Crying his name, she clutched at his shoulders and raised her hips to meet him, urging him on until he stiffened and cried out as he found his own pleasure. Beth knew that wouldn’t be the end—it never was in these more intense dreams—so she wasn’t surprised when he pushed up and off her to kneel between her legs and urged her to turn over. She sat up at once, but then shifted to her knees in front of him and reached back, managing to catch his hip and urge him closer. Growling, Scotty moved forward on his own knees, his legs framing hers as his chest met her back. He then slid his hands around her waist and up across her stomach to cup her breasts.
Beth groaned and arched against him as he weighed and squeezed her breasts, her hips shifting and rubbing her bottom against the hardness between them. Scotty nipped at her ear and kissed her neck, but when he began to toy with her nipples, she twisted her head around in search of his mouth. He kissed her roughly, and then let one hand drop from her breast to glide down between her legs.
Beth cried out into his mouth, her hips moving into his touch, and then she couldn’t stand it anymore, and she broke their kiss and dropped forward to her hands and knees. Clasping her by the hips, Scotty immediately began to . . . lick her face?
Gasping in shock, Beth opened her eyes and gaped at the big black beast standing over her on the bed, panting happily.
“What the—?”
“Chico! Down!”
Beth glanced to the door as Matias pushed it further open and rushed in to hurry around the bed.
“Sorry! I am sorry. I was checking on you and he slipped past me. Chico, come here,” he hissed, grabbing for the Doberman’s collar and falling on the bed when a second dog rushed in to join the fun and tripped him up, then proceeded to climb on top of him and lick his upper back. Matias’s voice was exasperated as he buried his face in the bed and muttered, “No, Piper. Bad.”
Chuckling softly as Chico shifted to drop on her legs so that he too could get to his master, Beth sat up to move her legs out of the way of being trampled by the excited dog. She then leaned back against the headboard and simply watched as both dogs descended on her cousin, licking his arms, his legs, his hair . . .
“I love my dogs,” Matias said dryly, his voice muffled by the blankets. Both Dobermans immediately shifted their excited attention to his face, trying to get to the parts he’d buried in the blankets.
“They are sweet,” Beth said with amusement.
“Hmm.” He didn’t sound convinced. Pushing first one away and then the other, he struggled to get upright. The minute he was standing again and they were unable to reach his face, Chico and Piper turned to her. Squealing, Beth immediately pulled the blanket defensively over her head to avoid the wet kisses. That just seemed to excite the dogs even more, and they began to try to nose their way under the blanket with her.
Giving up, Beth tossed the blanket aside, grabbed the first dog by the ears and began to rub them while kissing the top of his head and murmuring, “Now I’ve got you. You’re all mine. I’ve got you now.”
“He likes you,” Matias said with amusement as Chico calmed down and enjoyed the ear massage. “They both do,” he added as Piper settled next to her on the bed and laid her head in her lap.
Smiling, Beth released one of Chico’s ears and reached out to scratch behind one of Piper’s. When Chico lay down next to her too, she continued to pet them, but glanced to Matias and asked, “Why were you checking on me? You knew my arm would heal well enough.”
“Hmm.” Matias grinned and settled on the bed next to her. Absently petting Piper, he said, “Well, I feared you were being attacked again.”
“Attacked?” she asked with surprise.
“Hmm.” Grinning, he explained, “You were moaning, groaning, grunting, and crying out. It was most alarming. I was sure you were either being tortured to death, or you were making the mad, passionate love to someone. But since Donny is up and about, Scotty was in his own bed making the same sounds, and I can now see there was no one in your room let alone your bed with you, I can only assume it was a dream . . . a shared sex dream,” Matias added with a wicked grin.
“What?” Beth squawked, sitting up straight.
“Sí. I knew there was something between you and Scotty—” he added with satisfaction and then asked, “How was it? Is it as hot as they say? It sounded hot.”
“There’s nothing between Scotty and me,” Beth protested, ignoring his other questions.
“Oh, chica, how stupid do you think I am?” he asked with disbelief.
“Apparently really stupid since there’s nothing between Scotty and me,” she insisted.
“Really?” Matias raised his eyebrows superciliously. “And yet he was worried sick about you last night after you were injured.”
Beth snorted at the claim. “He probably worries about everyone that way. The man runs the Rogue Hunters in the UK. It’s his job to worry about the hunters.”
“Beth, seriously,” Matias said with a frown. “I beseech you. You must know he is your life mate? He is showing all the signs,” he told her and then counted off, “One, I can read his mind. He’s much older than me and I shouldn’t be able to, but I can. Two, he is eating. He ate an entire pizza last night by himself. And he is drinking too. I gave him a soda to have with his pizza and he drank the whole thing.”
“Yes, he’s eating and drinking and he probably can be easily read,” she allowed. “And yes, he’s met his life mate. But it isn’t me, cousin.”
“Why are you bothering to lie to me?” Matias asked with exasperation. “You were in here having the shared dream with him. You were moaning and groaning and crying out, ‘Scotty, oh, Scotty.’” He mimicked what she guessed was supposed to be her voice with a ridiculous falsetto. “And Scotty was down the hall doing the same thing, but shouting, ‘Beth! Oh my God, Beth!’”
“He was?” she asked with surprise.
“Sí,” Matias said firmly.
Beth frowned over that, but shook her head. “He can’t have been. He has a life mate already. He just hasn’t claimed her.”
“Sí . . . you,” Matias said with satisfaction.
“No. Scotty told Donny—”
“And I am telling you I can read his mind. Did I not mention that?” he asked with irritation, and then continued, “And last night when you were in pain, his thoughts were in an uproar. He was in a panic to ease it for you. He was also most concerned that we must guard you well because he would not lose his life mate. Those were his thoughts. ‘I will not lose my life mate,’” Matias said with emphasis and then smiled smugly. “You. You are this life mate.”
“But how can that be?” she asked with confusion. “I mean, I met the man over a hundred years ago. How could he not be my life mate back then and then suddenly be my life mate now? Wouldn’t he have had to be my life mate all along?”
Matias pursed his lips and considered the question. “Perhaps he was.”
“What?” Beth glanced at him with surprise.
“Well, he has expended a lot of energy over the years trying to keep you from being a hunter and then trying to keep you off dangerous hunts,” he pointed out. “And I read in his mind last night that he’s had someone watching over you since shortly after he saved you from Jamieson.”
“What?” she repeated, outraged.