by Anna Lowe
He’d let go of her hands, and Nina plowed her fingers through his hair, guiding him lower. Lower…
“Boone,” she groaned the second his lips closed around her nipple.
His eyes were closed, but he swore he saw fireworks. A whole sky full of them, flashing and crackling with power. His body burned with need, and his cock grew so hard, it hurt.
“Yes,” Nina murmured, scooping the flesh of her breast and holding it high for him.
He sucked hard, making her gasp, then released with a pop and licked her skin smooth. He turned to the other side and held his mouth open under the trickle of water running off her nipple, gulping it down.
“Right here,” he said, guiding her hand to that side, letting her plump the flesh up so he could drink there, too.
“More,” she moaned, shivering under his touch.
Boone didn’t keep track of how many positions he’d ever tried or how many partners he’d slept with. But he’d never done anything as erotic or thrilling as this. Never. He cupped his hands over hers, flicking his thumbs over the nipples to make them peak, gulping down water like a man who’d been lost in the desert for years.
A lifetime. A parched lifetime without her, his wolf said.
But, crap. Here he was, chasing his own pleasure. What about hers?
She likes this, his wolf chuckled.
Yeah, he could tell from the way she ground against him and tipped her head back.
“Hang on,” he whispered, sliding up her body again.
Nina groaned in protest.
“I swear this will be even better,” he said, kissing her ear.
“Not possible.”
He grinned. “Totally possible. Turn around.”
Nina’s eyes were hazy, but she turned in his arms. “Now, what?”
He guided her hands up against the wall, coaxing her to open up by nudging her legs apart. “Now I make you feel even better.”
“Ooh. I like this,” she whispered, grinding back against his cock.
His smile stretched. Who knew his mild-mannered beauty could drop her inhibitions so fast?
She knows her mate, his wolf hummed with pride. She trusts us.
He cupped her waist, then reached forward and teased her breasts. Water ran over her shoulders and down her cleavage, and he watched tiny streams divide and reunite.
Nina leaned her head against his shoulder as he slid one hand lower. Her body tensed, but she spread her legs wider, inviting him in.
“Perfect,” he whispered, admiring her curves, following them to her most private place.
“Perfect,” she sighed, guiding his left hand lower while keeping his right anchored on her breast.
He rubbed her thigh first, then slowly reached deeper to tease her folds. Her flesh was soft and warm, and every line in her body pulled him to the same place.
“Touch me,” she whispered, rocking against his hand.
His voice was hoarse with need when he answered. “I am touching you.”
“Deeper,” she begged, ratcheting up his inner bonfire another ten degrees.
Her slick heat didn’t come from the shower, and when he obeyed her command, his fingers slipped right in. Two fingers, not one, that he circled and scissored.
“Boone,” she cried, arching against him.
He pinched her nipple and ran his teeth over her neck.
Right there, his wolf murmured, already calculating where he’d put the mating bite. And crap, if that wasn’t a reminder of how crucial it was to keep his beast leashed, he didn’t know what was.
No mating bite, he ordered the beast. Just make her feel good.
His wolf half protested, half approved. Make her feel real good.
“Boone,” Nina whispered as he pumped inside her. Moments ago, she’d relaxed against him, but now the tension was building in her body. The good kind of tension, winding her nerves higher and higher.
“Yes…” she breathed, rocking against him.
He added a third finger and pumped harder.
“Yes…”
Yes, he wanted to roar. Yes.
What he really wanted was to lean her over and sink into her from behind. If she liked this, she’d love that. But damn, he didn’t have a condom out here. So, okay. He’d settle for giving her an orgasm to remember before taking her to bed.
“So good,” she cried, massaging her own breasts, circling her hips.
Feels great, he wanted to say. He winced a little, though, because a faint tapping sensation started up in his head. Like someone knocking on the door, demanding to be let in. What was that?
“This is just the start,” he promised, whispering in her ear.
He clenched his jaw, telling himself his words didn’t carry a double meaning.
The start of a lifetime together, his wolf hummed. As mates.
“Promise,” she said, suddenly demanding. “Promise.”
His chest ached with the force of his heart yearning to seal the deal there and then. He could bite her at the height of her orgasm and make her his mate. She’d never leave, and they could spend a lifetime enjoying moments like these.
He gritted his teeth. There was so much Nina didn’t know about him. So much to figure out first. Like what the hell that tapping in his brain was.
Promise, his wolf said. If not forever, then promise you won’t give up on her. Promise you’ll do everything to make this work.
He nodded. That was reasonable enough, right?
“I promise,” he said. Then he quit talking, quit thinking, and focused everything on her.
He nipped her neck. Tweaked her nipples. Thrust his fingers faster. Listened to her cry and mew for more as the tapping sound grew louder.
“Yes…yes…”
Her head rolled on his shoulder. Her body tightened like a spring under pressure. The water plastered her hair over his body and hers. And when he paused briefly, then hammered back in, she shuddered and cried long and hard, totally abandoned to the pleasure inside.
The water gushed over her body, and he looked down to where his hand was locked over her, figuring he’d let her chase the high as long as she could before easing back. But the tapping in his head turned into an explosion, and suddenly, all his senses tuned in to the sound of Nina’s voice.
So good… Yes… Don’t stop…
A blinding white light filled his eyes as her senses took over his own, as if she had climbed into his mind and was writhing in pleasure in there.
God, yes. Don’t let me go…
He could hear Nina. Feel Nina. They were connected.
She said, don’t stop, his wolf barked.
He thrust his fingers deeper and swirled them around as she moaned in his mind, unaware that he could hear.
Yes… Yes…
Boone had never seen anything as beautiful, and he’d never felt as connected. He knew just what she needed and where. When to back off and when to pump deeper. When to press a finger over her clit to wring another ounce of pleasure out of her hidden reserves. Outwardly, her body seemed to be easing back from the high. But her soul was hungry for more, so he stretched the pleasure out.
Now! she cried inside. Now!
Her voice rose higher, and her body danced on and on.
He circled his fingers, withdrew, then thrust in again while sealing his mouth over her neck.
“Oh…” she moaned, slumping slowly.
He caught her around the waist and held her tight. Her high was receding, giving way to deep satisfaction. He could practically hear her purr.
“Oh my God, Boone,” she murmured a second later. “That was so good.”
I know, he wanted to say. I felt it, too.
Which meant he couldn’t deny the truth any more. They were mates. Destined mates. He’d never been that tuned in to another person before. Not to the first woman he’d ever touched, nor the last. Certainly not to Tammy. No one. Ever.
Nina was his destined mate.
Tell her, his wolf urged. Tell her.
He pulled his lips inward, locking away the words. No way was he blurting that out now. Nina would think he was nuts, and hell, he doubted he could put something that monumental into words anyway.
Okay, forget about telling her. Show her, his wolf growled.
He nestled his cheek against hers and held her tight, murmuring meaningless syllables in her ear. He nuzzled her softly, then harder, working his way from the right side of her face to the left.
“Boone,” she giggled, cupping his face close.
He kept right on nuzzling. Let that be the beginning of everything he couldn’t yet voice about wolves, destiny, and true love. Let that be part of his promise to her.
Ha, his wolf crowed. Another promise. Doesn’t even hurt, does it?
No, it didn’t. It just made his soul sing. But there was a danger in that, too, and Boone knew it.
Nina stretched in his arms and hugged him, slowly getting her limbs back into gear. Enough that her hands started slinking down his back and caressing his rear. “You did promise that was just the start, right?”
He grinned and nuzzled her ear. “Sure did.”
Chapter Eleven
Nina couldn’t quite believe what she’d just done with a near stranger — in an outdoor shower, no less. She wasn’t about to excavate her spotty memory for sexual adventures, but if she did, she was pretty sure there wouldn’t be too many. And, wow. She’d never felt that good in her life. That sensual. That much of a turn-on to a gorgeous man.
Boone puffed against her neck as if he’d been the one to come to a screaming orgasm under her touch. Nina wasn’t sure she could reciprocate by giving him the same level of pleasure, but she sure as hell was ready to give it her all.
“So good,” she whispered, kissing his ear. Winding her leg behind his, ready to feel him inside.
“So beautiful,” he said, running his fingers through her hair.
The funny thing was, his lips didn’t seem to move, but she heard the words clear as a bell in her mind.
“Should we go inside?”
“Gotta dry you first,” he said with a hint of a naughty smile.
She grinned. Even naked in what might have been an awkward, post-sex moment, she felt perfectly at ease. As if they belonged together. Forever.
The palms swayed in the sea breeze. You do belong together. It’s destiny.
She shook her head a little. Obviously, that hard an orgasm could play with a woman’s mind.
“How about I dry you?” she asked.
When Boone handed her a big, fluffy towel, Nina’s breath caught in her throat. His eyes were glowing — okay, probably just mirroring the sunset — and his mouth opened a crack as if she was the most beautiful thing in his field of vision. Not the mighty Pacific, rippling behind her. Not the lush tropical garden all around, chirping with hidden life. Not the colors of the setting sun, splitting into shades of orange and red. Her. She was the beautiful part of that scene.
She pulled the towel slowly, and Boone let it run through his hand, as if reluctant to let go of the magical moment. Then she smiled and circled her finger in the air.
“Turn around.”
He arched an eyebrow in a question.
“The better to kiss you. Touch you. Explore you,” she murmured, channeling her inner vixen.
“You’re like the big, bad wolf,” he commented, grinning at some inside joke.
“Ha. That would be you, mister. Now turn around.”
His smile stretched — definitely the naughty beach dude now — and he complied. Nina took a deep breath. With a back that broad, where should she start? She spread the towel and wiped the water from his shoulders. A damn shame, in a way, because the beads of water highlighted every thick line of muscle. Then again, she did get to trace every inch of him over and over again.
“Still wet, huh?” he chuckled a minute later when she was still at it.
“I don’t want you dripping water all over the house.”
They both laughed. His cottage was hardly a prim, tidy place. The floor was strewn with sand, not to mention wayward leaves blown in by the wind. But that’s what she loved about the place. And in Hawaii, unlike New Jersey, you could get away with that. Being inside Boone’s home still felt like outside, like part of the landscape.
She worked the towel lower, following the slabs of his lats to his lower back. When she smoothed the towel over his firm ass, she couldn’t help imagining all that power helping him thrust into her again and again.
Boone’s nostrils flared. Was he imagining the same thing?
She draped the towel around his hips and reached forward to stroke — er, dry — his cock. It stood at attention, and she gulped hard. Would he even fit inside her?
Then she remembered how easily she’d stretched under his fingers and decided she couldn’t wait to find out.
Boone put his hand over hers and helped her find the perfect rhythm of up and down. Slow on the downstroke, faster on the return. A little like the water sliding over the sand — a forward rush, then the slow trickle back to the source. She repeated the motion, holding her thumb at the cleft of his cock until she’d stroked far enough away that her fingers couldn’t spread any farther. Boone tucked his chin, either watching or closing his eyes to concentrate on the sensation.
Nina watched in wonder, amazed at herself and at him. When had she ever felt the confidence to handle a man this way? When had she devoted so much time to relishing every inch of such a toned body? Sex had always been something she did in the dark, and it was never quite as good as people made it out to be.
Except now. With Boone, the pleasure stretched on and on, and she was every bit his equal in determining what step to take next. Like suckling on his shoulder as she pressed her breasts flat against his back. Scraping her body up and down against his like a wild animal marking its turf. Boone was definitely rubbing off on her in his little quirks, and once again, she was tempted to toss the past away and start a new life from scratch.
Boone caught her hand and held it still.
“No good?” she asked.
“Really good,” he murmured, turning in her arms. “But I don’t want to come anywhere but inside you.”
His voice was raw and hungry, and his eyes shone.
Nina’s jaw swung open. Was he really talking about her and not some goddess of the night?
“Let’s go inside,” he said, pulling the towel from her hands.
“Okay,” she managed, which would have translated to Yes, lay me on your mattress and love me hard, baby if she could have worked that many syllables off her tongue.
Boone slipped an arm around her, and they turned to the bungalow. Up the four stairs, through the wide-open doors, and over to the bed, where he leaned her back exactly as she’d imagined. She scooched backward to give him space and lay there, open to his feasting eyes.
“Coming, mister?” she joked, hoping he liked what he saw.
“Got to enjoy the view first.” His voice was all gritty and hard.
Nina’s pulse skipped. That was plain old her, turning him on. And if he liked the sight of her laid out like that, he’d probably enjoy watching her a little longer.
She ran her hands slowly over her belly and toward her breasts, watching Boone closely. His eyes sparkled, so she continued, cupping both breasts and holding them toward him.
Boone’s mouth cracked open, and he licked his lips. Lips she wanted on her body very soon. But teasing felt good, too. Uncharted territory for her, but every touch, every action felt natural. Spontaneous. Right.
“You like the view?” she whispered, letting her knees fall apart.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she chuckled.
She circled her right nipple with one hand while reaching down with her left hand, touching herself. Opening her folds, feeling the slick heat that let her fingers glide so smoothly.
Boone touched his cock, making it so easy to imagine him sliding i
nside.
Nina slowed down, then sped up, and every time she did, Boone matched her pace. His gaze was sharp, his facial muscles set hard.
Nina circled her core and her breast at the same time, wondering how far she could take this. Wondering how far she wanted to take this. She was already panting and moaning inside. More ready that she’d ever been to have a man touch her. Take her, even.
“Boone,” she whispered, sliding her hands back to her breasts, then stretching back. Giving herself over to him completely, knowing his touch would be better than her own. “Touch me. Come to me. Please.”
His jaw pulsed as he watched her, and she had the distinct impression of a predator in the split second before a chase. Holding his breath, every muscle coiled. And a second later—
He dropped over her and captured her lips in a wild, out-of-control kiss. He consumed her. Dominated her. Savored her, moving quickly down her body in a series of hot kisses to her neck, nipples, and belly, where he paused.
Nina threaded her fingers in his thick hair and guided his head lower, answering his unspoken question. Yes, she wanted him to taste her. Touch her. Drive her wild.
Boone gripped a thigh in each hand, spread her wider, and dove in. The second his tongue touched down, she howled. Her hips arched off the mattress as he held her exactly where he wanted her, open to his marauding tongue.
Her staccato cries turned into a series of drawn-out moans, and she squirmed under his tight grip. Boone worked her with his fingers and tongue, making every contact a different flavor of ecstasy. The insistent push of his tongue against her clit, the circling of his index finger. The steady furrowing motion of his ring finger through her folds.
“Boone,” she cried, so close to falling apart all over again. “Yes…”
He lapped faster, pushed deeper.
Nina teetered on the edge of another mind-blowing orgasm, ready to surrender to the rush. At the same time, if she could hold out a little longer…
“Wait,” she murmured, suddenly sure of what she wanted.