Her shivery voice was low, breathless. “And exactly how do you f-feel about me? I mean, now?”
There was an almost wry twitch to his lips as he stared back at her. “It’s cute as hell that you can’t see it,” he muttered, shaking his head a little, “when my friends all knew the second they saw us together.”
“Elliot, listen,” she whispered, making a move to stand up—but he stopped her with nothing more than a look.
“No, you listen, Skye. Just shut up, sit there, and for once listen to what I’m saying.” He shoved one trembling hand back through his hair again, his deep voice vibrating with emotion as he said, “I would choose you over and over and over again. Over any other woman in this pack or this state or the entire goddamn world, because you are my idea of perfection. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you. You’re what I want.”
She bit her lip as she let those gravelly words linger in the air between them, soaking them in, wishing that she could find a way to have faith in them. Did she already believe him? Was it really that simple? Or was she just latching on to what she wanted to believe? Then she recalled what had started this whole argument off to begin with, and she shot him a sharp look of surprise. “How did you manage to get Max on the phone?”
If he was frustrated by the change in topic, he didn’t let on. Coming around the coffee table, he sat down on its wooden surface right in front of her, his long legs on either side of hers as he leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “I was calling him to leave another voice mail. Just wanted to let him know that we’d made it here. But he surprised me by answering his phone.”
She searched his gaze, her stomach dropping when she read the worry there. “Did he tell you what’s happened to them? Where they’re at?”
There was a grim set to his jaw as he shook his head. “He wouldn’t tell me anything. Just that Vivian is safe, but...”
“But what?” she pressed, when his quiet words trailed off.
Taking one of her cold hands in his, he said, “I don’t think she’s learned what he is. But even so, she refuses to come here with him.”
Confusion creased her brow, and as the other parts of the conversation she’d overheard started to come back to her, her heart began to beat so hard she could feel each thump echoing through her body. “Even...even knowing that I’m here, she won’t come?”
“I’m sorry, Skye. I don’t know what’s going on. I got lucky catching Max when I did, but I don’t think he’ll answer his phone again anytime soon. Something’s going on between those two—but I don’t know what. I just know that he’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.”
Her shoulders fell with disappointment and exhaustion. “At least there’s that,” she murmured, exhaling a shaky breath.
He gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “Yeah.”
The silence stretched out, on the verge of becoming awkward, since she still didn’t know what to say about all that other stuff. But then he used his grip on her hand to gently tug her to her feet, and said, “Come on. I know we still need to talk, but let’s get you fed first.”
They went together to the kitchen, grabbed the plates of sandwiches he’d made and two cans of Pepsi from the fridge, then sat down at the table. She picked at her food as she asked him a few questions about the people she’d met when they’d gotten there, but it was clear that they were both thinking about other things. When they’d loaded the plates into the dishwasher, she could no longer hold in the words that were burning in her throat. “Tell me, please,” she said unsteadily, cutting him a curious sideways look from behind the fall of her hair.
“Tell you what, baby?” he asked, turning and crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the counter.
She pulled in a deep breath for courage, then looked him right in the eye. “How...how do you feel about me?”
The briefest of smiles lifted the corner of his beautiful mouth. “I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m crazy about you.”
She couldn’t stop the answering smile that suddenly twitched at the corner of her own mouth, while a fresh burst of tears burned at the backs of her eyes. “I’m...crazy about you, too. So much that you’re all I can think about.”
He managed to remain leaning against the counter for all of two seconds, the way he ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth as he returned her intense gaze so damn sexy it made her gasp—and then he exploded into action. Before she could draw her next breath, he was in front of her, one hand fisting aggressively...possessively...in her hair, pulling her head back so that he could claim her mouth with his, while the other gripped her hip and jerked her against him.
“We’ll talk later,” he muttered against her lips, before nipping her lower one with his teeth.
“Tell me what you want,” she moaned, shoving her hands into his hair as he reached between them and started unbuttoning her jeans.
“I want to have you in every room in this cabin, Skye. On every surface,” he said in a voice that was rough and raw with need, as he shoved his hand into the front of her panties. He found her warm and slick, the sexy growl that rumbled up from his chest an unmistakable sign of how much he liked it.
Rising up on her toes, she crashed her mouth against his, kissing him so hard and desperately she hadn’t even realized he’d picked her up and started walking until he was tossing her into the middle of his massive king-size bed. She also hadn’t realized she’d lost her jeans somewhere along the way, and she couldn’t help but grin up at him, thinking Damn, he’s good.
“Get the rest of your fucking clothes off,” he growled, watching her with a sharp, predatory hunger from where he stood at the foot of the bed. As she followed the dominant, wildly erotic command, there was a part of her that probably should have been at least slightly terrified—but she was too in love with him to be afraid.
Too in love with him...?
Um, yeah...that crazy-ass thought had just come from her. She was too caught up in the way that Elliot was looking at her, though, to freak out about it. And, seriously, what woman wouldn’t be head over heels for this man?
He’d already removed his shirt and his boots, and he took his jeans and underwear down in one move, kicking them away. Then he was crawling over her, all those powerful, mouthwatering muscles drawn tight under his golden skin, rippling and lean, and she made some kind of keening sound of need, desperate to touch him...to feel him. But he was already shoving her thighs wide, his open mouth covering her drenched sex a fraction of a second before he had his tongue pushed deep inside her. She cried out, arms flung wide, body trapped in a devastating maelstrom of pleasure as he started a delicious combination of ravenous, greedy licks and hungry, penetrating thrusts.
Needing to watch him go wild on her, Skye somehow found the strength to lift up onto her elbows, her breathing so rapid and fast she sounded like she was running a marathon. Then she was biting down hard on her lower lip, trying to choke back a deafening scream as she got caught in the power of a hard, explosive orgasm that tore itself all the way through to her soul. She gasped and moaned as she rode it out, unable to take her eyes away from how he looked lying there between her legs, his avid mouth moving against her slick, softly pulsing flesh, and as he lifted his hooded gaze over the shivering length of her body, his dark eyes burned as he watched her watching him. He didn’t stop until the last tremor had eased its way through her, leaving her panting and flushed, and then he rose up and knelt there between her trembling thighs, his magnificent body hard and brutally aroused, making him look like a freaking god.
He wiped one of his big hands across his wet lips and chin, and with a primal growl in his throat, he came down over her, lapping and nipping at her flesh as he worked his way up to her mouth, his upper body braced on the hand he’d buried in the pillow by her head. Her breath caught as she felt him reach between them, and then the hot, thick head of his cock was pressing against her tight, tender entrance. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip,
nipped it again with his teeth, then lifted his head just enough that he could watch her face. With one powerful thrust of his hips, he buried himself so hard and deep, she knew she’d taken nearly every inch of him.
“Skye,” he said in a voice so raw and low she wasn’t sure she heard it, so much as felt it. Felt the emotion behind it.
Her throat shook, melting, pleasure burning through every cell in her body as he started to move. Shoving her hands into his thick hair, she held him tight, drowning in the glittering depths of his beautiful, animal-colored eyes, and in a voice so husky it didn’t even sound like hers, she said, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
* * *
I love you...love you...love you. But I can’t tell you. Not yet. Not until I... Until I’ve told you everything.
Those were Elliot’s thoughts, but he couldn’t utter a single one of them. Because he was afraid. Terrified out of his goddamn mind, actually, and feeling like the ground had just been ripped right out from under him.
Shit, he loved her. Was in love with her. And he wasn’t prepared to deal with it. Not yet. He didn’t know what the hell to tell her, when he couldn’t tell her everything. It was all so screwed-up and wrong, when nothing should have felt more right.
Tell her the truth! All of it! his wolf snarled, and he flinched, knowing the bastard was right.
But instead of taking the beast’s advice, all he heard himself say was, “I love how you hold me. How it feels to have this beautiful body beneath me, cradling me, so soft and warm. You’ve damn well ruined me for anyone else.”
“Good.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to her tender ones. “Only you, Skye. I’ll never want another woman for as long as I live. Only you,” he breathed, keeping his eyes open and locked hard on hers, wanting her to see for herself that he meant every word. “So you have to trust me, baby. You have to trust in what I feel for you.”
“I want to,” she gasped, using her hold on his hair to crush his mouth against hers, her sweet tongue pushing between his parted lips.
Desperate to try yet another thing that he’d never done before, Elliot wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as he rolled onto his back. She gasped again as she suddenly found herself lying on top of him, her big eyes going wide with shock.
Voice little more than a guttural scrape of sound, he gripped her hips, and said, “Fuck me, Skye. Ride me.”
Her lashes fluttered as she braced her hands against his chest and pushed up a bit, her long hair falling in wild, beautiful waves around her shoulders, heavy breasts swaying with her rapid breaths. “Elliot, I...I don’t know about this.”
“Am I hurting you?” he grunted, lifting her up and holding her there, about halfway up his shaft.
Her hair flew around her shoulders as she shook her head. “No. I mean...you’re huge, but I can handle it.”
He groaned, unable to keep his hips from punching up while he dug his fingers into her soft flesh and pulled her down, packing every inch of him deep inside her warm, wet heaven. “Then what’s the problem?”
“It’s...um...me. I feel too exposed. All the lights are still on, and...and I feel like you’re going to—”
He cut her off with a rough, thick sound of frustration. “Unless you’re about to say that you feel like I’m going to lose my friggin’ mind because you’re so damn sexy and beautiful, you need to just shut up.”
Instead of arguing with him, she drew in a deep breath, and he could see the instant she finally decided to listen...and try. With that lush lower lip caught tight in her teeth, she gave herself a moment to simply stare down at him, those breathtaking eyes reading his face...every facet of his expression. He did his best to leave himself wide-open, wanting her to see it all, because in this—in his need and lust and desire for her—he had nothing to hide. Not a single goddamn thing.
See it, baby, he thought, stroking his hands over her soft skin, desperate for her faith in a way he’d never experienced. Not even when his parents had kicked him out at seventeen. Not in his entire life. Believe it. Believe in me.
He squeezed her hips between his big hands, then ran them down, over her creamy thighs, and his dick swelled inside her snug, slick sex. Somehow, he got even harder...thicker. She swayed above him...shivering...the tender tremors moving through her lush body, until they vibrated around his iron-hard shaft, the sensation so intense it nearly sent his eyes rolling back in his head. But he willed himself to keep his heavy-lidded gaze locked tight on her face, not wanting to miss the moment when she finally got it.
And God, it was worth it.
The tremors got harder, her eyes went wide again, and then those plump pink lips parted for the sweetest, softest gasp he’d ever heard. “You...you really mean it.”
“Damn right I do.” He curved his hands over the perfect swell of her hips, reaching around and squeezing the mouthwatering globes of her ass. “Your body is my heaven and holy ground and temple all rolled into one, and I just want to fucking worship it. I don’t ever want to stop.”
She leaned forward, bracing her hands on either side of his head, all that long, honey-blond hair falling around them like a veil as her soft lips found his. She teased him with fleeting butterfly sweeps of her lips, her tongue taking dainty licks that danced just inside his mouth, and he swore he could feel her smile when he gave a loud, impatient growl. And all the while, her tight, wet heat was squeezing that most sensitive part of him, making him throb.
“More,” he scraped out, trailing one shaky hand up the sensuous line of her spine to fist in the back of her hair, close to her scalp, while the other curved back over her hip. “Now,” he demanded, pushing his tongue into that sweet little mouth at the same time he braced his feet against the bed and shoved himself deeper with a hard, driving thrust.
She moaned into his mouth, and he gave her a moment to get used to him being that far inside her. He was heavier and broader than he’d ever been, the shaft so swollen and tight he felt like he might burst.
“Christ,” he gasped against her soft lips, when she started rolling her hips, moving on him...the feeling so intense he wanted to howl. “That’s it, baby. Let go and fuck me back.”
“Feels so good,” she panted, her open mouth sweet and hot over his, the hard tips of her breasts rubbing across his chest as their sweat-slick bodies slid against each other, her thighs hugging his hips, her mouthwatering scent and taste all over him. It was so damn incredible—too incredible—and Elliot had to use his grip on her hair to pull her head back, his fangs suddenly dropping from his gums in a sharp, vicious burst of heat.
He started to turn his head away, terrified he would frighten her, when she shocked the hell out of him by laying her soft hand against the side of his face, silently telling him it was okay. Breathing so hard that it hurt, he flicked his tongue over the pointed tip of a fang, the way her eyes went hot making him bite out a hoarse curse. Jesus, this woman was killing him.
“Will you...will you claim me?” she whispered, still pulsing those gorgeous hips against him in a way that had him sweating and shaking, the pleasure so intense he felt like she could melt him down. “Will you bite me and bind us together, like the other couples here?”
He licked his lips, guttural voice more animal than man as he told her, “Only when you’re ready.”
“Are you ready?”
He gave her a sharp, wolfish smile. “From the first second I saw you.” Then, a quieter “But...we’ll wait.”
“Will I like it?” she asked, the sensual smile touching her lips, as she pressed her hands against his chest and started riding him faster...harder, the most beautiful damn thing he’d ever seen.
“You’ll love it,” he growled, knowing he was about two seconds away from completely losing it. Reaching behind his head, Elliot fisted his hands around the metal bars of his headboard, his grip so hard there was no doubt he’d be leaving deep indentations behind. Fangs heavy in his mouth and eyes burning with what had to be a brig
ht, molten gold, he told her, “Harder, Skye. Ride me harder. Show me just what that gorgeous body of yours can do.”
She rose up and threw her head back, exposing the pale, vulnerable length of her throat, her beautiful breasts bouncing as she moved, and Elliot knew he wasn’t going to last. With a thick, animalistic sound of hunger falling from his lips, he sat up and twisted, taking her down to the bed in a move that was too fast to have been done by any human. Her eyes went heavy with satisfaction, as if she loved seeing him so close to the edge of his control. And the way her nails dug into his hard shoulders, as she tried to drag him closer, made it clear that she wasn’t afraid. Forcing his fangs to retract, he reached down and caught her behind her knees, shoving her legs up as he came down over her.
“You’re mine,” he growled against her mouth, grinding against her, determined to send her crashing over the edge. “Now come for me, baby. I want you to come all over me.”
* * *
With those rough, raw-edged words echoing through her head, Skye cried out against his hot mouth, and gave him exactly what he’d asked for. Her orgasm was wet and tight and deliciously lush as he continued to pump his hips, prolonging her pleasure in a way that pulled another sharp cry from her lips. And then he was crashing over that dark, violent edge with her, coming so hard she could feel it. The wicked sensation shoved her into another screaming release, and he just kept thrusting so strong and powerfully, giving her all of him. Giving her everything.
God...just... God. She never...she never knew. Never really believed it could be like that—like it was with Elliot. That sex could feel that freaking good and special and breathtakingly intense. It was—he was—so much more than she’d ever hoped for...or dreamed of...or dared to imagine. He was everything to her. Heart, soul and future.
And yet, even as they lay there on the tangled sheets, wrecked with pleasure and gasping for breath, she couldn’t help but feel that there was something—some unknown—still wedged between them. Something keeping him from being completely open with her. And it wasn’t in the way he touched her. It was more...more of a shadow that would cross his eyes. A roughness in his deep voice, as if there was always something waiting on the back of his tongue that needed to be said, but that he fought back. That he refused to set free.
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