Taken by Night: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Night and Day Ink Book 4) (4 page)

It was him. Her one-night stranger. How in the hell? What was going on? He knew Brett? No wonder he thought he knew things about her. She swallowed hard at the lump in her throat. The wind blew in her direction so he hadn’t scented her or how different she was. Yet.

“Tina. It’s me.”

She licked her lips, folding her arms over her chest. “I know it’s you!” she snapped, her patience wearing thin. “I asked what you’re doing here.”

“I mean. It’s me. Brett.”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Not even the squeak she usually did when someone said something shocking to her. Nope. Nada.

“I—what?”

He tried to come to her again, but she shook her head. “You stay right there and talk or I will get back in this car and you can forget all about me listening to you.”

He stopped. The glow in his eyes told her he wasn’t happy at being told what to do. Too fucking bad. She didn’t appreciate being deceived. “Did you know? Who I was?”

“I didn’t know who you were that night,” he replied. “I found out after. When I looked at your employee file a few days ago.”

She gasped. “That’s why you started with the questions about my personal life.”

He shoved his hands into the pocket of his jeans, not appearing at all contrite. “I needed to know more about you. Not just the fact I like going deep into you.”

She raised a hand, stopping any sexual talk. The last thing she needed was to go there right now. “Why were you so interested? I told you it was one night. I wasn’t going to run around after you, stalking you.” She raised her brows. “In fact, you have been the one who won’t stop. Why?”

He clenched his teeth. “I can’t get you out of my fucking mind. I’m not even going to try. I know you’re mine.”

That talk of mine spoke of mating. Something she hadn’t even thought about. Okay, maybe she’d thought about it a little... or a lot. The problem was, she hadn’t known he was her boss! “I’m not your mate.”

He laughed, it sounded like a harsh bark. “You’re in denial. You know you belong with me. Just look into yourself.” He said, pinning her with his stare. “Listen to your tigress, Valentina. She wants me. Not just to fuck you and cool her need for me. She wants me by her side. You want me too. Admit it. You want me inside you, owning you. You want me as your mate.”

She did. Damn stupid animal trying to play matchmaker too now. She had to stay objective. Her happiness and that of her baby was on the line.

“You should have told me who you were,” she pressed again.

“When? When you were getting yourself off with the rabbit while I was hard as a rock and uncomfortable as hell,” he growled. “All the cold showers in the world didn’t help me that night. All I wanted was to show up at your door, and fuck you then and there. Screw the living daylights out of your tight little cunt. Yeah, don’t look so surprised. You have that effect on me. My only train of thought for the past few days has been stamping my mark on you.”

My, he was a growly thing. But his words only warmed her from the inside. Her tigress rubbed under her skin, loving the fact he and his wolf wanted them. Stupid animal didn’t care they were from different species. She was in lust with the wolf.

The wind howled around her, shoving her hair into her face. If the direction changed to his way, he’d notice what she hadn’t told him. She couldn’t tell him until she knew more about what he wanted.

“Why me, Brett?” She said, finally using his name. He tensed his arm and the muscles shifted under his T-shirt. She bit back the whimper to beg him to take it off. Focus. She needed to focus on where this was going.

He ran his fingers through his hair. The move made her want to do it for him. She could tell he was stressed and aggravated. Could sense it.

“I don’t have words to explain why it’s you. All I know is that it is. Yours is the face I see every time I close my eyes. It’s your purring I hear when I think of something sexy. It’s your body I crave. It’s you I want to be near.” He blinked golden eyes at her and caressed his gaze down her body. “From the moment I got your scent, I knew there was going to be nobody else. Not only because your tigress captured my wolf, but you, the woman, attracted me like no woman has before.”

“So it’s just sexual?”

“No! Dammit!” He growled and turned to pace from right to left, not coming near her. “I know it’s more than that. I can feel it. You’re smart. I’ve been working with you for almost two weeks now. All your ideas have been spot on. Perfect for the work we’re doing and you’re professional. Even when I tried to get personal in conversations with you, you’d pull back and keep it about general things. Today was the first day you answered my questions, showing me the true you.”

She shrugged. “I thought you were really bored and needed some cheering up.”

“See. You’re a good person. You tried to get me to feel connected to someone the entire time I was in Japan and after I was back. Even before that day, you’d been nice in your messages to me. The more we chatted, the more I knew my instinct was right when it came to you.”

She gripped the car door with enough strength to hear the metal groan. “I—”

“I will do anything in my power— anything I have to —to make you happy. I will move heaven and earth and kill anyone who gets in the way, but I have to have you. If you don’t feel you want to try, I’ll understand.”

She raised her brows. “You’d let me go?”

“Hell no!” He roared. “I said I’d understand, that doesn’t mean I’d stop. I won’t. Ever. I’ll handcuff you to my bed and make you come for days until you agree to be mine. You are it for me. I don’t care how long I have to wait for you to see I’m serious about us. I’ll wait. My wolf and I will wait an eternity for you.”

The tigress pushed at the skin, loving his words. She was so easy. She had to be honest with herself. She’d fallen in lust with Brett the night he’d tamed her heat. She’d been thinking about him ever since. Not just in a sexual mode, but with the flowers, the pizza and the fact he’d wanted more with her. She’d allowed some feelings to develop. The question was: did she want to give a relationship with him a shot?

She had to think. Taking some steps to her left, she moved away from the car and put more distance between them. The woods were quiet, tempting. She gazed at the forest calling out to her. Her tigress pressed, showing her need to go in them. To think and let nature make the decision for her.

Mating was for life. She’d known he was hers from the first whiff of his animal. But she was also human, and that was a lot more complicated. Mating for sex’s sake didn’t create the relationship she wanted. However, so far Brett had shown her that she was the woman he wanted for more than a one-night stand.

He took a step toward her. The wind shifted and he inhaled deep. Oh, shit.

He narrowed his eyes, his lips flattening into a line. “Anything you want to tell me?”

“Yes.”

He raised his brows. “Go ahead.”

“I have to think about your proposal,” she said, dashing into the woods, running from him. She shouldn’t have gone so far from her car.

“You want to play?” He howled at her back. “Your sweet ass is mine, the minute I catch you, little cat.”

Jerk. He dared call her little. He knew there was nothing little about her. She tried to stifle a laugh, but failed miserably. “Full of yourself much, dog?”

He growled, the sound way too close for comfort. She ran in her trainers, quickly going past bushes and trees. She would have shifted if she weren’t pregnant, but she wouldn’t put her child at risk.

“Confident, little cat. Confident. I’ll have you writhing under me in less than a minute. When I do, all bets are off.”

She reached a pond and dove in, not thinking. The cold water hit her hard. She dove under and tried to swim away, but he’d jumped in with a lot more speed, landing next to her and grabbing her by the waist before shooting up to get air.

They broke the surface of the water together. She had her arms around his neck. She hadn’t even noticed putting them there. The scent of his animal drove the need to be near him home. She couldn’t deny they had crazy amounts of physical attraction. Her emotions spoke up at that moment, filling her with new hope for more. She wasn’t going to lie to herself. She’d hoped to one day find a mate and fall in love, but hadn’t expected it would be Brett. And she definitely didn’t understand the crazy need she felt for him, or the joy at being in his arms. This was new and uncharted territory.

“You’re mine,” she said to him.

He brought his face down to hers, meshing their lips together in another smoking kiss that heated her down to her toes.  He broke their kiss and pulled her closer, lifting her legs to curl around his waist and rubbing his erection between her thighs. Oh, that felt so damn good.

“I’m yours, babe. Today, tomorrow, for as long as you want me.”

Bone-deep satisfaction filled her heart suddenly. Joy grew wings in her chest in the blink of an eye. So quickly it caught her by surprise. She hadn’t realized how much it meant to hear him tell her that. They were from a world where males did the claiming. He hadn’t fought her words. He’d agreed. She knew then that she wanted to be his. “I’ll be yours too.”

His gaze dropped to her lips, then back up to her eyes. “You sure? I will wait, Valentina. I won’t leave you alone, because I couldn’t keep away from you. It would destroy me. But I can wait until you are ready and know you want this. I only ask that you don’t push me away. I want to spend time with you. To help our relationship grow.”

She smiled. Happiness bloomed in her veins. “I’m sure. I’ll be yours now. Tonight. Not because of the great sex, but because my heart is telling me to try.”

He kissed her again, this time to seal the deal. She heard him tear clothes off while their lips were plastered together. She helped him with his shirt. He ripped off his jeans and her clothes. Then she felt the warmth of his naked body pressed to her own. He was hard, rubbing his erection between her legs.

“Anything else you want to tell me?” he kissed the corner of her mouth, holding himself at the entrance to her pussy.

She wiggled, trying to get him to move and groaned when that didn’t work. She was ready for him. They both knew it, but he didn’t push inside her. “Yeah, I’m pregnant.”

He drove into her in a single-minded plunge. Her breath left her lungs in a rush. “I know you are. I scent her.”

She reared back and glanced at his face. “Her?”

He filled her body with his, not moving, just keeping them linked together. “Yes. Her.”

There was so much she wanted to know about what he knew that she didn’t, based on his much better scent, but she didn’t ask anything else. Didn’t get the chance to. He pulled back and drove forward, pushing all thoughts out of her mind. Everything but the need for him disappeared. She clung to him, raking her nails into his hair. She licked up his jaw, to his ear and bit on his lobe.

“Fuck me harder.”

He bit his fingers into her ass cheeks and pressed her back to a smooth rock she’d seen to their left, poking out of the water. Then he proceeded to thrust deep. Hard. Raw. He was so fast she was left breathless.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he growled, licking her shoulder. “Say the words.”

She whimpered. “
Yessss
”

“Yes, what?”

She twined her legs at his back, pressing her heels to his ass. “I’m yours, Brett. Bite me.”

He grazed his teeth on the curve of her neck, nipping down to her collarbone. She tilted her hips, giving better access. The move allowed him a deeper penetration. One that sent a shudder racing down her back.

He slipped a hand between their bodies, rubbing her clit with a few rough strokes. That’s all it took. She went flying. She purred a scream. Tension unraveled fast to be replaced with dizzying amounts of pleasure. She leaned her head back into the rock, curving her back and pressing her pussy closer to him.

He bit down on her shoulder, holding her still in a tight hug and embedding his canines deep. Her pussy quivered, sucking his dick tight. He roared into her flesh, his cock pulsing and filling her with his seed. They continued that way for long minutes. His teeth deep in her shoulder. His cock deep in her channel. Her body floating in a sea of bliss.

She met his gaze when he lifted his head from her shoulder, his eyes bright with hunger. “You are too damn tempting.”

A sexy grin broke over his lips. “I am?”

She sighed and leaned her head over his arm. “Yeah. You are. I’ve never allowed a stranger to pick me up off the street. And trust me here, I’ve had times where my heat was out of control and I was nowhere near home, but what happened between us, never happened before.”

He stroked a hand up and down her back with his cock still deep inside her. “You can’t fight the pull from our animals, love.”

She knew that. She’d never gone against her animal, until the night she decided to have a one-night stand with a much too sexy wolf. That night, her tigress decided she wanted to keep him as her own.

“I’ve stopped trying,” she yawned.

“Are you tired?” He asked, carrying her to the edge of the pond. He picked her up in his arms and continued up to the cabin.

“A little.” She was glad he was so attentive. That was something new. Men didn’t normally want to do so much for her. This was much better than anything she’d experienced in her past.

They were soon at the cabin and he was placing her on the edge of the large Jacuzzi tub while he prepped her a bath.

“Is this you?” she asked. He glanced at her with a frown so she tried to explain herself. “What I mean is, is this the real you or are you trying to show me you’re a good mate for now until I get comfortable and then some other side of you will show up?”

He shook his head. “This is me all the time. All I can say is that you’ll see it with time.”

She would, but she had a feeling her instincts had been spot on with Brett. A happy sigh escaped her and she smiled. He’d been right. He was the one for her.