"Thanks for letting me know." He shook his head wryly. "I'll take my chances in a nice soft bed, thanks. Now, if your offer is still good in the morning, I won't say no."
His smile was warm, and his hazel eyes were even warmer as he said that.
Cassie's heart beat a little faster as she helped him into the bedroom. At the same time, she was a little relieved that nothing else would happen between them tonight. Today's events had knocked her badly off balance.
Helping him to undress now and get into bed wasn't helping her fevered thoughts cool down any either. Even bruised and a little broken, Thor Swanson was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. And he smelled so irresistibly good…
"Sleep well." Cassie forced her voice to remain normal and friendly as she turned away from the bed and headed for the living room. "I saw there's a diner just down the street that serves breakfast. Maybe we can stop there before hitting the road tomorrow morning."
If she got a good night's sleep, she was sure she'd find herself on a more even keel in the morning.
Maybe then, she could figure out how fast and how far she should go with this big, funny, charming firefighter. She was falling for him fast enough that she felt like a bird plummeting out of the sky.
He's ours, her cat reminded her.
It didn't help. She wasn't sure that Thor could catch her before she hit the ground and hurt them both.
Damn you for turning me into a coward, Edward Baldwin!
Cassie headed for her own bedroom, pausing in the living room to grab her suitcase and iPad. While Thor slept, she figured that she would catch up on her email and maybe play a game until she was ready to go to sleep herself.
* * *
Thor had been sure that he'd sink into sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Instead, he found himself lying in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling with its faint pattern of dappled light filtering through the curtains. All of his injuries throbbed with reawakened fury as his casts dragged at his arm and leg.
No matter how often he turned and shifted, he couldn't seem to find a comfortable position on the bed. Last night, he had slept deeply, scarcely noticing his aches and pains. And sleeping in the car hadn't really bothered him, either.
So why were his broken bones tormenting him now? After 24 hours of food and sleep, he should be well on his way to healing up.
He moved restlessly as long minutes passed, then an hour.
As the second hour crawled by, punctuated only by the sound of the occasional car passing on the highway, Thor found himself no closer to obtaining the sleep that his body was screaming for.
Something was keeping him awake…but what? He hadn't had any coffee or cola in hours. Cassie had brought back sweet-sour tamarind juice with dinner, which had been refreshing but not caffeinated.
He heard her moving around the suite, followed by the sound of running water and the low hum of her battery-powered toothbrush. She was clearly preparing to go to sleep.
Sleep. Bed.
And suddenly, he knew why he'd been able to sleep so well last night and today. And why he was having trouble doing it now.
Cassie.
He needed Cassie here, with him.
Thor groaned, knowing that there wasn't any way he'd be able to explain this to her without coming across the wrong way. Not after the kisses they'd shared today.
He could still taste her on his lips, and her scent clung faintly to his skin.
So he said nothing as she finished up in the bathroom, then went to bed.
Another hour passed. Every one of his senses acutely tuned to her presence, he heard her tossing and turning, then finally, the click of her bedside lamp turning on.
It looked like she wasn't having any more luck than he was falling asleep.
Well, here goes nothing, he thought. "Cassie?"
He heard her get up and immediately pad across to his bedroom. She opened the door partway and stuck her head in. "Hey, I thought you'd be asleep by now. Everything okay?"
"You having trouble falling asleep?" he asked.
"Yeah, which is really weird, because I'm really tired. How about you?"
She eased the door open a little further, and he saw that she was wearing her pajamas again.
"Same. I've been thinking—" He swallowed hard "—uh, would you mind sleeping with me again tonight?"
"What?" He saw her tense.
"Just sleep. Nothing else, I swear!" he said hurriedly. "I just seem to, uh, need you close to me to actually fall asleep."
And he was pretty sure that he sounded like the lamest loser in history trying to pick up a girl.
To her credit, Cassie didn't immediately slam the bedroom door and stomp away. She stood there for a long moment, and he saw her frowning in the faint light.
"Well, I'll be damned," she said, her soft Texas drawl strengthening. "Stupid sneaky cat," she muttered under her breath.
Then, to his astonishment and deep relief, she came forward and climbed into the other side of the bed.
Her sweet scent surrounded him, and he felt the warmth of her body next to his. Thor felt himself beginning to yield to sleep at last.
"Good night, Cassie," he murmured. "Sleep well."
She rolled closer to him and gave him a quick, gentle kiss on his cheek. "I only wish I knew what's happening to me."
"You feel it too?" he asked sleepily. "Good."
Afterwards, he couldn't remember if she replied, because a warm wave of sleep swamped him, sucking him down into oblivion.
Chapter 9 – Betrayed
You feel it too?
When Cassie woke the next morning, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to open her eyes and see Thor in bed next to her.
She had slept deeply and dreamlessly. Sometime during the wee hours, she had curled herself around him. Her forehead now rested against his shoulder, and it seemed like the most natural thing in her pre-coffee state to kiss the warm, bare skin so temptingly close to her lips.
He stirred at the touch of her lips and rolled over to face her. "Morning, beautiful."
His smile, which reached all the way to his darkly lashed hazel eyes, made her tingle all the way down to her toes.
"Hey there, handsome," she answered with a smile.
He was big, and strong, and a shifter. That should have sent her running away as fast as she could manage.
In the eighteen months since escaping Ed Baldwin's clutches, Cassie had tried dating again a couple of times. And each time, when she got to the making-out stage with her date, her panic attacks had made it impossible to move forward, leaving her feeling as if something was irrevocably broken inside.
But Thor…all he had to do was touch her, and somehow she felt calm and safe.
And beautiful. He had seen her. All of her. And he still wanted her, despite the ugly network of scars that covered her back and went all the way down to her soul. It felt like a miracle that she didn't deserve.
You gotta find your inner lion, kiddo, her father's voice said in her memory.
Well, here she was, in bed with Thor. And she wanted him. Badly.
If ever there was a time that she needed her inner lion, it was now, before this precious moment passed.
She reached out and stroked his cheek, feeling the soft bristles of his beard under her palm. His dimple appeared, and she knew what she needed to do.
Cassie raised herself up on her elbow and leaned over him. Only inches separated them, but it felt like miles.
Her hand was still pressed to his cheek. She turned his face gently towards her and saw hunger and wonder mingled in his expression.
Her heart began pounding like a crazy drummer. She hesitated.
I'm not afraid, she told herself. Not of him. Never of him.
She felt like a traveler crossing a narrow bridge over a rocky chasm that plunged to unknown depths beneath her feet. And the other side was shrouded in shadows, but it felt like something momentous would happen if she set foot there.
Thor lifted his good hand and tenderly pushed her unruly curls back from her face, tucking them behind her ear. "Cassie?"
His voice broke the spell. She smiled down at him and closed the space that separated their lips.
Thor's mouth was warm and hungry. The sensation of his lips moving over hers made every nerve in her body jump to vibrant life, as if he'd just turned on a switch. She felt illuminated as sizzling light rushed through her veins.
Her inner cat roared with satisfaction and tried to get closer to his delicious heat. She kissed his forehead, each eye, and his nose—which made him grin—before returning to his lips.
After a long, slow, deep kiss that seemed to last a blissful eternity and yet ended far too soon, Thor's mouth traveled to her ear.
She had never realized that a puff of air could feel so utterly erotic or that having her earlobe nipped and then licked would made her want to rub herself shamelessly against him and beg for more.
He chuckled at this. His good hand slipped under her pajama top at her waist as the musky scent of his arousal rose around her like a potent aphrodisiac.
His palm, flat against the bare skin at the small of her back now, urged her gently upwards as his mouth moved to her neck and began to travel down her throat.
The gentle scrape of his beard against the sensitive skin there raised pleasant shivers, as did his teeth, when he alternated soft kisses with gentle nips.
Thor lingered at her collarbones, and she felt the sensual caress of his tongue in the hollow of her throat.
Then he urged her down next to him. Panting, she obeyed, curious and eager to see what he would do next.
The fingertips of his good hand traced a line just above the collar of her pajamas, and her breath caught in anticipation.
He skimmed his hand down and slowly stroked her breast through her pajama top. Almost instantly, her nipple hardened under the light, teasing touch, straining against the thin cotton fabric.
Cassie made a soft sound, somewhere between a gasp of pleasure and a whimper of pure need, and arched eagerly upward.
Thor rolled toward her. She felt his hot breath on her breast through the cloth as he drew her closer. Then his lips close around her nipple and he sucked at her through the fabric.
It felt like a jolt of lightning across her senses. She needed more!
When she opened her mouth this time, it was to moan.
"Take off your top," Thor suggested, his voice low and thick with desire.
He pulled away slightly. Burning with need and deprived of his touch, she fumbled at her buttons. She couldn't get her pajama top off fast enough.
Cassie sat up just long enough to pull it off and fling it to the floor next to the bed. Then she sank down next to him.
Her heart was pounding again, but this time, it was from pure arousal. Every beat in her chest was echoed by an urgent throb between her thighs.
"Have I told you how fucking sexy and gorgeous you are?" Thor said in a sexy growl.
Before she could pull herself together enough to make a coherent reply, he began kissing his way over the generous curve of the breast nearest him.
At the same time, using his good hand, he started to trace a slow spiral over her other breast, beginning at its base. His fingertip circled the sensitive tip of her breast as she begged silently for his touch.
He rewarded her with a light brush over the nipple with his thumb just as his hot mouth closed over her other breast and she felt him use his tongue to tease the tip into a stiff nub.
Cassie found herself panting and clutching at him as arousal surged through her. She was no virgin, but she'd never felt anything like this before, a powerful, throbbing ache between her legs that yearned for something hard and strong to quench it.
Something like the stiff cock currently pressing against her thigh.
With a shock, she realized she wanted Thor to go all the way. She needed him inside her as quickly as possible.
"Thor, please," she gasped. "I need you."
In reply, his teeth closed over her nipple, sending a fresh surge of sensation ripping through her.
His hand left her breast. She felt him stroke her stomach and circle her navel, while his mouth continued to make love to the breast closest to him.
Cassie eagerly opened her thighs when she felt his touch trail lower and slip under the waistband of her pajama bottoms.
Thor lifted his head, and she felt cool air on her wet nipple, tightening it further.
Cassie reached down and found the rigid shaft of his cock. She fisted it and slowly drew her closed hand up its impressive length.
With satisfaction, she heard his breath catch. Good. She wanted to give him as much pleasure as he was giving her.
"Cassie, how far can I go?" he gasped.
Even now, he was thinking about her and wondering if he was pushing her out of her comfort zone.
Screw my comfort zone, she thought defiantly. She had confined herself inside it like its boundaries were the walls of a prison cell. And now she wanted to break free.
"All the way. Please," she begged him, pushing herself up against his hand as she stroked him again.
His eyes went gold. She felt his finger slide lower and reach her folds. He explored her with slow care, circling her clit in a maddening tease before dipping into her swollen entrance.
She panted and arched upwards against his hand in anticipation.
"You're so wet, and I love that I'm the one who did this to you," he said, his deep voice husky with desire. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"Thor, please. Please," she begged brokenly.
He pushed two fingers deep inside her, and she clenched reflexively around him. It felt good, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly enough.
"No, don't," she protested when she felt him pull out.
He gave her a slow, hot smile as he caressed her with his slippery fingers.
She moaned, loudly, when he delicately began stroking her clit with his fingertip. Each touch sent fire and light racing through her belly, and she felt a knot of heat begin to gather at the apex of her thighs.
"Yeah, like that," he urged her. "I want to hear you, Cassie. Let me know that I'm doing this right for you."
"You don't know how great this feels," she gasped. "Don't stop!"
He leaned over and licked the tip of her breast, matching the rhythm of his tongue to the delicious torment his fingers were inflicting further down.
It was all she could do to hold on to her increasingly fragmented consciousness and try to caress him in return. He felt impossibly thick and long against her palm and fingers, and she wanted him inside her with desperate hunger.
The muscles in the pit of her belly tightened in anticipation as she felt her orgasm gathering. She thrust her hips up, moving eagerly against his hand.
"So beautiful, so fucking beautiful," Thor said, just before he bent his head back to her breast and used his teeth to make her writhe in pleasure.
As she enjoyed his lovemaking, Cassie had been peripherally aware of the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside. But she hadn't paid it any mind, since this was a motel located close to the highway…and she had better things to think about right now.
She was close. So close, now…
When someone began pounding heavily on the door to the suite, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Her grip loosened on Thor's cock as she stared wildly in the direction of the living room.
It's Baldwin! He found me! Terror sent icy tendrils shooting through her, extinguishing the heat of passion.
Thor immediately stopped what he was doing too.
His face twisted in a snarl as he sat up.
"What the hell?" he shouted at the door. "Go away!"
"Cassandra Long, we know you're in there!" a man's voice demanded in a Texan drawl.
She recognized that voice. Oh no! It's Paul Katzenberg!
Cassie gasped and sat up. "That's one of Baldwin's goons—he's Pride Fifth and an enf
orcer!" she whispered frantically. "We have to get out of here!"
She looked around wildly and realized that all of the suite's windows faced the parking lot, just like the front door. The rear wall of the motel was windowless where it backed up to the suites on the other side of the building.
"Don't make us come in there, Cassandra," called a second male voice.
A lump of cold dread formed in Cassie's gut as she realized that Alfonzo Tigredientes, the Pride Fourth, was out there as well. He, too was a pride enforcer and Katzenberg's boss.
I am so screwed.
She threw a desperate glance at Thor and opened her mouth to reply. Maybe she could negotiate her way out of this…or at least strike a deal that would keep Thor safe.
He put his finger to his lips and shook his head.
Then, to her alarm, he sat up and reached for the Velcro straps fastening his leg cast.
Without thinking, she reached out and placed her palm squarely in the center of his chest. She shoved him firmly back down against the pillows. It was something she would never have dared do to another shifter before Thor Swanson came tumbling into her life two days ago.
"Oh no you don't!" she whispered fiercely.
"I promised to protect you," he whispered back.
"Cassandra! Come on out now like a good kitty, and no one gets hurt." Tigredientes paused. "We won't even tell Mr. Baldwin that we found his mate shacked up with some guy."
"Mate?" Thor mouthed at her.
Now it was Cassie's turn to shake her head.
"It's not true!" she hissed vehemently. "And I'll tell you everything later, I promise."
"Okay," he said, to her relief.
"Just keep talking to them," Cassie pleaded in a whisper. "Buy me some time."
She saw Thor's jaw set and his dark brows draw together in a frown.
"Please," she begged and touched his bearded cheek before scrambling out of bed.
She yanked her pajama bottoms and panties off and saw Thor shoot her an appreciative glance. He raised his broken right arm as if assessing it, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay," he whispered.
"What the fuck do you want?" Thor raised his voice, glaring in the direction of the suite's front door. "And who the hell is Cassandra?" he demanded.
Flame (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 4) Page 11