by Leela Ash
He would have to be a lot less charming and rather become obnoxious in order to make her lose interest, he thought. He started to say something when a little figure hurtled through the door and flung itself straight at his legs.
“Uncle Luke!” Tom’s joyous shout rent the air.
“Hey Tiger,” Luke laughed, lifting the little boy and tickling him by dipping his chin in the child’s side.
Tom laughed and laughed and grabbed fistfuls of Luke’s hair to maintain his balance.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
Tom nodded eagerly, but he looked around for his mother too. When he didn’t spot Kelly anywhere, he looked back at Luke. “Mummy?”
Luke fought down sudden panic. How could he tell the child about his mum’s gunshot wound?
“She had to do something and so she sent me.”
Tom looked crestfallen and Luke could almost hear him wondering what could have been more important than him because his mother had never missed a day of picking him up at school.
“The good thing is that Uncle Drake came with me. Wanna know a secret?”
Tom nodded eagerly.
“We’re thinking of getting some ice cream before we go home. We’ll stuff ourselves with ice cream and pastries; but it’s going to have to be our little secret. How does that sound?”
Tom brightened immediately, and Luke chuckled. He adjusted the little boy more firmly in his arms before nodding to the teacher, “Ms. Stephens.”
“Tracie,” she corrected, smiling into his eyes.
Luke averted his gaze and cleared his throat in discomfort, “Right.”
He turned to leave and Tracie called, “Is Drake the really tall, handsome brother about 6’5?”
The light dawned. She was probably the reason Drake had been so insistent on coming in to pick up Tom alone. The flirt, Luke thought rolling his eyes inwardly.
He nodded at Tracie Stephens and spun on his heels and strode off.
When he reached the car park, he was displeased to see that Marissa was still around. She was laughing up at Drake as they traded memories of years past but as soon as he focused on her, some of her laughter faded and she became uncomfortable as though she could feel the heat of his gaze on her. “Yo, Drake,” Luke called as he helped Tom into the high back seat of his truck.
Drake’s head lifted and he said something else to Marissa before he came loping towards the truck.
“That chick’s still hot for you,” Drake said the moment his ass touched the seat.
Luke’s jaw tightened as he started the ignition and threw a glance towards where Marissa was pulling carefully out of her spot. She caught him staring and gave him a hesitant smile that didn’t quite reach her sad eyes, before turning her head away and driving off.
For the first time he realized something he hadn’t noticed before; there was a dull hint of sadness in her eyes and every time he looked at her, she averted her gaze in a hurry.
His most pressing memory of Marissa was of her self-confidence and assurance. She’d never had a problem looking him in the eye; not even when she was lying through her teeth. Like all the times she’d looked him in the eye and whispered about how much she loved him while he had been plunging into her tight, wet body. And what about the time she had vowed she couldn’t live without him while he had been eating out her pussy? It had never occurred to him that she had been concealing a secret contempt for him behind those large pale-grey eyes of hers.
So, if she couldn’t meet his gaze now, whatever she was hiding had to be huge.
“That chick was never hot for me,” Luke muttered savagely as he screeched out of the parking lot, his renewed surge of anger making him a bit heavy footed on the accelerator. “I was just convenient.”
Drake threw him a surprised glance but thankfully contented himself with turning around to play with Tom.
Luke worried about that look he had noticed in Marissa’s eyes and he realized he had seen that look once before: the last night he had been in her bed, she had given him that same look just when he had been about to leave. He hadn’t asked about it because he thought he would see her again and get a chance to find out what was bothering her. The next time he had seen her, she had been staring through the window of her room, watching as her mum tried to pay him to never tell anyone about their relationship.
What was she hiding this time?
She could hide anything she liked, he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, Marissa Stanley might as well be dead. He’d been forced to live without her for so long that he’d gotten used to it anyway.
5.
Marissa was proving to be more difficult to forget than he’d thought. She showed up the next day with a foil-covered offering for Kelly and Jeanine.
Luke was just stepping out of the shower when he heard the doorbell ding. With a muttered oath, he dried his hair vigorously and tossed the towel onto the floor. Who in the blue blazes could be at the door right now?
He’d had a very exerting morning. First he’d gone for his customary run in the woods in his wolf form and then he had bounded over to the venue of the ill-fated witches’ conference to see for himself the damage he and Drake were supposed to clean up. He’d discovered it was something he could do himself so he’d gone to work cleaning up the Natura Poison and the bodies of over a thousand dead mice which had once been witches. He’d burnt them all up and sealed the doors of the Great Hall.
He’d arrived home less than ten minutes ago, ravenous and on edge with impatience strumming along his nerve-endings. He was angry, and he didn’t even really know why.
Now someone was at the damn door just when he was getting out of the shower and he was almost late for his meeting with the Mayor. He muttered some more curse words as he slung his shirt onto his shoulders and began to yank on his jeans as he went. He was the only one at home. Joshua, Derek and Tom had gone off to the hospital to fuss over Kelly; Bo had taken Jeanine for her obstetrician’s appointment; and Jack and Megan had said something about looking up wedding stuff before disappearing. Lord only knew where Drake was. Luke was willing to bet the Casanova probably had his head up some woman’s skirts.
The ringing of the doorbell had stopped, he realized as he descended the last two steps at a run whilst shoving one hand into his shirt. Perhaps whoever it was had—
“Watch where you’re going!” Marissa screamed in warning.
Too late, he careened straight into her and sent her sprawling. She yelped and he lunged for her, managing to grab the tail of her peach-colored top. The foil covered container in her hands flew over her head emptying some of its contents onto her hair as it went. As he started to right his balance, her top ripped right where he had been holding it and he gaped in disbelief as she shrieked again and started to fall.
He tugged automatically at the sheer material desperately trying to gain purchase with his hands. It was the wrong move; the top ripped completely and came off in his hand. His quick reflexes saved her from crashing her head onto the floor because he still managed to grab her before she hit the ground. But the momentum carried them both all the way to the floor anyway and he twisted mid-air to save her from the worst of the fall. They ended up in a tangle of limbs, lying on their sides facing each other, with his face pressed firmly into her breasts— her almost naked breasts thanks to the top that had ripped right off her body.
Luke lifted his head and stared in disbelief at the soft, ripe, juicy mounds his face had been planted in. Her luscious breasts were pressed together by the pushup bra she had on, creating a very tantalizing cleavage. He stifled a groan as his wayward member shot to immediate attention.
What was wrong with him? Evidently it didn’t matter how much he loathed the woman, all she had to do was show him a flash of skin and he became a horny idiot.
Luke glared at her; she glared right back at him and he noticed for the first time that her usually perfect hair was covered in gooey mayonnaise that had evidently spilled out of the foil package sh
e had been carrying. Some of the mayonnaise had even slid down to her eyebrow and it made her glare all the more comical. Suddenly, the situation struck him as beyond ridiculous.
He threw back his head and howled with laughter in spite of himself.
Marissa reddened with anger. “What’s so funny?”
He howled all the more, almost breathless with mirth. Finally he gathered himself enough to gasp, “You’re what’s funny, Marissa. You look a sight.”
He went off into fresh gales of hilarity.
She shoved at him and started to rise. Her feet slid on some mayonnaise and she went sprawling again, this time landing on him. Her legs cradled either side of his hips and her crotch pressed against his cock through the thick material of his jeans and hers. Her breasts were perfectly cushioned against the hard wall of his naked chest, the skin warm and soft against his.
His cock swelled insistently, struggling to burst free of the jeans and he felt his inner wolf scramble to be let out. Before he could stop himself, his right hand lifted and cupped itself around that soft, high mound.
They both inhaled sharply and their eyes rose in unison to collide in shocked awareness over where his strong masculine hand was kneading her soft breast and tweaking the nipple.
His gaze dropped to her soft pink lips and he groaned, unable to help himself as his hand fisted in her hair and pulled her head closer to his. Marissa’s eyes widened and focused on his mouth. Her tongue flicked out nervously and wet her lower lip. His gaze followed that tiny movement and passion strummed along his nerve-endings. He needed to taste that sweet little mouth of hers.
His hand tightened in her hair, pulling her head down and her mouth closer to his. Their mouths were just a hairbreadth apart when the phone in the living room rang loudly, the sound jarring.
They both jumped, coming back to earth with a thud. He rolled, placing her onto her side and rising to his feet in one swift motion. She scrambled up too, sputtering and he rushed into speech to cover up his discomfort and confusion over what had nearly happened.
“Stop falling all over me,” he growled.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Marissa demanded, trying in vain to gather the scraps of material of her torn top over her breasts. “Why did you rip off my top, you pervert?”
Luke glared at her, “I did not rip off your top, you lying bitch. That tiny scrap of material you were wearing wasn’t a top, it was a handkerchief. I tried to save your ungrateful hide from falling and it came apart in my hand.”
Marissa stared. Luke had never been rude to her in the past. What was wrong with him? Why was he speaking this way now? He almost sounded as though he had a chip on his shoulder about her, which was surprising, because if anyone had a right to be angry about the past, it was her. She was the one who had been abandoned and hurt and left to face the consequences of their night of passion alone while he strode off into the sunset clutching her mother’s check.
She took in his appearance now. His hair was wet as though he had just come out of the shower and his chest was bare, exposed by his unbuttoned shirt.
“I came to drop off some food for Kelly and Jeanine and when I saw that the front door was unlocked, I let myself in,” she tried.
His gaze flicked down her length, “Was it? Or did you use your gift?”
Marissa’s ability had always fascinated him. She could pass through solid objects and she could understand the language of trees.
“I’m not a liar, Luke. If I say your front door was unlocked, then it was. I wouldn’t burgle my way in simply to drop off a tray of food.”
Okay, when she put it like that he saw her point, he conceded silently. But she was wrong when she said she wasn’t a liar because that was exactly what she was. The thought made his lip curl in a sneer.
Marissa turned her back on him and fiddled with the ripped top in her hands trying to see if there was any possible way to manage it. Luke almost swallowed his tongue when she presented him another view; one he could look his fill without her noticing. Her back was exactly the way he remembered it: smooth, toned, and satin-like. He molded his palms into fists to keep from reaching out to caress that smooth, soft expanse of skin.
Her lovely hair was coated in streaks of mayonnaise. A clump of mayonnaise dangled off a strand of her hair threatening to drop onto her skin. He reached to catch it but it splotched onto her back, right above her bra, before he could reach it.
Marissa yelped at the unexpected sensation of the cold mayonnaise on her back and Luke muttered against his better judgment, “Hold still. I’ll get it.”
As soon as his hand touched that soft bare flesh, what little was left of his control snapped as his shifter wolf growled and took over his instincts. All his inhibitions fled, the memories of the past faded and his entire attention was focused with laser beam intensity on that one patch of skin coated by the clump of white mayonnaise. He bent forward and licked the mayonnaise off her naked back with one long, sweeping, sinful stroke of his wet velvety tongue. She tasted absolutely delicious. She was all woman, with a hint of sandalwood.
Marissa moaned in surrender, her head falling forward as the shirt she’d been fumbling with slid from suddenly nerveless fingers.
Luke’s hands curved around her front to cup her breasts from behind and she moaned aloud. His lips continued to stroke down her back, investigating the dip in her back and every inch of feminine flesh.
Marissa’s moans had turned to that deep, guttural, growling sound he associated with her white wolf shifter side. She spun around suddenly in his arms and leaped on him like a tigress on her prey. They crashed onto the floor again but this time, they were both mad with passion.
Their fingers fumbled, flew over clothing, slipped, grasped, kneaded, squeezed, stroked, until they were both stark naked and straining against each other as they hungrily devoured each other’s mouths.
Passion burned hot, hotter and brighter; urgency drove them and in what seemed like a nanosecond, Luke was positioning his thick dickhead at the entrance of her sweet wet pussy.
Marissa didn’t wait for him to thrust; she grabbed his ass cheeks and yanked his hips forward, embedding him in her body, past her tight vaginal walls and all the way to the hilt. Her poor, starved body that had waited over eight years to feel his familiar touch reacted immediately; clenching, squeezing, tightening, pulling, arching with frantic delight.
He hadn’t moved a muscle beyond that first thrust but apparently, once was enough.
She threw back her head and screamed in glorious pleasure as she pulsed and pulsed in release, her pussy contracting uncontrollably. When she had finished cumming, Luke bent down and licked a spot on her neck as he began to move his hips. She was so lubricated and slippery from her orgasm, his entry was sweet and easy.
He glided in and out, in and out, still licking her neck. Pleasure strummed on his nerve endings with the same urgency he had felt when he entered her. He shoved one hand between them and began to stroke her soft clitoris as he growled, “Cum with me baby.”
His deep growl stoked the fires of her passion again and her body arched in response, coming alive with fiery intensity. He stroked deeper inside her pussy, tightened his teeth in the column of her neck and then with a loud growl, poured his sperm straight into her tight wet pussy. He spurted until every last drop of semen was buried deep inside of her. Her soft cries mingled with his and the clenching motions of her vaginal walls told him she had cum again.
He licked the spot he had bitten on her neck and then kissed her cheek. His penis was still deeply buried inside of her and he groaned at the sensation of his sensitized tip rubbing on the insides of her pussy.
“You’re so fucking tight,” he whispered. “You’re driving me out of my fucking mind.”
His voice, rough and gravelly, stirred her and she opened her pale grey eyes and smiled such a blinding smile that his breath caught in his throat. Then, her gaze still locked on his, she placed her hands at his hips and lifted him off
of her a little. Then she thrust forward and up and his penis stroked deep within her again.
Luke kissed her cheek as he matched her rhythm at once, his body coming to rigid attention. That one night wrapped in her arms in that hotel room in London had taught him that he was as insatiable as she was wanton. It was the first time they had gotten into bed together and they had made love seven times in a row, their supernatural strengths fuelling passion. Before they were halfway through, they hadn’t been able to hold back their shifter sides. They had mated four times in human form that night and thrice in their shifter form.
Her white wolf fur contrasted admirably with his black fur, he remembered now as he licked her cheek. She was so beautiful and graceful.
He bent his head to lazily lap at a nipple, wrenching an indrawn breath of pleasure from her. Then he lifted his head and resumed his strokes. His gaze held hers; gold colliding with pale-grey until his body started to shiver. Her eyes widened as pleasure increased, shimmered on the edge of bursting forth and then she was there; tightening her arms around him and squeezing him so tight, he should have been afraid she would crack his bones. He wasn’t though.
She drifted back to earth slowly, even as he resumed thrusting furiously, reaching for his own pleasure. Pleasure pulsed, beckoning just out of reach. Luke lifted his upper body away from hers, tensed a little and then with a huge groan, started to shoot his cum straight into her waiting pussy.
Marissa’s eyes were focused on where they were still joined and she reached out one long, well-manicured finger and trailed a straight line down his penis shaft.
“You’re bigger than I remember,” Marissa whispered with a dreamy, satisfied smile curving her soft lips.
Luke started to smile back in appreciation of her compliment when a flash of memory intruded and he lost his smile. She had whispered those exact words that night when he had seen her in the arms of another man; the fiancé she had been using him to cheat on.
