by Amy Redwood
He looked back at her face and into her cool eyes, but her scent was hot and sweet and, God yes, if he would slide his fingers between her legs he’d find her wet and ready.
Still, she was pissed off at him.
Maybe he had a thing for angry women. Maybe that was why he still wanted her. He wondered what she would do if he kissed her—if she would kiss him back or scratch out his eyes.
An angry fuck on the dirty floor, her nails scratching down his back.
His Kat.
He smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of rescuing you,” he said. “I was merely fixing the garden door when I heard a scream. Naturally, I assumed something bad had happened.”
“Nothing happened, just…go. You are trespassing on my property.” She stared at his arm where the weta crawled up again.
“You’re not afraid?” He hoped she would give the right answer.
“Of course not.” She stuck her chin out.
“Take it then, if you’re not afraid. Or do you need help getting it out of the house?” he said, and her eyes widened. He had pushed her into two choices, both of them equally unpleasant. What would she do? Overcome her fear or swallow her pride and ask him for help?
“Give it to me.” She held out her hand.
“Come to me and get it.” He couldn’t help it, it was too much fun pushing her buttons.
She pressed her lips into a thin line and took a step toward him. And another, until she stood next to him. He took her hand and held it next to his arm. She shivered and goose bumps erupted along her arm. He froze for a second. He’d pushed too far and it wasn’t funny anymore.
If she was scared, who was he to laugh?
But it was too late to stop what he’d started. The insect had passed on to her hand, but he still held her hand and knew he should let go. She looked up and met his gaze, and he saw a few faint freckles around her nose he hadn’t noticed before.
Her lips parted and her warm breath tickled his face. He leaned closer.
She snatched her hand away and stepped back. “It’s ugly.” She walked outside, carrying the weta on her outstretched arm.
He closed his eyes, slowly breathing out, and then followed her outside to return to his work at the gate. Looking over his shoulder, he watched how she released the weta into some shrubs. He tried to concentrate on the lock again, but after a while threw the screwdriver down and straightened up.
Come night, she’d find a wolf at her doorstep.
———
“Why is each and every contractor on vacation at the moment?” Katherine threw the pen she held into a corner, the clipboard following. She had spent the evening calling through the ads in the local business directory. If someone had picked up the phone at all, she had heard the same answer over and over again. She stood up and rescued the pen from the floor, the phone wedged between ear and shoulder.
“Sorry, miss, no one works if they don’t have to. It’s January. I got kids, right? Anyway, back February, but all booked ’til March,” the man on the phone said not unkindly, but all the same, he had been the last building contractor in the phonebook.
She thanked him, hung up and checked her watch. She had left her phone number and address with a few contractors in case they felt like working, but her hopes weren’t high. And in any case, she needed sleep and an early night was just the ticket to get her energy for the next day back. Her hands hurt, as did her knees. She’d spent the day on both, washing and scrubbing and cleaning. She thought she’d made a small dent in the mess that was her house.
Ada had given her the keys to her own garden shed, which contained a huge array of gardening tools. So tomorrow morning, she’d start tackling the weeds and overgrown shrubs.
After a quick shower, she slipped between the sheets of the huge bed, too exhausted to stand upright any longer. Sighing, she wished there was a TV to help her take her mind of things so she could fall asleep.
When a knock came at the door, she said, “Come in, Ada, it’s open.” If a little late for a visit, she thought.
“Now that’s just dangerous, leaving your door open like that.”
She gave a strangled gasp, her entire body surging awake. “What are you doing here?” she whispered, her heart beating in her throat.
Trent closed the door behind him. The lock clicked shut.
“Time to play, Kat.”
———
He stopped thinking about wrong or right, stopped thinking that he should keep his hands off her. Just looking at her with her hair wet from the shower and tucked beneath the white sheets was enough to make him lose sleep and forget principles.
Even underneath all that shampoo and lotion she’d used, her scent reached him, made him so fucking hard. He was a man first and a wolf second, but right now he wanted to shift and see her with his wolf senses. His eyesight flickered, wavered for a few seconds. He’d need to watch himself, knowing that his eyes changed first when he lost control over his inner wolf.
He couldn’t afford to lose control—it would scare her for life, scare her to death. One reason why he could only marry another shifter, another wolf like Viv.
But he’d been wrong about them—it wasn’t chemistry.
It was a goddamn sexual addiction.
No need to turn on the light, he could see her clearly enough, even though the sun had set. He tossed the box of condoms on the bed and watched her flush a delicate shade of red. She wore a gray, thin-looking tee to bed, and he had no idea if she wore panties or pajama bottoms, but he intended to find out. And any moment now she’d start yelling at him to get his ass out the door. He waited another couple of heartbeats, but she simply looked at him, lips slightly parted.
Standing at the foot end of the bed, he shrugged out of his shirt. “I’ll make you want me,” he said quietly. “And we won’t talk about it, discuss or analyze it the next day. I promise.” He loved her reaction—her eyes displayed the inner struggle between resistance and surrender.
“Like it was just a dream,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“The best dream you’ve ever had, Kat.”
She shivered, closed her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered. “Because I’m not strong enough to say no to you.”
Slowly, he pulled the sheet away from her, revealing her hips, panties and her long, long bare legs. She kept her legs close together but he wanted to see her, wanted her spread wide for his pleasure.
She drew her legs under her body, sat up on her heels. “In a dream, you can do anything, right?” she whispered, staring up at him in the dark room. She looked slightly lost, confused, and he felt a strange tugging at his heart, and then dismissed it. This was sexual, he reminded himself.
Just pure, raw lust.
He came over to the side of the bed. Her hair was still wet under his fingers as he brushed through the strands. He trailed lower, caressed her collarbone underneath the tee. For now, it was enough to see her nipples harden, but he’d taste them too, soon. “What is it you want, Kat?” He’d do anything for her, anything.
“This,” she said, reaching out and opening the zipper of his jeans. “I want this.” Hands hurried, she tugged and pulled until his jeans and boxer briefs landed on the floor. He stared down at her, her face just inches in front of his cock. Gritting his teeth, he choked back a groan. Her hand wrapped around his cock, stroked once. The pleasure the simple touch gave him brought him almost to his knees, but this wasn’t about him tonight.
Carefully, he brushed her hand aside, gave her a little push against the shoulder. “Lean back. I want to pleasure you, not the other way around.”
She shook her head, a defiant look in her eyes. “But you do,” she said, closing her hand around the thick, heavy length of his erection. “You do bring me pleasure.” She leaned forward, her strands of hair tickling his stomach, his groin. Before he could react, her mouth closed over the bulbous head of his cock. With a hoarse groan, he grabbed her shoulders as she sucked gently.
His balls pulled against h
is body, beneath the base of his cock. He was too goddamn close to coming, yet her lips and tongue moved along his shaft torturously slowly. “You’re killing me,” he pressed through his teeth, his fingers twining into her hair as she took her sweet time exploring him.
“And you’re making me so wet,” she whispered, her breath warm against his thigh. One hand wrapped around his cock, and she moved her other hand between her thighs.
Seeing her pleasuring herself while she sucked his cock almost made him come. Hell, not yet, he thought, fighting to hold back a few more seconds, but her mouth on him was just too sweet, too fucking good.
He grabbed her head tighter, trying to still her movements. “I can’t hold back, Kat, I can’t— Ah, fuck.” She sucked him as if she were starving, as if it brought her the same kind of lust it gave him. Hearing her moan in her throat, he felt an electric charge race up his spine, his balls, heavy and taut. He arched his hips as she took him deeper into her mouth. Feeling her tongue swirl around his cock, feeling how she worked to take him, a growl tore from his lips as all his muscles tightened and spurts of come shot from his cock deep into her mouth.
His breath still came hard when she gazed up at him. Her eyes, dark and glazed with lust, she brushed the back of her hand over her mouth.
He went to his knees, taking her face into his hands. “Bad, bad girl,” he whispered, seeing the corners of her mouth lift to a wicked smile that hit him square in the gut. “Did you like my cock in your mouth, Kat?” he asked, delighted when she lowered her gaze to avoid his. She switched from naughty to shy in the blink of an eye and he loved teasing her. He leaned forward, brushing her ear with his mouth, breathing in her scent. “Did you make yourself come?”
“No,” she said, “I didn’t, because…”
“Go on,” he prompted, taking a second, deeper breath of the scent of her skin. His groin tightened as he grew hard with the need to throw her onto her back and fuck all her inhibitions away.
“I want you to make me come,” she whispered. “It feels so good and so…right.”
He closed his eyes, cursing inwardly. When he least expected it, she pulled the rug away from under his feet. He was way too into her, knew it, but still couldn’t do the right thing and walk away. Nudging his hand between her thighs, he touched her pussy through her soaked panties. She jerked against his touch. He groaned when he found her swollen and so damn wet.
“You’re not leaving now, are you?” she said, raising her eyebrow. “Can you still…I mean are you still up for more?”
He broke out laughing, couldn’t help it. “If I were you,” he said, rubbing his thumb across her clit, “I’d worry about myself.” Leaning forward, kissing her, he tasted himself on her lips, on her tongue. She returned his kiss, hungrily, urgently.
She smelled of him, tasted of him, her hands tugging at his shoulders in an effort to pull him onto the bed. He let her have her way, followed the tug of her hands, slid onto bed with her, on top of her. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her legs tightly around his waist, and her breath was hard and hot against his throat as she moaned.
A primal satisfaction spread through his body, his mind, pleasing both the man and the wolf within him. And he wanted more, wanted all she could give tonight.
She bucked her hips against him, a low, keening sound at the back of her throat. He loved the sounds she made in bed, loved to be the one causing it. Cupping her breast into his palm, he sucked her nipple into his mouth.
The edges of her fingernails sliced into the skin on his shoulder blades, the pain surprisingly sharp. “Fuck me, Trent,” she said, and made him hesitate. Hearing her say his name for the first time shouldn’t have an effect on him, but strangely it did. “Now, McGregor.” Her teeth nipped at his neck and then she bit into his shoulder muscle.
A sudden growl shot from his mouth at her roughness, the wolf inside him dying to come out. His spine tingled, his nails itching to elongate. “Damn,” he said, forcing himself to control his body when all he wanted to do was tip his head back and howl.
He met her gaze, saw her eyes widen, her movements under him freezing. She reached up, touched his cheek. “Your eyes,” she whispered. “What is—”
“Ah, fuck.” He grabbed her by her hips, flipped her over while she screamed out her protest. Catching her wrists, pulling her hands behind the small of her back, he placed his knee none too gently on her ass, pinning her onto the mattress with his weight and without a chance of escaping. “Hold still, Kat.”
Her heel hit him in the side as she thrashed her legs. “Hold still, my ass,” she hissed, her breath coming hard and fast as if she’d just sprinted. “You let me go this second.”
He grinned, remembering that she didn’t quite enjoy being on her stomach. At least not right now. Stretching out his arm, he grabbed the box of condoms, shook until they rained down onto the bed. He ripped one open with his teeth, sheathed his cock. Keeping her wrists in one hand, he tugged her panties down, shoved his knee between her thighs, spread her wide. She had the most luscious, round ass, and when he brought the flat of his hand down on her pale cheek, he heard her choking back a scream. “Raise your ass for me, Kat.”
She moaned, rocked her hips against the mattress. “Stop that.” He spanked her again, harder, and she stopped all movements. Sliding his hand between her thighs, he traced over her wet folds, stroked her clit. “Come on,” he teased, slipping his finger into her hot pussy. “It will feel good, will hurt so good.”
“You really are a bastard,” she ground out, slowly lifting her bottom high in the air, her head resting on a pillow. Licking his lip, he spanked her again, made her cry out in surprise.
“Next time, you’ll do it faster.” He grasped her hips, fingers digging into her flesh, and thrust his cock deep into her hot pussy. The pillow muffled her scream, but when he pulled away and thrust back into her tight cunt, he heard her moan, heard her say his name. His blood roared in his ears and everything in his world centered on this moment, on him inside her, fucking her. He began moving, his cock sliding in and out her tight core, her juices slicking the length of his shaft.
She moved readily against him, matching his strokes, urging him on to fuck her faster. He coated his thumb with her juices, slipped it into her ass, felt her tense then relax at his intrusion. Fucking her in hard, steady strokes, he felt her pussy tightening, pulsing. She cried out as she climaxed in fast contractions around his cock. So hot, so wet, and mine, he thought, biting down on his teeth at the sharp spike of pleasure the image gave him. Thoughts slipped away as he drove his cock deeper into her convulsing cunt. He tipped his head back, pulled her tight against his groin and spurted his come into her tight heat.
Staying like that, waiting for his breath to even out, he ran his hand up her spine. Her skin was damp with sweat and she trembled beneath his touch. With regret, he slipped out of her.
He went to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. For a moment he grabbed the sink, closed his eyes, heard her shift in the bed. No human man would have heard the faint sob coming from her throat. Tears, he thought. Again.
He raised his head, caught sight of himself in the mirror. He was glad to see that his eyes had shifted back, but now his conscience kicked in a gut-clenching way. She was a heartbroken mess yet he played with her, took advantage of her vulnerability.
He could dry her tears and offer a friendly hug, or he could take her for another hard ride to make her forget her sorrows. Well, the choice was an easy one.
She was right, he thought.
He really was a bastard.
Chapter Six
“Looks great.”
Katherine looked up to see Ada standing at the fence. Lucky bounced next to her, trying to catch a butterfly.
“If I ever again hear someone saying garden work is relaxing, I’ll kill him.” Katherine laughed, wiping her sweaty forehead with her shirt.
She had clipped the entire morning away, working on the flowery shrubs in the front yard, and s
he was raking the last branches together. She took a swig from her water bottle and admired her work.
Ada grabbed Lucky by his collar. “I have to run some errands and can’t take him along, would you mind watching him for a while?”
Katherine gulped down more water, nodded. “Sure, why not.”
“Great, why don’t you take him for a walk on the beach? You deserve a break, and he needs to run off his energy. Would that be okay?”
Katherine hesitated. She had planned to tackle the shrubs in the backyard, and a break was time lost. Still, she couldn’t say no. Without Ada, she wouldn’t even have the tools to work in the garden.
“Give me a minute.” Katherine plucked a fat, hairy caterpillar from her shirt and let it crawl away into safety. ”I have to change into something without bugs.”
Ten minutes and a quick shower later, Lucky was pulling like mad on his leash as she walked away from Ada’s house. Letting him lead the way, she could barely contain the dog’s eagerness to get closer to the water.
The low tide revealed sandbanks with hundreds of shells, and she cursed her decision to leave her shoes behind. The shells crunched under her bare feet. She walked gingerly over their sharp edges, watching every step. Only a few people strolled along the beach while a group of kids played touch ball farther away under hoots of laughter. Lucky pricked his ears and instead of pulling closer to the water, he leaped into the direction of the playing kids.
She lost her grip on the leash.
“No! Lucky, come back!” Heaven forbid she lose Ada’s dog.
He bounded away at full speed. She could still see him and was relieved when the dog stopped at the group of kids. She jogged after him, grimacing when a shell cut her foot and saw the dog barking at someone sitting in the sand.
No. She stopped. No, please, not him.
Trent got up from the sand and removed the leash. The dog stopped barking and bolted away to chase seagulls.