Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)

Her curved, generous lips were as soft as they looked. As his body came over hers, the sensation of her lying underneath him satisfied something deep and primal in him.

He could feel the curve of her breasts, her narrower, slighter bone structure. Her warmth burned him, and that mouth, that mouth, he had never felt before the kind of hunger he did as he conquered that soft, lush mouth.

After a moment of shocked stillness came the biggest surprise of all. She tilted her head and kissed him back, molding her lips to his, shifting as he shifted, giving way as he pressed hard for entrance and plunged his tongue deep inside her. He could feel every single one of her fingers as she threaded them through his hair in a caress that sent a shock of pleasure through his entire body.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had been touched with any kind of sensuality or affection. That part of his nature had been cold and unused for so long it roared to life with the strength of a tidal wave.

Hungrily he ate at her. He ravaged her mouth as if it were the first meal he had seen in years. Another shock of awareness bolted through him as her tongue dueled with his.

She lifted her head off the pillow in order to kiss him back, following him up eagerly as he tried to ease back to take a breath, to take stock. Her fingers worked at the back of his neck, wordlessly asking him for more.

It brought him down again. Cupping her head in both hands, he kissed her wildly while his cock stiffened into a hard, painful spike of hunger that he pressed against the curve of her hip. Her legs shifted restlessly, entwining with his.

Just like that, he was crazy to discover what she felt like naked. As he cupped her breast, he could feel the jut of her nipple through the thin material. It would be as plush as her mouth and just as pink. Maybe a darker, dusky rose.

It would taste fantastic. She had generous breasts. The curve fit beautifully into his hand. He molded the lush mound of flesh while he licked at her mouth. Her breath was coming fast, soft, urgent puffs of air against his heated skin, egging him onward.

Her fingers closed around his wrist, and she turned her face away from his kiss. “Stop,” she said, her voice strangled. “This—we—I shouldn’t be doing this.”

Nikolas froze. His heart pounded as he tried to make sense of what she was saying.

Then her words sank in, and they leveraged a glimmer of sanity into his overheated, lust-filled brain.

Her heart was pounding as hard as his, and they were both breathing heavily, the sound ragged in the quiet room.

Her expression held a wry vulnerability he had not seen in her before. Carefully he lifted his hand from her breast and told her, “I had not intended for this to happen.”

“No,” she said. “Of course you hadn’t. Neither had I. You are not one of my short-term goals, and you have no part in my life plan.”

“And you are certainly not in my agenda, in any way.” He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t even like you.”

She threw open her arms and let them fall onto the bed. “Exactly! I don’t like you either! In fact, you’re pretty insufferable.”

At that, he cocked his head and glared. “As are you.”

She shrugged. “I’m blaming my part in all of this on jet lag. I haven’t slept in so long everything feels unreal. Why not kiss the hot guy in my bed? It’s all a dream anyway, ha-ha. You’re going to have to come up with an explanation for your own behavior.”

“I have no explanation,” he said between his teeth. “This is inexplicable. You’re a pain in the ass, you make foolhardy, dangerous decisions, and I don’t think you know how to have a normal conversation.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly while something darkened in her expression. Something that might look a little like disappointment. “Glad we cleared that up.”

His eyes dropped to watch her lips form the words.

And then there was that mouth of hers, that outrageously sensual, generous, responsive mouth. He bent forward again slowly, giving her plenty of time to respond as he lowered his mouth to hers. She scowled but didn’t push him away, nor did she say anything, and as his lips brushed hers, she lifted up her face to kiss him back again.

This time the kiss he gave her was gentle and fleeting, while his unruly cock throbbed with the most painful hard-on he’d ever had, and all he wanted to do was rip her clothes off and take her until she screamed with pleasure.

As he lifted his head, he told her, “Sleep now. Tomorrow you can show me how to make the colloidal silver and cast the rune.”

A glint appeared in her eye, which was his warning. “Can I? Oh, thank you, thank you! I’m so glad I can do this since I had absolutely nothing else on my agenda for the day tomorrow, other than serving your needs. Asshole.”

Earlier, her insouciance had made him angry, but this time he laughed. When she would have said more, he put his hand over her mouth.

Looking into her angry eyes, he said, “And when you teach me, I am going to get you a gun, along with silver bullets. It won’t be legal, so you’ll have to keep it hidden, but at least you’ll have an effective weapon you can use if you run across another lycanthrope, and you won’t have to rely on your contact spells.”

Her expression changed, the anger vaporizing. As he lifted his hand away, she said, “You’ve got a deal.”

“Get some rest.” He lifted off her, and in the absence of her body in alignment with his, the air felt cold.

It wasn’t cold enough.

As she curled in the blanket, he left the room, pulling the door closed but not latching it. He grabbed his bag from the kitchen and stepped into the bathroom to take a biting cold shower. Only then did his erection finally subside.

Afterward, he grabbed a blanket from the linen closet and went to the sitting room. The settee wouldn’t be the worst place he had used for a bed.

Robin perched on the arm of a chair near the gas fire, his skinny, hairy arms wrapped around himself. When Nikolas entered the room, the puck glanced at him, then went back to staring at the fire.

Nonverbal, Sophie had said. Possibly trauma induced.

As Nikolas stretched out on the settee and plumped a pillow under his head, he said quietly, “Good night, Robin.”

Just before he closed his eyes, the monkey slipped off the chair and loped back to the bedroom.





Chapter Nine





When Nikolas left the bedroom, Sophie half expected she would lie awake and kick herself for indulging in that stupid kiss. Instead, she fell immediately into a dark pit and slept like the dead, without dreams, until she came alert with a jerk.