Shifter Starter Set

by Candace Ayers

  “Which I lack.” She shook her head, and the ball of hair on top of it wobbled. “I still deserve better, though.”

  “Worlds better. And your beauty is hardly lacking. Megan, you’re gorgeous. I’m not going to make you uncomfortable by telling you just how attractive I find you, but I’m not exaggerating when I say I think your husband is the biggest fucking idiot on the planet.”

  Her cheeks were rosy, and she looked away before taking a long pull from the beer and then passing it back to me. Our fingers brushed when I took it, and I felt the connection down to my toes. Her slight gasp told me she felt it, too.

  “Do you love him?”

  “No.” She covered her mouth with her hand, shocked that she’d answered so quickly, or maybe it was the answer itself that shocked her. “I mean…well…no. We’ve grown apart. Maybe I should’ve known something like this was coming. I can’t remember the last time I felt a connection to him. More than that, I don’t know if I even like him. But we made vows to each other. We promised…”

  “You wish you could have remained with him?”

  She met and held my gaze, pain and confusion evident in her eyes. She was clearly hurt by everything that was happening to her and felt she had little control. “I…don’t know. No, I guess not. I guess I was living a fantasy. Pretending he was someone else, a different kind of man, and that we were something else. Before I was rudely shaken back to reality. I don’t what to be with someone who could do this.”

  “Someone who could take the liquor?”

  She laughed lightly and rolled her eyes before taking the beer bottle back from me. “Yeah, someone who could take the liquor.”

  I smiled at her and shrugged. “So, you don’t love him and you don’t want to be with him.”

  She shook her head. “I guess not, no. I’m thirty-two, though. I can’t just start over. I don’t want to be like the rest of my family going through marriages the way normal people go through mascara.”

  “Mascara?”

  “Makeup. You’re supposed to throw it away after six months. It’s dangerous to use it… Not the point. The point is, I don’t want to start over.”

  “So, you’d be happy if he returned?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t think you’re making much sense right now.”

  She sank onto the couch next to me and turned her head so she was looking at me. “I want him to magically be someone else entirely.” She let out a long, slow sigh. “I don’t want to be alone.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Let him go. I promise you won’t be alone.”

  Megan’s eyes rolled and she scoffed. “Yeah, okay.”

  I caught her chin in my hand and lifted her face so she was looking at me. She thought so little of herself. I didn’t understand how it was possible. She was beautiful, and sexy. To me she was more beautiful than any woman I’d ever seen before. My heart raced when I looked at her, and I desperately had to be closer to her. I wanted her. As I thought it, I realized that I wanted more than be closer to her. I wanted every part of her. I wanted her to have every part of me.

  Megan blinked and bit her lip. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  There was no more denying it. This woman was my mate. My stomach tightened and my bear roared, confirming my suspicion.

  She was the one—ours. Before I had time to consider the revelation more fully, Maxim’s voice broke through my thoughts.

  Tornado incoming, brother.

  14

  Megan

  My entire body was tense. Roman was staring at me like he wanted to kiss me again, and damned if I didn’t want him to. I had no business wanting him the way I did, but I couldn’t stop the feeling.

  “Fuck.” Roman was on his feet in a split second and had me up and in his arms just as fast. “Tornado.”

  I was still in romantic la-la land. “What?”

  He picked me up in a bear hug and literally ran us toward the bathroom. “Tornado.”

  The word clicked into place in my brain just as the house swayed harder and a sickening howl sounded. “Oh, fuck.”

  Roman shoved me into the bathroom and vanished, only to reappear a few seconds later with half the couch cushions in his arms. “In the tub. Get in the tub, Megan!”

  I no sooner did as he said, then he was on top of me, the cushions on top of him. Flattened on the bottom of the tub, the weight of Roman plastered to me, I felt fear for all of two seconds before my body switched back into hormonal-teenager mode. A tangle of limbs and cushions, Roman was twisted to fit over me, but our faces had somehow ended up inches apart.

  I could hear a shutter come loose upstairs. The banging that followed probably should’ve worried me more. The house was being damaged. With Roman on top of me, though, his face was hovering just above mine, his breath mingling with mine, and his bedroom eyes focused on me, I kind of didn’t care about anything else.

  “Am I too heavy?”

  I shook my head the slightest bit. “Nope.”

  His arms were planted on either side of my head and he shifted slightly. “I don’t believe you.”

  “I like it.” I realized what I’d said and stuttered. “I mean, it’s, um, fine—nice. Like a weighted blanket.”

  “You like it?” His breathing shallowed and his eyes flicked down to my lips.

  I told myself to change the subject or to say no. I couldn’t, though. I just watched him. I looked at his mouth, the fuller top lip enticing, then at his eyes. Those thick lashes lowered. “Yes.”

  “Megan?” He looked down at my mouth again, and the gap between us became even smaller.

  “Yes.” I didn’t even know the question, but my answer was still yes. I felt like my blood was on fire. I could feel him pressed against me and I wanted more. My body had woken up for what felt like the first time.

  Roman’s lips were a breath away from mine, and I felt pulled into his magnetic field. His lips rested against mine, and I felt him shudder before pulling back just enough to speak. “I’m going to kiss you.”

  He already had, but I didn’t argue. I nodded, bumping our noses together. “Yes.”

  He kissed me again, and I realized that he meant he was really going to kiss me that time. His mouth was warm and passionate against mine, his beard rough against my skin. His forearm wedged between my head and the tub to provide support and then he licked the seam of my lips, demanding entrance.

  “Yes.” I gripped his sides, the only thing my hands could reach, and held on while he stroked his tongue over my lips. Electric currents had nothing on his kisses.

  Pulling back and then kissing just my bottom lip, his mouth made love to mine. When his tongue slipped into my mouth, it tangled seductively with mine. His fingers pressed into my scalp and I could tell he wanted more. Unable to be still, I tried to maneuver so I could feel more of his body pressed against mine. I got one leg free and twisted my hips just the right way. Roman’s body lined up with mine just right, and I could feel his hard length pressing between my thighs.

  I cursed my yoga pants and wrapped my leg around his hip. Stroking his tongue back and then sucking his top lip, I heard myself moan, but couldn’t care. Roman deserved to know what he was doing to me. His other hand worked down and gripped my ass, pulling into his body.

  Tired of being confined, Roman sat up, knocking the cushions all around. Still kissing me, he pulled me to my feet and then into his arms. Locking my legs around his waist, I moaned into his mouth at the feeling of his body between my legs.

  The sounds of the storm raged on outside of the bathroom, but it didn’t faze us. I felt the counter under my ass and then Roman’s hands under my shirt, stroking the skin of my back. I ran my hands over his skin, finding ridges and dips of muscles. He was smooth and soft, the light dusting of hair rougher. I opened my legs wider and cursed the sheet between us.

  Roman tugged at the hem of my shirt. Up and off, it was lost to the darkness of the bathroom. He slid his hands into my leggings and growled.r />
  “Too fast?” His voice was like gravel. It shook with an audible need.

  I shook my head and ran my hand down his arm. Catching his hand, I delighted at the size of it before pulling it out of my leggings. I lifted myself and pushed them down. Roman caught them and yanked them the rest of the way.

  I tried to pull him back between my thighs, but he resisted. “Roman?”

  He kissed me. “Let me taste you. Please.”

  I hesitated. “What?”

  His hand stroked up my bare thigh and then cupped my sex. “I need to taste you. Here. I need you in my mouth, Megan.”

  I swallowed. That was…a lot. Dylan didn’t do that. It’d been…years.

  “Say yes.” He kissed me and then went down to his knees. Kissing my inner knee, then my inner thigh, he moaned. “Fuck, Megan, say yes for me.”

  “Yes.”

  He growled and raked his teeth over my thigh. “You’re stunning. I want to taste and lick every part of you.”

  I gripped the edge of the sink as he pulled me forward. His face was right in front of my sex, and I was torn between wanting him to do it and wanting to cover myself and run out of the room to avoid having him see me. What the hell was wrong with me? Dylan had really made me that insecure about my sexuality?

  His tongue stroked my inner thigh and then he nipped me there. When I jerked, he growled and pulled my thighs onto his shoulders.

  I tried to hold myself off him, knowing I was heavy.

  He just pulled me farther so I had no choice. Resting my weight on his shoulders, I gripped the countertop and let my head fall back. Roman made a delighted moan and nipped closer to my sex. “That’s it. I want all of you.”

  I squirmed at the first flick of his tongue across my folds. The second went deeper and I gasped. When he stroked his tongue deeper, I clamped my teeth down over my lip to keep the sounds from escaping.

  “Let me hear you. I want to know what I do to you, Megan. I want to hear you.” When Roman stroked his tongue over my most sensitive spot, I squeaked. That made him growl against it and flick his tongue harder.

  Helpless to his assault, I panted, I moaned, I cried out. He rewarded me with harder and faster flicks of his tongue and then by sucking me into his mouth. Where had he read the book on exactly what my body liked? Within seconds, I was on the edge, fighting to keep an orgasm at bay. Roman would have none of it, though. He licked and sucked me right over that edge and kept going.

  15

  Roman

  My mate. I knew for sure now. I didn’t want our first intimate encounter to have any negative feelings attached for her, so I didn’t go past tasting her. When I finally finished and she’d come on my tongue a few more times, I pulled her shirt back over her head and helped her get her pants back on. She was quiet as I dressed her and then settled us back in the tub with her curled between my legs, the sheet back in place.

  I was rock hard and desperate to take her and mark her as mine, but I knew that she had unfinished business to attend to first. But she was going to be mine and that was that. I wasn’t going to share her with anyone once I marked her. Already, the possessiveness I felt over her was overwhelming.

  “I can do that for you, too…” Her voice was quiet, shy.

  I tilted her head up to look at me and found that she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Growling lightly, I nipped at her shoulder through her shirt. “Don’t clam up on me.”

  Meeting my heated gaze, she lifted her chin and licked her lips. “I can return the favor. I’m not… I’m not greedy. I don’t want to be greedy, I mean.”

  My dick throbbed, but I ignored it. “I’d love that, but another time. That was about you. About me showing you what I think of you. How attractive and sexy and magnetic I find you.”

  She didn’t breathe. “Later?”

  I leaned forward and caught her mouth in a kiss. “Later.”

  Heat burned in her eyes, but she just nodded and settled against my chest again. “Later.”

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and sighed, content with where I was. For the first time since landing in Florida, I wasn’t focused on the stifling heat, or the fact that I missed the steady action of our missions in Siberia. I felt like I’d just come home and it was time to relax.

  “I don’t know anything about you.” Her fingers stroked over my arms. “And, god, what does that say about me?”

  I held her tighter. “It doesn’t say anything about you, but that you want me and I want you.”

  “What about you, though?”

  “What about me?”

  “Tell me something about yourself. You’ve heard all about my recent melodrama. I wanna know about you.”

  I wrapped my legs around her as the storm raged on outside. Cradling her, ready to save her with my life, I pressed my lips against her hair. “My team and I moved here just a little while back. A month ago. We were in Siberia. Now, we’re here.”

  “Siberia?”

  “Yeah. We all grew up there.”

  “What? That’s so unexpected. You sound like you could’ve grown up down the street.” She rested her head on my shoulder and smiled. “What kind of lifeguarding does one do in Siberia?”

  I chuckled. My mate was sharp. “The lifesaving kind. And where we grew up is kind of an area of expats. I can speak perfect Russian for you, if you’d like.

  I dropped my voice and spoke to her in my native tongue. “вы прекрасны.”

  She giggled. “I like it.”

  “I like you.”

  “No, we’re talking about you. Tell me more.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  With a little shrug, she sighed. “I don’t know. Have you ever been married?”

  “No.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Children?”

  “No. Do you have children?”

  “No. I would’ve mentioned them by now.” She looked up at me. “What’s your favorite food?”

  “All of it.” I smiled. “Do you cook?”

  Megan nodded. “I’m a good cook. I learned from my nana growing up. She was a stereotypical Italian grandmother who lived to feed her family homemade meals. She taught me everything.”

  “I can make sandwiches.”

  “That’s not cooking.”

  “Well, it’s better than most of the guys on the team can do. That’s got to count for something.”

  “Are your parents still living?”

  “Yes. They’re still together, living happily in Siberia.” I smiled to myself. “They still act like kids.”

  “That must’ve been nice growing up.”

  “It was. How was your life growing up?”

  Her hands went still and she curled into herself more. “Fine, I guess. We had money and I never wanted for anything.”

  “But?”

  “But my parents were only married for three years, and I don’t even know how many stepsiblings I have. I have several half-siblings that I don’t see. Typical rich-kid sob story. My nanny raised me. Mommy and Daddy didn’t spend enough time with me. Blah, blah, blah.”

  “We don’t have those stories where I come from. You’ll have to tell it to me some time.”

  With a light laugh, she began stroking my arms again and settled back into me. “Are you really this nice?”

  I frowned. “I guess?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean. I haven’t really done anything especially nice.”

  She sat up and turned to face me. I missed her in my arms instantly. “You saved my life. You are very kind and generous in the things you say and the way you say them. You did…that…you know to me without demanding anything in return. You’re nice.”

  I scowled. “Wow, your standards are low. I saved you because you needed help and it’s what I do. The things I say are completely true. And what I did to you was just as much for me as it was for you. I wanted the taste of you on my lips
.”

  She blushed and turned back into me. “Okay.”

  “You deserve more than what he has given you.” I pulled her back against my chest and breathed in the scent of her hair. “I can show you.”

  She stayed quiet. If she thought for a minute I just meant sexually, though, she had another thing coming. I didn’t care if I ever went back to Siberia anymore. She was my mate, and she was going to learn through my actions what to expect from a mate. I was going to make sure she knew how she deserved to be treated. And what nice really meant.

  16

  Megan

  Spending the rest of the night in the tub with Roman should’ve been uncomfortable. Somehow, I’d dozed against his chest and got the best sleep I could remember having in years. When I came awake the next morning, I was still in his arms and he was stroking my hair. I didn’t want to read too much into it. What would a man like Roman see in a woman like me? The whole night was probably just a coping mechanism—human contact as a way to deal with an intense situation. Yet, the way he looked at me promised so much more. Or maybe I was being overly hopeful since I wanted more.

  “Storm’s over.”

  I climbed to my feet and smiled down at him. “I need to brush my teeth and then look around the house. You probably need to go check on your team.”

  Shaking his head, he stood up and out of the tub, right into my space. Cupping my face, he kissed me tenderly and grinned against my mouth. “Trying to get rid of me?”

  Not a chance. I’d given up on ignoring the sexual attraction I felt when next to him. I wanted him to stay and keep doing really amazing things to me. “Nope.”

  “Good.”

  I found him a spare toothbrush and we brushed our teeth together, our eyes meeting in the mirror, a tense game of awareness. His chest was still bare and I could still feel his beard between my thighs. When we were finished and I put the toothpaste away, Roman picked me up and sat me on the counter, kissing me deeply. He gripped my ass and rocked his erection into me.