Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Moxie North

  Pushing that thought aside, he flipped his visor down and started up his bike. He pulled in behind her telling her she was lead, and they revved off into the tight turns of the Dragon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It had been a while since Delaney had been on a long ride. She snickered to herself that it was just like riding a bicycle, once you got on it all came back to you in muscle memory. She kept her speed safe but still fast enough to enjoy the G’s she was pulling on the switchback turns. The sound of her motor was almost drowned out by the huge bike that was following behind her. Will was at her back, and for some reason, she liked knowing he was so close.

  He probably wanted to take the drive a lot faster, but Delaney knew the dangers of the road and kept it reasonable. They drove out to the dam and parked their bikes. Pulling off her helmet, she immediately tried to smooth down any flyaways.

  She saw that Will still looked model perfect when his helmet came off.

  “You want to take the lead on the way out?” she asked, trying to be gracious and share a little.

  “And miss the chance to stare at your ass? No, thank you.” He settled his helmet on his seat.

  “I’m going to assume you’re joking because your eyes should have been on the road,” she scoffed.

  “Nope, I figured following your curves were just as safe as watching the road.” He moved around his bike towards her.

  Delaney saw him walking, but her brain was telling her that it wasn’t so casual. The man stalked; it was a graceful rolling gait that seemed to move him wherever he went. It was mesmerizing, and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat.

  She braced herself as he got closer, then stopped breathing as he moved somehow even farther into her personal space. Delaney was at least half expecting the kiss that came her way. Those hands warm from his gloves scooped around her neck and pulled her towards his mouth.

  This time, it wasn’t a sweet but sexy good morning kiss. This time, it was an open mouth, breath sucking kiss that had her melting against his chest. She felt his arms pull her tighter towards him as his hands tilted her head one direction then the other as he devoured her mouth. His tongue was tangling up against hers, and he tasted so freaking amazing.

  Hands down it was the best kiss she’d ever had. And lucky for her it wasn’t a short one. Every minute or so, he would push her a fraction of an inch away so they both could suck in panting breaths before his mouth crashed back down on hers. She could feel the hard length of him against her, and she couldn’t resist rubbing up against it like a needy cat seeking attention.

  “Monkey, that’s going to get you into serious trouble,” he growled against her mouth.

  Delany knew she was playing with fire when she flexed her hips against his again. “Maybe I like trouble,” she whispered back at him.

  “Depends if you can handle the consequences of teasing the beast.” He moved his lips to whisper into her ear.

  Delaney let out a delicate snort. “Consequences? I doubt there is much you could throw at me that I couldn’t handle.”

  Will’s cougar rose up at that challenge. Keeping his mouth near her ear, he said, “I guess that depends on how much you want to handle. What type of woman are you, Delaney? Tell me straight. Do you like to be wooed and coddled, petted and pampered? Or do you prefer a more direct approach? Like I have a plan to see you naked within the next few hours. I want to drive you into the woods, find somewhere quiet and strip you down until not one inch of that creamy flesh is covered. Then I want to spread your legs and eat your sweet pussy until you are screaming my name into the trees. Then I’m going to flip you over and fuck that sweet pussy as you ram your ass back into me begging me for more. I’ll give it to you, baby, have no doubt. I’ll give you every orgasm I think you can take. When you are begging to be done and thinking that you can’t come even one more time, I’m going to make you give me two more. Then I’ll let you rest, but just so I can coddle and pamper you before I fuck you again.”

  This speech delivered against the sensitive shell of her ear had her pussy clenching and soaking through her panties. Her leathers were going to carry the scent of her arousal for the rest of the day.

  Will’s cougar smelled it too, and he sucked in the delicate scent. With eyes that had gone from golden to glowing, he pulled back to look at her. He heard her gasp at his eyes but continued. “I can smell you, Delaney. I smell how much you want me. I bet that hot pussy is clenching over and over thinking about my cock pounding into you. That’s just what I want it to do. I want it to crave me. I want you to think nonstop about the pleasure I can give you. I’ll never deny you my cock, my mouth, or my hands. You want to come when we are out to dinner? I’ll drag you to the bathroom. We are at the top of a Ferris wheel, and you need to come, I’ll finger you while I kiss you to swallow your screams. I’m in charge of your pleasure now. You don’t understand right now, but I own that pussy like I own your heart. I’ll take care of both of them, I promise.” Will didn’t bother making his cat retreat; he wanted her to see his eyes and start to question things.

  Delaney’s brain was telling her to run from the man with the freaky glowing eyes. Her pussy was saying shut up, bitch, he wants to give you multiple orgasms. Her pussy always was very loud and demanding.

  “What are you?” she whispered up to him.

  “Easy answer, I’m yours. Today, tomorrow, and the day after. I’m yours, Delaney Jane. Just like you are mine. You can see I’m not like other men. I can’t pretend to be. I’ll explain everything to you and answer any questions you have. Just not here. I want to tell you who I am and what our future is after I’ve made love to you. Then you are going to promise to be mine forever, and we are going to live a long happy life together in Vegas.”

  This was said as a foregone conclusion and Delaney wanted to disagree with him, but arguing with him right now didn’t seem like the best use of her time. She was pretty sure he’d just smile and keep saying what he wanted.

  The yellow glowing eyes were not human, of that she was certain. She took a moment to evaluate how she was feeling. Her instincts were saying run, but she wasn’t afraid. They were also telling her to run because the minute she gave this man the okay, her life was going to be out of her hands.

  Would that be so bad? Having a man take care of her? She knew she could take care of herself; she’d been doing it for years. Taking care of her father and the business, well, to be honest, it was exhausting. She hadn’t had a break since she took her first shop class in junior high. She’d never had a vacation, never done anything life changing, or been anywhere interesting beyond her small world. Would it be wrong to take this man up on whatever he was offering for as long as he offered it? Did that make her a gold digger?

  The weird eyes, well she’d grown up in the Appalachian Mountains. There were all sorts of stories that people had been telling for generations. Many dating back to immigrants coming over from Scotland and settling in the Mountains. Boogeymans, skinwalkers, and the like were common stories. Delaney wouldn’t say she was a firm believer, but hearing them all her life, she didn’t necessarily refute them either. There were plenty of things in the world she couldn’t explain.

  “Are you making me promises that you think you are going to keep or know you are going to keep?” Her sensitive girly side that she usually kept hidden under her tough mechanic attitude suddenly pushed its way to the front of her mind.

  Will didn’t seem put off by the question. Considering his bold declarations, she would have been surprised if he did.

  “Oh, I never break a promise, Monkey. I mean everything I say.”

  “You don’t know me,” she warned.

  “You don’t know me, either. But here we are very sexually attracted to each other. I know you feel a pull to me that you’ve never felt before. Times that by ten and you are getting close to what I’m feeling. It’s not that I just want you, Delaney. It’s that I have to have you. All of you, body, mind, and soul. I won’t be able to le
ave here without you. I don’t care what problems you might think we can’t overcome, but I assure, I can fix all of them in a blink of an eye.”

  “Like how you got your bike here?” she asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

  “I won’t lie, having money solves a number of problems.”

  “I bet it does. Am I a problem for you to solve? Do you think you are rescuing me from something?” Delaney couldn’t help the sharp tone that came out.

  It was Will’s turn to let out a snort. “You don’t need rescuing. Delaney Owens would make a perfectly fine life for herself here. You’d probably find a nice townie to marry, make little townie babies, and end up sitting on your front porch yelling at your grandkids. Nobody needs to rescue you from anything.”

  “Then what is your deal? Why the big declarations of ownership and sexy talk?”

  “I said your life would be perfectly fine. I intend your life to be bigger than that. In my scenario, you marry me, have my babies, and yell at our grandchildren from the front porch. But before that, we will travel and see the world. I will show you things you’ve never imagined. I will give you anything you want or need. If you don’t want me to do it for you, I will be right by your side removing any obstacles that impede you from getting what you want for yourself. You can work, stay home, or start your own business. Raise llamas for all I care. Whatever makes you happy. The second I laid eyes on you, your happiness became my only goal.”

  Delaney couldn’t help but shake her head at the crazy man again. His explanation of not rescuing her helped. She was warring with the idea that she needed any help from anyone. But even though he said it in a totally bossy way, it still sounded sweet his offer to help her if she wanted to do something on her own. But kids? Marriage?

  “I think I need to get back on my bike before you make my brain so mushy I can’t ride,” she said, attempting to take a step back from him. She didn’t get far; his hands tightened on her.

  “We can ride, but I changed my mind. I’ll take lead. I found a pretty spot I want to show you,” he said, the glow in his eyes seeming to fade as she watched.

  “Why, so we can get naked in the woods? I’ll have you know that I am not about to get all bit to hell by bugs just so you can get some tail.”

  “I have bug spray,” he said, like that was a simple answer.

  “Where? Up your bum?”

  “Nope, not into that. Would you be surprised if I told you I might have stashed some supplies last night in said pretty spot?”

  “No, I’m not surprised in the least. Things come easy for you don’t they, William Klein?”

  “Depends on how much of a fight you put up. Normally yes, they do. If you want to give me a run for my money, it will just make the catch that much sweeter. But I will catch you, Monkey. I will have you. Best come to terms with that. If that’s scary, it’s okay. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re mine.”

  Delaney saw that glow come back into his eye at the word mine. Curiosity was making her skin crawl wanting to know why his eyes did that. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, but the simple fact was she had to find out. Letting this man leave without finding out would drive her mad. Of course, him actually leaving without her seemed to be out of the realm of possibility. She’d never seen any man act the way he did towards her. It was forceful and demanding. But not mean. Instead of wanting to lash out at him, she felt like preening under the attention. What was with that? She felt pretty and sexy when he got all growly.

  “I’m not going to answer that yet. Let’s just ride,” she suggested.

  “You’re the boss.” He reached around her for her helmet.

  Delaney was pretty sure that if she stuck with him, he’d always say that. But it wouldn’t exactly be true. There was something so masculine and domineering about him that he could maneuver her into always thinking she was in charge when he was pulling the strings the whole time. She figured that was kind of any relationship. Usually, it was a trade-off of who got to lead and whose turn it was to follow. There was a good chance Will could keep up the charade for years that this was all her idea. In fact, she was starting to not even question his advances. That also might be because her brain had somehow slipped down her spinal column and was now resting in her pelvic region.

  She’d never been so horny in her whole life. The smell of Will, the glow of his eyes, and damn that man could talk sexy like nobody’s business. Delaney Jane knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she gave him the chance William Klein could talk her into an orgasm without ever laying a finger on her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Following behind him, Delaney wasn’t paying super close attention to where they were going. She was focused on the man in front of her and attempting to calm down her hormones. She was failing miserably at it. The ride was just giving her time to replay everything Will had said to her. He’d talked marriage and babies. Who did that with someone they just met? It didn’t fall under stalker tendencies since that usually at least took some time and effort to become obsessed with someone. It seemed he was obsessed with her already. Obsession at first sight? Was that even a thing?

  Delaney was starting to believe it. She wished she had a girlfriend to chat with about it. Most of her sports girlfriends had moved away and the rest of her friends in school had been guys. The other girls thought she was running a long scam trying to steal their men by taking “boy” classes. Which was ridiculous since her options were limited in her small school.

  She couldn’t talk to her dad about it. Ray pretty much figured she was still twelve and that she would perpetually be twelve for the rest of her life. Delaney was actually more than a little concerned how Ray was going to react to the fact she was hooking up with a random guy. More concerning was the fact that she was thinking this interaction with Will was already going to happen.

  It was true; she wanted to see what this guy could do. There was so much potential in just the way he talked, the possibility that full physical contact would be better than his words were a given. She needed to know. Even if he did leave in a few days, it would be a night to remember.

  Now she was following behind a man that basically was either taking her into the woods to make love to her or murder her. She doubted it was the latter. There had been plenty of chances to axe her if he wanted. No, his plan was much more complicated. Clearly he was going to confuse and befuddle her with his sexual prowess and keep her in an orgasmic coma, so she didn’t even know what she was agreeing to. Years from now she would wake up on a beach in Bora Bora and realize she’d been duped.

  Wait, that was not a bad thing to imagine. What, she was too good for what Will was offering? Hot guy, pretty sure hot sex, rich life, new state, new city. Those were not bad things. Delaney just didn’t know if she wanted all those changes. Wasn’t she happy with her life?

  She took a moment to contemplate that. Happy was too strong of a word for her life. She enjoyed working on cars. She liked the beauty of where she lived. She liked riding her motorcycle and driving the Dragon. But happy? She spent her nights alone. Occasionally with her dad but mostly alone. She didn’t socialize, didn’t belong to clubs or groups so she’d get time away from people that weren’t customers. No, her life wasn’t happy. She was pretty sure any time she spent with William Klein would be fun. Fun could easily lead to happy. If it didn’t work out, she was sure her job would be waiting for her when she got back. So why not throw caution to the wind and give this man a run?

  Delaney saw Will put his blinker on and start to slow his bike. He pulled off into a trail that led back into the woods. The main road they were on used to be a Civil War toll road, so there were lots of little side trails to get lost on. He seemed to be looking for one in particular. She made the turn behind him, and they took it slow over the hard packed dirt path. When he finally stopped, they were so far off the road that she could barely even hear it in the distance.

  He was off his bike and walking to her as she pulled off her h
elmet.

  “Well, this looks like a perfect place to stash a body.” Delaney slid off the bike and stood knowing he was going to get into her space, which he did. Almost chest to chest so she had to tilt her head back to see him.

  “Baby, I have no intention of harming that body. I have lots of plans for it, and none involve harm. This is where I made sure to put a few things we might need.”

  “Very sure of yourself that I was coming with you.” Delaney was trying to put up a small front even though she wasn’t fooling herself or Will.

  “Of course. You want me as much as I want you. A connection like ours is so rare that even if you try to deny it, the universe will keep making our paths cross. I’m a believer that we all have a destiny, a path that is laid out for us. We can stick to that path, or we can divert from it and choose something else. It all depends if you think you are on the right path currently. If you’re not sure, odds are you need to see what’s in front of you and take a chance.”

  Delaney hadn’t questioned her life before today. There was no reason to because she didn’t feel like she really had any other options. Work, sleep, work, sleep until she died. Now there was a chance at something bigger, most definitely better, and the potential for true happiness.

  “You think you’re my chance?”

  Cupping her jaw Will kissed her hard, forcing her mouth to open under his. Not that there was a lot of resistance. He kissed her pulling her up his body until she was on her toes grasping at his biceps for balance.

  He broke off and leaned his head against hers as they both caught their breath.

  “You have it all wrong, baby. You’re my chance. My one shot at happiness, love, and a family. I know I’m asking a lot from you, but I need you to hear me out and not run screaming or try to hit me with a stick or anything.”

  “Hit you with a stick? Why on earth would I do that?” she asked incredulously.