by Amy Redwood
He reached out, ran a hand slowly across her cheek. “My friends are right, I truly am an idiot. I’m so sorry I hurt you, so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“But I’m not the right woman for you, is that it?” she said, and proved herself wrong. It did hurt more the second time around.
“I actually want to kill myself right now,” he said, eyes closed, shaking his head. “Come to me,” he said, his hand curling around her shoulder and tugging her toward him. When she didn’t move fast enough, he leaned forward, wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her onto his cross-legged lap.
She almost shied away from his body heat as his chest brushed against her breasts, his hard cock suddenly so temptingly snug against her pussy. She wrapped her legs around him, her arms, and gave a sigh as he wrapped around her, pulled her closer still. It sure didn’t feel like she wasn’t right for him.
“Relax.” He stroked his hand up and down her back and only then did she notice that she was holding her breath, her body so tense she thought she’d snap in two. “Look, you won’t understand it,” he said, seeking her gaze and holding it, “but you are already a part of me.” He drew in a long, hard breath. “There’s nothing in this world more right for me than you.”
She heard how longing lingered in each of his words. It shocked her almost as much as seeing him as a wolf for the first had done.
“And why wait until now to tell me that?”
“You were about to get married, Katherine,” he pressed through his teeth. “Sorry, but I didn’t know that you weren’t in love with him anymore. It would have helped if you’d told me.”
“And if I hadn’t come to you, you wouldn’t have come after me?” She heard it in her voice, the faint accusation, the doubt if he really wanted her as badly as he said.
“I’d do anything, follow you everywhere just to be close to you,” he said quietly. “But if you love someone else, then I need to let you go. And I wanted you so much my self-control was slipping, as you saw at the party. Just imagine for a moment that you really wanted to marry him.” His voice had risen, and there was anger lurking in his eyes. “I can’t force you to love me, but I sure as hell can force myself on you. Is that what you want in a man, mindless violence?”
She shook her head, swallowing hard.
He let out a deep breath. “I thought if half the world separated you from me, I’d somehow be able to move on. I sincerely doubt it would have worked. There’s that part in me that would have never, ever gotten over you.”
“When you say that I’m a part of you,” she asked quietly, “what exactly do you mean by that?”
Another pained expression rippled over his face. “How long have you known me?”
“One really hot week.” She rocked against him, her eyelids fluttering shut. His cock was hard against her, and she was so wet that her pussy slid smoothly up and down against his shaft. He wanted her. It had been easier to believe the opposite, but here he was, in her arms.
“I need you, Trent. Right now.”
“Do you know that wolves mate for life?”
“I’d say that’s common knowledge.” She opened her eyes, seeking his gaze. “But you’re not a wolf all the time, right?”
“But I’ll still make sure you’ll never want to kiss anyone other than me. And we both know what I mean when I say kiss.”
“Is there a catch?” she asked, because she couldn’t spot one but he sure as hell sounded like there was one. “It’s sounds almost too good to be true.”
“There’s a catch,” he said.
“Whatever it is, you’ll tell me later,” she said, rocking against him, making sure he felt how wet she was, how hot. “I need you inside me.”
When he opened his mouth, a worried frown on his forehead, she rubbed herself against him, her nipples growing hard and taut against his chest. “I’m so wet for you,” she whispered. “And I need your cock inside me. Make me come, Trent.”
She rolled her hips against his cock, again and again, until his arms closed harder around her and his mouth sought hers. He groaned, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. He swallowed her moans, kissing her long and thoroughly, giving her no time to think only to feel.
His kiss grew deeper, possessive, and when he arched her back, his mouth closing around her nipple, she cried out as he sucked at her breast. She could feel the pull everywhere, her cunt achingly empty.
When she lifted her hips, trying to take his cock inside her, his low growl stopped her short. He leaned forward, holding her tight in his arms so she wouldn’t slip from his knees, and grabbed a condom from the ground. With quick movements, he sheathed himself.
His hands came around her ass, lifted her. He nudged against her, the thick head of his cock sliding through her wet folds. She lowered himself on him, moaning as she felt his cock penetrating her cunt inch for thick inch. Needing to feel him deep, she thrust down on him, taking all of his length in one slick motion. She cried out, the feeling of him so incredibly good that she held still, savoring the moment.
“Ride me,” he growled, supporting her weight while she rocked his cock in and out of her wet pussy in long, languid strokes. “That’s right, Kat. Nice and slow.” His fingers dug into her flesh as he guided her with his hands. “You’re so wet and tight and so damn hot around my cock.”
The fire between them built with each thrust, and she could feel herself hurling toward her climax faster than she wished. She slowed, tried to slow his thrusts, but she loved how his thick cock slid so easily into her, how incredible it felt when she clenched around him.
She kept her gaze on his face, taking him faster, her breathing too ragged, too rough, making her lightheaded and so deliriously happy. Her movements grew more desperate when she reached that sweet point where she just needed to let go.
“Come for me, Kat,” he whispered, his grip hard around her hips as he rocked her harder on his cock. “I love to watch you come.”
His eyes had changed to that yellow golden glow. Hunger lit his gaze, and such fierce possessive heat that she bucked against him, spears of fire racing up her spine, spreading like a wildfire through her entire body. Pulsing, her pussy clamped down on his cock, and she couldn’t catch her breath as wave after wave of pure pleasure rolled through her.
Still gasping for breath, she cried out as he pushed her from his lap and flipped her over. He dragged her up to her knees. Her thighs still trembling from her climax, she felt one hand coming down on her back, and his other caught her hip and pulled her ass against him. With his knee, he spread her legs apart. Holding her in place, he pressed his erection against her drenched cunt. “Do you want me,” he said, his voice rough, the grumbling deep in his throat. “Are you mine, Kat?”
“God yes,” she whispered, her fingers digging into the soft ground as her entire body started shaking with fresh need. “I want you forever.”
He surged into her, wringing another startled cry from her lips. Taking raw thrust after thrust, he slammed tightly against her ass as he fucked her. Filling, stretching her impossibly deep and wide, he pounded his cock into her, the friction so incredibly hot. He groaned, the sound animalistic, and he angled his hips, deepening the penetration. He stretched over her, his arms closing around her front as he pulled her up and against him. On her knees, she rested against his muscled chest while his thrusts grew slower, more deliberate.
“Mine,” he whispered against her neck, his arms locking her against him. “I have to make you mine again, woman. The first time, I wasn’t even thinking straight.”
She froze when his teeth, too sharp to belong to a human, scraped over her shoulder. Before she could comprehend, he sank his cock deep into her cunt and his teeth into her shoulder.
Despite the pain, pleasure exploded in her mind as she realized that he was marking her as his. The sensation of being bitten so strange yet already familiar, she screamed as her orgasm tore through her body, the release brutal in its intensity. She heard her own sob, feeling
as if she shattered into a million pieces. He slammed into her, his cock pulsing and jerking inside her pussy as he came, his hoarse shout too close to a howl.
Sucking in air, she fell forward as his tight grip around her body loosened. She came up on her side, feeling as if her leg muscles were completely gone, her entire body too weak to move. When she touched the spot where he had bit her, she let out a faint groan. Her shoulder was throbbing, but knowing that he had marked her as his woman was too much of a turn-on to complain about the slight pain.
“Are you trying to kill me?” she muttered, tried to turn her head to look at him, but even that was too much effort. Another orgasm like that, and she’d probably never open her eyes again. Giving up, she stretched out on the ground. She heard him move, felt him stretch out at her side.
When he drew her into his arms, pressing his lips against her forehead, she rolled against his chest and cuddled closer to his pounding heart. Savoring the feel of him, she wished she could freeze this moment—their bodies touching, legs entangling and fingers intertwining.
Then she realized that she didn’t have to freeze this moment because they’d have more, many more, and her heart lifted.
“Are you okay?” he asked finally, stroking his fingers through her hair. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Hurt? Trent, I nearly passed out.” She felt him tense, his fingers freezing to a stop in her hair. “Yes, it goddamn hurt, but in the best possible way. You did that at the beach with me, I remember, but this was worse.”
“Worse in a good way?” he asked, his voice strained.
“Yes, hurts like hell, I love it,” she said, deciding to tease him just a little bit, twisting in his arms and sliding on top of him. She pushed herself up on her hands, looking at him lying beneath her. “Why did you do that?” Tell me I’m yours again, she thought, wondering if she was too needy, but she wanted to hear him say it.
He gazed up at her, his dark eyes searching her face, and then he sighed. “Thank God, no more water works. Makes me want to take you all over again just for the joy of seeing you smiling afterward.”
“Trent, why did you do that? Is it a wolf thing?”
“Maybe.” When he grinned, his dark eyes sparkling up at her, she leaned in, licked along his bottom lip until he wrapped her into his arms and gave her a deep, lingering kiss. “You’re my mate,” he whispered. “I’d do anything for you.”
“Anything?” she asked. “There’s a catch somewhere, right?” She laughed, had meant it as a joke, but his smile sobered suddenly and she remembered that he’d been trying to tell her something earlier. “Okay, what’s the catch, Trent?”
“Look,” he said, stroking his hand up and down her spine, tracing each vertebra along the way, “it’s way, way too early for this kind of talk, and God knows, once you get to know me better with each passing day you may change your mind about us, but—”
“Come to the point,” she said quietly. “And I’m not liking one bit that you basically called me a flake.” She glared down at him, understanding much better what he’d done to her than he might think. If he called her his mate, then he meant for life. And with him, she wouldn’t need a ring or a ceremony to bind them together. She didn’t feel the need for marriage. Everything she wanted, she already had.
But he didn’t gave her the same credit, didn’t think her capable for life-long commitment. Because she’d already left one man in favor for another—even if that man was him. “You don’t trust me, right? You don’t trust that I’ll stay with you because I’m not a wolf.”
“Katherine,” he said. “I trust you.”
She blinked, thrown by the sincerity in his eyes. “You do?”
“Yes, I do. What I was trying to tell you is that if you stay with me, you won’t have children.”
Shaking her head, she tried to wrap her mind around his statement. It didn’t make any sense. “And why is that?”
“Because I’m a shifter and you are not.”
She threw her hands up. “So?”
“My mother died giving birth to me. My father was never the same again. He was there for me, yes, but there was something broken inside him. He focused on his work, and Ada helped raise me. When I was eleven, I shifted for the first time and he guided me through it, helped me understand, told me that I was a man now. A day later, he took a boat out to sea and never came back.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, her heart going out to him. “But why do you think that would happen to me, to us?”
“Because the numbers are against us,” he said. “I’ve heard about complications too often. And I won’t risk losing you, won’t risk your life because you’re pregnant with my child.”
She nodded, understanding that his weren’t idle words, understanding his stringent use of condoms, and the horror on his face when he’d been inside her unprotected. So far, she hadn’t felt the urge to have children, hadn’t heard a clock ticking. But it wasn’t implausible that she would someday. “I understand,” she said quietly. “I want to be with you, Trent. Everything else, and I mean everything, comes second.”
She stretched out on top of him, her cheek resting on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his body. It was enough, she thought, having him.
“Trent?”
“Hmm?”
“You said you’d do anything for me, right?”
“I’ll also spank your little ass black and blue if you abuse that power.”
She grinned. “I’m not selling you my house.”
His arms came around her, flipped her over. “But it’s already mine.”
“I want it back.” She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer.
“Sorry, it was the best deal I ever landed.”
“I won’t honor the contract, Trent. I want the house back. It feels wrong to take that money from you. It’s not like you have a job anymore.”
“I’ll sue you then.” He laughed, a low, rumbling laugh that sounded as if he was very pleased with himself. He trailed kisses along her jaw, moved lower, kissed her breast. “I mean it, Yankee. I love that house. Not as much as I love you, but I won’t give it up.”
“Say that again,” she said quietly, his mouth around her nipple making her arch up.
“What? That I’ll sue you?”
She wrapped her arms around him, digging her fingernails into his back. “Not that.”
“What, that I love the house?”
“No, not that.” She sucked in her breath as he moved lower, trailing kisses across her stomach.
“Tell you what, Yankee. New deal,” he said. “You’ll get your license to work here first, and then—”
“I already have that. Ages ago, Jack made me because he was planning to branch out in Auckland. I pick my battles with him very carefully, so I just got the license. Call me a pushover for all I care. But I was pretty sure that his plans wouldn’t pan out anyway. Thankfully, I was right. You have no idea how many fights I’ve had with him because I refused his job offers.”
“Then you’ll open your law firm here, in Auckland. And I’ll spend some time renovating the house. And if I ever ask you to marry me, you’ll say yes. Voila, you’ll get all my untold riches as well as the house in one swoop.”
“What, no prenup? What kind of lawyer are you?”
“Honey,” he drawled, meeting her eye with a mischievous gleam. “You are Jack Watts’ daughter. You should be the one demanding a prenup.”
She counted to three then ten, trying to stay calm, but it was no good. “Trent, I own not a penny of his money and if you plan to use his connections to your benefit, then—”
“Shhh,” he said quietly. “Relax, Yankee. I was pulling your strings. I pretty much figured at the party that this topic was likely to rile you up. I want or need nothing of him.”
“Fine,” she said, feeling silly for losing it. “I’m still not going to marry you.” She closed her eyes as he moved lower still, his hands wrapping around her hips. “I
fear I’m not the marrying kind.”
“Sure you are.”
“Nope,” she said. “And I’m not up to what you’re doing down there between my legs either.”
“Want to bet?” he said. “It’s only fair if I tell you that I always win though.”
“Not this time,” she said with a grin. “But you’re on. Prove me wrong.”
“Ah, I do love a challenge.”
She gave herself over to his mouth, his tongue, gave herself over to him until she cried out in pleasure as he proved her very wrong indeed. And she knew, someday, he’d prove her wrong again.
And it would feel just as good.
Epilogue
“Come on, let’s escape for a second.”
Katherine looked up, surprised. She hadn’t heard Trent enter, but now she glanced into his dark eyes.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
“I know, don’t throw me out. The last several days have been hectic. We haven’t had a chance to be alone in a while.” Taking her hand, he walked her out of the makeshift dressing room.
They passed a couple of white tents at the beach and curious glances followed them, but no one asked questions. Obviously, their family and friends were used to them acting strange.
Despite his wish to talk, Trent was silent until they were out of earshot from their guests, but not out of sight. It became increasingly harder to walk over the black sand in her high-heeled sandals, and the grains seeped into her shoes. She took them off and carried them in her hand.
Trent sighed, ruffling his hair. “How do you feel?”
“Bit nervous actually.”
She looked over her shoulder, back at the white tents, and noticed Ada waving in her direction. The little girl on Ada’s hand broke free and tried to run away, but fell flat on her bottom the next second.