Sliding his hand up, his touch excited her more. From her core, she felt the steady thrum of her excitement. The moon was bright enough that he could see her entire body, and she knew he was looking. She could feel his eyes on her. Feeling shy, she pressed her legs together and crossed her ankles.
His grip felt strong as his fingers rubbed her shoulders. He pressed his thumbs into small circles in her shoulder blades, and all her worries slipped away.
She kept her eyes closed, but even if they were open, she couldn't see where he would touch next and with each new touch, she gasped a little at how good his hands felt.
With his hands open, thumbs along her spine, he slowly moved his hands down her back. His fingers brushed the sides of her breasts, making her peaks stiffen.
Opening her eyes, she tried to see him. She wanted to see his body and how sexy he looked in the moonlight, but lying on her stomach, she couldn't see much. She tried to roll over, but he put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Did I say you could move?" he said.
She closed her eyes again. His hands followed the curve of her body and down to her hips where he stopped. Pressing his thumbs into her lower back on either side of her spine, she felt her body melt even further. She couldn't decide if the massage was wonderful or torture because it was making her want him more.
One of his hands slid lightly down the back of her thigh, making her giggle.
"Stop that, that tickles," she said.
"Shh."
The hand caressed down to her knee, then up between her legs. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited to see how far his hand would travel. She spread her legs slightly, hoping he took the invitation.
Thick fingers grazed her mound and her body shivered in response. As he lay down beside her again, his hand opened her legs a little more.
Lips touched her shoulder as his fingers rose up her inner thigh. Holding her breath, she wanted to feel him at her wetness. He barely touched her, yet her body was beginning to ache. She wanted him so badly.
His mouth covered hers and she hungrily responded. As his tongue moved into her mouth, his fingers traced along her womanhood. Her entire body pulsed.
The first touch near her entrance made her gasp with yearning. She spread her legs more and angled her hips, her body begging him for more.
His fingers slipped between her lips and moved within. She pulled away from his mouth as her breath caught in her throat. Fingertips moved expertly along her bud and her hips joined them in rhythm.
She clutched at the pillow, her breaths coming fast. He pulled one of her legs between his and she felt his hard member against her thigh. His lips grazed her ear and bit her earlobe.
"Come for me, Pinky," he breathed into her ear.
His finger slipped inside her as another circled her swollen nub. The pressure in her core gave way and a flood of sensation swept over her body. She gasped for air as a smile spread across her face and her body felt like Jell-O.
He pushed her hair to the side, baring her neck. His lips touched her shoulder, then a spot closer to her neck. She felt the pressure of his teeth lengthen against her skin, then go away.
"When you're ready, that is where I'll claim you, and we'll be together forever," he said.
His voice was hot against her skin and sent tingles throughout her body. She rolled onto her back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He brought his head down to hers and touched his lips to hers. She bit his lip gently as her hand traveled down his body and over his erection.
"Hands off," he said with a grin.
He sat up between her legs, his body silhouetted by the moonlight. Reaching out, she tried touching him again, but he playfully slapped her hand away.
With his body blocking the moonlight, she couldn't see as well. His hands moved roughly up her body and over her breasts, making her hardened nipples ache.
Leaning over her, he kissed her lips lightly, but she clasped her hands around his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him fervently. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and was surprised to feel something cold. He slid the ice cube from his mouth into hers, then sat back again with a grin.
He held a piece of ice over her body, between his fingers. She could barely see the ice cube in the darkness. A cold drop fell onto her skin and she jumped, a little startled.
Anticipation built inside her as she waited for when the next cold drop would land onto her warm skin. Each time, the coolness was a shock. Just as she started to expect it, Rafael lowered his head to her breasts and slid the ice over her nipples.
They tightened from the cold but started her core throbbing even faster. When she didn't think she could take the ache from the cold, he closed his mouth over her nipples, warming them as he sucked.
His tongue flicked against her nipples as she felt his hands spread her thighs further apart. With another piece of ice in his mouth, he ran the tip of it along her inner thigh up to her apex. She braced herself for cold against her most sensitive parts, but instead the ice moved down her other thigh as his fingers pressed against her entrance.
Gasping slightly as she felt him there, her body tingled impatiently. His hands slid along her outer thighs and his cold tongue dove between her lower lips.
Her hips bucked in shock. His tongue swirled over her clit until she moved in rhythm with him. He closed his lips over her and quivered with excitement.
A flush of warmth spread up over her shoulders as the pounding rhythm of her core pulsed stronger. She couldn't take it any longer. She wanted him.
"Rafael," she moaned.
His lips traveled up her body as he lay beside her. She caressed his arms as he pulled her against his strong body. Crushing her breasts against his chest, he brushed his lips against her neck, starting just above her collarbone.
As he pulled her leg onto his waist, she felt the tip of his manhood against her entrance. Slowly he entered her, making her body vibrate even stronger. As he thrust further in her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his soft hair.
The pulsing pressure in her core released and she clutched at him, keeping him close against her as her hips bucked in response. Gasping, she cried out his name as her body went limp from exhaustion.
Gently, he kissed her lips as a smile covered her face. His lips moved up to her forehead, then down to the spot on her shoulder where he said he would one day leave his mark.
She rested her head in the crux of his arm and slid her arms around his chest. Unable to keep her eyes open anymore, she let them close, not caring about the dumb grin she couldn't wipe from her face.
Rafael stroked her back then chuckled softly.
"What is it?" she asked sleepily.
"Nothing. I was just thinking that maybe now you'll let me sleep."
She laughed, keeping her eyes closed. She didn't need to see his face to know his pale blue eyes were twinkling in the moonlight or that he was giving her a lopsided smirk.
"Sweet dreams, Rafael."
"With you in my arms, I don't need to dream anymore."
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Pinky woke to the sound of the shower running. She smiled as she rolled over onto her back, the smell of soap filling the air.
Getting out of bed, she slipped her arms into Rafael's shirt from the night before. As she stood in the bathroom doorway, she thought about joining him in the shower but decided that had to wait. She was in Milford for a reason, and that needed to be taken care of before she had more fun.
From where she stood, she could see the shower through the reflection in the mirror. It was a small bathroom with a bathtub in the corner with a clear glass door. Pinky watched the water trickle down Rafael's strong body, following the cuts and grooves of his muscles. She stepped forward to get a better view as he stepped further under the water, rinsing his hair.
"I know you're there," Rafael said playfully.
Pinky turned around and looked for someplace to hide. Her cheeks
burned.
"Did you forget I know your scent?" he asked as the shower stopped.
"I guess I wasn't thinking," she said.
She couldn't believe she didn't think of that and got caught checking him out. Embarrassed, she turned her back towards the bathroom.
"I don't mind. You know, I was actually hoping you'd join me."
He stepped into the bedroom with a white towel in his hand as he dried his chest. And nothing else on. Pinky tried to look away, but her eyes wouldn't let her.
She didn't get this good of a view of him last night, and now she was soaking him in from his head to his toes. As he moved, the muscles in his arms rippled. Pinky wondered if he was flexing more than he normally would. She didn't mind the show.
His chest muscles made a V at his collarbone and angled out towards his broad shoulders. Each muscle was so defined that she got distracted when she spotted a bead of water dripping down from his shoulder, over his chest, down to the perfect boxes on his abdomen, then disappeared.
Her body responded to her ogling with her body heating up and her core throbbing, wanting more of last night. Unfortunately, she didn't have time for fun. She needed to focus on why she was there, and it had nothing to do with having sex with the perfectly gorgeous man standing in front of her.
"Let me know when you're done in there so I can shower before we go," she said.
"Sure, no problem. You can get in there right now, I'll finish up out here."
She grabbed her bag and carried it into the bathroom. Turning around, she locked the door, leaned against it, and started fanning herself. This was going to be harder than she thought. Reaching into the shower, she turned on the cold water and let it run. A cold shower was exactly what she needed.
***
The black Camaro slowly drove through a quiet neighborhood not far from where they stayed. Tall elm trees lined the street, making a pretty canopy. As the car rolled down the street, Pinky looked at the house numbers.
"That has to be it," Rafael said as he pointed towards a house on the left. "The log home."
Pinky looked ahead at the dark log house with a wraparound porch. Bushy lilacs covered the porch rail while pink petunias lined the walkway. She didn't know what to expect from this trip, but as the car stopped, her stomach knotted and churned. She wiped her moist palms on her jeans as she sucked in a long breath.
"You okay?" Rafael asked, placing his hand on her knee. "You look pale."
Pinky nodded, then shook her head. "I don't know. I don't usually get nervous, but I don't know why I'm here. I mean, they lost their dad. I don't even know if there is a they or if he was a dad. I should've looked them up. I have access to all those files about everyone imaginable. I'm sure there's a file for these family friends, and I didn't even look."
"Breathe, Pinky. Relax. You've been under a lot of stress lately with your dad being gone."
"You're right," she said, taking a deep breath. "I always get a little weird when I'm meeting people for the first time. I just can't shake this feeling that I'm really here for something else."
She wanted to tell Rafael that meeting this family to pay her respects made her worry even more that her father was dead. Her family fell apart because her dad was missing. What if he never returned home? What if he was dead?
Thinking about her mother sitting curled up in a ball on the couch, she braced herself for the same kind of sadness. She mentally kicked herself for not putting it together before, but she had to remember this wasn't about her, this was about doing something her father asked her to do. This was about her making it up to the man she let down. If she could focus herself on that, she could get through this and she could get through anything.
Rafael turned off the car and looked at her. His head was tilted and one of his eyebrows was raised slightly. He wasn't like any other man she had ever met before, human or shifter. His hand softly touched her cheek, then slid to the back of her neck and pulled her closer.
The moment his lips touched hers, all her nervousness and anxiety drifted away. The knot in her stomach loosened and she felt calmer. He kissed her forehead and she breathed easily again.
"Okay, let's go," she said as she opened the car door.
As Pinky climbed the steps of the front porch, she heard the sound of liquid being poured into a glass. When she got to the top of the steps, she noticed a woman around her mother's age seated on a wooden rocking chair on the porch. Next to her was a small table with a pitcher of lemonade and three glass goblets.
"You're late," she said as she finished pouring lemonade into the glasses. "You were supposed to come weeks ago. I told your father you wouldn't show, but he didn't believe me. Ironic, isn't it?"
She wore flip-flops and a colorful tie-dyed skirt with a baby blue t-shirt. Her colorful bangle bracelets jingled as she pushed back a thick white stripe of hair that fell over one of her bright green almond-shaped eyes. Her skin had the tired appearance of too much sun in her youth, but she was still beautiful with high cheekbones and a pouty mouth. If Pinky had ever met this woman before, she would have remembered it.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Pinky said, confused. "Wait, how is it ironic?"
"It's ironic that your mind-reading father was so sure you would show up here, even though I, a psychic, told him you wouldn't."
"But I did show up. He was right, I'm here now."
She looked deep in thought for a moment and then a smile spread across her features, consuming her face and making her look ten years younger.
"I guess you are right," she said with a soft laugh. "It's not often I'm wrong. Please sit with me and have some lemonade. I'm Pinky, but around here everyone calls me Rose."
"Pinky? Your name is Pinky?" Pinky asked, her jaw hanging open as she and Rafael sat in identical rocking chairs to hers.
Rose laughed. "Yes. I guess they never told you?"
Pinky shook her head. "No, I just thought they gave me this stupid name for the hell of it."
"Your father and I go way back. We're very old friends. But your mother, well, let's just say she wasn't very fond of me."
"But she still named me after you."
"She didn't have a choice," Rose said, laughing. "Your father had his mind made up. You know that's where you get your stubborn streak."
Pinky nodded, but she wanted to hear more about her namesake than how similar she and her dad were. "Is Rose your real name?"
"No, it really is Pinky. But once you reach a certain age, being named Pinky gets even more ridiculous. At least I thought it did, but I never cared much for my name."
"So you hated your name, but my father still named me after you."
"He wanted to prove a point about the name being good enough to name his child. You know how stubborn he is."
"Was," Pinky said.
Rose was quiet for a moment as she looked past Pinky. "No...is. He's still alive. He's just not here."
"What do you mean?"
"He's on a different plane of existence. He's with the souls who have passed," she said then focused back at Pinky. "I hope he runs into Stephen while he's there. They were very good friends. I wasn't ready for him to go."
Rose sighed deeply as she looked at the ice cubes floating in her goblet. Pinky had almost forgotten the real reason she was there, to pay her respects for Stephen's death.
"I'm very sorry for your loss."
"I knew our time together was short, but I shut my mind to the expiration date. I didn't want to know when our last day together would be. I thought it was better to live everyday as if it could be our last."
"Did you have any children?"
"Yes, a son. Jerry. Your father and I used to joke about the two of you marrying each other. I knew you would end up with a shifter, but I couldn't see who."
She smiled kindly at Rafael. "You had the dreams, didn't you? Stephen had them about me before we met. And you probably had no trouble finding her either, did you?"
Rafael stared at her, his jaw clenched. Pi
nky reached over and touched his hand. He wasn't the type to talk about something so personal with a stranger. Rafael looked at Pinky and his gaze softened.
"Yes, I did dream about her," he said. "But I never told anyone about that until yesterday."
"There's a special connection shifters have to psychics. When they're meant to be together, the shifter will dream about the psychic and can track them down like an animal. Sorry, that was a bad analogy," Rose said with a grin. "The psychic has a beacon that only the shifter she's meant to be with can hear. But she needs to be careful because that same beacon makes her that much more attractive to other shifters."
"But what's that got to do with us?" Pinky asked. "I'm not a psychic, I'm not anything."
Rafael turned towards the street, looking towards the direction they came from. He placed his glass of lemonade down on the table and stood.
"I'm sorry, ladies, but I think I should leave you two to have some time on your own."
"Where are you going?" Pinky asked, her brow wrinkling.
She blinked at him as she tried to figure out what happened to make him leave. Was it talking about his dream? Or something else? She couldn't ask in front of Rose. Searching his eyes, she saw his mind was made up.
"I'll come back to pick you up after dinner," he said as he lifted her chin. "If you need me sooner, just call or text me. I'm sorry, but I need to go."
Pinky nodded. There was nothing she could do or say that would keep him there, but she wasn't ready to leave. Rose had more information to give her about her father, and she wouldn't leave without it.
Chapter Nine
Rafael walked determinedly to his car, got in, and sped away. He didn't want to tell Pinky, but he caught Sean's scent and was going to find him.
Speeding back towards the inn, Sean's scent grew. The bear within him roared with anger, telling him where to find him. He sped into the parking lot of the inn, parked his car, and stormed inside. His bear spirit was already making its presence known.
The Crane Curse Series Complete Boxed Set (Shape Shifter Romance) Page 23