by Rose, Renee
Strange, since she was a wolf and Sunny isn’t.
“Shirt off,” I order. And once she’s ripped the tank off, I add, “Spread those legs for me, baby. You’ve got a hard fucking coming now.”
She lets out a strangled laugh and spreads her thighs wider. I’ve never seen anything so goddamn beautiful in my life. She has more butterflies tattooed at the base of her spine, spreading across her hips and then ascending on a diagonal to the shoulder tattoo. I remember the tattoos from last time, but they strike me anew.
“So pretty. Got any new ink, baby?”
“Mmm, you’ll have to find out for yourself,” she murmurs against the sheets.
Challenge. Accepted.
I nudge her thighs wider and kneel between them, then rub the head of my cock against her entrance. She’s still leaking honey, sweet and silky. I slide right in.
“Fuck that’s good, baby.” I ease back, then slam in hard, causing her to give a little scream.
“Oh, you didn’t think I’d be gentle with you, did you?” I repeat the action, loving the way my loins slap up against her ass like another spanking.
She laughs. “I seem to recall you broke a wall last time.”
Damn. She’s right. She does something crazy to me.
I palm one shoulder to keep her in place, then fuck her with powerful thrusts. I want in deeper, harder.
I know it’s too much. I’m sure I’m hurting her—she’s human, after all—but I can’t seem to stop myself.
All I can do is try to soothe her with my words. “You’re taking it like a good girl, though, aren’t you, sunshine?”
I fuck so hard the bus bounces on its wheels. Everything in it rattles and shakes.
Sunny’s breathing in gasps that I force out of her with each slam in.
She bumps her head against the door and readjusts, pulling her hips up so she’s on her knees. I hold tight around her waist and keep pumping hard.
“You like that angle, baby? Where I get in so deep?”
“Yes,” she gasps. “Fuck, yes.”
Her enthusiasm is too much for me.
“I was thinking about this all through yoga,” I confess. “All through dinner.”
“Me too!” She’s breathless, her face turned to one side against the mattress, hair a wild halo.
“Yeah? Is that why you were such a cock tease?” I slap her flank. “Sitting on my lap and making me hard?”
“You pulled me to your lap!” she protests.
Maybe I did. She’s probably right. I didn’t mean to, but then she was climbing over me, her soft body right over my lap. What was I supposed to do?
“You needed this fuck.” I accuse her, even though I’m the one who needed it.
“Yes,” she agrees. “Definitely.”
And that’s when coherent speech becomes impossible. I’m too dizzy with lust, too high on her enthusiastic reception.
I pound and pound until my vision goes to white lightning, and I roar so loud the bus shivers.
And then I come.
I fill her with my cum, soak the sheets. And only when my vision clears and I can breathe again, do I realize she’s coming too. Her pussy’s squeezing every last drop out of me in quick pulses.
I lower us to the mattress and wrap an arm around her waist, keeping her ass tucked against my lap, my cock still inside her. Our chests move together as we catch our breaths.
My wolf wants to issue all kinds of claims and demands. Get rid of that pretty boy asshole. You’d better not be touching other men in yoga. This pussy is mine.
But for once, I’m smart enough to stop myself. I have no claim on Sunny, nor do I intend to claim her.
She can—and will—do whatever the hell she wants, including slipping me a note and driving off the moment I fall asleep.
I already know how this thing between us works.
So this time I do the leaving.
I kiss her neck. “Thank you, Sunny,” I murmur. I slip out of her and climb up.
She rolls over. “That’s it?” There’s accusation in her tone, although I don’t know what she wants from me. She’s not exactly the settle down and have a relationship type. I’m unable to think of a response because as I rise up, I get the full view of her naked, and my body stills. I can only stare. Drink her magnificence in.
She blinks those blue eyes at me, watching steadily. “Am I going to see you again?”
I clear my throat. Try to make my lips move. “Uh, I’m not sure.” I rub the back of my neck.
She drops her face into the sheets. “Right.”
I don’t know where she gets off being upset. Still, a stab of guilt hits me square in the chest. I did just barge my way into her bus and fuck the daylights out of her.
“Well, I’d like to see you again, Titus.”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay. But I gotta go now. I’ll come find you.” I back out of the bus and shut the door.
I left my motorcycle on the opposite end of the plaza, so I walk back the way I came, through the now empty town square. I’m almost to the other side when I hear the scream of metal on metal and my whole world flips on end.
Chapter 3
Titus
I nearly shift right there in the street.
Somehow, I know the crash involved Sunny. I sprint at top speed to the intersection as a wrecked silver Volvo tears off down a side street.
And there, in the middle of the intersection, is Sunny’s bus, smashed on the side like she got T-boned, and spun around facing the sidewalk.
“Sunny!” I shout, leaping over the wall separating me from the road and nearly tearing her door off its hinges.
There’s no airbag, nothing soft for her delicate human face to hit. Sunny’s forehead rests on the steering wheel and the smell of her blood makes my vision dome. I’m ready to shift to defend her, but there’s no one left to fight. The assholes took off after smashing into my lovely human.
“Sunny. Fuck, Sunny.” I want to tear the bus apart to make space for her crumpled body. I draw in a deep breath to calm the fuck down.
Christ, she’s just a human. A delicate, breakable human.
And such a slender, frail one at that.
I caused this. I left her limp and dazed. She was in no condition to drive—although this accident clearly wasn’t her fault. Still, she might have been more aware of her surroundings if she hadn’t just been fucked out of her mind.
To my relief, Sunny groans and lifts her head.
“Sunny. Don’t move, baby. I’ll call an ambulance.”
“No, no.” She attempts to unbuckle her seatbelt and sucks in a sharp breath. Her arm is hanging at a funny angle. She reaches with the other arm. “I’m all right.”
Total liar.
She slides out of the bus.
Before her feet can hit the ground, I scoop her straight into my arms. “You’re clearly not.” Her arm’s broken, a large egg has already formed on her forehead and the laceration across her neck and shoulder from the seatbelt makes me want to howl.
Sirens sound close by. A cop car pulls up with the lights spinning.
“Put me down,” she mutters.
“No fucking way. I need to get you to a hospital.”
“Titus, I’m fine. Put me down.”
“What happened?” One of the cops demands as his partner calls for an ambulance.
“She got T-boned by a silver Volvo,” I tell them. “It took off down that side street there.”
“You get a license number?”
I shake my head. I’d been too focused on getting to Sunny to memorize it. “It was a New Mexico plate. I think it had a J and an 8 in it, but I don’t remember the rest.”
“Were you in the vehicle when the accident happened?”
“No, I heard the crash from the plaza and came running.”
The guy eyes Sunny’s perch in my arms dubiously. “You never move a victim. Always wait for emergency services. She could have a broken neck, and moving her could leave her paralyzed.�
��
Jesus.
My stomach drops to my shoes.
“I don’t have a broken neck,” Sunny insists, but she holds up the wrecked arm. “Just a broken arm. And he’s putting me down right now. Aren’t you, Titus?”
It’s only because she sounds out of breath and in pain that I comply. Fuck, maybe she has broken ribs and I’m hurting her more. I gently tip her to her feet and keep a solid arm around her waist to support her. She leans into me, trembling like a flower.
The ambulance arrives and the EMTs take over. Sunny tries to argue about not going in an ambulance, but I cut across her protests. “Don’t listen to her. She’s going with you, end of story.”
Apparently they agree because they get her down on a gurney and put her in the back of the ambulance. “I’ll follow in the bus, baby. Everything’s gonna be all right.”
She blinks at me with that cat-like gaze of hers. I see no fear. No angst. Only uncanny assessment.
It should reassure me that she’s unafraid, but it doesn’t. The female’s so out-of-this-world, she might not even realize how hurt she is. She might not recognize when she needs help. I’m sure as shit she wouldn’t ask for it. She strikes me as the type who’s been taking care of herself her whole life.
Crazy, dangerous woman.
I go to the bus, which is blocking traffic, and am relieved to find it still runs. The bent metal isn’t restricting the movement of the tires or engine.
Heart still in my throat, I follow the ambulance to Holy Cross Hospital and head into the waiting area to call my son.
“Hey, Dad.” Tank’s deep rumble comes through the earpiece. Another surge of guilt ripples through me.
I stab my fingers through my hair. “Hey, uh I called to tell you something. There’s been an accident.”
“What?” I hear a crunch and I know my son just cracked his phone. He’s always had trouble managing his strength.
“It’s Foxfire’s mom. Sunny’s bus was hit by a car. They took her to the hospital for an eval.”
“Sunny?” I hear the shocked disbelief in Tank’s voice and then Foxfire’s frightened one comes on the line.
“What happened to my mom?”
“She was in a car accident but she walked away. I mean, she was on her feet before they put her in the ambulance. Her arm was definitely broken, though.”
“Oh my goddess. Are you in Taos with her?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, Foxfire. I’ll take care of her.” The words come out before I can stop them, but I know they’re true. As much as it kills me, the mission from my alpha just slid to second priority.
Sunny’s hurt and I’m partly responsible. Even if I wasn’t, there’s no way I’d walk away from her. She’s fragile as glass and doesn’t even have the advantage of youth to help her rebound from this. She may be laid up for days—even weeks.
And she’s utterly alone up here. No pack—family—whatever humans call it. Who knows how reliable these friends of hers are?
“Thanks, Titus. I’m glad you were there.” Foxfire’s voice sounds shaky. After a pause, she says, “Why are you there?”
“I’m on pack business.” I rub my forehead.
Or I’m supposed to be.
Why are humans so damn fragile?
“Do I need to come up there? When are you leaving? How badly is she hurt?”
“Okay, slow down, rainbow,” I say, referring to the color—or rather, colors—of her hair. “I don’t have answers for you yet. I’ll let you know after she’s been seen by the doctors.”
Foxfire sighs. “Okay. Okay, thanks. Really. I appreciate you being there, Titus. I know you’ll take good care of my mom.”
Something uncomfortable shifts in my chest. Now I have two females depending on me. Not a good place for me to be.
I mutter my acknowledgement and promise to call back when I know more. Then I take up a position pacing the hallways of the small hospital.
* * *
Sunny
I’m trapped in a room with a giant wolf-man and no hope of escape.
Seriously, it’s that bad.
Titus insisted on bringing me to the little cottage he airbnb’ed. My car is parked out front, but I haven’t been allowed to see the damage. It was too dark when we got here last night, and Titus won’t let me out of bed today.
He’s standing in the bedroom doorway now, doing his best to intimidate me into climbing back under the covers.
Unfortunately, I find his form of intimidation lethally attractive.
“The doctor said I’m fine,” I insist. Just some lacerations and bruising. A stiff neck from whiplash. And the broken arm. Which still throbs, even inside the cast.
“I’m gonna call bullshit on that one. Get back in bed before I put you there.”
Despite my aches and pains, my pulse picks up at the threat. I don’t mind the idea of Titus manhandling me a little. He may be a rough lover, but I enjoyed every second of it.
But the sting of how quickly he took off after sex yesterday is still too fresh. This guy’s heart is still marked unavailable.
Too bad he’s so damn attractive. Fresh from the shower, he’s walking around with his shirt off, without any care about what the sight of his washboard abs is doing to me. I swear, my hormones are stronger in my fifties than they ever were in the years when I was trying to start a family. Nature’s sick irony, I guess.
I haven’t felt this attracted to a man since Johnny, Foxfire’s dad, and even then, I wasn’t this horned up.
But there’s a similar energy. The wild animal type of man. Johnny’s was more furtive, he had a wild spirit he tried to hide. Titus is right out there with his. Riding the Harley, sporting the leather jacket.
“You don’t have to to this, Titus.” My stomach swoops a little, because if I’m honest, I don’t want him to stop. I don’t want him to let me leave. But I also don’t want him to be here out of guilt or obligation, and I know that’s what this is.
Titus walks forward until his ribs hit my breasts. I think he expected me to back up, but when I don’t, he reaches down and scoops my ass up under his forearm, lifting me to straddle his waist.
“Titus.” I go breathless. My heartbeat taps at the surface, right against his bare skin.
“I told you to stay in that bed,” he grumbles. “You’re gonna stay there, even if I have to tie you to the headboard.”
Sweet goddess above, he didn’t just say that.
He’s infinitely gentle as he settles me on the bed and when he steps back and examines me, I see genuine concern on his features.
I indulge in the warmth that floods my chest for just a moment. “Thanks, Titus.” I grab his hand and squeeze it. “This is really sweet of you.”
He brushes my hair back from my bruised forehead, frowning at the bump. “You got that wrong. I’m not sweet. I’m just doing what anyone would do.”
Oh.
Right.
And just like that, the warmth evaporates. It must show on my face, because he takes a step back and pushes his hand through his salt and pepper hair.
He opens his mouth, then closes it again. “You hungry? I can go pick up some donuts or something across the way.” He points toward the main drag.
“I’m gluten free,” I inform him, knowing he’s going to roll his eyes.
He does.
“There’s an easy solution,” I taunt. “You can let me go. I have food in my RV and I’ll be fine on my own.”
“No, no. You’re not going anywhere. And stop making this so fucking hard.” He pins me with a stern glower that makes my pussy clench. “I have shit to do in Taos, but I can’t get it done if I’m worried you’re going to jump in your bus and run off the second I walk out.”
I blink at him.
He leans over me, planting a huge fist on either side of the mattress beside me. “So here’s how it’s going to go. You’re going to tell me what you want for breakfast, and I’m going to get it. Then you’re going to curl up on this bed or on
the couch out there and rest while I take care of business. And when I get back, you’ll be right where I left you. Or there will be consequences. Understand?”
A laugh escapes my lips. I don’t know why I love this bossy side of him, but I do. “We’ll see.”
He growls. It’s a real animal growl. A wolf growl.
I get totally wet and my muscles go slack, like my body’s just surrendering itself up to him.
His nostrils flare and a ripple of shock runs across his face right before his eyes change from gray to a clearer light blue.
I go from propped up on the bed to flat on my back in a flash, Titus straddling my waist and pinning my good wrist beside my head. “You like trouble, don’t you, lady?”
I push against his chest with the casted arm. “Don’t call me lady.”
He leans down and nips my neck, his beard tickling the side of my face. “You don’t like that, huh?”
“No.” All the pain in my head and arm are forgotten as I roll my hips beneath him.
“What do you like, sunshine?” His voice is gravelly. He moves down and bites my shoulder. His cock settles between my legs, right where I need it, and I lift my hips to rub over it.
“I-I don’t know. Sunshine is nice.”
“Okay, tell me what it’s going to take, sunshine. You need a threat of punishment, or a promise of reward? What’s going to keep you here?”
I pretty much melt into a puddle at that.
I lick my lips. “Um… both?”
He nods and lifts his torso. He unbuckles his belt and draws it slowly out of the loops.
Tingles run across my skin. I forget to breathe.
He captures my good arm and loops the leather around the wrist, pulling it taut. I’m suddenly his prisoner when he attaches it to the headboard. “You’re gonna stay here while I get breakfast. Now what do you want?”
I sulk. “I want to go with you.”
“Nope. You need rest. Tell me.”
I consider him for a moment. Think about where we are on the main drag and what’s nearby. “Huevos rancheros. Green chile, corn tortillas. You can get them at the diner right across the main drag there.”
