“Adrien, please.” She panted the words huskily against his skin, his lips busy as they trailed down the sensitive curve of her neck and back up until he reached her ear.
“Please, what?” His voice was deep and rough and almost animalistic as he whispered the words, his hot breath sending waves of chills rushing down her spine.
“Please, I need you…I need you to–.” Her words cut off on a gasp as his talented fingers found their way under the hem of her shirt, danced hotly up and over the slight swell of her stomach, the ridge of her ribcage and finally teasing under the cup of her lacy bra to tease the tender nubs hidden underneath. He pinched them just enough to draw another gasp, every touch sending shockwaves through her body.
“You need me to do this?” He asked, his words barely audible but they were lost to Morgan anyways. She was adrift in an ocean of pleasure but she wanted more, she need so much more. Adrien’s fingers made quick work of her shirt, drawing it over her head and tossing it away and her black lacy bra soon followed.
Morgan pried open heavy lidded eyes to find him staring at her in pure awe. That look shot through her, all the way to her soul. It was like he was worshiping her with his gaze and she felt tenderness wash over her in a wave, the emotion tightening in her chest and reached out to him, drawing him close.
They held each other for a long moment, transforming the raging hunger into something more, something deeper. It wasn’t just lust sparkling through her, there was a connection there, a bond that she could describe and she couldn’t deny. It felt so real it was if she could have reached out and touched it.
Morgan held back a surprised shriek as she was suddenly horizontal, Adrien’s strong arms supporting her as if she weighed nothing as he carried her the short distance to his bedroom. She didn’t have time to see much of the room except to get a sense of its maleness before he laid her on the center of his massive bed.
She sank into the down comforter underneath her but was instantly distracted as Adrien stood to strip off his own shirt and black jeans. His boxers followed and he was unabashed and unembarrassed as her eyes scoured his magnificent body. Morgan had known he was fit and athletic, but nothing could have prepared her for the absolute perfection of him. Every muscle looked chiseled from marble and had her itching to reach out and see if it was real, to feel his skin under her touch.
Morgan was just about to when he moved. She held her breath as he crawled over her, his body so much bigger, so much harder than her own. She had never felt particularly delicate, but now, compared to Adrien, she felt undeniably feminine.
Slowly, reverently, Adrien moved to the buttons of her jeans, undoing them one by one. Just as slowly, he eased the material down her legs, sliding his hot fingers along each inch of skin he exposed as he went. Morgan wasn’t sure if it was minutes or hours later when she was finally naked and spread out beneath him. Her body felt drugged and heavy and she moved restlessly as her body reeled at the pleasure of him.
He made his way back up her body, leaving a trail of feather light kisses that all seemed to send shocks of electricity straight to her center, to the part of her that needed him the most. Finally, he laid his body over hers, his hips nestled in the V of her soft thighs and all she could do was moan in pleasure as his lips met hers once more.
It was as if that kiss set off an explosion inside both of them. Gone was the patience only to be replaced by an urgency even more intense than before. They devoured one another, their bodies moving restlessly in a dance as old as time.
Morgan moaned again as she felt his hot length tease against her slick entrance. She cried his name out in pleasure as he thrust inside her, slowly at first and then faster and faster, both caught up in the race to find their ecstasy.
Every movement he made sent bolts of pleasure so intense she could barely breath uncurling through her body, building and building until it was almost too much. With a cry, she reached the edge, flying over it as her climax exploded over her in a shower of fireworks. Her body tensed and her nails dug into the skin of Adrien’s back, trying to hold on to herself as the world around her disappeared in a wave of pure bliss.
Moment later, he was following her over with a shout of his own and they both collapsed into a sweaty, breathless pile. They laid that that for a moment, just savoring the feel of satiation and Morgan wondered anew at the bond she could feel glowing between them.
She took a deep breath, trying to regain her senses and froze. Adrien sat bolt upright, a look of panic on his face, sniffing at the air.
“What is it, Adrien?” Morgan asked, coming to her elbows, concern filling her at his expression.
“I smell smoke.” He said, his voice serious. Morgan sniffed and shook her head.
“I don’t smell anything.”
“There’s smoke. A fire. The bar!” He jumped out of bed with a shout, hurriedly throwing on his jeans and dashing out of the bedroom. Morgan threw on one his shirts, it reached all the way to her knees, and rushed out after him into the night.
Adrien stared at the flames licking out of the office window as a myriad of emotions crashed through him. Shock, fear, sadness, but above all, anger. He was dimly aware of Morgan calling 911, and letting him know that they were dispatching the fire truck.
They stood there in silence after that, just staring. There was nothing else they could do. There was so much smoke in the air, billowing up like chimney stacks to form hazy clouds in the night sky.
He berated himself for not smelling it sooner. He had been so wrapped up in Morgan, the rest of the world had completely disappeared. His thoughts had memories rising up in his mind. Even this tragedy couldn’t mar the feeling of joy and rightness that flooded him as he remembered. Being with Morgan had been the singular most important moment of his life. He and his animal half had finally been complete in a way he had never felt before. Had never even known he could feel.
He pushed away all the doubts and fears, and focused on the bond that told him just then Morgan was feeling scared and saddened. His brows rose in surprise. That was something that he’d never heard of. Being able to read a partner’s emotions. At least not this soon after mating. That kind of connection usually took decades to form.
Adrien held out his arms and she instantly embraced him, burying her head against his chest.
“I’m so, so sorry, Adrien.” She whispered, her words muffled as she spoke. He watched, not saying anything as the fire department arrived and quickly had the fire put out. The smell of wet ash and smoke was almost unbearable to him as one of the fire fighters walked up to him. Adrien instantly recognized the man as a local, and a frequent customer at the bar.
“Hey, Adrien,” The man’s somber face told him all he needed to know and he almost broke down then and there. The bar had been entrusted to him, and he hadn’t taken care of it the way he had promised. But the man’s next words had a small nugget of hope returning. “The smoke damage is pretty bad, but it seems mostly cosmetic. Whoever set the fire didn’t know what they were doing. It started in the back office, but didn’t have a chance to spread any further, so the building and foundation are still solid.”
“Oh, thank God.” Morgan said vehemently, but his mind was still stuck on something the fireman said.
“Wait a minute, someone set the fire? Someone did this?” He couldn’t keep the raw anger out of his voice and the man took a step back.
“Uh, yeah. This was definitely arson. Incompetent arson, luckily. It could have been a lot worse.”
Adrien could feel the growl building inside his chest and quickly turned away, trying to keep the animal half of him from breaking free and destroying whoever was responsible for this. Because he already knew who it was. Harris.
On the tail of that thought came another. If he hadn’t convinced Morgan to leave early, she could have been caught in the fire, hurt or maybe worse. The growl came out in full force then, he was unable to contain it at the thought. If Morgan was hurt because of him, he didn’t know what
he would do.
Harris was behind this. That damn bear was still convinced that he could break him and Morgan apart, but after what they had shared that night, Adrien knew for a fact that he wasn’t going to let that happen.
The thought of sharing that kind of connection with Sera turned his stomach, or anyone else besides Morgan for that matter. Morgan was his mate, his life was tied to hers, and he would do whatever it took to keep her safe and protected.
A plan started to form then, slowly at first, and then solidifying when he glanced over at Morgan to see her tear-stained face as she watched the fire truck drive away now that the building was contained and the fire put out.
His father had a property deep in the forest, far away from the tribe, Harris, and his dirty schemes. They could go there, get away from all of this shit that Harris cause. And maybe, just maybe, he could figure out a way to tell her the truth about himself and the connection that bound their lives together...
Chapter 1
Mountains rose like giants in the distance. It was hard to tell how big they really were, although Morgan suspected a lot larger than they seemed from the narrow gravel road that lead them farther and farther away from Kingstown. All she could do was stare at the dramatic landscape surrounding them as they drove. It was so wild and un-tameable. So much like the man who was sitting next to her behind the wheel. Unlike her he faced straight ahead, eyeing down the stretch of road as if at any second it would rear up and challenge him.
Every where she looked, the landscape was changing. The trees and shrubs blurring as they sped past and still the mountains seemed to stand still, unmoving sentries staring down into the valley they made their way down. Morgan wasn’t sure exactly where they were going, only that it was much further than the place he’d taken her for that bizarre dinner where she pretended to be his fiancé. Now, the word gave her chills. Fiancé. She shook her head at her own foolishness.
Morgan stared out the passenger side window of Adrien’s rambling jeep as wonder poured through her. Wonder, and doubt, and confusion, and nerves, and so many emotions all tangled together that she felt like she could barely catch her breath. And she knew exactly who to blame for it. She snuck a sideways glance at the man sitting next to her. Adrien had insisted that they go away for a few days while the bar was rebuilt. Had even told her he would pay her vacation days for the time off since he knew she relied on the income just as he did.
There was a difference in him now, a seriousness that hadn’t been there before and she knew it was because of the fire, even if he hadn’t come out and said it. She knew he blamed himself. A pique of fury flamed in her chest. She knew it was whoever had set the fire’s fault. Adrien had tried to shield her from the fact that it had been arson, but she had overheard the fireman after they had put out the flames. Why anyone would want to hurt the bar or Adrien, she didn’t know, but she did know the next time she saw someone suspicious sneaking around the bar she was heading straight for the bat she stashed in the back after all of their supplies had been tampered with.
Suddenly, Morgan felt Adrien’s fingers wrap around hers sending a wave of comfort and heat through her, as if he knew she was making herself upset. He seemed to be able sense her moods, her emotions, in an uncanny way. Sometimes even better than she could. She recalled the incident a few days ago. They had been at her apartment, Adrien had insisted on cooking dinner for her and had summarily kicked her out of her own kitchen. She was learning that he could be just as bossy outside of the bar as he was at work, but whatever he was cooking had smelled so good, she had let it pass.
She had been grinning to herself at the thought of what she would do in retaliation when she’d seen it on the news. Just a small flash scrolling underneath the weathercaster, unnoticeable to most but it had shaken her to the core. Roscoe Jenkins had been killed. It was another animal attack. Morgan pictured the sweet, albeit straightforward, old man who had been coming into the bar every week since she’d started working there, and she’d heard from Adrien that he had been doing that for even longer, for over a decade he had shared his wisdom and advice, often unwanted but always heartfelt.
The most shocking part was that it had happened less than a mile from the bar. She knew there wasn’t a lot of population surrounding it, well, almost none, in fact but there should have been enough people to keep animals at least out of the town itself. Morgan had shaken her head, shocked and feeling her heart break a little for the codgery old Roscoe’s passing.
Before she had even noticed the few tears rolling wetly down her cheek, he had been there. His strong arms had wrapped around her and he was holding her so tight she could barely breath, but that was exactly what she had needed. To feel that connection, that closeness. He hadn’t even asked her what was wrong, and she hadn’t asked him how in the world he had known that something was wrong. Because it had felt so incredibly right.
Finally, the tears had stopped, the sadness washed way by Adrien’s embrace. He had kissed her then, and it had been unlike anything she’d ever experiences. His lips touching hers had been feather soft, and so sweet and full of tenderness her breath had backed up in her lungs and it was all she could do to hold on, breathing the air from his own lungs because she had none of her own left.
It had lasted for mere moments, or hours she still wasn’t sure but the smell of burning steak had him cursing and tripping over his own feet trying to get to the kitchen. It had made her smile, amazed that he could have her laughing when just a little while ago she had been on the edge of heartbreak.
After that, they had ended up eating leftovers in bed after he had made love to her and she flushed red hot just thinking about it. It had been, hands down, the best sex of her life. Although to be fare she didn’t have much to compare it to but being with Adrien was nothing like the fumbling, hesitant touches of her high school boyfriend or the few guys she had dated since then. Neither had been remarkable in that account. Perhaps it was the same ability he had to sense her emotions, he could also sense exactly what she needed.
“Look, that mountain looks like a bear!” Morgan exclaimed, pointing out of her window at a peak that had just arisen from the horizon as the road dipped. She stared at it, amazed at the almost perfect likeness of a black bear sitting up on its hind legs, overlooking the valley like a protector. “Isn’t that strange? It looks so realistic.” Her artist’s eye instantly tried to capture the sweeping lines and wind hewn curves of the mountain to try and recreate later. There was so much wild beauty out here it took her breath away and her fingers itched to pick up a paint brush and capture it all.
“Yeah. Strange.” Adrien said nonchalantly, his eyes still on the road. Morgan glanced at him for a moment before her gaze was drawn inexorably back to the majestic landscape that was slowly turning to forest land. She could even see a small stream that dipped and ebbed along the road before getting larger and then splitting.
The nerves she had been holding at bay exploded again, along with excitement. She was looking forward to spending some time alone with this enigmatic man. It was funny to think that she had known him for three years, and still knew so little about him. About his past and his family. He almost never spoke of them, had only mentioned his father because the cabin they were going to had belonged to him.
But things had been changing between them, they were growing closer and closer and the connection between them was undeniable. And that wasn’t even taking into account the explosive chemistry that bubbled constantly between them. She’d never felt this way about someone before and it made her cautious at the same time it made her want to take a running leap off of the cliff, hoping that he would be at the bottom to catch her.
Adrien finally slowed the car, and as they rounded a bend in the now dirt road Morgan gasped as the so called cabin came into view, breaking through her warring thoughts.
“Oh my god, it’s beautiful!” She was out of the car before it had even come to a complete stop, her wide eyed gaze taking in the picturesque
scene. When Adrien had said he was taking her to a cabin, she had pictured a small, one bedroom room made out of logs with a cot and hopefully a working a toilet. He had not told her that the ‘cabin’ was actually a two story house, built in almost a Victorian style with a turret sheltering the large front porch, but sided in cedar. It rose out of the forest like it had grown right along with the trees surrounding it and there was a mass of wildflowers waving in the breeze all the way around in streams of color.
Morgan barely even noticed that Adrien had unpacked their bags and was loading everything in until he turned to her from the front door with a grin.
“Just wait until you see the inside.” He said just before he walked through the door, and she scrambled after him, amazed at the rustic charm of the place out here in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she entered, her jaw dropping as she looked around.
“Go ahead. Explore.” He said with another smile, answering her unasked question. With a squeal of excitement, she took off, invading every room and exclaiming at the bold, yet simple décor and surprisingly modern amenities. She found a large living room with a fireplace, a bathroom and a den on the first floor and two large bedrooms on the second. Morgan was in the midst of looking around the small office when something caught her eye.
Without a second thought, she grabbed the framed picture and brought it downstairs. She had wanted to learn more about Adrien, and now was the perfect time to start. He would be overjoyed to see this, she was sure.
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 59
