by T. S. Joyce
“Broken rib never healed right.” Ethan pointed to a painting on the ground near them, one she’d skipped. It was of a ferocious-looking man with his mouth open like he was yelling. The background behind him was hundreds of abstract crows painted in red. “You were wrong about the pictures. That’s my dad, and he gave me lots of presents when I was a kid.” Ethan pressed his palm over her hand and kept her right over that broken rib. “Still think I’m beautiful?”
She wanted to cry. Wanted to sob for him. Wanted to break down and fall to her knees, bury her face in her hands, and fill her palms with tears for him. If it would’ve taken any of the pain he felt away, she would’ve. That rib… It was probably one of a dozen broken things people couldn’t see by looking at him. Normal strong man on the outside but with broken bones on the inside because of someone else’s decisions. Someone who was supposed to take care of him, to protect him, but who had done unforgiveable things to him instead.
“Tough, tough man,” she murmured. “You do everything on your own, don’t you?”
He swallowed hard and pulled her against his chest, hugged her gently. “You have no idea.”
“Well, you aren’t alone anymore.”
His body went rigid. “What?”
“You have me now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there isn’t a single thing you could tell me that would make me run. I can tell when people are good. And you’re good despite what you went through.” When she ran her nails softly up his back on either side of his spine, his body shook. Leah loved that she could affect him.
“You’re wrong again, Leah. If I told you everything, you wouldn’t be able to stay. You’re a pure, naïve, normal, untainted, unjaded woman. We are not the same.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes, what?”
“My answer is yes. Yes, I still think you’re beautiful. This”—she moved her fingertips back to the broken rib—“this is the most beautiful thing about you.”
Ethan eased back and frowned down at her, shook his head slightly. “I don’t understand.”
“Someone tried to break you, and they failed. And because of their failure, because of your grit and the person you are, you’re standing here showing a girl kindness with a gentle hug that probably isn’t in your nature.”
“I also hurt you,” he said, stroking his fingers against the bandage on her neck. “If you knew what I really did and why, you would hate me.”
“What did you do?”
Ethan lifted his chin and shook his head, denying her an answer. “Just pray it doesn’t scar.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’ll belong to a monster.”
That should’ve scared her. Looking up into those pure black eyes, her hands on a broken man with terrifying words leaving his lips, she should’ve backed away slowly and left. But there was more meaning behind his words than him just trying to scare her away. This man required patience. He would test her, and she would have to choose at each test to stay or to leave.
“You mean I’ll belong to you?”
“Just don’t let my crow see the marks. Keep them covered up.”
Riiip. God that hurt, pulling at the bandages.
“What are you doing?”
“Misbehaving,” she said with a bright grin.
“Woman, I just said don’t show me.”
“I’m not good with directions.” Riiiiip.
“Stop. Stop, stop, stop.”
Riiiii—
Ethan wrapped his hand gently around her throat, stopping her progress with the bandages. His smile was wicked. “You want to run yet?”
“No, the gentle choking is hot.”
“Oh yeah? You already got a little devil in you?”
“No. I have a wicked little rainbow unicorn that shoots glitter and sparkles from its horn and gets bored easily and makes questionable decisions.”
Ethan’s wicked smile turned into the biggest grin before he gave a booming laugh. His abs flexed with his laughter, and he leaned heavily against her, hugged her tight. “Holy shit, woman, I’ve never met anyone like you.”
She rubbed his back and, face smashed against his stony chest, she muttered, “Usually when people say that, they don’t mean it as a compliment.”
“Well, fuck those people, and if anyone ever insults you, all I need is a first and last name and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Oh my God, did you just become my hot and partially psychotic body guard?”
“I think you need one. You almost fell thirty times this week at the restaurant.”
“Okay, that is an exaggeration.”
“It’s really not.”
“So you’ve been watching me, too.”
“How could I not? Your tits are always halfway out of that ugly dress and you’re the clumsiest living being I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“Thank you,” she said in a mushy voice.
“I was serious.” Ethan rocked her back and forth. “I meant it when I said I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re funny, and you’re a mess, but you own it. And when you see the bad parts of me, you laugh them off like they are just another thing to accept. People don’t do that.”
“I’m not most people. I’m different.”
“You said that with a sad voice, but you know how you told me my fucked-up rib is your favorite thing about me? Well, you being different is my favorite part about you.” He tipped his head to the side and added, “That and your tits.”
She gave him an open-mouthed grin and pressed her pelvis against his massive erection. “Your boner lie-detector test has determined that’s the truth!” And then in the creepiest voice she could muster, Leah whispered, “I like your tinkle-part.”
He huffed a laugh and stroked his knuckles against her cheek. “You’re a nightmare, you know that?” But the sweet tone to his gritty voice said he really meant she was a dream. And no man had ever made her feel like this—like despite being a walking disaster, she was pretty on her insides.
Ethan’s gaze dropped to her lips, and this was it. This was where she was supposed to stay really still and let the boy she liked kiss her. This was the moment that was going to change everything for them. It was the moment she was going to get even more attached to him.
“Stop thinking,” he murmured.
We’re probably going to get married and have crow eggs together.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Ethan asked, trying to contain his own grin, but it was peeking out at the corners of his lips and in his dancing eyes.
“Just thinking about our future.”
“Oh, God. Are you going to make everything weird?”
“From this moment on, for better or worse—”
Ethan kissed her. Now, maybe it was to shut her up, but that was cool with her. A kiss was a kiss, and now she was going to get him addicted to her. She just knew it because she was good at two things: falling a lot and kissing. She’d practiced on the back of her hand for hours when she was a teenager, and she was pretty confident in her abilities. She could suck the skin off a baked potato if she wanted to. Which sometimes she did because baked potatoes were delicious. Geesh, her head was loud. Was it always this loud?
I should make my move and get him to fall in love with me. But right as she went to suck on his bottom lip with just a hint of teeth, he shorted out her brain completely. He pushed his tongue past her lips and she melted against him. And there was his hand again, so gentle around her throat, just like she’d told him she enjoyed.
His beard rubbed against her face as his mouth moved against hers, but she loved it. Ethan was the manliest, sexiest, most intriguing man she’d ever met, and here he was, pushing her back toward the bed.
Don’t stop.
The paintings fluttered and crackled under their feet, but Ethan didn’t seem to care about ruining them. He bent slightly and picked her up as if she weighed nothing. She couldn’t do much other than hold on and enj
oy the ride because the man kept right on kissing her. They talked about fireworks on TV when you kissed someone good, but she’d never understood what that meant until now.
This was fireworks. It was fireworks and butterflies, breathlessness and awe. It was never wanting to let go. It was letting herself get completely lost in a man who felt bigger and more imperative to her continued existence by the second.
What had he done to her? Was this the way of it for shifters? They bedazzled humans and made them lock on for eternity? That’s what this right here felt like—the possibility of eternity.
Her back settled on the bed, and she smiled against his lips. The mattress was lumpy and much too firm. He wasn’t missing out by being kicked out of this place. It had to be like sleeping on a slab of petrified wood. Her bed was softer and, oh, she was making plans. She hoped Ethan liked stage-five clingers!
Ethan’s tongue stroked against hers over and over, drawing a whimper up her throat. She needed more. When his fingers dug into her hips as he ground against her, the denim between them felt much too unacceptable right now.
She did her best to wiggle out of her jeans, but he stopped her before they were even midway down her thighs.
“Too fast,” he murmured.
“Uh, or too slow.”
“You aren’t ready,” he murmured, lifting up slightly.
“False, I’ve been shaving my hoo-hah for a week on the off chance you would poke me with your dingy.”
He tried to keep a straight face, but clearly failed when he snorted and his shoulders shook with his laughing. “Woman, I think when you start sleeping with someone, you’re supposed to be serious and sexy for a while before you start cracking the bedroom jokes.”
“Or…we skip all that and just be comfortable. Also, just so you know, my bedroom number is very very low, so you will have to take the reins on what we are doing. And if lap dances and sexiness are your gig, I’m gonna need you to find some pole dancing lessons for me and sign me up.”
“It’s impossible to be in a serious mood around you, isn’t it? You make it impossible. You wouldn’t let anyone have a bad day, would you?”
She shook her head. “Nope.” She wiggled her finger at the space where their pelvises were resting against each other. “I spy with my happy eyes—”
“Whatever you’re about to say…” Ethan slid his hand down the front of her panties and gave a manly, sexy moan. “Fuck,” he muttered. “You’re already wet. I forgot what I was saying.”
“Me, too,” she whispered as she rocked her hips against his palm.
He dragged his fingers along her entrance, rubbed her clit in a circular motion, and now she was the one moaning. Holy balls, he knew exactly how to touch her.
“We should take it slow,” he murmured against her lips and then kissed her. “For you.”
That was a cop-out. She was good and ready, so she shook her head slight. “Mmm mmm.”
“You’re good, and I’m…I’m…”
Leah reached between them and pulled a long, firm stroke of his dick from base to head. “You’re what?” she asked, gripping him tighter and sliding her hand up and down his length.
Ethan eased back, and for just a few seconds, he had the brightest blue eyes. His human color. It was the first time she’d ever seen it. He peeled her bandages off and studied her neck, then slid her panties and jeans down her legs.
“You’re what?” she asked again.
“Yours,” he murmured right before his eyes turned black again. And then he pushed the head of his cock into her.
She gasped at how good it felt and begged, “More.”
Ethan kissed her harder, hard enough to make her lips throb as he pushed deep, deep inside her. There was a moment when they laid there, just like that, connected. What was this feeling? It was more than lust. It was… It was…
Ethan eased out and pushed into her again and again and again. She moved with him, reveling in how good he felt.
His lips pressed against the slashes on her throat as he pushed into her harder. Suddenly, he rose up and pulled her shirt over her head, then popped the front fasten of her bra like it was nothing.
And as soon as that restraint fell away, his lips were sucking hard on her nipple. His beard felt like heaven against her sensitive skin. Every nerve ending had feeling right now, like she was hyperaware of every inch of her body. Of his hands and the way they felt gripping and brushing and massaging her hips, her thighs, her breasts, her back…the gentle choke he gave her as a reward when she panted out his name.
He grabbed her ankle and bent her leg up. He rolled his hips against her even deeper, hitting her clit just right. He held there for a second before he began moving again, slowly, deliberately, harder and deeper.
“Oh my God, oh my God!” she chanted as he moved inside of her. She was so close to release. and every time he pushed into her, it felt better and better.
“Come for me,” he growled against her ear. “Be a good girl and come for me.”
His voice sent her over the edge, and she arched her head back against the mattress as the first pounding wave of orgasm struck.
Ethan grabbed her wrist and held it against the sheets above her head, pinning her in place as he gritted his teeth and groaned. He rammed into her and stayed there as his dick swelled and pulsed. So warm, so perfect, his release was drawing hers out.
Ethan leaned down, nipped her earlobe, and murmured, “No turning back now.”
You’ll belong to a monster.
She could hear his earlier words so clearly in her head, but for the life of her, she couldn’t bring herself to care.
She didn’t know his whole story yet, and maybe Ethan was a monster to others, but as he rolled over and hugged her tightly against his chest, she could feel the pounding of his heartbeat against her palm. He was a man just like everyone else with a past and a present and a future.
She dragged her touch down to his broken rib. He was still here despite horrors she couldn’t even guess at, and how damn inspiring was that?
Every instinct in her said he was salvageable.
That he was a protector and a survivor.
That he was worth effort.
And maybe, just maybe, he was part of the changes she was so desperate for in her own life.
Leah pressed her lips against the drumming of his heart and whispered, “You aren’t going to scare me away. I’m yours, too.”
Chapter Seven
“You have everything?” she asked, wading carefully through the broken mirror glass on the bathroom floor.
“Be careful, woman, you’ll get cut,” Ethan said, leaning against the open doorframe of the hotel bathroom with a worried frown. “What are you doing?”
“Stealing all the mini-bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. Oh look! A free shower cap.” She held up the little cardboard box triumphantly. “We’re fancy now!”
Ethan rolled his eyes and muttered, “Oh God,” but she was pretty sure he wore a smile under his giant beard.
“I like when you smile,” she said before he could turn to leave.
Ethan crossed his arms and one corner of his lips lifted in a sexy smirk. One of his arms was covered in tattoos, and he had some down his ribs, too. He’d put on jeans that rode low on his hips, exposing his bottom set of delicious abs and a tiny trail of hair that beckoned her to follow it and give him pener-kisses. His shaved hair on the sides of his head felt so good when she touched it, and the long hair up on top made him look like a total badass. “Really, I like everything about the way you look,” she murmured.
He pointed to her face. “I roughed you up?”
Wait, what? With a little squeak, she turned to the mirror to check how bad she looked, but it wasn’t there anymore thanks to Crow-Breaks-A-Lot. She lifted her hand to her neck. “You didn’t choke me hard enough to leave marks, though. Your hand always stayed gentle.” And sexy as fuck.
“No, I mean my beard has your face rubbed raw.”
With a surprised-sounding chuckle, Ethan scrubbed his hands up and down his face. “Dear lord, woman, I think you’re going to keep me on my toes.”
Adjusting the pile of mini-toiletries in the bowl of her arms, she stepped carefully toward Ethan and muttered, “You bet your butt I will. Speaking of keeping you on your toes, I’m pretty sure I locked my keys in the truck.”
Ethan pursed his lips and shook his head. “Aaaand it starts.”
“Deep down you think my mess is cute.”
Ethan patted her butt as she walked by, and when she leaned into him and nuzzled his chest like an affectionate little tiger, he allowed it. They were definitively getting married.
“I’ll pick up something to jimmy your door open tomorrow. It’s late tonight and we’re both working in the morning. We can take the Harley.”
“I’ve never ridden a motorcycle before,” she chirped, grabbing his duffle bag. The thing didn’t move from the ground. Not even an inch. “You got rocks in here? Grecian statues? A baby blue whale?”
“Ha. Tools. Here let me get it.” Ethan reached around her and picked it up like all it contained was socks. Whoa.
“Are all shifters strong like you?”
“Yep. You should see a bear shifter. Total fuckin’ beasts. They could pick up your truck if they wanted to.”
“Like the Two Claws Clan?”
“You saw them on TV?”
“Yeah, they were doing interviews with Ramsey. One day, I drove out to Darby and hung out in that coffee shop right off Main Street, hoping I would see them so I could get an autograph.”
“You want an autograph?” he asked, holding the door open for her.
“Heck yeah! Shifters are cool. They’re like famous people but better.”
“How so?”
“Because famous people seek attention, but shifters have stayed hidden all this time. And they’re more powerful than humans, but they aren’t out there preachin’ about how much better they are than everyone else. They were just livin’ their lives all quiet until they got outed by that polar bear shifter Changing right in downtown Darby. How cool is it that all the shifter stuff happens right around here?”
