His eyes searched her face. “What if we looked at this from a different angle? You know I’m attracted to you beyond reason, and I know you can smell it on me a mile away.”
“Yes, but—”
Nick shook his head. “No buts. You’re attracted to me, too, but on paper there’s a question mark.”
“Your lawyer.” She exhaled, lifting a hand. “See? Mercenary.”
“I’d say smart.”
“That’s just another word for calculating. Since we can’t change the fact we’re both shifters, and we can’t change the pheromone inner animal thing, then the only option left is to forget about my landlord issues and remove your lawyer from the equation. You have to take back your offer to help.” She hesitated a moment. “Wait. You’re not my new landlord, are you?
“No.” He chuckled. “Though if I was I’d never kick you out.”
Mikki laughed, despite the fact this evening was going downhill, fast. “Then I’m sorry you’re not.”
“On paper, your option makes sense, but your landlord issues are still a problem. People who like each other, or maybe more than like each other, should want to help. I want to help. No strings attached.”
“Nick, no. I don’t want to feel obligated. Even if you say I’m not.”
“What if I could offer you a way so you’d never want for anything again? You could keep the bookshop, hell, you could open a chain.”
“That sounded a lot like a backhanded proposal.” Her inner radar was pinging.
This was the kernel he held back from the first. What she sensed all along. “Are you in some kind of trouble, Nick? Maybe I can help. Like you said, if we more than like each other.”
His eyes held hers, and his lips parted as though he wanted to say something, but then he pressed them together. Dropping his gaze, he exhaled. “Forget it. It’s nothing” He sat up, dusting the snow from his pants. “Temperature’s dropping. I’ll take you home.”
“What if I don’t want to go home? Not yet, anyway.”
His head swiveled to look at her. “Why is it so hard for me to read you? There’s so much contradiction and uncertainty in your scent. The one thing that stays constant is you want me as much as I want you.”
She swallowed. In the firelight and the cold, the push and pull between them was almost primal. Even with all her question marks, and the fact that Eli was still a player in this game, Nick was right. She wanted him. Even more than she did that day in the zoo.
Go for it, girl.
So now you’re okay with the shifter slut thing?
You gotta compare.
They’re men, not apples.
Mmmm, yet the bite is so sweet.
Ugh, shut up.
She could tell herself to shut up all night long, but the truth was if she left here without seeing where this went, she’d regret it. Nick would be the one that got away, and she’d never know if he was the one.
“I want you.” The words were said without blinking an eye. A statement of fact. Mikki lifted her chin, meeting his gaze. “I know I’ve made this complicated, and I’ve made choices in my life you might question, but—”
He slipped his fingers beneath her chin, his thumb caressing her skin. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’ve got choices facing me you would more than question, but none of that matters. What matters is you and me, right here, right now.”
He leaned in, taking her lips. “This was meant, Mikki. I know you don’t believe it, but it’s true.”
Sliding his hand behind her head, he pressed her backwards toward the ground. The cold snow registered at her back, but all she noticed was Nick. The taste of him. The way her body was alight with a simple touch.
He unzipped her down vest, letting his fingers explore her breasts through her sweater as he deepened their kiss.
“Like you said,” she murmured. “Thank God shifters don’t feel the cold so much.”
“What cold?” His lips twitched in a small grin against her mouth as his hand slid from her waist to her chest, rounding one full breast.
Grazing her nipple, he teased the hard bud, making her breath hitch. His hand didn’t linger long. He trailed her belly to the juncture between her legs, stroking her sex through her winter leggings.
“Next time I’ll remember to wear easy access clothing.” Her voice cracked, making her joke fall flat.
“I don’t need easy access for what I intend. Your pleasure is my plan, but also your privacy. We’re alone, but then again, we’re not.”
Mike was a shifter, as she suspected was most of his staff. Nick was right. Trace hints of their intimacy would carry on the air, literally. Not that any of them would pull a Peeping Tom, but still.
Pushing her knees apart, Mick pressed his thumb to her clit through the lined fabric. He circled slow and hard, his eyes never leaving hers. Leaning in, he kissed her mouth again, his tongue tracing the outline of her lips.
“Open for me, Mikki. I want your scent filling my nose as you get off.” He slipped his hand beneath the wide waistband at her hips, his fingers caressing her soft fluff.
She sucked in a breath as his fingers curved over her mound to spread her wet folds. He teased the slick seam of her cleft, his thumb still circling her hard nub.
“Wider, love.”
She dropped her knees apart, and Nick curled his fingers into her bare flesh. Her inner walls spasmed on contact and she arched, grinding her hips higher into his palm.
His lips crushed hers as she rode his hand, his fingers working her spot, driving her toward another climax.
One arm clung to Nick, but the other spread upward in the snow like half a snow angel.
Kisses and tiny bites teased across her lips and jaw, his mouth moving downward to her nipples. She ached for his mouth on her flesh and wanted to rip her sweater from her body.
“Your sex is so wet and warm. If we were truly alone, I’d drive my cock hard and deep, stretching you past pleasure and pain.” He bit down on one sweater covered nipple and Mikki cried out. Come again for me, baby. Hard…NOW!”
Mikki lifted her hips, bucking against the speed of Nick’s hand. She met him thrust for thrust. Another orgasm burst through her body, rocking her to a mindless, thoughtless haze. He held tight, letting the wave crash and build again and again, until only aftershocks ebbed.
Mikki’s hips slumped to the ground She was wet through and through. From the snow on the back of her legs and ass and from the pleasure pooling in Nick’s palm still in her pants.
“You okay?” he asked, mouth twitching with a satisfied grin.
“Don’t be a wiseass. You know damn well I’m great. Boneless, but great.”
“Wiseass?”
She smirked. “Cocky bastard.”
He took her free hand and pressed it to his crotch. “I’m definitely a cocky bastard. A rock hard, blue balled, cock on fire bastard.”
Mikki scooted to her side as Nick pulled his hand from her pants. He licked the slick wetness from his fingers, before scooping a handful of snow.
“You know, I ready and willing to return the favor.” Her hand moved to his zipper, but he stopped her cold.
“Why not? I’m pretty skilled, even if I say so myself.”
“With that mouth, I have no doubt. When you do return the favor…and I’m saying when, not if…I want you naked and wet, your sex swollen and flushed pink so I can pull my cock from your luscious lips and fuck you until your legs shake.”
He cupped her between her legs and the pressure from his hand and his raw words made her come again.
“Like that,” he whispered against her mouth. “Spontaneous, and without reserve. I want you to come for me just thinking how I fill you.”
“You don’t play fair.”
“How so?” He pulled his hand back, and then scooted over to lay in the snow as well.
Arcing both arms out and up, she pushed her still weak legs apart, making a full snow angel. “I’m a starving woman, and you’ve temp
ted me with a juicy steak and fries. Not fair.”
He laughed out loud, scooting to straddle her waist “Time enough to feed you properly, snow angel.” He kissed her quick and then got up, brushing the snow from his clothes.
“Will I see you again?”
Nick looked down at her sitting in the snow. “Do you want to?”
“Yes, very much.”
His slow grin made her heart jump. It was genuine and warm, and more importantly, his smile reached his eyes.
“Me, too, Mikki. More that I ever thought. How about tomorrow?”
She opened her mouth, but then closed it again. She had already made plans with Eli. Damn it, this really was complicated and getting more so by the minute. She had to choose before someone got hurt, and that someone was most likely to be her.
“I already made plans for tomorrow, but I’m free this week.” She gave him a close-lipped smile. “That is, unless a certain attorney calls me. Speaking of which, you have to ask him how he found me with little to no details.”
Nick held his hands out to help her up from the snow. “The firepit is just about out. Do you want me to stoke it again, or head back toward the car?”
He ignored what she said about Marcus, so maybe he knew more than he let on. Or perhaps it was all part of that kernel he hid. Didn’t matter. Like her dad used to say. Time will out.
“Too bad we couldn’t sleep in the tent tonight. I’m kind of liking this place.”
“We could, but it would be cold and wet. That tent isn’t made for cover, and that means we’d have to keep each other warm. I know myself, and when it comes to you, I wouldn’t stop at warmth. I’d go right for the fire.”
“Hunka, hunka burning love.”
He laughed. “Bingo.”
“Then we need to plan for a fire emergency. An all-out five alarmer.”
He pulled her close. “It’s a date.”
Chapter Fifteen
Mikki sat in the dark with an untouched cup of tea. The sky was still dark, but it held a purple hue. Dawn was on the horizon.
Nick had dropped her to her apartment hours ago, but she couldn’t sleep. Not from excitement, though it still coursed through her veins from his tenderness and his raw sex. But because one thought from the night before still haunted her. She had to choose before someone got hurt.
Neither Eli nor Nick deserved mind games. It hadn’t escalated to that, yet, but she needed to come clean with them both and then let the chips fall where they may.
There was no way they could both claim her, or whatever it was that shifters did when they found their mates. She sighed low, not wanting to wake Carmela. She’d been here the whole time, forgoing her cozy nest at the back of the shop to run interference between her conscience and her libido.
Both Nick and Eli played on both. In their own way, they were both alpha males. The one thing she did remember from childhood was that most shifter males had alpha traits. It ran in their DNA. Whether they were the actual alpha of their respective packs or not.
Despite Nick’s quiet confidence and his Superman’s twin good looks and sex appeal, there was a vulnerability about him that made her want him even more than she expected. She spread herself for him willingly, wanting so much more from him, she nearly begged.
Eli, on the other hand, was charismatic. Big gestures meant to sweep her off her feet. And he did, right onto her back. He was gregarious and funny. Larger than life. While Nick was more serious-minded, with a witty, dry sense of humor.
The two men were equally breathtaking, but different. Like opposite sides of the same coin.
Ugh. Did they both have to make her panties wet and her body hum? She shook her head. It was more than that. They both made her feel special. Beautiful and wanted. Plus, she liked them both as people. Really liked them.
What if you had them together?
Stop.
Sandwiched between two alpha males. Yum.
More like torn between two alphas.
She shivered thinking about the possibilities, but then dismissed the thought. This wasn’t a romance novel, however hot the situation.
Daylight broke. Pink rays pierced the purple sky above the roof tops. From here she couldn’t see the horizon, but she knew it glowed gorgeous. Could she see the dawn from the top peaks of the Wolf Conservancy? That would be something. Spending the night in that tranquil place with Nick and watching the sun come up.
She chuckled to herself. Eli would rent a helicopter and fly over the ocean just for the full effect.
Both spectacular. Just different. Like both men.
“Haven’t you been to bed?” Carmela asked, scrubbing her eyes as she padded from the bedroom. “I specifically put the extra-large comforter on the bed, so I didn’t steal all the covers.
“Thanks, and to answer your question, no. I have not been to bed.” She tapped the side of her head. “Couldn’t calm the brain.”
“Did you sleep at all?” Mel yawned, reaching for the coffeemaker.
“I dozed on the couch, but that’s it. I’ll need to borrow your concealer stick after I shower. Eli is picking me up at ten am. We’re heading upstate.”
Mel filled the pot with ground coffee and set it to brew. “That sounds far. Are you sure you’ll make it back tonight?”
“I told him I had to for you. I know you hate opening the shop early.”
“Don’t do that.” Mel waved her off. “I’m perfectly capable of getting myself up and caffeinated enough to handle opening the shop.”
“We’ve got deliveries coming between eight am and ten. That means you have to be there no later than seven thirty. A.M.”
Carmela stuck her mug directly under the brew stream, catching the start of the coffee trickle into her cup.
“Jeez, Mel. Can’t you wait five minutes?” Mikki chuckled, getting up from her chair by the window.
She carried her untouched tea to stove.
“Yikes, that’s strong. What did you do, steep drain cleaner?” Mel wrinkled her nose at the cold, near-black liquid.
Mikki clicked open the microwave, but Carmela shut it again. “No you don’t. That stuff could take the paint off the walls. Make yourself a fresh cup.”
“Waste not, want not. We have to economize, Mel. Use it up and wear it out.”
Mel switched her mug for the glass coffeepot, letting the rest of the brew fill in its proper pot.
“Did something happen I should know about?” she asked, watching Mikki put the kettle on to boil.
“Yes and no,” she replied. “I’ve decided a couple of things. First, I’m going to hear what Nick’s attorney has to say regarding our new landlord and his new lease, but I’m going to pay him for his consult.”
“Okay, fair enough. That way you’re not obligated. What else?”
“I’ve decided to give both guys the heave ho, starting with Eli sometime today.”
Mel put her mug down, spilling some of her coffee. “For heaven’s sake, why?”
Mikki turned, pacing in the small kitchen. “I can’t do this, Mel. I’m not the type of woman who can juggle men. If it was casual, maybe. But I’ve gotten physical with both of them. I know I sound like a feminist’s nightmare, but it’s easier for guys!”
She circled her hands in front, walking back and forth. “I can’t keep the physical separate from the emotional. I’m just not wired that way, and the truth is I’m falling for them both.” Mikki stopped pacing and stared at Carmela, her mouth open. “Oh my God. That’s it in a nutshell. I’m falling in love with two men.”
“After four days.”
Mikki shook her head slowly. “I know how crazy that sounds. Eli and Nick both have said things just as nuts. They said it’s a shifter thing.” She looked at Mel with a chuckle. “Then again, how the hell would I know that? Gee, thanks family.”
“So you think the answer to this problem is to dump them both instead of taking the sex out of the equation and just focusing on growing your feelings and friendship.”
<
br /> Mikki blinked, letting a small grin curl her lips. “Wow, and you’ve had zero caffeine.”
With a soft grunt, Mel opened the fridge for the cream, and poured a drop into her coffee. “Wow, the votes of confidence this morning are overwhelming.”
She put the cream on the counter and then leaned her back against the sink. “I know you’ve got your reasons for running from this, after all, you said yourself there was something each of them was holding back. Did you find out what?”
“No. But Nick nearly told me. In fact, I think he might have proposed.”
Mel stopped with her mug halfway to her lips.
Mikki waved it off, shaking her head. “It was more a backhanded hypothetical, so it doesn’t count.”
“Yeah it does. And you didn’t think to press the issue?”
“No, and neither would you. It wasn’t the right timing.”
“Miks, what if he has to get married? What if there’s a fortune attached, and he has to get married or lose everything? Things like that happen. You said he was loaded, right?”
“You read too many tabloids. Things like that don’t happen to regular people.”
“Did you even find out either of their surnames?”
The tea kettle whistled, and Mikki turned off the burner before moving it to the back of the stove. “Yes and no,” she replied, digging a fresh teabag from the cannister.
“Yes to whom?”
“Nick.” She put the teabag in a clean mug and filled it with the water from the kettle. “His last name is Stanton.”
Carmela reached into her robe pocket and took out her phone.
“No.” Mikki took the phone from her hand, holding it out of reach when Mel tried to snatch it back. “You are not going to Google him.”
Mel stuck her tongue out. “Fine, but I’ll only do it from the laptop at the shop. Either way, when you get back from your day with Eli Whatshisface, I’ll have all the details on the boy.” She pursed her lips. “And don’t pretend you won’t be interested. You forget, I know you.”
“Yeah,” she exhaled, “I only wish I knew myself these days.”
Torn Between Two Alphas: Howls Romance Page 12
