by Lauren Wood
“I’m not a shifter, Cole. In my world, we date for awhile before we settle on happily ever after.”
He nodded. “Okay. One night at a time. I’ll follow you.” He seemed to have a hard time letting go of her hand, but once he did, he was off like a shot to get to his car.
Her heart was in her throat as she unlocked her own door. What was she doing?
Chapter Six
It killed him to watch her drive in front of him. It had never occurred to him that his mate wouldn’t just fall into his arms. Isn’t that usually how it worked?
Of course it didn’t. She’s never seen the connection between a mate and a shifter. She’s couldn’t smell him the way he can smell her.
And he couldn’t read her thoughts.
The connection wasn’t complete. Tonight, he would make it complete. Tonight, he would show her what she meant to him.
She pulled into an apartment complex, and he jumped out of his car as soon as it was in park. Before she could even open her mouth, he’d put his arms around him and drew her in for a kiss.
Her mouth was like a drug, and he wanted to get a fix every chance that he had.
“Cole,” she muttered. “Baby, let’s go inside.”
Baby. I like that.
She screwed up her face. “Okay. Before we go inside, let’s get one thing straight. I am inviting you inside because you are intoxicatingly attractive, your kisses make my insides melt, and it’s been a long, long, long, long, long time since I’ve had sex. I don’t usually take strangers home, but I don’t want you thinking that I buy into this whole mate thing.”
“Sasha.” He leaned over and cupped her chin. “I am not going to ask you to do anything you don’t want to do. If all you want is tonight, then I’ll leave you alone. But I am asking for the chance to make you understand what we have here. What we could potentially have here.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay.” The keys were clanging in her hand, so he took them from her, and she led him to the apartment. Stopping to kiss her gently, he inserted the keys and pushed her slowly into the apartment.
He could tell she was nervous. “Bedroom is back there,” she murmured.
He gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to scoop her up, haul her to the bedroom, and slide himself inside her, but that wouldn’t do anything to convince her.
“Let’s just sit on the couch for a bit,” he suggested.
Sasha shot him an incredulous look. “Sit on the couch?” she repeated.
“I want you to be comfortable,” he said. He reached out and slid a finger up her bare arm, and he smiled as she shivered.
“I don’t really want to be comfortable. I want you inside me,” she muttered, and he closed his eyes. Christ. She was making it hard.
“That’s the point,” she snapped. “To make it hard.”
He chuckled. “Then you can make it hard from the couch.” Cole leaned down to kiss her, and as she moaned, he backed her slowly to the couch. When he released her, she sank into the cushion.
He joined her. “Tell me about your life,” he said as he ran a hand up her leg. They parted immediately, but he kept his hands around her knees, tickling the backs of them, stroking her calves.
“Okay, but I can’t really focus when you’re doing that,” she murmured. “Maybe we can talk about my life afterwards?”
He took his hands away, and she whimpered. “Okay, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just touch me.”
Leaning over, he ran his tongue down her neck. “What do you want out of life?”
Sasha gripped his shirt and angled her neck. “I want…you to keep doing that.”
“Come on, baby. That’s not an answer,” he said as he pulled away.
She cupped his chin and turned to face him. “I want to be happy. I want to grow old with a man I love and trust, a man who loves and trusts me. I want to raise a family. I want to know that I’ve made an impact on someone’s life.”
He raised his eyebrows. God. She was perfect. He leaned over to kiss her, and he traced a finger along the neckline of her dress. “Are you still nervous?”
She shook her head. “I’m nervous when I think about it, but when you’re near, I’m not nervous anymore.”
“Good. That’s good baby.” God, the way she was squirming had him hard as a rock. “Tell me what you want in a man.”
She smiled coyly and rubbed her hips over his cock. He hissed his breath. Clearly she was using her newfound mind reading talents against him. “Sasha,” he moaned.
“No.” She hiked up her dress and straddled him. “I’m through talking.”
She rubbed herself against his jeans and moaned. With one hand, she began to slip the buttons of his shirt out of their holes. When she finished, she spread his shirt and leaned down to lick his chest.
He jumped. Her tongue was warm and wet over his skin. “Sasha,” he protested. He cupped her chin and forced her head up. “If I make you come, will you give me my answer?”
She almost mewled in response, and he growled and leaned up to possess her lips. “Undress for me, sweetheart,” he whispered.
He watched in puzzlement as she leaned over and flipped off the lamp. He could hear the rustling of clothes, but before she could return to him, he reached over and flipped the light back on again. She gasped, looking like a deer in headlights. “Cole!”
He drank her in. God, she was beautiful. “Why are you hiding in the dark?” he whispered.
She blushed. “I jiggle. I didn’t want you to see that for our first time.”
“First time?” he raised an eyebrow. “So you agree there’s going to be more?”
“It depends on how good you are tonight,” she shot back.
He laughed and reached for her. “Don’t ever hide in the dark. I love the curves of the woman.”
Sasha walked slowly towards him, and as she sat on the couch, he leaned over and cupped a breast. “I love a woman with a big bust,” he murmured as he leaned over to lick her nipple. It elicited a low guttural sound from her, and he did it again.
“Pinch it,” she whispered. “Pinch my nipples.” He complied, and she moaned. Her nipples were sensitive, and she did love a man who would take the time to play with them. As he blew his breath on them, they tightened, and ran his rough thumb in circles around them. She squirmed, and liquid heat pooled between her thighs.
He stroked the skin down her sides, and as he reached her hips, he leaned over. “I love a woman with an ass that fits my hands,” he murmured. Before she could react, he lifted her to cup her and pulled her down the sofa.
She shrieked with laughter, and he settled between her legs. He ran a tongue over the underside of her knee, and she shuddered. That rough stubble on his cheeks running across her skin made her even hotter. “I love these long, long, long legs,” he said. He ran a finger from her toe to her knee, and then he lightly traced the inner portion of her thigh. She held her breath as he inched closer and closer to that sweet spot.
“Cole,” she murmured. “Please.”
“Please what?” he asked.
“Touch me. For fuck’s sake, touch me.”
He laughed and touched the dewy lips of her sex. “No hair,” he whispered. And finally, after what seemed like years, he slipped a finger inside her.
She tossed back her head and whimpered as that long finger entered her. Then two. Slowly, they reached for that sweet spot inside her, and she whimpered as they brushed across it.
He moved between her legs, and she felt the warm wetness of a tongue on her outer lips. She opened her eyes and stared as he bowed his head again. The sight of those beautiful curls moving slowly between her legs suddenly turned her into a monster. She lifted her hips. “More,” she demanded. “Give me more.”
And suddenly, he was no longer gentle. She cried out as that tongue finally hit her clit, and those fingers ravished her. In and out. Swirl and lick. In and out. Swirl and lick. When he slid a third finger inside her, she started to pe
ak. “Oh God,” she muttered. “Oh God, I’m so close. Don’t stop,” she panted. “Please, don’t stop. Right there. Right there. Oh. Oh. OH!”
He slid his teeth across her clit, and her climax ripped through her like a hurricane. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as her whole body shook, and she shoved her pussy into his face. He held on as he licked her through the waves of pleasure, and when she finally settled down, she had to push him away.
“Sensitive,” she muttered.
He slid his fingers out and traced them over her lips. Curious, she reached out and licked one. His eyes darkened with desire, and she smile coyly as she sucked the finger in his mouth. She could hear his thoughts.
He wanted her.
“You taste good, don’t you?” he whispered as he stared at her.
“Did you have a question for me?” she teased.
He leaned over and rested his forehead on her. “What do you want in a man?”
“Someone who likes to eat pussy,” she said laughingly.
“I do love that,” he moaned. She reached her hand his body and tugged on his pants.
“My turn to play,” she whispered.
“You haven’t seriously answered the question,” he protested, but he undid his belt and unfastened his pants.
“I can play and talk about the same time,” she said, licking her lips. Cole lifted his hips off the couch and pushed the pants down. After a second, he pushed his boxers off as well, and she watched him spring free.
Christ. He was long and thick. When he settled back down, she wrapped her fist around him and stroked. He hissed. “I don’t know that I can listen when you do that,” he muttered.
She chuckled, but she wanted that monster of a cock inside of her, so she unwrapped her and stroked her fingers up and down the underside of the base. “I want a man who makes me feel safe, makes me laugh, and makes me feel loved every day. I want one that believes in equality in a relationship, wants kids, and respects me. I need to know that you’re never going to cheat.”
Her hand stopped when she realized the slip she’d made on her last sentence. He gripped her hand and leaned down to kiss her. “I won’t cheat. I’m yours. Not a single woman will even come close to you, Sasha.”
He tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth, and she felt more moisture leaking from her pussy. She was ready to go again.
She pushed him back and pulled herself to straddle him. He gripped her hips and stared into her eyes. “I will be all those things for you, Sasha. I just need you to believe in this.”
She undulated her hips across his cock, and when it slid across her clit, she inhaled sharply. No man had ever made her feel this way before, but was she ready to take the plunge?
Inch by inch, she lowered herself on him. God, he stretched her. Halfway, she had to stop and wiggle her hips. He grunted and forced her hips to slow down. “Hang on, baby. I know I’m big. Give it time,” he muttered. She watched the sweat running down his forehead, and she how much effort it was taking him not to just force her hips down.
“I like it big,” she whispered. “I like the way it feels. God, I love the way it stretches me. I want more. More.”
He eased up on the pressure, and she slid down even more. Bit by bit. He held himself as still as possible, and at one point she wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. Finally, she settled her weight down, and he was fully sheathed in her.
“Fuck, Sasha,” he moaned. “You’re perfect. So perfect.”
She squeezed her muscles around him, and his eyes bulged open. “Christ,” he hissed. “No one has ever been able to do that before.”
“I think,” she muttered. She wiggled her hips, and suddenly she gasped. He was sliding over a spot she’d never felt before, and sent shivers of pleasure throughout her body. “Oh God, right there. Right there,” she moaned.
She panted. She was going to come, and all he was doing was touching that one spot. Heat flared within her, and she rolled her hips over and over again. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” she moaned. It exploded inside her, and suddenly, she was bouncing up and down to ride the wave of her second orgasm.
“Shit! Sasha,” he cried out. He gripped her hips and forced her to slow down. “I’m not going to last if you’re doing that.”
She convulsed and collapsed against him. “I’m sorry,” she said as she hid her face in his shoulder. “I didn’t know that spot even existed.”
“I love a woman who comes easily, but it’s been awhile for me, and I want to make it good for you,” he said as he planted kissed on her shoulder.
“Oh, it has been good for me,” she muttered. She bit her lip and finally raised her head. “Can we move to the bedroom now?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Okay?”
“You’ll see,” she whispered, and she tried to lift herself off him, but he gripped her hips.
“Oh no. You’re not leaving.”
She squealed when he lifted her off the couch. She tightened her legs around him, and as he began to walk, he moved inside her. “Oh,” she grunted.
Suddenly, her back was against the wall, and he slowly slid out of her. “Cole,” she gasped.
“Can’t help it,” he muttered. “Just need to feel it.” After a few strokes, he gripped her hips and began to move walk again. She saw the familiar walls of her bedroom, and squealed when they tumbled on the bed.
Immediately, her legs were up, and he was sliding inside her again. She grabbed the sheets and arched her back. “Yes. No. Wait.”
He froze. “What? What am I doing wrong?”
“Pull out,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Pull out,” she insisted.
Cole was confused, but he did as she asked. He slowly pulled out of her warmth and stumbled off the bed. He didn’t know what he’d done, but he wasn’t going to continue if she didn’t want it.
She flashed him the sexiest of smiles and got up on all fours. His eyes widened as he realized she was facing a mirror at the end of the bed. “It’s my favorite position,” she said as she reddened a little. “And I like to watch.”
He growled and launched himself at her. On his knees behind her, he gripped her hips and slowly entered her. He watched her in the mirror. As he slid inside, inch-by-inch, her mouth dropped open, and her eyes closed with laden desire. Her long hair covered her, and he took and hand and swept the hair to one side.
“I want to see those beautiful breasts swing when I plow you,” he muttered.
Her eyes flew open, and she cried out when he was fully inside her. He felt her muscles contract around him, and his body quivered. His wolf liked her. He wanted to come out and play.
Still, he held his wolf at bay. He didn’t want to hurt her or terrify her. He swung his hips back and forward, sliding the full length of his cock out of her warm and wet pussy. It was heaven.
The little noises that she made when he buried himself inside her again were driving him crazy. He wanted to hear more. He wanted them louder.
“Fuck, baby,” he moaned.
“Harder,” she hissed.
Gritting his teeth, he swung his hips harder. She cried out. “Oh God. Harder. Please.”
Digging his nails into her hips, he complied, and he almost lost control as he slid into her. She pushed her ass back. “Harder, Cole. Please, fuck me harder. I know you want to.”
That did it. He saw his eyes flash yellow and inside, his wolf howled, and he leaned over her and began to pound her.
“Fuck, yes,” she screamed. “So good. Oh, God, I think I’m going to break.”
“Baby,” he panted. “Fuck. FUCK!” They both panted and moaned as he kept up the pace, and he could feel his balls start to tighten. But God, he wanted to feel her come again. He reached and raked a nail over her clit.
Her body bucked, and he watched as her mouth opened. “Come for me baby. Come, and scream my name,” he demanded as he did it again.
She shoved her whole body backwards, bowed her back, an
d screamed his name as her body shook. Her muscles spasms squeezed him, and he howled as he slammed into her one last time and emptied himself inside her.
Sasha closed her eyes as she tried to catch her breath. Cole had fallen to the bed, and he’d pulled her on top of him. For a few minutes, there was nothing they could say. They were both beyond spent.
And what could she say? The sex had been incredible, but they both knew that. She’d felt a connection unlike anything else. Body and soul.
She couldn’t keep denying it. She knew nothing about him, but he was hers.
“Why did you choose to be a firefighter?” she whispered.
His hand lazily stroked her body. “It’s a good fit for my personality. I have a dominant personality, and that means I like to take charge and protect. It feels good know that I protect people.” He nuzzled her neck. “And I don’t mind a little heat.”
“What do you want in life?” She cocked her head to watch the slow curve of a smile cross his face.
Finally understand that this is where you belong?
She lightly hit him. “I’m just trying to get to know you. Answer the question.”
“I want to know that I can protect my mate. I want to raise a litter of pups, and I want to have a life where everyone I care about is loved and safe.”
She felt her heart start to beat a little faster. But of course he would say that. That’s what she wanted to hear.
But somehow, she knew it was the truth.
“You don’t have to believe tonight. Just tell me that you’ll give me the chance to prove it to you,” he whispered.
“Okay.” She paused. “Do you always partially shift during sex?”
He turned to stare at her. “Noticed that, did you?”
She shrugged. “I told you. I like to watch.”
“No, it doesn’t normally happen. My wolf liked what he saw. He liked when he felt. And he wanted to experience it a little more. I tried to keep it from happening. I didn’t want to hurt or scare you.”
She bit her lip and traced a finger around his nipple. “You didn’t hurt me. It was the best sex I’ve ever had. And seeing you lose control like that, it kind of turned me on.”