“What are you doing?” Kimber squeaked as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his jeans, proving he wore nothing beneath them.
“You don’t seem like the kind of person who will believe without proof,” he said as his fingers continued to work the buttons free.
Kimber’s breath caught, and her mouth went dry when the thick, purple-red head of his erect cock popped into view. She tried to turn away, look anywhere else in the room, but the sight of Tate bending over and pushing off his jeans entranced her. She pulled in a sharp breath when he straightened, now completely naked. His fully aroused cock extended long, thick, and proud from the sandy brown curls at the apex of his thighs.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed, unable to tear her eyes from his erection. She took a step forward, her fingers itching to touch it, feel it, play with it.
But before she could take a second one, the man disappeared, and in his place stood a huge tawny cougar. She froze as the big animal with Tate’s blue eyes met her gaze. He looked fierce, but after a moment, she decided that was because of his darker facial markings and not because he was angry with her. His eyes looked wary as he waited for her to do something.
Though normally scared of big animals and wild things of any size, Kimber felt herself drawn to this one. She was also shocked that she would now be living with a real live shape-shifter. Though her pussy had been wet and ready for sex the entire time they worked, it now began to tingle and itch as it demanded more than just a play session with her toys.
“Tate? Can you understand me?” she asked, stumbling to the bed and sitting down when her knees went weak.
The big cat nodded once before slowly padding to her and laying his head in her lap.
“You’re beautiful,” she said, holding her hand out so he could sniff at it as she would with any animal she did not know.
Instead of smelling her fingers, he licked them, his tongue rough against her skin but causing her to giggle in response. The hesitation in his eyes turned to warmth and then hunger as he pressed forward, rubbing his chest and legs against her lower legs. She began to stroke him, smiling when he began to purr. When his head dropped and he pressed his face into the V of her thighs as if he wanted to get at the cream soaking her panties, she knew she was in real trouble.
Shape-shifter or not, she wanted Tate Pierce more than any man she had ever met before.
“Sorry, but I don’t do animals,” she said, scruffing her fingers in the fur just behind his ears, “and I need to know more about this mate stuff before you get to lick any of that cream, buster.”
Chapter 4
In a heartbeat, Tate shifted back. His cock, and the rest of him, demanded he clear up any questions or problems she had so he could move forward in claiming his mate. The fact that she was willing to even discuss his true nature gave him hope that things would very soon go beyond being simply roommates.
Once back in human form, he grinned when his nose remained just inches from her cloth-covered pussy. He took a deep breath. The scent of her arousal filled his lungs. He nuzzled his nose up and down the seam of her jeans, feeling her pussy lips pressing against the other side of the material.
His cockhead drooled as he took an even deeper breath, which he released on a groan. Damn, his mate smelled so damn good. He could not wait to strip her and lap at her cream. Before he could rip through the jeans with his teeth, her fingers tightened in his hair and pulled his head back.
“Owww,” he yelped, sitting back when she finally released his hair.
“I said we need to talk, not fool around,” she scolded, though her color was high, telling him he wasn’t the only one all wound up.
“Couldn’t we do both?”
She shook her head in answer. After glancing at his still-hard cock, she stood up and walked out of the room. “And put on some clothes,” she threw over her shoulder.
Tate grinned and grabbed his jeans. Slipping them on, he followed the trail of her scent to the kitchen where she was standing in front of the open refrigerator. Stopping right behind her, he rested his chin on her shoulder and looked into the empty box as well.
“How about I take you out for a burger? Then we can hit the grocery store,” he offered gently as he slipped his hands around her waist before pulling her back against his front.
Before he had even finished speaking, she began shaking her head.
“Why not?”
She took a deep breath and closed the refrigerator door before pulling out of his hold. He released her then followed as she stalked slowly into the living room.
“I can’t go grocery shopping until next week,” she said sadly.
“Why not?” he repeated, leaning against the arched doorway that divided the dining room from the living room.
She stopped and looked in his eyes, and he immediately straightened. Whatever she was about to say was going to be hard for her. He wanted to cross the distance between them but knew instinctively that she would not appreciate his comfort until she had her say.
She took a deep breath, and her eyes dropped to his chest for a few seconds before dropping further until she was staring at the floor between them. “Because my car needed new tires so it would pass inspection. I don’t have anything left I can sell except my forty-year-old body, and no one wants to rent an old woman when they can have some twenty-something hard body, and I don’t want to have to get a real job,” she said miserably.
“Huh?”
“I’ve been struggling to keep ahead of my bills and was doing okay. Or so I thought. But right now, I don’t have the money to buy a gallon of milk, much less restock the refrigerator. I gave you my last twenty dollars for the pizza last night,” she said.
She kept her head down so he could not see her face, but he saw water spots appeared on her shirt as tears overflowed her eyes. He could read resigned sadness in her posture even without the heightened awareness connection of their being mates.
“That’s why you rented me the room,” he stated.
Her head moved up and down slowly as her misery seemed to overwhelm her. “Yes, that’s why I rented the room. It was the only way I could think of to make enough extra money to pay all the bills, buy groceries, and maybe even, maybe, rebuild my savings account before the next disaster strikes.”
Unable to stay away another second, Tate crossed to her. Pulling her into his arms, he wrapped one arm around the back of her shoulders and the other around her waist. “Go ahead and cry. Let all that bad stuff out, and we’ll deal with it. Together.”
Without another word, she inched her arms around his waist. He took her weight easily as she leaned even closer and rested her wet cheek against his bare chest. Hot tears scalded his skin when she began to sob.
Dropping his head forward, he rested his cheek against the top of her head and offered silent comfort. “Let it all out, baby. I’ll take good care of you from now on.”
Kimber shook her head. “No, I can’t take your charity. I’ve got to show them I can make it on my own doing what I want to do.”
“Shhh, baby. It will be all right.” Tate frowned at her words as one hand began to move up and down her back slowly.
“No, it won’t. Every time I get a little bit ahead, something happens to knock me back into the gutter,” she whined, her tears getting even stronger.
Tate began to shuffle them toward the large red chair. Once there, he lifted her easily. Sitting down, he settled her across his lap with her cheek still pressed against his chest. She did not seem to notice their change in position as her crying continued.
He cuddled her until her tears stopped, and she lay quietly in his arms, occasionally sniffing or lifting a hand to wipe at her face. Brushing a kiss on her forehead, he decided it was time to give her something else to think about. After all, he could not claim her as his mate until she knew the truth about his cougar.
“Cougar shape-shifters are, for the most part, solitary creatures. Wolves, dogs, and other species run in groups called
packs. They love one another, protect and care for each other, and are closer than most families. Cougars are different. Once we hit adulthood, we run alone, depending on no one but ourselves until we find our mate. Once we find and claim the person we’re destined to spend our lives with, we will do anything necessary to keep our mate happy and safe. I’ve been alone since my father kicked me out of his house when I was sixteen. Since then I’ve been looking for my mate. And I’ve found her in you.”
Kimber shifted on his lap, and his breath caught as her hip pressed against his erection, sending shivers through him. Would he be able to hold off his orgasm long enough to make sure she was also satisfied?
Dropping her head back, she looked up at him, her brown eyes still glistening. “But how do you know I’m your mate?”
Tate smiled and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek as he tried to figure out how to answer her question. How was he supposed to explain that just her scent was enough to make him crazy?
“Nature has its ways of ensuring that mates find one another. Just trust that I am absolutely certain we are meant to be together for the rest of our lives. You are my mate.”
He knew he was pushing hard, but if he didn’t claim her, and soon, he thought he would go out of his mind with lust. Without an older shape-shifter to answer his questions that had come up over the years, he didn’t have a lot of information, but his father had taught him how he would know his mate and how to claim her.
“But you’re so young,” she said softly, dropping her gaze to his chin. “How can you know that you’re meant to be with a forty-year-old woman for the next forty or fifty years?”
“Because I look at you and the rest of the world drops away, and all I can see is you. All you have to do is walk into the room, and I get hard. I’ve never in my life felt such a sense of peace in my soul as I have since meeting you last night.”
Kimber raised her eyes to his once again. “Really?” she asked, looking amazed.
“Really,” he said, closing the distance between them and kissing her.
Their moans harmonized as lips and teeth and tongues came together in a kiss that grew hotter by the second.
“Tate,” Kimber breathed when they parted for a second to suck air.
“Mmmm,” Tate returned as he pulled her lips back to his.
His cock throbbing at the same accelerated rate as his heartbeat. He was not sure how much longer he would be able to hold his cougar back from attacking and claiming his mate.
* * * *
Kimber was surprised that she was not questioning Tate’s sanity or her own. After all, he had proved that he was what he claimed to be, a shape-shifting cougar. And she, too, felt a connection with him that went beyond anything she had ever felt for anyone before. It was not merely physical, it was as if he was the other half of her being.
She had wanted a man in her life since her split with her ex-husband but never expected to find someone like Tate. Knowing her own caring, giving personality and what Tate had told her about shape-shifters taking care of their mates, she had a feeling theirs would be a partnership, mateship, or whatever it was called, that would stand the test of time no matter what life threw their way.
When she began crying about her finances, it shocked her that instead of walking away or making derogatory comments about her acting like a child as her ex would have done, Tate had hugged her, comforted her, and assured her that things would all work out. She only hoped he spoke the truth.
Slipping her hands up his chest to hold his head still, she broke the kiss a second time. “Tate,” she whispered hoarsely, meeting blue eyes that glowed with sexual hunger.
He took a deep breath before saying, “Yes, love?”
“Make me your mate.”
Tate blinked and stared at her as if stunned by her words. “Are you sure?”
His sudden hesitation sent a cold chill through her. Maybe he was having second thoughts about having an older woman as his mate. She tried to leave his lap, wondering if this whole thing, from renting the room to allowing him to move in and now this request, wasn’t a big mistake.
Problem was, Tate’s arms wrapped tight around her and refused to let her move. It was as if he could read her mind.
“Kimber, stop,” he ordered, sounding pained as she continued to squirm and fight for her release.
His tone struck a chord deep within her, and she froze. Looking across the room so she wouldn’t see his expression, she took a deep breath and released it slowly, trying to relax.
“If you’ve changed your mind, it’s okay. We can still be roommates, just without the mating stuff.”
“Look at me,” he demanded, his voice soft and low.
Again, as if he held total control of her will, Kimber turned and met his gaze. She swallowed when she saw how serious he looked.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I wanted to be sure that this is what you want. Once I mate you, that’s it. There will be no others for either of us as long as we both shall live. Mating is a life-binding contract, even more so than being married these days, and I just want to make sure you are sure this is what you want.”
Kimber swallowed again before nodding. “I’m sure. It’s crazy, but there’s something powerful between us that makes me feel safe…protected…almost…”—she hesitated as she thought about her next word—“for the first time in my life. Not even my ex-husband made me feel like this, and we were married for years.”
She held her gaze steady as Tate stared into her eyes. It was as if he was trying to read her soul. Whatever he saw must have satisfied him, for in the next moment, he nodded before smiling a smile that had her wiggling on his lap again. This time she did not want to escape but get closer.
She rose from his lap, earning her a low chuff from her cougar mate-to-be. The sound did not scare her nor did the hand that grabbed her arm. Once on her feet, she turned and climbed back in his lap, this time straddling his legs.
“How does this work?”
Her fingers began tracing random patterns across his chest, finding the hair that covered it was indeed silky to her touch. The warmth that radiated from his skin made her want to strip off her dress, lean close, and just rub up against him.
He did not answer right away. Instead, his hands slid up the outsides of her thighs and hips to the waistband of her thong.
“We make love, and once our juices mix inside you, we will be mated for the rest of our lives.” His words were low and growly, sending more shivers through her.
His fingers slipped under the elastic of her thong and moved back and forth, sending heat straight to her pussy, which caused more fluid to pulse forth. Then his hands moved back down the way they had come. She sighed a protest when he lifted them from her body completely.
Before she could form words to complain, he wrapped one hand around the back of her neck and pulled her head closer so he could reach her lips. His other hand went to the low V of the neckline of her dress. Though distracted by the kiss, Kimber also remained aware as he worked each button free until her dress opened.
He broke the kiss as he pushed the sides of her dress apart. “Oh, God, you are beautiful.”
Though she wanted to argue that she was hardly a hard-body, the words flew from her brain at the heat she saw in his eyes. He then leaned forward and dragged his tongue over her right nipple. A moment later, he moved across her chest to swirl the tip around her left. Dropping his head back, his hands came up and covered her breasts.
“So pretty,” he breathed, slowly dragging his fingers up the mounds. “So soft.”
Tate took her nipples between his fingertips, sending electricity straight to her clit. Her pussy clenched in response. She could not fight the soft moan when he began rolling her nipples. She moved her hands to the waistband of his jeans as her hips shifted, pressing her lower lips against his erection.
“Need you,” she breathed, leaning closer to kiss him as she fumbled with the button-fly of his jeans.
&nbs
p; She sighed when his fingers left her breasts. Hot, callused fingertips traced down the center of her body. She whined a soft protest when they disappeared from her body completely and brushed her hands away from his lap. Pulling her lips from his, she dropped her forehead to his shoulder and watched as he took over unbuttoning his jeans himself.
“Lift up, sugar,” he said in a low, deep voice once the last button had slipped from its mooring.
As she rose from his lap, he shoved his jeans down to his knees, freeing his cock. Then his hands came up and cupped her ass cheeks. She shivered when two fingertips slid down the valley of her ass and over her puckered star. Tate did not hesitate before moving even deeper between her legs until he reached her pussy.
“So wet. So hot,” he murmured as two fingers pressed about an inch into her.
Kimber moaned and tightened her hold on his shoulders as she tried to take his fingers deeper. Instead of filling her, his fingers pulled from her core.
“Tate, please,” she whimpered as arousal surged.
A moment later, the head of his cock brushed against her centerline, following the same path from asshole to pussy. Only his cock continued until it stroked over her clit and all the way to the top of her slit. Then he reversed direction. When he reached her knotted clit, he teased her by circling it instead of brushing over the top of it.
Kimber whined and shifted, bowing her back to capture the spongy head with her pussy. Tate moved away again, stroking back up between her lips as he chuckled.
“Stop teasing me!” she growled, tightening her fingers in his shoulders until her nails pressed into the skin.
Chapter 5
“Demanding little minx,” Tate observed as he watched her through half-closed eyes.
Tightening his hold around the base of his cock, he continued to stroke the tip up and down over her clit then left and right over the knotted nerves. He fought his own orgasm as he continued to drive her arousal higher and higher without giving her enough contact to drive her over the edge of her orgasm. Knowing he was so close to the edge of his own control, he wanted her crazy before he bound them together forever.
Cougar Wants [Cougarlicious] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 4
