by Olivia Arran
“And Tamara is what, twenty-three?”
“Yep, twins. My father had many sleepless nights with those two, especially as teenagers.”
I widened my eyes. “I’m sure. And, wow, mated for life at twenty-three.”
“Twenty actually. She and Steven found each other at nineteen.”
“Ah, yes, I remember—fast moving.” On the inside, I was gaping at him. At twenty, I barely felt mature enough to balance my own check book, let alone make a lifelong commitment. Then again, from the tiny bit Bree had told me about the whole mating and fated mates bonding thing, it wasn’t so much a conscious decision as an acceptance of something that felt intrinsically right. Two people drawn to one another, craving each other’s company and love, and joining together as soulmates.
The waitress bustled over, delivering our meals, Mrs. Barone hot on her heels to ply us with more wine. “Not on duty tonight. Romance is in the air, hmmm?” She winked at me, giving me a not so subtle thumbs up that had Grant grinning behind the safety of his wine glass. She swept away, a whirlwind circling her own universe, turning her attention to the couple seated at the table across from us.
“Iesha isn’t mated yet then?” I asked, twirling my fork in my spaghetti while inhaling the fragrant steam rising from the dish.
Grant had ordered a steak and didn’t look up from his task of carving it into bite sized chunks while answering, “It’s actually not that common to find your fated mate. Some choose to wait as long as it takes, while some shifters decide to commit to another person for companionship. Which often leads to love.”
“I didn’t know that.”
He looked up, a wealth of emotion hiding behind his slate gray eyes. “It’s a vast world when you’re trying to find the other half of your soul.”
But, despite those odds, he’d found little old me.
“And there’s no way of knowing where to look, or for who?” Realizing I’d been neglecting my meal, I dove in, shoveling in a bite of pasta that had me licking sauce from my lips.
Grant froze, his eyes fixed on my mouth. “Shifters believe that Fate guides us to each other, but it’s hard to have faith when there are so many who never find their mates.”
“Maybe the amendments to the Registration Act will help. If humans and shifters intermingle again, perhaps there will be more fated mates found?” When silence met my rambling, I wondered if I’d said the wrong thing, but one look at his face told me otherwise.
He looked stunned, his mouth opening, then shutting again. Slowly, he nodded. “Maybe this is how it was meant to be all along: shifters and humans able to choose to live together out in the open, free to move around as Fate guides them.” He shook his head, his fingers curling on the table cloth. “We’ve got a way to go before the world is ready for that kind of acceptance, though.” Waving away my look of concern, he flashed me a lopsided grin and motioned for me to eat, attacking his steak like a man on a mission.
We fell into a comfortable silence while we ate, both sneaking glances and wearing matching smiles, a bubbling, almost anxious heat building inside of me. Dragging my napkin from my lap, I dabbed at my mouth while swallowing my nerves. Reaching across the table, I covered his hand with mine. Despite our rocky start, I knew I would never regret meeting him, no matter what path we ended up taking.
It all came down to freedom of choice, and I was about to exercise mine.
“Take me home, Grant.”
Chapter Thirteen
Grant
An apparent gentlemanly misunderstanding on my part resulted in me making it halfway back to the car before her hand yanked me back. Reaching up onto her tiptoes, Mandy curled her arms around my neck and pushed her fingers up into my hair, raking her nails across my scalp as she dragged me into another kiss. Soft skin slid against mine, her curves pressing against me in a way that had my cock hardening and my arms tightening. Hauling her closer, I palmed her ass, groaning when she rocked against me, sliding against my aching length.
“Pretty lady,” I managed to gasp out between kisses. “We’re going to have to stop before—”
Small hands slid around to cup my face. “I said, take me home, Grant.”
My eyebrows shot up as I nipped at the corner of her mouth. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she replied, simple and without hesitation. Rubbing against me, she licked into my mouth, meeting me kiss for kiss.
We tumbled in through the door, banging into the wall with a soft thud. With my back braced against the hard surface, she pushed away, her hands trailing down over my shoulders, smoothing over the planes of my chest. “This needs to come off,” she whispered, yanking my t-shirt out of my pants.
“Upstairs?” I couldn’t see Sarah, but I knew Mandy lived with her.
I growled when she chewed on her lip. She caught my jaw between her hands when I lunged for her, scooping her up and spinning around until she was the one pressed against the wall, using my own teeth to tug and tease at her mouth. Pinning her with my hips, I swept a hand up to cup her breast as we lost ourselves in the moment, both fighting for control with our mouths, our tongues, hands touching and stroking.
On a breathless laugh, she leaned back. “First door on the right at the top of the stairs.”
I lurched into action, keeping her in my arms and taking the steps two at a time. A quick double check and I pushed open the door, focus zeroing in on the bed that was pushed up against the far wall. It was a queen. “You need a bigger bed.” Not that I could talk at the moment, sharing a room equipped with two singles and Daryl.
She scowled. “This is a normal sized person bed.”
“I’m not normal sized.”
Giving me a dirty look, she smirked and reached down between us, cupping my groin. “No caveman, you’re most certainly not.” I made to move toward the bed, but she patted me on my chest. “Wait. Let me down a second.”
After doing as she asked, I watched as she picked a red scrap of material up off the dresser, walked over to the door and pulled it open, hung the red scrap on the doorknob, then closed it again. “Now, where were we?”
“Back in college, from the look of things.”
“You went to college?”
I gave her an exasperated look, not sure whether to be pleased that she was so interested in me, offended that she sounded so surprised, or bemused that she’d rather talk than make out. I went with a mixture of the three, pulling her back into my arms with a low growl and kissing her until she sagged against me, making those soft sounds that went straight to my cock, tightening the band of need that had wrapped itself around me, shrinking my self-control down to non-existent.
Falling back onto the bed, she pulled me down with her, cradling me between her thighs as we explored deeper, hands roaming, pushing at clothes and gasping between kisses. I rocked against her and she shuddered, moving with me in that instinctual rhythm, my t-shirt pushed up and off, her hands reaching between us to work at my jeans.
Tiny buttons decorated the front of her dress and I started plucking at them, trying to catch them between my fingers while not giving up her mouth. A growl of frustration buzzed between us, vibrating against my teeth where our lips joined.
“Hidden zipper,” she muttered, tracing the seam of my mouth with her tongue and leading my hand to the right place.
She hit jackpot seconds before I did, her hand sliding into my jeans and bypassing my boxers to wrap around my cock. Arching into her touch, I thrust my hips while sliding her dress down. “Fuck. That feels good.” She tightened her grip as my mouth closed over her nipple, pulling a deep groan from me. Licking at the goosebumps pebbling her skin, I sucked the bud of her nipple into my mouth, laving it with my tongue while dragging her dress down to her hips. Her hand reached down to help, taking her panties with her and leaving her completely naked below me. Fuck. She was gorgeous. Soft and plump in all the right places, her body overflowed in my hands as I explored, hands sliding down over her rounded stomach, grazing over her hips to cup her ass and
lift her to me.
Control nearly shredded, I reared up, my gaze drinking in the sight of her spread before me as I shucked off my jeans, kicking them away onto the floor.
She reached for me, but I leaned away, scooting down the bed. I needed to taste her, learn the intimate flavor of my mate. Pressing a kiss to her inner thigh, I nipped at the skin, chuckling when she cursed under her breath.
Her hands made a weak protest, sliding into my hair and urging me back up the bed. “You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” Coaxing her legs to part, I licked a path up her thigh, tracing the edge of her sex with my tongue before dipping inside for my first real taste. Perfection. I hummed my approval and she moaned, bucking against my mouth, squirming beneath me as I used my thumbs to spread her. Teasing her with my hands, I devoured her with my mouth.
Her fingers tightened in my hair, her body grinding against me, at first tentatively, then shamelessly, nails digging in and back arching as she thrashed and twisted on the covers, her cries of release muffled by the hand she slapped over her mouth.
I surged up her body even as her hands pulled at me, our mouths locking together in a dance of twisting tongues and breathless groans. The slide of my shaft over her slick skin had me shuddering against her, the need to bury myself inside her so intense, my mind was white noise, blank of everything but the sensation of her beneath me, her scent mixing with mine and making the perfect blend, her taste fresh on my tongue and drugging my senses.
She arched up into me at the perfect angle and the head of my shaft bumped up against her entrance. One thrust and I’d be home.
“Condom?” Her words were breathless, laced with lust.
I raised up onto my elbows so I could see her face, I wanted to watch her take me into her body, witness her expression without filter. “Shifter. We’re infertile unless we’re with our mates and we don’t carry disease.” I slid in an inch and groaned at the tight warmth that squeezed around me.
Wrapping her hands around my biceps, her hips bucked and took me another inch. “But you said that I’m your mate.”
“Mated. Only fertile once mated,” I corrected. Oh, fuck. Surging forward another slow inch, I rocked my hips, wanting to drag the pleasure out. Biting down on my lip, I fought the need to thrust into her, to fuck hard and fast, to sate the building need inside me that demanded I finish inside my mate.
Eyes hooded and face flushed, she arched her neck and tilted her hips when I sank in another inch, a low rattle of breath spilling from her mouth. “Yes. More…” she huffed out. “I won’t break, I’m a strong woman, remember?”
My control snapped at her command and my hips punched forward, sinking into her until I could go no further. Her throaty moan was all the encouragement I needed as I ground against her, retreating before thrusting back in, again and again, until time blurred, narrowing down to the slap of slick skin and hands stroking. Pressing. Holding. Driving us both to fever pitch, until the air burned in my lungs.
Rolling us over, I thrust up into her slick heat, grasping her hips as she undulated above me. Rising up onto her knees and gliding back down, her face strained with pleasure and lashes fluttered with every downward stroke.
“Grant,” she cried out as I reached between her legs and stroked her, increasing the pressure as she sped up, bracing my heels against the bed and snapping my hips up to meet hers in a punishing rhythm.
My balls tightened, signaling my imminent release and my jaw ached, my fangs tingling as instinct tried to ensnare me in its trap, recognizing our mate, urging us to take her and make her ours in every way possible. Surging up, I fused our mouths together, incoherent sounds escaping as we clung to each other. I thrust again, once. Twice. “Come for me,” I commanded, pressing my closed lips against her neck as she jerked in my arms, stiffening under the strain of her release, triggering my own which raced through me, ripping a roar of satisfaction from my oxygen deprived lungs.
We slowed, gentling our movements until we were still, sagging against another and whispering sweet words that were caught by passion, a whisper on the wind and gone by the morning.
Slowly, she pulled back, blinking up at me, her smile carrying a shy quality that I hadn’t seen on her before.
My heart thumped inside my chest, echoing out through my bones.
“Stay the night?”
Leaning in, I brushed our lips together, rubbing back and forth gently until I felt her smile. “Yes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mandy
“Well, well, someone’s looking happy with herself this fine morning.” Sarah winked at me, holding out a cup of coffee.
I tried for an innocent expression, but lost it within two seconds, unable to keep the satisfied smugness off my face.
Sarah pointed at me with a mock scowl. “Aw, you’re going to be hell to live with now, aren’t you?”
“I won’t let orgasms change me,” I declared, tilting my nose into the air and hugging my steaming coffee to my chest.
“That’s what they all say before they’re swept away on a wave of endorphins and lost to that other plane of existence.”
Talking about endorphins, I could still feel tingles at the base of my spine from the things Grant had done with his tongue this morning. “Which would be where exactly?”
“Coupledom, of course.”
“We’re not a—”
“Good morning, Grant. Fancy seeing you here. Nice to see you looking so … perky.”
“Morning, Sarah.” His voice was husky from sleep, his arms sliding around my waist as he dropped a kiss on my rat’s nest of curls. “Missed you when I woke up, pretty lady.”
I spun around, my eyes immediately dropping to his denim clad crotch. Nope, no perkiness going on there.
Sarah burst out laughing, passing him a cup of coffee that she’d already fixed up. “Don’t worry, I heard you coming up the path last night and beat you upstairs, then spent the night wearing my ear plugs.”
Ah, she was the best friend ever. Leaning into her side, I pulled her in for a mangled hug. “Dibs on first shower.”
“Uh huh. You’ve got to say goodbye to your man and we’ve got to be at work in less than an hour.” Not giving me chance to protest, she darted past me, whooping as she galloped up the stairs.
“She’s right, I should head home and get changed.”
Twisting back around, I tilted my face for a kiss, which he bestowed with a soft smile that crinkled the edges of his eyes. “Wouldn’t want you doing the walk of shame at the station, would we?”
His chest rumbled. “Definitely not.”
I walked him to the door, tightening my robe and securing my belt so I didn’t flash the neighbors. Not that they weren’t already getting an eyeful, seeing Grant leaving at this time in the morning, waved off by me with a full head of well-sexed hair.
After a slow, lingering kiss, he took a step back, his eyes telling me he wished he could stay, even as he forced his feet to keep moving backward.
“Wait.” I fumbled with the right words. “How are we going to handle this at work?”
“However you like,” he replied without missing a beat. “You’re my mate and my team knows that.”
“I don’t want to hide it, hide us.” What we had shared wasn’t a shameful or dirty secret.
“How about we take it one step at a time and see what comes naturally?”
“Sounds good.” I had this sudden urge to define our relationship, my natural instinct to push people away for fear of them never coming back rearing its ugly head once again, but I shoved it down deep inside. Defining meant decisions, and I wasn’t ready to face those yet. Enjoy it being new and exciting while it lasts, silly. Though, if I had to be honest, I couldn’t foresee a day when it wouldn’t be exciting with Grant. Giving him one last wave, I closed the door with a soft click, hugging the feelings close as I made the mad dash upstairs to kick Sarah out of the shower before she stole the last of the hot water.
Sar
ah and I walked into the conference room to pick up our partners and found Grant and Daryl huddled in a corner.
“It’s in motion. We’ll know soon enough,” Grant was saying.
Setting the box I was carrying down on the table, I flicked it open, my thumb and finger hovering over the selection. “What’s in motion?”
“Nothing, just news from back home.” Grant walked over to stand next to me. Not touching. Not expecting anything.
I offered him my lips, which he took with a smile, keeping it brief and respectable. Then I offered him a donut, which he also didn’t turn down, spreading sprinkles of sugar and a spurt of raspberry jelly over his fingers.
All I could do was shake my head at him, he was a lost cause when it came to food.
Daryl rubbed his hands together, approaching the sugar filled box with adoration in his eyes. “Better than sex,” he growled.
“Hey, Lieutenant, I’ve saved you an old fashioned,” I called, spying Kel hovering in the doorway. The man looked a little flustered, so I contemplated putting the sweet treat back, in deference to his blood pressure, but he nabbed it out of my hand on his way past.
Everyone else piled in, falling on the box like a bunch of savages and mumbling thanks around stuffing their mouths.
Grant finished licking his fingers clean and I couldn’t help but shiver when my mind flashed back to last night. “Special occasion?” he asked, indicating the box.
“It’s Friday,” I offered with a shrug.
“Any day can be donut day,” Daryl declared, a smudge of jelly decorating the corner of his mouth.
A sly look to my right confirmed I wasn’t the only one who had spotted it, but I wasn’t the one who looked like he wanted to remove it—with his tongue. “Pass Daryl a napkin out of the drawer will you, Kel?” My boss immediately looked away, but got up to search one out.
Now, if only… A glance to my left, under the cover of sipping at my drink. Well, would you look at that? Daryl’s eyes were trying to help Kel find the napkins.
