In Plain Sight (4 page)

“Mmm,” she murmured, opening her mouth to accept his invading tongue.

He sought her warmth, enraptured by the beauty of the woman caged in his arms. She fit so perfectly.

Did she know they were fated to be? Could she feel how hard his heart beat just for her? Could she sense how much he loved her, with every fiber of his being?

He didn’t know and was afraid to ask. Unlike his brothers, he’d never felt comfortable with a woman.

He didn’t know what to say or how to act, didn’t know how to respond to flirtation. He was no virgin, but Cullen’s experiences with women started and ended with sex. Sarah was the only woman he’d ever cared enough about to want to get to know.

So don’t fuck it up by coming in your pants at your first kiss
, he warned himself.

Forcing himself to ease back before he did just that, Cullen continued to hold Sarah, more than aware of her full breasts that had been so lovingly pressed against his chest.

“I, ah, have a few more things to do outside,” he breathed, fiercely glad to see Sarah just as winded.

“Outside, right,” she rasped, staring hard at his mouth. “I, um, think I’ll have a bath and soak out some of this tension.”

22

She sounded so sexy. All he could think about was Sarah naked, water sliding over her breasts and belly, over her thighs and between those plump lips guarding her sex. He wanted to lick the water from her clit, to dive into the moisture of her channel and lap her up like a stick of candy.

Fuck, his hard-on was getting worse. He stepped back before he took her on the damned couch beside them.

“You need help with that bath?” he asked, praying she’d say yes, knowing the cautious woman would say no.

Sarah stared at his face with wide eyes. Her gaze moved slowly down his body, centering on his obvious erection. She licked her lips, and he groaned.

She parted her full lips. “Cullen—”

“Right. I’ll be outside if you need me,” he rumbled before she could reject him, needing a cold shower of his own. A walk through the snow sounded like just the thing.

But as he hurried from the house, he could see her in his mind’s eye, naked in the tub, her arms open, waiting for him as she parted her lips and her thighs in welcome…

“If only,” he wished aloud. “But I’ll be damned if I know how much longer I can keep myself from you. The time’s coming, Sarah. Sooner rather than later, you’ll be mine. And then it’s a matter of finding out how to keep you.”

23

“You sure you’ll be okay with just one?” Cullen asked for the third time four hours later.

Sarah clutched the massive blanket to her chest, not sure how to handle this chatty man. “I’m fine, Cullen. I’m good.” She paused, not sure what to make of the shuttered look he directed her way. It was lusty, but also something more. “Thanks for everything. You’ve been nicer to me than anyone has in a long time, and I appreciate it.”

Instead of accepting her thanks, he scowled. “Yeah, sure. Good night.” He turned and left, slamming a door somewhere in the massive house.

She didn’t understand the man. After the kiss they’d recently shared, he should have been in a better mood. If he’d wanted sex from her, he could have had it. God knew she couldn’t have said no,
didn’t
say no, as a matter of fact. As it was, he’d been the one to end their embrace before tearing out of the house like a shot.

She knew he wanted her, but he denied himself, unlike most of the men she’d grown up with. Cullen didn’t take what was offered, for some unknown reason. And his distance intrigued her even more, attracting her like a moth to flame.

Lord, but sex with Cullen was going to be spectacular. She’d stopped lying to herself sometime during her bath. As much as she might have wished differently, Sarah desired Cullen. In just a few days, she’d leave Cougar Falls and everything else behind her. Why not indulge in a harmless affair? Even if Cullen did spread the news to the rest of the town—and she didn’t think he would—she’d be long gone by then.

So why does the thought of leaving suddenly feel like the wrong thing to do?

Afraid her answer had to do with her baffling host, she closed the door to the spare bedroom he’d given her and looked past the finely crafted furnishings, lingering on a picture of his family on the dresser.

All of the Whitefeather men looked alike. Cullen was the spitting image of his father, so Sarah knew what his mother had seen in the man. In the photo, the family grinned like loons while they balanced precariously on top of a cliff.

“Must love danger,” she murmured, thinking of the danger he might face from the raptor clan after she left town. She wondered, not for the first time, what kind of repercussions Cullen might have to deal with for injuring Jenny Larsen.

She couldn’t let him get in trouble because of her. Though she hadn’t asked for his help, without it she would have been seriously injured, if not dead. The gruff man had a heart of gold in that ill-mannered chest. He was still curt to the point of rudeness, yet he touched her with nothing but gentleness.

He’d gone out of his way to cook her the best damned meals she’d ever had. His skill in the kitchen amazed her. So why would a man who could cook like that visit the Fox’s Henhouse so often? It couldn’t be for the company, not when he didn’t associate with anyone much. Sarah often ate at the diner, so as not to have to face her nights alone at a solemn kitchen table. She didn’t think that was the case with Cullen, not with three brothers and his mother here waiting for him.

She wasn’t sure when she’d begun to trust Cullen, but she knew deep down he’d never hurt her. Nor could she imagine him spreading rumors about her in town. Hell, the man was more isolated from the clan than Sarah. And attacking Mike and Jenny wasn’t the best way to influence new friendships. He hadn’t taken advantage of her stay, and he hadn’t forced himself on her at all. Unlike the men in town who promised forever, Cullen promised nothing, which made her want him all the more.

After her debacle with Will had died down, or so she’d thought, some of the raptor men had proven to be friendly, though she couldn’t find it in herself to trust them. A few of the women befriended her, while other clans didn’t spare her much attention, sensing the dissent toward her in her own clan. Still, life could have been worse. At least in Cougar Falls she had people who knew what she was, if not who she was.

Being a Shifter out in the world of humans would be a scary place—
but a necessary place,
she reminded herself.

The one and only true friend Sarah had was up to her neck in trouble in the state of Washington. Julia, a silver fox and legal assistant, was working like mad to hide her sisters from a bunch of rogue hunters who knew about the Ac-taw.

With the threat of their existence a constant danger, most Shifters chose to remain in Cougar Falls. A magical totem protected the town from outsiders, and only those with a connection to the land and Shifter ancestry could even find the place.

But when Sarah considered the rest of her life, when she saw families playing, husbands and wives kissing, she ached deep inside. Leaving Cougar Falls was her only option. Mike Shaw and Rob Jenkins only represented what most of the raptor clan thought but didn’t say. Then again, she was staying with a man who didn’t say much, yet she knew he didn’t think of her as a woman of loose morals. Confusion filled her as she stared at Cullen’s handsome picture on the dresser.

He baffled her. Who was Cullen Whitefeather? As much of a predator as he was, he hadn’t made a move on her until tonight. And he’d given her a room with a lock, as well as the only two keys to the door.

Cullen did his best to show her she was safe here, until she’d catch him watching her with those eagle eyes, eyes that missed nothing. Had he seen her unwilling attraction to him? Did he know how many times 25

she’d gazed at his mouth, wondering how he’d kiss? She wasn’t sure if her eager response to him was the result of chemistry or an awakened need for physical intimacy.

She wished she had more to go by when it came to sexual experience. If she was half the slut she’d been painted to be, she’d have thrown him to the ground and jumped his bones. Instead, pathetic nobody that she was, Sarah blushed every time she caught him looking at her.

God, even her subconscious was confused. She’d spent the past few days dwelling on the innuendos about her sexual promiscuity, yet she lusted after the man who’d saved her.

Disgruntled that she couldn’t seem to dwell on anything without Cullen’s face clouding her thoughts, Sarah changed into the flannel pajamas she’d packed, turned out the light, and curled up in bed under the heavy blanket Cullen had given her. She should have been tired, but she couldn’t sleep.

She’d spent the day alternately reading and watching television. Cullen’s media room held a number of recent movie titles she’d wanted to see, and she’d filled the afternoon immersed in fantasy worlds where the hero took down the villain and got the girl in the end. A happy ending, at least for someone.

Watching such fantasy, Sarah had imagined Cullen in the lead role. The mysterious hero, so silent, so strong. Curiously, his quiet freed her from worry. She liked being around him. She couldn’t deny she loved looking at him, though she hoped she’d been a bit less obvious in her gawking than he’d been while staring at her. Cullen had a body made for sin, streamlined muscles that could cradle a wounded bird to his chest or lash out at an enemy in a heartbeat. His shoulder-length black hair looked so silky and fine. She wanted to run her fingers through it, to stroke him as she would a feathered bird. His eyes captivated. So dark one minute, so bright gold the next. He was like a wild animal held in thrall by magical means.

Cullen,
her bird sighed with longing.
Mine.

Lost in another argument with her animal spirit, she started when he knocked on the door.

“Yes?” she called out.

The knob turned slowly. She hadn’t locked it tonight. Funny he chose this night to visit.

He stepped inside and flicked on the light, dressed in his jeans and nothing else.

Good Lord, I’m in heaven.
His sculpted muscles rippled as he moved, his stomach a washboard of temptation that had her fingers itching so badly to
touch
.

“I wanted to check on your injuries, and to make sure you don’t need anything before I go to sleep.”

She’d gently refused his assistance since he’d patched her up. Sarah could have seen to herself just fine tonight, but a niggling urge to have his hands on her took away any sense of caution. “Uh, okay.”

Cullen sat on the edge of her bed while she answered, apparently planning on helping her whether she wanted him to or not. Excitement, not fear, pulsed in her veins. He pulled the covers down to her waist and shook his head when she moved.

“No, lie there. I’ll do it.” His voice sounded deeper, huskier.

26

She nodded. He slowly unbuttoned her flannel top from the bottom to just under her breasts. Pushing the material aside, he ran a hot hand over her ribs and the prickle of a scar bruising her belly.

“Looks good.”

Feels incredible.
“Oh, uh, right. It’s healing. No problem.” She could barely speak, so absorbed with the warmth bleeding through his palm. Her breasts felt heavy, and her sex pulsed with a need she’d never before felt, not even with Will.

“How about the other one?”

“Other what?”

He rubbed her belly with a caressing touch, so gentle, yet so erotic it was all she could do not to moan her pleasure.

“Your other wound, the one between your, uh, under the last button.” He licked his lips, the motion drawing her attention to that firm, gorgeous mouth. “Sarah?” he asked, his breathing ragged.

She couldn’t think past the need boiling within her. Her inner raptor flailed wildly, wanting to get as close as possible to Cullen Whitefeather. “I don’t know,” she breathed.

Cullen slid the last button free. Her shirt gaped, but didn’t fall apart until he pushed the sides away, baring her breasts.

“Damn,” he rasped, staring not at the slight line on her skin, but on the aching points of her nipples.

“Cullen,” she whispered.

He ran a knuckle over the fading injury. “Almost healed,” he said, brushing the underside of her breasts. “How does it feel?”

“It aches,” she admitted, meaning her breasts, her body, her desire for this man she didn’t really know, but needed with her last breath.

“Yeah,” he agreed and lowered his head. The feel of his mouth over her breast stunned her. And then he sucked on her nipple, and she lost her will to do anything but feel.

He cupped her other breast, kneading and teasing it until she wanted to scream. All the while, he tormented her nipple with small bites and the generous suction of his talented mouth.

She groaned his name when he left her, only to sigh when he lavished her other breast with the same attention. Squirming to relieve the tension in her body, she still wasn’t prepared when he slid a hand beneath the waist of her pajama bottoms.

“Shh, trust me,” he whispered, leaning up to meet her gaze. His eyes were bright gold, blinding in their intensity.

“I do,” she replied with the truth. Cullen had breached the defenses she’d built. Before she could discern how he’d done so, his magical fingers found their way between her legs, into the very heat of her.

“
Oh, Cullen
.”

27

“That’s it, sweet. Let go.” He returned his mouth to her breast, no longer gentle, but with greater zeal, pulling the ecstasy from her with each suck of his mouth. He used his thumb on her clitoris and pumped into her with his fingers, finding a curious sensitivity inside her that made her want to burst.

He left her breasts and kissed her mouth. And it wasn’t enough. She wanted to feel him, all of him.

Over her, in her. His fingers moved faster, and her arousal skyrocketed.

Moaning into his mouth, she arched higher, scraping her sensitized nipples against his rock-hard chest. He deepened the kiss, stabbing her with his tongue the way his fingers stabbed into her channel. Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he ground his thumb against her clit and she came.

Crying out at the sheer pleasure overloading her system, she couldn’t think. Sarah wasn’t aware of Cullen moving until she felt his trembling fingers buttoning her back into her shirt.

“Cullen?” she whispered, wanting to taste him once more.

“Rest easy,” he said, his voice as thick as the straining jeans at his crotch. Far from unaffected, Cullen nevertheless rose, grimacing in discomfort. “That was for you. Good night, Sarah.”

“Good night, Cullen.” She watched him leave, unable to think of anything else to say. Her brains were fried, her body a pulsating mess of nerves and excitement and—
oh my God, Cullen had his hands all over
me.

The man could have done anything to her after sending her to such bliss, yet he’d walked away, clearly not satisfied. Such a selfless thing to do, to bring her such joy.

Sarah wanted to go after him, to end his suffering and experience that wonderful ecstasy once more.

She wanted to demand an explanation, to know why he would do such a thing. But she needed to sift through her thoughts before she confronted him. Meaning to do just that, she instead fell into a warm and dreamless sleep with a large smile on her face.

Cullen groaned as he pumped his erection, imagining Sarah on her knees before him. That luscious mouth would swallow him deep, taking him to the back of her throat. She’d fondle his balls, pushing him toward the rush only she could give him. Her tits would bounce as she went down on him, her mouth moving over him with a generosity only a woman in love would give.

At the image, he groaned and came in his hand, spurting over the shower tiles. He lowered his head under the spray of lukewarm water and shivered, from the temperature as well as the memory of Sarah’s hot, wet pussy coating his fingers. God, that had been a dream come true. He still couldn’t believe she’d let him touch her so intimately. Best of all, he hadn’t fucked it up by saying the wrong thing. He’d let his instincts lead the way, and damned if he hadn’t done it all just right.