by Mandy Harbin
“It’s okay,” she breathed, and pushed back against him.
He groaned, conflicted with wanting to do the right thing and needing to take her…as much as he could take her right now.
“Please,” she whispered, and the internal battle was decided. Rob slowly pushed the rest of the way into her moist heaven. “Yes.”
Her barely vocalized acceptance was like fire licking at his balls. He came over her and thrust into her repeatedly. He wouldn’t be able to hold out like he had last night. His emotions were too raw, his need too overpowering, but his lion wouldn’t allow him to come before its mate. He snaked his hand around her hip and down between her legs. She yelped when he made contact with her clit and flinched away. Rob bit her shoulder to hold her in place and growled low, warning her not to resist as he strummed her clit and fucked her hard.
“You’re gonna make me come,” she panted.
He released her shoulder. “Do it, angel. I’m dying here.” When her pussy began to flutter, he knew she was done for. “That’s it. Shit!”
She screamed, and he came inside her as he flattened her to the desk and rocked against her with his own orgasm. He bracketed her and panted, breathing in her angelic scent, a smell that would forever be burned into his very soul. He was falling in love with her. He always knew that he would. She was his mate, so love would naturally come, but to actually feel it and know it was happening, well, that was one of the greatest feelings he’d ever experienced.
When he gently released her and pulled out, he winced. “Um, angel, I’m sorry. I didn’t use a condom.” He knew better than this shit. He and his brothers were always to protect themselves, and Rob definitely wanted to protect his mate. But his lion didn’t care. Taking her without a condom meant marking her in the most intimate way possible. Yeah, he should’ve known better, but it was hard to fully feel remorse.
She gasped and turned around to face him. “What?” The color fled from her face, and Rob reached for her. She jerked away from him.
“I said I was sorry and I meant it. Why are you backing away from me again?” He frowned as she kept moving back.
“Does this mean I could get pregnant now?”
Why in the hell did she look disgusted? He growled. “No.”
“Are you sure? I mean, you can get women pregnant, right? Or is that not physically possible?”
“Are you fucking kidding me, Ariel? I’m a man, not a fucking creature. Just because I shift into an animal doesn’t mean I’m not one hundred percent man.” When she didn’t say anything else right away, Rob was felt his heart dropping. She thinks I am a creature. Not capable of being a man she needs. His lion demanded he prove her wrong, make her see him for the person he was and not the science experiment she thought of him. But all he really wanted to do was flee. Maybe it was because of the medication that he didn’t want to stay and fight. “You know what? Just forget it. I’m through with your fucking tests.”
And he ran. He barely cleared the door before he shifted into the animal she would always think him.
Chapter Eight
Ariel had spent the last week with her nose buried in one book or another, reading about the history of civilization and chemical compounds. Rob was avoiding her, and she couldn’t say that she completely blamed him. After the last time they were together, she’d freaked out when he hadn’t used a condom, but he’d taken it all wrong. Since her marriage to Will soured, she hadn’t been using birth control. The medication had always made her sick, so she only took it if she absolutely had to. The bottom line was she wasn’t protected against pregnancy and she wasn’t ready to be a mom. That was all.
And the fact that she hadn’t originally questioned Rob’s humanity and ability to conceive like he’d assumed she was worried about made her realize he’d somehow knocked her off her game. She was a scientist, biochemist here to do a job, and the first thing that should have popped into her mind was the scientific probability of the Woods men being able to conceive. If it wasn’t possible, then Rob and his brothers wouldn’t be here.
But that wasn’t Ariel’s first concern. Over the last week, she’d tried telling herself that her reaction was a typical woman’s reaction…and she was a woman. But she couldn’t help but acknowledge that in such a short amount of time Rob had become more to her than a test subject. She didn’t want to analyze what he was to her because she was analytical by nature and would pick it apart until she discovered the answer.
She didn’t want to know the answer to that. In this case, ignorance was truly bliss, but as her days went on, she found herself not concentrating on her work, her thoughts drifting to one tall, dark, and sexy as hell man who lived in the cabin next to her. No matter how hard she tried to push him out of her mind, he’d find his way back with a vengeance.
Rob had been true to his word and not allowed any more testing, so regardless of her wishes to fully test his will, she knew that opportunity had sailed. She couldn’t even bring herself to approach Jack about participating in some tests. Ariel’s stomach turned with just the fleeting thought. So instead, she just formulated the drugs and gave them to Thomas to administer, and after Thomas watched them give themselves their own shots, he started leaving the syringes with them at night for them to medicate themselves in the morning, and then he’d collected the empty syringes at breakfast to return to her. It was a system that ensured the men learned how to medicate themselves without assistance and pushed her out of the equation completely. At this point, she could concoct the compound at her lab on campus and ship it to them.
She really had no reason to see Rob anymore. And that thought made it difficult for her to breathe because she knew the longer she stayed, the more difficult it’d be to walk away. This past week had been difficult enough and she knew he was close by. Her sister did her damnedest to keep her away, too, telling her how great of a cook Toby was and inviting her to dinner at their cabin every night. Krista had told her that she just wanted some quality time with her, but Ariel was smarter than that. She did appreciate the excuse to avoid dinner with everyone though. She wanted to see Rob. She just couldn’t bring herself to face his wrath with an audience.
There was no denying she cared for Rob. How it happened, she had no idea, but she knew she was too gun shy to go down that road again. She didn’t believe in love, and she had no intention of changing her beliefs. But that didn’t negate the fact that she felt something for him.
It was because of those feelings that she had to make things right with Rob. She’d tried calling him, but he hadn’t answered. She’d considered telling Krista what was wrong and have Toby explain it to Rob, but that had felt like a copout. She’d made this mess with him, so she needed to be the one to fix it. She needed to go to him, tell him in person. She could’ve done it days ago, but she was a chicken. She knew that. She fully realized once she was within his grasp again that she’d bend to his will. It wasn’t love, though. It was sex. With a man she cared about. That was all.
Yes, a total chicken.
But it was time to make amends and move forward. She hadn’t gotten anywhere with herself imposed semi-isolation, her researching into the Woods family connections turning up big goose eggs and the medication working with only minor tweaks.
Ariel closed the book she was reading. It was mid-afternoon, so she assumed Rob would still be out on the land, harvesting or planting trees. With no plan other than to talk to him, she left her cabin and started walking into the woods.
* * * *
“Rob?” Josh sounded on Rob’s radio.
He unclipped it from his belt and brought it to his mouth. “Yeah?”
“I have a bead on our guest. She’s walking on the north end quadrant, heading to the burnout. Thought you’d like to know.”
What the hell was Ariel doing walking around out here like she was on some fucking field trip? Didn’t she realize there was heavy machinery and trees being extracted, and his brothers out on wheelers creating a very dangerous situation
for someone unfamiliar with their work tactics? She could get hurt or worse.
“I’m on it.”
Damn that little waif of his. He’d been hurt and pissed, so he’d avoided her like the plague, which proved a monumental feat. Just because he was mad didn’t mean he didn’t want her with aching force. He’d stayed away from his cabin during the day so he wouldn’t accidentally run into her…or pretend to run into her because lord knew that ridiculously embarrassing thought had crossed his mind. God, he’d run at night with his brothers just to sleep in his feline form outside her door. He knew it was pathetic. His brothers and his father were all worried about him. In the waning hours of his medication, he couldn’t resist his lion’s need to be near its mate. He knew his family talked about him and about how Ariel’s tests had been too much for him. Hell, they talked about that in front of him. He knew they’d witnessed him staying in his shifted form and sleeping outside, and he didn’t give a shit. He was not ashamed of how she made him feel.
He just wished she thought of him as a man and not a beast.
He put down the chainsaw he’d been using to clear debris for a new trail and hopped on his wheeler. He had to go much slower than he wanted because he didn’t want to startle her when he neared or actually hit her when he was upon her. When he rounded the last bend en route to the burnout hole, he slowed even more when he spotted her. She was such a sight for sore eyes. He knew he missed her, could still smell her when he was by her cabin, and got whiffs of her in the main house, but just seeing her again would’ve brought him to his knees if he were standing. She turned and watched him approach and it was all he could do to calmly pull up beside her and kill the engine.
“You shouldn’t be out here, angel.” His voiced sounded raw even to him.
She stepped closer and damn if he couldn’t move away. He was trapped on the all-terrain vehicle. She put her hand on the bar beside his, not touching.
“Hi to you, too.” She was smiling at him and his giddy heart started pounding. Too fucking bad.
“You need to head back inside or at least away from the wooded areas of the property. You know we do work out here. It’s not safe for you to be lurking around.”
“I’m not lurking. I’m looking.”
“What are you looking for?”
Her pinky moved next to his hand and gently grazed his skin. Just that simple touch made him want her even more if that were even possible. He already ached for her night and day.
“You.”
“Shit, Ariel. Why?” Oh God, please say it’s because you want me.
“I owe you an apology, I think. You jumped to the wrong conclusion when we were together last, and you left before I could explain. Come to think of it, I think that means you owe me an apology.” She chuckled.
“You’re speaking in circles, angel.”
“I asked about the pregnancy possibility after the no-condom scare because I’m not ready to be a parent. It had nothing to do with you and your ability to shift. Any young woman in my situation would feel the same way.”
“Your situation being that you’re fucking a man who turns into an animal?” Was she just here to pour salt into his wounded heart? If so, he’d stand here and take it, but God, he’d be crushed all over again.
She moved up to him quickly and rested her hands on his chest, the heat of them scorching through his shirt. “No, Robbie,” she whispered. “My situation being that I’m not on birth control. The medicine makes me ill, so I stopped taking it after Will and I stopped having sex. There wasn’t a point in suffering, and I haven’t given it any thought because I had no intention of engaging in sexual intercourse with you. I did plan on testing your sexual limits, but I did have limits of my own that you barreled over. I just didn’t plan on it being an issue until we were faced with what we’d done.”
“So you don’t think I’m some kind of monster?” Why the hell did his voice crack? And why was he watching her as if her answer held the key to his very existence? Yet, he knew the answers to those questions. He now had a sliver of hope. Hope that maybe she did accept him for who and what he was, and he was terrified that the hope he felt would be crushed.
“No, I don’t.”
He moved then, clutching her hands at his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain yourself. I-I thought—”
“I know what you thought, and I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to confront you before now. I did try to call—”
“I’m sorry. I know. I just couldn’t answer. I was worried I’d start yelling at you and I didn’t want to hurt you, no matter how much pain I was in.”
She leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her. He felt a rumble in his chest and he didn’t worry that his purring would freak her out. She just held him back and stroked his arm.
“There’s something else I think you should know,” she mumbled against his chest.
“What’s that, angel?”
“My relationship with Will left me scorned. I haven’t believed in love in a long time. I’m still not convinced it exists, and I need you to know that.” She moved out of his embrace and wrapped her arms around herself for protection. “I’m not saying whatever is happening between us is like that, or…or even more than some casual fun…mixed with work. I just need you to know so you won’t expect something from me that I cannot give.”
Rob slung his leg over the wheeler, stood up, and walked toward her before he’d even registered fully what she’d said. She felt she wasn’t capable of love? Bullshit. There was no doubt in his mind she had a kind, loving soul. But she also looked timid and ready to run. He needed to handle her like he would a scared kitten.
“I’ll never, ever expect more from you than what you’re capable of giving me, angel.” He reached up and tucked her windblown hair behind her ear. “I just want the chance to prove to you that I can be good for you. Please don’t let the actions of another man ruin what we could have.”
“This is just moving too fast for me.” She stumbled back and Rob had to control the urge to reach out for her. She was struggling with her beliefs, and he could wait for her to be ready. She made the step to come find him. He had to believe she would come back for him again. He would wait until he took his dying breath. So he’d do the hardest thing he’d had to do since meeting the woman who would own his heart fully.
He’d let her go.
“I won’t pursue you if you don’t want me to.” God, saying those words was like ripping his heart out while it was still beating. He went from despair to hope and then back to crushing misery. There would be no drug strong enough to dull the excruciating pain that radiated through him in this moment.
She stopped and turned. “I-I can’t, Robbie. This is too much.”
He nodded, too choked up to speak. Too weak to resist begging if he did open his mouth.
“Please,” she breathed, and he was shocked to realize he wasn’t the one uttering the word.
She stepped closer to him, and he didn’t know what she was begging for. Did she want him to run from her? Did she want him to stay and fight? God, he didn’t know what to do.
“We can go slow. Take all the time in the world to just see what happens.”
“I’m scared.” She swayed toward him, and he grabbed her, his greedy mouth finding hers with a desperation he knew all too well since meeting his little waif. He told himself, ordered his body to go slow like he’d just promised they could do. No way was he going to frighten her away with the forceful need coursing through him right now. He eased his kisses, turning them light and teasing while he ran his hands through her hair, just holding her to him, tasting her, drinking from her like a man enjoying the finest whiskey and not a starved man experiencing food for the first time. Easy, sipping kissing that had her clutching at his arms and moaning into his mouth.
Rob eased her to the ground, kissing her mouth and traveling down her neck, licking and lightly nipping her skin. He was hard and wanted her right no
w, but he had to take his time. Show her that he could be a gentle lover too.
He slid his hand up her shirt and squeezed her breast and his mouth moved to her ear. “I love your body. So beautiful. Perfect.”
Her hand slithered under his belt and into his jeans. Her soft little hand wrapped around his cock and he couldn’t keep the groan from escaping his lips. He rested on his elbow and kissed her again, sliding his hand from her breast to inside her pants like she’d just done for him. He found her wet and ready and gently rubbed her clit in time with her shallow pulls of his cock.
He took his time, learning her body like he should’ve done before. Each time they’d been together it was fierce, all consuming, and now he’d control the burn at a heated simmer.
Ariel pulled her hand out from his jeans and started unbuttoning his shirt, kissing the exposed skin she found. He’d been working all day, so he knew he was dirty, but if she noticed, she didn’t care. They slowly divested each other of the rest of their clothing and within minutes, he was easing into her welcoming body. They fit perfectly together, as if Rob had any doubt.
He made love to her on the ground in the middle of the woods, surrounded by temptation of love, of future, of hope.
When she came, he pulled out and finished right after her, holding her, loving her. There was no doubt in his mind that he was in love with her. Maybe it’d happened the moment his lion acknowledged her as his mate. It didn’t matter. But as she wringed the last of his seed from his body, his fangs descended, a new demand to take. And he was going to.
Just not today.
Chapter Nine
Ariel awoke to soft kisses at the nape of her neck, and she realized she was falling fast and hard for Rob. In the weeks since their misunderstanding and subsequent make up, they’d been practically inseparable. Rob slept in her cabin with her. They’d have breakfast in bed, meet for lunch together in the cabin—followed by some hot and fast sex—and then they’d eat in, begging off offers to join the others at the main house. It was as if they were living in their own little world. It was perfect.