by Renee George
Shane threw his one bag onto the floor and plugged in his phone. His chest tightened as the screen saver revealed the only woman he’d ever loved. Mom. She’d died fourteen months ago. Complications related to her Parkinson’s disease, the doctor had said. Watching her waste away had chipped at Shane’s soul. When he’d found the love letters written by his father, Shane placed the blame for his mother’s suffering on its source: the shifter who’d broken her heart. He wanted Matthew Pierce to feel his pain, his fury at the injustice of being left alone in a world that would never understand him. His mother paid the price every single day for Shane’s mixed heritage. She taught him what little she knew about the shifters, but he’d needed a true mentor. He’d needed his father.
And so had Mom.
Because of Matthew Pierce, Shane’s mother lived a life alone. She never married, never even looked at another man. Pierce would soon know the pain he’d caused Lila Largos. And he would pay for his sins.
God, why hadn’t he stayed in the bar? For the first time in months, Scottie gave him something to think about something other than his anger and resentment. And flirting with her, even if it couldn’t go anywhere, was better than stewing in his own misery.
Shane stripped down to his briefs and flopped onto the bed. At six feet five inches, his feet hung off the end. He stared at the stark white ceiling. The buttercream painted walls felt as if they were closing in on Shane. He could smell a faint scent of Scottie in the room. She had been in here last, he guessed. Most likely to clean, because, other than pine, lemon, and the chemical aroma of disinfectants, she was the only shifter he detected.
Tomorrow, he would meet his father for the first time. And he would try to kill him. He hadn’t made any plans past confronting dear old dad. He’d been able to find out very little about the Leone Pride, but he did know how much that hated half-breeds. Even if he managed to take out Pierce, he doubted the Pride would allow him to survive.
He slowed his breathing. Even with all he faced the next day, he couldn’t get Scottie off his mind. He sat up and unscrewed the cap on the bourbon. Tipping the bottle to his lips, he drank deep, ignoring the burn in his throat as the dark amber liquid warmed his belly.
He needed to walk. Needed to clear his head. He got up, slid on his jeans, but didn’t bother with shoes, and stepped out of the motel room to get some air.
****
After the bar had closed, Scottie lay in bed unable to stop thinking about the handsome lion shifter. He’d been flirty and too good-looking. The kind of guy she liked to keep her distance from. So why did her pussy thrum whenever his name popped into her brain?
Shane.
Thrum.
Shane.
Thrum. Thrum.
It was as if she was a small motor, and he was the ignition. She pulled her pillow close, hugging it to her chest and pretended his hard muscles were pressed up against her eraser-hard nipples. Fuck, she wanted to be in his arms, to feel his skin pressed to her chest. What would it be like to kiss those full lips, caress his muscles, and feel his cock slide in and out of her body?
She moaned as she closed her eyes and imagined her hands were Shane’s hands. Her stomach fluttered as palms moved over her breasts. Fingers dipped down to the curly hair of her mound, taking the time to twirl and tug the hair before sliding a finger between the folds of her wet and aching sex. Her clit swelled, throbbing beneath his imagined touch. She writhed, urging him to take more. The wet sleekness of arousal eased the finger she pushed into her channel, then out. She placed it to her lips, tasting her desire.
Quickly, she moved a hand between her thighs once more and plunged into her drenched pussy. Moving in and out, playing the fingertips over her cunt, then back into the silky canal.
“Oh, Shane,” she moaned as the fantasy took on life.
She could feel the tingle, the rush of blood to her groin on the verge of orgasm, as she neared climax. She groaned as she thrust two fingers in and out of her depths. Would he call her name?
Yes, she decided.
Scottie, he would say. Come for me. And…
“Ahhh!” she cried out as her body convulsed and spasms gripped her fingers in her tight sex. When the little orgasm quakes subsided, Scottie opened her eyes and began to laugh. Fantasy Shane had been the best date she’d had in a very long time.
She got up and put on a robe then sat on the bench in front of her window. It was a beautiful night out. The sky was clear, and the stars looked close enough to pluck.
A crackle of gravel moved her attention from celestial bodies to the heavenly body walking around the parking lot. What was Shane Largos doing out there? And why was he shirtless?
She decided a smart woman would close the curtains, turn out the light, and forget she ever saw Tall, Dark, and Half-Naked.
Unfortunately, she was not a smart woman.
She knocked on the window. Shane looked up. His eyes lit up when he saw her. It gave Scottie a warm fuzzy. He made a gesture to open the window.
Scottie unlatched the frame and slide the pane up. “Hey,” she said. “Whatcha doing?”
“Clearing my head,” Shane said. “You should join me.”
Scottie shook her head. “I don’t have shoes on.”
“Wimp.”
“I’m bad ass, thank you very much.”
Shane raised a questioning brow. “Prove it.”
“By letting you perv on me?” She giggled, and against her better judgment swung her legs out the window. Her ass got hung up on the ledge, and she ungracefully toppled out.
In a hair’s breadth, Shane was next to her hauling her up to her feet. “You okay?” He dusted her thigh and her bottom.
Scottie stared as her insanely horny, body wanted him to keep touching her booty. “You’re awfully free with those hands.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. “I was just trying to be a good Samaritan.”
“Uh huh.” God, why did he have to be so handsome. She inhaled his masculine scent. And why’d he have to smell so…right. “Now that my robe is torn, I should probably go back inside.”
“You have the prettiest eyes, Kitten.” He fingertips brushed her cheek. “I love how bright the green gets when you’re thinking about me naked.”
“I am not—” Okay. There it was. A vision of Shane in nothing but his birthday suit.
He grinned. “You’re thinking about me naked right now, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s all right. I’m thinking about you naked too.” He kissed her cheek. “And all the ways I’m going to pleasure you.”
Scottie’s heart fluttered. She caught her breath as his mouth pressed against hers. After a momentary stillness, she responded, her lips and tongue moving with his. His body molded to the shape of her own, his hard cock pressing against her abdomen. As the kiss became more aggressive, Scottie stopped and pushed him slightly away from her. “Shane.”
“I want you, kitten.”
“I don’t do this,” she said, hating herself for killing the moment. “I don’t date.”
He placed a finger over her mouth and then replaced it briefly with his lips. “I don’t want to date you, Scottie.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want the joy of holding you in my arms. I want the excitement that comes from kissing your berry pink lips. I want to lose myself in your gorgeous body until I don’t know where I begin, and you end. I want to drink the nectar from your sweet pussy until your orgasm shatters around my tongue. And then, I want to fuck you until you come screaming my name. After, when you’ve had a second to breathe, I want to fuck you again. And again. I want you.” He pulled her fingertips to his lips and kissed them lightly before placing her palms on his broad chest. “I want you more than anything else in this world.”
Scottie’s heart pounded against the inside of her chest. The strong whoosh-whoosh thundered in her ears. “Oh, damn,” she whispered. “Damn.” Her nipples pebbled into
two hard nubs, and her slick sex throbbed with unrequited need.
“Do you want me?” Shane asked.
“It’s not that simple.”
He caressed her cheek and gave her a heated gaze that curled her toes. “There is nothing simpler than a yes or a no.”
I am so going to regret this. She took the opportunity to take in his body — hard, wiry muscles in his chest, which was devoid of hair except for a pleasure trail leading to the short curly brown patch peeking out the top of his briefs. She stifled a moan of approval.
“Yes,” she finally said.
Shane smiled, his golden eyes glowing with lust as he traced the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, the warmth of his gaze making her skin tense and her lower bits clench. Slowly, he moved his mouth over hers, hovering for a moment, and then meeting her lips with his—soft and slightly moist. Unable to resist, she slid her tongue along the crack of his mouth, parting his lips, slipping between his teeth. His mouth tasted like sweet bourbon, deliciously warm.
The kiss suddenly became fierce, hard, punishing, and oh so erotic. Shane shoved Scottie against the wall, opening her robe and pressing his bare chest against her naked flesh. He cupped her breasts as his mouth went to her lips, her neck, kissing and licking over her skin. She flung her head back, her skull connecting with the wall.
“Ow,” she said.
“You okay?”
“Yes,” she panted. “Fine. Don’t stop.”
Shane nodded. He scooped Scottie into his arms, and she nearly swooned at his strength. He carried her to Room 7 and took her inside. He set her down on the bed. She sat up, his bulging button fly at eye level.
Scottie licked her lips, eager to taste him, to have his rigid length in her mouth. Before he could join her on the bed, she said, “Not yet.” She unbuttoned his jeans, hooked her thumbs in his waist, and tugged both his jeans and underwear down his thighs. His thickly rigid cock sprung free, nearly whacking her in the nose. After she muffled a giggle, she told him, “I want to suck you.”
“God, yes,” Shane said. He stroked his hands through her hair.
She tugged Shane toward her and twirled her tongue over the tip of his erection, enjoying the noises her actions elicited from the large shifter. Every caress of her mouth brought a new sound from Shane’s throat, some whimpering, some primal, but each one charging Scottie’s lust. Sucking and licking, she admired the firm, smooth shaft that slipped like silk between her lips.
Scottie cupped the loose sac of Shane’s testicles, drawing him deeper into her mouth, rolling her tongue across the distended veins, swallowing hard when the bulbous head hit the back of her throat.
Shane trembled. “I’m not going to last if you keep that up.” He stepped away from Scottie, effectively removing his cock from her grasp. “And believe me, kitten, I want this to last.”
Scottie’s body tightened as Shane dropped to the floor between her legs, kissing up her thighs. Tenderly he parted her folds with his lips, stroking his tongue first into her canal, then, unhurried, dragging it up to her clit. He sucked on the engorged nub, teasing the pulsating core with licks and flicks. The feel of his lips on her pussy drove Scottie to the brink of orgasm, but she held on.
Like Shane, she wanted this experience to last.
****
Shane’s body tightened as he stroked his tongue inside Scottie’s hot, wet sex. He licked her cream, sweeter than any dessert. He sucked clit, enjoying its pulse on his tongue, teasing the pulsating core in twirling licks. The sweet smell of her pussy drove him to the edge of ecstasy.
He growled when she fisted his hair and said, “I want to suck you while you eat me.” Her eyes glinted with sexy mischievousness. His girl had a naughty streak, one he hadn’t expected considering her earlier reluctance. He liked it. A lot.
Shane crawled with Scottie up onto the bed, and they lay toe to head on their sides. He lifted her leg, reaching around her thigh to spread her so he could lick the dew that gathered at her inviting hole. Her warm breath over his the sensitive skin of his cock caused his hips to jolt as she took his length into her mouth. He grabbed her buttocks and pulled her closer, thrusting his tongue inside her.
She gasped her pleasure even as her mouth slid up and down over his cock, her throat undulating in a way that drove him to frenzy. He moaned beneath her, licking and sucking her juicy bits. She writhed against him. The warm heat from the blood rushing to her clit, and the swell of her pussy fueled his ardent desire.
Her hips surged forward against him, and he drove his tongue into her inviting heat. The tight strokes of her mouth on his shaft drove him to the point of explosion.
His rhythm became quicker, harder, with each thrust going deeper into her, aching to taste her orgasm on his tongue.
Her moans turned into mewlings, her breathing into gasps. She began to hum, the vibrations sending shockwaves to his groin.
“Ah!” she cried out. Her hands flew around and gripped his ass, holding him inside her mouth as her lower body bucked against his face. She moaned her pleasure once more as her hips jerked forward and her body convulsed in ultimate ecstasy, triggering Shane’s climax.
His head went back as a growl tore from his throat. He thrust his length between her lips, as she drank him down. “Fuck!” he shouted. “Fuck!”
When he finished, Scottie let go of him and giggled.
“Did you find that amusing?” he asked.
“Oh,” she said, wiping the corner of her mouth. “I found that very amusing.”
“And fun.”
“Yes, definitely fun.”
“And fucking hot.”
“Volcanic hot,” she agreed.
“That’s what I thought.” He laughed and rolled onto his back.
Scottie crawled up into the crook of his arm. “Do you really have to leave tomorrow?”
“Do you want me to stay?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then I’ll stay.” Though he didn’t say for how long. He’d come all this way for a reason, and just because he’d met this brilliant, wonderful, sparkling woman, didn’t mean he’d deviate from his ultimate purpose.
“I’m so glad,” Scottie said. “You have some promises to fulfill, and it’s going to take more than one night.”
“Promises?”
“You know, something about fucking me again and again while I scream your name.” She shrugged. “Or something like that.”
Shane grinned, as he imagined all the wicked things he would do to her body. “I am a man who likes to keep his promises.”
Chapter Five
“I have to go,” Scottie said, for the hundredth time, but this time she’d made it as far as the door. “I have to be back in my room before Mom wakes up.”
“Is she going to ground you if you stay out all night?”
“Yes, and then she’ll send me to bed without supper,” she quipped.
“It’s a good thing we’ve already eaten then.” For a lion shifter, his smile was awfully wolfish.
“We certainly did.” She laughed. “I really do have to go, though.” She kissed Shane, enjoying the way his lips moved against hers. “You’ll come for breakfast?”
“Sure.”
“Eight o’clock. Mom does the whole she-bang. Bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, and fried eggs.”
He pulled her in close, the heat of his body warming her from head to toe. “Can I get some Scottie for dessert?”
“I think we can arrange that,” she said breathlessly. She kissed Shane again, then patted his chest. “I have to go now, though.”
He lifted his hands in the air. “Fine. Go.” He caressed her cheek. “I’m going to miss you in my arms.”
“Oh, Jesus.” If he kept talking like that, she’d never leave, which she suspected was his plan. “I’ll see you in the morning.” And with a final, quick peck, she skirted out of his room, shutting the door between them.
Her skin vibrated with pleasure as the cool night air whipped across
her legs. Shane made her want a relationship for the first time in her life. He made her want the thing she never thought were in the cards, love, marriage, and maybe even children. Was it possible that fate delivered her the perfect guy—all the way from Texas of all places?
Her heart ached almost as much as her body ached to be back with him.
Scottie twirled, grinning as the hem of her robe flew up. She shoved it down around her thighs. Suddenly, she was knocked forward as pain exploded in her back. She stumbled and fell to her knees. What the heck? Before she could get to her feet, she was hit again. She screamed as her body hit the gravel parking lot. Small, jagged rocks bit into her skin. Scottie scrambled to get out from under the weight pinning her to the ground. A rough voice rasped in her ear, “Not so hot shit now are you, bitch?”
Her heart hammered as she recognized the voice of the drunken, asshole jaguar she’d humiliated and then banned. Had he been out here the entire night lying in wait?
“You surprised me earlier, little girl. But you won’t get a second chance.” He pinned her arms to her sides and punched her in the back of her head. Scottie’s face smashed into the ground, and the rocks cut into her cheek and her lip.
She couldn’t get leverage on the guy. He punched her again—this time in the middle of her shoulder. When he drew his arm back again, Scottie’s tiger poured out as her skin exploded in a sea of fur. She bucked the man from her back and whirled, tearing at him with sharp, vicious claws.
He roared, his own skin sprouting brown fur. Unfortunately, his cat, a large jag with medium brown with black spots, was twice as big as her beast. Christ. He had to be close to four-hundred pounds, and he was all bulk and muscle.
Whatever it took, Scottie wasn’t going down easy. This fucker wanted a fight? He’d get one. She cried out and leaped the distance between them, her strong jaw locking onto his shoulder.
The jaguar swiped at her, and his claw sliced across her stomach, nearly dislodged her grip. She felt the warmth of her guts spilling out as he twisted his body and flung her side to side. The next thing she knew, he was on his knees, his hot blood coating the inside of her mouth as her teeth pierced his jugular.