by Reina Torres
Another guard tossed a second robe to Cage and he dropped it over the bear before waving in medical staff to see to the other shifter.
Cage walked to the gate and waited for the staff to unlock it and let him out. He stepped aside at the bottom and let the staff in and continued through the crowd.
People jostled to touch him, to pat him on the back, some even tried to hand him a cup. He just kept walking.
Walking straight towards her.
And damn if he didn’t look amazing. His eyes were bright, the look in them both intent and wild at the same time. He drew closer and closer, and Maggie managed to stand still and wait because she was stuck between running the hell away from him or jumping into his arms.
Truck stepped away when Cage got within arm’s reach. He wasn’t the only one who heard the warning growl in Cage’s throat. Some of the rowdy patrons stepped away from their corner of the room as if they could feel something dangerous in the air.
“Hey,” Cage looked down at her, his shoulders and chest heaving with each breath.
“Uh, hi,” Maggie’s eyes moved over his face and his shoulders in a rapid assessment, “you still in one piece?”
“All better.” His mouth curled up in a slow, predatory grin. “If you want, I’ll let you check me all over.” His hands reached down, and she followed his movements with her eyes. Those hands, wow, big palms and thick fingers, working at the ties of his robe.
“Wait.”
She reached out and covered his hands with hers… well, as much as she could cover.
“Not here.” She should have said ‘not now,’ but she had already realized that now was going to happen.
“Then where?”
She guessed she was just easy to read, but at that very moment, she didn’t care.
“My place,” she couldn’t help but drag her gaze all the way up his amazing chest and somehow made it to his eyes, “now.”
She would have time later to consider how crazy it was to walk across the street with Cage while he was still in his robe, but all she could really concentrate on was his warm hand in hers and the visible puff of his breath in the cool evening air.
Keys turned, and the door was locked as soon as they were on the other side.
“Shower.”
She pointed out the bathroom and he walked straight in, pulling her along with him.
The robe fell outside the door, leaving him completely bare before her as he stepped inside. He didn’t seem to be concerned at all, then again, if she had a body as flawless as his, she wouldn’t have an issue walking around naked either.
Cage made quick work of the knobs on the wall and a blast of near-scalding water rushed over him.
And all she could see beyond the spray was the toned curve of his backside. No, she changed her mind. Backside was a name too staid and polite for what he had. What he had was an ass. Perfectly shaped and hard enough to-
“Are you going to stand there watching me?”
“Well, I… I mean-”
“Well,” he mocked her stuttered answer and pushed the door open wider with his foot, letting out a whole bunch of water onto the floor, “you’re going to have to make a decision.”
Another one? “What decision?”
Turning around, Cage reached out to the soap dish and picked up the cake that was laying there and held it out to her. “Are you going to wash my back or my front?”
Deep in her mind she knew what the answer was, but wasn’t quite sure that she should say it. Her heart and the aching need deep inside of her blurted out the truth.
“Both.”
Top and pants ended up on the floor, keeping the water somewhat in check as she stepped into the shower with him. When she met his eyes, she could see the spark of laughter looking back at her.
“You’re still wearing clothes.”
She’d done it so she wouldn’t feel so exposed to him but standing there with the water turning her white cotton bra and panties sheer, it was almost worse.
But that was something she wasn’t going to admit, not to him. Not when she finally had her chance. She didn’t pluck the soap from his hand, no, she picked up her wash cloth and her bottle of body wash and squeezed a healthy dollop into the cloth.
“I hope that’s not going to make me smell like a girl,” his tone was deep, but his eyes told another story.
“If you’re going to complain then what will you do when all of me is rubbing over all of you. You’ll smell like me either way, don’t you think?”
“Fuck,” he wrapped his arms around her body and grabbed a hold of her backside, digging his fingers in as he pulled her flush against him, “I can’t wait.”
Before she could speak and drown in the hot water, he turned and she smiled against his chest, dropping the bottle onto the shelf behind him. And just as she felt his erection pressing hard against her belly she rubbed her wash cloth across his lower back and felt him press tighter against her.
“Trying to rub my skin right off, aren’t you?”
She enjoyed the next swipe up and over his shoulder blades. “Really? Here I thought you were a big bad fighter and you’re just a big baby.”
“I’m no baby,” he growled the words into her ear and scraped his teeth over her earlobe, “but if you want-”
She drew the wash cloth down over his spine and then the curve low on his back. “What I want is to get you all scrubbed clean, and then I’m taking you into my bedroom.”
When she scrubbed the wash cloth over his ass, he growled even louder, his hips bucking against her.
“Keep that up, Maggie, and I’ll take you right here in the shower.”
The thought had her body aching all over and her nipples tightening into hard peaks under the wet cotton bra against his chest.
“Like that, do you?”
One hand still covering her backside, fingers digging in and lifting her up to her tip-toes, he used his other hand to slide two fingers between her legs. One pushed the edge of her panties aside and the other, the other caressed the folds between her legs.
Sparks blossomed behind her eyes and she leaned forward to give him more access.
“You like that, don’t you, Maggie? You’re so wet for me.”
“Ho-how do you know, ah-” she edged forward as he slipped a finger deep inside her, “that… that it’s not the water.”
He turned, bringing her with him until his back was against the wall, and that’s when he lifted her higher, pressing her tight against him. She was tucked in between his erection and his hand, his cock nudging against her clit with his fingers buried inside of her. “I can feel you, Maggie. Tight and wet for me, just begging for more.”
She wasn’t able to answer him back. The friction of her cotton-covered nipples against the hard wall of his chest, his finger inside of her and his front, pressed so intimately against her, it was all a rush of feeling that had her floating as if she was cast upon a rushing river.
“Are you, Maggie?”
She could only pant out her breaths between her lips, barely able to open her eyes from time to time. Cage. She formed his name on her mute lips and tried to swallow the thick lump in her throat.
“Lost in the feeling, babe?”
Maggie felt his lips on her throat, the warm and rough sweep of his tongue against her pulse, but still she couldn’t speak, only nod her head.
The wash cloth dropped from her hand and she clutched at his shoulders, trying to hold on to her runaway feelings.
But Cage had other plans. A second finger joined the first and Maggie felt herself stretch over him and gasped in a breath that couldn’t quite fill her lungs.
She tried again and felt like the floor had disappeared under her very feet. Her head felt light, and something twisted up tight deep inside of her body.
He ground his hips closer, rubbing his heat against hers and when she cried out, a soft whimpering gasp, he swallowed the sound and gave her a growled oath, pulling her tighter.
&
nbsp; Maggie felt like she wanted to split apart and faint dead away, but she also felt like she could climb a mountain, not that she could tell which way was up.
“Cage?” She managed the single word and then lost her voice again, panting with need.
“You’re almost there, Maggie, I can feel it. I can feel you, damn, I can feel you squeezing me tight.”
She cracked her eyes open and saw the dark midnight of his eyes gazing back at her. The intriguing sight set her blood boiling in her veins, brought her one step closer to the fall.
“Tell me, Maggie,” he urged her, “can you come for me? Give me everything in you, let me feel you break in my arms and I’ll hold you together. Give me that and I’ll- ah.”
She bit his lip, her teeth pinching at the smooth curve of his lower lip, sinking in on a groan as the twisting inside of her let go in a shuddering release. The only thing holding her together were Cage’s arms and the sound of his voice deep in her ears. “Hold on, Maggie, just hold on…”
Chapter Nine
When he set her down on her feet, one arm wrapped around her, holding her upright, he waited until she lifted her chin from her chest and looked into his face. He saw the rosy blush across her skin, and the glassy look in her eyes.
Taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her lips.
He let go of her chin and deepened the kiss, eating her sighs straight from her lips. “It’s not enough,” he whispered against her mouth, turning to place kisses along her jaw, “I need more.”
“I don’t think I can move right now.” He heard the languid laughter in her tone, but he also felt the truth. If it wasn’t for his arm around her, Maggie would have a hard time standing on her own.
“I like knowing that I can make you weak in the knees.”
Her hand splayed against his back, fingertips digging into his skin. “You make me weak all over.”
He could feel his laughter vibrating through both of them, itching along his skin. And where his hands caressed her, it felt like they were magnetic, attracted to each other. His palms moved around her back and then down over her hips. “I’ll bet your thighs are pretty strong.”
“Not at the moment.”
“Then maybe we take this somewhere you can rest,” he felt her disappointment in the way she leaned against him, the downturn of her expression, but he knew how to change her mood. “Trust me?”
Her eyes met his and her smile warmed him even as the water beading on his skin chilled him. “Absolutely.”
“We need to get these wet clothes off you.”
“Okay,” she stood still and gave him a wistful smile, humming softly as if she was still enjoying the rush of pleasure through her veins. “Can you help me?”
“I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”
His fingers worked at the back hook of her bra and when it popped open she sighed. The sound was enough to make his already hard erection painfully stiff. He tugged the strap down and watched as she pushed her shoulders forward, so he could easily slip the bra from her arms.
“Just drop it on the floor,” she moaned as his arm brushed up against the side of her breast, “I’ll pick it up later.”
“Whatever you want, Maggie.” He loved to hear her breathy commands. It made his jaguar purr inside of him.
Kiss ass.
If you make her happy, she’ll make us happy, it growled right back at him.
He could have said something back, but he was too busy getting down on his knees before her, the cool tile under his knees had the barest sheen of water.
“Cage, wait.”
“Wait for what?” He smoothed his hands from her knees and up her thighs, feeling her quiver at his touch.
“I don’t think-”
“Then don’t,” he leaned forward and pressed a kiss over her wet cotton panties. “Don’t think, baby, let me do this for you-”
“No, no,” she reached her hands down and one of them managed to find the top of his head even with her eyes closed and her head tipped back. “I can’t keep this up.”
He felt a cold wave wash over him and his hands stilled on her legs. “What’s wrong, Maggie? Tell me.”
“Noth- nothing,” she swallowed in a breath, “I just can’t.”
He stood, his hands gently reaching for her waist to hold her safely on her feet. He could still feel how off balance she felt. “Then tell me what to do.”
“If you,” she swallowed and swept her tongue over her bottom lip, “if you put your mouth… down there…” Her hand swept up from his elbow and around the back of his arm, “I’ll be done.”
“Done?” He could feel her distress. “How?”
Her other hand took the same path on his other arm and she turned her face away from him, keeping him at a distance. “I don’t,” she began, “no, I can’t…” She bit into her lower lip so hard he was sure she’d break the skin. “I won’t be able to come again after and I want,” she shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what was happening, “I need you inside me.”
“Maggie,” she didn’t move, “look at me.”
Her shoulders slumped just the littlest bit when she managed to meet his eyes.
“Hearing how much you want me, will never… never be a problem. Thinking that I would leave you wanting? That is.”
“But I-”
He seized her lips in a kiss, fierce and demanding. Leaving her breathless when he leaned back. “Trust me, Maggie. Let me show you what you were meant to feel.”
He saw the emotions moving across her face. He felt the trembling of her body under his hands. Cage hoped that she felt how much he wanted her. He wanted her to know everything that was locked away inside of him, but if he didn’t manage to get inside of his mate soon, he was sure he was going to lose his mind.
“Cage?”
His eyes slid closed. The sound of his name on her tongue had him so hard and hungry that he growled out his reply. “Yes?”
“I need you,” she sighed, and he felt heat roll through her body, “now. Take me now.”
He wasn’t going to wait any longer, not when he could scent how much she needed him. Opening his eyes, he fixed them on her face. And knew he needed her like his next breath.
So, he stole it from her lips.
His mouth slanted over hers as he gripped the sides of her panties and pulled. The wet fabric clung to her hips and then her thighs, but once he had them around her knees he let them fall to the floor at her feet.
“Come with me, Maggie.”
She reached for him and he lifted her into his arms, holding her against his chest as he stepped out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. He didn’t care if the covers were on. It wouldn’t matter to him. The only thing that’s going to be on top of Maggie was him.
Get to it.
He shoved his jaguar away as if he’d pushed his palm into the beast’s face. Wait your turn.
Slacker.
She lay still on the bed, her eyes fixed on him, her breaths coming in pants from her lips.
“Breathe slower, sweets. You’re going to hyperventilate.”
Maggie reached out her hand and he crawled onto the bed at her feet. He flattened his palms on the inside of her ankles and smoothed them up toward her knees.
He watched, and her skin broke out in goose-flesh and his mouth started to water.
Goose is juicy.
Shut up, cat.
But then he was following his hands with his mouth, tasting her flesh with the flat of his tongue. She quivered with each stroke, tensed and tightened with each sweep.
“Cage…” He heard the plea in her voice. Felt the need clenching her fists into the sheets. “Oh, Cage.” She moaned as fingers reached the tops of her thighs, spreading her legs wide open on her bed.
The scent drove him wild. She wanted him. Needed him from the inside out, and damn if he wasn’t ready to make her scream. She glistened like dew. He leaned forward for a drink and place
d an open-mouthed kiss against her folds.
Like a trap, her thighs started to close, but he held them open and this time swept his tongue in and savored a taste of her slick heat.
She sobbed, and his eyes looked over the soft curve of her belly, between her luscious breasts, and saw the pained twist of her features.
“Maggie?” When she didn’t immediately respond, he braced an elbow under him and lifted to meet her eyes. “What is it?”
“I want this so much,” he saw the open need in her eyes, but he also felt her words sinking into his heart, “but I’m not sure I understand about everything…”
He saw the hesitation in her face. Felt the tremor of worry through her body. “You’re my mate. How I didn’t know it before...”
His cat took a swipe at him and he didn’t argue. He’d been a fool.
“But you know it now,” she crooked her finger and he gladly crawled up closer until he sat between her open legs, “and even though I’m dying for you, I’m not sure about this… being forever. If my mom and dad are anything to go by, I’d be crap at making you happy.”
He’d never known her mother, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to track the woman down and give her hell for hurting her daughter. “All I need is to take care of you, make sure you’re safe, happy. That’s all I want.”
She heard the words. Saw the earnest look in his eyes. Everything in her gut told her that he was telling her the truth, and yet she couldn’t believe it.
“Can you be with me without… the mark? Is that even-”
“Possible?” His lips curled into a predatory smile, nearly a snarl beneath his eyes that bled dark like the night. “I’ll take whatever you’ll give me, Maggie. I’ll take seconds if that’s what you’re willing to share. I just hope one day you’ll understand how much you mean to me and you’ll accept what I’m telling you.” He shook his head. “I had given up finding my mate until you walked back into my life.”
She fought the hope inside of her. It would only be so easy to believe what he was saying, but she could barely trust herself some days. What if she ruined his life because she couldn’t find the courage to give herself to him?