by Sophie Stern
I catch her in my arms before she can collapse and kiss her on the mouth.
“Taste yourself,” I murmur, and she licks my lips.
“I’ve never done that before,” she says.
“Tasted yourself?”
“Been licked like that.”
Again, I’m surprised by how much of an idiot her last boyfriend really is. I don’t tell her that right now, though. Instead, I turn on the water and begin rubbing her back as it warms up. Despite the power outage, we’ll still have hot water for awhile, thanks to our gas water heater. It won’t last forever, but hopefully one of my brothers called the electric company to figure out what’s going.
There wasn’t a storm, so my guess is that whoever started the fire also decided to cut the power lines. Why? I have no idea, but to be honest, it’s not really something I’m worried about right now. I’ll have plenty of time to worry about it tomorrow. Right now, I just want Hope.
We step into the shower together and I start kissing her again. After a minute, I release her so I can wash the dirt and smoke from her body. We’re quiet as I touch her, gently cleaning her hair and skin.
I’ve never done this with a woman and my heart feels so bright. Is this the feeling shifters have when they claim they’ve found their one true mate?
Is this what they feel like when they say they’re going to go crazy if they can’t live without her?
Is this what they mean when they say their life feels complete? That their hearts feel alive?
I’ve never considered myself to be a bad guy or a boring guy or an ordinary guy, but before Hope showed up, my life was pretty routine.
I worked with my brothers, I followed orders and dished them out, I kept my hands busy.
Now that she’s here, all I want to do is drown in her eyes.
Once we’re both clean, I turn off the water and we step out of the shower. I dry her body with a towel, careful to get her hair, then I lead her to the bedroom.
“I’m going to be a tangled mess,” she laughs, but I shake my head.
“Lie on the bed.”
She looks at me questioningly, and starts to get on her back.
“No, on your belly.” I rub her thigh, and Hope rolls over. Splayed out on my bed, I run my hands over her back and down to her bottom. Squeezing her, I lean down and nip at her soft cheeks.
“Oh!” She wiggles, but I swat her on the bottom lightly.
“Stay still, little one.” I get up and run to the bathroom. When I return, she’s still in place. “Good girl,” I murmur.
“What are you – oh! You’re brushing my hair!”
“I am. Is that okay with you?”
“I just didn’t expect it. Not after everything that’s happened tonight. I kind of thought tonight would be…”
“Rough and rowdy?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Oh, baby, trust me: I’m going to fuck you long and hard, but not tonight. Tonight is all about making your first time special.”
I finish brushing her long locks and she rolls back over. I prop up next to her on my elbow.
“Why aren’t you weird about me being a virgin?” She asks.
“Why would I be? Everyone starts out as a virgin.”
“It’s just that some people,” she hesitates.
“Your ex?”
“My ex…and others…always think it’s really weird that I’ve waited this long.”
“Why didn’t you and Jacob have sex?”
She looks over her shoulder at me. “You know his name?”
“When it comes to you, I know a lot, princess.”
“It just never happened, I suppose. At first, I wanted it to be special, and wanted to get to know him, but then…I don’t know. It’s not a religious thing. It just didn’t happen. We kind of decided that we’d wait until we were married, and once that happened, I never really thought about it. Jake and I kissed and made out, but it never got me horny.”
“Sounds like he was doing something wrong.”
“Yeah, my best friend.”
“Ouch.” I cringe. “Sorry, baby. That’s rough.”
“It’s okay. I’d like to say that I’m over it, but I’m not. It still hurts when I think about it, so I try not to think about it.”
“I don’t think you ever really get over something like that, honey, but that’s okay. As time goes on, the pain will diminish. Soon you won’t be thinking about it that much anymore. Soon you’ll only be thinking about me.”
“I’m already only thinking about you,” she whispers, and I push her onto her back and kiss her softly.
“Oh, Hope. I feel the exact same way.”
I take my time lavishing attention on every part of her body. I bite and nipple and tease until she grips my shoulders and asks me.
She fucking asks.
“Wyatt, will you fuck me now?”
“How can I say no to that, baby?”
I hover over Hope for far too long, just looking into her gorgeous eyes. I never thought I’d fall for a human. Not in a million years. Even when I was in the military, I never dated my coworkers unless they were shifters.
Never.
But with Hope, I don’t even care that she’s different. Hope’s differences make her stronger, better, and more beautiful to me.
I lean down and kiss her. At the same time, I plunge forward, claiming her innocence. She yelps briefly and I hold still inside of her, not moving. I keep kissing her, licking her lips, playing with her tongue. After a moment, I can feel her body relax, and she kisses me back.
Slowly, I begin to move forward.
“Fuck, Hope. You’re so fucking tight, baby.”
“I feel so…full.” I kiss her cheek, palm her breast, twist her nipple. She squeaks and I take her mouth again. She whispers against my mouth but I just keep kissing her, taking her over and over again.
“Baby, I’m not going to last long, but I want you to come with me.”
She shakes her head and pulls back.
“I don’t know if I can. Not again.”
“Oh baby.” I can’t help but smile at her innocence. “You sell yourself short.” I reach between us and begin rubbing her clit as I thrust into her. I know she’s probably sore, so I move slowly, but I can tell the second things start to feel good because her whole body tenses and her pussy grips me even tighter.
“Oh, Wyatt,” she murmurs. “Oh.” She closes her eyes and drops her hands. She’d been gripping my back tightly, but now she holds onto the bed sheets. She looks like she’s about to fly away and they’re the only thing keeping her grounded.
“Come for me, Hope. Come with me.”
A few seconds later, she explodes, crying out my name, and I join her. Everything goes dark for just a second as I have the biggest fucking orgasm of my life. It’s never been like this for me before and I know it’s because she’s the one I’m supposed to be with. She’s the one I’m supposed to share forever with.
My sweet darling Hope.
She’s my mate.
Chapter 23
Hope
I’m holding my breath.
The fire trucks are still outside and I can see their soft flickering lights through the windows. The sound of the water has slowed and I wonder if the fires are out. I don’t have to worry about that anymore, though. I did everything I could and now Wyatt is going to take care of me.
Damn, how long has it been since I just let someone take care of me?
Far too long.
I’m on my back and he hovers over me, kissing and biting my skin with soft, quick nips. Somehow, this feels so right. Having him here with me feels perfect. It feels like this is where I’m supposed to be.
He kisses slowly down my body, but I can’t take it anymore. It’s been nearly an hour since he claimed my virginity and we’ve been kissing, cuddling, and talking since then. Still, my body is ready again. I’m in a state of constant arousal and the only thing that will satisfy me is him.
“
Wyatt,” I murmur. The last few days have been foreplay. I don’t need any more. I’m wetter than I’ve ever been and if I don’t get him inside of me soon, I’ll die. “Please…”
He glides up my body, as if he knows what I want, and he slides his length between my legs. I feel the head of his cock slipping through my folds, teasing my clit, making me ache.
“More,” I murmur.
“Are you ready, Hope?”
“Mmmm,” I can’t find the words, but I know that I’m ready. Wyatt makes me feel more alive than I ever have in my life and after tonight? After tonight I’m not taking any more chances. I’m done taking the slow road, the safe road. I’m ready for the adventurous road, the dangerous road. I’m ready for the twists and turns and chaos.
I’m ready for him.
He plunges inside of me and I cry out at the intrusion, still a bit sore from our first time, but he silences me with a kiss.
“Just breathe,” he murmurs, and he holds very still inside of me. Slowly, my body begins to adjust to his length and I can breathe again. Wow. Once again, I just feel full.
And warm.
“Wyatt,” I kiss him, and he starts slowly moving in and out of me. As he makes love to me, more than our bodies collide. Our hearts bond together in this moment. I’ve never needed anything or anyone the way I need Wyatt.
After he comes, bringing me with him, he collapses next to me on the bed and just holds me.
“Who would have thought the night would end in a marathon lovemaking session?” I giggle, tracing a line on his chest.
“Oh, baby. You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he grins. “I can go all night.”
“Is that so?” I raise an eyebrow. “All night? Really?”
He nods, and somehow, I know he’s telling me the truth. Wyatt doesn’t have to lie to get the girl. I get the feeling he never has.
“So, you know why I’m single,” I ask. “What about you?”
“You aren’t single anymore,” he glowers. “Don’t you dare think that you are, Hope Demers. You’re mine. I’m claiming you.”
“Claiming me? Is that a shifter thing?” He nods solemnly, and I can’t help but smile. “Um, okay. So what, you wanna marry me, Wyatt?”
“I absolutely want to marry you, Hope.” I was joking, but he’s dead serious, and my jaw hits the floor. We only just met. Is he for real? I never believed in love at first sight, but Wyatt’s changing my mind about a lot of things, including this.
“You do?” I squeak out. For the briefest of seconds, I think this must be some sort of trick, but I don’t think it is. I think he’s for real.
I think I came to Honeypot on a whim, and I’m getting everything I’ve ever dreamed about.
“I want to marry you, Hope Demers. I want to marry you and put my babies in your belly. I want to grow old with you. I want to raise kids with you and ranch with you and plant flowers in front of the porch with you. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but you’re my mate, Hope. You’re my one and only.”
I nod, and I realize that I’m crying, but I can’t help it. These are happy tears.
After everything I’ve been through, after all of that, I’m finally getting my happily-ever-after.
“Okay,” I whisper, and the smile that lights his face could brighten the darkest forest. “I’ll marry you, Wyatt. I’ll be yours.”
“Woo!” He jumps up and hollers, which cracks me up because he’s a huge, fit, naked shifter, and he’s jumping up and down like I just promised him the world.
And maybe I did.
Then he pops open the bedroom window and yells into the night air, “We’re getting married! We’re getting married!”
I hear a bunch of responses, but the only one I can make out is Alex’s.
“Put your pants on! I don’t want to see that thing!”
Chapter 24
Wyatt
The sun is going to rise soon. Relucantly, we leave the bedroom. Hope and I join my brothers and Alex in the living room, along with two firemen and Jason Edwards. I try to avoid glaring at him. It’s not his fault that I don’t like him and to be honest, he’s a pretty standup guy.
I just don’t like the fact that he met Hope before me or that he took his sister’s side when we broke up. It’s not fair, really, but he was very quick to point out my own mistakes in the relationship. Maybe I was too young to be in a relationship at the time, but things are different now.
Somehow, I feel different. Hope has changed me somehow, and I think it’s for the better.
“It’ll be awhile before we can verify with certainty what started the fire,” one of the men was saying. “But my initial impressions are that it was arson. If I had to guess, I’d say accelerant was used, which is why the flames spread so quickly.”
Hope shivers, and I wrap my arms around her.
Edwards notices, and catches my eye.
“Don’t worry, Blair. We’ll catch the son of a bitch.” It’s been awhile since I heard Edwards use such harsh language and the last time he did, it was directed at me. It’s a pretty different feeling to be one of the good guys in this.
“Good.” I say, nodding at him. “Thanks.”
The men have a few more things to say, give us their phone numbers in case we notice anything else, then they leave.
“I’ll get you a copy of all the reports for your insurance,” Jason is telling my brothers. “I don’t know what kind of coverage you have, but it’s pretty clear-cut that you’re not at fault for this.”
“Thanks for all of your help,” Micah says. Carter and Alex echo his thoughts. They stay with Hope while I follow Jason outside to the porch.
We stand side-by-side and look out at the damaged cabin for a moment.
“My girl was in there, Edwards. Asleep.”
“I know, brother.”
“She could have been killed.”
“But she wasn’t, Wyatt. She wasn’t.” Jason turns to me now and slaps a hand on my shoulder. “Look, I know our relationship has been…rocky.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” I chuckle.
“I think she’s good for you, man. I think she’s good for you, and I’m sorry as fuck that this happened when she was home.” He shakes his head and I can tell that Jason is really distraught about the whole situation, as am I.
“Who would do something like this, man?” I ask him. “My brothers and I had this idea that it was someone threatened by our plans to expand the ranch, but I just don’t know. I don’t want to think that anyone in Honeypot would do something like this.”
“No one wants to think that,” Jason says. “Honeypot is supposed to be a safe place where shifters can seek refuge and raise their families. No one wants to live here and have to worry that things are going to go south, that someone is going to threaten our wellbeing.”
“Where are you going to start looking? Any ideas as to who it could be?”
Jason shrugs and pulls a cigar out. He lights it and begins smoking. The scent mixes with the rest of the smoke in the air, but it doesn’t bother me. Jason only smokes when he’s stressed. This whole thing must be bothering him more than he’s letting on.
“Nobody hates you guys. You’re the fucking Blair brothers. You guys are legends around here.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“You have no idea how true that is.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Everyone loves you, Wyatt. Everyone loves your family. The Honeypot shifters would do anything for you guys. I can’t name a single person or shifter in town who would want to harm you, which begs the question of why now?”
He takes another puff of the cigar and then continues.
“At first, I thought it was Hope. When Micah emailed me yesterday, he said he was worried there were some weird coincidences happening. He didn’t think it had anything to do with her specifically, but he said it was weird. At first, he thought maybe someone wanted to hurt her chances of succeeding in Honeypot.”
“Like her ex?”
“Yeah. The first lost calf happened before she was officially hired, though, so we knew it wasn’t that. I think it’s one of the hotel owners, honestly, sad as it is to admit. And this is off-the-record, before you think about blabbing.”
“Of course.” I know cops aren’t allowed to talk about open investigations and Jason does, too, but apparently there’s a bit of leeway when you’ve been friends forever. Even though there are times when I hate his guts, Edwards is a good guy who would do anything to protect his town. I know that.
“I just don’t know who, man. All the bed and breakfast owners are older than dirt. How would any of them be able to make it out here to rile up trouble? Even if they shifted, they can’t move that fast anymore. Fuck. A lot of them can’t even shift anymore. Mrs. Marsh sure as hell can’t, and my guess would be on her. She runs the most popular B&B in town. She’s not going to want competition.”
“Mrs. Marsh?” I ask, something clicking in the back of my mind, something Hope said when she showed up. “Isn’t her son in town?”
“Fuck,” Jason drops his cigar butt and rubs it in the ground with his boot. “Fucking Sawyer. Let’s go.”
***
It’s a short drive to Mrs. Marsh’s. When we arrive, the lights are out.
“You ready?” I ask Jason. He nods. We left Hope with my brothers. She was pissed as hell about getting left behind, but she’ll be fine. I know Micah is so thankful that she saved his fuckin’ flash drive, he won’t let her out of his sight. They’ll probably bake cookies together or something like that.
Either way, I know my brother won’t let her out.
Now that Hope and I have been together, it’s more ingrained in me than ever that I want her to be mine for always. Maybe she’ll agree to a short engagement. From what I know about her, she doesn’t have many friends or relatives, so maybe we can skip the hoopla that comes with big weddings.