On the Prowl

by T. J. Michaels

  “And what if she’s safe but avoiding you?”

  Justin took a deep breath and his head conjured an image of Derrick, his mouth drawn tight with disapproval. The man had a way of making him feel like the little brother right after the big brother said, “I’m gonna tell dad on you”. He steeled himself and got ready for the I-told-you-so. “Delaine found out I was D.E.A. And not from me.”

  “Man, didn’t I tell you to talk to her? I told you sistahs don’t play that junk,” Derrick said, managing to sound stern and sorry for Justin at the same time.

  But there wasn’t anything he could do about it now, except try to patch things up with the woman he knew he had to be with at all costs. Whatever it took. He wasn’t even shocked anymore at how strong his feelings were for Delaine. He knew he had to find her.

  “Look, Derrick, you were right, okay. But right now, I need to know my woman is all right.”

  “Let me work on it. I’ll call you back in half an hour.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  “No problem. By the way, Spencer spoke to her boss, which is probably why she called last night. You two are supposed to close this case out together. If you can get her to speak to you ever again, that is.”

  * * * * *

  Delaine sat on the back porch of her little cabin and meditated. It was so peaceful and quiet here. No TV. No phone. Not even a decent cell phone signal. Only the rushing of the Nantahala River through the sheer cliffs of the gorge in the distance, and a light wind whispering through the thick towering trees. She’d never seen so many huge trees in her life. They were bare, preparing for the coming winter, but it was still beautiful up here. She shivered, wrapping the extra blankets she’d found in one of the closets more closely around her body.

  ‘What possessed me to literally run for the hills with the thick of winter approaching?’ she asked herself.

  *Stop running, Suta. Embrace our mate. He comes.*

  ‘Yeah, whatever,’ Delaine words were flat and uncaring, and in truth, she hadn’t really been listening to what Sapa was saying to her along the bond.

  The sleek mountain cat rolled her eyes and stalked away to a quiet corner of Delaine’s mind. Before she retreated, Delaine felt her frustration. Well, she could forget about meditating. All she could think about was Justin. Justin’s lips. Justin’s hands on her body. Justin treating her like the queen he proclaimed her to be. Cooking for her. Taking her on road trips.

  Justin sleeping with her best friend. Rather, a chick that was supposed to be her friend.

  She wanted to knock herself in the head. What had she been thinking to get involved with him anyway? He was too nice, too perfect. And you know what they say—if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. So here she was again, in a relationship with a man who couldn’t keep his dick out of another woman’s pants. Her boss might think he was a good guy, but Delaine saw him as nothing but Gary-Number-Two.

  Grumbling under her breath, she rose from the back porch and stomped into the cabin. She hit the sheets early, determined not to lose any more sleep over Justin, Pam or her job.

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  What the hell was that? On silent feet, Delaine jumped out of bed with her gun in hand. She checked the lock on the window in her bedroom then edged her way to the small living room.

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  Someone was banging on the door like they were the police. That was fine, because if it wasn’t the police, whoever it was would limp away with a bullet in the ass.

  “Delaine! Open the door!”

  She lowered her weapon and clicked on the safety. Justin? Oh my god. How the hell had he found her? Okay, now that was a stupid question, she thought, shaking her head. The man worked for one of the most sophisticated covert organizations in the country. Of course he could find her.

  Geesh, Delaine, get yourself together, girl, she grumbled at herself. ‘And Sapa, stop all that pacing. It’s making me dizzy.’ An irritated growl resonated along the bond.

  Sapa had told her Justin would come for her. She hadn’t believed it one whit, not while he had someone else’s warm body to bury his cock in. But Sapa had been wrong, in a manner of speaking. He hadn’t come for her. The bastard had come for Pam. And when she was finished with him, he’d wish he’d kept his distance

  With her gun fisted on her hip, she yanked the door open and glared up at him under the light of the single bulb illuminating the small front porch.

  “What the hell are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Pam?”

  Justin drew his neck back, arched a brow and looked down at her like she was crazy.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Delaine ignored his innocent, confused expression and ground her words into his face. “You. Slept. With. Pam! You bastard!”

  “I slept with Pam? You’ve got to be kidding me!” he laughed.

  Delaine quirked a brow, not seeing any humor in the situation. His laugh seemed genuine enough, but this was a man whose job was to be an expert at hiding who he really was. As are you. She ignored that little voice and, seeing no humor in the situation, scowled at him and his stupid laughter.

  “Well, I’m not kidding! She answered your phone. You know, the one at your house. She said she was spending the night with you.”

  “And you believed her?”

  “Well, she was there, wasn’t she? What was I supposed to believe when she answered your phone at three in the morning?”

  “But, Delaine …”

  Her voice full of venom and pain, she bared her teeth and poked him in the middle of his chest with the barrel of her 9mm as she spoke. “And she sounded like she’d already been screwed good that night …”

  “Delaine …”

  “You lying, cheating son of a bitch! I should have known better than…”

  Justin had enough. He was many things, but liar and cheat weren’t on the list. He grabbed a very angry Delaine by the shoulders and shook her until her teeth snapped together. She flung away from him and headed into the cabin, intent on slamming the door in his face. He caught it with his foot just before it hit him in the nose, pushed the door open so hard it banged into the wall. He didn’t care. He stomped into the cabin on her heels.

  “Delaine, will you be quiet so I can tell you what’s going on?”

  “I don’t want to be quiet! I want to tell you exactly what’s on my mind, damn it!” She tossed her gun on the small rustic couch. “Better yet,” she snarled and dropped into a fighting stance, “I think I’ll just kick your ass!”

  Justin’s mouth dropped open. She was serious. Balanced on the balls of her feet, her strong arms were up, ready to strike. He watched the muscles in her thighs tighten and flex as she readied herself. His mind flew back to the last time he’d seen those thighs. They were wrapped around his waist, with her head thrown back while he’d sunk to the hilt. He shook his head to clear the distracting image.

  All she wore was a little white camisole and a pair of silk bed shorts. To Justin, she’d never looked sexier or more pissed. Delaine’s cinnamon skin was flushed with anger, and her chest rose and fell in agitation. The tops of her breasts peeked out from underneath her camisole. A light sheen of sweat made her body appear to glow in the dim lamplight. She was exquisite and fighting was the last thing he wanted to do with her. There was only one way to tame a woman who might be capable of beating you down.

  Delaine watched him closely. Her brown eyes clashed with his smoldering blue ones and she knew he was calculating the distance between them. So he thought to take the upper hand, eh? Well, she was determined not to give it to him. She never used her fighting skills on people she knew, knowing she could seriously hurt them, but if he took one more step she was mad enough to lay him out. Damn, he stepped. And she let a right hook fly, ready to follow up with a roundhouse kick to the gut.

  Eyes wide, her throat emitted a loud squeak when he countered with a perfectly executed arm figure four move. As soon as she struck, he blocked her
punch and grabbed her in the crook of her elbow with his free hand. She had a fraction of a second to wince as he bent her forearm up and back just before he stepped inside her defense and took her down to the floor. Hard.

  The air whooshed from her lungs when her back hit the hard wood floor. The next thing she knew, Justin was lying at her side with his right shoulder on top of hers, and her right arm pinned underneath her. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

  Damn, that hurt. She instinctively tried to struggle. Justin put all his weight into the submission hold and Delaine went still. The slightest movement caused a funky pain to shoot up her shoulder and neck and then settle behind her eyes. Without releasing her from the hold, he slanted his mouth over hers and kissed the wind right out of her sails.

  She had the ability to resist him for all of four seconds before she was lost in the taste of him as his tongue tormented hers. It seemed like forever since she’d enjoyed the way he explored her mouth, sucked and nibbled on her lips. He’d called her his cinnamon candy, and right now she certainly felt like it. He was eating her alive. Mmmm, she missed this. She whimpered when he pulled away from her lips.

  He licked the corner of her mouth and rasped out, “Now will you listen?”

  She nodded her head, eyes glazed over in a sensual stupor. Lord, the man sure could kiss. But he still hadn’t let her out of the submission hold.

  “Pam came to my house talking nonsense about how she wanted me. But nothing happened, Delaine. She was drunk out of her mind and it would have been wrong to send her home in that condition. Hell, she was so snockered, I’m still shocked she made it to my house.”

  “She said she spent the night with you.”

  “I wish I’d known you spoke to her, baby, because she spent the night with my couch. Before she passed out, I let her ramble on about how lonely she was and it turned out she didn’t really want me. She just wants to be happy. I told her she needs to find her own man for that.”

  “That ho-humping bitch! Wait until I…”

  “Delaine, she was so drunk, when she woke the next morning she didn’t remember any of it. And I think the hangover was punishment enough.”

  Delaine looked deeply into his stormy blue eyes and saw nothing but truth. She reached out to her spirit guide. Sapa arose and padded to the forefront of her mind.

  *He tells the truth, Suta. Take what I offer,* the lioness lent Delaine her keen sense of smell. Delaine lay still and inhaled deeply. No scent of Pam on him at all. The only female she smelled on him was herself.

  “So she slept on the couch, eh?” she asked with a wry grin.

  “Delaine, I slept in my bed alone with the door locked thinking about sinking my hard cock into nobody but you. Kind of like I’m thinking right now.” Justin slowly released her from the submission hold and began to rub the feeling back into the arm he’d pinned underneath her.

  He snickered, mocking himself. Now this was a shame. Here he was on the floor after a fight with a woman who could remove his head from his body, and his cock was hard as marble. It was pitiful, but he just couldn’t help it. He slid his body on top of hers, held her arms above her head and pressed a very solid erection into her thigh. He began a slow, tempting grind.

  “Oh goodness,” she sighed, unable to resist the arousal he was stoking between them.

  “Yeah, baby. Oh goodness is right,” he whispered against her lips. Her face went up in flames and she blushed from her chest up to the roots of her dark, curly hair. Justin watched the heat move over her skin as his mind conjured an image of chocolate-covered cherries. Damn, but she was delicious.

  “Justin, I’m so sorry for the way I acted. About you being D.E.A. and about Pam. I feel really silly, especially since you didn’t know what Pam had done. Hell, Pam didn’t know what Pam had done.” The last words were said on a gasp as one strong hand encircled her nipple through her silky camisole.

  “I forgive you, baby.” He lowered his head and tongued her sensitive nub through the silk.

  “Sssss,” she hissed, her neck and body arching into his, instinctively reaching for more of him. “God, that feels so good. Do you really forgive me?”

  “Oh yeah. Want me to prove it?” his voice a soft, husky drawl just before he dipped his head and bit her on the sensitive spot on her neck.

  * * * * *

  Her arms curled around his neck as she arched her back, pulling him to her until her swelling breasts were pressed tightly to his chest. She opened expectantly when he lowered his head to take her in an open-mouthed kiss that stole her senses. He tasted of chocolate and man, and her tongue sought out every corner of his mouth as he kissed her. Sucking on that special spot on her neck, she threw her head back as the breath was pulled from her lungs in long, loud pants. Writhing and moaning at the indescribable sensation that always traveled through her whole upper body whenever he laved her there.

  “What the hell?” she asked wildly when he untwined her arms, picked her up and deposited her on the thick rug in front of the fireplace, and rolled her over on her stomach. Her silk boxers slid down over her butt and off. Her camisole followed.

  “You’ve been very bad, Delaine,” he said much too softly.

  “But you said you forgive me,” she said breathlessly, trying to turn back again so she could wrap her legs around him and hold him close. Well, that was the plan anyway. He obviously had other thoughts about the matter. “I do forgive you, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t earned a little punishment.”

  “Punish…ooooh!”

  His hand landed with a loud smack on her bare ass. Oh damn, it felt good. The pleasure-pain sent a sensual twisting down through the nerves of her bottom and spread from her core outward.

  He pulled her up to her knees and leaned forward. His breath tickled her ear, sending new shivers down the side of her neck. Pressing his huge cock into the crack of her ass, he asked in that sexy voice of his, “Do you like that, baby?”

  Wiggling her ass to press closer to the hard, throbbing rod with an anxiousness that surprised her, she yelped when his hand landed on her ass again, sending a shockwave of need through her cunt.

  “Oh shit! Yes—yes, I like it.”

  Delicious heat spread across her butt cheeks and settled just beneath her skin. She loved it, but she needed at least one more spank. Had to have it. Oh just one more. The urgency rivaled her need to be filled to bursting with his hard length. She’d never thought something so taboo as spanking could feel so good.

  Her chest dropped to the rug and she hissed with pleasure, stretching her arms above her head to scratch and pull at the rug.

  “Is there something you want, baby?” he purred against the sensitive skin on the back of her neck.

  “Yes, I want it! I want…oh please.”

  His hands traveled from her warming bottom down to the crease at the back of her knees then around to the front of her thighs. Strong fingers pressed against the mound hiding her throbbing clit and pressed down firmly, while his other hand landed a final stinging smack on her right cheek. She came on the spot.

  Unable to support her own quivering weight, she collapsed on the rug, panting like she’d just run an eight-minute mile.

  “You don’t think you’re getting away with that, do you? Baby, you’ve got some making up to do.”

  With her pussy still clenching and tightening, her lust was so easily rekindled. All it took was his strong hand pulling her back up to her knees and a deep plunge into her dripping channel.

  A scream tore from her throat as he slid inside. The ridges and veins of his steel-hard cock stimulated every inch of her cunt. Every nerve ending fired, making her thighs quake and shiver with need. She’d just come but was already sobbing for him to give her more. Her nipples tingled as her breasts bobbed back and forth under his thrusts. His fingers unerringly squeezed and palmed her sensitive mounds without missing a single stroke. As he rode her hard from behind, not one inch of her skin was neglected as his hands roamed over her ass, her
hips, her thighs.

  The light sheen of sweat made the rough rasp of his palms feel decadent against her skin. His calluses raised gooseflesh followed by little licks of pleasure wherever they touched. She could feel her climax beginning in the heat centered in her body as her channel sought the eruption only he could give her.

  Then he pulled out.

  “Noooo!” She howled, looking over her shoulder as his huge body and massive cock poised just outside of her needy pussy.

  “Convince me to give you more.”

  The look in his eye was one of pure male domination…and pain. She realized now how deeply she’d hurt him. After all, she would have felt the same way if he’d thought her low enough to sleep with his best friend. He’d forgiven her quickly enough, but his male ego needed a bit of stroking. Well, stroking was something she could definitely do.

  She turned and sat up, taking him firmly in her hand and squeezing gently but firmly. He gasped at the contact, pushing his hips toward her questing fingers.

  She didn’t speak but used the pressure of her fingers to ease him forward, up off the floor and to the nearby couch.

  She pushed him backward and he sat with his knees spread, looking up at her. His fingers wrapped around his cock and he pumped slowly. Her eyes glazed over with pure, unadulterated lust as her gaze shifted from the tempting motion of his cock up to his mouth where his tongue did a sensuous dance across his lips. She sank to her knees.

  Without warning she circled the base of his magnificent staff with her fingers and dove over his cock, surrounding him with the warmth of her mouth. She took his feral yell as a good sign and moved her mouth up and down with relentless strokes. His hips moved in cadence with her strokes as his fingers tangled in her hair. She took him deeply and pulled back, allowing her tongue to swirl around the flared head on each up stroke. On the down stroke, she hummed long and loud.

  When he began to shake she grasped the base tighter and jacked him harder.

  “Del, stop! You’re gonna make me cum!”