Shifter Starter Set

by Candace Ayers

  She let me lead her inside the back door and into the bar. I figured she could use a shot after all that excitement. “Where’d you learn that nifty little bottle trick?”

  A shaky laugh escaped her mouth. “What? That’s not normal? Your daddy didn’t get into bar brawls in front of you when you were young?

  I looked over at my shoulder at her while grabbing a bottle of whiskey. “My old man was more of the leaving type. Though, I’m sure he did participate in many a bar fight. Just not around here.”

  She was quiet until I slid a shot in front of her. “What’s this?”

  I picked it up and held it to her mouth. “Your hands. You’re trembling. Figured you could use something to knock the edge off.”

  Amazingly, she parted her lips and let me tip the liquid into her waiting mouth. Her throat worked as she swallowed it down, drawing my eyes to it. “That guy was such a dick. What was his problem?”

  I threw back a shot of my own and pushed the bottle away. It wasn’t enough. Nothing was enough to dull the aching desire I felt for her. It pulsed through me until it felt like this physical entity wrapping around my throat, leaving me no chance of getting away unscathed.

  “Thorn?”

  I shook my head to clear it. “He’s just an asshole. What did he say to you?”

  “He just told me I was nothing and that he could have me in a second if he really wanted me. Something like no one would stop him because he’s the best, yada, yada, yada.”

  I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists. “I’m going to kill him.”

  Allie shook her head and then looked up at me. A sudden wide grin spread across her face. “You should’ve seen his face when I broke that bottle.”

  Anger left my body in an instant, replaced with scorching heat. Her beautiful smile nearly brought me to my knees. I was an idiot for thinking I could be near her and not touch her. “Allie…”

  Her eyes widened but she didn’t leave. It was the sign I needed. Or didn’t need. I didn’t know what I was doing when it came to her. God help me.

  12

  Allie

  I was in panic mode and it had nothing to do with the jerkwad outside. It was Thorn. I’d let him pull me inside, away from everyone else. Just the two of us. Sure, I was a little taken aback by the fact that I could so easily break a bottle to use as a shank, but then again, I wasn’t some delicate flower. I was capable enough to stop Thorn if I hadn’t wanted to be alone with him. Yet here I was, facing a man whose sex appeal was something that should go down in the record books.

  Thorn’s eyes glowed in the dim light of the bar. He seemed bigger behind the bar, where there was less space, and I felt myself being tugged towards him by the sheer will of my body. I wanted him like I’d never wanted anyone or anything before in my life.

  I knew the difference between right and wrong and I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help myself. Or, maybe I could and I just didn’t want to anymore. The man made resisting him for twenty-four hours feel like a lifetime of neglect.

  A strong hum from the music that someone had turned on over the loudspeakers outside teased me, an old southern rock beat pulsing in tune with my heartbeat until I could feel it all over my skin, in my core, at the tips of my breasts. I felt like I was in heat.

  “I shouldn’t do this…”

  Thorn watched me with his lower lip caught between his teeth, while his eyes danced over my body and face. When he let his lip go, there were indentions from his teeth there that I wanted to lick. “Do what, Allie?”

  “This…thing with us.” I gestured between our bodies, my knuckles grazing his stomach as I did.

  He reacted like I’d burned him. He sucked in a sharp breath and stood up taller. “Leave then. Get back out there and serve drinks. Do the smart thing for both of us.”

  I should, yessiree, I absolutely should. I stepped closer to him. “You want me to go?”

  He stared over my head and grabbed the bar behind him. His knuckles were white from the grip he had on it. “Yeah. I think you should.”

  I didn’t want to hear no from him. I didn’t want to leave and be the good girl. I could maybe justify it later by rationalizing that I wanted the experience of being the one who did the bad thing for a change, but honestly, that had nothing to do with it. I just wanted Thorn with every screaming cell of my body. I wanted him inside of me. I wanted him to do things to me. Naughty things. Things that I’d never wanted another man to do. I needed him bad.

  “Not happening.” I leaned into him, pressing my chest against his, and gasped as my nipples met his solid body. His bare skin was hot to the touch and I couldn’t wait to taste him. “Do you know that out of the four serious boyfriends I’ve had, all four of them have cheated on me?” I don’t know why I said that. Maybe an attempt at justifying what I was about to do?

  He tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling, still not touching me. “Even the fiancé?”

  I gave in and dipped my face forward so I could run my tongue up his chest. “Yep.”

  That gained me a low growl and I rewarded myself by moving over slightly and flicking my tongue over his nipple. The jerk and tensing of his muscles encouraged me so I did it again.

  “Every single one of them,” I whispered softly, “and I still remained the good girlfriend. Doting and caring. Baking goddamned cupcakes and showing up at their offices in nothing but a trench coat. I was an all-star friggin’ girlfriend to each of them.”

  I raked my nails down from his shoulders and lightly bit down on his nipple before moving to the other one and doing the same. “Still kept right on smiling through the pain and doing my very best to not inconvenience anyone.”

  I turned around and snaked my body against Thorn’s, wiggling until I felt his rock-hard boner pressing between my ass cheeks. When I straightened, I wrapped my arms behind me and around the back of his neck. “I’m done with that. I deserve to be bad. Help me be bad, Thorn.”

  I let out a squeal as he grabbed me and spun me around so that I was sitting on the work station in front of him, his hands branding my knees where he touched them.

  “You want to be bad?”

  I bit my lip and nodded.

  “Take off your shirt.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath and slowly moved my hands to the hem of my shirt. “Just this one time, Hawthorn. Just enough to get it out of our systems.”

  He stepped back so that no part of him was touching me and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Shirt, Allie. Take it off. No talking.”

  My pulse soared. Not knowing what he was thinking was like holding my hand over a flame. It set me on fire, the danger so real and threatening to the life I’d accepted for myself. Would he grab me on my way out of work the next day and demand a replay? The day after that? My one-time rule would probably be dependent on how well Thorn adhered to it. I already knew I was too weak to say no to him.

  I pulled my shirt off and then hesitated. Did he want the bra, too?

  “Take it off.”

  I undid the front clasp and straightened. I had to rake in all the confidence I possessed to release the cups and sit there, completely exposed, in front of the hottest man I’d ever laid eyes on. His reaction to seeing my bare breasts tumble out took away any doubts I had.

  Thorn growled and slammed his hands on the metal station, on either side of my thighs. His eyes remained riveted to my chest, glowing as he licked his lips. “Fucking idiots.”

  I leaned away from him. “Excuse me?”

  “The boyfriends. Fucking idiots. What kind of man could experience your tits and still wander?”

  I laughed but it turned into a cry of pleasure as he leaned forward and nipped the top of my right breast. I caught his head in my hands and pulled him up to my mouth. “More.”

  He shoved my knees apart and stepped into the gap there. With one hand, he dragged me closer to the edge, so his erection rubbed against my panty clad core, and with the other hand, he grabbed my hair and us
ed it to tilt my head to the side so he could devour my mouth in a soul-shattering kiss.

  I never stood a chance when it came to denying Thorn Canton.

  13

  Hawthorne

  I was fucked. One taste of her peaches and cream skin and I was a lost man. I still had all these ideas and convictions in my head about staying away from her and not wanting a mate, but all it took was one taste of the tip of her perfect breast to make me crumble like a slobbering idiot. I thought I could turn my craving for her off and on like a switch, but it didn’t seem to be working out that way.

  I took her mouth, kissing her like I’d die if I didn’t. She tasted like whiskey and sugar, as sweet as she was spicy. I slid my tongue against hers and rocked my dick against her wet panties. Her smell surrounded me, arousal and her natural scent, until every breath I took in was a piece of her.

  She sucked my bottom lip between her teeth and bit it before flicking her tongue over it. “Fuck me, Thorn.”

  I jerked against her, hot blood rushing away from my brain at an alarming rate. I’d never been so hard. “You’re killing me, woman.”

  She locked her legs around my ass and pulled me harder against her. “I feel like I’m going crazy. I just want to feel you in me.”

  I kissed down her jaw and brushed my teeth against her throat and neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. “Wait.”

  She writhed against me. “Don’t want to.”

  I cupped her perfect tits in my hands and tweaked her light pink nipples before lowering my mouth and taking them in, one at a time. “You put me in charge, baby. You’re going to have to do what I say.”

  She shivered under me and yanked harder on my hair. “Mistake. I’m taking charge. Fuck me now.”

  God, I was going to shoot a load into my pants if she kept talking like that. Instead of listening to her, I kissed farther down. I dipped my tongue into her navel and then moved even lower. I buried my face into her lap and rubbed her through her skirt with my nose and chin. “I’m going to taste your pussy until you come for me first.”

  The wrecked cry that fell from her lips had me clenching my whole body. I flipped her skirt up and then easily yanked the lace panties down her legs. I caught her ankles in my hands and stroked up her legs until I had the bottom of her thighs in my palms. Her skin was soft and supple, her curvy legs delicious looking as I lifted them and rested them on my shoulders.

  Allie leaned back, her elbows on the bar, eyes burning me. Her soft hair was splayed across the bar, the ends falling off the other side. The picture of her spread out before me brought out an unexpected roar from deep within me. My bear was pleased.

  Instead of reacting with judgment of any kind to my roar, Allie wiggled her hips under my face. Her wild and free scent was even stronger there and I couldn’t help but devour her. I buried my face in her and used my tongue to fuck her. Long strokes followed by focused flicks of my tongue on her clit, I worked to make sure my mate was pleased. When she shook under me, I moved my mouth lower and rocked it into her, I wanted to make her cry out in pleasure.

  She made me feel like I’d hooked myself up to an electric current. Tasting her sweetness, feeling her luscious curves, hearing her soft moans, I was held back by barely a thread from standing up and slamming my dick home in her.

  “Thorn!” Her voice broke and I glanced up to see the pure pleasure on her face.

  I growled into her core and grinned when more wetness leaked out of her shivering body. I slid two fingers into her and caught her clit in my mouth as she bucked her hips.

  Allie’s walls tightened around my fingers as she came undone under me. I kept my mouth on her until she went limp and still stayed where I was, licking her slowly and watching her shudder. Her body was mine. I rubbed my face against her thighs, marking her with my scent. Hers would be all over me and I couldn’t stop the possessiveness taking over. I wanted anyone close to her to know that she was mine.

  I hooked my arms behind Allie’s back and easily pulled her up. Her eyes were still half-closed and a smile of satisfaction graced her face. “Beautiful.” The word just escaped my lips without thinking. But she was. The way she looked right now in my arms, she was easily the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.

  She hooked her arms around my neck and swayed a little. “What did you do? I think I just melted.”

  I nudged her with my aching dick. “I’m not finished yet.”

  Her lips parted to say something but a sound came from the front door of the bar and I looked up and watched as the door started to swing open. Allie squeaked and jumped down from the work station. I stepped back to make room for her and snatched her bra off the bar at the last second.

  I normally wouldn’t give two shits about getting caught, but this felt different with Allie. I didn’t want anyone else to see her, but I also didn’t want people in the bar talking about her like she was some easy hook up. “Stay down. I’ll get rid of ‘em. Then, we’ll finish this.”

  Curiously, she didn’t bother putting on her shirt or bra. She stayed kneeling in front of me, her eyes on mine as we waited for whoever was interrupting us to leave. It made me hotter than hell to know that she wasn’t done, either. The image of her on her knees in front of me was also going to top my spank bank from now on.

  “You aren’t playing today, Thorn?”

  I jerked my eyes up to see George Vaughn coming in. Thank God, he was a human and wouldn’t be able to scent that Allie was behind the bar with me. “Not yet. I came in here to finish some stuff up before heading back out there. What can I do for you, George?”

  Allie’s hands moved to my ass and then pulled my shorts down before I could stop her. I let out a startled sound and leaned forward so George wouldn’t be able to see that I was naked. I felt the shocking heat of her lips on the head of my engorged cock and the breath seized in my lungs.

  “I was hoping I could bother someone for a couple of shots of whiskey. Martha has me cutting back on the beer, so I can’t have any outside where she’s watching. You know how women are.”

  Allie’s teeth lightly scraped me as she opened her mouth and took as much of me in as she could. Her hot mouth closed and then she pulled back with the most amazing suction I’d ever felt.

  “She, uh, she lets you have whiskey?” I sounded like I was in pain, but hopefully George would let it go. I had to get rid of him so I could punish the little hellcat at my feet for the game she was playing.

  “No, but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, right?” He laughed. “I didn’t see a problem with the beer. It’s not like I’m drinking all day long or anything…”

  I lost track of what the older man was saying as Allie cupped my balls and surprised me by taking my full length down her throat. She sucked in long and hard strokes before licking just the head like it was her favorite lollipop. I was close to losing it. George had to get the hell out.

  14

  Hawthorne

  “George!” I shook my head and winced. “Uh, sorry. Here, take the bottle.”

  “Wow! You’re sure? The whole bottle?”

  I reached down and grabbed a fistful of Allie’s hair to pull her mouth off of me. I was seconds from coming. “Yep. See you later.”

  “You okay, Thorn? You look a little flushed.”

  Allie wrapped her fist around my dick and squeezed. I jerked forward, bumping her mouth and putting myself close enough that she could lick me again.

  With a loud groan, I pulled harder on her hair to keep her away from me. “I’m fine. Bye, George.”

  The old man gave me a look but turned away. I was a man possessed. If George turned back around, he was going to get an eyeful, because before the door even closed, I had Allie up and bent over the work station, with the tip of my dick pressing against her glistening folds.

  Wet heat welcomed me like a glove and Allie arched her back and tried to work her hips back so I would slide in farther. She looked at me over her shoulder, her hair wild from my hands, ey
es half-mast, and licked her lips. “I need you, Thorn.”

  I grabbed both of her ass cheeks and squeezed, lifting her curvy body higher. Seeing her bent over like that was better than I’d imagined. Her ass curved perfectly under my hands. She was standing on her toes and wiggling, begging me with her body for what she needed. I needed it, too. I wanted to taste her once more, though. I wanted to hear her really beg me for it. I wanted to know that when it was over she couldn’t say that she hadn’t been desperate for me.

  I knelt behind her and spread her open from behind, the way I’d wanted to from the first moment I saw her ass. She let out a startled cry as I pushed my face against her body and tasted her again, dragging my tongue in one long lick that elicited a gasp. Again and again I licked what was mine as her body quivered with pleasure.

  It seemed like I’d barely started when she came again and then slapped her hands against the bar top. “Please! Thorn, I need to feel you in me. I’m begging you!”

  That’s what I wanted to hear. I stood up and playfully slapped her ass. “I could eat you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Allie. You taste like heaven.”

  She moaned as I lined our bodies up. “One time.”

  I pushed into her tight body and squeezed her hips, feeling my control slip. There was no way it would just be one time. It was too good. One time would never be enough. Halfway in and I felt her pulse around me. She was so damn tight that it was almost too much. I was too close, too soon.

  I ran my hands up her smooth back and then wrapped my hands in her hair. “Hold on, baby.”

  She cried out my name as I thrust the rest of the way into her. Her body clenched around me and then she dropped her head and let it hit the bar. “Good lord. Fuck me, Thorn. Why is this so good?”

  I pulled her head back and lifted her waist so she was pinned against the station with her back against my chest. I cupped her perfect titties and licked from her shoulder to her ear. “This isn’t a one-time thing.”