Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (27 page)

‘So what are we
doing now?’

‘Now?’ Vaile
asked; his addled brain going to the one place he didn’t want to go. What was
Grey doing right now? He growled. Fuck. Can’t think about her. Think about
something else you stupid cocksucker. But he couldn’t. His cock had now joined
in on the fantasy.

‘I have to go
somewhere. Go home,’ he told Colton, jogging back to the car. He drove without
thinking, finding his way to a place he should have never thought about
returning to without being there on official police business.

Larissa closed the door to her
apartment with her back; her arms full with paper bags of groceries. Oscar
greeted her at the door by rubbing through her legs on the way to the kitchen
while she tried to avoid standing on his paws.

‘Oscar,’ she
said exasperated. ‘If I step on you, it’s your own fault. You know that,
right?’

He meowed back
at her happily and trotted through to the kitchen. When Larissa finally got
there, he was sitting on the bench waiting for his dinner. He meowed again.

‘Yeah, just give
me a minute.’ She pawed through the bags until she found his food, feeding him
so she could have some peace.

After she
unpacked her groceries, she found the bottle of red she hadn’t finished yet,
pouring herself a glass while she cooked her dinner. After browning off the
ground beef and setting a pot of water to boil, she poured in a bottle of
spaghetti sauce and let it simmer. She was just about to put some garlic bread
in the oven when there was a knock on the door.

Setting her
pink, polka-dot oven mitt down on the bench, she peered through the peephole.
She instantly opened the door, feeling the blush creep up her neck. ‘Vaile?’
she asked, her heart pounding erratically against her ribs. He was dressed in a
pair of dark wash jeans and a tight black tee. His face softened when he looked
at her, leaving her knees feeling weak. Larissa didn’t know how long she’d been
standing there just staring at him without inviting him in, but she snapped out
of her fantasy and took a step back, gesturing him to come inside.

‘Thanks,’ he
replied, taking a few tentative steps into her apartment. Without taking her
eyes off him, she closed the door, slumping a little against the wood which
felt cool next to her flushed skin. After collecting herself, she moved back to
the kitchen.

‘I’ve
interrupted you during dinner,’ he said, looking over at her stirring the pot
of sauce. His blue-flecked eyes were more blue than grey in her apartment. ‘I
should have called first. I’ll leave.’ He walked towards the door, reaching for
the handle when Larissa found her voice.

‘No. Stay,’ she
said. He hesitated. ‘Please?’ she added, turning back to the sauce. When she
didn’t hear the door open and shut again, she knew he’d still be there and they
would be in her apartment … together … alone. She gulped down another mouthful
of wine.

She spun around
suddenly. ‘Wine?’

‘Ah, sure.
Thanks,’ he said, trying on an unsteady smile.

Larissa bent
down to look in the cupboard where she kept her wine, pushing bottles around
until she found what she was looking for. When she stood up, Vaile was looking
at her like she was something edible. She turned around quickly to hide her
blush. Pulling a clean glass from the drying rack, she poured him a drink and
topped up her own.

Their fingers
brushed as she handed him the glass which only intensified the heat that was
now consuming her entire body. She cleared her throat and stirred the sauce.
‘Would you like to stay for dinner?’
Please say yes
she hoped wildly.

‘Dinner would be
great. Thanks,’ he rumbled; his voice too close to her ear. She spun around and
he was there. His presence was so consuming, holding her, pinning her between
the range and his huge, muscled body. For an immeasurable moment they just
stared at each other. The air seemed to crackle between them. Larissa knew it
was pent-up sexual chemistry on her end, but she wasn’t sure about Vaile.
Anger? Frustration perhaps? She shook her head to shake away the ideas.

His eyes were
hooded as he drank her in. She bit her bottom lip; Vaile watching with a hungry
eagerness that she found so damn attractive. What she wouldn’t have given to
just be tangled up in his body if only for a moment. She swallowed and Vaile
watched her neck with a burning desire. Tentatively, he brought his hand to her
face, brushing the tips of his fingers across her cheekbone lightly. Larissa
closed her eyes and sighed.

He licked his
lips. ‘I’m no good for you, Grey.’

With her heart
in her throat, she shook her head and opened her eyes. ‘I don’t care.’ She held
his hand against her cheek, loving how warm his hand felt on her skin.

His eyes were
chasing colours; blue to grey, grey to blue. ‘You have the smoothest skin I’ve
ever felt,’ he rumbled.

She smiled. ‘You
have the warmest skin I’ve ever felt.’ Skin she would have given anything to
feel more of. Standing on her toes, she reached for his neck, dragging him
closer to her. She could feel his breath beating against her face, getting
faster and faster the closer they got. He suddenly stiffened. ‘Please,’ she
begged, hoping he hadn’t heard how desperate she was for him.

His hands were
suddenly on her hips; his fingers digging into her skin, but she didn’t care.
She wanted more of him. He picked her up, placing her on the kitchen bench next
to the range, forcing her to straddle the front of his huge body. The heat from
the gas burner licked too close to her skin. Vaile growled, twisting all the knobs
off without looking.

They were face
to face now, touching. Her fingers traced the line of his jaw, stroking his
bottom lip. She loved the roughness of his beard coming in, loved touching him,
but his hands were strangely idle.

‘Touch me,
Vaile,’ Larissa moaned. Vaile lifted his hand to her face, tracing the line of
her lips.

‘I want to kiss
you,’ he murmured softly, focusing hard on her lips.

‘So kiss me.’

He shook his
head. ‘This can’t happen, Larissa.’ Her heart pounded too loudly in her ears.
He had called her Larissa. She smiled. ‘What?’ he asked; his eyes narrowed.

‘You called me
by my first name. You never call me by my first name.’

He smiled back
at her, his small dimple revealed for a second. ‘I like saying your name.’ His
voice was a rich baritone; an audible orgasm.

‘You should say
it more then,’ she replied, arching into him. Vaile made a sound like a growl
down low in his throat that instantly spoke to her. He wanted her. Unable to
wait for him to make the first move, she leaned into him, sealing his mouth
with hers.

His lips were
warm, just as she knew they would be. He tasted earthy like the woods after a
summer rain. She bit down gently on his lower lip, teasing a groan from his
throat. Sliding her tongue into his mouth, she tasted his earthiness, wanting
to get more and more of it.

Vaile’s arms
tightened around her, pinning her to the bench—not that she was interested in
moving any time soon. Looping her arms around his neck, she pressed the front
of her body to his, revelling in how he made that throaty sound again; coming
from deep in his chest.

‘Bedroom?’ he
asked, dropping hot kisses down her throat and onto her collarbone.

‘That way,’ she
replied breathlessly, pointing to the door on the other side of the living
room. Vaile glanced around; his eyes ice-blue. He picked her up; Larissa
wrapping her legs around his waist as he carried her towards her bedroom. Vaile
didn’t stop kissing her as he pushed the door shut with his foot, laying her
down onto the bed gently a moment later.

He stood there
and stared down at her for a long time. Larissa propped herself up on her
elbows, her heart still thrumming, still breathless. ‘What is it? What’s
wrong?’ she asked, refusing to let that sinking feeling settle.

‘You’re
beautiful,’ he said in a voice thick with need. She smiled, sitting up and
reaching for the button of his jeans. She looked up to find him watching her;
his desire pounding through him and into her. Biting her lip, her attention
went back to the button. She pushed it through the hole in the fabric and
pulled down the zipper carefully. She had just slid her hands into the waist of
his jeans when he stopped her suddenly by catching her hands. Larissa’s heart
sank instantly.
Please don’t say we have to stop.
She looked up at him,
waiting for him to say the words.

‘Stand up.’

Confused, she
asked, ‘Why?’

‘Because I can’t
wait another second to see your naked body.’

Larissa felt her
heart bounce around in her chest, knocking against her ribs erratically. Vaile
helped her to stand, pulling her close to his body, pushing his hips into her.
His fingers—although huge and clumsy-looking—were deft at unbuttoning the white
blouse she’d worn down to the grocery store. Running his hands up along her
collarbones and shoulders, the sheer fabric slid away and fell to the floor at
her feet.

Next were her
jeans. Vaile crouched down in front of her; his face in line with her stomach,
his eyes on hers. He popped the button out quickly, sliding the zip down and
pulling the fabric from her slender hips. A moan escaped her lips and she was
instantly embarrassed that she’d made the sound. But it was Vaile’s gentle
laughter that made the breath in her throat get stuck.

‘You don’t have
to be so timid around me, Larissa. I want you to just relax, okay?’ Not trusting
her voice yet, she nodded. ‘Good.’

Keenly aware
that she was just in her bra and panties, she cleared her throat. ‘Now it’s
your turn.’ His ice-blue eyes looked up at her, questioning her. ‘I’m
practically naked. It’s your turn now.’

He smiled for
half a second, standing in front of her. His chest was so broad that she didn’t
know where to start. All she knew was that she wanted to see his bare chest
again. She’d been unable to get the image of him punching the boxing bag out of
her head from when she walked in on him in the gym on Friday. She tugged at the
end of his tee, inching it further and further up his stomach. But it soon
became apparent that without a chair, there was no way she was going to get it
off.

‘Let me help,’
he murmured, taking the ends of the tee out of her hands gently.

‘Wait,’ she
replied, standing on the bed. There was about a foot difference between them
which left Vaile staring at the lace cups of her bra. She tried not to get too
self-conscious about that, taking the bottom of his tee and pulling it over his
head. He was even more breathtaking than she’d remembered. Every inch of him
was tanned, chiselled and etched to perfection. Dropping the shirt on the
ground, she held onto his shoulders as his hands took her around the waist, and
she sank back to the carpet; his muscles tightening into cords under her hands.

Her hands
travelled down his chest, over his strong stomach and to the edge of his jeans.
She tugged at the fabric, drawing it down over his bulging erection and to the ground.
She stared at the sheer size of him behind his boxer-briefs and gulped. Vaile
drew her face up to his.

‘My turn,’ he
said in a soft, guttural growl. He lifted her up to straddle his waist again.
His lips blistered along her skin, trailing along her jaw and down her
collarbone. He licked at her skin, tasting her, driving her insane with the
sensation. She wanted more. Arching into him, his mouth found her breast. He
flicked his tongue expertly over her nipple through the lace of her bra,
sending a wave a pleasure crashing through her body.

‘More,’ she
moaned. With one hand secured around her back, Vaile undid her bra, sliding it
from her shoulders. Bare-chested now, his attention returned to her breasts. He
took her into his mouth again, suckling and licking until her nipples were hard
and raw and ready. Vaile lowered her onto the bed, her backside hugging the
edge of the mattress while Vaile took his time pulling her panties off.

He looked down
at her naked body; his eyes so dark and heavy with desire, and she fought the
urge to squirm under his gaze.

‘Now you,’ she
said, hoping to draw the attention away from her. Vaile stood up again,
slipping his boxer-briefs down; kicking them off. Larissa swallowed thickly,
taking in the whole of him. Her dream hadn’t done him any justice. She’d never
had someone that big before, and she was beginning to worry that maybe she
wouldn’t be able to take all of him.

‘Larissa? Are
you alright?’ Vaile asked gently, touching her face softly. She managed a nod.
‘We can stop if you like.’

She shook her
head furiously, finding her voice once more. ‘I want this.’

He studied her
for a minute before saying, ‘Scoot back a little.’

She did as she
was told, pushing herself back until her back hit the headboard. She dug her
fingers into the quilt cover as Vaile sank onto all fours and stalked over to
where she was. His muscles writhed as he moved, and she reached out to touch
them. His skin was too hot under her fingers, but she didn’t pull away from
him. She drew closer for a kiss, tasting him completely, savouring how he
smelled and felt. She kissed down his neck, feeling his carotid pounding just
under his skin.

‘Lay down,’ she
said, pushing him onto his back. He complied with a smile. Larissa made a trail
of kisses down his chest and across his stomach until she reached his hips. His
erection lay thick and heavy against his stomach. She wanted to take all of him
into her mouth, but felt completely unprepared for the task.

Licking her
lips, she palmed the weight, her hand positioned low on his shaft. A crystal
bead glistened on the tip, and Larissa swiped her tongue across it. Vaile
writhed; his fingers digging into the mattress. She slid her mouth over his
delicate head, running her tongue over the sensitive spot at the cap. His hips
jacked off the bed, forcing more of him into her mouth. She took all of him
too, savouring how much more deeply the woody flavour became as their intimacy
grew. Swirling her tongue in tight circles, Larissa made him gasp before she
alternated to making long sweeping motions from the cap to the weeping slit.