The gentle touch of Skye’s hand against the side of his face had him blinking back to the moment, and he found her staring deeply into his heavy-lidded gaze, asking him a silent question. His cock was so hot and swollen, wedged between them, there was no way in hell she’d missed it. None. And now she was wondering why he wasn’t taking things to the next level. Why he wasn’t pushing for it, after the wickedly sexual, intimate things they’d done before falling asleep together. Things that had crossed two firsts off his list, and in Elliot’s mind, had been more than worth the wait.
“Are you hungry?” she murmured, misreading his restraint. “We never did have dinner last night. We should go and find somewhere to get breakfast.”
“I’ll order something in,” he replied. “Or go and grab something. I don’t want you leaving this room until my friends get here and we’re on our way.”
Concern marked her brow. “You really think the bad guys could find us here?”
“I think I don’t want to underestimate anything they can do at this point. Not when your safety is on the line.”
The tension in her face eased, and she pulled that succulent lower lip that he wanted to suck on between her teeth. Those lips... Jesus, those lips of hers were something else.
“What are you thinking about now?” he asked, curving his hand around her naked hip.
Her cheeks started to warm with color, but she only shook her head a little, a soft “Nothing” on her lips as her gaze dropped to his chin.
Pushing her hair back from her face, he said, “Don’t do that. Talk to me.”
Her lashes flickered, and then that luminous green was locked back on him. “I just... I’m still getting used to how...protective you are.”
Ah. And she no doubt meant possessive, as well.
“I’m nowhere near good enough for you,” he started to explain, treading carefully through what he could—and what he couldn’t—say. “Not by a long shot. And I don’t deserve you. But something led me to you. Something twisted fate so that I could find you. And I’m not letting that go without doing everything in my power to fight for what I want. I haven’t...” He paused, giving a hard swallow, before he went on. “I haven’t allowed myself to want anything in a really long time, Skye, and now I’m done with that. Deserving or not, I will find a way to be what you need, and that means I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you protected.”
“Why wouldn’t you be deserving?” she asked quietly.
His chest lifted with a gritty, bitter bark of laughter. “You think you’re the only one with a past that’s shit?”
“What?” He could see the panic bleeding into her expression as clearly as he could feel his own emotions. “What makes you think my past—?”
“Baby,” he said, cutting her off, “you were living in a women’s shelter at sixteen.”
“Oh. Uh, that was...because...” Her voice trailed off, and she lowered her gaze, lip caught right back in the punishing grip of her teeth.
“I know there’s a story there,” he said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss between her slender brows. “Obviously one you don’t want to tell me. But I’m ready to listen the moment that changes.”
She nodded, and he could see the relief in her incredible eyes just before her lashes swept down again, casting shadows on her cheeks. Lowering his head, he pressed another kiss to the tip of her nose, which made her give a small, shaky laugh that had his chest going hot. His lips veered right, sweeping over her freckled cheek, and he loved how her skin felt against his mouth. How warm and silky, the rising scent of her arousal filling his head with each hungry breath that he drew into his lungs.
She curled her hands around his biceps, the bite of her nails digging into his muscles pulling a rough growl from deep in his chest as he pushed her onto her back, bracing himself with one hand pressed flat against the bed. Her head went back, giving him easier access as he kissed his way down the vulnerable curve of her throat, a sexy gasp on her lips when he curled his free hand around a soft, heavy breast, her small nipple deliciously thick and tight beneath the pad of his thumb.
“You feel so amazing,” he groaned, sliding one of his thighs over hers as he kissed his way over her collarbone, lips skimming across her upper chest.
“God, Elliot. You, too,” she panted, curving her hot hands over his shoulders and squeezing, the tremor moving through her limbs telling him she was just as needy as he was.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, he groaned in silent gratitude to whoever the hell might be out there listening, unable to wait a second longer before he covered the candy-pink tip of her other breast with his eager mouth. She tasted so sweet he had to lick his way over to the one he held, his hand pushing the heavy mound up in offering as he sucked on it just as hungrily, while throaty little gasps of sound fell from her lips.
With one last swirling lick to her succulent nipple, Elliot braced his hands on either side of her shoulders, and lowered his face over hers. “I know we’re in a shitload of trouble,” he murmured, “but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really fucking happy right now.”
A shy smile curved her mouth, pretty green eyes hazy with desire. “Me, too.”
Lowering his head again, he touched his lips to a few of her adorable freckles, then the edge of her jaw, and finally those plush, velvety soft lips, his tongue sliding inside to rub against hers when she gave him a breathy sigh of pleasure. Desperate to feel her trapped beneath him, and no longer able to recall why he shouldn’t take things too far, Elliot shifted his long body over hers...and kneed her legs apart. His breath hissed through his teeth as she spread her creamy thighs even wider for him, then reached down and yanked on his hips, bringing his erection flush against the hot, slippery folds of her sex.
“I want to own you, Skye. Every gorgeous, beautiful inch of you,” he growled against her open mouth, stroking himself against her. “Want so deep inside you, you can’t ever get me out.”
She gripped him by the hair, pulling his head up until he was no longer kissing her, but looking her directly in the eye. “Then why?” she asked, searching his gaze.
Racking his brain for an answer, Elliot tried to figure out what she could be asking him, but he couldn’t think through the thickening fog of hunger and lust that was clouding his head. “Why what?”
Pushing her fingers through his hair, she said, “If you want me...like that, then why didn’t you...take things further last night?”
His hips stilled, and a slow, wry smile started to kick up the edge of his mouth. “I wanted to. You have no idea how badly I wanted to get inside you,” he admitted in a voice that had gone hoarse with need, then shook his head a little. “But I don’t want to rush you, Skye. I don’t want you to...”
His voice trailed off, but she wouldn’t let it go. “You don’t want me to what?”
Hating how goddamn vulnerable he felt, he forced out a gritty “To regret it. I don’t want to do something that you can’t go back and undo.”
Her eyes went dark with determination. “If that’s the only thing holding you back, then stop.”
“Stop?” he croaked, pretty sure his heart had just clawed its way up into his throat.
“No, not this,” she said, hooking her hands at the back of his neck as she lifted her hips in a sensual move that had the slick folds of her sex rubbing against him, and his heart dropped back down so quickly he almost flinched. “Stop holding back on me. Because the only thing I could regret about this is not having you. I’ve never...never wanted anything in my life like this, and I don’t want to wait. I want you now.”
Hoping like hell she wasn’t saying any of that because she was worried she might not have all that much time left, he cupped the side of her face in his hand, his voice almost savage as he said, “You can trust me when I tell you I won’t ever let anything happen to you. I swear that Chiswick asshole and the guys who work for him aren’t getting anywhere near you.”
“I do trust you. And I need you. So now
it’s your turn to trust me. Please,” she begged, arching against him. “I know exactly what I’m asking you for. I swear this is what I want now, and it’s what I’m going to want tomorrow. I’m not going to regret it. I could never regret it.”
“Skye,” he groaned, sliding down and pressing his open mouth to the hammering beat of her pulse at the base of her throat. It was like a little butterfly under his tongue, rapid and beautiful. Her life’s blood pumping through her body, calling to the beast inside him until he was trembling with the need to release his fangs, bury them in the tender curve of her throat and mark her.
Using his shoulders for leverage, she did this wicked thing with her hips that suddenly had his crown pressing right against her small, delicate entrance, and he froze, shaking, throat so tight he could barely force out the words he needed to say in order to protect her. “I’m not...wearing a...fucking condom.”
“It’s okay,” she breathed, threading those soft hands through his hair. “I’m on the Pill because of some problems I had with my cycle. So if we’re both...healthy?”
His head jerked up so fast he nearly clipped her on the chin. “I am,” he scraped out, sweating, unable to keep from pushing just the throbbing, heavy tip of him inside her. “Lycans...we can’t carry those types of diseases.”
“Then we’re good,” she encouraged him with a breathtaking smile, trailing her hands over the sides of his straining throat. “It’s been...um, like forever for me.”
His cock somehow shot even harder at those intimate words, veins pulsing beneath the tight stretch of his skin, and he could feel a muscle start to tic at the edge of his jaw. He was only seconds away from completely losing his shit, and as he shook the sweat out of his eyes, Elliot clawed on to every shred of control he could find.
“You better be sure you want this,” he forced through his gritted teeth, his hooded gaze locked hard on hers. “Because there’s no turning back once I’m in.”
“I’m sure,” she gasped, face rosy and flushed with heat, and the way she curled her calves around the backs of his thighs, trying to pull him deeper, nearly made his eyes roll back in his head. “I promise, Ell. I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
Between the way she was touching him, and looking at him, and that sexy way she’d just shortened his name—yeah, he was done for. He couldn’t keep himself off her now even if the Hounds of Hell themselves were on his back, determined to make a meal out of him.
Jaw clenched tight and nostrils flared like a stallion’s, Elliot pushed in an inch...and then another, some kind of dark, primitive sound tearing up from his throat as he felt her drenched, pillow-soft flesh envelop him, taking him in. He pulled back, and his hips shot forward again, feeding his throbbing shaft deeper into that tight, plush opening, her husky cry of surprise ringing in his ears. It was a thick, hot slide, and he loved the way her body fought to hold him inside as he slowly withdrew, then shoved himself back in.
“I... Oh, God,” he rasped, his entire body shuddering from the primal, searing sensations, the muscles in his arms showing in stark relief beneath his dark skin as he fisted his hands in the sheets, dug his knees into the mattress, and gave it to her a little harder...a little deeper. She was impossibly snug, the lush, wet clasp of her body so good it was killing him not to just slam his way home and unload.
“Hey, are you okay?” she whispered breathlessly, blinking up at him as she pushed his damp hair back from his face with a shaky hand.
Was he...okay? He groaned in an agony of pleasure and frustration. Her body was so hot and slick, but she was also tight as a fist. Damn it, he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Elliot?”
He squeezed his eyes shut as he tucked his chin into his chest, struggling not to completely lose it. “It’s just... Christ, Skye. You feel so goddamn good, and I’m trying so hard to keep it together.”
“Oh.”
He forced his head up just in time to catch the confused expression crossing her face. “What?” he grunted.
Licking her pink lips, she said, “It’s just... I mean, isn’t this kinda...the usual for you? I know you could get any woman you wanted. It’s not like...it’s...you know...”
Special? Different? Means something? She could be thinking any of those things, and it made him scowl, as if she saw him as some kind of friggin’ playboy, when that couldn’t be more wrong. “You want the truth?” he asked, as he went still inside her.
She nodded, catching her lower lip in her teeth, her hands clutching at his sides.
He exhaled in a harsh rush, his heart beating so hard he could feel it in every part of him. “The truth,” he scraped out, his voice like gravel, “is that I...I haven’t done this in a...a really long time. Not since I was a teenager.”
And, damn it, now he was done taking it slow.
Her eyes went wide with shock, then hazy with anticipation as Elliot deliberately pulled back his hips, drew in a deep breath and, with his hooded gaze locked tight on hers, slammed back into her. A scream jerked from her lips as he buried himself so deep there wasn’t so much as a sliver of space between their bodies.
Bracing himself on his forearms, he ground himself against her cushioned mound, and with his face directly over her flushed one, he growled, “And even if I screwed a different woman every week, this—being inside you like this—would still be blowing my mind, because it’s you. Because you’re fucking incredible and I just want to stay buried inside you every goddamn day and night.” He lowered his head, nipping at that sexy-as-hell lower lip of hers that drove him crazy. “I never want to leave,” he admitted in a soft, throaty rasp that was thick with emotion.
“Elliot,” she moaned, pushing her fingers into his hair and pulling him closer as she lifted up and smashed her mouth against his, kissing him like she wanted to consume him. Her hips rolled against him, telling him it was okay to start moving again, that she was ready for him. With a sharp exhalation of relief, he let himself thrust like he was dying to—though he was still careful to keep from losing too much control, mindful that she needed his restraint.
She might not have been a virgin, but she clearly wasn’t any more experienced than he was. They weren’t following any script on how this should go or taking cues from past lovers. They were making the moment entirely their own. And, God, he loved it. He’d already been addicted to this girl, and now... Now he was owned. Every single part of him.
When she gave a breathless cry, tightening around him with a hot, slick pulse, her nails digging into the bunched muscles in his arms, he knew she was close. “God, yes. Come for me,” he growled, his voice raw. “Now, Skye. Please, now. I need to feel it.”
He brought his thumb to his mouth, licked it, then reached between them and pressed it against the swollen heat of her clit, his thighs and abs flexing as he drove himself into her even harder...faster. She gasped, nails digging deeper into his skin with a delicious bite of pain, and then her head shot back and she started coming on him...around him. With a deep, guttural snarl on his lips, he fisted his hand in the back of her hair and forced her head up, catching her mouth, loving the sexy, keening little sounds she was making, eating at them like bites of candy.
He could feel his own release building at the base of his spine, and had to rip his mouth from hers when his deadly fangs suddenly burst free of his gums, sharper and heavier than they’d ever been. Shoving himself up on his straight arms, Elliot moved into her so hard the bed started slamming against the wall. Through heavy-lidded eyes, he ran his hungry gaze down her beautiful body, taking in her swaying breasts that matched the pounding rhythm of his hips, over her rounded belly, down to that pink, tender flesh that glistened with her juices. He growled as he watched the way she took him in, and the sight of his brutal penetration—of their two bodies becoming one—sent him crashing so hard over the edge he roared, slamming deep and erupting inside her with such force it kept jerking stark, visceral sounds up from deep in his chest, until he was nearly hoarse.
/> When he could finally pull in a desperate breath of air, he forced his fangs to retract and collapsed over her, still thrusting, rooting out every last second of sensation, her name a whispered litany on his lips as he buried his hot face in the silken waves of her hair. He’d never felt this good before in his life, the wet sounds of their bodies moving together satisfying a possessive, primitive need he’d never even known he had. But there was no doubt of its existence now. He’d drenched her, filling her until she was covered in him, and he couldn’t stop his lips from curving with a smile of pure, masculine satisfaction.
“You are one incredible fucking woman,” he groaned against her ear, nipping her earlobe with his teeth. And you’re mine. So fucking mine.
She was still panting too hard to say anything, but there was a gorgeous smile on her lips when he lifted his head, and he couldn’t help but kiss it.
Knowing damn well it was his job now to take care of her, he forced his hips back at a careful pace, when all he really wanted was to stay packed up deep inside her for the rest of the day. But she was probably uncomfortable, and he was determined to do this right.
Drawing back until he was braced over her on his hands and knees, he started to shift to the side, so he could move off the bed, when he looked down and saw a streak of blood.
Taking a deep breath, Elliot forced his head up and made himself look right at her, knowing by the way she gasped that his eyes were glowing with the vibrant, inhuman golden color of his wolf. Deep voice tight with concern, and no small amount of restraint, he asked, “Are you okay? There’s...blood. Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she said gently, another soft smile on her lips as she rubbed her hands over his boulder-size biceps, his body gripped hard with tension. “It’s just that it’s been a long time for me, too. And...you’re not exactly average-size,” she added wryly, blushing so hard it suddenly made him want to grin right back at her.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, studying her face for any signs of pain. But she just looked...happy, and the relief he felt was so piercing he could have collapsed with it.
Wild Wolf Claiming Page 16