Banshee Seduction (Montgomery's Sin Book 1) (26 page)

Dear Lord. The only possible thing worse than what she’d said was if she declared, I love you. She’d almost opened her big mouth and said that too. The banshee babes had been more than enthusiastic to support her. Appalled with herself, she scraped her hands down her face, shuddered in a breath, and waited.

At the sound of the bathroom door opening, she picked up a spatula and poked the eggs. Nowhere near done, the yellow watery mess stuck to the utensil as she forced herself to remove it.

The gentle touch of his fingers to the back of her neck made her turn. Deadly serious, he stared hard at her for a long moment. His brow pulled low over intense eyes before he dipped his head to take her lips with his in a deep, slow, seductive kiss, melting the heart that wasn’t supposed to have fallen for him.

He cupped her cheek with his enormous hand, and she didn’t even bother to resist nuzzling into it.

“I’ll try not to break anything else of yours.”

She blinked open her eyes as he withdrew. Still with her pastel green towel wrapped around his waist, she thought no one could have looked more masculine than the hunk who stood before her. His wide, naked chest filled her vision. Lust rolled through her, sharp and unexpected. A strange mix of confusion and gratitude staggered around, leaving her speechless. She tried to breathe, but the air had thickened in her lungs, and heat filled her cheeks. She was going to blurt something she shouldn’t again and make a darned fool of herself. One look at his beauty, and her tongue loosened.

The corner of his mouth kicked up in a regretful smile, and as he dipped his head, she followed his gaze down to the smooth bulge of muscles in his arms and the sticky slide of spatula she held against his biceps.

“Ooops.” She couldn’t help the burst of laughter from her lips. They were a disaster. Between the two of them, they could probably destroy the universe given enough time.

She reached for some paper toweling, swiped the goo off his arm, and rubbed—possibly more forcefully than necessary. Relieved to get back on more solid footing with him, she buffed his arm. At some point she dropped the paper to the floor to continue with the palm of her hand. She smoothed his thick, hard muscles.

“Oooh, your arms are so big.”

His chuckle vibrated through his wide chest and up through the other hand she had placed on his chest. She rolled her eyes and met his stare. “That sounded so…”

“Erotic.”

“No. Stupid.”

He laughed, slid his hands around her waist, and hoisted her up onto the counter so she only had a short way to look up into his face.

“The last thing I would ever believe is that you are stupid.”

She smoothed her hands across his wide shoulders and took pleasure in watching his skin ripple beneath her fingers. Tiny goose bumps raised on his flesh as he gave a small shudder.

“Are you cold? You should really get dressed.”

“I have no clothes.”

“Oh.”

A sneaky desire to keep him barefoot and naked in her apartment snaked through her mind, and the song of agreeable murmurs filled her head.

The warm wafting aroma of cooked eggs rushed her senses, and she pushed back on the giant. If he didn’t want to move, it occurred to her he wouldn’t have to budge an inch, but he obliged by stepping back. With his hands still around her waist, he gently deposited her back on her feet. Regret filled his eyes until they lit upon the breakfast.

She folded the huge omelet in half, slid it onto a plate, and laid it on the kitchen table. She swiped up silverware and ketchup, quickly popping four slices of bread into the toaster. The awkwardness of the morning after was easily pushed aside as she concentrated on feeding the beast in her kitchen.

He straddled a chair, and as it groaned in protest at his weight, his wary gaze flicked up to meet hers. As it held, he gave a smooth shrug, picked up his fork, and started to shovel the eggs into his mouth.

“We’re going to have to get some more robust furniture.”

It was lucky she hadn’t filled her mouth with food; otherwise she would have choked at his casual remark.

He glanced up; his mouth stopped mid chew. His firm lips tightened before he spoke around his food.

“Where’s yours?”

With perfect timing, the toast popped, and she pointed at it, a wide grin of superiority stretched her lips, only to freeze as his brows lowered while he glanced down at the plate in front of him.

“You must have used at least six eggs on this.”

“Umm.”

His green eyes fixed on her.

“Seven.” She gave an uncomfortable shrug and reached for the toast before it cooled. She slipped it onto a plate and placed it next to Matt’s right hand. “Help yourself.” She had no idea how he managed to make her feel uncomfortable, but right now she wasn’t entirely sure she would be able to swallow the food.

She reached for an empty plate before taking her own seat, just as he sliced the omelet in two and slithered half of it onto her plate.

“Oh, I’m not…” Her stomach gave a loud, protesting growl. She sighed. “They were the last of the eggs. I thought you probably needed it more than I did with all the exercise you get.”

She forked eggs into her mouth and almost groaned with pleasure.

A wide grin split his face as he reached for the toast, picking up his knife to spread on butter.

“Oh, I think you got as much exercise as I did. I just have more muscle power.”

The eggs slid down her throat in a hard swallow as she got his meaning. “I didn’t mean…”

“Oh yes, you did.” Her stomach growled again as if trying to hurry her up, and his grin widened as he placed the buttered toast on the edge of her plate and picked up another slice for himself. He nodded at her food. “Better eat up. You’re going to need all the strength you can get.”

She wasn’t sure she could eat anymore, but she picked up the slice of toast and nibbled on the edges. “I thought you had to go.”

“Can’t.” He swallowed, grinned. “Naked.”

Obviously, but… “Daniel collected your stuff last time.”

“Uh-huh. Daniel’s with the team.”

“Shouldn’t you be?”

He glanced out the window and gave another shrug of his wide, sexy shoulders. “I’ll fly over later.”

“But surely, you’re supposed to…uh…exercise with them?”

His teeth crunched into the toast. He flicked an eyebrow up at her. “Never have been one to share my…uh…exercise.”

Heat flooded her face, and she put the toast back down and brushed the crumbs from her fingers. “Do you ever talk about anything other than sex?”

“Yep.”

To give him the benefit of the doubt, she waited.

“Football.”

Of course. She nodded. He scooped more food into his mouth. The muscles in his jaw flexed as he chewed.

He stabbed his fork into the final piece of omelet and lifted it to his lips.

“I’ve lived for two hundred years, Ginny. I can talk to you for as long as you want, about any subject you need to know. I’m not narrow-minded, one-track-minded, bigoted, nor unintelligent. I’ve outgrown chauvinism, sexism, racial prejudice, and many, many more things.” He opened his mouth, inserted the food, and swallowed before setting his fork back on the empty plate.

“But right now, my main concern is to have you in as many different ways and as many times as possible before the sun goes down and I have to fly back to join my team for the next game.”

Every muscle in her body went lax with shock as her mouth dropped open, and the whooping, cheering banshees in her head encouraged her to run for the bedroom. His declaration should have scared her witless, but the pit of fire in her belly exploded in a volcano of lust.

His chair groaned expressively as Matt leaned forward and reached out a tender hand to stroke the hair back from her florid face.

“So I suggest you eat up, give yourself plenty of energy, and prepare to be had for the rest of the day.”

Had. Not the most romantic term she could think of, but under the circumstances, she would take it. Who in their right mind would declare anything other than eager interest in another person’s body and mind in the first few meetings? She could hardly expect him to proclaim eternal love.

Abandoning the rest of the toast, she concentrated on scooping eggs into her mouth while Matt stood to pour them both coffee. Energy. She needed energy. She watched him dump sugar in her cup, almost told him she didn’t take it, and then rethought the whole energy level requirement. Caffeine and sugar. The hordes in her head were going to go wild.

Matt placed her coffee by her hand on the table, and then picked up his own, blew away the steam, and leaned back on the counter, a pleased smirk on his lips as he watched her.

“No rush. Take your time.”

She couldn’t stop the fast blinking. He wanted her. Again. Already. Holy cow.

She’d read about these things, but she had no idea they weren’t just a boastful rumor men spread to prove their masculinity. Until now. Her quick glance in his direction proved it wasn’t just a boast as his obvious erection tented the towel with powerful enthusiasm.

She swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee, scalded her tongue, and made the dragon shifter in her kitchen twitch his lips with amusement. His firm top lip flattened out in a sexy smile, and no longer able to resist, she launched herself from her seat and grabbed him with both hands.

She might be new to this, but she sure knew how to be…enthusiastic.

Matt narrowed his eyes and scanned the aisles of the supermarket as he wandered through.

She was there. He knew she was there. It wasn’t that he was stalking her. Simply, the moment he picked up her scent, he needed to check her out. Now they’d had sex, her scent was even stronger in his nostrils. He could locate her from miles away. The taste of her on the back of his tongue invoked memories from their night and day together while lust chased through his bloodstream. He needed to find her. Have her again. It had been almost a week—well, five days, near enough—since he’d seen her, been with her, and he wanted her again. Now. Talking to her on the phone simply didn’t have the same effect. She still turned him on with the soft wash of her smooth voice as they spoke for hours each evening about nothing in particular. But he couldn’t touch her, feel her, smell her.

His lips twitched into a begrudging smile. He touched his tongue to the roof of his mouth and acknowledged the appreciative hum of the dragon. Yeah—her scent—too good to ignore.

He peered down yet another aisle. Every indication was she was there, but all he could see were three teenagers with their backs to him packing shelves.

He paused, certain he wasn’t mistaken, and just as he was about to move on, the angelic glow of white-blonde hair grabbed his attention and shot his hormones into overdrive. She straightened from where she’d been crouched behind a stacking cart and gave a sexy wriggle so her stretchy skirt smoothed down over her hips.

Arms full of products, she juggled them for a brief moment before all three assistants leaped forward and raced to her rescue, almost overwhelming her in their enthusiastic haste to help her. As the young men jostled elbows and reached out to relieve her of packages, Matt lost sight of her for a brief moment. Swallowed by the mass of keen teenage boys, her dulcet laugh gave his heart a tight squeeze as they danced around her, each one holding a few of her items as she emerged from their midst empty-handed. With a broad smile and a flutter of her long eyelashes, he watched Ginny slay another three hearts while she delicately tiptoed her pink polka-dot sky-high heels over them, unaware of the effect she’d had.

Despite the dragon’s objections, Matt grinned as she sashayed toward him. Without noticing him, she continued her perusal of the shelves. She bent at the waist to study something on the bottom shelf and almost gave the boys a stroke as her thigh-length skirt slithered higher up her legs. Three flushed and blotchy faces froze, waiting for the skirt to slide higher, their gazes fixed on her shapely, rounded backside.

The dragon growled. Fire burned in Matt’s belly, setting his throat alight as he tried not to expel his breath and incinerate the supermarket population. Luckily for them, she straightened abruptly, completely oblivious to the attention she seemed to have gained. She hitched her purse higher up her shoulder and took another few steps. The purse swiped along the shelves, knocking produce off in her wake, with the boys tripping down the aisle after her. Their gangly limbs flicked out as they tripped over each other in an attempt to rescue the fruit and vegetables before they hit the floor.

Matt leaned against the end fixture of the aisle, amazed at the woman, who still had not noticed him. Silent chuckles rattled his chest, and he raised his hand to rub the spot where his heart throbbed. No wonder the kids chased after her. She was beautiful. Sparkling blue eyes, glowing silver-blonde hair. He might just be the luckiest man in the world.

She paused once more and crouched to pick a tin from the bottom shelf as the first skinny kid almost fell over her and was caught by his friend just in time. Keen concentration wrinkled her forehead while she studied the contents label. Then she smoothly straightened and flipped her handbag over her shoulder. Oblivious, she hit the closest teenager with it dead center of his chest, sending him crashing into the other two behind and making Matt wonder what the hell her purse contained to have the power to deck three young men in one fell swoop.

The pretty woman of his dreams turned toward him and tilted her head. Her bright eyes widened with delight as they centered on him. Her lush mouth broke into a broad, welcoming smile to make his heart stutter to a full stop. Just her smile was going to kill him. She didn’t need to slam him with a purse. One look was enough. Perhaps a two-hundred-year-old dragon shifter wasn’t strong enough to take her on. How was he going to handle it when she realized she was his mate? As a dragon’s mate, she held the power. The female of the race ruled supreme.

His pulse stumbled back into rhythm. He perfectly understood the flailing boys as they found their way to their feet once more, leaving all three hearts on the floor of the supermarket, their uncertain hormones forever affected by the cute banshee.