She nodded, as if trying to absorb it all. “Wolf,” she repeated numbly.
He offered a hand. She stared at it. “Come with me, sweetheart. It will all make sense soon.” When she hesitated, he knelt again. “Stacee, look at me.” He waited until she did. “You know who I am. You know I would never hurt you.” He almost blurted the three little words. They wouldn’t help right now. It surprised him how easy they had risen into his throat. He guessed he should’ve listened to his father a little better. Once he’d given in, it all seemed so easy. It was just the execution that was killing him.
Hazel eyes watched him with suspicion. At least it wasn’t the fear. He could battle suspicion and win. “Where are we going?”
She wanted information. Fair enough. “Just to the rear of the house. Claw marks are a bitch on hardwood.”
Eyes widened, then blinked. “You’re serious?”
“Never been more serious in my life. You wouldn’t believe how much it cost to get them sanded and buffed the first time.”
A nervous grin popped out with a chuckle. She reached for his hand. Together, they stood.
* * * *
Stacee followed him as he walked through the house toward a room in the rear. The hallway wasn’t very long on this end. The room he stopped in was wide and open with a closet filled with blankets and a single table, empty at the moment, at one side. There were a couple throw rugs, as though the room acted as a mudroom for the house. Glass doors showed a view into the dark shadows of the woods in the rear. She could make a clear view of the fence at one point, like it was purposely kept clean of vines and debris. The rest was buried within the encroaching forest.
Vertical blinds hung fully withdrawn to show the entire expanse of the entrance. He opened one glass door and flipped the switch for the lights outside. A porch fed off the rear of the house and a single chair.
He led her to the chair and asked her sit. “Just in case,” he stated.
“Just in case?”
“You feel the need to collapse,” he told her with a touch of his humor.
She eyed him. “You’re really serious about this?” She knew she should be running as far and as fast as she could away from him and this house, but some morbid sense of curiosity was keeping her right where she was. Whether it was to call him a liar and be done with it or… And it was the ‘or’ that wouldn’t let her just run. He was acting too serious about it, too sure of what he was trying to make her believe. There wasn’t an ounce of deceit in his mood, words, or actions.
Either he wasn’t lying or he deserved to be in Hollywood.
He had started to unbutton the work shirt he’d put on over the t-shirt she’d seen him in earlier in the day. Sinewy arms appeared out of the sleeves.
“I’ve never been more serious. See, I could’ve skipped this entirely. Made love to you first but then you’d have had no choice in the matter. I’m not that kind of evil,” he admitted calmly, winking at her.
“No choice,” she repeated in a dazed murmur. “Thank you, I think, for not going that route.”
“You’re very welcome.” He’d shucked his shirts and had kicked off his shoes and socks and placed them on the table. His jeans went next and his underwear.
Her mouth went dry seeing him naked. He wasn’t in the least bit shy about it. Her gaze started with what she knew and traveled his length in sheer womanly appreciation. His penis twitched and moved as her gaze caressed him. He wrapped a palm around the shaft, then stood proudly for her inspection.
He glanced down at his erection, and raised an eyebrow. “You think I do that for just anyone?”
She dropped her gaze immediately when she felt her cheeks heat. His laugh was kind, warm, and sultry.
He leaned over and stole a quick, gentle kiss then he walked off the porch. “Watch closely, because it goes pretty quick for someone my age.”
“Does it hurt?” she asked. Was she believing this nonsense? No. Firmly. Of course not. She just never would’ve pegged Jonas for being unstable.
“No.” He held up a hand, stalling any more interruptions. “You can ask to your heart’s content when I know you believe me.”
So, with that, she sat and watched, just waiting for the moment to call him a liar to his face and be done with him. She’d never been made a fool of. First time for everything. Except she didn’t see what she was expecting. In less than a minute, she felt her jaw become unhinged as he seemed to fold in on himself.
The transformation was amazing, incredible, unbelievable, but there it—he—was. Legs bent as he fell to four legs instead of standing on two. Fur appeared on skin. His face grew longer and ears grew pointed. He was a rich brown pelted wolf with the wildest green-blue eyes she’d ever seen in an animal.
It was a good thing she’d already been sitting. She would have collapsed. Hell, she probably would’ve fainted if she’d been standing! He shook out his coat and ran a paw over his face, as though clearing his vision. Then he sat and cocked his head, waiting expectantly. She sat on her hands to hide their trembling.
“I think you better come back,” she managed, sure she sounded weak. Lightheadedness swooped down on her with a swift strike and the shadows tilted.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jonas watched her eyes roll into the back of her head and her body slump in the chair. The chair idea had been spot on. He shifted back, his body reabsorbing the teeth, tissue, and bones into his own shape until he stood straight again. Well, he guessed fainting was a step up from hysterical screaming, but he hadn’t expected that reaction from Stacee to begin with.
Scooping her up, he carried her to the bedroom and laid her out next to him, curving his body around hers. He wished she weren’t still completely dressed but better this than finding herself in the bed with a naked man and being naked herself. He was used to sleeping in the raw. And with clothes in the way, he sort of had to behave himself, when he really didn’t want to. Not when he’d showed her and wanted her with every fiber of his body.
Hell, he still had the damn erection! He nuzzled her neck to not groan. Talk about torture. Instead, he covered them both with the blanket and wrapped an arm beneath her, cradling her head on the pillow, running a hand along her side with the other as she breathed unaware. Buried as he was against her throat, she smelled like vanilla and cherries today, and that sweet honeyed scent that was only her. That same ripe tantalizing scent that he’d found holding her in the car earlier when he’d been unable to not touch her somehow, especially after the invigorating sensation of her claws digging into him. That marking feeling had brought the wolf wide awake in an instant. Jonas had needed to have a taste, needed to know the truth.
He hadn’t been at all prepared for the lust, the hunger or absolute pleasure he’d experienced with her in the car. There’d been no chance to fulfill his body’s howling desires. Bringing Stacee to orgasm had been the closest thing to pleasure and pain he’d ever experienced. He’d do it again in a heartbeat too. Feeling her climax had been one of the most erotic moments in his life. He had a feeling his woman was an erotic dream just waiting to happen. He’d been playing back his hottest dreams for a week now, imagining her in every position possible. Like a porno reel. That in itself had been its own kind of torture.
He hoped before the end of the night, he’d have the chance to experience at least a few of those fantasy induced dreams. For the moment, he kept himself relaxed and gradually managed a light doze next to the woman who stirred him like no one else ever had.
Jonas was aware enough to feel her move and instantly snapped fully awake at the first sensation of her stretching next to him.
Glancing at the clock, a little less than an hour had passed. Good, she had probably needed a little rest after all the shocks she’d had earlier. No harm in a nap.
“Hey baby,” he breathed against her shoulder.
“Hey,” she answered. Still no screams. He took that as a good sign.
The weight of her hair played through his fingers w
hen he brushed it. Moving it, he dropped a kiss to her shoulder. She fit snug into his shape, her ass pressed against his groin and his reawakening erection. He wouldn’t rush this part. It almost killed him to not roll her over and indulge his fantasies.
“You said ‘your pack’ earlier.”
“Mm hm.” He nuzzled her, letting her talk, ask, decide.
“How many are there?”
He did a quick headcount. “In the south pack, about thirty. Last I knew, there were eight packs in the city.”
“I see.” Silence. “So the odds of people knowing you exist are slim.”
“We protect our secrets, our kin, and our pack. We have for as long as I can remember.”
“Are there others?”
“Shifters?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“Wow,” she breathed.
“I’m sorry I frightened you,” he said moments later. “I never meant to.”
She rolled over in his arms to find his gaze. God, he loved her. Those stone and chocolate eyes, lips that tasted of heaven and a body that he’d want until the day he died.
“You didn’t frighten me. You shocked the living shit out of me,” she retorted. “You. Do. Not. Exist.”
His mouth popped open, but she covered it with gentle fingers. Was she denying him? Was she going to walk away after all? His stomach lurched. The sudden pierce of a knife sliced him from the inside out. Pain like he’d never known. His skin felt icy all of a sudden. He couldn’t move. She was going to leave him. She was going to walk away from him. His worst nightmare was about to happen.
“Jonas. I’ll keep your secret forever.” It was a whispered promise, and one that crashed his entire world into a vacuum of pain.
His features froze. His entire being felt brittle, from his heart outward. Like he would shatter. He had to find a way to win her to him.
He couldn’t believe he was the only male who’d failed.
He was so caught up in his misery he neglected to notice what Stacee was doing, oblivious to the movement when her fingers slipped from his mouth to trail over his ear.
The warmth of her hand on his face dragged him back to the bed in slow increments.
“But I do exist. You saw me,” he challenged. The pounding in his ears was his breaking heart.
“Yes. But outside of this room, outside of this house, you can’t. I know that. I’d never break that trust.”
He shook himself. She was touching him. And had been. How long had she been doing that? Trailing her fingers around his ear, down his neck. She’s touching me. And she knows. It took a second for that to sink in as well.
Shudders racked his body when she pressed her nails into his chest and dragged them down his body. A slow growl rumbled out of his chest at the sensation that left fiery trails in their wake. “Stacee,” he cautioned. He wouldn’t take her if she couldn’t accept him. Fuck, she was killing him.
“So I take it, this isn’t the kind of secret you share with just any girlfriend,” she said, taunting his nipples with light flicks.
“No,” he replied, although the one word felt torn from him as desire raged through his body. She didn’t know what she was doing to him. The animal she was toying with.
She seemed to be studying her hand as it meandered and caressed across his chest. His stomach clenched when she traveled down the thin line of hair that led due south.
“That’s good to know.”
He snapped up from watching the hypnotic sway of her nails on his skin. What was good to know? Damn it!
“Stacee!” He clasped her hand, stilling it in a firm clutch. He couldn’t follow even one conversation with her touching him that way.
“Jonas?”
He swallowed and drew a deep breath. “What?” He tried not to snarl it, but he was a wreck and she wasn’t giving an ounce of mercy.
The glimmer of her eyes sparkled up at him as her lips twitched, her expression all innocence. She ran a foot up his calf, teasing him.
“Why am I still dressed?”
He fell silent for a solid three seconds. Then she squealed with laughter when he tossed her onto her back and ripped the tank from her body with a single tearing yank.
“Hey!” she shouted.
“I’ll buy you five more,” he said just before he ravished her mouth. Her hands plowed into his hair and held him captive as he thrust between her lips, no request in the motion.
It was sheer claiming.
Her nails scored his scalp and back, giving as much as he was, taking whatever he dished out and giving it right back to him, passion for passion. She lifted her hips and rubbed her center against hard flesh, and he groaned. Taut buds rubbed his chest with each breath.
Grabbing her hands, he pinned them in one grip over her head. Lavishing a trail, he drew his tongue from one wrist to the soft skin of her inner elbow, nipping until he reached her shoulder. Each kiss created a telling shiver on his travels. “You smell so good,” he said, burying his nose into the crook of her shoulder.
She whimpered and arched into him. He didn’t stop licking her there. He caressed her collarbone, then dipped into the shallow of her throat. He wanted to taste every inch of her skin on his tongue, and knew by the end of the night, it’d be close to accomplished.
He swirled around the tight tip of her breast and she lifted in answer, whimpering for more, pressing into the heat of his mouth. Tugging gently he felt her respond, her breast warm and soft in his hand. He cupped her, molding and gently kneading her body to his hand. Her skin was as sweet as summer wine, and just as heady. She quivered with each new pull on sensitive skin. He drew her deep, scraping his teeth and tongue over her sensitive nipple to heighten her arousal.
Releasing her, he dipped down to her belly button and unsnapped her shorts once more. So close to her sex, he found the proof of her arousal easily, and it only made him hungrier for her body. And this time, he would taste her the way he wanted to.
She lifted her hips with an impatient nudge to remove the offending shorts then he moved to lie between her thighs, brushing tender kisses to her trembling legs. He slowed down to savor her. Her body, her taste, her scent. He wanted to know her, all of her. Lifting her ass, he hooked her legs over his shoulders, tipping her treasure to his mouth. She shivered with anticipation and moaned when he brushed his fingers over the tight curls guarding her core. He drew a deep breath. There had always been something about a woman’s arousal that had excited him. Now that he had Stacee, her pleasure, her scent was the only one he needed.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, then he spread her labia and licked.
She moaned, long and deep. He blew a slow stream of air over her damp flesh. He saw the way she fisted the covers of the bed, felt the way she quivered with desire and pleasure. He loved that about her, that she gave all of herself over to his touch.
“Has anyone ever made you come this way?” he asked her.
“N-No. Why?” she managed on gasping pants of air.
“Relax, baby. I’ve wanted to do this so badly,” he admitted. “Today almost killed me in the car, but I don’t regret a second of it. Now, it’s my turn.”
Rolling her clit between his fingers, he licked at her pussy, lapping at the honey that glistened on her skin. He groaned as the sweet taste poured through his system, sending heat and fire through his body and straight to his groin. She thrashed and moaned in answer. The scent of her body swam all around him as he lashed at her pussy, long delving strokes that made her jump and push into him, seeking what he gave her until he reached the swollen sensitive nub of her clit. She quaked harder. He thrust his tongue as deep as he could to lap up the sweet juice of her desire.
Sliding two fingers into her channel, he deepened the pressure of his tongue and she moaned, a throaty sound that ricocheted off the bedroom walls. Sucking sensitive flesh into his mouth, he rolled his tongue over her, devouring her in increments. He’d never tasted a sweeter heat, a hotter pussy.
P
ressure built as he stroked her inner walls, eliciting sharp moans and cries with his rhythm when he began to drive into her, pulsing against aroused flesh, using his thumb to stimulate her with each thrust. He felt her climax building, felt the way her pussy tightened around him as she neared that precipice.
No words were needed this time. He twisted his fingers to rub his knuckles against swollen flesh, thrusting them deeper with hard twists, finding the secret spots that were meant to be pleasured. She exploded, crying out as liquid silk coated his fingers. He buried his mouth against her, drinking in her juice like ambrosia. He lapped up every drop, lost in her passion, craving her satisfaction.
Lifting over her body, he pressed kisses of wonderment to her flesh, awed by the beauty he’d found, inside and out. The strength of this woman, his woman. Settling on an arm, he sipped at her lips as she floated, her cheeks flush with satisfaction. Reaching for the drawer of his nightstand, he withdrew a small box. Tearing into one of the foil packets, he covered himself quickly, feeling her fingers wandering along his back and hip.
Glancing to her, he caught her arched eyebrow.
Feeling busted, he explained, “It was an impulse thing after Thursday morning.”
“I’m glad you thought of it,” she replied, sounding genuinely relieved. Considering it had been more than three years since the last time he’d needed one, it had been very impulse. Then he was fitting himself between the creamy softness of her thighs and thinking ceased to matter.
Air hissed from his lungs as he sank into her folds, feeling the shudder and quake of her tight body accepting him. She moaned and grasped at him, arching to take his full length. It only took a few moments to find that point, that perfect rhythm of pleasure between them. Sharp gasps escaped. Sweet pleasure rocketed up and down his body as her muscles held him, caressed him, and he was lost.
Fire spread as his strokes deepened. Her leg wound over his calf, pulling him tighter into her and he answered, driving in harder. She was close. Her entire body shook with the depth of her desire. Her hips lifted to meet his driving thrusts. He ground into her mound and she shouted, clawing and bucking. Her pussy clenched down on his cock, and he clenched his teeth, lost to her orgasm. Hot wetness bathed him and he threw back his head, shouting out his own release, a pleasure like he’d never known, soaring with brilliant bliss through him. He pushed himself deeper wanting to feel this forever, this heat, her pussy wrapped around him in sated desire. The last spurts of his climax escaped.
Watching Her Every Move Page 8
