by Faye Avalon
She shifted forward, wanting to feel more of him against her. She ran her fingers into his hair, pulled his head closer, and closer still. With adept ease he untied the belt from around her toweling wrap and drew the sides away.
At last she felt his hands on her skin. His big talented hands. Oh, how she’d missed him touching her, how she’d missed touching him. His flesh felt hot and damp, his muscles rippling as her fingers slid over them.
His scent washed over her, into her. She wondered how she had existed this past month without drawing him into her system, like life-sustaining oxygen. He filled her, consumed her. Everything was Tor. Only Tor.
His fingers slid to her back, and he touched the fabric of her damp bra. “You wore this in the pool?” he asked between kisses.
She nodded and kissed him again.
“Did you not believe what I told you?” His voice was low and thick, and an element of vulnerability edged his tone. “That the pool was yours, that I would allow you complete privacy?”
“I wondered if there was a camera, or something. If Grigor or your security staff might have access and would realize I was using the pool.”
“They have been informed of my wishes and understand my need for privacy. You are perfectly safe here, and may use the pool at any time and in any way you wish.”
The gleam in his eyes alerted her to where his mind went. “In any way I wish? You mean, without clothes?”
“If that is your desire.”
She let her fingers drift into his hair again. “We’ve never swum together. Do you realize that?”
He turned back the edges of her robe. “The opportunity has never arisen.”
“Because you were always working. Do you enjoy swimming?”
“It is something I have never thought too much about. Thirty minutes in the gym takes care of my exercise needs. Amongst other things.”
Heat rippled through her. She drew in a breath. “We could swim together now.”
His eyebrows rose. “Now? Have you not already spent enough time in the pool?”
“I can never spend enough time in the pool.”
His gleaming eyes turned positively wicked. “If that is what you wish, then that is what we will do.” He went to hoist her off the counter but stopped. “Your foot,” he said and stroked his fingers over the bandaged area.
She tightened her arms around his neck, far too enthusiastic about the thought of swimming with him to worry about injuries or cuts. “You can replace the bandage for a dry one later.” When he didn’t move, she raised her eyebrows. “You said anything I wish, you would do.”
He remained silent for several heartbeats, and then his hands stole around her hips. “As I will.”
As he lifted her off the counter, she wrapped her legs around his waist and clung.
He made short work of the large hallway and the stairs down to the basement. Once in the pool room, he kicked the door closed and let her slowly down.
As they watched each other, Connie slipped the robe from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor while Tor reached behind, gripped his muscle shirt, then yanked it over his head. He was all rippling muscle and heaving chest. Heat burned in Connie’s pelvis, and her knees went weak.
Reaching around, she unhooked her bra and let it slide away to reveal her breasts to him. His throat contracted, and his eyes came back to hers.
He brought her hands to his lips. “I’ve missed looking at you,” he said huskily. “Missed touching you.”
“Same here.” She squeezed his hands, suddenly feeling hesitant. “Tor?”
Before she could say anything, he drew her gently into his arms. “Whatever you want, milaya. Whatever you need.”
How was it that those simple words, given in such a sure manner, could drive every doubt, every uncertainty, from her head?
Their kiss was tender, the gentle graze of his evening stubble shooting delightful friction down the length of her body. She shivered.
“You’re cold?” he asked, but didn’t release her. “Is the temperature here in the pool area not to your liking?”
She smiled. “It’s absolutely perfect.”
“As are you.” He reached for the sides of her panties. Hooking his fingers around the wet fabric he slowly drew them down her legs.
“Step out,” he said, his warm breath just inches from her heated folds. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the sultry atmosphere and anticipating what was to come.
“Milaya?”
Opening her eyes, she looked down. Tor shook his head and stood. Lightly, he wrapped his fingers around hers. “How quickly I have forgotten my promise to you.”
“What promise?”
“That I would take things slowly. That I would allow you to guide the pace.”
“The pace suits me perfectly well,” she said with a smile, stepping away from her panties and kicking them to the side with her good foot. “Do you hear me complaining?”
Now it was his turn to stand there.
Connie smiled and looked pointedly down to his waist. “But I will start complaining if you don’t get rid of those anytime soon.”
His own smile was devilish, and it grew as he shucked out of his jeans.
They stood facing each other, naked and with all the signs evident of their mutual arousal. His erection stood thick and proud, while her nipples were tight and almost painful buds on her swollen breasts.
He picked her up again, her hot core pressing against his waist. She wrapped her legs tight around him, wanting the contact, wanting the pressure. Her arms stole around his neck, so that her breasts grazed his chest. The light hair on his chest brushed against her highly sensitive flesh, and she lifted her mouth to his for a kiss.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” he almost groaned against her mouth. “Had I known that spending time in the pool with you would be quite so pleasurable I would have insisted we swim together every night.”
“I don’t think the municipal pool would welcome nude bathing on their premises,” Connie said teasing him. “They would have thrown us out.”
“Not if I were to buy the facility and throw everyone else out first.”
She laughed, holding tighter to him as he turned around and started walking down the steps into the water. The water felt decadent sliding over her nakedness, slipping up between them. The citrus scent seemed even more potent than it had before. Connie breathed it in, and along with it the scent of Tor. Heady, sensual, intoxicating.
She let her legs slide from around his waist but clung to his neck as he began to wade deeper into the pool.
Immediately, he caught her legs, encouraging her to wrap them around him again. “I like the feel of your legs around me,” he said, his tone low. “I like you pressed against me so that I can feel your heat, so that I can feel your breasts.”
Squeezing her backside, he nuzzled her neck. “I want very much to be inside you,” he groaned.
Connie dropped her head to the side. “I want that, too.”
He came to a halt. “Are you sure, milaya?”
“There’s so much I’m still unsure about,” she admitted. “But not that.”
He swam them to the deep end of the pool, took Connie’s hands from behind his neck and eased her back against the edge. He stretched her arms out, encouraging her to wrap her fingers around the safety rail.
She kicked her legs a little to keep afloat, her breasts just barely submerged in the water. Tor put his hands on her waist, then lowered his head. She moaned at the feel of his mouth covering her breast, his tongue flicking lightly over the nipple, and she dropped her head back against the ledge.
Thrusting her breast into his mouth, she gyrated her hips. Water flowed sensuously over her, as the hot and hungry taste of Tor’s mouth greedily, expertly, took her up, up, up.
She felt the pull from her breast to her core and cried out. In response, Tor subjected her to the same torture by transferring his affections to her other breast. Co
nnie let go of the rail and grabbed hold of his waist.
Easily, Tor kept them afloat. She wanted to touch him, feel him. It had been so long, and she felt starved of him. Reaching out a hand, she touched the tip of his erection, and earned a groan. Spurred on, she slid her hand around his length and squeezed lightly.
He sucked in a breath, blowing it out on a long exhale. “I am too close for you to do that, my sweet.”
“And I am too close for you to keep touching me,” she countered with an impish smile. “But do you hear me protest?”
He narrowed his eyes, pinching her ass with his free hand. “Oh, believe me. I make no protest.”
With one hand still around his erection, she used the other to stroke his jaw. “I’ve missed this.”
“As have I.”
He took her by the waist and hoisted her up onto the side of the pool. Using both hands he heaved himself out and came up next to her. His kiss was hard and fast. Encouraging her back, he leaned over her, his hands sliding over her wet skin and causing tiny electric shivers to break out all over her body.
She was positively soaking wet for him, and her core burned with the need for him to be inside her. When she opened her legs in invitation, Tor moved between them.
Connie had one frenzied second when she hoped—really hoped—that Tor was right and his staff did honor their boss’s demand for privacy. But Tor’s hand was sliding down her stomach, his fingers touching the edge of her feminine folds.
He looked at her, held her gaze firmly, and slipped a finger inside her body.
Connie jerked, arched, and simply gave up to the sensations firing inside her. Acknowledging that Tor was a master of finger play, she closed her eyes and floated on the rhythm he set. With two fingers inside her now, she was sliding fast toward orgasm.
She needed to anchor herself, to keep some semblance of control. There were still things left unsaid between them. Questions that needed answering. But right then she couldn’t seem to grasp one solid thought.
Wanting to see him as she came, she opened her eyes. In the month since she’d run from him, he was always there at the periphery of her mind. In her dreams, he made love to her. In her waking moments, she would daydream about him making love to her. She didn’t want to admit it, but it was true.
His dark eyes latched on to hers. She wrapped her fingers around his upper arm, feeling his muscles bunch and flex as he pushed deeper, harder.
She came, so hard the soft lighting on the ceiling seemed to blur, to spin. She rode the delicious wave. Sensation after sensation assaulted her, and when it subsided she slumped down.
Tor didn’t move. “I love watching you come.” He pushed his fingers inside her a little more, teasing her. “Something else I have missed.”
Sliding her fingers down his arm, she stroked his wrist. “You’re such a master at that.”
“And other things, too, I hope.”
She grinned back at him. “I’m not going to bolster your already enormous ego.” Her hand slid further down and covered him. “Although I’m not averse to bolstering other things.”
He jerked in a breath as she squeezed, as she slid her hand up and down his erection. She took advantage of his momentary distraction and rolled over on top of him and knelt between his legs.
Slowly, she worked him, sliding her hand up and down his long, hard length. She remembered what he liked. Had never forgotten. So, she bent and kissed the tip. Then she did it again, again, earning herself a groan with each lick and taste. She ran her tongue up the length of him, circling it around the base, slowly, easily, until he arched up and said something in his native tongue through gritted teeth.
“Enough,” he barked, sitting up and reaching for her arms. Switching their positions, he rolled her onto her back again. “You will pay for that, my little vixen.”
She gave him a sultry smile. “Make sure to add on interest.”
His chest heaved, his breathing was erratic. “Do not move one muscle,” he said and stood so quickly that Connie gasped.
“What are you doing?”
He only grinned as he reached for a large white towel on the nearby linen rack and placed it over her damp body. Then he strode toward where the pool’s cloakroom was located and disappeared through the door.
She’d already worked out where he was going and what he needed to fetch, so she stared up through the glass roof to the starlit night. It was strange how, despite feeling a sexual hunger, she felt so at peace right then, especially since for the last few weeks her mind had been in turmoil.
Did Tor’s secret matter so much anymore? Did what he was, what he was capable of becoming, really matter? No. It didn’t. He’d been right all along when he’d told her that he was no different a man to the one she’d known before discovering his secret. That he was the same man he’d always been.
And he was.
He’d wanted her enough to come after her, to track her down. He might have blotted his copybook by using unorthodox means to get her back, but he’d also been willing to give her time to come to terms with who he was.
He was right that she’d made the choice to be with him. She could have continued to run in the hope he would grow tired of chasing after her. But deep down had she wanted him to find her?
Maybe knowing about his special ability made him even more special to her. She was in the process of switching from being terrified of his ability, of his possessive nature, to being fascinated.
Oh, hell. She had so many questions, so much she wanted to know.
But every one of those questions faded when she watched Tor come back into the pool area carrying a small box.
Connie raised her eyebrows. “You have condoms in your pool cloakroom? I thought you didn’t use the pool.”
“My guests do, and now it seems, so do I.”
Connie smiled. “We didn’t actually swim together. We just sort of waded.”
“We got distracted.” He dropped to his knees, took the towel from her body, and nudged her legs apart. Taking a condom from the pack he ripped the foil with his teeth and slid it over his impressive length. His erection in hand, he leaned down and pressed forward. When the tip of him nudged her entrance, she jerked. Thoughts wanted to intrude, but she pushed them back. She needed this, needed him. Nothing else seemed to matter.
He pushed in an inch. “You feel so hot,” he said between his teeth. “You always feel so hot.”
He took her slowly, although she knew it cost him. She could tell by the way his shoulders bunched with restraint, the tight expression on his face, the way he squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth.
When he moved deeper, her breath caught, and she tensed again. He held still, and only when she squeezed his biceps did he move again, this time driving to the hilt. She matched his rhythm. Her hips rose to meet him as he went deep, then released back as he withdrew a little. Marveling at how fast he could drive her again toward orgasm, Connie bit into her bottom lip.
She tightened around him as he moved, her fingers digging into his back as if to clutch for the lifeline he was. How easily he could shoot her out of control. Make her want so much. From him. Only him.
For her there was only one man, she thought dazedly as he pushed her ever higher. Only one man. Tor.
Connie knew he was close to his own release. His muscles bunched, his shoulders going tight. His jaw clenched, and he sucked in a breath and held it.
“Milaya.”
She was again spiraling up. Colors and shapes exploded behind her eyelids, and she bit down hard on her lip as sensation took over. Tor found his own completion, his shout melding with her cry as they climaxed together.
She met his gaze, trying to match the rhythm of her breathing to his. He kissed her, so tenderly her throat caught.
“Are you okay?”
She stroked her fingers lightly across his shadowed jaw. “More than okay. You?”
For long moments he looked down at her, his gaze traveling over her face before
meeting her eyes. “I am undone, milaya. You cannot know what you have given me.”
Since she knew what he meant, and she had no interest in pretence or hesitation, she smiled. Lightly, she brushed his temple with the back of her fingers.
His kiss was achingly slow, his touch sending delicious shivers all over her body.
“Are you cold?” He was already reaching for the towel he’d discarded.
The feel of his warm flesh against her was all she really needed, certainly all she wanted, but she couldn’t deny that the towel he placed around her wasn’t a welcome addition.
“What about you?” she asked after he’d released her mouth again. “Don’t you want a towel?”
“I tend not to feel the cold,” he said after a brief hesitation.
Connie knew the reason for his hesitation. “Because you’ve been running? Is it to do with you being able to … to shift?”
Despite that it no longer seemed so terrifying, she still couldn’t quite make herself use the word wolf.
Tor noticed, she could tell. But he didn’t press the issue. “Perhaps that is the case. It has been so long since I have known any other way of being. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between what is due to my shifter side and what is my natural human way of being.”
Intrigued, she turned to face him as he lay beside her, his arm bent, and his head pillowed on his hand. “What sort of things are due to your shifter side?”
“Heightened senses for one. And speed, strength, stamina, healing processes. All enhanced.”
“Is that just when you shift? Or is it all the time?”
“Again, it is hard to tell. Although I notice all my abilities are boosted when there is a full moon.”
“I thought you weren’t affected by the moon.”
“I am able to control the need to shift, but my powers are at their peak at these times.”