Ellis: A Best Friend's Little Sister Shifter Romance (The Johnson Clan Book 3)

by Terra Wolf

  Of everyone at that table, no one existed for me but her. She filled my whole world. I spent so much time dreaming about her, and here she was. My mate. She was just as enticing as ever. But she was out of my reach. She talked to other guys, but she didn’t flirt with them. Maybe they were her relatives. I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t think straight.

  Brayden made some joke about me being preoccupied with my business affairs. Everybody laughed at my expense, but I didn’t care. If I could give them a laugh without taking my eyes off Mckenna, I was happy. I didn’t want to talk to anybody right then.

  Dinner broke up, and lively dance music bumped in the other room. Mckenna hung back to help the women clear the table and put the food away. I lingered around in the doorway until I saw her coming back for another pile of plates. Then I moved in to murmur under my breath. “Why don’t you come outside for a walk with me when you’re finished here?”

  She actually smiled. “I’d like that, but I have to help Julia after this. We’re going over to pick up her luggage, and then we have to take all the gifts to her place, and the bridesmaids are getting together to plan the bridal shower. Maybe another time.”

  I started to say, “Okay, let’s make a time,” but she lugged her plate to the kitchen before I got a chance. Now I knew for certain she was avoiding me, and she did such a good job that I never got near her again.

  What the fuck was going on? Why couldn’t we just pick up where we left off? I felt the same way about her, and now I knew she felt the same way about me. What was stopping her from migrating toward me the way I migrated toward her? She must have felt that cosmic pull bringing us together. Our bears wanting to be connected. She must have understood it would happen one way or the other.

  Brayden appeared at my elbow with some other reason I had to go back to the living room with him. I went along with it, but I kept glancing toward the door. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to be somewhere alone with Mckenna.

  After several minutes of chatting with the other groomsmen, I caught sight of her heading down the hall. It was now or never. I made an excuse to the guys, and I hurried out to find her returning from the sunroom with a paper gift bag in one hand. It took all my strength not to kiss her then and there. I would have dragged her into a nearby room if I had my way.

  I blocked her path again. “Come outside by the pool for a second. I want to talk to you.”

  “I gotta go,” she replied. “Julia’s waiting for me.”

  I frowned down at her. “You’re not going anywhere until you talk to me. We haven’t seen each other in seven years, and you won’t look sideways at me. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing’s going on. I told you I have to go. Julia and all the other bridesmaids are waiting outside.”

  “Why are you avoiding me? Why do you keep running off every time I try to talk to you?”

  “Come on, Ellis. You know I wouldn’t avoid you.”

  God, her saying my name like that stabbed straight to my guts. I would give anything to get her to say my name again, and again. My insides convulsed in knots. I took a step toward her.

  At that moment, Brayden’s voice interrupted me. “Hey, man. I thought I asked you to spot me on a game of Quarters, but you keep running off. What’s going on?”

  I turned to answer. Quick as a wink, Mckenna darted around me. “Gotta go. See ya later. Have fun with your game.”

  I kicked myself, but I couldn’t show Brayden any annoyance. “Can’t it wait, just for a second?”

  Brayden stiffened in the doorway. “What’s going on with you, buddy? Every time I turn around, you’re working in on my sister. What’s the big deal?”

  I waved my hand. What was the point? She was already long gone. “I’m just trying to talk to her, but she keeps giving me the slip. I haven’t seen her in seven years. I just want to touch base with her, you know?”

  Brayden took my arm. “She’s busy. You know how all this bride stuff is. Come and have some fun. That’s what we’re here for. You can catch up with her anytime.”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, man. I’ll be back with you as soon as I can, but there’s something I gotta do right now. It’s important.”

  Brayden frowned. “What could be more important right now?”

  I got away from him as fast as I could. He would never understand about Mckenna and me. That little tidbit could destroy our friendship worse than seven years of not talking to each other, but I couldn’t let her slip away from me again. Now that I had her in my sight, I couldn’t let her go.

  I raced down the hall, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. Brightly colored dresses glinted in the lights outside the windows. Car doors slammed, and women laughed. Motors roared, and the cars drove out of the driveway. She couldn’t be gone already. She couldn’t.

  Then I saw her heading for the closet in her uncle’s office. That’s where everybody hung their coats when they first came in. Her leg flashed under her dress going through the door. Now was my chance.

  I darted into the office. It wasn’t much more than a closet itself, with a desk at the far end and coats draped everywhere. They hung on hangers from the curtain rod and piled the desk and chair. I took one step into the room, shut the door, and locked it behind me.

  6

  MCKENNA

  I spun around when I heard the lock click to find Ellis standing right behind me. My bear panicked, threatening to come to the surface and give him a good whack. He stood so close the seething power radiated from him. How did I think I could ever avoid him? His fingers, those magical fingers, trailed off the doorknob when he took a step toward me. He towered over me in all his massive bulk.

  He glanced down at my mouth, and the air stuck in my lungs. I couldn’t breathe when he looked at me like that, when he glided toward me on a cushion of masculine energy. He murmured low. “Put your coat down.”

  I did my best to smile. “I told you I have to go. I have to help Julia.”

  “Julia has plenty of people to help her. You’re not going anywhere.”

  I opened my mouth to argue back, but my cheeks burned so hot I couldn’t form the words. He stood so close, so impossibly close. If he moved any closer, he would be right on top of me.

  He breathed into my face. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. When I got the invitation, all I could think about was seeing you again.”

  “Ellis...” I stammered.

  His midsection contracted the way it used to when I used to touch him in sensitive places. His voice grated through his gritted teeth. “Say it again. Say my name again.”

  He couldn’t mean it. He couldn’t think we were going to do it...right here in my uncle’s office.

  He took one last step, and his hard chest came up against my cleavage—the cleavage I worked so hard to prepare for him. He smashed me back against the wall and crushed me under his weight. He pressed the air out of my lungs. I would have cried out if I could get my breath at all.

  Before I could respond, his lips closed over my mouth. His hot skin touched off a chain reaction. The squirrely melty sensation of him cascaded down my body to in between my legs. My insides went all wet and squishy at the touch of those lips on mine.

  Oh, God, I felt myself falling into his dominating presence. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t resist it, but I didn’t want to. I needed this. All these long, lonely years, I wanted him, and he wasn’t there. Now he was here, and I couldn’t walk away. I couldn’t live without this another day. Ellis, my mate.

  He sensed my reserve collapsing. His big arms wound around my ribs and lifted me off the floor, so my feet dangled in the air. He hugged my waist against him so hard I couldn’t stand it, but I screamed inside myself, Yes! God, yes! I waited so long for this moment; I wouldn’t let it slip away. If he wanted me again, I would accept it.

  Already his hard bulge poked my sensitive tissues through my dress. He was just as hard and dangerous as he ever was. His muscles strained under his jacket. He smoldered and burned with ra
ging power and passion.

  His mouth tore my lips apart, and his hot tongue flashed inside. He awoke all my latent desires with that wicked tongue. I couldn’t stop my legs from moving around his waist. He noticed, and his strong hand slid down my back to cradle my ass and hold me up.

  The more he kissed me, the more I fell into his hands. His fingers were squeezing me, and breaking apart the hard shell holding me captive. He released me from my prison to explode to life in his hands.

  The kissing got stronger, more manic and demanding. I had to have him. I had to kiss him if it was the last thing I did. If he walked out that door and I never saw him again, at least we would have this moment.

  He tried to grab my ass, but that dress, that dress I was so proud of, got in the way. I cursed that dress, but before I could kick it out of the way, he yanked it up behind me. He scooted it over my ass, so his hand closed around my bare flesh.

  The last of my reserve evaporated. Nothing could hold us apart. I ripped his jacket off to get to that muscle-ripped body underneath. I had to feel his skin. I had to rub myself all over him. I had to feel his pounding might, just one more time.

  He let go of my ass to tear my neckline down. My tits tumbled out in his face, and he attacked them in rabid lust. I started to fall, and he grappled me against him again while his teeth and lips went to work on my nipples.

  God, I never felt anything like that since the day he vanished out of my life. Other guys could come and go, but he held a special place in my life. No one could touch me like him. His teeth nibbling my nipples drove me to distraction. I shoved my chest in his face to get as much of him as I could before I lost him again.

  Once he got my dress up, my legs wouldn’t keep still. My legs tightened around him. He lifted me into position to sit me on that throbbing hard cock in his pants. I locked my ankles behind his back, but he never let me fall. I was never in any danger of falling as long as he held me in his arms.

  He leaned forward and pinned my back against the wall. He held me in place with his chest to give his hands free-range. He groped down my ass to the wet slit between my legs. Man, he turned me on so much, but I couldn’t reach him with his big shoulders in the way. I could only squeeze his neck and scratch my fingernails down the back of his crisp white shirt.

  He did all the work for me. He burrowed farther down and freed that pulsing tool of his from his fly. He got himself out, and my burning tissues closed around him. He never hesitated. I would have gone out of my mind if he did.

  He dragged it along the dripping core where my legs met, and my juices coated it with a lubricating sheen. He angled his hips just an inch, and it stuck into the opening so hungry for it. I held my breath in aching anticipation. Would he? Could he?

  Oh, yes! Yes, he was in there. He pushed it in so slowly. Oh, yes! Oh, yes! I couldn’t stand it. That felt so good.

  He ripped his mouth away from mine to gasp for every breath. My smoking flesh closed around his shaft in a tight, hard fist so he could barely stroke it in and out. Every slithering movement sent wave upon wave of rippling pleasure sweeping through me.

  He plastered his lips against my ear, and his raspy voice worked me into a fevered torment. “Oh, yeah, baby. Oh, fuck, yeah.”

  He gravelly voice sounded so good. His cock felt so damn hot working into me. I knew it would be like this. I knew I would rise into clouds of glory on that blistering hard cock.

  I panted for air against his temple. Oh, please. Oh, please. I didn’t have to pray for it, though. He always took me to the outer limits with his masterful stroking thrusts. He plowed in deep to my very limit. He milked my juices along his distended veins.

  Oh, please. Oh, please. I needed it so bad. He knew how bad I needed it, and he set out to give it to me. He gave me every inch of his wicked cock. So good. So, fucking good. I couldn’t take it anymore. He filled me so full I could explode apart. He lifted me higher with every penetrating intrusion until I screamed once against his hair.

  Like lightning, he covered my mouth with his lips. He sucked the screaming intoxication from my lungs so I wouldn’t raise the whole house with my shrieks. Once he got my mouth covered, he pounded in harder than ever. He shattered my clit with his thumping bones. He slammed in against my cervix with his twisting hot head. He excited all the delirious spots along my channel. I climaxed again and again and couldn’t stop climaxing.

  Oh, God, that was so good! It was better than anything I ever dreamed of, and here he was, still driving his cock to give me more. Oh, yes, give me more! Give me everything you’ve got, and I’ll take it.

  7

  ELLIS

  I set her feet on the floor, and she almost fell over. Her knees buckled. I caught her in my arms and supported her. She swayed and sighed against my chest, all floppy and vulnerable and sweet the way I remember. Her fruity aroma still clung to my clothes and hands and my bear inhaled deeply. He wanted more of her, as much as he could have. I would dream about her again tonight, only now I could dream about the real thing.

  I held her close until she raised her head and shook her golden hair out of her face. Her eyes still hovered at half-mast from the screaming orgasms she just had. Her skin glowed brighter than ever. I couldn’t get enough of a woman like her.

  I zipped up while she straightened her dress. She gathered her tits back into her bra and pushed her cleavage into place. She caught me gawking at her. She locked her drunken eyes on me and gave me a twisted grin.

  “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

  I had to laugh. I shook my head and kissed her. “Come back to my place. Spend the night with me. You know you won’t regret it.”

  “Regret it?” She cocked an eyebrow and spread her dress down over her hips and thighs. “I already do.”

  “You do? What for? Didn’t you like it?”

  “Oh, I liked it. I liked it a lot. That’s why I regret it.”

  I started to ask why, but she moved toward the door. “I better go.”

  “You didn’t answer me. What do you say to coming back to my place?”

  “I’m not coming back to your place. No way.”

  “Why do you say it like that? You had a good time here. You could have a great time there.”

  She rounded on me. “Is that all you ever think about—having a great time?”

  “No. All I ever think about is you. I told you that, and it’s true. If you don’t come back to my place and spend the night with me, I’ll be thinking about you the whole time until you do. I’ll never leave you alone. Is that what you want?”

  She snorted. “You’ll never leave me alone either way.”

  I put my arms around her. “You’re right. I can’t get enough of you.”

  She pried herself loose. “You were fine without me for the past seven years. I think you can go back to that with no trouble.”

  I froze. “Why do you keep saying things like that? What’s bothering you?”

  “Nothing’s bothering me.” She picked up her coat. “Everything’s just fine.”

  ‘Everything’s just fine’ my fucking ass. Everything’s just fine as long as I don’t look at her or come near her, and now that we just did it in the coat closet, she was getting weird again. I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me.

  She popped the door lock to walk outside, but I held her back. “At least wait until I check the coast is clear. We don’t want anybody spotting us, especially not Brayden.”

  I went out first. When I saw the hall empty, I signaled her to come out after me. I would have put my arm around her and kissed her again right there, but I stopped when I saw Brayden coming the other way. “There you two are. Come on down to the living room. I need your help with this wedding.”

  “Don’t you have the whole thing planned out?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “We have a taste test with the caterer tomorrow at the venue. Julia has to go to the dress shop, and we need some more opinions at this tasting. I have my tux fitting in th
e morning. Could you two go together?”

  She started to say something, but I jumped in first. “Sure. We’ll go. I’ll give Mckenna a ride.”

  She glared at me. “I can’t go. I have to go to the dress shop with Julia.”

  “I already cleared it with Julia,” Brayden replied. “She’s already got the other five bridesmaids going with her. Besides, this is just a fitting. You were already there when she picked out the dress.”

  “But…” Mckenna started, but Brayden interrupted her.

  “Guys we really need people we trust at this tasting,” Brayden said. He looked straight at me. “Don’t make me pull the groomsmen card on you.”

  I laughed, but she pursed her lips. “I’ll do it for you,” I said.

  “Great.” Brayden pinched her arm and hurried away.

  Mckenna bared her teeth at me. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “I didn’t have to offer to help your brother? Now you’re not making any sense.”

  “You didn’t have to offer to take me in your car.”

  “What was I going to do—take you on the handlebars of my bike?”

  She took a step toward me and hissed through her teeth. “Don’t start making your stupid little jokes. You knew I wanted to go with Julia, and I just said I didn’t want to see you again.”

  “You never said anything of the kind,” I shot back. “You said you didn’t want to spend the night with me at my place. If you really don’t want to see me again, you’ve got a strange way of showing it by fucking me in the closet back there. If you didn’t want to see me, all you had to do was say so.”

  “You knew I planned to go with Julia tomorrow,” she spat. “Now you’ve ruined everything.”

  I stood my ground. “Oh, silly me. I thought I was helping your brother with something he needed to be done for the wedding.”

  “Will you knock that off?” she growled. “Stop being so all-fired helpful, and stop acting like you’re not doing this to get close to me because I know you are. You’re trying to get this thing started up again when I don’t want it to. There. I said it. Are you happy now?”