words haunted her for the rest of the morning as she went about her day, while she tried to joke around with the staff at breakfast, then later when she rested in her room until her evening shift.
