Tempering Steel

by Lea Barrymire

  “What are you doing?”

  She smiled. “What does it feel like? I’m rubbing on you, and in a few minutes I’m going to ride you.”

  Connor swallowed twice and his eyes widened. She’d surprised him, and wasn’t that adorable? Leaning even closer to him, she gave in to something she’d wanted to do since the first time she’d ever seen his chest. Running her tongue over his pec and around his nipple dragged a shuddering breath from his lips. When she wrapped her lips around his nipple, flicking it lightly before giving it a tug, he gripped the sheets next to his hips in a white-knuckled hold. She hummed a little while flicking the tightened bud and nearly fell off his lap when his back bowed. With a loud pop, she pulled away from his nipple.

  “I want to tie you down and find all the places that make you do that.” The words tumbled out before she could stop them, but the look of pure need on his face made it all worth it. A rush of heat burned through her body. Leaning down, she whispered across his ear, “You’d let me, wouldn’t you? Let me tie you up, cover your eyes and lick you from head to cock? Mmm, I’ bet you fight it, make me work for it.”

  She watched as he licked his lower lip, closed his eyes and nodded ever so slowly. She shuddered at the image of it. Connor would look as sexy as fuck on her bed with silk ties around his wrists and a blindfold on, skin all flushed with excitement. She’d never really wanted to try anything kinky before, and definitely not with her in charge, but his reaction stirred something deep inside.

  “Soon. God, soon we’ll do something like that. Right now I need you in me.” She slid forward until she could feel the tip of his cock at her opening. He flexed his abs and, as if they’d been made to fit together, the spongy head slid through her folds and kissed her vaginal opening.

  Margie didn’t want slow and measured like the evening before. She wanted Connor sweaty and panting, nearly losing control and loving it as she rode him hard. In one fluid movement she sat up and impaled herself on his length. Throwing back her head, she paused for a moment to enjoy the fullness, the stretch of his thick, hot dick inside her.

  Rough fingertips rubbed across her nipples and she moaned. Electricity flowed from the raspy touches to her pussy. With him stroking her breasts and his cock filling her pussy, she needed to move.

  The first drag of wet flesh over hot cock was delicious. It sent shivers of pleasure through her body. Goose bumps rose along her arms and legs. Pushing herself back down on his shaft, feeling it separate her already-clenching passage, was sensual torture. “Mmm.”

  Connor pinched her nipples. “Ride me. Fuck yourself on me.”

  The words drove her insane, and the growl behind them spurred her on. She’d show him what she was capable of. Placing her hands on his pecs gave her the leverage she needed to ride his cock properly. She set up a punishing rhythm as she swung her hips. Each drive onto his shaft rubbed her clit against him. Each drag up along his velvety skin produced tantalizing frissons of tension through her pussy. When he twisted or pinched a nipple, she’ nearly buckled with the intensity of it.

  When he moved a hand to her belly and lightly pressed his thumb to her clit, she was a goner. Her movements became erratic and quickened. The release rushed her like a tidal wave, washing over her, flooding her ears with noise, her eyes with light and her body with pleasure. Margie’s muscles seized and a keening cry left her lips as she was pulled away by the orgasm.

  *****

  She was absolutely gorgeous when she came. Margie’s skin was flushed with pleasure, hair a tumbling mess of dark red waves, and her eyes…Connor shuddered as those sparkling pools of green captured his gaze.

  “Wow,” she mumbled on a sigh. She’d stopped moving on him, but the tremors from her release were still massaging his cock as it throbbed within her heat.

  “Mmm. Good?”

  She grinned before giving her hips a teasing swivel. “Definitely.”

  He would have answered her, responded in some way, but she lifted off his dick and almost free-fell back down. She moved her hands until talented little fingers were circling and pinching his nipples. “Ungh.”

  “Hmm? Did you say something?” Her channel clenched as she rose slowly and rapidly sank back down his shaft.

  Hot, tight, wet… so good. He couldn’t answer, didn’t want to. He wanted to feel her forever and come in an instant. Muscles clenched, twitched, fluttered. She tweaked a nipple hard and he growled, only to have the pain licked away. His vocalization ended on a whine.

  It came to an end all too soon. She rode him like a champ, pushing all his buttons at once. Without a way to stop the impending orgasm, he let it roll over him, forcing his breath out of his chest, thought out of his mind, and streams of cum from his cock. It seemed to go on forever, with Margie continuing to move slowly, milking him of every ounce of energy.

  He lay, sated, breathing hard and trying to make his brain work.

  “You look good under me.”

  He shook his head before opening his eyes. “You didn’t just say that to me.”

  She grinning, leaning down to kiss him lightly. “Sure did. Want to go shower and then get food?”

  “Who is the man in this relationship?” Connor sputtered while he slapped the beautiful ass-cheek perched on his pelvis. “Hmm? I’m the one who’s supposed to suggest getting up and eating instead of cuddling.”

  She looked worried for an instant, then rolled off him and propped her head on her hand. “Okay. Can we cuddle, then shower and eat?”

  Dragging his mate into his arms, he buried his nose in her neck. Dragging in their combined scent was wonderful. He mumbled against her skin, “Yes, but I get to wash your back, and you’re cooking.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The sound of Def Leppard startled Margie for a moment, then she laughed. She’d never have taken Connor for a classic rock fan. He scrambled off the stool and fumbled with the device. Once it was safe in his hand, a calm descended and his face smoothed of all emotion. Sheriff Manning was answering that phone, not the Connor she’d spent the last day with.

  “Manning.” His voice gruff and clipped. “What do you need, Sara?”

  He listened for a moment before flicking his gaze to her and back out the window. She barely kept from tugging his shirt and asking stupid questions like some impatient five-year-old.

  “What did Brody have to say?”

  After a short response, he asked, “Have you contacted Skip?”

  Margie was vibrating with curiosity. From the way Connor’s shoulders tightened, she knew the call wasn’t good. Sara was the secretary for his office. For her to call him on a day off, there had to be something important going on. And if Skip needed to know, it was pack-related. Her thoughts flicked back to the wolf, Jason, and the traps found scattered throughout the woods. Hope no one else is injured.

  “Hmm. Call Skip and let him know we’ll be there in ten minutes. Thanks.”

  With a quick move and the push of a button, Margie knew something bad had happened.

  “It’s the trappers, isn’t it?”

  Her question startled him. He blinked a few times before answering. “Yeah. Libby Palmer is missing. She was supposed to tutor Barry Mendor’s kids today and never showed. He called her phone and it went directly to voicemail.”

  Margie didn’t know Libby well. The girl was quiet and kept to herself most of the time. She was rarely in town. “Well, so she forgot? Or went shopping? Is driving and unable to get to her phone? Hell, it’s Saturday. Maybe she’s curled up in bed and ignoring the world.”

  He shook his head. “She wasn’t at the ceremony last night. I didn’t think much of it, but Sara said Brody went up to Lib’s cabin and no one was there. That’s not like her at all.” Connor grabbed his jacket. “Come on. We’re going to sniff around a little and see if we can’t find out if we need to worry.”

  So much for our short romantic reprieve from the drama. Margie felt horrible for thinking it, but at least she hadn’t said it out loud. Something
must have given her away, though, because she found herself wrapped in Connor’s arms, pressed deliciously close to his chest. His rough palm smoothed down her hair.

  “Don’t think this changes anything. You’re stuck with me. I’m not Cinderella and this isn’t the strike of midnight, okay? So relax. We’ll find Libby, figure out what the hell is going on and then we’ll get nekkid together.”

  Her muffled laughter sounded perfect, and the chuckle under her cheek was even more so. She gave him a squeeze around the middle before stepping back. They had a job to do. “I’ll grab my bag and a coat.”

  With a stupid grin on her face, she raced through the house grabbing her hiking jacket, medical bag, cell phone and camera. If they found that another set of traps had snagged a shifter, she’d be better prepared. No one was going to fuck with her friends and get away with it. And, in her mind at least, if shifters were being targeted, there would be hell to pay for the assholes responsible.

  “You’re growling like a mama bear over there.”

  Margie stood up from where she’d been rifling through her bag. She hadn’t even realized she’d been rumbling in her chest. “I’m pissed. This doesn’t seem like an accident.”

  “What doesn’t?”

  Right, he hadn’t been inside her head. “The trappings. You guys have amazing noses, right? How would shifters stumble across traps and get caught?”

  He shook his head, a placating look on his face. “We don’t know if that’s what’s happened with Libby. I’m jumping to conclusions and so are you. But I can tell you that most trappers cover them with scent blockers or something similar. The ones we found yesterday morning on our sweep of the woods all had some sort of scent sprayed on them. Although you might be onto something. It’d rained the night before. That would have diluted the spray. We need to talk to Jason about the trap and what he remembers just before he triggered it.”

  With a decisive zip, Margie closed her bag of supplies. “I’m ready. Let’s go find Libby and kick some ass.”

  Connor stalked toward her, his eyes dark. “Is it bad that I get hard when you get all surly and protective of the pack?”

  Her body responded with a shot of lust through her system and a fluttering in her belly. If she was a different kind of girl, she’d have been giggling behind her hand. Instead she met him halfway, oozed her way into his space, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down to her lips. She didn’t go softly. No, she wanted to brand him, burn him with the passion he stirred in her gut. With a quick swipe of her tongue across his bottom lip, he opened for her, and she sought his participation with an invasion of nips and licks.

  The reaction was quick and hard. Connor pulled her against his body, threaded a hand through her hair and took control of the kiss. His lips slid back and forth along hers, sweeping, teasing and tempting her to play. She melted into the embrace, let him lead and enjoyed the ride.

  When he finally let her up for air, she was light-headed and gasping. “Wow.”

  The grin, masculine and proud, that graced his kiss-swollen lips was adorable. Well, if adorable could be as sexy as sin.

  She knew a matching look had to be on her face. “We’re a set of goofballs. I never knew you had a non-grumpy side. I’m liking it.”

  He sighed before nodding. “Yeah. Don’t tell anyone, though. If it gets out, they’ll want me to socialize, be nice, smile.” He shuddered.

  Margie laughed. “We’d better get going.”

  “I’m driving.”

  “Control freak.”

  He laughed and swatted her playfully on the ass. Even then it still smarted. She rubbed the spot before climbing into his truck. She grumbled, “Good thing I like you and you’re good in the sack, or I’d taze your ass and leave you here. Or take pics and post them online.”

  “Get in. If you’re really nice to me while we’re working, I’ll show you some of my other tricks ‘in the sack’, as you say.”

  She fought the blush she felt rolling along her skin when she caught sight of the pure lust simmering in his eyes. God, he was dangerous to her. All he’d have to say was “strip” and she’d be panting, with her legs spread, in seconds. She groaned. And she’d love every second of it.

  “Drive. If we sit here bantering much more, I’ll be crawling into your lap.”

  Connor adjusted the bulge in his pants before gripping the steering wheel tightly. The growl vibrating the seat was enough to let her know he was just as affected as she was. And wasn’t that a boost to her confidence?

  Margie was going to be the death of him. She was too sexy for her own good, and all that grumbling and growling got his coyote worked up. He still had the scent of her on him, which kept him in a constant state of arousal and his coyote happy. She was theirs. Period. He’d make her understand, tempt her to commit forever, and they’d claim her both physically and spiritually.

  Although if her words and actions meant anything, she’d been waiting for him to get his head out of his ass. He’d wasted so much time, but no more. He loved her. Even if admitting that fact to himself gave him a flash of adrenaline with the need to run far away, he wasn’t going anywhere. Connor had done enough damage to their relationship—or lack thereof. He needed to stop running. She was perfect for them.

  His coyote yipped in the back of his head and the emotion rolling off the animal was both self-satisfied and smug. Yeah, so once again everyone had known before the man in him had figured it out. He’d let the animal side rub it in a little.

  “What are you grinning about over there?”

  Connor caught a glimpse of an answering smirk on Margie’s beautiful lips before she gave him her patented scowl.

  “You are so fucking adorable.”

  She jerked back and then blushed cutely. Even trying to keep her brows furrowed didn’t work and the brightest smile lit her face with joy. She ducked her head before answering, “So are you.”

  He sputtered. “Adorable? You mean handsome, gorgeous, hot…right? Because adorable is for chicks and puppies.”

  She smacked his arm. “You’re cute, cuddly, adorable, sweet, huggable—”

  He reached out and placed his palm over her mouth. “You’d better stop it or I’ll have to pull over and remind you how strong and manly I am. Then we’ll be late to Skip’s house, he’ll smell sex on us and so will everyone else. I’ll be clapped on the back by every male there and congratulated. But you’ll be embarrassed by it all, and growly. So you decide.”

  She truly was adorable and sexy. Instead of blustering about his statement, she pretended to think about it. And didn’t that make his cock ache with the promise of being deep inside her again? Margie chewed on her lip. A waft of her arousal tickled his nose with sweetness and spice. God, if they weren’t needed and expected at Skip’s, he’d do exactly what he’d suggested. He’d pull them over to the side of the road, throw his seat back as far as it’d go, pull her onto his lap and push her shirt up until he could take one beautiful pink nipple into his mouth.

  “Um, you’re slowing down. I was just kidding about it when I didn’t answer. We, um. We can’t show up there smelling like sex, okay. Connor?”

  The hesitation in her voice and the discomfort in her shoulders wrenched him from his thoughts. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been slowing down. He looked over at her, cleared his throat and sheepishly answered, “Sorry. I was caught up in my head. You’re too easy to fantasize about. We’re not stopping. Only because I know you’d be embarrassed, and I’d never do that to you.”

  “Okay. Good,” she whispered.

  The air in the truck felt heavy with too many things left unsaid. Somehow he’d taken their light banter and turned it around, into something thicker, heavy-hearted. He sighed. “Look, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I was kidding around. Really.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why are you sitting there all hunched in on yourself?”

  She paused, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth again.
“Ever feel like you’re standing at a precipice? You’re nervous, excited, terrified, uncomfortable and downright sure you’re going to die if you jump? But, you want to trust the rope tied to your feet. You want to feel the fall, the adrenaline of the possibility of not surviving?”

  She didn’t wait for him to answer even while he was nodding along. “That’s how I’ve felt for the last few months. Every time you’d look at me with heat in your eyes, or you’d get jealous of something someone did or said, I kept waiting for you to help push me over that edge, make me feel the exhilaration of the jump. But none of that happened. You’d pull back and make me feel like it was all in my head. Now…” She shook her head. “Now you’ve got me standing on the edge and you keep touching me, stroking me, promising me the world. Each of those things is a tiny nudge, forcing me closer to that ledge. I’m staring down into a foggy pit and I’m terrified I’ll leap to my emotional death.”

  “I understand your concerns. I’ve been a bastard for months.” Connor’s heart clenched. “Can you give me a chance to prove this isn’t a fleeting thing?”

  The silence in the cab was deafening. His blood beat to the same rhythm as his racing heart, drowning out the rumble of his truck. They were moments away from Skip’s house. His duty to the pack and the county were waiting for him, but this one instant in time was so much more important than the rest.

  “I can give you chances, Connor, but know this. I’m done waiting. If you go back to ignoring me and acting the asshole, I’m not going to forgive you. I’ve tasted my future and I’m not going to be very nice to you if you fuck this up.”

  He nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. He could prove his sincerity. “Good. That’s good.”

  She watched him with confusion and a slight hint of hope in her expressive eyes. God, she was beautiful. He reached out and took her hand, smoothing his thumb over her skin. “All I ask is that you tell me if I start acting wrong. We’ve both learned to deal with each other with snark and gruffness. Smack me upside the skull if I start down that path again.”