“Oh no!” Sonnie slumped down next to Denny who clasped her hands over her belly. “Oh, God. Are you okay?”
“Lang found me. He got me out.” I wasn’t going to say anything else about what happened. It was just as much Lang’s story to tell as it was mine.
“That’s a gunshot wound on your shoulder, Muddy.” Carter crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re not telling us everything.”
Lang strolled into the living room with an armful of glasses and a jug of juice in his hand. Something about it almost made me laugh. It was such a far cry from how his mother would’ve served her guests. Or, how her hired help would have served them, rather.
“The asshole who set the trap tried to hurt Muddy. He won’t hurt anyone ever again.” He put the juice down and looked over at me. “How do you like your bacon?”
My stomach fluttered. “Crispy.”
He smiled and nodded. “Crispy, it is.”
Charlie held up her hands. “Wait a second. What do you mean? Again, we’re not getting the whole story here.”
I met Lang’s strong gaze and shrugged. “It’s yours to tell, if you want to, Lang.”
Lang looked at each of the women. “I killed him.”
“Whoa.” Denny worried the edge of a throw pillow and stared off in the distant. “That’s intense.”
Lang suddenly sniffed the air and then nodded at Denny. Congratulations. Denny’s face turned a deep shade of pink and Lang turned and left the living room, his back and shoulders stiff.
“Congr—Are you kidding?” I screamed a little louder than I intended to, but only because I knew exactly why Lang was congratulating her. I hadn’t paid attention to it, I’d been so distracted by their questions, but I took a big sniff of the air. Denny was pregnant.
Her grin stretched wide across her face and everyone started talking at once about how they couldn’t wait to tell me and how worried they’d been when Denny had come to the B&B looking for me, and I wasn’t there…until Denny interrupted. “I need the bathroom. I have to pee so bad!”
Denny jumped up headed in the direction I pointed. The tension in the room had been effectively broken with her good news and I finally relaxed back into the pillows behind me.
“Shit.” Charlie sat back. “He killed for you. So, did, you put out?”
Sonnie snorted.
“What are you thinking, Muddy?” Carter moved closer and rested her chin in her hand. “You look like you’re being pulled in a million different directions.”
I looked towards the kitchen and Lang. I knew he could hear everything being said, so I just shrugged. I didn’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t know why I was still there. Why wasn’t I running? I should’ve been waving goodbye to Lang from the back of one of their cars. I wasn’t, though. I couldn’t imagine doing it, either.
“I get it. It’s complicated. It’s always complicated.” Charlie patted my hand. “There aren’t that many options for mates, though, honey. I’m afraid you’re stuck with the man. And trust me, even an hour ago, I would’ve called bullshit and told you that Sonnie knows a witch who could maybe break the mate bond, if she tried hard enough, but now…”
“He literally killed someone for you.” Carter shook her head. “I wouldn’t normally use that at a scale for proving love, but in this case, it’d be a pretty hard sell to convince anyone otherwise.”
Lang came in and handed me a piece of bacon. “Good?”
My stupid stomach fluttered again and I felt my face heat as I tried it. Of course, it was perfect. I felt exposed, like everyone could read the thoughts burning through my brain as I looked up at Lang and nodded. I wasn’t thinking about the bacon or my friends. I was consumed with thoughts of the man I’d sworn I hated for over a decade.
“We can’t stay. We just had to make sure you were okay, Muddy. Do you want to come with us?”
I looked from Charlie to Lang. The look on his face said it all. He was clearly hopeful, yet worried. It was the first time I’d seen him look self-conscious and unsure of himself. It was such a foreign look on his handsome face that it was almost startling. I realized in that moment I had the chance to reject him the way I’d felt rejected.
Lang looked down at his bare feet. I could hear his heart racing and smell the beads of sweat forming on his skin. He was preparing for me to go. He didn’t expect me to agree to stay with him when presented with the option to leave.
That uncertainty in him, the humanity that shone through his normally cool, composed façade got to me. And, surprisingly, I no longer had the desire to lash out at him, or run from him. Not anymore. I wanted to know more of the man who’d sent his parents away because they were awful to me. Who had told his dad that he loved me. Lang and I weren’t done. In fact, we were just getting started.
“I’ll stay.”
24
Lang
“Okay. There’s no cable here and the only DVDs I can find are Ghost and Pretty Woman.” I held up the two movies and said a silent prayer that Muddy didn’t want to watch either one.
“Let’s just listen to the radio.”
“Thank god.” I found a small stereo and turned to a classic rock radio station.
Muddy rolled on to her side on the couch and smiled at me. “Not the romantic movie type?”
I flipped off the light and settled onto my blanket next to her on the floor. “Not really.”
“Let me guess…action movies and horror flicks?”
“Documentaries and thrillers.” I grinned up at her. “And you like…comedies?”
“I don’t know what I like. It’s been so long since I sat down to watch a movie.” She traced the edge of the couch with her finger and sighed. “Besides going back Chattington for the funeral, this is the first break I’ve taken in years.”
We’d talked all day, but we hadn’t touched on her visit to Chattington. “I was home right after you. My parents’ anniversary. Mom thought it’d be funny to throw it in my face that you’d just been in town.”
“I’ve been wondering about something, Lang. You said you thought I’d left town with Deacon Allred. Where in the world did you get that idea?
I snorted out a bitter laugh. “My mother.”
Muddy groaned. “Why does she hate me? Or is it just the obvious, that I’m not uber rich?”
“She hates everyone.”
“She didn’t hate Michelle.”
I sat up and took Muddy’s hand. “She did. She didn’t hate Michelle’s money and bloodline. She just tolerated Michelle because she came with a shitload of a deal. She hates everyone. She hates Dad, she hates me, she probably hates herself. She’s just a miserable person.”
“Why?”
“It’s actually pretty ironic.” I stroked her hand and continued to hold it since she hadn’t pulled away. “She chose my dad over her true mate, for money and prestige.”
“God. And your dad?”
“He doesn’t think anyone knows, but he sneaks away and fucks his mistress on the weekends.”
Muddy sat up and pulled her hand back. “You never stood a chance at normal, did you?”
I sat back and frowned. “I think I’m okay.”
“No, I mean, with us. At twenty-three, you were still so young and all you’d ever seen was your parents. Their abnormal behavior was probably normal to you. It’s no wonder you didn’t see the value in me.”
My chest tightened. “Don’t say that.”
“What?”
I swore. “I did see the value in you. I always have and still do. I just didn’t know how to handle it. I also don’t want you making excuses for my shitty behavior. No matter what, I should’ve realized how my actions would have affected you. The universe granted me something so amazing. I should’ve let them disown me. Hell, I should have disowned them.”
“It’s a tough spot to be in. Must have been confusing to have so much pressure and—”
“Seems pretty clear now. You were willing to love me, even though I didn’t des
erve it. I wish I could go back in time and spend the last ten years cherishing you. I hate myself for not remembering the right song. I hate that I’ve only made love to you twice and neither of them were what they should’ve been.”
Muddy took a deep breath and reached out to gently cup my cheek. “I hated you for so long. I don’t want to hold on to that anymore.” She leaned her head back and blew out a slow breath. “Which is terrifying because it’s been with me so long, it’s become an old friend. The kind of friend that eats you up from the inside out, but I feel naked without it.”
“I’ll never hurt you again, Muddy. I’m not naïve and stupid anymore. Not as stupid. And, I’m not my parents.” My heart beat inside my chest so loudly that I could barely hear myself talk. “I’m not. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to prove it to you. I’ll marry you right now and agree to give you everything I have.”
Her eyes went wide, and she looked terrified. I played back what I said. I cursed and shook my head. I scared her. “That wasn’t an actual proposal. I was just…speaking hypothetically. You know what I mean. Right?”
She laughed and nodded. “You’re crazy.”
“I just want another chance on whatever terms you’re comfortable with. Please.”
“How are we supposed to do this? I’m not leaving Helen’s Corner. This place is my life.”
“I’ll come here. I’ll live with you in that madhouse with the old ladies and I’ll work from your dining room. I can control my corporate interests remotely.”
“You don’t want to live here, Lang.”
“I want to be near you. The rest doesn’t matter to me.” I rested my hands on her thighs and felt a new energy pulse through me. “I’m practically begging here, Sunshine.”
“If we do it, we take it slow.” She blew out a breath. “We do more talking and we hang out. We get to know each other better.”
“Fine. We take it slow.”
“I mean it, Lang.”
I shrugged. “Slow is good with me. I’ll take slow.”
She stared at me for a few seconds and then nodded. “Okay. We take it slow.”
I felt my face stretch into a wide grin. “You like me.”
She rolled her eyes and then stretched back out on the couch. Her matted frizz of red hair, covered in an afghan from chin to toes, one heavily bandaged foot poking out the bottom, she was still the sexiest woman I’d ever seen. “Don’t make me regret it.”
The desire to grab her and claim her was strong, but I could wait. I was getting a second chance. I wasn’t going to fuck it up. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you, Sunshine.”
“Men always mature slower than women. You probably couldn’t help it.”
“There’s that smart mouth. I was afraid you’d go soft on me once you decided you liked me again.”
Her head appeared over the side of the couch and she scowled down at me. “I’m going to regret it. I can tell already.”
“You like me, you really like me!” I laughed and folded my hands behind my head. Life was suddenly very good. “Try to resist. I know it’ll be hard, but just try.”
“And I regret it.” She reached down and smacked my chest. “It took you less than five minutes to wear out the warm, fuzzies. Congrats!”
I trapped her hand against my chest and smiled up at her. “Warm fuzzies? I’ll give you warm fuzzies.”
25
Muddy
Slowly. We were taking it slowly. I made that very clear to Lang, yet my body had been screaming at me to hump him the whole day. Talking had been laborious. It was impossible to not feel something when the man never put a shirt on. There was so much muscular, sculpted chest and bicep on display and I had to fan myself. I was only a woman. I couldn’t resist that shit.
I was still sprawled on the couch, and he was in his usual spot lying on the floor next to me.
While I was giving lectures to him about taking it slow, I was really talking to myself. I couldn’t just pounce. We needed to build some kind of base first, before we went there. Trust needed to be developed.
My hand was trapped against his stomach, though. His skin was warm and it felt smooth over hard, rippled muscle. I wanted to crawl on top of him and praise the god of abs for such a fine specimen.
“You alright up there?”
I jerked my hand back and squeezed my eyes shut. “Uh-huh. I’m great.”
“Hey, Muddy?”
I smoothed my hands down my blanket and winced as they felt like rakes across my sensitive chest. “Yeah?”
“We could start the taking it slow thing tomorrow.”
I couldn’t make a joke at that moment. I should’ve. A more controlled woman would’ve laughed it off with a smart ass comment and gone to sleep while listening to old school rock on the radio. A more controlled woman would’ve realized that she was still healing from an injury and should take it easy.
“Sunshine?”
I wasn’t that woman. I was a fucking lioness, for god’s sake. This pretending to be a tame house kitten was bullshit. I rolled off the couch and crashed onto his chest in a tangle of blankets and limbs. It jarred my leg and shoulder, but I didn’t care. “Tomorrow. The slow thing.”
Lang smelled like smoky leather and dark spices. I latched my lips onto his and devoured him. I licked and nipped at his mouth unable to get enough. I wanted more. More Lang. He locked his hands in my hair and kissed me back like he was starving for me. It was a bruising kiss that promised so much more. Our teeth bumped into each other, our noses pressed against one another. It was hurried, desperate, and needy.
I tried to adjust my position so I could line our bodies up and bumped my leg on the coffee table. I cried out in pain, but wasn’t ready to stop kissing him. He pulled back, so I kissed down his jaw and to his neck. His growth of beard tickled my lips, but I loved it. “Don’t shave. I love this.”
“Sunshine, stop.” Lang gently pushed me away and sat up. He helped me up and shook his head. “You’re hurting yourself.”
I panted, my body still flashing all green-lights-go at me. “It’s fine. I’m okay.”
He shook his head. “I can’t do it. It’s hurting you.”
I frowned. “You want to stop?”
He stood up and easily picked me up. “I didn’t say that. We’re just not going to do it on the floor between a couch and a coffee table.” He headed toward a bedroom.
Wrapping my arms around him, I kissed and nibbled at his neck again. “You’re probably too old for that now, anyway.”
He laughed and gently laid me down on a bed. Hovering over me, he tenderly pulled the still tangled blanket off of me and dropped it on the floor. “When you’re healed, I’m going to put that sassy mouth of yours to good use.”
I shivered and reached for him, but he moved away. “Lang.”
He stood at the end of the bed, smiled at me and slid his pants down, releasing his massive erection. “I’m right here, Sunshine.”
He took my good leg in his hands and lightly stroked up my calf. His big hands were warm and rough as he trailed behind my knee and up the back side of my thigh. It was torture. “Lang.”
“Mmm. I love hearing you say my name like that.” He kissed the bottom of my foot and ran his tongue along my ankle. “I regret never tasting you here. Or here.”
My back arched as he knelt on the bed and flicked his tongue over the sensitive skin behind my knee. He hands circled my waist and then moved under me to grip my ass. His fingers ran down the seam and then he was trailing back down to my foot.
“I probably knew that I wasn’t worth your time. I took you as fast as I could and as eagerly as I could because I wanted to be with you before you woke up and realized how far beneath you I was.” He took my other leg and delicately stroked his hands up the calf and planted kisses there, paying special attention to the marred skin there. “I still believe you could wake up and realize that you’re so much better than me, so I plan to worship your body until you can’t live wi
thout me.”
I held my breath as he pressed my legs together and worked his hands over my thighs, massaging and teasing me as his thumbs dipped closer and closer to the junction between them.
“These thighs are a wet dream, Sunshine.” He leaned forward and ran his tongue down the seam of my thighs. “I want to spend every night with them wrapped around my head as I worship you with my mouth.”
“Lang, please.”
He moved up my body and dipped his tongue into my navel. Swirling it, he moaned when I buried my hands in his hair and tugged. His fingers moved over my rib cage and over the sensitive skin under my breasts before vanishing.
It was torture. My body was wound tighter than I’d ever felt it and I knew I would come if he just touched me in the right spot. I just needed him to touch me.
His breath was hot on my skin as his mouth followed his hands. “Please, what, Sunshine?”
I cried out as his breath hovered over my nipples. I couldn’t take much more. “Please, fuck me, Lang. I need you.”
His knee wedged my thighs apart and then his hand was cupping my sex. His other hand held my breast while his mouth moved even higher. His teeth raked across my skin and his voice was rough as he whispered against my ear. “You’re the only thing that matters to me, Muddy.”
My body flushed as everything drew tight and then released in a hot wash of pleasure. He was barely touching me but as an orgasm washed over me, I shivered against his body and I felt the power he had over me. In that moment, I felt insane to have tried to stop what was between us. We were meant to be. Not even in some fairytale, princess and prince, kind of way, but in the very way that our bodies sang for each other. It was fate and chemistry and maybe something a little bit fairytale-ish, and it was crazy to fight it.
In a moment of pure clarity, in the middle of a blissful haze, I knew that he was it for me. My whole life had just done a 180 and I was jumping in with both feet. I felt the calling from my lioness and his wolf. I felt his desire. I felt my own intense need to have him.
Wolf Purebred (She-Shifters of Hell's Corner Book 5) Page 11