I looked back at the crooked, tilting thing she’d built. It sat barely a few feet off the ground. There were boards turned backward, and extra pieces still on the ground around her. I also noticed that she’d taken her heels off. Her bare feet were tucked beneath her.
“Yours looks amazing.” She stuck out her bottom lip, pouting, and I felt my canines elongate. I was struck with an overwhelming longing to sink them into her neck and claim her as mine.
“I think you put a few pieces together backward.”
Still pouting, Laila pulled herself to her feet and came over to the piece I was working on. “This crib is beautiful. Maybe I could be in charge of the décor? It needs the mattress and sheets and things…”
I stood up and smiled down at her. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll fix the changing table.”
Her appreciation came in the form of a kiss on my cheek. She hooked her small hand around my upper arm and stretched up until those red lips pressed against my skin. Her breasts brushed against my arm and I could hear her rapid heartbeat. She was breathless as she thanked me and pulled back.
I blew out a harsh breath and looked down at my hand to see that I’d bent the screwdriver I was holding in half. I was tapping into every ounce of self-control I possessed.
My wolf grew anxious as I finished the changing table and the last few pieces of the crib. I set up a few more things that needed to be put together, including a swing and a bassinet. Laila hung framed artwork and pictures on the wall after putting sheets and pink blankets in the crib and hanging a swinging mobile above it. I was barely able to restrain myself from grabbing her, especially when she tossed the apron aside and that red dress was the only thing separating me from her tempting curves.
“I think it’s pretty.”
“Beautiful.” I didn’t give a shit about the nursery. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Laila. Tendrils of her nearly white hair had escaped her bun and it gave her a slightly disheveled look. Like that, I could see more of her wolf in her and my own wolf wanted to raise its head and howl at the moon.
“Thank you for helping. I would’ve been here until all hours of the morning trying to build those things.” She finished putting the last few things away and turned to me. “I think we’re done.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Wolf lessons?”
Her cheeks flushed, and she glanced at the clock on the wall. “Is it too late?”
“Not for me.”
She held my gaze and chewed on her lower lip, thinking it over. It probably wasn’t hard to see that I had more on my mind than just wolf lessons. I silently willed her to agree, and when she did, I couldn’t help the smile that broke out across my face.
“Come on, little wolf.”
Frowning slightly, she grabbed her purse and led me out of the house. “I’m not much of a wolf.”
I watched her hips sway and couldn’t resist reaching out and resting my hand on one of them. “I don’t know how true that is.”
She stopped next to her car in the driveway and turned to face me. “Okay. So, wolf lessons. What do I do? Eat a small prey animal?”
“I mean, sure. If that’s what you want.”
“Ew! No, of course it’s not what I want. I was kidding! I’m not going to eat anything.” Running her hands over her face, she smudged the edge of her red lipstick. “You don’t expect me to actually put a small animal in my mouth, do you?”
I grabbed her other hip and pulled her closer. “There are things I’m thinking of putting in that beautiful mouth of yours, but none of them are small animals.”
Another silver flash in her eyes. Her wolf again. She licked those perfect lips and swayed slightly. “Oh. Well…”
I leaned in and pressed my lips against the shell of her ear. “Come on, little wolf. There’s a secluded place we can go out behind my house to test your senses.”
“Your house?”
“My house.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Forcing myself to step away from her, I let go and headed toward my truck. “Don’t worry, little wolf, I’ll make this fun for you.”
The drive to my house felt like it took forever, but seeing Laila pull into my driveway behind me was worth the wait. As soon as she was out, I was beside her, taking her hand and pulling her with me.
“Where are we going?” She stopped long enough to take her heels off again and dropped them by the tire of her car.
“There’s a marsh between this neighborhood and Main Street. Lots of small animals and things that go bump in the night.” I grinned at her apprehensive expression. “Nothing that would hurt a big bad wolf.”
I pulled her along, not stopping until we were in the center of the marsh. Big enough to lose yourself in, it was a good way for me to see what skills she was actually using without any nosy neighbors peeping in. I wanted to see her wolf in action before I got too distracted and took her back to my house.
Standing in the middle of the marsh, though, when I looked over at Laila, I saw that she was scared. Her eyebrows were drawn together and her mouth was pinched. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked at me. “Why are we here?”
“It’s okay, Laila. I just want to see what your wolf can do. What can you hear?”
She frowned. “Just…you. I hear you and that’s it.”
“Come on, use your wolf.”
Squeezing her eyes closed, Laila held her breath. But after a few seconds, she sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just hear you and me.”
I could hear at least twenty other animals around us, and beyond that, the grass was swaying back and forth in a gentle breeze. The ocean waves were rolling, and people were talking somewhere farther down the beach. There were things making noise everywhere.
“I don’t like this. I can’t hear anything else. There’s nothing else to hear.” She pouted again. “What do you hear?”
I turned to face her and flashed a wicked smile. “I hear your heartbeat. It’s going faster now. I can hear the blood rushing down between your thighs. I can hear you swallow and the way your hair is sliding over your skin.”
With a little gasp, her eyes widened. “You can hear all of that?”
“I can. I can smell even more. You smell like sugared pears and cream. I can smell the chocolate of the donut you ate for lunch and the piece of gum you chewed after. I can smell the shampoo you use, something with coconut in it. I can smell the warmth of your skin when you blush like you’re doing right now. I can smell the arousal pooling between your thighs.”
“Gray…”
I grabbed her hips and pulled her flush against me. “God, I want to taste you now.”
11
Laila
My mouth went dry and I nodded. My wolf howled inside my head, expressing her impatient desire as Gray’s eyes burned into me. I swallowed and my voice came out a hoarse whisper, “Yes.”
My arms slid up and wrapped around his neck, and my fingers threaded through his thick hair. Pulling his face to me, I sucked in a breath before boldly running my tongue over his lips.
Gray’s grip on my hips tightened before he ran his hands down to my ass and gripped it tightly, drawing me against him. I tugged his lip between mine and sucked. When he groaned, I slipped my tongue into his mouth. His lips were firm but smooth as he explored my mouth.
One second, I thought I was in charge, the next, I was made aware that Gray was the boss. He lifted me and slipped his hands lower, forcing my thighs up and my legs around his waist. One hand went up to my hair and tangled it as he gripped and pulled my head back enough for him to stare into my eyes.
“You don’t need your senses to feel that, do you, little wolf?” His hips flexed and I shook my head as his steel erection rubbed over my panties.
I felt like I was floating, desire flooding my head. Gray was making me punch-drunk with need. Still, I shook my head. I had no trouble feeling the iron rod pressed against my center.
“Tell me what you want.” His deep
voice was a growled command. When I hesitated, my throat clogged with eagerness, he pulled my hair more tightly and trailed his mouth up my throat. “Tell me, little wolf. Do you want me to fuck you?”
A whimper was the only answer I could get out. It wasn’t enough for Gray, though. He nipped my throat and rubbed his stubble against my sensitive skin. Growling out the command again, he flexed his hips against me again. “Yes!”
His cocky chuckle should’ve pissed me off, but it just fueled my already overloaded need. He knew how much I wanted him. He wanted me. too. “Say it for me.”
“I want you to…to…fuck me.”
“Fuck.” Gray moved then, all but jogging us back toward his house. I held on as tightly as I could and moaned when the friction between us became too much.
Gray swore and put me down. His eyes were burning, the brown now a glowing yellow. His wolf was close to the surface. I should’ve been scared. I’d never seen that before, the heated intensity, and it was focused on me.
Pressing against his body, I felt desperate as I ran my tongue over his throat. I needed to taste him, too. I felt like I would combust if I didn’t.
Groaning, he gripped my upper arms and pushed me away. “You’ve got less than sixty seconds before I rip those tiny little panties off and fill you right here in plain view of anyone walking by.”
Heat coursed through me, but I forced myself to move. Crossing the street, I bent to pick up my shoes and felt Gray press up against me. His shaft was harder, if that was even possible. His hands bit into my hips as he thrust against me.
“I don’t think I can wait.”
I moaned but forced myself to straighten and turn to him. He bent me backward, his mouth on mine. Tongue stroking mine, his mouth took mine in a way that left no doubt about what he had in mind for me. Hard and fast, his kiss was intoxicating. When he did let me go, I stumbled.
“Get inside.” Gray’s voice was more animal than man. “I don’t have any control left, Laila. Run inside, or I’m going to take you right here, right now.”
I stuttered in my movements, the heat in his voice was unexplored territory for me. I felt the seriousness of his demand when he grabbed for me, though. Ducking and running toward the stairs, I took them as fast as I could, my heart racing. I could hear him right behind me. He was so close I could feel the heat from his body.
His big arm jerked around me at the top of the stairs, slamming into the door, sending it crashing open. “Inside.”
I barely got inside before he caught me around my waist and lifted me against him. I gasped as I was tossed over his shoulder. His hand slid over my ass and into the valley between my thighs. His knuckle dragged over my panties, both of our breaths harsh.
Dropping me onto his bed, Gray reached over his head and yanked his shirt off. His pants were kicked off just as fast and then he was naked and coming at me.
I made a noise of complaint that he was over me before I could look at his body. I wanted to memorize the lines and ridges of his body, the shape of his heavy erection, but he was on top of me before I could do so.
I moaned when his hands worked my dress higher on my thighs so he could grip the sides of my panties. The material bit into my hips as he ripped it from my body. Panties vanished, Gray shoved my dress even higher and lifted my hips until I was open and exposed to his hungry gaze. I tried pressing my thighs together, the bright light of the room leaving me too bare, but Gray’s growl warned me not to.
Sitting back on his knees, he lifted me even higher and then tucked his head between my thighs. The first swipe of his tongue was a heated full stroke from top to bottom. The second was a plunging stroke into my core. The third was a hard stroke over my clit that had me coming apart.
“That’s a good little wolf. Give me everything.” Gray growled into my wetness, a break before his tongue was on me again.
I writhed, pleasure rolling over me in waves. It was the best orgasm of my life, but I knew there was more. The promise of it was thick in the air. I just needed him in me. “Please, Gray. Fuck me.”
My plea must have snapped the restraints on his last bit of control because the next thing I felt was his thick erection slamming forward, filling me in one hard stroke. His grip on my thighs was harsh, the intensity almost too much, but I loved it. I felt like I would go up in flames if he didn’t take me hard.
He let go, only to lean down and drag the top of my dress low enough to expose my breasts to his hungry eyes. His fingers found my nipples as he pulled out until just his tip of his cock remained in me. Meeting my eyes, he licked his lips and thrust in just an inch. “You’re fucking perfect. Your body was made for me. Perfect.”
I locked my legs behind his back and tried to lift my hips. I wanted him buried in me. “More, Gray.”
Another hard thrust and he filled me again before pulling back out right away. Teasing me again, he dropped one of his fingers to my clit and circled it. “This is mine.”
The words made the fire in me burn hotter. I replaced his hands on my breasts with my own and arched my hips. “Gray, please.”
Hearing me beg for him seemed to electrify him. His pace quickened, his hands clamped my hips, holding on. Hard, deep strokes, faster and faster, until he was thrusting into me like the animal he was. My body pulsed higher and higher until I felt like I was one giant nerve ending, receiving everything he had to give.
On the edge of what I knew would be a world-rocking orgasm, I grabbed for anything to get some semblance of control. My nails raking across his back just pushed Gray harder. I clawed and grasped and cried his name.
“Come for me, little wolf. Come all over me and then I’m going to fill you with my seed. This little body is mine.” Gray’s voice was gravel as he thrust harder, his thumb moving back to the sensitive nub above my sex. Circling it, he held my gaze, his eyes burning with a glowing yellow intensity.
I sucked in air, so far gone that I couldn’t draw in a normal breath. Gasping his name, my body tightened painfully until I wasn’t sure if I was coming or dying. Then, his shaft thickened and pulsed inside of me, the start of his own orgasm, and everything snapped. A scream ripped its way from my throat as shivers of pleasure coursed through me. My toes curled painfully as my core squeezed, clamping onto Gray, feeling him empty himself. My own body pulsed in throbbing ecstasy like waves crashing over me, drowning me in our mingled release. From somewhere outside my body, I saw myself tossing my head back and forth, crying out his name over and over until my voice broke and tears filled my eyes.
Gray swore viciously, his fingers digging their impressions into my thighs. Marking me, without a doubt, just the way he intended. My body was his at that moment—it belonged to him. He dropped forward, falling to my side, his heavy arm on top of me, pulling me against him, closing me in.
I curled into his hard body, an involuntary response. It seemed to be the same for Gray, as he held me tighter and both of us struggled to catch our breath.
We both lay there, waiting for our breathing to normalize. My heart beat against my ribcage like it might break itself out of my chest. I felt his seed in me, his true mark on my body. It was something I’d never allowed anyone else to do.
As time stretched on, the reality of what came next crept into my thoughts. Gray wasn’t looking for a mate. He’d made that perfectly clear. He didn’t want to settle. I was sure that probably extended to cuddling after sex. I couldn’t handle the thought of him awkwardly trying to dismiss me, so I figured I’d take care of it for him.
Pushing his arm off of me, I slipped out of bed and pulled my ruined dress back into place. “I just realized I didn’t turn my straightener off this morning.”
“What?” Gray looked back at me, his eyes already heavy. “Come back to bed, Laila.”
I searched for my shoes. Where the hell had my shoes gone?
“Laila?”
I searched under the bed. Gray looked so tempting… “Thanks for this, Gray. It was great.” I rushed out of there. Fuck t
he shoes.
12
Gray
“Thanks? It was great?” Staring at the bay of computer screens in front of me, I shook my head and repeated the words to myself.
Serge appeared in the doorway of my new office and raised his eyebrows. “Brother, you’re starting to worry me. What the fuck are you talking to yourself about?”
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest as I stared over his shoulder. “Have you ever been thanked for sex?”
His burst of laughter was annoying. My scowl didn’t stop him, though. “What? Just like, wham-bam-thank-you-sir?”
Growling, I ran my hands through my now shorter hair. Hair that had just had Laila’s delicate fingers in it the day before. She was all I could think about—her scent, her taste, her unbelievable beauty, her crying out my name when she reached climax.
“What’s going on, man?”
I shook my head. Suddenly, I lost the desire to discuss intimacies between Laila and me with Serge or anyone else. The idea of him picturing my mate in the midst of any type of sexual activity threw my wolf into a frenzy and had me gripping the arms of my chair so hard, one of them cracked. I growled and stood.
My wolf was tearing me up inside trying to get out and claim his mate, or at least get out of the confined office space and run. He felt trapped. Damn, I felt trapped. I didn’t want to scare Laila by coming on too strong but sex with her last night was practically a hit and run. Whoever started the rumor that women appreciate cuddling after sex sure wasn’t talking about Laila and me. I would have loved to hold her in my arms, spooning her all night, then maybe make love to her a couple more times before morning. She was the one who couldn’t get out the door fast enough.
My wolf was also longing to connect with his wolf mate. He’d seen her in Laila’s eyes the night before, the stunning silver glow that was so bright it was mesmerizing.
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