Chapter 6
Sophia shuddered, lifting herself on her elbows to regard the man standing over her like an ancient conqueror.
She should be pissed.
How many times had she warned him not to act like a caveman?
And yet, she’d not only allowed him to drag her to her bedroom, but she hadn’t made so much as a peep when he’d ripped off her top and tossed her onto the bed like she was some sort of spoils of war.
Perhaps it was because she was so damned consumed by her cravings she couldn’t think of anything but getting that hard, bronzed body on top of her.
Sucking in a deep breath, she struggled to regain command of the encounter that was swiftly escalating out of control.
“Have you been sneaking into the nectar?” she husked.
The dark eyes shimmered like polished ebony in the moonlight, his hands not quite steady as they tugged off his tiny Speedos.
“I don’t need nectar to be on fire for you,” he growled, his massive erection growing even larger as she studied it with an avid gaze. “These past nights have been unbearable.”
Her heart stopped beating as he sprawled on the bed next to her, the heat of his naked body like a furnace.
“This is a very bad idea.”
“Not as bad as denying what we both want.” His wolf glowed in his eyes as he reached for her hand, pressing it against his arousal. “Feel what you do to me.”
“Luc.”
Unable to deny temptation, she wrapped her fingers around his shaft, exploring down to the heavy testicles before slowly skimming back up to find the broad tip that was already damp with his seed.
“Dios.” He shuddered, exposing a claw to slice through the string holding her swimsuit bottom together. She parted her lips to protest the destruction of her expensive clothing, only to have a groan escape as he spread his palm over her bare ass, his fingers squeezing her flesh in promise of pleasure to come. “Hour after hour I lay in my bed, hearing you pace the floor while the scent of your desire filled the air.” He peered deep into her eyes. “Do you know what it cost me not to come to you? Not to ease your need?”
She knew the torment of having him so near and yet too frightened to admit her growing desperation for him.
“Then why didn’t you?”
His hand stroked up her back, cupping the nape in a gesture of comfort.
“My first priority is keeping you safe,” he reminded her, a thin layer of sweat forming on his brow as she gave his cock a slow pump. “I can’t do that if you don’t trust me.”
“And that’s why you haven’t tried to seduce me?”
He gave a strangled chuckle. “That and I feared you might slice my balls off.”
Smart, smart Were.
He knew precisely what to say.
And how to touch, she acknowledged as his fingers moved from her nape to trace the line of her throat.
“Why tonight?”
“I’d like to tell myself it’s because you have come to accept I only want what’s best for you, but the truth is that I’m not a saint,” he confessed, the rasp of his breath filling the air. “I need you so badly I’m not sure I can survive another night without you.”
Without warning his hands shifted to grasp her hips, rolling her until she was lodged on top of him. Pleasure jolted through her as her already damp flesh was pressed to his thick cock.
“Holy hell,” she moaned.
“Tell me you want this, Sophia.”
She glanced down at his impossibly handsome face that was hard with barely leashed passion.
She’d fought this moment for so long. Ever since he’d walked into Sophia’s Menagerie.
Only now, however, did she realize that it wasn’t her fear of being used to simply pass the time that had made her wary of allowing him into her bed.
But something much darker and far more dangerous.
Something that she couldn’t fight any longer.
“I want this,” she whispered.
His hands skimmed to cup her breasts, studying her with the measuring gaze of a wolf.
She didn’t know what he was searching for, but she sensed that it was important.
“Tell me that you want me,” he prodded, rolling her tender nipple between his thumb and finger.
Oh ... God.
“I want you,” she breathed.
“Luc.” His voice was thick with need. “Say my name.”
“Luc.”
“Now let me taste you.”
She planted her hands on either side of his head, lowering her body until he could plant an openmouthed kiss at the base of her shoulder. She shuddered, rubbing against his hard erection as his tongue ran a wet path along the line of her collarbone.
He clamped his hands on her hips, holding her tight against him while refusing her the relief of moving.
“You aren’t going to regret this in the morning, are you?”
She gave a husky chuckle as she turned her head to stroke her lips along his jaw, delighting in the rough scrape of his whiskers. She didn’t doubt he had to shave more than once a day to look civilized.
The thought was oddly erotic.
“Will you?”
He hissed in pleasure. “No, but I don’t want to be kicked to the curb because you blame me for taking advantage.”
“No one takes advantage of me.” She nipped his bottom lip. “And I’m not a silly juvenile who doesn’t know what she wants from one minute to the next. I’m a full-grown Were and I want you.”
A moan was wrenched from his throat as his lips traveled over the curve of her breast, at last latching on to her aching nipple.
Her eyes squeezed shut as a raw, savage pleasure raced through her.
“Oh ... God, yes.”
“You like that?”
Like it?
Hell, she accused him of being a caveman, but her urges in this moment couldn’t be more primitive.
Give her a club and she’d make sure this man never left her bed.
“It’s perfect,” she whispered.
“You’re perfect.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen me during a full moon,” she teased with a small sigh. “I earn my title of Queen of Bitches.”
“I like that you’re a bitch.” His mouth tormented her nipple, lapping and nipping until her fingers dug into his shoulders. “And that you’re not afraid to speak your mind. And that you’ll kick ass when necessary.”
She shuddered, his soft words as much an aphrodisiac as his skillful touch.
Gods, she was on fire.
After waiting for so long to ease this burning ache, she had planned to enjoy a slow, mind-numbing seduction, but the pagan need to have him buried deep inside her was rapidly reaching a critical level.
As if sensing she was tumbling out of control, Luc pulled back to study her with a gaze that sent tiny tremors down her spine.
It was a gaze that spoke of need and yearning and ... possession.
Lifting his hands, he framed her face in his hands, pulling her down to kiss her with an aching sweetness. Sophia sighed. She didn’t know what she had done for fate to have dropped this delectable man into her arms, but she intended to savor every moment he remained with her.
Her hands smoothed over the corded muscles of his chest. His skin was a warm, silken temptation, and with a moan of need, she moved to trail her lips over his face and down the strong column of his throat. Her stomach clenched in fierce need, her wolf delighting in the clean scent of male skin.
“You taste of heat and sunshine,” she whispered as she continued her provoking caresses.
“I’m supposed to be tasting you,” he growled, his hands clutching her hips as he sought to regain command.
Such an alpha.
“Do you object?” she whispered, moving steadily lower.
“Oh, hell no.”
“What about this?”
“Sophia,” he rasped as she reached the rippling muscles of his lower stomach.
“Mmmm?”
“I’m a Were who has wanted you for a very long time,” he ground out. “I need to be inside you when I come.”
She gave a throaty chuckle, oddly pleased by his words. Not that she was done with her playing. Deliberately rubbing her body back up the length of his body, she savored the electric sparks set off by the friction of their naked skin.
It’d been so long since she’d felt such overwhelming desire. Hell, she wasn’t sure she’d ever needed a man like she needed Luc. Her every nerve felt alive, sensitized to the point she thought she might combust.
“You can’t have wanted me that long,” she murmured. “We’ve only known each other a week.”
Without warning he lifted her hips, stealing her breath as the fierce jut of his erection settled in the damp heat between her legs.
She arched, the persistent throb in her sex rejoicing as the wide tip of him slipped just inside her body. But instead of shoving himself home, he clutched her hips and regarded her with smoldering eyes.
“I met you a week ago,” he said in thick tones. “I’ve waited for you all my life,” he murmured.
Oh shit, she was in trouble.
“Luc.”
“Now ... my turn for some torture,” he informed her, drawing her toward his waiting lips. “I want you begging before I’m done.”
With a wicked smile, Luc branded her lips with a kiss of pure hunger. The taste of his wolf on her tongue sizzled through her, setting off small fireworks of pleasure.
Then moving his mouth over her face, he stroked down the length of her arched neck. Sophia’s fingers dug into his shoulders as he tugged her upward, catching the pouting nipple between his teeth. She gave a soft growl as he licked and suckled her, her head tilted back at the insistent bliss pulsing through her. He turned his attention to the other breast, deliberately urging her desire to a fever pitch.
She needed to get him inside her.
She needed to be so deeply connected to him that they reached paradise together.
But even as she struggled to slide onto his waiting cock, he was ruthlessly hauling her up to her knees. With a strangled moan she glanced down to watch his mouth explore the clenched muscles of her stomach, his tongue darting out to send shivers of delight through her.
She moaned, her heavy lashes lowering as he stroked over the curve of her hip and down the inside of her thigh.
Okay, she could take a small detour before riding him like a cowboy.
Then his seeking lips found her moist cleft and any logical thought was destroyed. Oh, this was good. This was fan-freaking-tastic.
Struggling not to topple backward as his tongue stroked the highly sensitive flesh, she speared her fingers in the thick satin of his hair.
There was something a bit naughty about straddling him as he expertly tongued her, although she intended to become a whole lot naughtier before the night was over.
She hadn’t forgotten those handcuffs he’d mentioned....
Still holding her hips, Luc found the core of her pleasure, gently sucking as the magical pressure began to build.
“Luc, I’m close,” she gasped.
“Yes,” he muttered, guiding her back so he could position her over his straining erection.
Then, slowly he penetrated her damp channel.
Sophia hissed as she pressed herself ever deeper. She had logically known he was large. All over. But as he stretched her to the limit, she had to admit she hadn’t actually considered the sensation of being impaled by such a generously proportioned shaft.
Holy crap.
Bigger really was better.
And when a man knew what to do with such a fine, fine instrument, then it was nothing less than a gift to women.
Briefly savoring his deep, steady pace, Sophia at last placed her hands on his chest, rolling her hips to meet his upward thrust. She smiled with wicked satisfaction as his fingers convulsively clutched her hips.
He wasn’t the only one with talent.
“Dios, you feel so good,” he panted. “So good.”
Sophia lifted until the tip of his cock was nearly at her entrance before plunging downward. His hips jerked off the mattress, his eyes glowing as his wolf strained to be released.
Sophia chuckled, loving the sensation of being the one in power even as she knew that it was an illusion that he was offering her.
Just as he was offering her the illusion that he was hers.
The one wolf meant to be hers for all eternity.
Abruptly crushing the disturbing thought, she concentrated on the sensation of Luc’s deepening thrusts, her soft pants filling the air as her muscles tightened in preparation for the looming orgasm.
Luc tightened his grip, his face burying in the curve of her neck. Then, still pumping into her at a furious pace, he sank his teeth into her flesh, sending her into a shattering climax.
Sophia shuddered in bliss, convulsing around him as he gave one more thrust and cried out with the violent pleasure of his own release.
Luc rolled to the side, wrapping his arms tightly around Sophia’s trembling body as he struggled to catch his breath. His mind reeled from the astounding pleasure that continued to shudder through him.
Not just the orgasm that had ripped through him with the force of a tsunami, but the feel of her flesh beneath his fangs as he had marked her with his bite.
A damned shame that the mark wouldn’t last. He wouldn’t be at all displeased to have her walking around with a blatant display of his ownership.
Unfortunately even now her skin was healing, returning to the perfect, unmarred silk that tempted him to lean down and sink his teeth in for another bite.
He groaned, his body hardening.
Now that he thought about it, he was tempted to start the whole thing over. This time he wouldn’t let the bewitching Were provoke him into such a swift conclusion.
He intended to take hours pleasuring her.
To have her pleading for release.
And most importantly, to make certain that he had entrenched himself so deeply she would never, ever want another lover.
Snuggling against his chest, Sophia heaved a sigh of contentment.
“That was ...”
“Sensational?” he offered, his lips teasing over her brow and down the slender length of her nose. “Life altering? The best you’ve ever had?”
“Adequate.”
He snorted. The earth had just moved.
For both of them.
“Adequate?”
He lowered his head to deliberately tease the tender spot just below her ear, chuckling as she quivered in ready response.
“Okay, maybe it was above average,” she whispered huskily.
“You’re playing with fire, cara.” Nipping the lobe of her ear, he planted hungry kisses down the length of her throat, pausing to nuzzle the tender flesh he intended to hold in his teeth as he brought them both to an explosive climax. “Shall I remind you of just how good it is between us?”
She groaned, her hands branding a path of heat over his chest and down his stomach.
“It’s coming back,” she assured him. “Slowly.”
For all his brawn, Luc had always been surprisingly intuitive. In truth, it was his ability to read others that made him such a lethal killer.
Any Were could use his teeth and claws to battle his enemies. But a soldier who could predict what his opponent was going to do before he did it, priceless.
It wasn’t intuition, however, that made him pull back to study his companion with a searching gaze. No, this was much deeper. Much more ... intimate.
“Sophia?”
“Hmmm?” she murmured, her hands continuing the path of destruction toward his fully erect cock.
Mierda, he wanted to forget the concern that niggled at the edge of his mind. Surely whatever was bothering Sophia could wait?
At least for a few hours.
Then, as he caught the scent of wariness threaded through the rich spice of her desire, he heaved a small sigh, catching her hand a mere heartbeat before she captured his shaft and put an end to any coherent thought.
“There’s something on your mind.”
She flashed a deliberately wicked smile. The kind of smile intended to divert any red-blooded male.
“A sexy six-foot Were who thinks he’s all that?”
Bringing her hand to his lips, he pressed a kiss to her knuckles, his gaze never wavering from her pale face.
“Nice try, but I know when a female is distracted.” He smiled wryly. “Not a problem I usually have when I’m in bed with her.”
She rolled her eyes. “You really need to work on your self-confidence.”
“Sophia, tell me what’s troubling you.”
There was a long silence as she inwardly debated the odds of keeping her secrets. Then, clearly accepting that there wasn’t a chance in hell, she heaved a resigned sigh.
“I’m not sure you actually want to know.”
He hissed, his muscles rigid as he prepared for an unseen blow.
“Dammit,” he rasped. “If you try to convince me you regret our—”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Just tell me.”
She licked her lips, looking oddly vulnerable. “I was attracted to you from the moment we first met.”
“I knew you had good taste.” His voice remained tense even as he gently tucked a golden curl behind her ear.
“But I told myself that I would be an idiot to give in to that attraction.”
“Why?”
She lowered her lashes, as if she could somehow hide from his searching gaze.
“Because I wasn’t going to be a convenient lay that would be forgotten the moment you returned to Miami.”
He froze, his brows snapping together. “That’s what you thought of me? That I intended to use and abandon you?”
“I wasn’t judging you,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed more than my share of meaningless hookups.”
Was that supposed to reassure him?
Dios.
Abruptly rolling onto his back, he threw an arm over his face.
Why didn’t she get a little salt to rub into the wound?
“You’re right, I don’t want to hear this,” he muttered.
He felt her turn to press against his side, her hand lightly running over his chest in a gesture of apology.
“Luc, let me finish,” she softly pleaded.
He refused to look at her. Maybe he was being childish. After all, he couldn’t deny that he’d had a few one-night stands in his past. And while he had never intentionally used a woman, there might have been a few who had wanted more than he was willing to offer.
But the thought that Sophia could ever have dismissed their powerful connection as a meaningless bout of lust pissed him off.
Royally.
“Say it,” he snarled.
“I was lying to myself.”
“About what?”
There was the slightest hesitation before she heaved a deep sigh.
“About you and why I was terrified to let you into my bed.”
He lowered his arm, grudgingly meeting her troubled gaze. “Then what was the reason?”
“I was afraid I would never let you out of it.”
The blunt words hung in the air as Luc allowed them to slowly ease the sick ball of dread that had lodged in his gut.
At last he lifted a hand to lightly touch her pale cheek. “Sophia?”
“My wolf recognized you from the beginning,” she admitted. “It understood... .”
“Don’t stop now, cara,” he coaxed, desperately needing to hear the words.
“It understood that you belong to me.”
“Ah.”
The emerald eyes flared at his noncommittal response. “I warned you that you wouldn’t want to know.”
His laughter was filled with pure joy as he rolled her beneath him, pinning her to the mattress with his much larger body.
“How could you possibly think I wouldn’t want to know how you feel?” he growled, not certain if he wanted to shake her or kiss her senseless.
The damned female could make him feel as uncertain and awkward as a pup.
Her eyes widened as she felt the blunt tip of his erection settle at the moist entrance between her legs.
“You came here for a job, not to become mated.”
He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing the sensuous curve of her lips.
Just a few days ago the word mate would have made him break out in hives.
Now he couldn’t imagine his life without this woman.
“It doesn’t matter why I came, only that I never intend to leave.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck, her emerald eyes glowing with an emotion that was echoed in his racing heart.
“Never?”
He didn’t hesitate. “I belong to you now.”
“Mine?”
A smile curved her lips, then before he could guess her intentions, she’d captured his thumb between her teeth, gently sucking on it.
He growled in pleasure, the sensation of her tongue rubbing his thumb making his cock ache for the same delicious attention.
“Just as you are mine,” he swore, lowering his head to press restless kisses over her face.
White-hot need blazed through him, but somewhere in the back of his mind he felt a brief moment of disquiet.
It wasn’t just his fear for her safety, although that was a constant, biting concern. Until he’d captured and killed the bastard trying to harm Sophia he would always be on edge.
No, this was more personal.
But equally worrisome, he realized with a pang of surprise.
It wasn’t that he regretted his actions. He’d done what he was commanded. And more importantly, his actions had always been in an effort to protect this woman.
But something warned him that Sophia might not be pleased when she discovered that he hadn’t yet been totally honest with her.
Briefly he considered the notion of confessing all. It was, no doubt, the right thing to do. But even as the thought drifted through his mind, Luc was abruptly distracted when her legs wrapped around his hips, her nails biting into his ass in a silent plea for release.
There would be time later, he assured himself, squashing the tiny voice of warning.
Much, much later.