While Jason carried the cooler to a shaded, grassy area, Luna followed with the quilt she’d found in Little Yellow. She bit her lip when she noticed the way his butt moved beneath his jeans.
He was so hot. Sweet. Had been answering her endless questions about the mountains with perfect patience. And here she was drooling over the man and his fine bottom.
And it was a truly fine bottom.
He rummaged in the cooler before opening a bottle of white wine. After plunking a few ice cubes into plastic cups, he handed her one. “To first dates.”
Luna felt her cheeks turn pink and cursed her fair skin. “To second dates,” she said with a bold smile.
Jason stilled as he looked at her. Hunger and power coalescing into a look so needful, Luna could feel it in her core.
“Uh. So, what brought you to Silver Fells?” There, that felt better. This was an interview. Not a date.
“Quinn was my DI way back in the day. His family goes back generations on this land. When he talked, I felt it. When I got out a few years ago, I tried going home.”
“Where’s home?”
“A little commuter village north of the city. New York,” he clarified.
“What happened when you went home?” Luna spread out the blanket and laid down so she could cloud watch. Her mind was still sharp and aware as he talked about his hometown, his family. His neighbors.
“My folks wanted me to stay, but I was different by then.”
“Different how?”
“Lots of little things.” Jason lay beside her on the quilt, but Luna could tell by the set of his shoulders he was anything but relaxed. “They do things you don't understand, mostly, I think, because they’ve grown independent of you. That’s all normal. Like, it was my mom’s house. Same kitchen table. Same living room rug. But there were subtle differences that made me feel as if things are different somehow. Like a dream where things are only a little bit familiar. A new haircut or new interests.”
“So, it’s almost like you’re living in a state of constant déjà vu?”
“Exactly. Don’t get me wrong. I was absolutely elated to come home, see my family, go to our bars, and just relax. It’s a kind of high. I was doing things that I’d so done many times before, but it had been so long that it felt completely foreign to me at the same time.
“It’s like being on a continual loop of a first date. Everyone is awkward. No one says what they mean. Forced politeness.”
Luna smiled sadly. “Like that movie ‘Groundhog Day’?”
“Yes.
“I’m sure that would have gone away after the first few weeks, though. Right?”
“Probably. And yes, it did. But there was residual stress that carried over from a combat deployment. While on deployment, we dealt with each other in ways that aren’t normal to civilians. We’re harsh. Sarcastic. Not exactly the warm fuzzies your folks expect.
“And then the state of high alert. The constant concern that you may get attacked. Wondering if a vehicle near you is going to blow up. So, there I was. Suspicious, tightly wound, and easily angered. Several times I’d wake up in my bed frantic because I couldn't find my weapon.” Jason shrugged. “You also don't mesh well with your family when you’re like that. To be honest, it is never the same as before you left. I was changed by the experience of a combat deployment, even after the first. Every time you go, you change. As does everyone else you care about. Everyone matures naturally, but independent of each other, and you have to reintegrate into each other's lives again.”
“What about now? You’ve been here for a while. You seem to have it together.”
“I’ve thought about it, but we understand each other here. We can fight. Tussle. Blow off some steam that would probably get us arrested in the outside world.”
“Like having a Battle Royale at a wedding reception.”
Jason rolled to one side, so he was over her. Luna suddenly felt small. Protected. Feminine to his very potent masculine. He reached for the empty cup and placed both of them just out of reach.
“He licked you, Cinderella. That’s assault where I come from.”
Luna didn’t say anything in response. She’d felt assaulted.
They stayed there for a long moment. Jason over her. Luna quietly watching him. “What about you?” he finally asked.
“Me, what?”
One corner of his mouth kicked up in a crooked little grin. “You’re definitely hiding something. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
Luna looked away, chagrined. He’d been so open with her. Telling her about his feelings and experiences. And while she may have felt a little guilty deceiving the others, she knew she couldn’t keep up the charade.
“I can’t tell you a lot. But yes, I do have a second motivation for coming to North Carolina.”
Like a predator, Jason waited patiently.
Luna sighed. “My grandmother asked me to do some research while I was here. Tonight, after our date, I was going to call her and beg her to let me tell you all. I couldn’t at first. I didn’t know you. Didn’t really trust you.”
“Does it have anything to do with those pictures in your purse?”
Luna licked her lips and nodded.
“And how you keep avoiding my boss?”
She closed her eyes and nodded again.
“You can’t trust me?” There was hurt in his voice that shamed Luna to her core.
“It’s not that. Please don’t think that.” Luna reached one hand up to stroke his dark hair. “It’s not my secret to tell but I swear, it has nothing to do with us.”
“You’re not. Taken? Married? A boyfriend?”
Breath held, Luna shook her head. “I. Um. Well, actually I’m still a virgin.”
His eyes darkened, grew intense. “You saved yourself for me.”
Luna didn’t have an answer. There hadn’t been anyone else she was interested in back in Portland. Some nice boys in high school. An occasional date, but zero chemistry. Had she, in fact, known she had a mate somewhere in the world?
“I think I did.” Angry tears filled her eyes. “But you didn’t save yourself for me, did you?”
Jason dropped his forehead down to touch hers. Their breath mingled, their lips only seconds apart. “I’m not a virgin,” he agreed. “I lost my innocence a long time ago and in a world far, far away. But it’s been years since I’ve been with anyone.”
“Why?” Luna’s question was a whisper on the wind, but Jason heard her anyway.
“I was waiting for you, Cinderella.”
Jason
Her pink lips parted at his words. Open. Enticing. Desire flared between them, pulling at their bodies. Warming them. A cloud drifted by, exposing them to the heat of the sun and in the distance, a late summer bumblebee hummed in the wildflowers.
Luna reached for him, plowing her fingers through his closely cropped hair and stroking his scalp. Jason’s eyes drifted shut as he released himself to the delicate sensuality of her touch.
Her eyes drifted shut before opening again. She leaned over him and placed a soft kiss on his lips as her hands delicately traced from his jaw to his neck and down to his chest. Jason gasped, his eyes meeting Luna’s. “Are you sure?”
“Can we just. You know. Kiss and make out?” She smiled up at him through her bangs. “I don’t know what I’m doing. Exactly. But you made me feel so amazing from your foot massage. I want to return the favor.” She shrugged. “But only if you do,” she added. “Can I play with you?” Luna asked, vulnerability clear in her voice and body language.
“Cinderella, you can do anything you want with me.” He settled into his spot on the quilt and mentally prepared himself.
Her dainty hands undid the buttons on his flannel shirt and impatiently pushed it off his shoulders before she attacked his undershirt. Jason wanted to smile at his fierce little virgin stripping him to the waist but held it back. The moment was ripe with young love, and he didn’t want to interrupt her.
His s
kin was already tight with arousal as she brushed over his torso and sent tiny bolts of electricity through his body. Through hooded eyes, Jason watched while Luna’s delicate pink tongue traced a line from his neck and exploring the whorls of his ear. His fingers tightened into fists as he struggled to let her take the lead. Every instinct called at him to do it but this was important to her.
And what was important to her was important to him.
She explored down, nipping and licking his sun-warmed skin. Making him arch and purr.
“Bears purr?” she asked with a warm smile, touching the area under his throat.
“We do when we’re happy.”
“And are you? Happy?”
He smiled and reached up for a kiss. Her lips parted, and he placed a tiny bite on the lower swell of her bottom lip. “Happier than you can ever know,” he admitted.
She gasped, her eyes growing stormy with need. “Do that again,” she whispered.
“With pleasure.”
He kissed her again, his hand drifting down her shoulder to settle over the ripe curve of one breast. He pulled back, eyes meeting. Demanding. Through her top, he played with her nipple, making her writhe in pleasure.
“Oh, that feels amazing,” she whispered. A wash of pink spread up her chest and face. “Would you do the bitey thing again? To my nipple?”
Jason closed his eyes as desire coursed through him. His little virgin was going to kill him but screw it. If that path led to death, he’d take it. Every time.
Watching her eyes, making sure she was as fully on board as her mouth promised, he slowly slipped her T-shirt off her body. His fingers lingered over the delicate lace of her bra and his thumb traced around her puckered areola.
“More,” she whispered. “Oh, please, dear God, more.”
He complied instantly, capturing her tight nipple between his teeth and biting. Her breathing grew ragged, and her hands reached for him. Holding him tightly against her. He alternated his touch. Gentle bites, strong tugs with his lips, and finally laving away the residual pain with the flat of his tongue.
He pulled back to kiss her again, and she smiled up at him. Warm. Willing. His.
Her eyes lit with mischief as she reached over for her cup of wine, empty now except for a lone ice cube. She sucked the ice cube for a moment before touching it to her neck, letting it melt and drip down her neck.
She lifted the cup of ice and gently pushed him down into the prone position. “There was this scene in this movie I saw.”
Jason felt his chest tighten. “Pretty sure the man did that to the woman,” he said with a grin.
“We can take turns with each other,” she offered with a bold smile.
“As you wish,” Jason said, thinking of that long-ago movie where the farm boy declared his love using just those words.
“You said that before,” Luna said, her eyes lighting with knowledge. “Did you mean it? Like that?”
He nodded, feeling suddenly shy.
With love and light shining in her eyes, she leaned over and kiss him on the mouth. Jason couldn’t resist the shudder of reaction as she placed the first ice cube on his right nipple. Eyes never leaving his, she moved it around ever so slowly. His nipple, which honest to God, he’d never really thought about before, was diamond hard with a combination of pain and pleasure. He closed his eyes. It was almost too much for him, but he succumbed to the throes of pleasure and accepted the bite of pain.
After long seconds, Luna removed the ice cube and pulled his nipple into the blessed heat of her mouth. The change from cold to hot made him groan with relief. Jason wanted it all. The luxury of her mouth and the orgasm that wanted to rush through his body like an approaching train.
Luna smiled at him for a minute, releasing his body from the torment. She winked at him before proceeding to the other side. “You minx,” Jason grumbled on a half groan that was more desire than chastisement. “Wait until it’s my turn.”
She nuzzled his chest with her nose. “Yeah, what are you gonna do when it’s your turn?”
“Challenging me?” He gripped his fingers together to keep from touching her. This was her show, and his mate was definitely enjoying herself. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t offer a tease. “First, I’ll pull out a glistening ice cube. Cold but wet. I’ll hold it to your pretty puffy lips. Watching them grow wet.”
Luna’s eyes grew heavy-lidded, and she whimpered slightly in response.
“You can twirl your tongue around it. Licking the ice and pretending it was my dick.”
Her breathing grew ragged, and Jason knew he had her enthralled. “Then, I’ll slide it down the column of her neck and watch your skin react to the cold. I’ll trail it across your chest before swirling it around these sexy rosebud nipples of yours. Watching as they grow taut and eager for my mouth.
“I’ll swirl it around the rosy tip for several seconds until you writhe under me. Arching and mewling like a kitten. When you can’t stand it anymore, I’ll envelop the icy nipple in my mouth and slide the ice cube over to your other breast. You’ll beg for my warm lips taking away the ache. Soothing you. Enflaming you.”
His voice grew husky with the combined heat of their needs. Luna had long since abandoned teasing his body and instead curled next to him, waiting for his next words.
“The ice will glide down the perfect curve of your breasts until it trails fire along the curve of your stomach until it melts into a gentle puddle on her belly button.”
“Oh, my,” Luna said. She swallowed. “Will you clean up the mess?”
“Absolutely,” Jason replied.
Making a split-second decision, Luna undid his pants and tugged them down his legs. He gripped her hand. “We don’t have to. Not now,” he said. His arousal pushed at his boxer-briefs, letting them both know how he really felt.
Luna blinked once and glanced around the meadow. “This feels right,” she said, rising to her knees to get rid of her own pants and underwear. “Flowers and sweet grass. The sun and a bubbling brook. A quilt and the man I’m, I’m falling in love with,” she stuttered.
“I’m falling in love with you, too.” It was only half a lie. Jason already knew he was head over heels in love with the woman but kept that to himself in light of her own words.
“Then teach me,” Luna said. She straddled his hips and Jason clenched his teeth at the feel of her sultry core so near his cock.
“Are you sure?” He needed her to be sure. Needed it more than he needed his next breath.
“As you wish.” Luna smiled down at him.
“Like this,” he said, gripping her hips. Guiding her.
And beneath the warm sun, surrounded by the birds and bees, and sung to by the dancing brook, two hearts became one body.
Chapter Seven
Luna
So, maybe an ATV ride home after an afternoon of sex wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had, Luna decided as they went over some rough terrain. But, since her arms were still full of her sexy shifter man, she was still pretty happy.
All she wanted was a hot bath followed by a long snuggle with Jason. That wasn’t too much to ask for a woman who was falling in love, was it? Except that when they pulled into the parking lot at Maxwell Mountain Resort, Cree James sat on the tailgate of his truck
“What’s going on?” Jason demanded as they pulled to a stop near his truck. Luna felt the tension hit his shoulders. “There’s not another fire, is there?” Already he was checking the gas tank and jumping off the ATV to grab his rescue gear.
“No.” Cree stepped in front of his mate, every line of his body a determined predator. Here was a shifter in pure stalk mode. He walked around her, sizing her up. His eyes narrowed as he watched, his muscles taut and strained. Luna trembled with fear before the upcoming storm.
“Creole.” Tamara’s lilting voice tried to soothe him. She reached a hand up to touch his shoulder, but Cree remained tense and waiting. Stalking.
A stillness fell over Jason as he saw how close
his boss was standing to his mate. Luna wanted to look to him for protection but wasn’t sure she had that right. So, she lifted her chin and got off the four-wheeler. Let him kill her if he was going to. She was done avoiding him.
And if Nana’s secrets came out? Well, so much the better, she decided.
But then Jason was there, moving as smooth as water to stand between her and the oncoming threat.
“I need to smell her.” Cree’s icy green eyes were absolute.
“Fuck you.” The scents of power, anger, and male dominance swirled in the air. This was exactly what Luna had hoped to avoid.
“I don’t want to fight you, Jace.” Green eyes narrowed. “She smells familiar, and I need answers.”
“Who she smells like is none of your goddamn business!”
Luna cringed. After the picnic in the meadow, she probably smelled an awful lot like sex, ice cubes, and Jason.
“I will fight you if I have to but I will have answers.”
Jason relaxed into a fighter’s stance. “You can try,” he challenged.
“I killed a man,” Cree reminded him.
“Join the club, asshole. I’ve killed dozens.”
Tamara looked over Cree’s shoulder to catch Luna’s attention. Luna didn’t want to take her eyes off the battle playing out between the two men but spared a quick glance at Tamara.
Cree’s mate mimed something that Luna took as “he smelled you on me” and nodded. She figured as much.
“What’s going on?” Quinn demanded. He carried with him the genes of his own animal. Not a fighter. Not a loner. Quinn was a Mastiff, genetically instilled to diffuse and herd.
“You’re back from Raleigh,” Tamara said, wobbling a little over the words as emotion tightened her throat.
Quinn nodded. “Lacey's father has friends in Capitol. As soon as Luna’s blog goes live, he’s going to help make it go viral. There’s already a bi-partisan bill being sponsored to approve shifter marriages. Lacey and I were down talking to some of the key people voting. Explaining that the no marriage clause in our service contract should have ended when their contract ended.”
“It’s all bullshit if you ask me,” Cree said, jaw tight and eyes never leaving Luna. “I never signed it. If you want to get married, just do it. If it's a fait accompli, what can they do?”
Interview with her Bear (Shifter Special Forces Book 6) Page 5
