Lure of the Tiger (Aloha Shifters: Jewels of the Heart Book 4)

by Anna Lowe

  “This is amazing,” Jody breathed.

  It was amazing. The roof stood out a good three feet wider than the floor. And with water free-falling from all four edges to the ground far below, he had the feeling of being out in the tropical rainstorm while staying perfectly dry — at least, apart from the water they’d carried in with them, now dripping slowly down their bodies in the most sensual way.

  “You’re amazing,” he whispered, letting his shirt drop from his hand as he prowled toward her.

  No more waiting. No more wishing, his tiger growled.

  The scent of lust spiked as Jody backed away with that vixen grin.

  “You’re shivering,” he murmured.

  “Not inside, I’m not.” She backed up another step. Not escaping so much as teasing, and he knew it. She peeked behind her, stopping near the edge of the platform. Out of space.

  A moment of truth. They were finished playing games. It was now or never, and he waited for her fear to show.

  But Jody just let her chin jut a little, showing him — and maybe herself — she wasn’t about to back down now.

  “Cruz,” she whispered, holding out her hand.

  He held his out, too, but they were still a foot apart. “Be sure you want this, Jody. Be sure.”

  He needed to hear it from her. They were moving awfully fast, and while sleeping together had the potential to complicate his wonderfully uncomplicated life, it was even more momentous for her. He was a shifter. A recluse who lived in a tree house. A man with far too many ghosts in his closet. Did she really want to tangle with a guy like him?

  His outstretched fingers trembled a tiny bit.

  “I want this, Cruz. God, do I want this.” As if to cement the point, she yanked her shirt off and let it drop to the floor.

  Cruz stared, exploring every inch of her body with his eyes. His gaze swept over her breasts and belly before stopping at the barely there thong that was the only thing she still wore.

  Heaven, his tiger murmured. I’m in heaven.

  Jody slid her hands to her hips until she found the sides of the thong and waited. “Do you want me to take this off, or do you want to do it yourself?”

  Cruz didn’t answer. Instead, he pounced. Really pounced. One second he was a foot away, and the next, he had her on the bed. He came over her, covering her mouth with his, claiming everything he touched.

  Jody’s eyes were wide and startled, but they were delighted, too.

  “I’m all wet,” she squeaked.

  “I like you wet,” he said between kisses.

  Those idiots from Elements had one thing right. Jody and water went perfectly together. Water became her, somehow. It brought out her inner shine, her one-of-a-kind spunk.

  Opening her mouth, she welcomed him in. She wrapped her arms around him and whimpered, driving him wild.

  Mine. She is mine. My mate forever, his tiger growled.

  Cruz had never felt as powerful — or as powerless. He plundered her mouth with his tongue and touched her like…like…well, like a pirate. But Jody egged him on, assuring him she wanted to be plundered, at least by this privateer. She already had her legs wrapped around him, her shoulders thrust back, her hands threaded through his hair.

  When he’d touched her in the car, he’d managed to keep cool — mostly. But now, he was a fumbling teenager, unable to decide where to begin. So he tried to touch her everywhere, which didn’t really work. He couldn’t even get his pants off — and maybe a good thing, too, because he wasn’t that much of a brute. He’d told Jody he’d fuck her until they both came undone, and that meant pleasuring her first.

  She wants to be taken. She wants to be ours, his tiger yowled.

  The irresistible image of sinking his teeth into her neck to deliver the mating bite flashed through his mind.

  He shook his head hard. Humans didn’t know about mates. We are not taking it that far. This is just our first time. So don’t ruin things by trying. Got it?

  Got it, got it, the beast huffed.

  That gave him just enough mind space to get his shit together and love Jody the way she deserved. The way he and only he could deliver, unlike any other man, anywhere, anytime.

  Hey! Why did you stop kissing? his tiger complained.

  Jody’s tight grip on his hair asked the same thing.

  Not stopping. Just redirecting, he assured the tiger.

  Ah, the beast sighed as Cruz started moving down her body. Now I see your plan.

  Jody moaned, moving beneath him as he reached her collarbone. Her hands played with his hair, giving him free rein.

  He trailed a line of kisses down her chest, getting high on her sweet, wild rose scent. Loving the way her body surged under his, leading him to her breasts. On a sharp inhale, her nipple came up to his mouth in open invitation. He took it as gently as he could then worked it harder, plucking and sucking until her moans were louder than the sound of the rain.

  Just for you, buddy, he told his tiger, running his tongue over the bumps of her areola.

  Just for you, my ass, the beast chuckled back.

  He chuckled, making Jody mumble, “What’s so funny, mister?”

  That was his Jody, always a minx, even when she was at his mercy. Did nothing daunt this woman?

  “Funny is me barely able to keep my head screwed on straight.”

  She liked that one; he could tell by the chuckle in her chest. A chuckle that made her breasts wiggle, prompting him to turn his attention there once more. He gathered the soft flesh together and dragged his tongue over her nipple again and again. Then he switched to the other side, circling and pinching until her nipples peaked so high, they popped right into his mouth.

  “Oh…” she panted, arching her body. “Cruz…”

  It had been a long time since he’d heard anyone say his name that way. Not a barked order or a frustrated sigh. Not a cold dismissal or an intimidated whisper. Just needy. Happy. Eager.

  A twinge of fear went through him, but he chased it away. He could hurt this woman, and she could hurt him. In the heart, not the body.

  We can trust her. We need to trust her, his tiger said.

  He shifted his weight and crept lower, tracing the ridges of her centerline. Her belly button tempted him to linger, but the scent of her core called, and he dropped lower.

  “Yes…” she moaned, spreading her legs.

  Jody. He wanted to sing her name the way she sang his. Jody, Jody, Jody.

  He ran a hand down her folds and breathed deeply, savoring her scent.

  “More,” she cried, wiggling under him.

  He spread a hand on her belly, stilling her, letting himself savor the moment. “Been dreaming of this every night.”

  “Me, too. Believe me, me too.”

  Another moment to preserve in his mental album, but Cruz figured he shouldn’t push his luck. Not with his woman offering herself up this way. And since she was…

  He pulled back, lifted her hips off the mattress, and hooked her legs over his shoulders. Go big or go home.

  The second his tongue touched her softest, most hidden flesh, Jody made a choked sound and thrust her hips up. He licked more boldly, letting her get used to the feel of his mouth on her. And judging by the sounds she made and the tightening of her thighs, she was all on board.

  “Oh… Yes… Oh…”

  He licked in one long line, closing his eyes. Up and down the length of her in one long, delicious swipe. Then he stopped at her clit and circled the tight bud.

  Jody thrust against him in an unmistakable rhythm, making him lick lower. Deeper. Tasting her until she was wild with pleasure, and he was, too. When her muscles coiled all around him, he pressed a thumb to her clit, circling there while his fingers pushed deep inside.

  “Yes… So close…”

  He was close to exploding, too, and his cock hadn’t even seen any action yet.

  He flicked his fingers and sucked at the same time, making her shatter in ecstasy.

  “Don’t
stop…”

  He wouldn’t dream of stopping. Not before he’d milked every last drop of her orgasm. And when he was done…

  He grinned. When he was done, he’d bring her to her next orgasm. And the next and the next until her mind was blank of anything but him.

  Jody bucked, gyrated, then slowly settled on the mattress again. He rested his head on her belly as it heaved with wild, panting breaths.

  “God, Cruz…” She patted him on the back.

  He grinned and soaked it all in. The heat of her body. The shell-shocked satisfaction in her voice. The scent of his own desire intertwined with hers. The peace in his soul. Human or not, it didn’t matter any more. Jody was Jody, and she was his.

  My destined mate, his tiger hummed.

  Slowly, he kissed his way up her body again until he was at her mouth. A second after Jody cupped his face and kissed him deep, her eyes flew open. He tilted his head as she gave a tentative swipe of her tongue.

  Holy shit, her expression said. “Is that… Is that me?”

  He broke into a huge grin. Man, he loved how she showed her feelings like so many signal flags. He smothered her in another kiss then let go with a little pop. “Yes, that is you on my tongue.”

  His tiger preened and pranced in delight, knowing he possessed even that tiny, fleeting part of her. Her taste. Her heavenly taste.

  “You look so proud of yourself, you big lug. Just wait until I get payback.” She licked her lips.

  His dick hardened in his pants.

  “Speaking of which,” Jody murmured, reaching for his zipper.

  He dropped down over her and rocked his head back and forth against her chest. “You are amazing, you know that?”

  She laughed. “No, I’m not. It’s just that my brain stopped working. The fucking me senseless thing is working, in case you didn’t notice. But there’s one more thing…”

  Her hand crept inside his pants — the sodden, soaked-from-the-rain pants he wanted off, pronto — and fisted his cock.

  “Yeah,” she murmured, shifting for better access. “One more thing…”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jody held her breath and reached deeper, determined not to lose her momentum. The senseless part was true because part of her brain really had turned off. Her filters had shut down a while ago, and whatever she felt, she said.

  Like, I was thinking about giving you the blow job of your life. Or saying, just wait until I get payback while licking her lips.

  But, heck. She wasn’t exaggerating. She was just feeling a little, er…bold. Not just bold as in, assertive around a guy, because that had never been a problem. Rather, bold as in assertive around this guy, who could probably kill a tiger with his bare hands.

  The pouring rain might have contributed to her mood — seeing, hearing, feeling a tropical storm had a way of doing that to a girl. That, and she had come twice already — another excuse for why her tongue had loosened so much. But the second she closed her hands around his cock, she clammed up for a few seconds because, wow. Maybe he wouldn’t fit inside her. Not that she wasn’t going to give it her best shot.

  Cruz’s eyelids drifted shut as she slid her fist up and down. His breath hitched, and he shifted his hips to get closer.

  “Um, help?” she murmured, struggling to remove his rain-soaked pants.

  His eyes snapped open as if he’d popped out of a dream. “Here I was thinking you could do anything.”

  “Almost anything. But these pants…”

  Together, they worked them down, and Cruz kicked them to the floor.

  “Now you’re the sloppy one,” she pointed out.

  “Don’t care.” He shifted into position above her in a way that didn’t broker any doubts. His face was a mask of seriousness, as if making love to her was something he had to get exactly, precisely right.

  Slowly, she dragged her hand down his length — a long, mouthwatering ride. When she pulled back up, the return trip seemed twice as long, his cock twice as hard. She circled her fingers down for a little variety and tugged on the foreskin just enough to make Cruz groan.

  “Minx.”

  “You love it, mister. Now hush.”

  He snuck his hand between their bodies to cover hers, helping her set the perfect pace. Slow on the upstroke, faster on the downstroke. Their eyes locked while their hands moved, and she felt drawn in. Connected. Part of him, almost.

  Cruz’s throat bobbed with a gulp. Did he feel the same thing? For all that they’d already shared, it felt like the most blissfully erotic moment of her life.

  Note to self, she thought. Keep eyes open during sex.

  As soon as she settled into the perfect pace, Cruz reached lower, making her groan.

  “Shh,” he murmured. “Soon.”

  It was crazy, how badly her body needed his. He touched her, drawing a line down her folds at the same pace she moved over him. And damn, that was even better. Slow in one direction, a little faster in the other, with a little circling motion that she mimicked at the tip of his cock. She tipped her head and watched for a moment, unconsciously licking her lips.

  Which might have been the catalyst for Cruz to suddenly reach for the dresser drawer and grab a condom. He had it on in a flash, then pushed her legs wider with one knee. With one hand, he pulled her arms over her head, pinning them firmly to the mattress.

  She pulled in a rattly breath. This was going to be so good.

  I swear it will be, his eyes said. His glowing eyes, which just went to show how out of her mind she was.

  When Cruz dragged his cock along her body in long, deliberate strokes, she gasped. And when he stopped at her entrance, she held her breath.

  “You’re good, right?” He tilted his head, giving her one final way out.

  She gave a curt nod instead of making a pathetic mess of herself by begging, Please, yes, please, and wrapped both legs around his waist.

  Then she moaned — almost howled — as he slid in with one smooth stroke.

  “Yes,” she cried a second later, hovering on the razor’s edge of pleasure and pain.

  He inhaled so deeply, she could hear it over the sound of pouring rain. He withdrew slowly, then slid forward again. Her head flopped back — so much for eye contact. But the burn was overwhelming, and if she didn’t block out some sensory input — like the woodsy smell of the thatched roof above, the splash of rain over leaves outside, or the look of total concentration on Cruz’s face — she’d lose what little composure she had left.

  So she let her head tip back and gasped with each successive thrust. And when Cruz dropped lower to kiss and nip her neck, she angled her head, silently begging for more.

  “So perfect. So beautiful,” Cruz murmured. Not so much to her as to himself — or maybe to that alter ego he seemed to have muted conversations with from time to time. He found the perfect spot at the curve of her neck and suckled while he drove into her at the same relentless pace.

  Jody pulled her legs higher around his waist and clenched hard, making him groan. A drop of rain — or sweat? — landed on her chest.

  “So good…”

  She arched and bucked against him, driving the inner tension higher.

  His teeth were bared, his brow furrowed.

  “Harder…” She arched into him, meeting every thrust, straining for more.

  He took both her hands in one of his and lowered the other to her breast, making little black spots dance in her eyes. Two hard strokes later, he dropped his hand to her clit, making her buck.

  “Yes… Yes…”

  She clenched her inner muscles and hugged his body with her legs. Her breath came in raspy rushes in time to Cruz’s thrusts, and his was hot and heavy by her ear. Every muscle in his body flexed as he reared higher, locking eyes with her again.

  Look at me, his expression demanded. Watch as I drive you totally over the edge. Like I promised — I am going to fuck you senseless until we both come undone.

  The longer she gazed into those golden
eyes, the more the nuance became clear to her. Cruz wanted her to watch him come undone. He wanted to share that with her, to open up that much more of his soul.

  “Yes,” she whispered, urging him on.

  His hands tightened around hers. He pumped harder. Harder. Faster. Muttering under his breath as the steady pace became a sprint. His jaw jutted, and his eyes blazed.

  “Oh… Yes…” Jody cried, keeping her eyes open and her legs wrapped tight.

  His thick cock stretched her, pistoning into her again and again. He rolled his hips, finding a whole new spot to push against, then rocked harder, slamming into her at an angle guaranteed to drive her over the edge.

  “Yes—”

  Her yes cut off in her throat when Cruz buried himself deep and groaned with his release. Her high hit half a breath later, and she clawed at the air. Everything blurred and exploded in her mind. It was like flying off the edge of the biggest, craziest wave she’d ever ridden and getting swirled around in its foamy wake. Like hanging on by the skin of her teeth, refusing to miss one second of wild pleasure before submitting to the lull after the wave.

  Then she went as boneless as a clump of seaweed tossed up on the beach. Cruz lowered himself onto her body, distributing his weight carefully so as not to crush her. She reached around his shoulders and locked him into a hug. Her legs hugged him, too, and he hugged her back. He let his hands drift over her hair and skin as he whispered words she could barely hear. Low and garbled but happy. Undeniably happy.

  She grinned. Cruz Khala — tough guy extraordinaire — had a lot more heart than he let on. Maybe even a sensitive soul.

  She chuckled and spoke softly. “So, tigers don’t purr, huh?”

  He stiffened a little as if on guard against what she might say next.

  “What about tough guy bodyguards?” she went on. “Are they allowed to purr? Because I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m hearing.”

  He exhaled and let his muscles go loose again. “I think that’s Keiki.”

  She laughed, and he did, too. “Right. Keiki. Sure.” The calico was nowhere in sight, but she’d let Cruz have his excuse.

  She was a mess, as was the bed, and she was afraid Cruz would roll away and end this quiet bliss. But instead of rolling, he slid sideways, dropped the condom beside the bed, and came face-to-face with her. He blinked once, twice, then started nuzzling her with his cheeks and chin. The world’s most thorough nuzzle that rubbed his scent into her skin.