“So how’d it go with Mercy?” I ask, as I retrieve the stuffed mushrooms from the oven where they were being kept warm.
“I’m not sure,” she tells me, sounding a little uncertain.
“She wasn’t what you thought she’d be?” I’ve heard she can be a real bitch. Misty has too, so it shouldn’t be a surprise if that turned out to be true, but I know Misty idolizes the woman so it wouldn’t have been pleasant if she turned out to be as bad as everyone seems to think.
“She was pretty amazing, actually,” Misty tells me. “But she is kind of a suspect in this whole gator attack thing, and she did make me an offer that felt a little suspicious.”
I plate up our starter and bring it over to the table. “Suspicious how?”
“She wants me to cover her maternity leave at the station.” She shrugs as she picks up her fork and knife. “This looks so good, Sam. Thanks for making dinner.”
My brain clings onto what she just said, realizing it means she can stay in town. I know she doesn’t enjoy her current job, but it’s a job and she’s kind of a workaholic. It was always going to be a sticking point, but I was trying to ignore that, knowing that once we became mates we’d figure something out. Now? Fate seems to be working in our favor. I can’t hold back a grin.
“You’re going to work right here in town?”
She smiles back, but it’s hesitant. “I mean it’s the offer of a lifetime, but it’s too good to be true, isn’t it?”
“It sounds perfect to me,” I tell her. “Sometimes good things just happen. What makes you think it’s suspicious?”
“Well,” she says with a sigh. “She knows what I’m in town for. It just felt kind of out of the blue.”
“Did she give any reason for the offer, or did she make any kind of veiled threat?” I ask, trying to get a handle on why Misty seems so uncertain about it. To me, it’s good news. She doesn’t seem to be able to see it the same way.
“She said she wanted to give the chance to someone who’d appreciate it,” she tells me, shrugging. “My email asking if I could interview her for my segment seemed to just get to her at the right time, I guess. It just feels kind of out of nowhere. I’ll feel better once I rule her out as a suspect.”
The anxious energy the conversation seems to have stirred in her isn’t going to be helpful, so I decide to stop trying to get her to see what a perfect opportunity she’s just been given. I suspect she just can’t believe she’s getting the chance to step into her idol’s shoes. It’s going to take some time to sink in.
“So I thought we might retire to your room after dinner,” I tell her, as we start to eat.
She raises an eyebrow at me. “We’re supposed to be taking this slow, Sam. You remember that, right?”
“Actually, I was thinking I just wanted to have one of our sleepovers. Watch TV and talk about whatever until you crash out and I can watch you sleep.”
She snorts. “You used to watch me sleep?”
The mood lightened, we joke around through dinner and I load up the dishwasher while Misty heads upstairs. It already feels like we’ve gotten the closeness back that we lost when she walked away from me all those years ago. It’s a massive step in the right direction, but we’re still not all the way to where I want us to be. If we really just sleep next to each other tonight, I can’t be sure she won’t consummate the claim Justin made on her.
I stand in the kitchen, running a hand through my hair and trying not to pull too hard. I can’t fuck things up tonight. As much as I’m sure she’s mine, I know Justin feels the exact same way. Ty has been less apparent, but I know he has feelings for Misty as well, he just keeps them closer to his chest. She wants things slow. I need to give her that. But I can’t help worrying that it means she’ll end up mated to someone else.
I move upstairs slowly, taking my time as I try to calm my racing thoughts. I still have hours with her. In her bed. I use the bathroom before I go in there, the same bathroom I used to escape to once she was asleep, to take care of the hard on I always wound up with. Every single time. She had no clue. Tonight, she will. I wonder how much that’ll change things. I wonder if it even will.
I go into the bedroom and find her under the covers, at least half undressed. My jaw slackens as I close the door. She has a silky green camisole with a black bra underneath. I can only imagine the panties she’s barely wearing under the covers.
“Are you getting in?” she asks, pulling the covers back at my side of the bed.
I pull my T-shirt over my head and ditch it on the carpet, jeans next. Her gaze is searing as she watches me strip. I keep the boxers on, not pushing my luck that far. They’re stretched out at the sight of her though, and her stare tells me she sees this.
“This feels a little different than it ever did before,” I admit, as I get in next to her, waiting to see what move she’s going to make. She was asking me to slow down before. Now she seems to be speeding things up. I’m not sure what’s going on, and I don’t want to screw things up.
She turns on the TV, and gets comfy. I do the same. We’re ignoring the growing sexual tension, then. Okay. Let’s see if she breaks before I do.
Fifty-One
Misty
I move upstairs while Sam clears the table, already sure that something’s going to happen between us tonight. Despite his insistence that he wants a more innocent connection, I know once we’re in bed together we’re not going to be able to stop the inevitable.
I go into my old room and find the bedside lamps are on, bathing the room in a soft glow. I remember all the nights we spent in here together, how much fun we had just talking and watching dumb movies. I loved him then, even if I was oblivious to it. I love him now. Why shouldn’t this be as simple as saying those words out loud?
Mercy’s words push through my thoughts. Stop resisting. Let it happen.
I sit on the edge of the bed and start unbuttoning my shirt. I’m not going to pounce on him the moment he walks in the room, but I’m not going to pretend I don’t want him either. I strip out of the dress I put on for this date and slip under the sheets in my lacy underwear and silk camisole.
When Sam walks in and sees me, he’s quick to strip down to his underwear too. It’s not like I haven’t seen him in swimwear before, but this is the first time in years I’m getting an eyeful of his body. He’s definitely been hitting the gym harder than he ever used to, and he was never slack on keeping himself fit.
I somehow manage not to drown in my own drool as he gets into bed beside me. Just knowing he’s close, knowing he’s ready and waiting for me, sets off a throbbing pulse between my legs. I squirm a little as the TV goes on and I try to let an old black and white movie distract me from the feeling.
Sam moves in close, and slips his arm around my waist, laying his head on my shoulder and pressing his lips to my collar-bone. I shiver as goose-bumps flash over my skin, and I feel my nipples prickle into hard points inside my bra.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment,” Sam tells me, his voice soft.
My heart begins to race as I realize this is it. The moment of truth.
“I love you,” I tell him, knowing the moment the words are out of my mouth that they’re the God’s honest truth and I’m feeling them with all my heart and soul.
This is it. This is right. He’s my mate. I love him. I’ve always loved him.
He moves up and gazes into my eyes. “I love you too.”
I dip my head forward, initiating a kiss that quickly becomes something more. The moment I run my hands through his hair, his tongue glides into my mouth and the satisfied moan he lets out is followed by quick and decisive movement.
Sam’s ravenous kiss deepens as he parts my legs with his hand, and his fingers impatiently pushing aside my panties. His touch is rough and wrings gasps from me as he strokes my clit with his thumb and pushes two fingers inside me. I’ve been on edge for so long it barely takes a few minutes of stroking to thrust me over the edge
. My body tenses as my climax hits, intense feeling soaring through me. I moan into his mouth and he ends the kiss to gaze at me.
“You’re ready to take me as your mate,” he tells me, raw desire in his tone.
I nod, though it’s not a question. He knows I’m ready. I know I am.
“I am,” I confirm.
His grin is unbreakable. “You should take off your underwear. I wouldn’t want to rip it in my haste to get you naked.”
“You’re that keen to see me naked?” I raise an eyebrow at him. “You’ve already seen me.”
“That’s true,” he tells me, tugging at the camisole. “I saw you naked in front of two other men.”
He did. I think about Justin and Tyler and the guilt I expect to feel doesn’t hit. My desire only grows. I wish they were here right now. Watching us. Joining us.
Holy hell, Misty. Get a grip on yourself.
“How did that make you feel?” I ask as I strip out of the camisole.
“Jealous,” he tells me. “Possessive.”
He moves and I lift my hips to help him remove my panties. Just feeling his hands move down the outside of my thighs makes me tremble in anticipation. It’s been a damn long time since I got laid, and that isn’t what this is. It’s so much more that I can barely handle the thought of it.
“Is that all?” I ask, wishing somewhere in the back of my mind that I could just have all three of the men I’m in love with.
Sam’s gaze falters a little before he smiles. “I also got rock hard the moment I saw you, like I am right now.”
He strips off his boxers and I remove my bra. He moves between my spread legs and goes back to kissing me. I shake a little as my hands move down his muscular back. I can feel the hard length of his cock against my inner thigh. He’s big. I knew he would be.
He moves from my lips to kiss my neck and move down my body. I clear my throat, trying to force myself to think straight. I’m seconds from begging him to fuck me, but I can’t ignore the consequences of that.
“Sam, we need protection.”
He lifts his head before his lips get to my right nipple. “I’ve got it covered,” he tells me, before he latches his mouth to my breast and sucks hard enough to make me gasp.
His right hand slips between my legs and begins stroking again, as he alternates licking and sucking my breasts until they’re tender. I come a second time under his rough touch and he moves his hand away, giving me a moment to recover.
I reach down and stroke his shaft, making him moan lightly as he gazes down at me.
“You need to let me get ready,” he tells me, as he leans to the right an pulls open my bedside drawer. The condom he produces makes me raise an eyebrow.
He shrugs. “I didn’t know this would happen tonight, but I hoped it would.”
Some tiny part of me is a little disappointed. I secretly wanted him to resist using protection. The thought shocks me. I put it down to the whole mates thing. I’m not ready for kids and that’s what it would mean to forego the rubber. Mating means more than finding the man you’re destined for. It means starting a family.
“Are you okay, Misty?” He asks, laying back on top of me.
“I’m fine,” I tell him, not quite sure I am. Some deep buried instinct wants me to tell him to come inside me, to lay his claim on me properly. I shove that instinct aside, but it wants to keep coming back.
“You don’t look fine. You look like you’re freaking out,” he admits.
“I want you, Sam. I’m ready for you to claim me,” I tell him, knowing when he gazes into my freaky monster eyes that he knows I’m telling the truth.
It’s enough to spur him on, to fill my drenched pussy with his thick cock. I gasp as he enters me, an explosion of ecstasy washing over me as he begins to thrust. I had no idea sex could feel so incredible. He’s filling me to breaking point, pushing inside so deeply I can’t think straight. All I want is this, all I want is him.
“Tell me you’re mine, Misty,” Sam whispers, something urgent in his tone.
“I’m yours,” I cry out, breathless and ready to come for a fourth time already. “Oh, Sam. I’m yours.”
“And I’m yours,” he tells me, as he continues to slam into me. “My mate.”
I wait for the sense of panic to crash over me at his words. It doesn’t happen. Oh thank the heavens. This is right. It’s fate, and that doesn’t scare me. I want him. I need him. He’s my mate.
Fifty-Two
Tyler
Justin’s been squirmy tonight and I can guess why. The thought of Misty in Sam’s arms, under his body, is at odds with the image he has of her in his. I don’t bother to share my theory with him. He was human most of his life. It won’t be easy for him to accept the kind of relationship that’s more prevalent amongst shifters. I won’t be the messenger who opens his eyes to it.
He’ll figure out that’s where this whole thing is headed soon enough.
“I need food,” he says, moving toward the door.
“Good idea. Let’s go out for pizza.”
He frowns at me. “I can bring some back.”
And he’s missing the whole point of us hanging out together tonight. He’s distracted, I get it. I’m sympathetic, but I’m not about to let him bail on me just because I understand why he can’t sit still.
“Justin, it’s not a good idea for either of us to be alone right now. Not while the animal attacks are still rife. I need you to help me stay human, and you need me for the same reason.”
“Misty showed me where the pizza place was. It’s just past the Italian restaurant. I can get there and back in like twenty minutes,” he tries, apparently determined to shake me.
Oh. Okay. I get it. He has a specific plan. Probably relating to ruining Sam’s night alone with Misty.
“I could go for a walk,” I tell him. “We could both use some air.”
His exasperated sigh is quiet. He’s at least trying to rein the urge in.
“Desperation isn’t a good look.” I decide to try a different tact. “You think Misty will decide you’re her mate because you’re jealous enough to show up when she’s on a date with another guy? I didn’t think you were a meathead, Justin. She doesn’t think you are either. Don’t destroy the opinion she has of you just because you have zero patience in this situation.”
He stares at me for a few long seconds, and I can tell something I said hit home when he starts to look a little ashamed. He shakes his head. “How can you stand this? The waiting. It’s driving me…” He trails off when his phone starts to ring, pulling it out of his pocket and frowning at it before answering. “Hello?”
I go to the door while he turns away, pressing the phone to his ear tighter and frowning.
“I can barely hear…” he says, before straightening suddenly and dropping the phone.
His eyes are glowing and slitted when he looks back at me. His skin is rippling all over. He’s about to shift. Holy fucking shit.
“Calm down, Justin. Concentrate…”
He hisses at me before shifting entirely and making for the door. His gator smashes through it as if it were made of paper and slithers out into the night. I stare at the busted up wood, or rather the busted up cheap plywood. Then I move toward his phone, hesitating when I see the call hasn’t ended.
It’s either a huge coincidence that someone called Justin right before he spontaneously shifted forms, or we’re a huge step closer to realizing what the hell’s going on with these animal attacks.
I leave the phone where it is, not willing to risk the same thing happening to me. I head out after Justin, tracking him by scent as I get into my car. He can’t get to where he’s going tonight. I need to find a way to stop that. I can’t let him become an unwitting murderer. I can’t let another woman die.
Thoughts of Trish fill my head as I drive out toward the lake, on Justin’s trail. She didn’t deserve what happened, and I’d do anything to undo what I did to her. Unfortunately that’s not an option, so I’
m going to have to settle for making sure it can’t happen to anyone else.
Fifty-Three
Misty
It’s dark when I wake up in Sam’s arms, not quite trapped but close. I manage to slip out of his grasp without waking him. I’d go straight back to sleep but I kind of have to answer a call of nature.
I pick up my underwear and put it on, before I make my way out of my room. I’ve never been the kind of girl to walk around her house with a bare-ass. Even when I know I’m alone. From what Sam told me after we were basking in the afterglow of our mating, I shouldn’t need to worry about walking into my mom, or worse, his dad, because they’ll both be at his dad’s place.
That’s still a little weird to me. I mean my mom always liked Jeremiah, I just didn’t think it was in a more than like kind of way.
Stifling a yawn, I open the bathroom door and decide not to bother with the light switch. It’s not that dark and I don’t close the door all the way. It’s not until I’m flushing that I realize it’s not that dark for a reason.
My eyes haven’t changed. They’re still glowing yellow, still reptilian. What the hell?
I thought when I made my choice my eyes were supposed to go back to normal.
And I did make my choice. I slept with Sam. He’s my mate now, he confirmed that himself.
“This can’t be happening.” I wash my hands, never taking my gaze from the damn monster eyes.
There’s no way in hell Tom will let it slide if I find another outdoors shoot for tomorrow and wear the sunglasses again. He already emailed me that the shades were a no go for the rest of the week. Too many viewers were speculating about them. Wondering if I’d had a heavy night, or if my husband was a wife beater, apparently. I wondered idly what was wrong with people after I checked and confirmed some of my followers were spreading crazy rumors.
Flashing Her Gators Page 15