“Lia, watch out!” Connor shouted, looking past her with sudden alarm.
Too late. Someone smacked hard into her with a shriek, sending her tumbling into Connor, who tripped under her weight and fell over backward. They landed in a pile of limbs and tangled skis, Lia's face pressed firmly into the snow above Connor's shoulder.
Her body was pressed firmly against Connor. Despite the fact the man was her own mate, it had been so long since she'd felt his entire body next to hers she inhaled with surprise and a tingle of arousal. Unfortunately, she also inhaled snow, which set her to coughing and choking. Connor struggled to right them both, cursing at his skis.
“Do I need to smack you on the back?” he asked her, his tone half worried, half joking. She heard his wolf in his voice. Always surging to the forefront if he thought she was at all endangered.
“No,” she wheezed, well aware they were giving the bystanders a show. Especially since she was still tangled up with him. After Lia finally managed to breathe normally again, much to Connor's relief, they stood up. She waved off the vocal worries of the distraught newbie skier who'd lost control on the landing and slid right into her.
“Did you hurt anything?” Connor asked her, his amber-gold eyes a shade darker with his concern as he ran practiced doctor hands over her body.
A light shiver rippled through her at his touch, which was purely professional and detached, if more casually personal than he likely would be with strangers. Well. This was interesting indeed. Her wolf sashayed through her mind, shamelessly wanting to show Connor her tail. Ahem. “No, I'm fine, I told you,” she said, keeping her voice collected by habit.
Since when had she gotten into that habit with Connor? Right. Since...probably years now. Damn. Twisting her lip with her teeth, she tried to soften her voice as she said, “Let's just go home, hmm? I think I could use a soak in the hot tub.”
He abruptly stilled his hands on her. She sensed his sudden, keen interest. Mouth suddenly drying, she licked her lips, which made him go even more still. She'd been right. This morning's little playtime on the mountain was a ploy to get them both into a space they could share together. A mixed surge of hope and the sweet tickle of arousal lifted in her, making her heartbeat kick up a notch.
“Connor?” she asked, her voice suddenly a bit lower than usual. She felt her wolf hovering just below the surface, very intrigued with her mate's reaction to her, adding the depth to her voice. “Did I say something?” she added, deliberately making her words sound seductive just to see what that might do to him.
Connor's wolf leapt into his eyes, which were still covered by his goggles, though he'd taken his helmet off just before they been slammed to the ground. The flood of his pheromones shot out to her, and she inhaled his musky scent with a shivering need that had her wolf pawing for control.
Ah. So her mate had planned this, indeed. The control she liked to hold began melting off as her mate's intentions carried to her on his increasingly intense, head-rushing scent.
“You've been saying it to me all day, Lia.” His voice had dropped as well, the faint undertones of his wolf lending it a rough edge that skittered along all her senses, rousing her to new awareness.
The bone-deep knowledge that she and her mate were going to go home and straight to bed shortened her breath and made her lightly tremble all over. Connor was the only person in the world who could make her lose control, who could make her tough outer shell crack with a single whisper.
Mine, her wolf snarled softly in her head. But she didn't mean Connor. She meant Lia. She wanted to take over, to guide Lia's movements through the wilder side. To make Lia let go and roll around with abandon in the moment with her mate.
Now, she thought, caught in Connor's heated gaze, which she could feel down to her naked skin. Yes. They'd needed this for months now. Badly.
“Home, love,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he said, his eyes promising her things. She could sense his own control being pushed at by his wolf as well.
Heat coiled between them like a living thing as they headed to the parking lot. Lia focused on nothing but the man beside her. All the delicious things she wanted him to do to her once they were alone, her head beginning to spin with the possibilities. The things she'd been too busy, too tired, too who knew what, to make time for recently. She wanted him to ravish the hell out of her.
“Oh, you bet I will,” her mate said, lightly touching her hip as they walked with single-minded focus.
Startled, she looked at him. The look he gave her in return shot through her with its strictly sensuous intentions. “Your wolf is broadcasting so loudly I think any shifter within a mile will know what we're up to,” he said in a low voice. “The images I'm getting from you, sweetheart, are making my toes curl. Walk faster,” he said, the deep tone an order. He grabbed her hand and practically raced them to the car.
Her wolf leapt into her eyes with demanding force, shredding the control Lia struggled to maintain. This was the Connor she rarely saw anymore. Dominant, taking the lead, and so hungry for her nothing would stop him. Eager to find out exactly what that would look like when they got home, she matched him stride for stride as her thoughts sizzled down into pure awareness of the sexy man prowling beside her.
THREE
By the time they hit the highway, Connor was in a state of arousal so high he had his hands tightly curled around the steering wheel to keep himself from reaching for Lia and running them off the road by accident. Her scent was driving him crazy, as was their old game of silent seduction. Neither said a single word on the way, but the tension leaping between them could combust the car into flames. Achingly thrilled that his effort at seeing if they could spend some quality time together was actually working, he drove as fast as he was legally allowed.
At home, Connor had the passenger door open within what seemed like seconds of turning off the engine. He grabbed her eager hand and hustled her up the short walkway to their cute downtown house. Fumbling with the key in the lock, Lia's hands on his waist, he finally managed to get the front door open. He'd barely closed it when Lia simply launched herself at him. Fingers pushing through his hair and body plastered to his, she lifted her lips to his with a hunger he knew well but had missed for far too long now.
Fully roused, his wolf stayed well at the forefront of his mind, lending Connor the wildness he sensed he would need to satiate his mate. And himself. Reaching behind Lia's head, he found the band that held her hair and tugged it off. Golden masses fell around her face, softening the planes of her features that so often were hard-edged. For Connor, Lia let her softer side show. And her wild side, the one controlled by her wolf.
Only for him. The knowledge hardened him. He bit back a groan as she deliberately rocked her hips into him. “Connor,” she murmured, her mouth playing against his with a small vibration that shocked into him, sending sparks through his body.
A shiver tickled down his spine and back up again as every nerve ending he had roared to life. Oh, god, yes. This was going to be a fast and furious meeting of their bodies. The kind of meeting they loved, the kind that hadn't happened for months now. Ravenous for one another, their wolves would press their human sides into the background so the more sensual animal instincts could take over.
He kicked the door shut and pushed her up against it. His body didn't feel like his own to control. It felt wild, on fire, and filled with a primitive desperation. Desperate to touch his mate, to mark her, to claim her as his so thoroughly she would never forget it.
So she would never leave.
Lia allowed herself to be pushed hard against the door, her gray eyes smoked into darkness with her desire. He saw her wolf there, guiding her, savagely enjoying the dance between them. It roused him even further.
“My sexy she-wolf,” he said into her neck, kissing it and then nibbling her ear lobe, which made her tremble and raised little goose bumps of pleasure on her neck. She loved having her ear lobe nibbled. It was one of the secre
t spots that set her on fire every time. He nipped at it again, first lightly, then harder. A honeyed moan fell from her divine mouth, the mouth that could do things to him that should be outlawed. She shoved her own head back against the door, exposing her neck to him. He could see the hard beating of her pulse, could hear it thundering through her body with his heightened wolf senses. Tracing her pulse with his tongue, he very lightly bit down on the small throbbing of it.
Lia wrenched out a gasp. Her entire body melted into him, her soft curves fitting perfectly against his hardness. Her breasts swelled against his chest, making his nipples harden and his cock tighten in anticipation. Connor slid a hand down her left side, his mouth still playing with her neck. His fingers found the flare of her hip and spread there, lacing over her generous curve there as he pictured holding her hips tight as he bucked into her.
Lia gasped again. The sound sent a zing straight to his cock, which was actually beginning to ache.
“Sweet woman,” he muttered against her hair, which smelled like fresh snow and whipping winds and fragrant pine trees. “Need you under me. Now.”
“Mm-hmm,” she agreed in a breathy little moan that did nothing but arouse him more. “Now. Please, yes. Connor, love,” she said, and her voice went to that pitch that never failed to get him. The pitch that said she was hungry, she was wanting, and she needed him more than she needed anything else in the world.
Without warning, he lifted her up onto her hips, sliding his hands under the gorgeous ass he'd been staring at all day. Laughter rolled out of her, though it was as breathless as her voice had been. She wrapped her legs around him and tucked her arms around his neck, kissing him and inhaling his scent with a frantic impatience that had him so hard he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to walk.
God, this was going to be good.
“Please, Connor,” she said, a begging note holding onto her words. “Please.”
Carrying his mate's sumptuous body tucked against his, he turned and headed for the small living room with a very plush couch they'd scrimped to buy a few years back. “Not going to make it to the hot tub, love,” he murmured against her bright hair, hearing his wolf roughen his voice.
“Don't care,” she said, voice gratifyingly ragged as well. “Need you now.” Her scent spiked into the air, its sweet desire flooding his brain with a feral appetite he knew meant his wolf was fully in control.
Connor was breathing quickly enough to feel a little light-headed. Reaching the couch, he gently tumbled his mate onto it. She sprawled back, her limbs loose and welcoming, her eyes following his every move with her own hungry desire. Keeping her eyes locked on his, she ran her tongue over her upper lip in what he knew was an unconscious move while she reached down to unzip her pants.
His brain promptly fell to the floor. Pushing away memories of the past few months of insane work schedules, pecks on the cheek sufficing for the mutual ravishments he vaguely remembered they used to engage in on a regular basis, and the soul-killing knowledge that she was leaving for greener pastures, he focused on this deliciously naughty, forbidden-feeling moment. All he was aware of was his mate, his luscious, amorous mate, spread out on their couch, as eager for him as he was for her.
Driven by a powerful need he knew he'd denied for too long now, he reached for her and started to tug her clothing over her head. “Damn it, woman, too many layers,” he muttered, drawing a giggle from her. He loved hearing her laughter. She'd graced him with it many times today in a musical cadence he'd half forgotten. Finally getting her silky smooth skin freed from her several upper layers, Connor helped her remove everything else with an urgency that had them both laughing even as they worked faster.
When his mate was stripped and every sweet curve exposed to his half-lidded gaze, she simply said, “Your turn.”
Connor proceeded to remove his clothes in record time, heedless of ripping them in his wolf-strengthened haste. When done, he stood in front of the couch, every inch of him trembling in anticipation. God, he missed this. Reaching one hand toward her, he gently traced a single taut nipple with a feather-light touch, fascinated that it hardened even more under the gentle tip of his finger.
Lia's smoky eyes closed as she let out a husky groan. Connor's blood seemed to heat in his veins as he watched color suffuse her skin. She always flushed lightly when she was aroused, something that always heightened his own excitement. His touch set his mate on fire, and it showed. Biting his lip to keep from moving too quickly, wanting the moment to last, he forced himself to circle her nipple slowly with his finger. Lia's plump mouth opened a bit, the sight sending a new wave of desire traveling through his body like molten lava. Connor's hand shook from the effort it took to not simply reach out and take her.
She opened her eyes, though, and gave him a look that smoked his entire body. “Connor,” she whispered, his name both a command and a question. “Connor, now. I'm so ready for you. I need to feel you inside me right this second.”
A half growl of pure instinct burst out of him as he obeyed his mate. In one quick move, he was on the couch with her, spreading her legs with one hand, guiding himself to her waiting heat. Her scent reached him, all wild desire and invitation, and he didn't wait another second.
Lia cried out his name as he slammed himself into her hot, slick center. He was so hard he was half afraid he would burst before he could fully enjoy the sensation of finally, finally being inside her again. Lia wrapped her mile-long legs around him, their smoothness riding his back as her fingers pushed down on his shoulders. Her lips sought his again, demanding, wild with need. He pushed his tongue into the sweetness of her mouth, tasting her, swallowing her cries as he drove into her.
She arched up from the couch, her hands pushing down on his hips to take him as fully inside her as she could. A heavy, ferocious sensation built inside him, spreading over every inch of his body, guiding the movements he made with blind, aching instinct.
Lia pulled back a bit, opening her eyes again to look at him. He saw the same animal awareness in her face that he felt, the same single focus on only this moment, only their urgent movements together. She was close, he knew. He could tell from the bright redness in her cheeks signaling the explosion about to ignite within her.
“Now, love,” he gritted out, feeling his own approaching fast. “With me, Lia. Come with me.”
She started to close her eyes, head thrown back, but he snarled, “Look at me.”
Startled, she opened her eyes again. They were almost black with her need, the usual light gray beautifully fogged with her immense need. His command sent her over the edge, and her fingers tightened on his hips as she called out his name in a voice more wild wolf than woman.
Connor felt her heat spasm around him, and it was enough to shoot him off. He burst within her, her heat and his mingling, their cries draping over one another and echoing through the small room. Their combined scent crowded his senses, making him want to roll his eyes back in his head. But he stayed with her, keeping his eyes open and on hers, knowing he shouted her name as he bucked into her. He felt her fingers holding him so hard on his hips he knew there would be bruises later. The thought made him spasm harder as their sweat-slicked bodies slid together.
“Lia!” he howled, his pent-up need and fears and love and longing all blending into that one word as his vision hazed over with the force of his powerful orgasm. She responded in kind, her face completely transformed into an untamed, unfettered display of pure joy and release. Connor's head whirled as he rode it to the sweet, throbbing end, keeping his mate's gaze the entire time.
Finally, as the last pulses faded away and Lia's body softened beneath his, he relaxed his weight onto her, crushing her to the couch, breathing so hard he saw stars shoot before his vision. She held him hard to her, inviting him to cover her with all his strength. To protect her, to let her know he was there simply by the fact of his body over hers, pressed into her as if trying to mingle their very DNA.
“I love you,” she
murmured into his chest, her words echoing in his heart.
His wolf murmured back in pure male satisfaction, his sides so combined he barely knew where the wolf ended and the man started.
They lay tangled in a boneless heap on the couch, Lia's breathing eventually slowing to a more even pace along with his. Connor was halfway toward sleep when Lia's phone rang from somewhere in the pockets of her discarded clothing. She immediately tightened a bit beneath him, but he protested softly, “No. Stay with me.”
She sighed, but said, “I need to get it. Could be something important.” The languorousness was already slipping away from her voice as the driven woman began to come more to the forefront than the unbound wolf.
He tightened his arms around her, but she said, “Connor.” Her tone edged toward unyielding.
Quietly, he let her go. She moved out from under him and searched for her cell, managing to grab it and answer on the final ring. His wolf sat back, ears lowering a bit, as Lia's professional voice answered the call with a briskness that belied the fact she'd just been screaming his name in sheer abandon moments before.
Her responding words and the growing focus of her expression sliced at Connor. She slid a glance toward him, then guiltily looked away. Cold seeped through him, pushing away the heat they'd built between them. When she ended the call, she spent a long moment staring at the phone, face lost in a concentration that had nothing to do with him. She finally looked at him, her expression tightened into the Lia the Wolf face he'd seen her use so many times in court.
“That was the DC firm,” she said in a carefully neutral tone. “They need me sooner. There's been a development in the case, and they want to get it taken care of before the holidays if they can.”
Sugar, Spice, and Shifters: A Touch of Holiday Magic Page 80