River Wolf (15 page)

“I like feeding you.” The admission steadied her uncertainty. Her skin itched, everything itched it seemed, and she didn’t have bug bites or allergies that she knew of. In fact, she’d been pretty healthy most of her life. Most of her friends got to skip school for a fever now and then, but she’d never had the luxury. “Why the grimace?”

“What?” Had she frowned?

“You’re not all here with me, are you?” More intensity in his quiet, dark eyes and the feeling he could see right through her punched her in the gut. What did he see when he looked at her?

“Actually, I was thinking I’m not really into just sitting here. I think I’ve been too lazy since I arrived. I’m used to being busy.” It was a lie on some levels, she hadn’t been thinking about that at all. But really, who wanted to hear her bitch about perfect attendance in elementary school? Junior high? Or high school for that matter? Hell, she hadn’t missed a single day of her community service either. Possessing a positive work ethic and great genes didn’t allow her to complain.

“Have you given any more thought to SUNY?”

She opened her mouth to say no, but instead, “I’m trying not to think about it. If I go for it, I’ll be committing to staying here.”

No judgment reflected in his expression. “You haven’t decided to stay.”

“No,” she admitted. “I haven’t.”

A nod. No surprise or disappointment creased his gorgeous face. The calmness, however, was a deception. Her gut churned at the bristling she could almost feel or maybe her imagination worked in overtime. Having him close teased and tempted her, but the distance he maintained warned her away. “What do you think you need to help you make the decision?”

What did she think she…what the hell was wrong with him? “Did I do something wrong?”

Instead of answering her, he redirected,
again
. “Why do you think you did?”

Setting the coffee mug on the table, she rose. No sooner did she achieve her feet than he stood as well. Somehow he seemed taller, broader and, God help her, he filled the room. Power wreathed him—
where the hell did that thought come from?
“What is wrong with you?”

Canting his head to the side, Brett studied her. “What makes you think something is wrong?” So calm. So cool. So—absent. Where the hell had the Brett she’d hung and made out with the last few days gone?

Pacing away from the fire pit and chairs, she gave into the agitation ratcheting inside. “Everything makes me think something is wrong with you. You’re not being you anymore.”

Pregnant silence followed, but she didn’t look at him. Better to study the darkness and the faint shadows of the trees she could make out beyond the flickering firelight. The call of cicadas hummed in the background interrupted by the occasional night bird. A rustling of leaves warned her a small animal darted through the woods. An image of a canine flashed across her mind and she clenched her fists. She’d seen a wolf out here, but Brett dismissed it.

Only the memory didn’t include the night, but warm sunshine. Trying to capture the elusive memory was like closing her hand over smoke. The disparity between what she remembered and what she knew increased. A hand came down on her shoulder and she tensed.

“Shh,” Brett’s whispered. Comfort coupled with his squeeze eased some of the rising anxiety rippling through her, but did nothing for the tension locking her muscles. “You’re safe here.”

“I don’t feel safe here.” The admission shocked her, but the moment the words left her mouth, the truth in them resonated with her. She didn’t feel safe. She didn’t know these people. She thought she knew Brett, but his behavior…
He won’t lie to me. He made that clear, so why the hell am I being such a bitch?

“I know.” The simplicity in his acknowledgement rocked her. Twisting, she faced him. The shadows dancing across his face hid his expression from her. Much like his withdrawing hid the Brett she’d been getting to know.

“Which one is the real you?” Before she continued down the insanity of the path she seemed hell-bent on following in utter defiance of good sense, she needed to get her heart off the line. A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“You’ve been spending time with me…”

“I have and you’ve been courteous and flirtatious and caring, yet tonight, you’re cold and remote and not at all the man I made out with.” Caution be damned, she arched onto her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He bent his head at the action and she pressed her lips to his. The sizzle along her nerve endings remained absent, but Brett didn’t move. Hell, he didn’t even seem to be breathing. Annoyed, she scraped her teeth over his lower lip and threaded her fingers into his hair.

Between one heartbeat and the next, desire galvanized through her. He fisted her hair and took control of the kiss. Tipping her head back, he darted his tongue along the seam of her lips, demanding entry. Relief twined with passion and she sucked his tongue against her teeth. The rumble in his chest inspiring her, she went to work loosening the buttons of his shirt not stopping until she could spread her palms against his skin.

“Colby,” he said against her mouth, but she delved her tongue against his. No more damn talking and twisting of words. The heat flaring inside of her threatened to burn her alive and she hated the indecisive shit.

Abandoning his mouth she kissed along his jaw, pausing where the skin turned rigid from his scars and laved her tongue along the old hurt. A groan tore loss from his throat and she traced the line of the scar to his throat then to his shoulder. Pressing the shirt away, she continued to lick and nip. The salt on his skin drew her like a magnet. Liquid heat pooled between her thighs.

When she reached his nipple, it dimpled and stood up as though straining to reach her and she locked her lips around it.

“Colby,” his voice was a harsh rumble, almost a growl.

“I want you,” she said against his skin.
Fuck caution.
She’d been around the bend four or five times with her attraction. Kissing wasn’t enough anymore. Lust raced through her blood and all she wanted was to feel him touching her. Drawing away from his chest, she stripped off her tank top. The night air against her bare breasts barely helped to cool the conflagration burning over her skin.

Reflections of the firelight flickered in his eyes and his gaze roved over her hungrily. With impatient hands, she tugged the rest of his buttons free and pulled the shirt from his jeans. He didn’t stop her when she stripped the shirt away completely.

God he was built—all raw, sinewy muscle which bulged with every move. The scars as she’d expected extended along his arm and torso. The pain he’d had to endure to leave such a permanent imprint on his flesh raked her. All she wanted to do was make it better. Trusting her instincts, she closed the distance between them but avoided his dipped head as he went to kiss. Returning to his nipple, she kissed a path around it, then across to his shoulder and traced each ridge of brutalized skin with her tongue.

His swift inhale and the strength in his fingers as he gripped her shattered the last of her reservations. A man with his confidence and beauty probably didn’t expect to feel doubt or embarrassment, but the shudders racking him spoke volumes for a damaged ego. The ache to explore spread until she made it to the inside of his wrist then returned to his torso.

When he caught her hair and pulled her in for another kiss, she flowed to him. The lock of his mouth over hers invaded every sense. She could taste him on her tongue, and his hot, masculine scent filled her nostrils. So much better than what she’d experienced against the pillow. The lingering reminder on the cloth had only been a bare shadow of the real thing.

His possession of her mouth took her breath away. Kissing him was a drug she could easily become addicted to. Her nipples tingled where they rubbed against his skin and as if drawn by the same thought, he kissed his way along her throat. The barest pinch of his teeth grazing her skin sent her need into overdrive.

Stroking her hands through his hair, she tried to pull his head up but he growled a low sound that soaked her panties before continuing his exploration along the divot of her shoulder blade then to her breasts. When he descended to one knee and caught an aching nipple between his teeth, she arched her head back to cry out. The hard pull of his mouth on her sensitive flesh sent a pulse straight to her pussy and she squeezed her thighs together. He slid his fingers between her skin and the waistband of her shorts. One moment they were on and the next they vanished.

The night air slid over her overheated skin and she shuddered. But Brett wasn’t done. He kissed a path to her neglected breast and eased his hand between her thighs to cup her sex. The invasion of his fingers as they parted her labia left her panting. One finger sank into her and she almost came at the brush of his thumb across her clit.

Aching for more, she gasped as he thrust a second finger into her. The rough thickness as he stretched and worked in and out of her left her soaking his hand with her need. She’d never been so fucking wet in her life. A low, keening sound echoed from her throat and Brett released her breast to glance up at her.

Thank God, the hunger on his face matched the writhing need inside. He rubbed her clit again, detonating a series of electric shocks through her system. It felt fucking fantastic, but she wanted more. When she would have pulled away, he clamped a hand against her hip and kept her in place.

With sure, even strokes he continued to massage the bundle of nerves and thrust his fingers in a mirroring image of his cock taking her. The conjured image of him actually taking her sent her over the edge and she came. Gripping his shoulders with his hands, she cried out. A violent shiver raced through her at the force of the orgasm, and still he petted her and drove her over again.

Collapsing on her spaghetti muscles, she gasped as he caught her. He eased his hand from her sex and pressed his damp fingers to his lips. The demand in his gaze sent a fresh wave of sweet, wet heat sliding through her. Capturing his forefinger she sucked it between her lips and didn’t look away from his scorching gaze.

Tasting herself had never been her thing, but God—tasting herself on Brett turned her molten. Despite the orgasm, she wanted him again and this time she wanted his cock. Gripping his wrist, she wrapped her mouth around both fingers he used, sucking and licking until she’d pulled away all of her moisture. The rapid increase to his breathing and the steel bulge beneath her ass was all the reward she could want.

Drawing away from his mouth, she slid along his lap to the floor and when he would have reached for her she shrugged off his hands. Undoing the snap of his jeans, she spared him glance. “Off.”

“We don’t…”

Pressing her fingers to his lips, she glared at him. “Don’t you dare say we don’t
have
to do this or try and turn this shit around. Do you want me?”

“Yes.”
Sharp. Edgy. Primal
.

“Then take your fucking jeans off.” The rawness in her wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than the raw him. Gone was the remoteness in his gaze and the perfectly pleasant companion, leaving only the heated, demanding male. His gaze searched hers and he must have found what he wanted, because he let her help tug the jeans off. He had to stand to do it and she remained on her knees, gazing at him as she peeled the denim along his legs.

The thick length of his cock jutted free and the muskiness of sex filled her nostrils. A hunger she didn’t even know could exist rioted in her system. With his ankles trapped in the pants, she rose and placed a hand on each of his thighs, then closed her mouth over the red bulging tip of his erection. His ragged exhale confirmed the shared desire and she worked him deeper against her mouth until she could slide back and forth, sucking, and pulling against his cock as he had her nipple.

When he fisted her hair again, she feared he’d pull her away and then he began to guide her mouth on him and she relaxed her lips and groaned. The heady sensation of giving him pleasure and feeling his muscles bunch beneath her fingertips heightened her giddiness. The salty drops of pre-cum filled her mouth and the world brightened. Drunk on those few drops, she strained to look upward and found his gaze fixed on her.

A roar filled her head and then he pulled from her mouth. With a speed she could barely comprehend, he lifted her, spun her around and braced her hands against the loveseat as he pressed against her back. His cock jutted between her thighs, the head grazing the entrance of her pussy. Digging her fingers in, she glanced at him when he would have hesitated.

“Do it.” She demanded, needing him with a wildness she didn’t understand and didn’t even try to explain. For a moment the fire seemed to turn his black eyes gold and then he thrust into her. No gentleness to ease his invasion and her body took him. She forgot how to think as he filled her, her nerves lit up and then he slammed into her, his balls slapping her with every thrust and she arched her head back and let go.

It was primitive and brutal and her whole body welcomed him. When she orgasmed around him, he seemed to thrust deeper and when he came with a shout, she reveled at the hold of his body on hers.

T
he brush
of skin against his snapped Brett awake. Dawn purpled the sky beyond his windows.
Dawn.
He’d slept well past his normal pre-dawn conference calls. More amused than worried, he glanced at the reason for his sluggishness. Colby curled against him, trapping one of his arms beneath her and his hand curved around a breast. His free arm curved over her hip and he had a comfortable grip on her thigh while one of his legs nestled between hers.

She hadn’t moved away from him since he’d carried her exhausted body up to his bed. His cock stirred to life, straining against the warmth of her ass. The scent of sex filled the bedroom. Pressing his nose to her shoulder, he smiled. She wore his scent all over her and likely he wore hers. Pleasure sparked within him. After their first manic coupling, she’d fed him a cookie or maybe he’d fed one to her. Cookies never seemed erotic before, but he’d never look at apple cinnamon oatmeal the same way again.

After retrieving a glass of water, he’d found her half dressed when he returned. He’d helped her strip her clothes off and taken her again, right there on the stone porch. Brett prided himself on treating a woman right. Round three happened on the floor of the library and round four on the stairs. When he lifted her boneless body and stumbled to his bedroom, he’d considered round five but asleep—asleep Colby stealthed into his heart and he didn’t have it in him to disturb her.

Curving his body around hers and making sure nothing would disturb her, he’d slept, truly slept without interruption or bad dreams. The silky softness of her skin beckoned him to explore and he traced his fingers back and forth over her thigh. Her scent had vanished again the night before, and for a spare moment, when she’d demanded he take his damn pants off, her eyes had gone pure wolf.

She was…the most singularly unique creature he’d ever met. Everything about her scent seemed human. Her mannerisms, even her actions. Human. She didn’t know anything about wolves. If she had…if she had, Luc’s fast healing and needs would have been obvious to her.

Fuck it, if she was, her nose would tell her what we are and mine would have told me about her.
She stretched as he glided his fingers along the front of her leg, but her eyelashes didn’t move and her heart rate didn’t change. She still drifted in sleep.

Massaging her breast, he smiled as the nipple pearled against his palm. The responsiveness of her body flat out fucking did it for him. The responsiveness of her mind? Of her spirit? They were exquisite. Colby baring her throat to him had been the most inviting act of surrender and settled his soul in a way he couldn’t explain. She had no idea what it meant, but the lack of foreknowledge on her part in no way neutered the action.

Pressing his lips to her shoulder, he delved his fingers along her slick labia. Wet and waiting for him, he wanted to groan. Some distant part of his mind continued to mull over the mystery of what she was—how could she be wolf and human? Impossible. The rest of him yearned toward the softness of her body. He drew some moisture around her clit and began to stroke it in slow, lazy circles. The urge to bite down on her shoulder flooded him, but he kept his teeth out of her skin.

A bite was deeply intimate and she might not understand it. His wolf grumbled, but neither he nor his beast wanted to harm her. Marks of their lovemaking covered her body. A blush of a bruise along her right knee, a faint mark of his hand on her hip and deeper marks around her breasts when he couldn’t satisfy himself on whether to kiss, suck or nip, so he’d done all three. Nuzzling a kiss along the graceful slope of her shoulder, he smiled at the very prominent hickey on her neck. While not a bite, it calmed his wolf that she wore their marks, their scent.

No one would touch what was…
Mine.
A low moan escaped her throat and he caught her clit between two fingers, even as he pinched her nipple, the stimulation did what his casual explorations hadn’t done. Her eyes opened and she gasped.

The hint of pain underscoring the exhale stilled him completely.

“Too much,” she hissed through her teeth and he wanted to curse. Easing his hand away from her clit, he pressed his lips to her shoulder. He’d taken her hard several times. Of course she was sore.

When she twisted in his arms, he rolled onto his back to accommodate her, but instead of snuggling, she straddled his waist and rose above him. Unaccustomed to lying on his back for anyone, he found the position oddly erotic.

“Good morning,” she said, sleep turning her voice husky. She wrapped her hand around his cock, and it was his turn to hiss.

“Morning, gorgeous.” The position had her breasts above him and he could admire their slender fullness. Running his hands along her legs, he considered using his tongue to lave the injury he’d done to her clit.

He wanted to let his eyes go wolf so he could drink in the sight of her, but he satisfied himself with the faint pink light beginning to filter through the blinds. It gave her the look of a volcano goddess… Yes, his Colby would make a fine Pele. She even had the temper to go with it. The stroke of her palm running up his length to the tip of his cock and down again sent all of his blood rushing south.

“Sometimes I think it’s not fair that men don’t get sore,” she whispered.

“Oh, I hurt, in all the right ways.” But his cock would have to break off before he’d turn down her touching him and somehow he doubted even then.

“Well, let’s get you somewhere more comfortable.” The words were little warning for the arch of her hips. She placed his tip at her entrance and sank down on him. The slick, sweet heat of her encased him and they groaned in unison. When she leaned down, and braced her hand against the bed next to his head, he smiled. The dominant position suited her. “I want to be very clear about something.”

Meeting her gaze, he slid his hand over the curve of her ass. The combination of softness and exquisitely taut muscle gripping him as firmly as her pussy sheathed his cock. Velvet heaven. “Yes, darling?”

The sparkle in her eyes teased him. The smile hovering over her swollen lips begged for a kiss and he wanted to fuck her until they couldn’t move. Again.

“I don’t do mornings,” she licked her lips. Provocative little vixen knew exactly what she was doing to him. Her inner muscles squeezed against him and he didn’t disguise the groan spilling from his throat. “But I’ll do you anytime.”

Her mouth fused to his on the end of the statement and then she began to ride him, a slow, languid torture that threatened to drive him mad. If insanity waited for him at the end of the trip, he contented himself with stroking her, alternately teasing her ass and then her nipples when she draped forward. The act of being passive, and playful didn’t come easily to him and yet he couldn’t get enough of the rapture on her face as she continued the gentle road to bliss. When he stroked his finger around the clenched pucker of her asshole, her eyes widened.

“Will you let me do you anywhere?” he asked, sweat sliding along his brow. His balls grew tauter and tauter as she took her pleasure and still he didn’t push to takeover. Not yet.

Her throat convulsed with a swallow. “I’ve never done that with anyone.”

“Never?” Now he really wanted to test her limits. Play with her.

“No,” she arched higher, her thighs trembling and he hung right at the tip of her entrance and the she sank down with a moan. Every rock of her hips she added a little twist, as though trying to reach the perfect spot. “Do you like it that way?” Pants began to punctuate her words and he drowned in desire to see her shatter again.

“I like you anyway.” No lie. Taking her like an animal the night before had been instinct. Wanting to repeat the experience in every possible position was a hedonistic dream.

“Then maybe yes, if…” She was so close and the strain pulled at him. Lunging upward, he caught her and flipped her onto her back never losing connection. Curling a hand beneath her thigh, he pushed her leg higher to give him better access and began to slam into her. Not one to lie still, she dug her nails into his back, adding fresh scratches to the ones he already wore from the night before.

Her soft cries grew in volume, and he knew the moment he hit the right spot. Three strokes and she came apart so beautifully in his arms. Releasing the leash, he drove into her, heightening the pleasure for both of them until his balls drew up tight and his orgasm crashed through. Catching himself before he collapsed atop her, he lowered himself carefully and nuzzled her throat.

A gentle hand feathered over his back, then drifted down as her breathing began to even. It took several moments to calm his respiration. When he lifted his head, however, he found her fast asleep. The faint, nasal sound of her snores pulled a low chuckle from him. She hadn’t been kidding about not liking early mornings. Easing from her body slowly, he rolled onto his side. Her soft, exhaled sigh tugged at his heart.

Off the bed, he walked into the bathroom and ran a washcloth under warm water. She’d already been sore and tender before their morning wake up call. Back in his bed, he cleaned her gently, stopping any motion the moment the muscles in her face flickered. Once finished, he tugged the blankets over her and tucked her in.

Secure and safe, she rolled onto her side and burrowed against his pillow. The simple, artless act filled him with absolute tenderness. The unfamiliar emotion crept from the dark places where he’d barricaded it away. Brushing the hair away from her face, he made an oath. Whatever she was, however she’d come to him, he would take care of her.

Friend. Lover. Temptress.

A glance at the clock told him it was barely six-thirty. If she held to pattern, it would be several hours before she truly woke. As hard as it was to leave her alone in his bed, he satisfied himself with the knowledge that she was
in
his bed. Fifteen minutes later, he’d showered pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans before checking on her again. She hadn’t moved.

Damn, she really could sleep. Unable to leave without kissing her, he paused at the side of the bed and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Sleep, gorgeous. I am going to find the answers we both need.”

Once downstairs, he started a pot of coffee for himself and threw together a sandwich. He was famished, but he’d save the real breakfast for his lover when she woke truly. While the coffee brewed, he straightened the stone porch and collected their discarded clothing.

His phone was in the back pocket of his jeans. He hadn’t missed it—though apparently he’d missed more than one call. Holding his sandwich in his teeth for a moment, he fired off a message to his assistant. Cancel all his meetings for the next week, reschedule them at her discretion. What couldn’t be canceled, send one of the VPs in his place. Business taken care of, he sent a second text to Pierce. The idiot Thompson Trio was on house arrest for a month. At the end of thirty days, he expected them in his Manhattan office or at one of the Ivy League schools which accepted them, he didn’t care which. If they flouted any of those rules; Pierce could discipline them as he saw fit.

The senior Hunter replied with a simple acknowledgement. Leaving the dirty clothes in his laundry room, he smiled at the sight of their clothes rumpled together. Then he carried his phone into the kitchen for his coffee and dialed Gillian’s number. The little healer answered on the second ring.

“What’s wrong?” A valid question, since he never woke her.

Owen’s response was far grumpier. “It better be an emergency.”

“It is,” Brett said, ignoring the Willow Bend Hunter’s testiness. He had no time for games. Colby needed him to know what was going.

Beginning with how a woman could be a wolf not wolf.

“
I
f I asked
you a question one might consider prying, would you answer it?” Brett’s question put her on guard. She’d slept in till a hedonistic noon. She’d indulged herself in a long soothing shower, easing muscles, which ached in all the right ways. Hell, she even had a hickey and it made her grin stupid every time she caught sight of it in the mirror. When she’d emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she found Brett waiting for her on the bed with breakfast and coffee.

What a wonderful man. The utter domesticity of lounging on the bed in a towel, with her damp hair clinging to her cheeks while he alternately ate his breakfast and fed her bits of his bacon added to the utter indulgence of the morning. …until he asked that question.

Bypassing the orange juice, she claimed her cup of coffee. He’d added a wealth of little healthy things to the waffles, eggs and bacon including fresh fruit and the aforementioned juice. “Well that depends,” she said, taking a sip.

“On?”

The rigid lines ticking in his jaw seemed to have vanished over night. The deep gray t-shirt he wore clung to what she knew was very chiseled, exceptionally sexy musculature. And he was barefoot to boot. Small changes, but they relaxed him. He hadn’t combed his hair away from his face, either. An errant lock fell over his forehead and it transformed him from remote and intimidating to fucking adorable. But she didn’t plan to alert him to his cuteness factor.

“Is it a before coffee question? A coffee question? Or a two coffee question?” She asked prior to draining her mug then she held it out with a grin.

Sitting up, he used the carafe to refill her mug. “Well, that will depend, too.”

Nicely played
. She liked this game. “On?”

“Do you trust me?” Setting his fork down, he rested on one elbow, watching her. Over the last several days, she’d grown used to his regard. The tangible weight of his attention surrounded her, and he seemed to embrace her with a single look.

She’d been his guest, let him shepherd her around, and he’d even talked to her at length on a multitude of subjects. They’d had sex. Lots of glorious, bone-melting, mind-bending, over-the-top orgasmic sex and the thought sent a shiver through her. He’d asked her for a week and they were closing in on their last couple of days.

Buying more time, she took a drink of her coffee. He didn’t push, didn’t have to. The man possessed an aura which drew her—whether it was the power he wielded or the loneliness she sensed underscoring every action—and she wanted to trust him.