Toni’s arms slipped around his neck and she pressed her mouth against his. Her lips parted and he felt her breath seconds before her tongue eased into his mouth.
Ricky melted into that kiss. He couldn’t help himself. It was such a sweet kiss. And somehow, supremely honest.
While still holding on to him, Toni got to her knees on the couch, her breasts brushing against him as she moved. Her hands slipped into his hair and her fingers flexed, massaging his scalp.
Growling low, Ricky stood and grinned down at Toni. “Now that was just mean.”
Toni’s smile was purely devious. “Not mean . . . just calculated.”
“I like calculated.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled Toni up until they were eye level. He kissed her. Hard, pushing her, needing to know that this was what she really wanted.
She eagerly returned his kiss without hesitation, her grip tightening around his neck.
That was all Ricky needed.
He lifted her off the couch and took her to the bed. They fell onto it, Ricky’s body pushing her into the mattress.
Ricky Lee Reed was a big wolf with wide shoulders and muscular thighs. When she’d first met him, Toni had found them a tad off-putting. She kept thinking it was too much body for a woman to handle. Now, however, she knew she’d been wrong. Nothing felt better than having this wolf ’s narrow hips between her thighs, his strong chest pressing against her breasts.
Toni felt safe and turned on all at the same time.
Ricky dragged his fingers up her thighs, her hips, the sides of her breasts. Toni arched into those hands, her head thrown back. Who knew such big hands would feel so good?
Resting his hands on her hips, he leaned into her, taking her mouth with his. Claiming it as his own.
Toni reached between them with her right hand, lowered it until she could cup his cock through his jeans. Ricky groaned and buried his face against her neck. She tipped her head to the side, giving him better access as she found his zipper, undid it. She slipped her hand inside. He hadn’t bothered to put his boxer briefs back on when he’d dressed by the car. She didn’t mind. It just made it easier to run the tips of her fingers around his cock.
Fangs grazed Toni’s neck before Ricky was kissing her again.
After several minutes, he leaned back a bit, gazing down into her face. His eyes had shifted to a vibrant blue, meaning the Reeds had some Arctic wolf in them.
“I can’t wait anymore,” he told her plainly. There was no smirk. No easy patter. Just a desperation in those Arctic wolf eyes.
“Me, either,” she admitted.
“Thank God.” He got up and reached for his jeans.
“Wait,” she said, and she almost laughed when he stared at her in abject horror. “Tell me you have condoms.”
“Condoms?” He acted like he didn’t even know the word. Then he blinked, nodded. “Right. Condoms.” With his cock hanging out of his unzipped jeans, he tore across the room and began tossing clothes out of his luggage. He finally held up a box of condoms, facing her with a huge, triumphant smile.
When Toni frowned, Ricky quickly added, “I was hopeful is all. Just hopeful. A man can be hopeful.”
Knowing that he’d brought those condoms for her didn’t upset Toni nearly as much as she’d thought it would. So when he just stood there, cock hanging out of his jeans, his blue eyes silently begging her, Toni could only ask, “Are you just going to stand there or get over here and do me?”
When Ricky dived for the bed, Toni could only squeal and speed out of the way.
Ricky managed to catch hold of Toni before she rolled off the bed.
“Sorry,” he said when he pulled her back to safety. “I didn’t mean to . . .”
He stopped talking when he realized she was laughing, her smile wide.
“Someone is a horny little monkey,” she teased.
“Just for you, darlin’.” He laughed. “Can’t control myself.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want you to.” She reached up, pressed her hand to his face, stroked his cheek. “I don’t want you to control yourself.”
So he didn’t. Instead he kicked off his jeans and put on a condom. Then he got on his knees, leaned back on his heels, and reached for Toni. He didn’t have to reach far. She got up and put herself in his arms, trusting him in a way most predators would not. Wrapping his hands around her waist, he brought her up and then down, right on his cock. She gave a startled yip, then wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist.
“Kiss me again,” she told him. “I really like it when you kiss me.”
Ricky had no idea why he enjoyed hearing those words so much. It wasn’t simply that he liked kissing her, too. Maybe it was more because her words were direct and simple and that’s what he liked so much about Toni. No matter what was going on around her or, in this particular case, inside her, she was always direct. Although he had to admit, there was very little about her that was simple. Except now. When it was just the two of them.
He kissed her, kept kissing her, while he started to fuck her. Slowly, carefully. Not wanting to scare her off or hurt her. It wasn’t easy, though. She was so tight. It was obvious she hadn’t fooled around much since she’d broken it off with her last boyfriend.
Ricky kissed her harder, realizing he didn’t want to think about her last boyfriend. And he definitely didn’t want her to think about her last boyfriend.
No. All Ricky wanted at the moment was for her to think about him and his cock and his hands on her. He’d make sure that was all she thought about.
Holy shit. So this was what she’d been missing with her safe, full-human boyfriends? No wonder Coop kept trying to push her toward other shifters. She thought he was just being a bigot. But no. Not really.
Ricky’s grip tightened around her waist as he stroked into her, his cock pushing in and out of her again and again.
Toni dropped her forehead against Ricky’s shoulder, her fingers digging harder into his hair. She knew he liked that, and it was all she could really manage when she wasn’t kissing him back.
She began to squirm. Her entire body feeling hot, her nipples getting so hard they hurt. She shuddered, unused to feeling this intense.
Toni wouldn’t realize it until later, but it was during this part that she stopped thinking about anything. Anything but what was going on between her and Ricky. She didn’t worry. She didn’t analyze. She didn’t plan. She just let him rock his body against hers until she began to tremble. Until she began to pant and groan into the man’s thick neck. She got so lost in what she was doing that when she came, her entire body gripping Ricky tight, she didn’t know she’d lowered her hands to his back, unleashed her claws, and dug them into his spine until he climaxed, shuddered, and said, “Ow,” into the silence.
Realizing she was buried in the man up to her cuticles, Toni automatically ripped her claws out.
Ricky yelped, his body jerking from the pain. Cringing, Toni leaned back. “Oh, God. Ricky. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right.” He kissed her neck, apparently ignoring the sweat there, and added, “I had an uncle who always said if a She-predator don’t rip up some part of your body during sex, you ain’t doin’ your job right.”
Disgusted and amused, Toni shook her head and begged, “Please tell me that discussion didn’t take place until you were at least eighteen.”
“More like sixteen. But don’t worry. My momma didn’t let him in the house after that until Reece was eighteen. And she still don’t speak to the man whenever he comes for Thanksgiving dinner.”
Ricky, still buried inside her, kissed her collarbone, her throat, her chin. “So, darlin’ . . . feelin’ any better?”
Smiling, Toni wrapped her arms around Ricky’s neck and admitted, “Better . . . but still a little tense.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” Ricky stretched her out on the bed, grinned down at her. “Not if you’re going to deal with those nasty ol’ bears and all
.”
Toni grinned back. “That’s my feeling exactly.”
Ronnie Lee was eating popcorn and relaxing on her couch next to Shaw.
She had to admit, the lion took mighty good care of her. He always had, but he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her pregnancy. And was more than happy to sit on their couch, watching the “lady network” as he liked to call it. They both had a thing for those really bad movies where some woman finds out her millionaire husband has been sleeping with her best friend and babysitter before discovering that the gardener is a serial killer and she’s really in love with the humble but no-nonsense detective who saves her at the last minute.
They also enjoyed the movies based on true stories. Their all-time favorite was still the one about Betty Broderick. It didn’t matter how many times they’d seen it, they never missed a chance to watch it again. And it was on tonight.
So they felt much annoyance when Reece Lee came busting into their home at all hours—actually ten p.m.—and went through the boxes she had stored in her closet. Her momma had sent them to her from her room after one of their fights. The note that accompanied those boxes had said it all: “Here’s your stuff.”
Shaw let out a big sigh, his whole body going rigid when he saw her idiot brother opening closet doors and pulling out all those boxes she’d unceremoniously shoved away.
“Reece Lee Reed, what the holy hell are you doing?” Ronnie demanded.
“Don’t mind me. Just looking for something.” He began pulling the top off the boxes and digging through them like a rabid chipmunk.
“Reece.”
“The more you bother me, the longer this will take.”
“Maybe if you told me what you were looking for . . .”
“I doubt you remember it, but you always had one.”
Ronnie and Shaw looked at each other, then shook their heads. Of her three brothers, Reece was definitely the most . . . difficult.
Ronnie offered Shaw more popcorn, and when he began to eat again, she felt better. She really only worried when the man stopped eating. Then hell was about to break loose.
After thirty minutes or so of her brother digging away, Ronnie asked, “Any word from Ricky?”
“He’s still in Russia. Not sure when he’ll be back. Apparently the bears aren’t playing nice.”
“They never will,” Shaw mumbled around a mouthful of popcorn.
“Why do you say that?” Ronnie asked.
“Russian bears are notoriously difficult to negotiate with. I still don’t have a hotel in that country because Russian bears are so damn difficult.”
“Well, I hope my brother’s being safe.”
Reece shrugged, now going through a box of old children’s books. “He always is. You’d only have to worry if it was me going over there.”
At least Reece was self-aware of his limitations.
“Hey,” Ronnie asked, “who the hell was that girl you were talking to today?”
“You’ll have to be much more specific than that.”
“The one who cut the tar out of that bitch Laura Jane.”
“Someone cut up Laura Jane?” Shaw asked, grinning.
“I couldn’t do it, of course,” Ronnie reminded him. “I am part of the same Pack and she hasn’t done anything to me. But this girl went after her with a blade and her claws. It may take her, like, two whole days before her wounds heal.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Reece said. “I can’t figure out what she is.”
Ronnie blinked. “What she is?”
“Yeah. She won’t tell me. It’s driving me nuts!”
“Oh, Lord, Reece. You’re not interested in this one, are you?”
“Nah. She’s way too terrifying. I’ve seen Laura Jane in a fight and that small female didn’t even give that She-wolf a chance to be her dishonorable fighting self. She beat Laura Jane to being dishonorable. I can’t date anyone like that. But I do enjoy that in a friend. She’ll make a good friend.”
“You’re such an odd boy.”
“Here it is!” Reece exclaimed, holding up a very old book.
“What is that?”
“Don’t you remember? This is The Infamous Book of Smells.”
Shaw’s head snapped around. “The what?”
Surprised, the siblings looked at the lion.
“You never had The Infamous Book of Smells?” Reece asked.
“Was I supposed to?”
“How were you able to tell the difference between grizzlies and black bears?” Ronnie wanted to know. “Or mountain lions, cheetahs, and leopards?”
“I learned as I went. Isn’t that how you guys did it?”
“Eventually, but every Pack pup starts out with—”
“The Infamous Book of Smells?”
“Exactly.”
“Which is what exactly?”
Reece brought the book over to the table. “It’s scratch and sniff for kids. With the scent of different breeds and species. I learned so much before I even cut my first fangs.”
“Yeah, but that’s an old copy,” Ronnie reminded him.
“You think the scents have faded?”
“No. But it’s not the most updated.”
“I know. That’s what I want.”
Sitting on the chair closest to Shaw, Reece began on the first page and went through each. Scratching and sniffing. Scratching and sniffing.
Fascinated, Ronnie watched her brother until he suddenly stopped at a page. Scratched. Sniffed. Scratched. Sniffed. Studied the page. Scratched. Sniffed.
“This is it. This is the one.” He looked at the page again, his brow pulling down.
“What is she, Reece?”
He looked up at her, still frowning.
“Show me,” she pushed, now completely curious. She had to know!
With a shrug, Reece turned the book around and held it up the way their pre-school teacher used to when she would read a page, then show the class the accompanying picture.
Ronnie’s mouth dropped open before she demanded, “Good Lord, Reece Lee Reed! This is the woman you want to be friends with?”
“Now more than ever!”
Shaw threw up his hands and Ronnie just sighed. Her brother . . . some days . . . honestly, some days.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Toni had just rolled onto her back, her entire body taking a long, luxurious stretch when there was a knock at Ricky’s door and it opened. Without warning.
She yelped and pulled herself into a ball. Ricky immediately stretched his body over hers, blocking her from Vic Barinov’s sight.
“Oh. Sorry. Was I interrupting?”
“Yes!” Ricky yelped. “You were.”
“Sorry. But you guys do have to get ready if we’re going to get to your meeting with the—”
“Meeting?” Toni scoffed.
Now, after a night of free-running through the beautiful Siberian wilderness and getting wonderfully tossed around the bedroom by Ricky Lee Reed, Toni’s sense of panic was no longer clouding her mind. Instead, she just felt annoyance at the bears wasting her damn time.
“They’re not going to meet with me. They have no intention of negotiating with me. We might as well just head the hell home rather than waste another damn day on this bullshit.”
Barinov shrugged. “Of course. I’ll get the car ready and let the hotel know we’re checking out.”
Ricky grabbed the sheet and pulled it up so it covered Toni all the way to her neck. Then he sat up, his body still blocking her, and said, “Wait.”
His hand on the doorknob, Barinov looked back at them.
“Do you know what’s going on with these bears?” he asked.
Toni didn’t know why Ricky was asking Barinov about anything. Other than ensure they arrived on time and that Toni was safe, he didn’t seem too involved in any of this drama.
“You know”—Barinov began—“I really shouldn’t get involved.”
See?
Ricky reached down and grabbed his
jeans from the floor. He pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed a number. He put on the speaker and for a few seconds they sat around silently listening to the phone ring.
“Yep?” a voice answered from the other end, and Barinov immediately rolled his eyes, momentarily reminding her of Kyle after he’d been caught tormenting Oriana about her non-existent weight problem.
“Hey, Dee,” Ricky said into the phone. “How ya doin’?”
“Fine.” There was a pause, then Dee asked, “You back in New York?”
“Nope. These Russian bears are being real difficult.”
“Mhmm. Never liked them Russian bears.”
“We haven’t mentioned you,” Ricky told her. “I don’t think they would have fond memories of you or your daddy.”
“Heh.”
“Anyway,” Ricky went on, “I’m not sure what to do. Any suggestions?”
“Isn’t Barinov there?”
Ricky looked up at the hybrid. “Yeah. He’s standing right here. But he said he shouldn’t get involved.”
There was a long sigh from the other end of that phone. “Take me off speaker,” Dee ordered, “and hand Barinov the damn phone.”
Ricky did just that and after baring a rather long fang, Barinov put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Dee—Well . . . yeah, I . . . no need to get nasty, Smith. Yeah. Fine. Whatever.” Barinov disconnected the call and tossed the phone back to Ricky.
“You’re a prick,” the hybrid snarled.
“I’m a Reed. We were never taught to play nice with others.”
Barinov stepped away from the door and looked over Ricky’s shoulder to focus on Toni. “You were negotiating with the bears as soon as you stepped out of the car the first day,” he abruptly told her.
Startled by that response, Toni sat a little taller, holding the sheet to her chest. “Wait a minute . . . what?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Did I look like I knew?”
“It was hard to tell with the whole separation anxiety thing.” Then Barinov focused on Ricky and smirked.
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