by L Ann
“Was there something in your beer?” he asked her, unable to keep the confusion out of his voice.
“No. I just need you to kiss me again.”
“Why?” Why was he even stopping to question it? His wolf growled at him, demanding he comply, that he take the opportunity presenting itself and make her his mate. Shaun ruthlessly squashed the demand. He needed to know what was going on inside Cassie’s head. If she was here simply to erase the memory of her ex, he didn’t want to be the fall-guy for it. On the flip side, his eyes dropped to her mouth, her lips were so tempting, and he already knew how good she tasted.
“You don’t want to.” Her horrified half-sobbed exclamation pulled him out of his thoughts and he realised he’d been still for too long. “Oh God, was it really that bad?” she whispered, her eyes widening.
Shaun raked a hand through his hair. “You’re confusing the shit out of me,” he muttered.
“But you’re not denying it!” She spun away, intent on returning to her car, and the scent of her embarrassment swirled around him.
“Fuck … wait!” He lunged forward and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. “I don’t know what the right answer is supposed to be here, Cassie. Help me out.” He spun her back to face him. “I don’t know what the fuck is going inside that head of yours, but you want me to kiss you? Right? Will me doing that help with whatever the fuck is happening here? If that’s what you need, I’ll kiss you.”
“You could sound a bit –” His mouth cut off the rest of her sentence.
Cassie stood stiff, unresponsive, as his lips brushed over hers, and Shaun lifted his head.
“Goldilocks, kissing is a two-way thing. If you don’t join in, then I’m just rubbing my mouth all over your face and, no matter how you paint it, that’s kinda weird.” The corner of his mouth tipped up into a lopsided smile. “And not a good kind of weird.” He released her arm and leaned back against the side of the car, beside her. “Tell you what,” he continued, “why don’t you kiss me instead.”
Cassie didn’t move, and Shaun arched a brow, taunting her. He could smell her scent changing rapidly, shifting from embarrassment to agitation, through into anxiety and, finally, determination. She turned to face him, took a step forward and he held his breath, waiting, arms loose at his sides, curious to see what she would do. Another step brought her close enough that a dip of his head would bring his mouth to hers, but still he waited.
Their eyes locked, and Shaun could see the war she was waging within – battling with herself to take that final step forward and, for a second, he thought she’d retreat, back away, and he readied himself to stop her flight. Instinct told him she needed to do this, she had to be the one to take that final step. Her hands lifted and slowly, ever so slowly, they settled onto his shoulders.
Shaun froze.
That spark, a subtle buzz, a sensation that swept across his skin every time she touched him danced over him again, and he fought against his body’s need to react. Her tongue came out to lick her lips again, and Shaun’s battle to stop his wolf’s innate desire to dominate became harder. He could feel his body reacting, responding to her closeness, her scent, her need, and he wondered if he’d ever wanted anyone the way he wanted her right then.
She rose up on tiptoes, the movement making her body sway forward, her breasts pressing against his chest, and she rested her lips against his. Neither moved, staring into each other’s eyes. Shaun didn’t even dare to breathe, waiting for her, determined to follow her lead.
Her lips moved against his, tentatively, feather-light. Shaun’s fingers curled into his palms, nails biting deep, using the pain to keep control, to stop himself from possessing her mouth. Instead, he shifted his stance, forcing her to move closer if she wanted to keep their lips connected. When she still kept her touch light, he couldn’t stop the growl that rose in his throat.
Cassie froze, her head jerking back, breaking their contact, ready to flee. “That bad, huh? I’m really sorry. I’ll –”
“That fucking asshole did a real number on you, didn’t he?” Shaun shook his head. “No, Cassie, it wasn’t that bad. Just too slow.” His voice was a low rumble as he moved with a speed that startled her, wrapping an arm around her waist and spinning so her back was against the car. His mouth crashed down on hers, tongue pushing past her lips to tangle with hers, giving her no opportunity to resist.
“The thing about kisses,” he said, pulling back to succumb to temptation and catch her bottom lip between his teeth briefly. “It’s a taster, a sample. It’s a promise of something more.” His hands cupped her cheeks to tilt her head slightly, and he ran his tongue along her throat. “It builds anticipation.”
He nipped at the lobe of her ear, then soothed the sting with his tongue. “It is supposed to leave you wanting more.” He nibbled along her jawline and back to her mouth. “It’s not just about lips and tongues,” he whispered as he ran his thumb lightly across her bottom lip. “It’s also about sensation.” His thumb pushed between her lips and into her mouth. “It’s about taste.”
Shaun bent his head to the curve of her throat and inhaled. “It’s about scent.”
And he could smell her scent changing, evolving, swirling around him and dragging him under. One hand dropped to her hip, curved around and beneath the hem of her top, fingertips stroking her bare skin.
“It’s about touch.” His whisper was rough, but the kiss he placed against her lips was gentle. “About being driven to distraction.”
His lips teased hers, tasting and drawing away until she lifted her hands and burrowed her fingers into his hair to hold him still, so she could claim his mouth with hers. He let her take the lead, and the kiss that followed was long, savouring, deep.
When she finally broke away for air, Shaun chuckled, pressed one more lingering kiss to the corner of her lips, then raised his head.
“Seven out of ten,” he told her.
He watched her carefully as the words penetrated her desire-hazed mind. “Wh … what?”
“The kiss. I award you a seven.”
Her mouth formed an ‘O’ of surprise before she drew breath and he saw her lips begin to shape an apology. Before she could utter it, he pressed two fingers to her chin and forced her mouth closed, then touched a fingertip to her lips.
“Shhh,” he said. “Don’t argue and don’t apologise. I’ve really gotta break you of that habit.”
“But seven …” she began.
“Yeah, seven,” he agreed. “Means there’s room for improvement.” He caught her hand in his and started moving toward his front door, pulling her along behind him.
“Room for improvement?” she repeated, and he could feel her upset as she dug her heels into the ground in an attempt to stop his forward motion.
Shaun glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Goldilocks, there’s always got to be room for improvement.” He continued moving them forward, ignoring her attempts to stop like they weren’t even happening, and they entered The Lodge. He kicked the door shut behind them. “If there’s no room to improve, there’s no reason to carry on practising, is there?”
He didn’t stop moving until they were in the kitchen where he dropped her hand, caught her waist and lifted her onto the kitchen table.
His hands dropped to her thighs and he pulled them apart wide enough for him to step between, then curved his palms over her cheeks. He leaned forward, his lips a hairbreadth from hers.
“Shall we try for a ten, Cassie?” Cassie barely had time to draw breath, let alone respond, before his mouth was back on hers, hungry and demanding.
Cassie fell into the kiss like a woman starved, her tongue chasing his as it dipped between her lips to sample her flavour and then retreated. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, feeling the muscles bunch and flex in her grip as he shifted forward until she was almost lying flat across his table. He wrapped one arm around her waist, keeping her semi-upright.
His mouth left hers to trail a path of kisses down her t
hroat, paused to suck where her pulse raced and then further down to nip at her collarbone. He dragged his mouth along the neckline of her top, and when his tongue reached the valley between her breasts he stopped, lifted his head and angled a grin up at her.
“How attached to this top are you?”
By the time Cassie realised he’d spoken, Shaun had caught the material between his hands and ripped it down the middle. His grin melted away and his eyes flared as they swept over breasts barely covered by an ivory lace bra. He bent his head again, and Cassie felt his tongue moving across her skin, following the line of lace. She could feel her nipples puckering beneath the material, begging for his attention, but Shaun never wavered from his path, licking his way from one side to the other. She could feel his breath, warm against her sensitised skin, and her hands dropped from his shoulders, so she could lean back on her elbows.
“Shaun.” She breathed his name and his eyes lifted, locking onto hers. The look in them took her breath away. The green had almost been swallowed by his pupils – they were dark, predatory, focused.
She felt him pop the button on her jeans, tug down the zip and then he was lifting her hips, tugging the denim down her legs along with her panties and slung them to one side, never breaking eye contact.
“What –” she cleared her throat. “What are you doing?”
One side of his mouth tipped upwards. “Do you need me to give you a running commentary?”
“Maybe you …” her voice sounded thick to her own ears. “Yes, I think maybe I do.”
“Well,” he replied, slowly tugging her thighs further apart as he spoke. “Since our practice kiss went so well, I thought we could move onto some more advanced methods.” His eyes dropped slowly from hers and Cassie squirmed, feeling his gaze move over her, taking in her nakedness.
She trembled in anticipation when his head bent, and his hair brushed against her inner thigh.
What was he waiting for?
His eyes lifted again, caught hers and held them, and then his mouth was on her, exploring every hidden inch of her. A moan escaped her lips when she felt his fingers stroke through her wetness and used his thumbs to open her up completely to his heated gaze.
Pleasure pulsed through her, and her hips rocked forward, trying to seek out more of his touch. He chuckled, the noise vibrating against her thigh and drawing a whimper from her.
Cassie’s eyes drifted shut, her fingers pressing down against the wood of the table, as his tongue swept out and lapped at her.
When he stopped, it took her brain a second to process the loss of pleasure and her eyes opened, searched him out. His eyes were intent, waiting for her gaze to meet his and once their eyes met, he winked.
“Keep watching me, Goldilocks.” His lips closed over the little bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs, and he sucked, his tongue flicking back and forth.
“Eyes on me,” he growled when her eyes began to close again, and she forced them open, to focus on what he was doing to her.
Cassie’s hips bucked, and she panted his name. “Shaun, I … oh, God, I … I …” Pleasure consumed her, and she threw back her head as she cried out.
When her body finally stopped writhing and she came back to herself, it was to find Shaun still leaning between her legs, arms resting either side of her hips, as his fingers traced patterns across her stomach.
“I can see we’re going to need a lot more practice,” he murmured, and dragged two fingers through her wet heat, making her gasp. “Gotta learn how to follow instructions, Goldilocks.”
Cassie woke up alone.
After driving her to a second orgasm in his kitchen, Shaun had carried her to his bedroom, her own legs too shaky to get her there under her own steam. Laying her down on his bed, he’d come down above her, his mouth searching out hers again. Cassie had reached for his jeans, only for him to pull away, shaking his head. He caught her wrists and pinned them to the mattress.
“Not tonight,” he said, in response to her questioning look.
“You don’t want me?” she had asked, hating the immediate bout of self-doubt she’d felt.
“Are you crazy?” He’d lifted her hand and pressed it against his erection straining against the denim of his jeans. “First reason – I have no protection. Gotta keep my pants on or I’ll be buried so deep inside you, you’ll feel me there for a month.” His smile was a flash of white teeth in the darkness of the room as he pressed her hand back down to the mattress, then stroked a finger across her breast. “Second reason – you’re not ready for that.”
He’d cut off her protest with a kiss.
“No, you think you are, but you’re not. Let tonight be about you. You need this.”
He’d certainly followed through on that promise. In fact, she was sure there wasn’t a part of her body he didn’t know intimately. She stretched, thinking about his words and opened her eyes.
There was a note propped against the lamp sitting on the bedside table, ‘Goldilocks’ scrawled across the front in big, bold handwriting. Sitting up, she reached for it.
T-shirts in the top drawer of the dresser, help yourself. Spare toothbrush in the bathroom.
Come find me when you wake up.
~S~
A trip to the bathroom located the toothbrush, still in its wrapper, waiting for her. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Cassie caught sight of the marks his teeth had left on her breasts and throat. Her nipples hardened, and heat pooled between her thighs thinking about what he’d done to cause them, and she pressed her legs together to try and quell the sudden ache of desire.
Finding folded towels next to the wash basin, she took a quick shower, brushed her teeth and attempted to untangle her hair before she returned to the bedroom to find a shirt to wear. A rummage through the top drawer and she found a dark grey t-shirt with a wolf on the front. Pulling it on, she took one last look at her reflection in the mirrored wardrobe door, and then headed downstairs.
She found him in the kitchen, standing in front of the stove, his back to her, and Cassie took a moment to enjoy the sight. He was shirtless again, and the sweatpants he wore hung low on his hips. His hair was damp, pulled back at the nape of his neck with a black band, and she assumed he’d recently showered. Her eyes travelled over the tattoos covering the right side of his back and she wished she had paper and pencil to hand so she could draw him.
“Hungry?” He didn’t turn, and Cassie wondered how he’d known she was there. “There’s coffee in the pot, or orange juice in the pitcher on the table.” He paused to chuckle. “Don’t worry, I cleaned up after my … late-night snack.”
Cassie’s cheeks burned, seeing herself splayed out across the table in her mind’s eye and that was the moment he chose to turn and look at her. His chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh at the expression on her face, and he dropped the spatula he was holding to cross the room and wrap her in his arms.
“I like you in my clothes,” he murmured, and pressed a kiss to her lips. One hand dropped to stroke up her thigh beneath the t-shirt and cup one bare cheek. “No panties, even better.”
“Shaun.” She choked out his name and his fingers paused in their journey along the crease of her ass.
“Yeah, you’re right.” He sighed and stepped away from her. “I’ll feed you, then take a run into town and get supplies … if you’re still up for that?” His grin told her exactly what those supplies would consist of and what he wanted to know she was ‘up’ for without her needing to ask. He adjusted the erection tenting the front of his pants, tilted his head and smiled when he saw her gaze follow the movement of his hand.
“I’ll feed that to you later, if you’re still interested,” he promised and turned back to the stove. “Sit down.”
He piled a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon and toast and placed it in front of her, filled his own plate and then settled onto the seat beside her.
“I want to talk to you about Sam,” he said, and Cassie froze with her fork partway to her m
outh.
Shaun reached out, took the fork from her and lifted it the rest of the way. He tapped her lips with its prongs, waited for her mouth to open and fed her its contents. “What did he say to you?”
Cassie forced herself to chew and swallow in a mouth suddenly gone dry.
“It doesn’t matter.” She avoided his gaze, knowing he was watching her and reached for the pitcher of juice.
“Don’t lie to me, Cassie.” His hand curved over hers, where it gripped the glass jug, steadying it as she poured the juice into a tumbler. “The first time you turned up here was because you were running from Sam. Last night you turned up again. I’m not going to fool myself and say it’s because you wanted to continue what we started at the bar.” He took the pitcher from her. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you did, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a coincidence.”
“Couldn’t I have just come after you because you kissed me and then walked away?”
“Is that what you want me to think?” Shaun shook his head. “We both know it’s not the truth.” He filled his own glass, then set the pitcher down. “Let me put it another way. I’m about to head into town. Do you want me to stop and ask him for his version of events?”
Cassie paled. “You won’t do that.”
“Try me.”
“You have no right!”
“Don’t I?” He stroked a finger across her bottom lip. “You spent the night in my bed. I feasted on you like you were an all-you-can-eat buffet. I can still taste you on my tongue. I think that gives me the right, don’t you?”
Heat reddened her cheeks and she jerked away from his touch. With shaking hands, she took a sip of juice, retrieved her fork and forced herself to eat a mouthful of breakfast.
“Stop stalling, Goldilocks.”
Cassie’s stomach churned, and she regretted swallowing the food in her mouth as it felt like a lump of lead in her stomach when she twisted in her seat to face Shaun.