Seducing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Five (4 page)

Julianna’s other shoe and stocking came off with another kiss to her thigh and he gazed up at her, across the plane of her stomach, past the gorgeous breasts, and up to her shocked face.

Fuck her now
.

His hands slid up the inside of her thighs, opening her to him. He backed her up against the gold leather couch. “Hold on to the couch. I’m going to have dessert.”

She squealed when he dove for her pussy, and he smiled against her, spreading her, pushing his fingers inside her, finding her sensitive bud and sucking on it until her knees gave way and she finally did as he asked and gripped the couch.

He hooked one of her legs over his shoulder, opening her even more, and kissed the inside of her thigh, keeping his fingers deep inside her, and thrusting slowly. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open.

Abandon
. That was what he wanted.

Alex attacked her again with his tongue, and when one of her hands threaded into his hair, pushing him harder against her, he increased the pressure. She clenched around him, shuddering.

Julianna called his name as she came, writhing against the furniture and his mouth and all the constraints she’d placed on herself.

In the fog of her orgasm, he scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom. So much for his plans of naked midnight swims. There would be other nights. But he needed to be inside her. Everything in him begged for the feel of her sheathed around him again.

When he laid her out on the exquisite dark comforter, she reached for him, drawing him down on top of her body.

He drove his cock into her, again and again, never quite getting close enough, even when he came into her, with her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms clutched around his neck. Alex couldn’t get close enough.

The words of the mate bond were on his lips as he collapsed against her, panting.

Alex held the spell inside, resisting the magick. He wasn’t about to bond with an unsuspecting human, but he couldn’t deny it any longer.

He wanted to keep her.

A
lex woke from a strange dream
, tangled in covers, reaching for Julianna. The bed was gargantuan and the draped canopy above made him feel like he was still dreaming. This kind of luxury hardly felt real for him.

She wasn’t in the bed, and he propped himself up to look around the room. The lights were low, but on. He remembered turning them off before sleep took him, curling her into his body in the dark.

The other side of the bedroom opened into a giant bathroom. Marble tub and sinks, lots of mirrors. He hadn’t noticed much when he’d thrown her down on the bed, except her gorgeous naked body and how much he’d wanted to fuck her. But the room was a little mind-boggling. Everything was made in the most expensive finish he could think of, and the dark bronzes and golds felt like money.

“Julianna,” he called out, but the room was empty. Alex could vaguely smell the scent of soap. Perhaps she’d already showered.

He climbed out of the bed and turned in a circle. The room was completely empty. Of anything that didn’t appear to belong to the hotel. He padded over to the closet and walked in. Also empty. Except for a small, unfamiliar suitcase, and then his own overnight bag.

Where were all her clothes, and her personal things? He knew, from Maggie’s research, that she lived at the hotel. Alex kept walking through the room until he saw the pool table, then the chaise lounge.

No other bedrooms.
What the hell? Where was her stuff?

“Julianna?” he called again and kept walking. The table had been cleared and the cart that Niko had brought was gone. His clothes were folded neatly on the empty table and a white piece of paper lay on top of them.

Alex pulled on his boxers and read the note, in swirly cursive.

Please avail yourself of anything you’d like in the suite. There’s a small sauna off the bedroom, plus the pool outside, billiards table, television. Order whatever you’d like from room service. I will return for dinner.

Then, on a separate line, less swirly, she’d written,
Thank you for last night
, and signed it simply -
J
.

Her clothes were nowhere to be found. Alex distinctly remembered stripping them from her body like unpeeling a banana, and leaving them on the ground. He glanced around for a clock.

10:22.

Holy shit. He hadn’t slept this late since…had he
ever
? Alex jogged back to the closet, digging in his pants for his phone.

There were fifteen texts from Maggie, starting around midnight.

Dani got us a room in your tower
. Then, only a few seconds later,
Got some of her hair off a hairbrush in her room. Overnighting to Rain
. Then a barrage of varieties of,
text when you find the tablet
.

Damn.
The tablet.
He’d completely spaced out that part of the mission.

Alex scrolled through the rest of Maggie’s texts, which went through the rest of the night.

3:10am—Have you found it yet?

3:44am—Alex?

4:02am—Is the tablet in the suite?

5:38am—Having Dani check Julianna’s room.

So this wasn’t her room? He should’ve known. It had no personal touches, none of her clothing, nothing that would signify she lived here. He kicked the suitcase for good measure. He needed to pay closer attention.

6:09am
—
Tablet not in her room. Must be with you.

8:13am
—
Alex?

10:04am—Alex?

He moved his fingers around the screen, finding her number. Alex pressed the phone icon, taking a deep breath.

She was gonna be pissed.

“What the hell?” greeted him.

“Good morning to you, too, Mag.”

“Where the hell are you?”

“In the penthouse. Where else?”

Maggie took a couple of deep breaths, then said something in a muffled voice to someone else in whatever room she was in. But mostly, the background was silent. “Alex. You had sex with her.”

He swallowed and fisted his hand against his leg. “You don’t understand. There are extenuating circumstances.”

“You were supposed to get in and out of that room and find some reason that you weren’t compatible.”

With a terse laugh, he leaned against the empty closet wall. “If you’d been here, you’d understand. There was no reason.”

Her breath was loud in his ear. “No. You can’t possibly expect me to believe…” Another long sigh. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now.” Alex scratched his hand through his hair, settling at the base of his neck. “

“She’s the enemy.” Maggie’s tone bit him and he had to bear down on his anger to keep from biting back.

“Mag, she’s not even a wolf. And I don’t think she knows anything about the island at all. She talked about her father a lot last night and never mentioned it.”

“She never mentioned her sadistic father’s werewolf brothel island?” Her scoffing laugh brought the anger back. “That’s a real shocker.”

“You don’t understand.” He pressed back against the wall, trying to keep his emotions in check. “There’s…magick between us.”

There, he’d said it
. Alex waited for her response, but it never came. He could hear her breathing.

“Mag?”

“This is dangerous,” she whispered.

He couldn’t disagree. Their orders from the alphas had been to bring her in, along with her father, but she wasn’t who they thought she was. “I’m not even sure she’ll have access to the feeds we need, even if I can find the tablet.”

“Well, you focus on that for now.”

Alex bent down and rifled through the suitcase. Immaculately packed underwear. More corsets. But no clothes. Even the dress she’d worn the previous night was gone. “She must have gone back to her room to change,” he said. “I don’t see her clothes here, even. And no tablet.”

“Are you looking at her suitcase?”

“Yes.”

“Check the pockets. And the bottom. See if there’s a false bottom.”

He did as she instructed, but came up empty. Toothpaste, toothbrush, makeup bag, all tightly packed away.

“Nothing.” He folded the edge of one red corset back to the way he’d found it. “Nothing that even smells like work.”

“Well, she’s down in the office now. Maybe she has it with her.” Maggie covered the phone again and spoke to someone in the room with her. “Donovan will go down and see if he can get eyes on Dani or Andrea.”

“Jeez, are they all on staff now?”

“Yeah, they’re hiring about ten positions. Some kind of major turnover.”

The air was silent between them. They both knew why, but neither would say it out loud.

The penthouse. Adrian and the dead guards.

Alex could only hope the staff who’d been asked to clean that up had been fired. And not killed.

Knowing what they did about Adrian’s past and his habits, he didn’t expect them to be alive.

Gods, I hope Julianna isn’t involved in any of this
.

“Is she in her office?” he asked, licking his dry lips.

“Yes. Can you go down there?”

“She asked me to stay here.” A smile curled its way across his lips. “But I think I can come up with a reason to go down there.”

Maggie sighed and Alex imagined the frustrated look on her face. She still wore scarves to hide the fading scars Adrian had left, and the experience had changed her. She had a singularity of vision that they had needed since Rain left. She was undoubtedly the team leader. But she still wouldn’t pull rank on him.

“Be careful, Alex.”

“I will.”

“I mean, don’t get involved with her. Keep your guard up. You don’t know who she really is.”

He pressed the red button and ended the call. It was far too late for his guard to be up, but he could deal with that later.

Alex needed to get dressed and go down to see Julianna. She may think she was safe at work, but he had to show her she couldn’t hide from him.

She’d tell him about her father of her own free will, once she trusted him, then he could prove to Maggie that she was innocent.

R
ap
. Rap.
“Ms. Rossi, ummm, Mr. Sureda is here to see you.” Diana’s eyes were wide. She knew him showing up in her office was against the rules.

Julianna pursed her lips and bit the inside of her cheek. “Tell him to go back upstairs. I have to work.” As much as she’d like to see him during the day—which was strange—she had to get these invoices paid, or the hotel wouldn’t be able to serve food next week.

Then there was another stack of personal shipment orders from her father.
God only knows what kind of compound he must be building out there
. If he didn’t slow his demands for supplies, it was going to start eating into the hotel profits.

Even if it did, she still couldn’t say anything. Julianna would find a way to pay for everything no matter what. Her salary could take another cut. The only thing she spent money on was clothing and shoes. She signed the check she was working on and pinned it to the invoice for Diana to post later that day.

“I’m just going to say hi and then I’ll go.” Alex’s voice carried through from her PA’s desk outside her office. “Really, I don’t think she’ll mind.”

“She will. You need—”

“Hello, beautiful,” Alex purred, slipping through her office door without Diana’s permission.

“You’re supposed to be in the suite. I have to get these done today. Saturday is invoice day.”

“I didn’t want to wait all day to see you again.”

“I prefer the staff not know what I’m doing or who—”

“Who you stash in the penthouse?”

Heat warmed her cheeks. She twirled her finger through the end of one of her curls. Usually her hair was pinned into a tight bun at work, but with her father gone, she’d foregone the stark business pantsuit and opted for a flowing knit dress and leaving her hair free. Something she never did when he was around. Armor was necessary when dealing face to face with Adrian Rossi.

“It’s for your safety, as much as mine.”
Shit. Again with the words slipping out uninvited.
What was it about this man that made her lose all inhibition?

“Safety?”

She closed the checkbook and met his questioning gaze. “Privacy. Safety. It’s all the same.” Maybe he’d buy it. She really didn’t feel like reiterating that her father wouldn’t approve, and would make her life even more hellish if it appeared that she had a man in her life other than him. Julianna might be thirty-three years old, but her father didn’t care.

The world revolved around Adrian Rossi and that was the way he kept it.

Alex strolled around her office, stopping to glance at each painting she had on the wall. Most were florals from local artists. He faced her again and his mouth curved into a seductive smile. “Is the door shut enough privacy for you?”

Her breath caught in her throat. Was he really proposing…? “Here?” she squeaked.

“Right here. Right here on your very empty desk.” He chuckled. “Do you run this hotel without a single computer?”

Julianna smiled again. “They’re locked up on the weekend. Diana and I have tablets that do everything we need. Even the front desk and other staff use tablets… Why are you asking me about computers?” She tucked the checkbook into her desk and locked the drawer.

“I’ve never seen an office without a computer. My staff would love using mobile devices at my school. My secretary hates…hated desk computers. Sorry, didn’t mean to go all business on you there.” Alex strolled toward her and leaned against the wall, blocking her way out of the office. His eyes darkened, reflecting the same lust throbbing deep in her belly. “Take off your panties and give them to me.”

Do what?
“The door isn’t even—”

He held out his hand. “Right now. Hand them over and then meet me down the corridor in the housekeeping closet in five minutes, since your office isn’t private enough for you.”

“I will do no such thing.”

His mouth curved into that arrogant smirk again. He stalked toward her and came around to stand behind her chair.

She held her breath as he slid his hands over her shoulders and then down the front of her dress, slipping his fingers inside her bra and pinching her nipples.

“Breathe.”

Julianna gasped, then swallowed. He had to be able to feel her heart pounding, trying to climb right out of her chest. She leaned her head back against the cotton of his white t-shirt and drew in another deep breath.

“Panties. I won’t ask for them again.” Alex tweaked her nipples again and she squirmed in her chair.

She tugged up her skirt, keeping a wary eye on the closed door of her office. Diana’s voice filtered through from the other side—arguing about something with one of their food vendors. At least she was on the phone and not listening to every word coming out of Alex’s mouth. Julianna couldn’t believe she was doing what he’d asked, but on the other hand, she couldn’t imagine
not
doing what Alex wanted. She wanted him. Badly.

Hooking her fingers inside her panties, she lifted her ass and squirmed, pulling them down at the same time.