Purrfect Santa_Howls Romance
Page 8
Hearing her words felt like a soothing balm to his soul. Just the thing he never knew he needed until he had it.
Wrapping her up in his arms, Joe kissed his mate passionately, letting her feel with his lips, tongue, and enthusiasm just how happy she had made him. It didn’t take long for those kisses to become heated though. Joe had been given the magical green light. Nikki had said the words he needed to hear.
She wanted to be his mate.
His lion roared in triumph inside of him. Joe felt the cat come to the edge of making him shift, but backed down for one reason alone. Now it was time to seal that deal, and he could only do that in their human forms. As he stood, Nikki wrapped her legs around his waist and Joe cupped her ass to carry her as he walked. Through the living room, down the hall past Sarah’s room, and all the way back to Nikki’s room. The moment they were through the door, he used his foot to close it. Once it was shut, he shifted one hand from Sarah’s ass to lock the door behind him. He also said a small prayer as he carried Nikki toward the bed that Sarah would sleep through the night. He didn’t want to be hurried and quiet on the couch. He wanted to hear every moan and every scream that he could wring from her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nikki felt her heart thundering as Joe walked them into her bedroom and placed her gently on the bed. The way he looked at her was intoxicating. The mixture of tenderness and hunger was impossible to resist. Impatient to feel him against her, for the heat and rush, she gripped the hem of her sweater and stripped it over her head.
She had a moment to regret that she hadn’t had the time or the money to shop for sexy lingerie to make his eyes light up and his brain seize.
“You’re thinking again… Overthinking,” he growled.
She laughed. “Not really. I just wished for a second that I’d had time to wear something special for you. I dressed for a break-up and not a seduction.”
He grinned at her. “Consider me seduced. You could wear a damn flour sack and still be the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.”
“White cotton beats a flour sack at least,” she said.
“Nothing’s sexier than being naked,” he pointed out. “It’s not what you wear, Nikki. It’s how you take it off.”
She took the challenge. Reaching over to the nightstand, she flipped on the speaker and found the right music on her phone. The low, bluesy strains of guitar filled the room. Letting the music play, she settled into the rhythm, swaying with it as she reached behind her and unfastened the simple bra she wore.
It would have been easier to let it fall. Instead, she caught it with one hand, holding it in place. The art of the tease, she thought, was all in delaying gratification for both of them, even if her cat was anxious to hurry up and get to the good stuff. Moving her hips, she arched her back and then smiled when she heard him growl again.
Looking up at him, she asked, “Isn’t this what you wanted? It’s all about how you take it off, right?”
“I should have been more specific… It’s about how fast you take it off. If you have any attachment to those clothes, get rid of them now or so help me, I will shred them,” he warned.
The frisson of excitement she felt at that growled warning had her shivering in response. It also had her hurrying. She shed her bra, tossing it onto the floor and feeling the heat inside her spike even higher as he roamed his gaze over her breasts. Her cat wanted to primp and show off for her mate. It didn’t seem like Joe or his lion were willing to be patient enough to let her do that though.
“The rest of it, Nikki. I want you naked,” he demanded.
Letting her hands fall to the waistband of her jeans, she undid the button and the zipper, then shoved them over her hips. She lay back to take them the rest of the way off, but didn’t have to. Joe grabbed them and yanked to toss them on the floor. Laying there in nothing but her simple, unsexy cotton panties, she felt like a goddess simply because of the way he looked at her.
“I think this works better if we’re both naked,” she chided playfully.
“You don’t have to ask twice,” he answered as he began kicking off his boots.
When he stripped his shirt off, Nikki’s mouth went dry. She’d seen him naked before. Just the night before, in fact. So it wasn’t a surprise that he was perfect, but it wasn’t any less potent for having already been seen. Every sculpted line and ridged muscle that rippled beneath his tawny skin made her want to sink her teeth into him. When he shucked his jeans, displaying his powerful thighs and the cock that she craved, Nikki’s desire heightened further.
“Hurry,” she urged, reaching for him.
“No more teasing? No more waiting?” he asked the question as he lowered himself on top of her.
“No… I need to feel you inside me,” she breathed.
Joe reached between them, sliding his hand over her thigh and up to the seam of her sex. She was wet and ready for him. He groaned when he touched her. “You have no idea what you do to me,” he breathed.
“Show me,” Nikki challenged.
“I want to claim you, Nikki. I don’t know if my lion and I can do this and not claim you,” he admitted gruffly.
Nikki didn’t say anything, just placed her hands against his chest and pushed him back far enough that she could turn over onto her knees. The position was a tacit agreement, submitting to him. “My panther and I were hoping you’d say that.”
His answering growl as his hands gripped her hips firmly had Nikki dropping lower onto her arms, lifting her bottom just a little higher. She shimmied her ass in front of his face, the invitation clear. There was more than one way of putting on a show for him. But when she felt him against her, the blunt head of his cock pressing slowly into her, any thoughts of teasing him fled. One thought alone consumed her. More. She needed him inside her, filling her, claiming her.
When he thrust deep, seating himself fully, Nikki couldn’t hold back the ragged moan of pleasure. Pressing her face into the pillow to muffle the sounds, she cried out with each retreat and advance. Her body trembled with ecstasy as he drove into her again and again. But when he grasped her upper arms, hauling her up until her back was pressed to his chest and his lips hovered over the tender flesh at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, Nikki tumbled over the edge.
As she climaxed, her body clenching around him, her hips moving of their own volition as she tried to wring every drop of pleasure from the moment. His teeth closed over that spot. They clamped down hard, fangs piercing her skin. The pain mingled with the pleasure but it was so much more than that. In that moment, with his claiming bite, it wasn’t simply their bodies that were connected but their very souls. She could feel the connection growing, expanding, twining itself like a million invisible threads around and between them.
His hips bucked against her and the flood of heat as he came inside her triggered her own pleasure anew. Nikki let her head fall back against his shoulder and rode the wave of it with him until they both collapsed onto the bed, spent and boneless.
As she looked at him, Joe smiled up at the ceiling. “You’re mine now…and as much as I love saying that, there’s one thing I like even better.”
“What’s that?” she asked, her voice still breathless and quavering.
He turned to face her. “I get to say that I’m yours… And neither one of us has to be alone anymore.”
She was overwhelmed with the tenderness she felt for him in that moment. For the last six months, since her parents’ deaths, she’d locked down all of her feelings—the good and the bad. It wouldn’t be easy sifting through all the things she still had to deal with emotionally, but there was one thing she had to tell him. “I love you. It isn’t just the claiming, or the destined mate thing, Joe Miller. I love you because you are simply the best man I know. Thank you for ignoring all of my baggage and fighting for us.”
“I love you, Nikki, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life taking care of you, Sarah, and any cubs we’re lucky enough to have together. And I promise yo
u this, I won’t leave them…even if the worst happens, I won’t leave them.”
Nikki moved closer to him, settling against his chest while his arms locked around her. Her life wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he was.
Epilogue
“Yippee!”
The excited shriek of a three-year-old cub pierced the air, waking both Joe and his mate. Nikki looked at him with a big smile on her face as they both still lay in the bed snuggled together.
“Good morning,” he rumbled.
Reaching up, she gave him a sweet kiss on the mouth. “Morning, handsome.” Then she dropped her head to where she had given Joe his matching mate bite last night on their second round of sex and kissed him there too. Raising her head, she murmured, “We better get out there before she tries to come barging into here and realizes the door is locked.”
Joe tightened his grip on his mate and pulled her face back up to give her a deeper, more sensual kiss before letting her go. Smacking her on the ass, he ordered. “Get going, woman. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
Nikki shook her head and laughed as she climbed out of the bed and quickly got dressed. He should have done the same, but he wanted to lay there just a moment longer and watch the show she was inadvertently giving him. She wasn’t trying to be sexy as she raced to put on her pajamas, but damn it if she wasn’t anyway. Both he and his lion were tempted to pull her back in the bed to snuggle some more. Only the thought of the precocious cub on the other side of the door made him change his mind.
After Nikki had snuck out of their room, Joe got up himself and got dressed. He didn’t dally because he wanted to be with his family more than anything. So he promptly made his way out of the bedroom, down the hallway and stopped to the entrance of the living room where he could now see his two girls.
Family.
Just thinking the word made both he and his lion content. Nothing could be better than this moment where he watched his mate smiling at her sister, who was hugging the dollhouse. As he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the small cub caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and beamed at him. “Good Morning, Joe! Look what Santa got me. I can play house with my dollies now!”
The cub’s smile was infectious, and he felt his lion purr in contentment. “It’s pretty, sweetling. What else do you have underneath that tree?”
As Sarah jumped up and down while Nikki handed her a present from underneath the tree, Joe made his way over to sit by his mate. They watched as the little girl opened a prettily wrapped box from her sister and then squealed some more at the new doll that was inside.
He couldn’t imagine life getting any better than how it felt at that moment as he looked from his new little sister back over to his mate. His lion was happy, he was happy, and the life that he could see before him was better than anything he had ever dreamed for himself. Honestly, how could it get any better than this?
It didn’t take a Christmas miracle to answer his question. Just a three year old little cub with a heart of gold.
Suddenly, Sarah ran out of the room, screeching, “Be wight back!”
Moments later, she ran back into the room, then skidded to a stop in front of Joe. He glanced over to Nikki to see if she knew what was going on, but found that she had a curious look on her face as well. Looking back to the cub, he watched and waited.
Sarah’s grin was big as she pulled her hands from behind her back with a paper clutched in them, which she shoved into Joe’s face. “Mewwy Christmas, Joe!”
There on the wrinkled paper were three stick figures standing in front of a green zig zagged Christmas tree. With her little finger, she pointed to each of the figures for him.
“That’s me, Nikki, and you! We’re a family.”
Those three simple words nearly undid him.
We’re a family.
If he had asked for anything for Christmas this year, it would have been just that. And here both Sarah and Nikki had given him that. Feeling the pinprick of tears trying to well up in his eyes, Joe leaned forward and scooped Sarah up in his arms, making sure not to squeeze her too tightly as he hugged her.
“Thank you, sweetling. You and your sister are the best presents I’ve ever received.”
Note from the Authors
Thank you for reading Purrfect Santa! You’re the absolute best for giving little ol’ us a chance. For every Indie Author you read, somewhere out there a fairy gets its wings! Okay, maybe not, but it still seems pretty magical.
We hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as we enjoyed writing it. If you did, please consider leaving a review at your favorite online retailers or review websites. These are great ways to help spread the word about books to readers who have yet to discover them.
Happy reading!
XoXo,
Jessie Lane & Chasity Bowlin
About the Authors
Jessie Lane
Jessie Lane is a best-selling author of Paranormal and Contemporary Romance, as well as, Upper YA Paranormal Romance/Fantasy. She lives in Kentucky with her two little Rock Chicks in-the-making and her over protective alpha husband that she’s pretty sure is a latent grizzly bear shifter. She has a passionate love for reading and writing naughty romance, cliff hanging suspense, and out-of-this-world characters that demand your attention, or threaten to slap you around until you do pay attention to them.
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Chasity Bowlin
Chasity Bowlin lives in central Kentucky with her husband and their menagerie of animals. She loves writing, loves traveling and enjoys incorporating tidbits of her actual vacations into her books. She is an avid Anglophile, loving all things British, but specifically all things Regency. She also enjoys writing steamy, contemporary romance and paranormal romance.
Growing up in Tennessee, spending as much time as possible with her doting grandparents, soap operas were a part of her daily existence, followed by back to back episodes of Scooby-Doo. Her path to becoming a romance novelist was set when, rather than simply have her Barbie dolls cruise around in a pink convertible, they time traveled, hosted lavish dinner parties and one even had an evil twin locked in the attic.
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www.chasitybowlin.com
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Paranormal Reads from Jessie Lane
Paranormal Reads from Chasity Bowlin
Howls Romance
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