While Zandrea spoke, Stacy had drawn up into a 7-Eleven parking lot and shut off her car. She strolled with purpose to the door and was soon cruising the short aisles for snacks. She had to work hard to keep the extra pounds from creeping up on her, but she was also an emotional eater. And right now, she needed something sweet.
“I’m not all that sure I’m interested in Alphons. He’s a little on the creepy side, like he’s up to something. I mean, he’s hot and all, but I don’t know.” Stacy shoved the freezer door up and leaned down into the bin to grab a Nutty Buddy. “And as for Nash, he can kiss my ass. I won’t even go into what he whispered to me.”
Zandrea was quiet.
“What? Your man heard him, right?”
“Yeah, they have ears like you wouldn’t believe. Brant heard what he said and told me. Don’t let it get to you. Like I said, Nash just doesn’t want to lose his position as Alpha like Lucas did. The pack he’s in is kind of strict, which is why we had to move. They didn’t want us to have mixed kids, half human, half shifter.”
“That’s bull—”
“Stacy!”
“Well it is.” She sighed. “Look, I get it. He doesn’t want to lose his job. Hell, my job ain’t crap, but I’d fight to keep it too because for real, I’ve only got myself to depend on. I don’t have money like those guys. Whatever. I’m still not forgiving him for humiliating me like that. I don’t need him.”
“But you want him.”
“Drop it, Z,” Stacy warned.
She stared down at the ice cream and changed her mind. After opening the freezer again, she dropped the Nutty Buddy inside and leaned down to grab an ice cream sandwich. A groan behind her made her freeze, and then she remembered that her dress was too short to be leaning over that much. She frowned and closed her eyes. With a deep breath, she stood up straight and spun around to face the jerk. Alphons stood there with his arms crossed over a powerful chest and running a tongue over his bottom lip.
Before she could say a word, he closed the space between them and put a hand on either side of her hips, forcing her to sit on the edge of the cold freezer. He rested his lips on the ear opposite the one with her Blue Ray clip on it, and had the nerve to blow in her ear. “You look good enough to eat,” he breathed.
She tried to pull back, but there was nowhere to go. “Alphons, this is not the time or the place. How did you know I was here?”
He didn’t answer, and she realized he didn’t need to. He had picked up her scent and followed it. Annoyance made her want to frown, but she resisted it. If she had any sense at all, she would forget her hurt feelings and just take Alphons to a motel so they could both satisfy their needs. It was what she had said she wanted anyway. No strings, just sex. He didn’t have to say so for her to know that’s all Alphons wanted from her.
From his curly black hair, and his olive complexion, she knew he was Italian or something near it. If she slept with him, that would be a first as well, and her body did heat up because the man was sexy, but she hesitated. Like she’d told Zandrea, Alphons creeped her out just a little, for no apparent reason.
He drew back and grasped her hands, almost making her drop her ice cream. “Why don’t we find the appropriate place?” he suggested. “I know we can have a good time, and”—he sniffed the air—“you’re ready for me.”
She jerked out of his hold. “Lay off with that crap. I’m new to this shifter stuff, and the sniffing me out thing is creepy, so I’d appreciate it if you bring it down a few notches.” She turned toward the front of the store. “Besides, I got a man.”
He followed behind her. “No...you don’t.”
Stacy gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything to that. After she had paid for her ice cream and was back out on the street, she remembered she hadn’t picked up any cookies. Either way, now she didn’t want anything. Tiredness stole over her body, and she put a hand to mouth to stifle a yawn.
“Look, Alphons, I’m tired. It’s been great meeting you, but—”
He pushed her against her car with his hands holding her hips in place. When his mouth came down on hers, Stacy automatically let him part her lips so he could push his tongue into her mouth. Like Nash had done, he groaned while he kissed her, like she was delicious to his taste buds. Were all five of their senses heightened?
Alphons ran his hands along her thighs, shoving her dress higher. He ground his hard on between her legs, and she gasped at his boldness. She couldn’t help but be turned on. The man felt like a rock, a big, unyielding rock. Her thighs spread wider with no conscious thought on her part. All of a sudden, all she wanted was to get him inside her. She was so wet, she was almost whimpering for him to do it right there. The weird part was that she felt like she wasn’t in control of herself, like he had bewitched her or some crazy mess like that.
A loud laugh interrupted them. “Damn, guys, get a room!”
Alphons raised his head, and Stacy caught sight of his eyes. They had gone from deep brown to silver. That was too freaky. She shivered, and then they both turned to see who had interrupted. Stacy could have shrunk through the ground. Nash and the woman who had come to the party late like she was the shit stood there watching her and Alphons. Both of them looked amused, Nash like he was laughing his head off at her, which grated on her already thin nerves.
The woman pounced on Alphons, taking his arm in hers and dragging both men toward the store. “What are you doing here, Alphons? I thought you would have had her in a motel by now. You’re slipping, my friend.”
Stacy stared. Was she for real? So open about what Alphons wanted. She shook her head and spun to face her car, but Nash was suddenly in front of her, blocking her from opening the door. She glanced around him to find that the woman and Alphons had disappeared inside 7-Eleven.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Stacy?” Nash demanded.
She looked up at him. He wasn’t frowning, but he wasn’t grinning like he normally was either. Something told her he was angrier than he let on, which he didn’t have a right to be after he had rejected her offer. “None of your damn business, that’s what.”
She yanked at the car door and got it open a few inches before he slammed it again. “You know nothing about wolf shifters. They’re too much for a woman like you.”
A hand slid to her hip, and she realized her dress was still hiked way too high, but she wasn’t going to stand there in front of him and fix it. “Oh no you did not just say a woman like me! I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re nothing to me. I do what I damn well please, and you can keep your opinions to yourself.”
She had been gesturing to him with a finger pointed. He caught hold of her wrist and jerked her forward to bump his chest. Desire licked over her skin, but she crushed it down.
“You’re playing with fire.”
“Like I’m too stupid to take care of myself, but my friends are just fine?”
His hold tightened, and she resisted a wince, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.
“I can vouch for Lucas and Brant. I don’t know Alphons. From what I sense, I don’t trust him. I’ve never seen him around before and therefore have no idea why he’s shown up now. There must be a reason, and Laila hasn’t been forthcoming about him.”
So in other words, Nash didn’t want her, and he didn’t want any other shifters to want her either. He had been checking up on who Alphons was and where he’d come from. Nita had told her that Nash was a new Alpha, leader of his pack, just like Brant was now. So maybe the position had gone to his head. Maybe he thought he had to control the lives of all shifters and keep them safely away from relationships with humans. Well, he could kiss her black ass.
“You have three seconds to get your hands off of me, Nash. I don’t care what you think. If I want to fuck Alphons’ brains out on the first night I met him, that’s my business. Not yours.” She jerked her arm away from him, but moved up so she could stare him in the face. “You get made the Alpha of your group and think you�
�re in charge of everybody. Well, I learned a couple things from my friends, and I know that Alphons isn’t in your group, so you have no jurisdiction. As for me, if you think you’re going to tell me what to do, you’re wrong. I’m not the one.”
She thrust her car door toward him causing him to have to jump back so she wouldn’t slam it into his hip, and she fought hard not to grin at gaining ground on him.
“Why don’t you go in the store and get control of your girl, ’cause it looks like she’s ready to give it up to Alphons herself.”
When Nash turned to look, Stacy hopped into her car, locked the doors, and turned over the engine. In seconds, she was out on the road. Not until she was pulling into Zandrea’s driveway again did she wonder what had happened to her ice cream.
Chapter Four
Frustration raged through Nash’s mind and rippled over his muscles, making them contract and ache. No matter how many times he rolled his shoulders and stretched, no matter how many miles he had run in his wolf form, nothing helped. For two days, he had been joking and laughing with his friends, keeping the easygoing persona in place, when all the time, what he wanted was to rip Stacy away from Alphons’ side and fill her with his stiff arousal.
Why her, damn it? Why did she have to take away his peace of mind with one kiss, one touch of her body? Why did he have to see her naked beneath him every time he closed his eyes? And even having Laila for the taking didn’t help matters. Shifters were highly sexual by nature. They often had several lovers at once. It was no big deal until they were mated, and he was pretty sure that Laila still tossed her long legs over Alphons’ shoulders even though he was sniffing around Stacy. Nash didn’t care about that.
The problem was Stacy would. She was human. Human women, from what he had seen, did not like sharing their men, and he was pretty sure she would be hurt in the end. The damn woman hadn’t listened to a word of his warning. Instead she’d torn into him with her razor sharp tongue.
Later, he had laughed at himself for letting her shut him up so completely. She was bold. He’d give her that. Yet, the knowledge had only fueled his desire for her, and he had started wondering what being her lover would be like. That was a dangerous game. So he had let Laila seduce him. He had let her release her pheromones to make him relax while she went down on him, and later rode him. But although he had released several times, it did nothing to put out the fire Stacy had ignited.
One taste, one good, long, feeding between her legs, and he could move on. Couldn’t he? Hearing her cry out, call his name, wouldn’t drive him to want more and more. He wouldn’t lose himself and find that he had bitten her, halfway to making her his mate, before he knew what was happening. He was nothing like Lucas and Brant. More to the point, he couldn’t see himself falling in love with any woman, which he believed was needed for him to take a mate without thinking.
No, when he bit a woman twice, making her his for all time, it would be by conscious decision. Love would have nothing to do with it. She would serve a purpose, meet his sexual needs and bear his children. Nothing more. That’s all he could ever let himself feel.
After his second ten mile run, he returned the back way to Brant’s house, still in his wolf form. A doggie door had been made into the mud room’s entrance, and he took it before changing back to his human form. Naked, he stretched and ran a hand across his sweat-slickened abs. He’d take a shower, have a snack, and find Lucas and Brant. Maybe a game of pool with them would get his mind off Stacy. He could get through the next twenty-four hours before it was time to return home.
He had taken all of two steps when the door to the rest of the house opened, and Stacy walked into the mud room. Nash stopped. When she saw him, her eyes grew round. They grew even bigger still when her gaze lowered to find he was growing hard at her seeing him without his clothes.
“Damn,” she muttered.
He forced a cocky grin. “What, you’ve never seen one this big?”
She rolled her eyes. “Boy, please. Don’t flatter yourself.”
At first he was irritated at her dismissal, and then he noticed how she had trouble looking away, and she had clenched her hands at her sides. Her sweet little tongue was caught between her teeth. In that instant, Nash forgot his resolution and stalked up to her. He placed a hand against the door behind her, causing it to snap closed, and crowded her so she had to step back against it. He didn’t allow his body to touch hers. He wanted her to see what she was missing, what could be inside her right now.
With a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face, he watched her in silence. The play of emotions over her beautiful face was amusing, or it would have been if he wasn’t heating up from his core being this near to her. His voice pitched low, he quipped, “You know you want it, Stacy.”
She flattened her hands against the door behind her and turned her head away. Temptation got the better of her, and she turned back to stare. “Hey, I made my offer. You turned me down, remember? I’m not going there again. You missed out.”
With a hard shove at his chest, she made enough space between them to turn her back on him. When her hand closed around the doorknob, he laid his on top of it and stroked her soft skin with a thumb. His shaft twitched against her back. When she began to tremble, he knew he had her. He ran a hand around her hip and down across her thigh. She gasped and moaned before clamping her teeth together. Oh no, she wasn’t getting away with that.
He caught the hem of her mini dress and lifted it to rest his hand on her warm center. She cried out. “Nash! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Her words were accusatory, but they lacked heat. He hadn’t missed how her breathing had picked up, and her hips had curved so that she pushed her ass toward him. He took the offering and wrapped himself around her small body. Desire leaping out of control, he wrapped an arm across her chest and molded her to him. Yet, he didn’t pause for a second in his exploration between her legs.
With a deft finger, he pushed her panties aside and eased a digit up into her wetness. Stacy shook hard. “You so shouldn’t do that,” she rasped. “I-I-I don’t want it.”
“Liar,” he accused her. “You want it.” He rested his mouth against her hair, kissed her once, and then whispered, “You want it so badly, you can’t stand it. See how wet you are? Fuck, I could eat you all day long.”
“Nash...”
“I’m going to taste you,” he insisted.
Before she could protest further, Nash whipped her around and dropped to his knees. He watched for her reaction as he lowered her panties and helped her to step out of them. She clenched her dress between stiff fingers. “Here? We can’t—”
He could argue with her, dare her to be wild like the wolves were. He knew it was in her, to have sex in public, even out among the trees like he enjoyed when his inner beast wanted to be free. But that would be delaying his tongue the satisfaction it craved. Instead of explaining it to her he roughly, but without hurting her, shoved her legs apart and thrust his tongue toward her dripping cream.
All thought of helping Stacy to relax and enjoy herself at that point left Nash’s head. All he wanted was to eat her, to suck and lick every last drop until he’d had his fill. He ran his tongue along her folds, stroked her thighs while he fed, and used his thumbs to part her so he could delve for more. Forgetting himself, he slid a hand behind her and splayed his fingers across her ass. With the strength only his kind had, he took her weight with ease in his palm and lifted her higher to meet his hungry mouth. Shoving one of her thighs higher, he began to kiss along her heated skin, capturing the tangy moisture he found there. While he did, he let his nose tickle her swollen bud, and a tremor started in her muscles.
“Oh goodness, Nash. W-What are you doing to me?” He paused long enough to see her head fall back, and then he licked her with more fervor. She was about to come, and he wanted it so hard, she’d be on her knees pleading with him to give her more.
“Mm,” he hummed against her nubbin. “You’re so good
, Stacy. Come right now. Cream in my mouth, and let me eat more of you, honey.”
He heard the tears in her voice. “You don’t...deserve. Ah! I’m can’t help it!” Her thighs contracted around his head, and soon she pumped her thick, spicy cream into his mouth. He licked her until she cried out his name a second time with a second orgasm, and then he set her down to rise to his feet.
It took a few minutes before her anger returned, and she balled her fingers into a fist and sent it straight into his jaw. “You’re an asshole. You know that? A big-headed asshole.”
Without another word, she yanked her dress down, yanked the door open, and stomped out of the room. Nash grinned rubbing his jaw. He glanced down to find the wispy panties she’d left him as a souvenir on the floor. Not even a punch in the jaw and her obvious hatred of him could make him regret what he had just done.
Chapter Five
“Oh damn, girl, he did what?” Zandrea demanded.
Stacy rolled her eyes. “Z, if you didn’t hear it the first time, I’m not repeating it. I feel so embarrassed. I can’t even believe I told y’all. I was like a whore in heat. I practically had my legs wrapped like a vise around his head.” Stacy rolled over on her bed and buried her face in her hands. She continued in a muffled tone. “I can’t face him. I’m not going down to dinner tonight. I can’t do it.”
Nita waddled across the room and patted her back. “It’s not a big deal, Stacy. You said you’ve been wanting some. So he gave you a couple orgasms. So what? I mean you two were close to that when you kissed the first time during the party.” She laid a hand on her rounded belly. “I know from experience that those guys can’t get enough. Shoot, Lucas thinks I’m a baby machine or something, like he has to have as many children, as fast as possible. I even have to beat him off me during that time of the month.”
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