by Kimber White
She was beautiful, my mother. The headlights made her skin shine almost translucent. Her platinum blonde hair, identical to my own, piled high on her head except where curling tendrils broke loose to frame her face. She had Brigitte Bardot looks right down to her lush eyelashes everyone thought were false. Her wide blue eyes crinkled as she smiled, flashing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. Not a trace of the nicotine they should have shown.
“Baby, you’re early!” she sang in her Texas twang. She wasn’t born here. My father, my real father, had been in the army when he married her, stationed near Huston. He whisked her away and ended up in Wild Lake the year before I was born. It didn’t work out and he went to his next duty station without us before I was old enough to remember him. He died on some dusty battlefield in Afghanistan a dozen years ago. She kept a framed flag in a back closet.
She leaned into the window frame, her eyes raking over Bas and brightening even more. He dipped his chin toward her politely, but he still wasn’t in a talking mood.
“Well, hello, handsome! You’re sure a finer sight than those lawyer wannabe eggheads I usually see with my Abigail.”
“This is Bas,” I said. “He’s just . . . bringing me home.”
My mother’s face fell for a fraction of a second before she plastered her smile back in place. “Well, that’s just the thing, babe. I tried to call you. I thought you were going to be out with your friends tonight. Didn’t you tell me that?”
I knew where this was going. The same place it had gone a thousand times. She’d send me to the neighbors. I’d crash with a friend. And I had forgotten. I meant to spend the night at Kendra’s. But, Mom was far from done partying. A sick pit formed in my stomach as Chad appeared in the doorframe. Wasted. Leering. His temper about to flare. He had a group of friends over; it was my mother’s job to wait on him hand and foot. And she’d do it. She’d try to keep him happy, but in a few weeks or months, Chad would tire of her. Or she’d finally see that all his big plans were nothing but talk. If she was lucky he wouldn’t clean her out before he left. I’d hidden most of what she had of value: her engagement ring, her father’s gold pocket watch, a few of my baby pictures, in a safety deposit box years ago. I never kept cash in the house.
Panic raced through me. Shit. Bas was on edge already. If Chad came out here and manhandled my mother or did any of his usual dipshittery, he might trigger Bas again.
“We were just leaving,” I said. “I wanted to swing by and pick up a few things.”
My mother slapped the side of the car, her lilting laughter raising the hair on my arms. “Well, I’m glad you did. Why don’t you and Bas come on in and have a drink or two? Do you play Euchre, Bas?”
God. I dug my nails into my palms to hold back the hysterical laughter bubbling at the thought of Bas playing cards at my mother’s kitchen table.
“Lori! Who are you talking to?” I recognized the edge in Chad’s voice. So did Mom. She winced.
“Hang on, baby, it’s just Abby.” She turned back to me, never letting the smile drop. “Honey, you better take off. I’m sorry.”
“Right. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Bas put the car in reverse and managed a smile toward my mother. Chad was yelling something else from the doorway.
“Is she . . . okay here with him?” Bas’s eyes flicked from me to my mother’s and back again.
My mother threw her head back and laughed. “Aren’t you just sexy as sin? Sugar, don’t worry about me. Chad’s all bark and no bite. You, though. Hmm.” My mother made a growling noise and waved as she turned and sashayed back toward Chad in the doorway.
“She should be fine.”
Bas pursed his lips together then twisted at the waist to check behind us as he pulled out. He was stoic and silent as he left the park and hit the highway. Warmth flooded through me at the nearness of him. I didn’t ask where we were going. I knew I should have. I should have asked him to take me to Kendra’s after all. But, something happened in the air between us. Chad or no Chad, I could have stepped out of the car in the driveway. Except I didn’t. Not because I had nowhere else to go. Not because I felt some obligation to Bas for helping me with Cal or anything else. It was just some strengthening thread between us that grew the moment I first laid eyes on him.
Dangerous. Impossible. Foolish, maybe. But, as Bas drove further away from the trailer park and deeper into the woods of Wild Lake, I knew I belonged here, with him.
He made a turn up a winding road past the Wild Lake Outfitters store. My heart thundered inside of me as giant pines rose all around us. Just a few miles from the highway, and it felt like I’d passed through to another world. Something dark and wild. Lush and green. The pavement gave way to gravel, then to dirt. Bas kept driving. We reached the top of a steep hill; the highway and the store were far below us in the valley. Then, the trees broke and in the clearing sat a cabin unlike any I’d ever seen.
It was huge. Like the Wild Lake store, it was made of rustic beams of wood. High glass walls and wooden decking all around, overlooking the forest beyond it. A log cabin, mansion style. Bas parked the truck next to one of the tallest pines and cut the engine.
The air hung thick between us for a moment. I held my breath, afraid my stuttering heart might betray me. I was here. Alone. With Bas.
“Let’s get you inside,” he said, clearing his throat. He moved swift and smooth. Before I could even blink, he was at my side opening the car door. I took his hand, and that electric fire sparked between us when his skin touched mine. He held my hand in his, both gentle and strong as he led me up the stone steps to the main house.
Movement caught my eye in the tree line. I startled as two pairs of glowing yellow orbs hovered in the darkness. Air went out of my lungs as those eyes bobbed, the trees rustled, and two huge gray wolves stepped out of the clearing heading straight for us.
Bas turned and put up a hand. The wolves froze and immediately sat. Gooseflesh rippled across my flesh as I recognized the gesture. Their Alpha had just given them a stand down order and they had instantly complied. I couldn’t help staring slack-jawed at the magnificent creatures. Each one perfectly formed with domed heads and ears held high at attention. Their muscles rippled as they sat back on powerful haunches, ready to leap and strike at their master’s command. I’d seen wolves before, but none like these. For one thing, they were huge, at least half a foot taller at the shoulder than those I’d seen at the zoo when I was little. And they looked at me with questioning, keen intelligence.
“Connor and Eli, meet Abby,” Bas said, barely stopping as he led me up the stairs.
I gave them a light smile and a wave. “Hello. Oh, do they understand me?”
Bas laughed. “Of course. They’d shift and give you a proper greeting if I let them.”
“If you let them? They can’t, I mean, unless you tell them?”
“Oh, they can. I just figured you’d rather give them a chance to put some pants on before they walked over here bare ass naked to shake your hand.”
He reached over and hooked a finger beneath my chin to close my gaping mouth. A twinkle lit his eyes, sending a fresh wave of heat spearing through me. He led me into the house and the grand foyer with wide open spaces and floor to ceiling windows just like his office. A warm fire burned in a great stone fireplace on the far side of the room. On one side, he had a giant kitchen with a long table island in the center and more than a dozen chairs around it. The other side of the room had the fireplace and deep, comfortable chairs and couches. A double, curving staircase framed the room leading to the loft. This was a wolf’s lodge. A man’s place. I wondered how many outsiders had seen this place. I guessed not many.
“Are you hungry?”
I cast my eyes downward. I was, but not for food. I couldn’t help it. Being this close to Bas affected me in ways I couldn’t understand. My body tuned to his. Heat flowed from him to me, and I craved his touch. Subtle changes in his posture set my blood humming. We were alone. I m
eant to be cautious, conservative, sensible. But, as we stood together face to face and inches apart, I felt something new. Belonging. Craving. Hunger.
“Abby,” he said, his voice no more than a choked whisper. “Did he hurt you? That asshole at the bar?”
I shook my head. Cal seemed like a million years ago. “I’m fine. Really. I’m glad you came when you did, but I can take care of myself.”
He crossed the distance between us in a blur of motion, gripping my upper arms with his strong hands. Not hurting me. But the heat of his touch sent a shudder through me as I slowly lifted my head to meet his eyes.
“I can’t stop it now. I can try to keep my distance. But, I will not let anyone or anything hurt you. Not ever. Do you understand?”
A beat. Two. The air shifted and Bas’s face came sharply into focus.
“Were you following me? Tonight? The other day?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he held my gaze. “Not the way you think.”
What did I think? Twice in the last week, he was there as if materializing out of thin air the instant I was in even the slightest hint of danger or distress. “You can, um, feel me. Can’t you?” God, I made no sense. And yet, things seemed to shift into place and align as I spoke it.
He took a breath and lowered his chin in a slow, solemn nod. “Yes.”
“What is it? What am I?”
He lifted his index finger and traced a line just above my brow and trailed it down over my jaw, across my collarbone then rested it just above my heart. “Don’t you know? Don’t you feel it too?”
I tried to swallow, but my throat ran dry. I felt a tiny pulse beat in my neck. Bas’s eyes flashed as he saw it too. “Tell me what I am.” I managed to whisper.
Bas cocked his head and his lips parted in a smile. “Mine.”
My heartbeat skipped when he said it. Mine. Simple. Primal. It should have scared me, perhaps. Offended me, even. Except, it didn’t. That one simple word seemed obvious and right.
Then, he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine, feathering them gently, his tongue darting in and out as his hands slid around me, pulling me close. He came to me strong and solid just when my knees went weak. Sensing it, Bas hooked his arm beneath me and lifted me off the ground. The room spun for an instant. I went rigid, afraid to touch him, afraid what it would mean if I admitted the truth of what he told me. But oh, I felt the truth of it in my cells, my nerves, the way my body called out for his. Mine. Mine. Mine.
“Bas!” I gasped his name, and that was all it took. A dam broke inside me and I lifted my hands and cupped his face. We moved. We flew. Up the stairs and down the hall. All the while, I kept my lips locked with his, my hands carving through the thick softness of his hair.
Then he set me down. I took a stuttering step sideways, reaching out to grab the end of the bed. He had me breathless. Senseless. Bas stood before me still and strong. Instinctively, I knew what he wanted. Or more importantly, I knew what he gave. A choice. My choice. He said he could keep his distance. It was in me to tell him he must. Whatever this was scared me as much as it felt right. And yet, in that fraction of a second when my sensible brain told me to do the safest thing, something else flared to life and snuffed it out.
This. Bas. I couldn’t breathe without him. Couldn’t stand not to have him touching me for another second. I didn’t know what he wanted or needed from me. And then I did. I raised my head to meet his eyes and said one word that changed my life forever.
“Yes.”
He moved like molten lightning. Quick and sure. He peeled his shirt off his shoulders and unsnapped his jeans. The sight of him set off a starburst behind my ribcage. God. He was beautiful. Savage. Strong. The perfect cut of his muscles. From his molded abs and tapered waist to his sculpted thighs and powerful calves. He grew hard before me, and his massive erection bobbed. My own thighs quivered at the power and promise it held.
Bas took a slow step toward me, his eyes never leaving mine. His swirled and changed, and I sensed the wolf hovering just beneath him, naked and powerful too. He reached out and started the slow process of unbuttoning my blouse. My breath hitched and my breasts trembled as he took his time with me. He spread my shirt and ran his fingers across the smooth slope of my breast, hooking them beneath my bra. With a deft thumb and index finger, he unclasped the front. His eyes flashed pure wolf as my breasts swung free for his inspection.
God. I wanted him. My core became liquid heat as he trailed a skillful finger over each nipple, pebbling them. I wanted more. I wanted his mouth. His body pressed against mine. For now though, he took his time, delivering delicious torture as he worked one nipple, then the other, raising them to throbbing peaks as he watched.
He reached up and slid my shirt and bra off my shoulders then spanned his hands across my waist. He knelt slowly before me, and I placed my hands on the crown of his head. Bas wasn’t as gentle as he tore the button of my jeans and peeled them off, taking my panties with them. I stepped out of them and stood before him completely naked now.
He parted my thighs and took in my scent. I could hide nothing from him. My sex glistened with my arousal as he flicked his tongue against my most sensitive flesh. I gasped and swayed, but Bas held me steady. He looked up at me with those devilish eyes. Oh, he enjoyed this.
“I want to look at you.”
“You are looking at me.” I don’t know where I found the strength to form words. I felt strung tight like a bow. The slightest touch of his finger or breath on my sex might send me spasming toward my first climax.
I couldn’t take it. I wanted him too badly. I sat down on the bed and slid my hands across his shoulders then tilted his head toward mine. Drowning in kisses, I curved my body toward his, dropping slowly to my knees. And then he was before me, hard and turgid. He groaned with anticipation, but it was my turn to deliver a type of torture. I ran my tongue along his thigh, letting the hairs tickle my nose. With my hands gripping his taut ass, I went up on the pads of my feet and slid my mouth around him.
“Oh, God!” I looked up to see Bas throw his head back as I fastened my mouth around the tip of his cock then brought it slowly down. He filled me. I strained from the effort of bringing all of him into my mouth, but I knew I needed it. Him. All of him. I sucked and licked, wanting to be slow and sensual. But, it didn’t work out that way. A fuse lit within me and the more of him I tasted, the wilder I became until the world became the sounds my mouth and tongue made as I struggled to take more and more.
His held his fingers in my hair, urging me on. I licked and stroked and reveled in the pleasure I knew it gave him. It gave me such pleasure too. My thighs trembled as I held myself in place and tried to keep pace with his thrusts. He was steel and velvet in my mouth. Salt and spice. His pulse thrummed inside of me. Somehow, I was his before he even took me. I had always been his. I just never knew it until now.
Bas hooked his fingers under my arms and carefully lifted me to my feet. His eyes flared again when I licked my lips. He barely let me catch my breath before he devoured me with urgent kisses all over again. He lifted me, wrapping my thighs around his waist as he took me to the bed. He was gentle as he laid me down, spreading me beneath him. Bas gathered my wrists in one hand and pinned them above my head as he shifted his weight so he laid along the length of me. I quivered as he raked his eyes over me, liking what he saw.
“God, you’re perfect. I wish I could keep you here like this forever.”
And I wanted him too. Badly. As he trailed a finger between my breasts and over the slope of my stomach, I quivered. My body called out for his and I thrust my hips as he dipped that finger between my legs and found me wet and wanting.
“Please,” I gasped. Strung taut, Bas knew how to play me. With a slow, lazy finger, he circled the tiny bud between my legs and coaxed me to my first orgasm within seconds. I couldn’t help it. It exploded out of me as my legs fell open and he slid his finger inside of me. He had me shameless and wanton and he’d barely touched me
. It was if he could command my body and bring me to heel just like he’d done with his wolves outside. Such was the power of Bas Lanier, and he wielded it to bring me aching pleasure.
“Bas!” I gasped, turning my body toward his. I meant to bring myself up and straddle him. I couldn’t stand not having him inside of me for another second.
“Patience,” he said. “I want to take my time with you.”
He moved in a flash so quick my eyes barely had time to register it before he was back on the bed again. He’d taken the belt from his pants and held it out between his hands. I writhed beneath him with the erotic promise he held. He took my hands again and looped the belt around them, lashing me to the headboard.
Then, he was on his feet again, knotting the sheets around my ankles and binding me to the footboard. He had me open, exposed, spread-eagled before him. When his eyes shone with that lustful glint, I begged him to take me.
But, Bas was far from done. He settled himself between my thighs and licked me again. A sensual growl vibrated through him and into me, sending a fresh wave of juices for him to taste. He worked me there, bringing me to another climax, and another after that. He was merciless, enjoying the way I writhed beneath him and begged him for more.
Finally, he let me go and rose above me, his erection looming large. I craned my neck to take him in my mouth again and he let me. From this angle, I could reach all of him, tip to shaft and underneath. It was his turn to groan with delight and my turn to deliver sweet punishment at my pace.
But not for long. I felt him seize up and braced myself to take all of him in. At the last second, Bas pulled away and went to his knees between my legs. He stroked himself and I craned my neck to watch. As he hovered just inches away from my entrance, he had me begging for him again.
“Bas, please. I can’t wait anymore. I need you.”
Finally, he gave me what I craved. His thick head probed me and spread me wide. I arched my back to urge him forward. Then he entered me. Slowly. Filling me. Claiming me. He stretched me wide and made me whole. Bas leaned forward and began the slow, deliberate thrusts I’d begged him for. He rested his weight on one arm while he undid the bindings on my hands and feet with the other. I curved my body around his, trying to take even more of him in. His rhythm was smooth and hard and perfect. I pulled him into me, threading one hand through the hair at the nape of his neck, the other curved around his supple ass.