“How can it not?” she whispered. “How can I possibly just forget that I did something so silly that I’ve obviously pushed you into thinking I need a hero?”
How could she believe he wasn’t flattered as hell by what had happened? Orion sighed. He pulled her into his arms. Tugging her hands up toward his neck, he held her close and rocked back and forth as though they were slow dancing together. He reveled in that closeness and in the feel of her soft body pressed against his.
There was something so very erotic about this moment. The scent of her. The feel of her body against his. The certainty that somehow he could make her realize that he had always wanted her to be his. This woman was meant to be his. He had always known it. Perhaps life had always just gotten in the way.
Soon enough Orion felt Eleni relax against him. She pressed her face to his chest. He heard her soft inhale and knew that she was sniffing him. For a man who could understand completely the power of a scent this was deeply intimate. He let his lips rest against her hair. He stroked her back with his hands. Smoothing them from her shoulders, down her spine, to the base of her spine where it met the round globes of her butt, he enjoyed the sleek curves of her femininity the way he had always wanted to.
Time ceased to exist. It was almost as though they had been suspended in this moment. Her hands lightly stroked his neck. She let her nails scrape the sensitive skin below his hairline. She tugged at his hair and finally he heard her sharp inhale when she sank her fingers into his hair.
Orion loved the feel of her hands in his hair. It reminded him of the other night when she had stroked his wolf pelt as though she were utterly comfortable with the strangeness of everything that was Orion King. Her hands were magic. And soon enough they were creating a rise in temperature within his body that had nothing to do with the ambient warmth in the room.
They swayed there for a few more minutes exploring each other before Orion took the next step and lowered his lips to hers. The kiss was searing. He felt the pliant warmth of her full lips beneath his and tasted her feminine heat. Never had anything aroused him more than that. It was the absolute perfection of one moment in time and it belonged to them.
She made a soft noise of arousal in the back of her throat. The sound alone was enough to send his senses skyrocketing into the pleasure zone. He cupped her face in his hands. Running his thumbs along her lower lip, he coaxed her to open to him. Sliding his tongue into her mouth, Orion dominated the kiss until she was clinging to him and moaning as though she were begging him without words to never, ever stop.
He did not want to stop. He wanted to keep going until the two of them came together as one and remained that way for good. Orion nipped at her bottom lip. He licked the softness and then moved to her neck. He let his mouth travel down her jaw to her ear. She shivered. Her nails dug into his shoulders. The pinpricks of pain only served to heighten the erotic tension between them.
“Orion,” she moaned. “Orion, what are you doing to me?”
“I’m making you all mine,” he told her.
His voice was a growl. He didn’t care. It did not matter if she knew how deeply and how completely she affected him. That was what he wanted to share with her. All of himself. All the time.
Her fingertips found the buttons on the front of his shirt. She picked them apart and before he could even process what was happening, she slid her hands into his dress shirt and let them run all over his chest. He sucked lightly at her throat where her neck met her shoulder as her nails scraped across his nipples until they were hard and standing at attention.
Orion groaned. He could barely stay on his feet, but he didn’t want to try and move to the bedroom just yet. He didn’t want to scare her off. So he waited until she was trying desperately to push his dress shirt off his shoulders. That was fine. If it made her comfortable for him to be the one to get naked first, who was Orion to argue?
Eleni’s hands began to skate down his belly toward his waistband. He loved the way it felt to have her touching him. Her breath was coming quickly and her hands were shaking. Her fingers dipped below the waistband of his slacks and for just a second he hissed as the searing pleasure nearly overcame his self control. This woman could make him burn!
Moving her arms around his waist, she drew her fingers up his spine toward his shoulders. Then to his surprise, Eleni moved around his body. Her lips traveled up his back and her tongue lightly traced the line of his spine before teasing and tickling her way over his shoulder blades.
And then she was kneeling in front of him. The sight of her was intoxicating. Orion felt as though someone had just presented him with a gift that was more precious to him than anything else on earth. She looked up the length of his torso from beneath hooded lashes and gave him her sexiest bedroom eyes.
Orion threaded his fingers gently through her wavy dark locks. The silkiness of her hair wrapped around his fingers like an eager lover. Her fingers found the fastenings of his slacks. As she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, Orion could not help but think in the back of his mind that he did not want her to regret this in the morning.
The thought was a cold one. He touched her hands and pressed them flat to his belly before she could begin to tug his pants down over his hips. “Wait. Please?”
“Why?”
“No regrets,” he whispered hoarsely. “Just tell me there will be no regrets.”
“None.”
She sounded so certain. The tone of her voice made Orion feel as though he could fly. Perhaps that was why he did not wait for her to pull his pants over his hips and drop them to the floor. No. He picked her up into his arms instead.
Her squeal of surprise dissolved into merry laughter that warmed his heart in ways that had nothing to do with the physical desire he was feeling in that moment. Orion nuzzled her neck with all of the love that had been building to that single moment.
“To the bedroom!” she told him with a giggle. “Why are you wasting time?”
He carried her down the short hallway. The house wasn’t large, but it didn’t feel small either. It was cozy and comfortable and it felt like a home. That was far more than Orion could say about the house he had shared with his family for so very long.
Eleni’s bedroom was the last door on the left. Orion nudged the door open with his toe and stepped inside. Setting her gently on her feet just beside the bed, he very carefully pushed his pants down over his hips and onto the floor. It only took a moment to toe out of his shoes and kick the pants off. Once that chore was done he waited to see what Eleni would do.
“You’re not wearing underpants?” She sounded breathless.
Orion held out his hands and hoped to put her somewhat at ease. “The panty lines would have been horrible with those slacks. I couldn’t risk it.”
Her giggle was perhaps just a little maniacal. But that was all right. They were familiar to each other and yet this was all new. The room was nearly dark. There was just enough moonlight spilling through the blinds that it created stripes on the bedroom’s warped wood floor and allowed Orion a tantalizing view of Eleni’s body as she reached for her dress.
Once the dress was off, Orion knelt in front of her and reached for the thigh high pantyhose. “My turn,” he whispered appreciatively.
He could feel the blood rushing beneath her skin as he very gently rolled those stockings down her legs. He loved the sexy black lace elastic at the top of each stocking, but he enjoyed the feel of her satiny skin even more. His fingers brushed over every inch of her legs and he took his time as he lingered over the sensitive spots near the backs of her knees and near her ankles.
She gasped just a little as his hands caressed the arches of her feet one at a time. He lifted one foot first, and then the other. Then he reached for her panties. Dragging them slowly down her legs, Orion tugged them off over her feet before gently pressing her backwards. Finally she took a seat on the edge of the bed. She was absolutely naked and absolutely stunning.
“Perfect,” Orio
n whispered. “Absolutely perfect.”
He kissed the inside of her thigh. Moving his lips up her leg toward her belly, he let his face barely skim the hair at the juncture of her thighs. He rested his hand on her mound. Then Orion gently pushed Eleni back on the bed and covered her body with his own. Letting each and every inch of his skin brush hers, Orion reveled in the sexy slide of flesh against flesh.
Eleni reached for him. She pulled him down on top of her and wrapped her legs around his waist to open her body to him. His erection pressed against the hot center of her core. Orion forced himself to wait. He stared down into her face and memorized every detail he could see in the glorious moonlight. It was a moment he would never forget.
Time spooled by unnoticed as Orion pushed into Eleni’s body. The two of them joined as one, his flesh embedded deep inside her welcoming core until the heat of her made him feel as though his entire being were on fire. He moved inside her, pushing against her cleft again and again until he felt everything inside her body tighten around him. She gasped and dug her nails into his shoulders. He felt the pain, but it only served to amplify the pleasure he experienced as he joined with the woman who had always been meant to belong to him.
There was no doubting how perfect the two of them were together when she climaxed hard in his arms. Her pleasure sent him spiraling over the edge and soon he joined her in that fulfillment that left them both gasping for air and clinging to each other as the sweat glistened on their bodies in the moonlight.
He didn’t know how much time passed. It didn’t matter. The two of them snuggled together in Eleni’s bed. It was as if right now there was nothing else. No Alaina. No Tisha. No murder to solve and no prenuptial agreement to investigate. There were no lies and no fear or longing. There was nothing but right here and right now.
Eleni exhaled a long sigh and pressed her face into Orion’s bare chest. “I suppose we have to go back to reality tomorrow.”
“Why?” The word seemed silly on his lips. Of course they had to go back to reality. But right now Orion did not even want to contemplate that chore. “Let’s just stay in bed forever. That would be good. Don’t you think?”
“While it sounds enticing, it doesn’t sound realistic.” She yawned. “And I suppose we should still discuss that whole... thing.”
Orion chuckled. “You can’t even say it. Can you?”
“Say what?”
“Proposal!” he teased. “You proposed to me. I accepted.”
She startled so fiercely that she nearly banged her head against his chin. Orion grabbed hold of her and held her on the bed against his side. She was grumbling something. He thought he distinctly heard something about not proposing and something else about women not doing that sort of thing. It was rather amusing all things considered.
“I did not propose to you,” she finally muttered.
“I think you did. At the holiday Christmas party you said that we were engaged. It was rather surprising, but honestly I was absolutely flattered and I’m not ashamed to say that I would love to be engaged to you.”
“Really?” She seemed genuinely shocked. “Wait. You were flattered?”
“A beautiful woman thought enough of me to tell the whole world that we are engaged. Hell yes, I was flattered! You’re probably far more woman in intelligence, looks, talent, and pretty much every way possible, than I deserve.”
“Now you’re just being ridiculous.” She was drumming her fingers against his bare chest.
He lightly pressed her hand against his pectoral muscles. “I would love to marry you, Eleni. Anytime. Anyplace. We can go as fast or as slow as you’d like. I will get a license tomorrow and we can do this. You just let me know what works for you.”
“You would do that?” She swallowed. He could feel her throat move against his arm. “For me. You would be so worried about me and what I want?”
“Absolutely.”
“I have to think about this.”
“Take all the time you need.” He stroked her hair. “But I think we should get some sleep because Christmas is coming fast.”
She actually laughed. “And this one is promising to be even crazier than ever before. Is that what you’re getting at?”
“Yes. Exactly what I was getting at.” Orion found her lips in the dark and kissed her before settling down to enjoy this very special night.
Chapter Eighteen
When Eleni and Orion had poked through the contents of Alaina’s Highland Park home the other evening, it had been dark and dim inside the house. At that time the place had seemed jam packed with stuff. In the light of day there was absolutely no way to quantify just how much worse the situation really was.
Eleni stepped into the foyer of her mother’s home and was simply stunned by the amount of stuff immediately visible. It looked as though Eleni had mistakenly stepped into an Orville’s Department Store warehouse or something similar. There were stacks and stacks of home goods. Towels, bath rugs, bathroom accessories still new in their boxes. Eleni could even see a stack of chrome trashcans sitting right next to a stack of identical ones in a brushed nickel finish.
That was what caused Eleni to realize what was likely going on inside her mother’s home. Armed with the ebay app on her smartphone, Eleni began to search for her mother’s seller name on the enormous buy and sell website. What she found was mind boggling.
“What are you doing here?” Alaina emerged from what had once been a well-appointed dining room with a glass of wine in her hand.
Eleni did not look up from the screen of her phone. “Mother, it is only nine o’clock in the morning. Why on earth are you drinking wine?”
“Because I want it.” Alaina took a long swig from her expensive cut crystal glass. “Why are you here? You didn’t answer me. I don’t want you here.”
“That’s not what you were saying the other night when you were begging Orion and I to stay because you didn’t want to be alone.”
“I don’t believe you.” Alaina turned her back and started sifting through a pile of what appeared to be shoe boxes. “And as long as you’re here, you need to help me find a box. It’s for a cute pair of deck shoes. I think I want to sell them. I just don’t wear them.”
“Mom, cut the crap,” Eleni snapped irritably. “I can tell what you’ve been doing.” She held up her phone. “I can see it too. But judging from the recent feedback on your account, you need to get your shit together and ship some of this stuff out.”
“I need money to ship.”
“So use the app and print the labels from here. It will take the cost out of your payments.”
Alaina looked disgruntled. “That only works when you have electricity to run a printer.”
“Okay, that’s something I didn’t think about.” Probably because the idea of not having electricity to print out a bunch of mailing labels was just bullshit. “What if I take you over to my place and print some of these out. We can use the tracking numbers to get them to release funds. Then you can pay the electric bill.”
“What?” Alaina looked incensed. “Why would I do something stupid like that?”
For just a moment Eleni was certain that her mother had misunderstood. Then she realized that Alaina honestly thought it was stupid to pay an electric bill.”
“Mom. You stole this stuff from the store. All right?” That was a horrible thing to have to admit, really; that her mother was a total shoplifting shopaholic. “But that was before Orville’s put a moratorium on your credit line. So if you can use all of this crap to make a little money and pay your bills, what’s wrong with that?”
“I don’t want to pay my bills.”
The petulant tone of her mother’s voice was enough to make Eleni grind her teeth in irritation. “You must be kidding, right? Who do you expect to pay your bills?”
“Your sister,” Alaina said stubbornly. “And if she won’t do it. You have to.”
“Not going to happen.”
“What?” For a mother, Alaina sur
e got pissed off quickly when someone told her no. She reached for Eleni, but Eleni quickly danced out of the way. “Don’t you talk like that to me!” Alaina snarled at her daughter.
“If that’s how you feel, then maybe you should use the money from this stuff to buy yourself a plane ticket to Italy. But you need to know that there are security measures in place to make sure that you aren’t even allowed to enter the villa where Embry lives.”
Alaina’s mouth fell open. For the first time Eleni noticed that her mother was dressed in casual yoga pants that were stained as though she had been wearing them for days on end. “Why would your sister do such a thing?”
“Embry wouldn’t Mom.” How could Eleni make her mother understand? “Her husband’s family would. Do you understand? You made yourself such a pain in the ass to them that they sold the chain of stores and fled the country just to get away from you!” Eleni threw her arms out to gesture to the stuff all around them. “And honestly, I can see why! Look at this stuff! You were robbing that store blind! You weren’t just taking a few things that you wanted or needed. You were literally stealing them bankrupt.”
“That is ridiculous!”
But no sooner had her mother gotten the words out then someone was pounding on the front door of the house. Eleni turned to look at the door. But before she could even attempt to answer it or to see who it was, her mother had grabbed her arm and dragged her to the floor.
Eleni gasped in shock. Then that shock turned to horror as she realized her mother was now army crawling her way from the foyer to the living room. Alaina was belly down on the marble floor scooting along when she spun halfway around and gestured for Eleni to follow.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
“Don’t let them see you!” Alaina said in a stage whisper. She was still busy heaving herself along in her stained yoga clothes. “It’s a process server. He’s been looking for me for a few weeks now.”
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 108