Uh oh. Even a dumbass Marine knew that tone meant trouble. Was this the moment when she told him that a permanent husband was a deal-breaker? He had hoped to avoid this conversation until he had had an opportunity to convince her that fate had brought them together forever.
It almost made him wish he was still going to die. Almost. Life was pretty attractive, but it would be a thousand times more attractive with her by his side. What he needed was a major distraction. “I guess you’re curious about what happened after you left the Bean.”
She looked incredulous for a moment, but she took the bait. “I assume you let Garrett persuade you to pay for a new gym.”
“That’s the plan. But not today. Babcock figures I have to let the council lean on me a bit. He wants them to think sticking our clan with the bill for that gym is their idea. Today I hummed and hawed and asked Somerset why the Rutherfords should be on the hook for a memorial to their ancestor. Old Cuthbert is a West Haven hero. I suggested that the honor would mean considerably more if the town paid for it.”
“Oh. Well, a high school gym would be nice,” she said wistfully. “As it is, the community center is overused. For example, the senior aquafit classes have to take place at night because the kids need the pool during school time. And there are no mommy and baby playgroups, because the gym is always booked by students.”
“I know. Walter and Quinn explained it to me. Don’t worry. I was ready to write a check immediately, but Walter convinced me that appearing reluctant would make the councilors feel one up on us cougars, and get them off your and Jimmy’s backs at the same time.”
Her face tightened. “I thought that letting people know that Jimmy is a healer would accomplish that.”
He lifted her onto his lap and hugged her. “Don’t worry. Things are under control. Talking about Jimmy being a healer will help. But it’s really you they’re worried about.” He nuzzled her ear. “Want to tell me why a talent detector has their collective shorts in a knot?”
Her shield slammed into place. His heart sank. Surely if she felt their bond, she would tell him the truth about her talent?
Her bottom squirmed over his erection. “I guess you really are feeling better,” she said as if she had not just shut him out.
“I am. I had a swim in cougar today. I’m a new man. A new cat.”
“Feeling frisky?”
He nuzzled that fragrant place behind her ear. “I always feel frisky around you.”
“Want to show your wife a good time?”
Was it his imagination or did she put special emphasis on ‘your wife’? “Always, Mrs. Rutherford. Always.” He picked her up in his arms and carried her giggling into their bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them.
He set her tenderly on the carpet and looked into her eyes. Her shield had disappeared, and her pupils were enormous. Her scent had changed too, from worried to aroused. He should put his futile concern about her still being in love with his cousin out of his mind and concentrate on wooing her.
“Is it my imagination, or are you stronger tonight?” she asked flirtatiously. At least he thought she was flirting.
He chuckled. “I’m almost back to normal. Want to watch me do chin-ups?”
Her hands traced his biceps through his shirt. “Maybe later. Do you usually go to the gym?”
“I weight lift, if that’s what you’re asking. I had a session at Mom and Dad’s place after my swim.”
“They have a gym too?”
“All the comforts of home. Everyone in my family enjoys working out. What about you?” He stroked her waist under her T-shirt, savoring the soft skin and supple muscle.
“I like doing stuff. Swimming, hiking, sailing. But I loathe running on a treadmill or using an exercise bike.” She kissed his throat.
“Does you more good to do things outdoors as much as possible. And it’s way more fun. But I still like the convenience of a weight room. We’ll take the kid on a hike this weekend.” He caught her mouth beneath his.
Her mouth softened. She sighed and leaned into him. It was a surrender of sorts. Time to show his woman that she was his one and only mate. He figured that with his mind and body now running on a full tank, he would be able to blow her mind. Or if not her mind, her pussy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Claudia~
It might be cowardly of her to fall into bed with Ryan instead of hashing out their relationship. But what if he informed her that they had no relationship, that their bond was all in her imagination? How could she make him see that they were intimately linked if she provoked the father and mother of all arguments tonight?
Besides she had no clue how she would begin to explain the profundity of their connection to him if he didn’t feel it. She might as well enjoy this moment of bliss in his arms. If she was doomed to heartache, at least she would have some lovely memories.
She just wished she knew some hot moves that would impress Ryan while she waited for him to awaken to their connection. Unfortunately, her experience was limited to his cousin, and Dominic had made it plain that she wasn’t exactly nympho of the month.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Are you too tired to play?” Ryan’s finger toyed with her ear even as he posed his question.
Did he mean that she wasn’t doing it right? That he was bored already? She wished she could recapture the ease she had felt in his arms before his cure.
“You’ve had a rough few days,” he continued. “We can just cuddle, if that’s all you’re up to.”
Cuddle? When his boner was trying to escape from his jeans?
His hands kneaded her shoulders. “You’re really tense. What if I give you a massage and you try to get some sleep?”
Her brain refused to function.
“Hey, Claudia.” He kissed her forehead. “Come on, don’t leave me guessing.”
“You just want to go to sleep?” she demanded. Even to her own ears, her voice was shrill.
“Nope.” He kissed her long and lingeringly. “I want to have hot, sweaty monkey sex with you. But you seem preoccupied, or tired, or something.”
“I guess I have had a lot to process,” she responded lamely.
He didn’t seem to notice. “Hey, it’s okay. We have a lifetime to have hot monkey sex. Let’s just enjoy being close to one another.”
“What about you?” she waved an embarrassed hand at his crotch.
He laughed. “Around you I feel like I never fully complete my shift to human. But I’m a grownup, I can deal.”
“Huh?”
“Little mountain cat humor, sweetheart.” He kissed the line of her jaw and the sensitive tendon that ran to her collarbone.
She shivered and angled her jaw so he could do it again. “I don’t understand.”
He ignored her protest. “Where is your nightgown?”
“Under my pillow.”
He tugged her T-shirt off and admired her breasts before popping the catch and stripping away her bra. “Cats have a penile bone,” he confided. “They’re erect twenty-four seven. The way I am around you.” He unfastened her jeans and knelt to remove them.
Her nightie descended over her head. He smoothed it down over her hips, giving her bottom and thighs a squeeze. Ripples of pleasure moved through her whole body. “You’re kidding me.”
He was always turned on around her? That was good news. Wasn’t it? She could work with that. Couldn’t she? Between his attraction to her and Robin’s spell, there was probably enough to make him stick.
“Nope.” He went to the other side of her neck and nibbled that tendon. “It’s the truth. Most species of mammal have a bone in their penises. Humans are mammalian outliers.”
He kissed her ear through her hair and lifted her into bed as he had done with Jimmy, although he didn’t cover her up. “Want to know what’s the wildest thing about cat equipment?”
His humor was relaxing her. She looked up into his teasing face. “Sure. What’s wilder than a permanent erection? Other tha
n that cats get more blood to their brains than human males?”
He chuckled and kissed her again. She kissed him back. Their tongues slid together in gentle exploration, before he pulled away. “Sorry. I was explaining about cats.”
He folded his jeans and shirt as he took them off. Peeled down his boxers carefully so she could see his cock standing upright with drops of semen oozing down the purple cap. He winked at her and drew his finger around the edge of the cap.
“Right there,” he said as her pussy began to pulse, “Cats have a set of spikes.”
“Spikes?” she clenched her legs together. “On their cocks?”
“Yup. Hard, sharp spikes. Every time they have sex, when the male withdraws, the poor female gets jabbed and scraped right where she’s most sensitive.”
“You’re making that up!” And making her hot. She pressed her thighs together.
“Nope.” He laid a hand over his heart and climbed into bed beside her. His arms pulled her against him. “The experts say the pain triggers ovulation. All I know is that every single time the queen slashes the male across the face with open claws.”
“And yet he comes back for more.”
“So does she! It’s the only game in town. Mind you, I’m grateful you have short nails.” He kissed her fingertips and a sweet sizzle spread through her arms to her heart.
“Not into pain?” she teased. She was grateful his dick was unarmed. Like her undefended heart.
“Not in the least. What about you?”
“Me? No. I’m more into pleasure.”
“Good.” He kissed her ear. “You ready for that massage?”
“I think I’m in the mood for something a little more vigorous,” she said.
“I live to serve.” He smiled wickedly.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Ryan~
He wished he could figure out what he had done to make Claudia blow hot and cold. He wanted her to accept him as her mate and trust him. For him love had happened so fast he was still reeling. And he had been raised to expect true love to hit his heart like a sledgehammer. Probably things didn’t work that way for sorcerers.
He had to give Claudia space and show her that having him around would be better than not. He had to trust that his cougar wouldn’t have deceived him and made him fall in love with the wrong female. No matter how much she thought she loved his asshole of a cousin, she was going to love him more. If he gave her time and space and some good cougar loving.
She had asked for vigorous. What did that mean. Her on top? Hard pounding? Or just that she wanted to make love instead of being massaged. Only one way to find out.
“Hmm.” He kissed her with all the tenderness and pent-up emotion he was feeling. Swept his tongue against hers, slowly savoring the riches within her mouth. Her breasts swelled against his pecs, the nipples poking him deliciously. As her arousal grew, her fragrance kicked up a notch, driving him wild.
Her hands were busy exploring his sides and back, skimming up and down his spine, dipping into the hollows above his butt and swooping away again. The teasing made his cock even harder. He longed for her to grip his buns and demand his cock inside her, but it was far too soon. He concentrated on driving her as crazy as he was.
He kissed his way from neck to breasts, being careful to taste the soft undersides as well as the hard berries of her nipples. Her scent was strong around her nipples, but her pussy called to him. He tugged her nightgown up around her neck, so he could lick and suck his way down her belly.
The soft and supple skin was a delight to fondle and kiss. Her belly button a sweet place to linger and taste before he buried his face in her muff. Her curls were a neat streaky-blonde triangle. They tickled his nose and tortured his senses.
“I love your smell,” he groaned as he dove lower.
He used the flat of his tongue on her clit, enjoying her noisy writhing. Her moans of pleasure urged him on. Her knees gripped his head and then released. He suckled every fold of her inner and outer lips, lapping up her juices with a happy tongue. “You taste even better than you smell,” he told her.
Apparently she was past speech, for she only shrieked and bucked.
“I’m not done,” he warned her. Although he felt sure he was on the brink, he doubled back and made another playful circuit of her petal-soft folds. Her shrieking got louder. Her scent made him crazier. He had to hope she wouldn’t wake the boy. Or the dead.
He entered her with his tongue where her flesh was softest and tastiest. Swept in tender circles while her passage throbbed and swelled. She shrieked again. He lapped her taut little clit with the gentlest possible touch. She splintered.
He waited until her climax had reached the point of no return before pressing his cock home. Her passage gripped him like a tender fist. He didn’t expect her to return his shallow thrusts, but she did. He slowed down even more to match her rhythm, and was rewarded by a release like nothing he had ever before experienced.
Waves of pleasure moved from his throbbing cock to the periphery of his body. His hair glowed. The soles of his feet exploded. It was a full-body experience. His first. All he could do was hold his mate while his life energy pulsed and harmonized with hers. He had gone beyond pleasure to something far removed from simply coming.
Her aura was shimmering brighter than the noonday sun. The surges of her pleasure made a corona around her body. He could feel them amplifying his own incandescent joy. In fact the longer the experience continued, the less he was certain where his orgasm ended and hers began. It had to be a trick of the mind. But it certainly felt as if their auras had blended and become stronger in union.
His love for her expanded to fill every corner of his being and to encompass every nook and cranny of hers. If ever two hearts were beating as one, surely theirs were? His growl of satisfaction and claiming echoed loudly in his skull. Had he really screamed in the throes of passion?
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Claudia~
Mom called during Claudia’s afternoon break to tell her that she had an appointment with Robin at three fifteen to discuss details of the vow renewal. Ryan would pick Jimmy up.
Victoria cut off her protests. “Robin knows what your dad and I want. She needs to know what you want. Talk to you tonight. I have a waiting room full of patients.”
So at three she left the bank to go to the inn. It seemed pretty pointless to discuss their vow renewal when she and Ryan had still not discussed whether, absent the threat of death, he still intended to obey the head of his clan and remain married to her.
What the heck were she and Jimmy going to do if he left them? But maybe this was an opportunity to ask Robin for permission to bind her spell?
Robin looked as fresh as if she had come from the spa. Despite the fact that the innkeeper’s office was decorated in pastel green and pink chintz and delicate Victorian antiques, it was a businesslike space. Claudia felt at a distinct disadvantage: hot, grubby, and harassed.
Robin greeted her with a kiss on both cheeks. “I hear you and Ryan want to renew your vows.” She closed the door firmly on her words and indicated a floral armchair on the other side of her elegant desk.
“I don’t think renew is the correct word,” Claudia protested. She glared into Robin’s clear green eyes.
“That’s the word we are going to use, however,” Robin stated firmly. “What seems to be the trouble? From my perspective your situation has improved considerably in the last few days.”
Claudia refrained from stamping her feet. “What am I supposed to do now that Ryan has recovered?” she asked curtly.
Robin raised her silvery eyebrows. “Rejoice?” For a long time she said nothing else. “Forgive me,” she continued at last, “But surely you’ve been handed a blessing?”
“Not if full recovery makes Ryan rethink this whole screwy setup.”
Robin’s silvery brows rose fractionally. “Why should it? Did you want him to die?”
“Of course not. But this isn’t ab
out what I want, but about what Ryan wants. What do Jimmy and I do when your magic wears off?”
Robin’s perfectly coiffed head tipped an eighth of an inch to one side and then righted itself. “What magic would that be?”
Claudia rolled her eyes. “Your love spell. I don’t think it’s Ryan’s scintillating charm that made me willing to marry a perfect stranger. I know magic when I’m on the receiving end.”
“Love happens like that between fated mates,” Robin said calmly. “I hear he fell in love with Jimmy just as fast.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. He got his orders from the head of his clan,” Claudia pointed out. “And Ryan’s no whiner. How do I know he’s not faking the whole thing?”
Robin shook her head. “He doesn’t have the aura of a liar.”
“What the heck does that even mean?”
“Habitual behavior, like violence, or lying, leaves traces in one’s aura. Ryan is a hard-headed lion who has seen and exercised violence, but he takes no pleasure in it. For him it’s a tool. And while I am sure he didn’t get to be thirty-four without uttering a social lie, he isn’t chronically deceitful.”
“I know. That’s how I know he doesn’t love me.” Claudia blurted. “If he did, he would say so.”
“Perhaps.” Robin’s rose-tinted lips curved. “Men can be so obtuse about romance.”
Claudia gritted her teeth. “Look, we both know no love charm lasts forever. No matter how strong the setter. What the heck are Jimmy and I going to do when yours wears off?” She leaned forward. “Should I let Ryan go now, before he breaks both our hearts?”
Robin’s laughter was the tinkling of a brook on a summer day. “Claudia, as far as I know, you are not under any love spell. Whatever you feel for Ryan has come from within you. I can tell you for nothing that your auras strongly indicate that you and Ryan are made for each other. If you love him, and he loves you, you have nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t believe you,” Claudia insisted. “It isn’t fair for you to mess with our heads.”
“Why don’t you believe that he is your destined husband? Your one true love?”
Cherished by the Cougar: A Shifters in Love Fun & Flirty Romance (Mystic Bay Book 2) Page 15
