by R. E. Butler
Aaron hadn’t ever been on a date. He’d had sex, yes, with a female lion named Niecy who was the biological mother of his three boys, but she hadn’t wanted anything to do with him romantically. For some reason, female lions were completely void of any emotions outside of anger. They would take a male lion to bed for casual sex or to create a cub, but there was no dating. No kissing. No lovemaking. He’d never been with anyone besides Niecy, and being with her had always left him feeling cold and used. He used to think that he was the one using her, so he could have a cub to love and share his life with, to be the sort of father like his own had been to him. But it didn’t matter who used who in the scenario because once she became pregnant, she refused to see him except when he dropped off money to pay her bills. When Owen, his oldest, was born, Niecy had sent him an email when she was back home from delivering him, and he’d had to race to the hospital to pick him up. The hospital had thought she abandoned him and was calling the authorities right when Aaron arrived. He still got chills thinking about what a debacle that could have been. Not too long after Owen arrived, he felt the urge to have another child, and Nathan was born, and then Ben, who was now eight. They were each only a year apart, and it had all happened so fast, but he never regretted anything about it. Not the sleepless nights, the endless diapers, and the aching loneliness that hit him some nights when he would be rocking one of his sons back to sleep and then he would have to crawl into his cold and empty bed.
Grant had dated a little since they’d been in Ashland, but Aaron hadn’t found anyone worth asking out. Until he saw Sam. He’d taken a gamble and asked her out, and although a small part of him wished that he could have met her first and been with her last night, things just felt right.
Dressing in a light blue button down shirt and black slacks, he popped his wallet into his pocket and headed downstairs for his date. He kissed his boys goodbye as they sat at the big dinner table, eating with almost everyone except Grant who was still asleep and James who was working second shift. A chorus of “good lucks” and wolf whistles followed him out the front door as he pulled on his leather coat and were silenced when the door shut soundly behind him.
It took only a few minutes to drive to her apartment, and he flipped his keys back and forth around his finger as he walked up the steps to her second-floor apartment. His heart felt like it would pound out of his chest as he lifted his hand to knock on the door, squeezing the single yellow rose with red tips he had purchased earlier. Grant had shared that he had brought her a single rose, and Aaron had been tempted to buy her a whole dozen of them, but he didn’t want her to feel like she was being pulled between them or they were competing for her. If she was meant for both of them to share, then he and Grant had to be willing to work together and get along in a way that they had never envisioned.
The door opened and all thought fled from Aaron’s mind. Sam stood in the doorway wearing a short wine-colored skirt and a black sweater with a low neckline.
“Hi Aaron,” she said and smiled, stepping backwards so he could come inside. “I hope you didn’t have trouble finding the place.”
“Not at all,” he said and handed her the rose, shutting the door when he stepped into the warmth of the apartment.
She touched the rose to her nose and inhaled, her eyes closing as she let out a little hum and smiled further. “Thank you so much. Yellow is my favorite color.”
Score! “Well, I aim to please.”
He took off his coat and hung it up on a hook by the front door as she put the rose in a small vase on the kitchen counter, right next to the one that Grant had brought for her. Next to the roses was a large pizza box. She ran her fingertip down one side of the box and lifted her eyes, a sultry look in the beautiful, blue depths.
She walked towards him, her hips swaying seductively from side to side, and stopped in front of him. Taking in a slow breath, she bit her lower lip and trailed her fingers up his arms and across his shoulders, before linking them behind his neck and pulling him towards her mouth.
At first, it was simply a press of her warm lips against his and she paused, pulling away just fractionally and waiting, as if she wanted him to make the next move. He’d only had one kiss in his life, a disastrous epic-fail when he was fourteen with a human girl in school. He wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed, but he slid his hands around her waist, tugged her against him, and closed the distance between their mouths.
She moaned softly, happily, as their lips met again and hers parted, her tongue flicking across the seam of his mouth, asking for admittance. He opened his mouth and she teased her tongue against his, retreating back into her own mouth before darting back to flick his again. He followed her the next time, closing his eyes and losing himself in the warm depths of her mouth. His body tightened and heated and all else outside of the beauty in his arms ceased to exist.
His hands flexed on her back as the kiss went on and on, until his lips were pleasantly numb and her hands fisted in his short hair. She stepped backwards, dropping her hands down to his chest, where she flattened her palms and looked up at him. “Let’s make love, Aaron, before I melt completely.”
He lifted her up against his chest with a growl. She wound her legs around his waist, the skirt slipping up her thighs with the motion, and hugged her arms around his neck, nuzzling under his ear. “You smell so good,” she purred, as he walked down the short hallway.
“So do you, sweetheart,” he said as he found the first open doorway and stepped through as she began to stroke her tongue under his ear. He almost lost his grip from the sweet sensations that cascaded over him. The flicker of candlelight made him look around, and he saw the amber glow of electric candles scattered around the room.
The large bed beckoned him, and he groped for it blindly with one hand as Sam covered his mouth with her own and sucked on his tongue. His knees hit the edge of the bed, and he climbed up and laid her down. Their hands were frantic as they tore at each other’s clothes. He sat back on his heels to look down at her completely naked body as she lay panting for breath, eyes heavy with passion and lips swollen from kissing. So beautiful. His cat rumbled in his mind, eager to claim her, but Aaron held tight to his control.
He leaned forward and braced himself over her with one arm, cupping her flushed cheek with his other hand. He kissed her as he trailed his fingertips down her jaw, stroking the length of her neck. With the lightest of touches, he stroked between her breasts and then swept across the underside of one heavy globe. She shivered, and a small moan escaped her throat. Leaving the sweet warmth of her mouth, he lowered his head and cupped her breast, swirling his tongue across her hardened nipple before sucking it gently into his mouth. Her body tensed slightly as she moaned, her hands sliding into his short hair and moving down his neck to grip his shoulders. He released her nipple and licked a path to the other one, licking and sucking it to hardened perfection as she writhed and moaned under him.
Kissing down the length of her belly, he settled on his side, pushing her legs apart to spread her body for him. The light dusting of blonde curls covering her sex were damp with arousal, and the sweet scent of her passion drove all other thoughts from his mind. Glancing up, he saw she bit her lower lip and fisted the bedding.
“Sam? Look at me, love,” he said softly, stroking up her wet slit with one finger and delicately rubbing her clit.
Her head lifted slightly, and she met his gaze and held it, while he stroked her clit with his finger, drenched with her arousal. She swallowed visibly, and her hands clenched tightly as he moved his finger across her clit faster. Her body trembled and her belly clenched, silently urging him to move faster and bring her to climax. He drove her forward, his finger whipping across her silky wet flesh until she arched up with a sharp cry and fell back against the bed, her hands jerking against the cover.
He licked her clit and pressed two fingers into her core, searching quickly for that soft-as-velvet place that would take her right over the edge again. She moaned and sh
uddered under him as he searched, and he knew he found the right place when she let out a soft whine, as if words escaped her.
Deviling the spot with his fingers, he licked and sucked at her swollen nub until she jerked hard under him and cried out his name with more passion than he had ever thought possible.
He licked his lips, tasting the sweet essence of her arousal, and instinct hit him hard. He moved from between her legs and flipped her over onto her stomach, lifting her to her knees. Urging her legs apart with his knees, he took his place behind her and in one, hard thrust, he buried himself to the hilt in her body.
“Aaron!” she wailed, her hands slapping on the bed as he rode her body hard. His hands dug into her hips, and she tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked back at him, their eyes meeting for just a bare moment until she closed them in ecstasy and bit her lower lip again.
He lost all control, slamming into her, ramming his cock into her hot depths until she screamed his name and her body clenched his in a final climax. Her orgasm pushed him over the edge and he came, shouting her name and grinding his body against hers until there was nothing between them.
He snarled, lowering his body to cover hers and sinking his teeth into her shoulder. She moaned and bucked under him. He released her flesh and licked across the mark. He didn’t taste blood, so he knew he hadn’t broken the skin, which he could have easily done, lost to his cat the way he felt at the end.
“You’re mine, Sam,” he growled.
“Yes, Aaron, yours,” she panted.
He fell to his back with a groan and pulled her over onto his chest. She sprawled across him as they both caught their breaths. She shivered every now and then, as if she was reliving the pleasure. He stroked his hands across her sweat-slicked back and hugged her. “You’re so wonderful, Sam, my beautiful sweetheart.”
“You’re wonderful, too,” she said as she lifted her head up and smiled at him, her face flushed with passion and her eyes bright.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I? I was feeling a little primal at the end.”
“No, you didn’t, and I loved it.”
He wanted to say something romantic or poignant, but all he could think about was how incredible it had felt to make love to her, and how right it felt. But instead of sweet, heartfelt words, his stomach took that moment to growl loudly. She started to giggle.
“I guess you worked up an appetite,” she teased, climbing off the bed.
“Do you want some help?” he asked as she walked out of the room.
“Nope,” she called. He sat up, arranging the pillows on the bed so he could sit up against the wood headboard. He took the opportunity to look around the bedroom. His eyes adjusted to the electric candles, and he saw a long dresser with a jewelry box and a few framed pictures, a rocking chair in one corner with a quilt draped over one arm, and the nightstand that held a lamp and an iPod docking station.
She came into the room holding the pizza box in one hand, with a bottle of wine under one arm and two wineglasses and napkins in the other hand. He jumped off the bed and took the pizza from her and set it on the bed.
When they sat next to each other on the bed and began to eat, she told him about herself. There were things that Grant had shared with him — that she’d been divorced for two years and her ex was now the acting principal of the Ashland school, that she was very close to her parents who lived in Indianapolis, and that she was an only child. But then her voice grew sad as she told him about her childhood illness that robbed her of the ability to have children, and how her ex-husband had decided that her inability to have children was a deal breaker and had already moved on to another, younger woman who was pregnant with his child.
He listened quietly as she opened her wounded soul up to him and showed him all her scars. His anger grew by slow degrees, and he wanted to find her ex and beat him within an inch of his life for treating Sam so badly. She was a beautiful, passionate, incredible woman, who was of more value than her ability, or lack thereof, to have children, and any real man with half a brain would know that. Aaron didn’t think very much of the acting principal, and he doubted he’d be able to hold his tongue, or his fists, if he saw the man in person.
She looked at him plaintively, and although she didn’t say anything, he could read her face loud and clear. She was afraid he would leave because of that.
He put his wine glass on the nightstand with hers and pulled her into his lap. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and tipped her chin up until she looked at him. “I like you, Sam. I want to be with you. Your past doesn’t matter to me, and neither does you being unable to have kids. I can tell you feel like you’re not of value because of that, but you’re so wrong. You could sprout green wings and a tail twice a week, and I’d still want to be right here.”
“Really?” She sniffled slightly and smiled in a small way.
“Really,” he nodded. “I know this is all new to you, being mates to lions, and in all honesty, it’s new to Grant and me, too, but we’ll figure it all out together. All I care about, sweetheart, is that you’re here with me now, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I like you, too, Aaron.” She kissed him and sighed happily. While they finished eating, he told her about his boys and being a police officer in a small town and growing up in an entirely male household.
She listened attentively and asked questions here and there. When she taught in Indianapolis, she had some werewolves in her class, and one of the science teachers was a wolf, but she hadn’t known much about them personally or what their lives were like.
She finished her second piece of pizza and her first glass of wine and leaned back on the bed with her legs draped across his lap and stretched. Impulsively, he reached for his phone after tossing the crust into the now empty pizza box.
“Who are you calling?” She rubbed her belly with a contented sigh, and he grinned.
“Grant.”
“Really?”
“Unless you don’t want me to?” He paused before pushing send.
She sat up slowly and reached for his hand. “Are you really okay with all of this?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Because I am okay with this, sweetheart, but I’m a lion, and I’m used to weird things I can’t exactly explain. I know for sure that I want you, and I can also feel that you’re connected to Grant, too. I thought it would make me jealous, a part of me is a little jealous that I can’t have you all to myself, but I know it wouldn’t be right without him, too.”
She looked amazed. “I’m so glad we had this time alone together, Aaron, but you’re right. It’s like there’s something missing.”
“There is, baby. Your other mate.”
The conversation with his brother was quick, and when Aaron ended the call, he and Sam cleaned up and waited for Grant to show up.
When there was a knock at the front door ten minutes later, he got up from bed and tugged on his jeans. Sam pulled the blanket over her naked body and smiled. “What’s going to happen?”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart. Even just talking together and sleeping in the same bed would be okay with me, or more if you want.”
She nodded and smiled. “Go let in my other mate.”
Chapter 4
Sam rolled over and squinted as a beam of sunlight caught her right in the face. She buried her head into Grant’s chest and tried to catch hold of the sleep that was drifting away fast. He hugged her and yawned, and Aaron’s hand slid across her waist as he settled a little closer to her back.
Memories of the night before flooded through her mind. Grant joining her and Aaron in bed. She’d had good intentions of just the three of them talking together and maybe sleeping — really sleeping — together, but they’d ended up kissing and touching, and they both brought her to orgasm while she used her hands on them. By the time she came down from orbit, it was very late and everyone was tired, especially her and Grant who had been up late the night before. She’d suggested they call it a night
and save the next step in their relationship for a night when they were all wide awake.
“Am I your girlfriend?” she asked, looking up at Grant and finding him even more irresistibly handsome with a shadow of stubble on his jaw and his hair mussed from sleep.
He looked over her head, and she slipped onto her back so she could see both of them. Aaron kissed her hand. “I guess if we were around humans, we would call you our girlfriend, but if we were around lions or other weres, we would say you are our mate. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, I was just curious. We didn’t really talk about the actual relationship much last night, and … I don’t know a lot about what this all means.”
“It’s new for us, too, sweetheart,” Grant said. “Aaron and I both feel drawn to you. Already I can’t imagine being away from you. But if it feels like its going too fast or we’re smothering you, just let us know and we’ll back off.”
She almost laughed, because she’d had sex with two virtual strangers in as many days, and now, when they were discussing the relationship, he suggested they could back off if she wanted them to. But it spoke to their lack of skills in dating and relationships, and there was something endearing about that. She’d had her first date at sixteen, and a steady stream of boyfriends through high school and college, ending in her marriage and then divorce. She was no expert on relationships, but she liked being the first girlfriend for both of them.
“I promise I’ll tell you if things get smothery, but I don’t think they will. I feel connected to you both, too, and it’s kind of strange but it also feels right.”
“Strange good, right?” Grant smiled.
“Definitely.”
Grant picked up their entwined hands and kissed the top of hers and slipped out of bed. “Do you like coffee?”
She attempted to sit up. “Sure, I’ll make it.”
Grant tugged his jeans on as Aaron pulled her close with an arm around her waist that suddenly felt made of iron. “I’ll get it. You stay right there,” Grant said.