"Chickee? Really?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, and then could not hold back a laugh. "So very ridiculous." Then she wagged a finger at him and told him with all seriousness, “and if you even think about filling up my plate with half the buffet again today I am going to dump it right on your head."
"If you put enough food on the plate yourself I wouldn't need to supplement your lunch choices." He tapped the tip of her nose in his own warning. "You take care of business, and I won't be forced to take drastic steps."
She narrowed her eyes. "Drastic steps that will end with a plate of food dumped over your head. Just keep that in mind."
He leaned way down until their noses were almost touching. "Eat duchess, if you don't I'll do what I have to do."
She opened her mouth to remind him again of her threat, but he spoke again before she could. "And the day you unbend enough to do something as uncouth as attacking someone with food in front of everyone you work with, hell will have frozen over." Then if that was not enough to halt her empty threats, he leaned that last inch and brushed a light kiss over her lips before he stepped back looking entirely too pleased with himself.
As soon as her brain kicked back into gear and her lips stopped tingling, she would tell him in no uncertain terms what she thought of him and his high-handed ways.
They were in the lobby of the hotel surrounded by the gilt and glitter that was 'A Bene Placito' before she finally spoke. "You are a bully."
She might as well have saved her breath though, because he just laughed and led her into the restaurant where the lunch buffet was served. After that kiss she needed all the breath she could keep. She was feeling decidedly light headed.
If he could do that with a soft brush of lips across hers, what could he do to her with a real kiss?
Better she not find out, she decided, as they joined most of the hotel staff for lunch. She had a feeling if he did truly kiss her she would not be able to walk away from it, because she would not want to.
She really needed to have that talk with Eli. Not something that she could make happen over lunch but as soon as they were alone again she would tell him he was not allowed to kiss her. That would certainly illustrate the boundaries she hoped to erect.
She still wanted those boundaries, right?
Maggie sighed. If one little brush of warm lips was enough to make her question that, she was in trouble.
Her problem, she decided was that she had been without sex for over a year, anyone would make her want more if they kissed her, it was not that she was forming attachments to a shapeshifting panther ne'er do well. It was just that the man was hot, and she had not even had a self-given orgasm for months.
She almost nodded her head at the conversation happening in her head. That was undoubtedly it. She was just in need of a little sexual attention.
A situation easy to rectify. She was on 'A Bene Placito’, There was a sex shop in the lobby for goodness sakes. She would find some alone time and give herself a little relief, then Eli would be just another man she would have no problem saying no to. Simple.
She had a plan. She was going with that, so Maggie quite happily ignored the logical part of her brain that was reminding her that she had not reacted to anyone else the way she did to Eli and allowed herself to feel relief. She could handle anything if she had a plan.
Then the next problem presented itself. How was she going to get some alone time to implement said plan, because she sure as hell was not discussing her need for some privacy with her bodyguard.
"Here." The bodyguard in question nudged a plate of food at her piled high with enough food to feed a family of four. She blinked at the offering but had already taken it automatically, so he did not give her a chance to protest before he pushed her toward a table where most of his pack had congregated while he followed with his own plate. Clearly, she thought with a sigh, she should have saved her planning for after she had her meal. Now he would spend the entire meal coxing and prodding her while his pack watched on with varying degrees of humor and amazement.
Maggie sat down beside Cleo and the only other empty chair at the table. She sighed, and Cleo gave her a smile and a commiserating look after taking one look at the overburdened plate sitting before her.
"Look at it this way," Cleo said, patting her on the shoulder. "Since Eli has gone insane and is acting like a mother hen with a chick, at least the meal is four stars."
Maggie sighed again and started to eat while Eli watched her like the mother hen Cleo had called him. And side bonus to the good food, his pack was all kinds of entertained.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A secret hot spring cove on a sultry island made for pleasure, a tropical night where the moon was so big it glimmered, brushing lines of silver over the rocks and water, making the place look as magical as it smelled with the night blooming flowers wafting on the cooling night breezes. She had even bought a top of the line waterproof vibrator from the hotel sex shop, discreetly of course, and still she couldn't let go enough to have an orgasm like a normal healthy woman. Maggie felt frustrated tears spill out of her eyes and felt even more ridiculous, lying her head back against the rock formation ledge that sheltered the hot spring she closed her eyes and sighed allowing the bubbling water to wash both the sounds she was making and the tears away. With everything happening in her life this was what she finally cried about?
Why not? She thought wiping her hand across her eyes with a frustrated swipe to erase the tears as she sat up, tired of being pitiful and ready to get angry instead. Bad enough I've never had a lover who I enjoyed, but now I can't even get myself relaxed enough to masturbate. It was not as if anyone was out here to see her bad behavior if she wanted to exhibit some.
She looked around determined suddenly to do something rash. Unfortunately for her newfound determination to act out of character, the only thing even remotely close at hand to throw was the shiny silver vibrator. She grimaced at the thought. Not something she wanted to lose in the wilderness, even if no one could possibly identify whose it was if someone eventually stumbled upon in. Or could they? She had a sudden picture of Eli finding it and sniffing it like the big jungle beast he said he turned into. The wicked knowing smile on his face when he realized whose it was. And suddenly she remembered why she had snuck out of the hotel, foolishly without her new security detail, because there it was again at the memory of that man’s roguish smile: sexual heat.
Her traitorous nipples tightened and beaded with tension and her core spasmed with a surge of moisture. Maggie growled her frustration. She could not even remember the last time she had felt this turned on by someone. Had she ever? So, her idea to take advantage of the feeling was understandable and having the knowledge already about shifter senses she knew that was not something she could do in her hotel room, with a security detail in the next room, so even her reckless flight into the wilderness was understandable, if she was willing to throw out all logical decision-making processes and act like a horny teenager, which obviously, she was.
Margaret's head fell back against the ledge of rocks she rested against and she let her eyes close. She needed to start back soon, but after everything she had done to get out here with nothing to show for her stupidity, like a tension reducing orgasm, she deserved to take at least a few moments to herself and calm the fuck down. Satisfied with the feel of the brash words in her head she forced herself to relax and felt the hot bubbling water settle around her shoulders.
The night quiet gradually seeped in and calmed her frustrations enough that she relaxed. So much so that she was in danger of nodding off. She sighed without opening her eyes knowing she needed to get back before she was discovered missing. She had no doubt that Lionsgate would be diligent, and it had been a minor miracle that no one had caught her sneaking out and stopped her. She was not going to push her luck and stay out so long someone noticed and came looking for her.
That thought more than any other had her finally sitting up. She opened her eyes and starte
d to stand, then froze when her mind finally caught up to what she was seeing. Lounging across from her on the ledge of the hot spring was a huge black panther. Moonlight glinting silver in the gold of his eyes. As soon as he saw he had her attention the panther glided into the water with hardly a ripple. Even as she was trying to catch her breath he came back out of the water as a man. Naked and as primal in this form as he had been in the other.
She was suddenly facing a lot of hard golden male gilded in moonlight. Margaret fell back into the water with a gasp of much needed air, finally reacting.
Their eyes locked and she realized he might look like the man, but the panther was just beneath the surface of all that gilded skin. He looked completely at home in the wild overgrown grotto, and absolutely nothing like the roguish Irishman she had come to know.
She expected some teasing smile or pointed words about the silver vibrator shining in the moonlight behind her shoulder. A lewd offer to help her out, that, or a lecture on safety, and running off alone when she knew she was being targeted. What she did not expect was for Eli to slide toward her slowly looking every inch the jungle beast until he was close enough barely a breath separated them. Margaret felt her breath coming harder as every nerve center in her body came to life. She didn't know if it was fear spiked adrenaline or desire amping up her reactions, but when she felt large hot hands brush her knees under the water she nearly jumped out of her skin with an audible gasp.
Moving her knees out of reach had been instinctual, and had her legs opening enough that when he slid across the final inches separating them it was between and along her spread thighs. A hard cock now very close to being right where she suddenly needed it. Margaret fumbled at the move, and her hands shot to his chest to hold him back from skin to skin contact. Too late. Her eyes trapped in his she knew she was breathing hard and turned way the fuck on. She sat still with those wild panther eyes heating her from the inside, his rock-hard thighs rested on her inner thighs as the water lapped around her throbbing sensitized core. He didn't smile or tease her for her reaction, he said absolutely nothing, ramping up the tension between them until Margaret was ready to scream. The second time his hand brushed her skin under the water she didn't jump. The feel of calloused skin against the underside of her straining breasts did not inspire fear, nor did the thumb that dragged across her erect nipple like a barely there kiss.
He didn't speak, but then neither did she. She should have, she should have told him to back off, that she was not interested, that she wanted him to stop so she could get out and return to the hotel and her solitary bed. She should have lied. But no words crossed her lips.
His hands, those ghost hands under the water gripped her hips and lifted her, pulling another shocked gasp from her, as she instinctively sought purchase at his shoulders when she felt her whole body moving up. She grasped him tightly with her hands, her legs naturally wrapping at his waist when he pulled her closer. So close that her breasts pressed against that hard-muscled chest and with another shocked gasp she felt his hard cock pressing for entrance at her liquid core. Her eyes shot back to his to find heated gold panther eyes that burned. What she saw there stopped whatever protest she did not really want to make, because those eyes did not ask for permission. They claimed.
Maggie cried out as Eli entered her, pressing her back against the rough stone of the rock wall as he pressed what felt like a giant cock inside her. A cock she had not even seen yet. A cock he worked in and out of her as if finding the end of her was his soul purpose for living. And find it he did, just as she took the last inch of him. She said nothing, lost in a pleasure she could not have imagined.
And he was just getting started.
Breathing hard, sweat beading off her, as the water swirled warm around them both, Maggie saw the satisfaction in those wild eyes because they never left hers, satisfaction and determination. Right before he growled. A wild primal sound that had every hair on Margaret's body rising, and every inch of her pussy clenching and throbbing around that massive cock.
She groaned at the feeling, shuddering at the pleasure of it and knew she was in trouble when the heat in his eyes ramped up even further. The wild man that had claimed her thrust a hand into her hair to hold her tight and showed her that if she thought he was out of control before, she was very much mistaken. Because it was only then that she watched the beast come off the tight leash the man had been holding over it.
Then he proceeded to fuck the living shit out of her.
***
Eli was not entirely sure how things had progressed this far, this fast. If he had been in a thinking space he might question what he was doing and worry about the woman who was all human, but the way she was writhing on his cock now did not allow for thinking beyond Want mine!
When he had looked up from his work and at the video screen and realized that the suspicious lump in her bed did not in any way resemble the lithe figure of Margaret Whitney it had taken him a moment to realize what he was seeing, or rather not seeing. She had not moved for some time. He stopped his late work on his computers and focused on the tiny screen in the right corner that showed Maggie's room. He had watched for long minutes with growing anger until convinced he was right. Then he flipped through the cameras just to be on the safe side. She was not in her room where he could keep an eye on her.
He had stormed out of his room with a growl that reverberated in his throat, without a word to anyone which was not standard procedure he threw open her door and knew even without looking that she was gone. Her scent was too faint for her to be anywhere in that room. His eyes had narrowed and his skin heated. Not only had she left her room without speaking to him first, she had wanted him to think she was in that bed, so whatever she was up to it was something she didn’t want him to know about. He had not even needed to flip over the blankets in her room to know she had piled pillows.
At the knowledge that she was out of his protection, doing something she did not want him to know about he had skipped over all rational reasonings and shifted straight to jungle predator. His senses sharpened and his blood heated. He did not stop to consider how out of character it would be for her to be meeting a man. Nor did he stop to consider who he might have to kill this night for touching what was his. He just went hunting.
Finding her alone floating naked in a hot spring, the moonlight turning that amazing skin to gilded alabaster, his rage had shifted to desire that swirled together with the carnal need to possess he had been fighting for a week and created a call to claim the likes of which he had never imagined. He did not even attempt to hold himself back. To say the thought never entered his mind would be accurate. That their safety, his and his mates also fell from his thoughts would be to suggest he even considered it. He didn't. For the first time in his memory nothing mattered but the smell of a woman's skin. The taste of her on his lips. And the feel of plunging inside of her until she writhed her pleasure on his cock.
Eli pulled out and then thrust back in, his hands finding purchase on the rock behind her while he plunged in and out, his lips swallowing her moans. He shuddered his own pleasure at the taste of her, the feel of her skin under his, and the knowledge that no other man would ever doubt who she belonged to after this night. The fact that she was technically not divorced yet should have cooled his libido, but somehow the knowledge that a man other than himself laid claim to his female, even if it was only on paper, made him crazed. With that thought suddenly coming to the forefront of his brain Eli growled into Maggie's mouth and pulled back just enough to speak.
"Open your eyes," he snarled, then nipped her tender bottom lip when she didn’t respond fast enough. "Margaret, open your eyes and look at me,"
She did, with an obvious effort. Passion had turned her blue eyes a shiny dark sapphire in the moonlight. She was so far gone to him that not a barrier stood between them, but it was still not enough. "I need you to hear me and understand what I’m saying."
He watched her blink in confusion and someth
ing of her usual sparkling intelligence returned to her eyes. "No other man will touch you. Ever." Eli growled low in his throat as her confusion started to clear further and a slight edge of panic replaced it. He pulled out and thrust back in and had the satisfaction of watching her neck arch and her eyes close at the pleasure of it. When she came back to him again he finished with absolutely no intention of giving her the chance to argue about things that would not change.
"You are mine." He said the words simply and then began thrusting in earnest, having said what he wanted to say, and with no intention of hearing the doubts he could see reflected in those damn fantastic eyes.
Instead he fucked the life from her bones and a scream from her throat. She writhed and shuddered and clung to every inch of him until he wrung the last drop of pleasure from her. By the time he roared his pleasure to the moon and clamped his teeth down on that sweet spot where her neck met her shoulder Maggie was clinging to him without an ounce of fight left in her. He doubted she even felt the pain of his claiming bite, but he felt it, and reveled in the meaning behind it. Eli wrapped himself around his claimed woman and held her while they both fought for breath, and the energy to move again.
Even after the scent of sex and sweat had drifted away in the swirling warm waters and the night breezes they drifted in each other’s arms. Neither wanting to let go just yet.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Margaret wasn't sure when she started thinking again. It could have been when Eli pulled himself out of the spring without an ounce of strain. His big hard body sluicing water as his arm muscles bulged. Then he stood in the glinting moon light comfortable in his nudity and slicked back his hair, his eyes hot and satisfied on her, knowing that she watched him with what could only be described as fascinated awe.
When he grinned that damn cocky grin and winked at her she suddenly remembered who he was, who she was and why it was the worst idea ever to start what they had started last night. Well, not the worst idea, she argued in her own head, but it would be foolish to think this was anything but what it was. A night of casual, if magnificent vacation sex with a near stranger.
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