Hunger of the Heart (Wolves of Ravenwillow Book 1)

by Magenta Phoenix

  She flinched when a pair of heavy hands settled on her shoulders from behind. Chills raced up her body causing her to quiver with excitement. Her heart nearly leapt from her chest when a warm pair of lips began trailing from the side of her face and down the side of her throat.

  Normally, she would have cried out in embarrassment at Eric doing such a thing in front of others, but now; it just felt right.

  “Good morning.” His voice rumbled against her skin like a caress.

  Pressing her thighs together tightly as her clit pulsed in response, she swallowed nervously. “Morning, Eric.”

  At the other side of her neck she could feel his hand palm her neck with a possessive touch before sliding up into her loose hair. His fingers twisted in the soft locks, as if he needed to hold her to him in some way. The feel of his possessive hand trailing through her hair was more erotic than she would have imagined. Was he even aware of the effect that he was having on her?

  “Did you sleep well?”

  With a smile, she recalled how it had felt last night when she’d slept in that large bed with Eric. After spending the day with Sarah and the twins in an effort to distract them from not having their favorite toys near, she’d gone to bed alone. She had awoken in the middle of the night to a sound of footsteps in her room, before she could lift her head to inspect it; Eric had crawled into bed behind her, pulling her close. His strong arms wrapped around her like two thick bonds, preventing her from moving even an inch away from him. With the sound of his heart beat echoing close to her ear, she’d been lulled to sleep without realizing it. Never before could she recall sleeping so well.

  Turning her head to look up at him, in time to see his lips curling at the corners, she knew he was remembering their night as well. “I had a good night.” she said with a nod.

  Never losing the satisfied curl of his lips, he straightened up to hold out his hand to her. “Come with me.” Was it a question or a demand? Regardless, she found herself thrown off guard.

  Clearing the haze of her mind with a shake of her head, she asked, “Why?”

  In typical Eric fashion, he clasped her wrist to pull her to her feet. “I want to show you something.” When he began leading her away from the table, she scowled at him, whispering under her voice. “This better not be a sex thing.”

  Sliding his hand from her wrist to weave his fingers with hers, he bent to whisper in her ear. “With you; everything is a sex thing.”

  Ignoring Myra’s huff of outrage as he led her down the patio steps onto the grass, he began making his way toward the forest that circled the back of the lodge’s back yard. After they walked for some time, Rebecca spoke.

  “I met your girlfriend.” She attempted to keep the tone of disgust from her voice, but she failed miserably.

  Eric scoffed as if she’d just told him something amusing. “Girlfriend? What are we; in high school now?”

  Rolling her eyes at him, she twisted her hand from his grasp. The moment her hand left his, Eric’s long strides came to a stop. His head turned towards hers with a perplexed expression as she continued. “I’m talking about Myra; Miss Barbie-Slut back there.” she explained, hiking her thumb over her shoulder toward the lodge.

  Slowly, Eric’s expression turned heated with pleasure as he flashed a knowing grin. His eyes dancing with amusement. “My, my, are we jealous, Rebecca?”

  Hell yes! She thought silently.

  Flinching, she felt heat fill her cheeks as she blushed. “No! Of course not.” She replied indignantly. When his grin widened, she grew worried and hastily took a step back. Each step she retreated, he erased with one of his own. When her back it a tree, preventing her from retreating any further, Eric planted a hand on the trunk above her shoulder. “I want you to say it; otherwise I may think that I imagined it.”

  Pushing her shoulders back and her chin lifted, she glared up at him. “You did.”

  Chuckling deeply, he shook his head in denial. “I don’t think so. You didn’t like seeing another woman with her hands on me, did you?”

  “It wasn’t her hands that she kept rubbing all over you.” She pointed out dryly before shifting her eyes from him.

  Tucking a curled finger beneath her chin, Eric lifted her face up until their eyes met once more. “While it amuses and pleases me that you’d feel possessive of me; I feel the need to point out to you that I’m a one woman type of man. Here’s a clue for you, angel; the one woman I want, isn’t Myra.”

  His words pleased her, making hope bloom in her chest. With happiness radiating through her from his words, she lifted up on her toes to meet his lips as he bent forward to kiss her. Eric smiled against her mouth as he clutched the nape of her neck.

  Pulling back from her, Eric murmured. “I could get used to your jealousy.” Taking her hand once more, he tangled his fingers with his own. Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, he took a step back and tugged gently on her arm. “Come on, I want to show you something before I forget and we spend the day in this very spot.”

  “I doubt I would complain.” She murmured with a teasing look.

  Following behind him, it wasn’t long until the loud sound rushing water reached her ears. Where was it coming from? Looking for a direction of the sound, she asked, “Is there a river nearby?”

  Turning to meet her questioning eyes over his shoulder, Eric nodded. “I use to come to his place as a boy. I know you will appreciate it.”

  With every step she took the sound of the pounding water grew louder to almost a roaring. Chills raced up her spine as Eric came to a stop the edge of the tree line. With his free hand outstretched toward what appeared to be a drop-off, he motioned for her to check it out. Raising an inquiring brow at him, she pulled her hand from his to do just that.

  Stepping from the shelter of the trees, sunshine hit her face, causing her to wince at first. Walking close to the edge; but not too close, she peered down and gasped. Below them was a large pool at least twenty feet wide that appeared to join the river later further down. The at the far left of the inviting pool was a stone face the color of silver with a waterfall rushing over the rocks into the pool below. In that perfect moment, the sunlight hit the rushing water, casting a misty rainbow of colors up into the air. This place was paradise.

  “Whoa…” she breathed out with astonishment at what she was seeing. “This is incredible!” she gasped out with excitement, turning to watch as Eric strode towards her.

  Smiling at her, he nodded. “I thought you would like it.” keeping his gaze locked on hers, Eric gripped the collar of his shirt, tugging it over his head in one smooth motion. The strong muscles in his arms flowed and rippled with movement, drawing her gaze. Apparently she wasn’t the only one doing some ogling. Glazing away from the sight of his naked chest, she saw that Eric’s gaze was roaming over her body like she was a porterhouse steak and he was starving.

  She scoffed with laughter as she shook her head at him. “I thought you said this wasn’t about sex.”

  Jerking the zipper of his jeans down, he smirked at her. “It's not—yet.”

  “Then why are you…?” her question trailed off when he shoved his pants down to reveal a pair of black boxers. Spying his erection pressing against the loose material, she felt her womanhood clench in response. Perhaps it wasn’t Eric that she should worry about. If he came a step closer she very well may jump him herself. How had she kept her hands off him all this time?

  Because that was before he turned me into a freaking nymphomaniac.

  “Did you think I brought you out here to just look?” he laughed. Jerking her eyes from his concealed shaft, she saw that he was looking at toward the pool and not at her. Like a child she felt so excited she felt like she would burst. She knew that she must look ridiculous with her eyes widening at his words. Quickly pulling off her shirt and shorts as well, she stood in only her purple cotton bra and matching simple underwear.

  With confusion she looked left and right, searching for a path or a way to climb
down to the pool below. Not seeing a way, she shook her head with disappointment. She turned toward Eric to see him striding back toward the tree line with their clothes in his hands. Carefully he laid each item of theirs over nearby branches for safekeeping.

  “How do we get down there?” she asked.

  Without turning around to face her, he simply said. “The typical way; we jump.”

  * ~ * ~ *

  Eric couldn’t ignore the laughable way that Rebecca’s mouth parted and her body cringed at the thought of jumping over the edge. For a moment, a concern crept into his mind. Could she be afraid of heights? Taking a whiff of her scent, he didn’t detect an overly amount of fear. She seemed more scared of the idea of jumping than where she was.

  “Excuse me?” she gasped out with a hysteric laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

  He shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “Do you have a problem with that? That’s the way we all did it as children.” He explained as he slowly made his way back to her.

  “Are you insane?!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide and her face paling. “That’s got to be a fifteen foot drop, Eric!” she said, waving her hand toward the edge.

  “It's actually a ten foot drop.” He pointed out.

  “Shut up.” She bit out. “You want to go and kill yourself, be my guest. I’ll stand up here and watch. I’ll even write your obituary for you. It will go something like this, ‘Poor Eric would have lived a long fulfilling life if he hadn’t stupidly leapt to his death instead of using his brain. Too bad.’ ”

  Shaking his head at her with humor, he waved her words away. “I won’t die from jumping at this height, so don’t worry yourself. Trust me on this. I will even do it with you.” He offered.

  Crossing her arms over her breasts, she shook her head stubbornly. “Not going to happen. There’s got to be another way.” she murmured softly, as she turned away from him to look around the drop off again. Instantly, Eric’s eyes fell on the tempting curve of her waist and her luscious ass. It was a struggle not to reach out and touch her. His eyes were drawn away from her sinful curved like a magnet to the white, raised scars across her back.

  Frowning, he remembered the whole reason he brought her out here in the first place. He wanted to take her somewhere secluded. Where she would feel safe and could forget that they’d nearly been killed yesterday. Hopefully, if she was relaxed enough and was not so on edge, she would finally confined in him about her most guarded secret.

  He didn’t want to rush her or force her; as many had advised him to. He wanted her to trust him, to cleave to him, to want him as much as he needed her. But this little road block with jumping over the edge of a small cliff may prove an issue to his plans for wooing her. Remembering the best way to handle Rebecca was to keep her off balance and take the reins himself, he did.

  Moving closer to her, he waited until she turned back to face him. “I have a solution. Let’s do this instead.” He said in a compromising tone. When she seemed to relax, waiting for him to continue, he lunged for her. Bending to scoop one muscled arm behind her knees and the other behind her back, he quickly lifted her up in his arms. He smiled with triumph when she cried out with surprise.

  “Eric!” she gasped out, squirming and fighting his arms as he held her against his chest. “What do you think you are doing?!” pausing, she followed his gaze toward the ledge.

  He wouldn’t…would he?

  Yep he would.

  “Don’t even think about—” Her words ended abruptly and morphing into a scream of fear as he rushed toward the ledge and jumped.

  20

  She was going to kill him, very painfully and slowly as possible. The idiot had jumped! Worse he’d made her do it too! Her stomach was lodged up in her chest as they plummeted toward the water. Eric held her impossibly tighter against his chest as they hit the water. When they sunk beneath the surface of the water, Eric covered her mouth with his own. Kicking his feet, he shoved them back up to the surface.

  The moment her head broke the surface, Rebecca jerked her face away from his. Sputtering; she shoved at the wet curtain of hair that blinded her. “You jerk!” she shrieked. Hitting his chest with a loud slap, she demanded, “Let me go!”

  Smirking, Eric inclined his head to the side as if in thought. A second later, he carelessly shrugged his wide shoulders. “Alright.” With a pause, he dropped his arms around her, sending her tumbling back beneath the water.

  Swimming back up, she splashed in anger at Eric’s smirking face. In retaliation, Eric sent a wave of water back her. Wiping away the water from her face, she scowled at him. “Stop it.”

  Turning her back on him, Rebecca began swimming toward the massive waterfall, intending to ignore the big jerk. A larger wave of water hit her back a moment later, startling her. Stopping, she turned to glare at Eric, but he was nowhere to be seen. Chills of awareness, inched up her spine. Where was he?

  Like a shark, Eric swam up to her unseen from beneath the surface. She gasped in surprise as two hands gripped her above her knees. Jerking her legs apart, Eric rose to the surface, pulling her against his straining cock. Wrapping her legs around his waist, he moved his hands to her buttocks, gripping them and lifting her out of the water.

  Gripping her chin between his forefinger and thumb, he held her still as he reached up and claimed her mouth. With her heart pounded from the excitement, she panted into his mouth, returning his kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him close as she took over the kiss with fevered eagerness. Breaking away, out of breath, Eric gazed up at her with heavy lidded eyes.

  “It would seem I’ve caught you.”

  Her wet curtain of hair fell in twisted strands around her face as she bent towards his lips. “What do you intend to do then?” she inquired with a teasing grin, her ire at his little stunt nearly forgotten.

  “Not have sex with you; that for sure.” He whispered, pulling away from her.

  Surprised at his words, Rebecca drew back. “What do you mean?” when had a woman ever, ever heard those words from a lover? “You don’t want to?”

  Smiling up at her like he stared up at her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him. With wonder shining in his eyes, he shook his head. “No. I plan to make love to you, Rebecca. Because that’s what this is and will be for me from now on. I love you and I hate that I wasted so much time to realize it. If I am lucky, maybe a day will come when you understand how precious you are to me and how my life wouldn’t be fucking right without you.”

  Rebecca’s arms tightened around his neck as tears misted her eyes. Biting down on her bottom lip, she fought to keep from crying with joy. He loved her? This was what she wanted. What she had been waiting for. It was a sign. Eric would choose her. At this realization, she felt like her heart would explode.

  I’m done for…

  Seeing her watering eyes, the look of pure, unyielding love melted from Eric’s face to be replaced with confusion and disappointment. “Oh hell; I fucked this up didn’t I? I told you I’m not good at this type of thing. Don’t cry. I’m sorry.” He said, as he franticly attempted to comfort her.

  Leaning away from him, she shook her head at his words. “Eric, you couldn’t have said a more perfect thing.” Leaning down, she covered her lips with his. Her lips moved against his in a gentle caress as a single tear of happiness trailed down her cheek. Pulling away, when they both were gasping for air, she pressed her forehead against his. In a teasing whisper, she asked, “Though I have to wonder how long you stood in front of a mirror practicing that speech of yours.”

  Pulling back, Eric scowled at her. “I should make you eat those words.” He whispered in a dark threat.

  “You could.” she nodded with a mock look of musing. “Or you could propose a sonnet...”

  “That’s it!” he exclaimed with a grin. Wrapping one arm around her back, he held her to him as his other hand rose to tickle mercilessly at her stomach. Squealing with laughter she squirmed against his hard body. “Tak
e it back or that’s the last time I try to be romantic for your ungrateful self.”

  Gasping for air when he stopped tickling her, she reached out to cup the edge of his jaw, with a serious look, she shook her head. “I don’t need romance, Eric. All I want is you.”

  Leaning his face into her palm, he shrugged his shoulders with a sigh. “Then you have me, Rebecca.”

  * ~ * ~ *

  Resting her head against Eric’s warm chest, Rebecca sighed with contentment as she watched the waterfall move like a curtain of liquid silk to the side of them. When Eric had said he intended to make love to her instead of just taking her, she now knew that he meant it. Never before had she felt so cared for, so loved. His every kiss and touch had been gentle, loving her with slow and savoring thrusts of his body. It wasn’t until a little while ago he’d coaxed her to follow him beneath the waterfall into the small cave behind it. There they lay, reclining against the smooth silver rocks that rose out of the bowl shaped cave to form the high walls and ceilinged cave.

  Idly, Eric rubbed his hand up and down her back as she curled against his side, the cool water gently lapping up to their collarbones. “What are you thinking?” he asked, gently squeezing her tighter against his side.

  Surprised by his sudden question, Rebecca blinked, pulling her eyes from the sight of the waterfall to look up at him. Smiling, she shrugged her shoulders. “I think we’re going to have to return soon.”

  Eric scoffed. “Not likely. I’m enjoying this too much.”

  Rolling her eyes, she settled her head against his shoulder once more. “Your mother can’t be expected to watch Emma and Travis forever, Eric. I should be there to help.” She pointed out.

  Drawing his head back to look down at her, Eric raised a mocking eyebrow at her statement. “I thought I fired you.”

  She nodded. “You did. I’ll bill you later.” She replied with a smug look.