by Maddy Barone
The feel of his fingers trailing down along the shoulder strap of her bra and curling to brush his knuckles over the curve of her breast made excitement flood through her. He brushed his knuckles back and forth over her puckered nipple until she was quivering.
“Taye, that’s my bra. You can’t tell if I’m soft by touching that.”
He hooked a thumb under the shoulder strap beside her armpit. “How does it come off?”
“There’s a fastener right in the front.” Carla was surprised how hoarse her voice was. “See that round button there? Just—”
Her bra opened, and Taye pulled the front edges apart, releasing her breasts. His eyes seemed to hold awe as he studied her curves and nipples. He pulled the edge of her pink bra back to one of her nipples. “It’s almost the same color,” he remarked, and she was glad that his voice sounded a little hoarse too.
“I’m sort of small,” she apologized.
“Too thin,” he agreed, stroking both hands over her ribs and rubbing her breasts with his thumbs. “No more missed lunches for you, sweetheart.”
“No, I mean … Never mind.”
She loved the feel of his face rubbing over her chest. He would drag one cheek over her chest, then turn his head and drag the other over her, taking deep breaths all the while. “You smell like love, sweetheart.”
He smelled fantastic too. His mouth opened and passed over her breast, and on the return pass he paused to taste her nipple with just his tongue. She shook and that seemed to encourage him to suck and nibble at her breast. She pressed her thighs together as heat shot through her. His teeth scraped over her taut nipple, and she grabbed his shoulders to keep from falling when a lightning bolt of sensation zinged through her.
He abandoned her breast to take her hands from his shoulders and put them back in her lap. “It’s not time for that step yet, sweetheart.”
“Taye! I have to hold onto something or I’ll fall over!”
“Nope. Let me…” He slid her blouse and bra down her arms and tossed them aside before lowering her so she was lying on the couch and he was kneeling on the floor beside her. Then he went back to feasting on her breasts.
“Taye,” she complained breathlessly. “Can’t we move along a little? You’re torturing me.”
“Step by step,” he murmured to her nipple.
His mouth on her skin was like being thrown into a volcano. Carla gasped and lifted one knee to ease an ache that made her want to drag him down on top of her.
“Taye, lay on top of me.”
He was breathing fast against her neck. “No, we’re definitely not at that step yet. We’re still in one of the foreplay steps.”
“One of the foreplay steps? Taye, please.”
“Uh-uh.”
When his mouth returned to hers his hand rubbed up and down the inside seam of her jeans along her bent leg from calf to knee and slipped to the inside of her thigh. She squirmed to force his hand where she wanted it, and he let her. His hand opened and cupped her between her legs, and even through her jeans it felt good.
“Taye,” she groaned. “Take my jeans off.”
“I suppose we can skip a few steps,” he said with reluctance warring with eagerness in his eyes.
Carla barely managed to choke back a giggle. There had been a time she had expected him to tear her clothes off and get right to the main event. Never in a million years had she expected her wolf to drag it out like this. He pulled her boots and her socks off, and she wiggled her toes playfully. She quit wiggling, though, when his big hands hooked into the waistband of her jeans and dragged them slowly down. She lifted her hips to help him and soon they were gone, leaving her pink panties halfway down her thighs. Long moments passed with no sound from Taye, and no touch either. She lifted her head to see what he was doing. He was staring hard at her private place. She wondered why she didn’t feel shy. Maybe because he was looking so reverent. She lifted her hips and wiggled to move the panties further down so she could kick them off. She didn’t see where they landed, and he wasn’t even watching. He caught her legs with a hand under each knee and opened her up to study her more thoroughly. Now she felt shy.
“Taye?”
“Hush. Let me look at you. This is so beautiful. I’ve never seen a woman’s … What did they call it in those books? Pussy?”
Carla choked. “What kind of books have you been reading? Never mind,” she said hastily. “Quit staring at me and let me go. Kiss me some more.”
He held her legs further apart and pulled her closer to kiss her, but not on her mouth. His teeth grazed her and closed gently over an ultra-sensitive place. “Oh, my God! What are you doing?”
“Getting to know you,” he answered innocently, but a devilish gleam lit his dark eyes. “See, I’ve read about this, but I’ve never seen one or touched one, so I need to familiarize myself with this marvelous body. Here—” He flicked a forefinger back and forth over her. “—is your clit. Your tender pearl of delight. This is supposed to feel good to a woman. Does it feel good?”
Carla’s half-choked giggle turned into a groan. “Oh, yeah.”
“I’ll come back to that in a minute. First I want to explore a little more.” She felt his fingers part her and cool air touch hot flesh that usually didn’t get exposed to air. “And this is your labia. Or is that plural? These are your labia? They are like the castle walls guarding your prize. They are on the outside, but here, between them, is your vagina. One book I read called it the woman’s hot tunnel of joy. I didn’t understand that, but—” One of his fingers slid into her slowly. “—it is like a tunnel, isn’t it? And you are warm inside.”
Intense pleasure overwhelmed the amusement she had felt at the ridiculous descriptions of her body parts. Her head fell back. “Taye, I love the way you touch me. But let’s save some of that for later, okay? Take off your pants and—”
“No, no, sweetheart. It’s not time for me to let my warrior of love conquer your tunnel yet.”
“Your what?”
“My penis. He will have to wait a while yet. We’re not ready for that step yet.”
“No! I mean, yes, we are!”
“Your tunnel is wet, sweetheart. Slick. Is it always like this?”
Carla lifted her head to see his face peering at her with wonder. “No. I get like that only when you’re kissing me or touching me.”
Taye pressed a gentle kiss to the inside of her thigh. “You are precious, a better mate than I had even hoped for.”
“Taye, quit dragging this out. I want you now!”
But Taye paid no attention to her protest. His teeth and tongue and fingers were busy with her castle walls and pearl of delight and exploring her tunnel. She clenched her teeth against a moan and tried to not writhe against him. “Stop torturing me, Taye! Please!”
He lifted his head, and his eyes were unfocused. “I think we’ll skip a few more steps tonight,” he muttered in a rough voice.
“Thank God,” she began to say, but he picked her up and carried her to the bed with long strides.
His plan with the multiple painstaking steps seemed to dissolve as soon as he pushed down his sweatpants and flung himself into the bed with her. His hand took hold of one of her thighs to open her wide while the other held her hands together over her head. His cock pushed against her opening, parting her in the most delicious way as he slid forcefully in. It had been so long since she had been with a guy. Was that why Taye felt so wonderful? Or was it just Taye? She didn’t know and she didn’t care.
Someone was panting hoarsely, almost growling, and she wasn’t sure which of them it was. Opening her eyes to look up at him, she saw his face clenched and his teeth bared. He didn’t look nearly as in control as he had earlier when he had been going from one step of his seduction to the next. His dark brown eyes glowed almost wolf-golden, sightless when he growled and panted and bit the pillow beside her head. He sawed back and forth inside her, sliding easily in their juices. Each time he pushed so deeply within he
r she felt her tremors intensify. Her orgasm seemed to explode inside her like a nuclear bomb. He continued to move forcefully inside her while she shook and trembled like a leaf dancing in the wind until he reared up on his knees and let out a howl that could have woke the dead. Held by thigh and wrists, she came up with him, almost howling herself. He let her go, and flopped down beside her, panting. She was panting herself, body still humming with climax.
“Sweetheart, did he hurt you?” Taye was up on one elbow again, running his hand frantically over her throat and shoulders. “Did he mark you?”
“Who?”
“My wolf. I lost control.” He sounded like he was confessing to mass murder. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m really fine.” Carla tried to smother a giggle, but it burst out. “That was wonderful, Taye.”
“He didn’t bite you? I felt him biting.”
Carla reached up and laid her hand on his cheek. So it had been the wolf she’d seen watching her. Should that repulse her? She wanted to brush away the guilt and worry she heard in his voice. “No, Taye, you didn’t hurt me. You—he bit the pillow. Don’t you know?”
He hid his face against her shoulder. “My wolf broke out. That hasn’t happened since I was a boy. I couldn’t stop him. He could have mauled you!”
Carla put her arm tight around his back. “Taye, he didn’t hurt me at all. When your father—your father’s wolf bit your mother she was running away, right? I wasn’t running away. In fact, I was doing my best to get as close to you as I possibly could. Didn’t you say that a wolf wouldn’t hurt his mate?”
“Normally, no. But he was so strong tonight…”
She put her fingers through the sweat damp hair at his nape. “Did you know what was happening? It was your body, right?”
He lifted his head from her shoulder and lifted up on his elbow to meet her eyes with shame in his own. “I knew what was happening, but I wasn’t in charge of it. I wanted our first time to be perfect. My plan for our wedding night didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I wanted you to find pleasure before I did.”
“Taye, I went before you did, believe me. Any more pleasure than that and I might have had a heart attack. You came after me.” She searched his dark eyes. “Are you okay? Didn’t you feel anything?”
“I felt everything.” Remembered pleasure warmed his eyes. “It was…”
“Wow,” she supplied.
“Wow,” he agreed. He lay down beside her and lifted her head to his shoulder. “But I want to be in control next time we make love. I don’t know if my wolf will let me, though. What if next time he breaks out again?”
Carla stroked his chest. “Then I’ll tell him to go back because I want to be with you this time. Unless you plan to torture me again by dragging things out forever.”
“It’s fun to watch you squirm.” He sounded innocent.
“Maybe I should be the one to torture you,” she threatened. “You never even let me touch you tonight.”
Taye’s voice went from teasing to serious. “I’m Alpha. I have to be in control. I don’t know how to not be.”
“Taye…” Carla sighed. “That’s not fair. Marriage is a two-way street. I can see how you’d need to be in control in other areas. But here in our bedroom? We’re private. It’s just us. I won’t tell anyone if you let me be on top once in a while.”
Taye thought about it. “The time after this next one you can be in charge,” he offered generously.
“Oh, good. That will give me some time to plan my One Hundred Steps To Torture Taye With.”
*
They teased back and forth for a while longer, until Carla dropped off to sleep. Taye continued to hold her, deeply thankful that his wolf hadn’t harmed her. In his mind he sought out his wolf. They couldn’t really speak to each other, but they communicated with feelings and some mental images. Taye made it clear to his wolf that Carla was precious, and when it came lovemaking, he, the human partner, would be in charge. The wolf made it clear that Taye had been hurting their mate by making her wait for his body, so he had taken over. Taye wondered if the wolf was right. Carla had protested more than once. She had wanted to touch him. He didn’t want to lose control. Maybe she was right. In private he could pretend to submit to her. He told the wolf that from now on he would let Carla take control of their lovemaking at least some of the time, and he should butt out.
With that issue resolved, Taye curled up around Carla’s wonderfully bare body and went to sleep.
Chapter Eight
There was daylight coming through the curtains when Carla woke, and it took her a minute to remember what had happened last night. She reached for Taye, but the bed was empty, and she didn’t hear him in the bathroom. She stretched, curling her toes against the mattress. What a night! Taye was a forceful lover. She was going to have to teach him that lovemaking didn’t have to be a fight for dominance. It was give and take equally. She had as much right to touch him and make him tremble as he did to touch her. It was a shame he was gone. She’d like to start the lessons now.
The air outside the cozy bedclothes was warm. Taye must have put wood in the stove before he left. Just a few days ago she had been terrified by the idea of being his mate. But everything he did was for her comfort. He showed how much he cared not by saying it but by doing it. Maybe it wasn’t true love. Her mother had told her once years ago that love was a verb, not just a noun. She said true love was built over years of standing together and working together even when things were hard. She and Taye had known each other only a few days. But what they had could grow into true love. She was sure of it.
Carla folded back the covers and got up, stretching. One thing she was going to need pretty soon was a robe. All she had was Taye’s T-shirt. She saw a note on the table and went to pick it up. The paper was thick, probably homemade. The writing was carefully formed. She wondered, as she unfolded the paper how much time a werewolf spent reading and writing. Had Taye gone to school? There was still so much she didn’t know about him. She read the note.
Sweetheart, I have gone hunting. I’ll be back before supper. There is hot water for a bath. Love, Taye.
Hot water! A week ago she hadn’t valued hot water the way she should have. She went into the bathroom and luxuriated in a hot shower. Then she combed her wet hair and braided it and put on her same clothes. The blood stains hadn’t come out. Shopping was going to be a priority. She would talk to Taye about it when he got home. Meanwhile, she would eat, then work on her music for the concert on Sunday.
The den was almost deserted. Apparently most of the wolves were gone hunting. There were two men in the rec room, and she was pretty sure they were human, not wolf born. How she knew that she wasn’t sure. One was blond and the other had light brown hair, but both were wearing the wolves’ usual dress of nothing at all. She nodded at them as she went into the kitchen and scooped herself some lukewarm oatmeal and grabbed an apple. She ate the oatmeal quickly and took the apple and her guitar back to her room.
As always, Carla lost herself in her music. She was able to write the song for Mr. Gray. It talked about sweet Kylie and the young Mr. Gray who loved her. She used the guitar as a symbol of their love, how they took turns carrying it on their journey to a new home and how its songs had strengthened them on the long weary evenings of the journey. With only the guitar for an instrument it was a simple sweet melody. It was, Carla thought, possibly the best song she had ever written, and she wished she could record it. She thought only an hour had passed, but when she came back to herself she found the sun was low, and noises in the hallway indicated that the wolves were back from hunting. And she was starving.
She laid aside her guitar and went out to see about supper and if Taye was back yet. He was right outside their door, holding a large cloth-wrapped parcel. It was almost as large as she was. He dropped it on the floor and leaned into her. His weight rested solidly against her chest and pushed her back into the closed door of their room. He smiled into her ey
es and kissed her. The kiss started out as an almost chaste peck and immediately grew into something hot. Just about the time she was going to open the door and pull him in for privacy, he let go of her. His white teeth gleamed in a grin.
“I have a present for you, sweetheart,” he announced, hoisting up the bundle.
“Another one? Taye, you shouldn’t have.” The words were automatic, the product of a childhood with a mother who drilled good manners into all four of her sons and her only daughter. “What is it?”
“Come with me,” he invited. “This isn’t just from me. It’s from the whole Pack.”
Every member of the Pack must have been in the rec room, smiling at her like eager children. Taye led her through them and out to the yard and around the back to where the stable was. The entire Pack followed along behind her. There was a mare there, a solid bay with a white blaze that ran over her nose to a point between her eyes and white stockings on both front legs.
“This is Wind in the Grass,” Taye murmured. “She’s got endurance and speed enough to carry you away from danger. She is yours. A gift from the Pack. Go, make her acquaintance.”
Carla wanted to run to the horse, but she controlled herself and approached gently. By the looks of her neck and head she had some Arabian in her, but her body was strong and blocky, her legs sturdy. The mare seemed calm, and let Carla look in her mouth, but watched everything carefully. Carla guessed she was three or four years old.
The man with the sweet smile, Quill, came out of the stable with a saddle and a pad. “This saddle is for you, Lupa,” he said through his hair. Carla’s hand itched to pull that mass of golden brown curls back so she could see his face. “It will be in the tack room when you’re ready to ride.”
Taye caught her sleeve. “Not tonight, sweetheart.” He bent to murmur in her ear, “If you want to ride tonight, I’m at your service.”
It took Carla a second to catch his innuendo. She blushed and gave him a wild look before noticing the members of the Pack were smiling wickedly. She blushed harder and gave Taye a glare. Taye smiled angelically.
