by Michele Hauf
It mattered little what she thought about him. All that mattered was that he had to follow this feeling of desire. If she was the one for him, he would not relent until she was his.
* * *
An hour before she intended to meet Seth, teacup in hand, Bella peeked out the window. Like clockwork, he again was sitting on the bus-stop bench. Silently stalwart. Clothed in leather and looking like something no fool would want to mess with. A force not to be overlooked.
A force whose black boxer briefs had hung like a blatant you’ve-been-naughty flag in her bathroom. She’d plucked them down and folded them neatly. How did she return such a thing to someone she hardly knew? Discreetly slip them from her purse and mutter, “You forgot these”?
Bella rolled her eyes. Wasn’t it usually the woman who slipped her underwear into the man’s things? She bet Mr. Big Bad Werewolf would love to find her panties among his things. But not when he was dutifully guarding her from the other Big Bads.
She wondered about the relationship between vam-pires and werewolves. Severo had made it clear he didn’t like vampires. But was that just him, or did they all battle and clash?
Either way, with vampires after her, she was glad to have a vampire hater on her side.
Although when he was around, no real sides existed. He had no respect for her personal space. He got close enough to breathe her air, and she his.
Initially it had disturbed her. Now it felt…nice.
Had she really gotten close to naked with him in the pool?
She didn’t think she’d ever touched hard muscles like his before. And his kisses…
There weren’t words for the way his kiss made her feel. Instead, a sensual shiver whispered over her shoulders, reminding her of his power.
Clinking her spoon against the porcelain teacup, she wandered across the room. It was the perfect evening to sit outside on the lounge chair and watch the sun disappear on the horizon. Glamorous light glittered across the pool. But she wondered if her protector would have her back if she was out of view.
Surely he’d smell them coming a mile away, she realized, and decided outside it was.
Three minutes passed before her fence jumper appeared. Bella didn’t even startle. She merely glanced over the rim of her teacup at the imposing hunk of male.
“You shouldn’t be outside at night,” he told her.
“It’s evening. The sun hasn’t set.”
“Do you always correct people, Bella?”
“I—” She did. It was a bad habit. “You can’t keep away from me, can you?”
“I’m going to take that comment as an invitation. Mind if I join you?”
She slid her knees up on the lounge chair so he could sit on the other end. Naturally, he chose the middle, stretching his legs before him. A deft slide of his arm put her legs over his lap. He stroked her skin above the anklebone and grinned at her.
“Chai?” he asked.
“Good guess.”
“I could smell the cardamom, cinnamon and honey from the bench out front. Anise, too, I think. Or is that your clove perfume?”
“Okay, you’ve impressed me with your olfactory superpowers. Tell me something I don’t know. You tracked me to my home? So you can pick out anyone and find them if you have their scent?”
“Usually. Within a range. The suburbs are spread out, so the range is not so difficult. But in the city proper so many people are wedged into every nook, cranny, car and house that it takes a while to detect some.”
“But you followed me like a bloodhound to the bone, eh?”
“Something like that.”
He bent and kissed her ankle. The ends of his hair tickled the top of her foot. Bella curled her toes. Had she been thinking that long hair didn’t attract her?
“You’re more comfortable with my presence now.” It wasn’t a question.
“Apparently. I may even invite you in to watch a movie.”
“I enjoy movies. But let me guess. A werewolf flick?”
“No, it’s a romance I picked up the other day. Probably a tearjerker.”
“And you want me to watch it with you? I’ll take a rain check.”
“Ah, I’ve uncovered a weakness. The man doesn’t do emotional scenes.”
“This man prefers action, gun fights and explosions. Besides, I don’t need a movie. I’m plenty entertained sitting right here, watching you sip tea. Your lips purse and look like candy treats when you sip. I’d love to nibble on that thick upper lip right now.”
“You’ll spill my tea.”
“Set it down.”
“You’re bossing me again.”
“And you’re going to listen.”
He held his hand out for the teacup.
With but a two-second pause to consider her options, Bella set the cup on his palm. He set it on the patio.
The man’s body glided along hers. His fingers raked through her hair and his mouth met hers in a soft collision. The throaty sound of his pleasure rumbled against her senses, bruising them, opening them to every soft breath, touch and sound. The air changed, as it usually did when Severo kissed her. It became light and heady and so unnecessary.
A dash of his tongue to the underside of her upper lip stirred up a pleasure-drenched moan from Bella.
“Angry you succumbed?” he asked against her mouth.
“When do I get to boss you around?”
“Whenever you wish, I shall do as you command. Except leave or stop watching out for you.”
“Anything I ask?”
“Within the realm of the possible. I’ll not humiliate myself for you, so don’t ask me to do something silly.” The brush of his beard across her collarbone drew a sigh from her. “And just so you know, I prefer anything having to do with touching you and making you feel good.”
She did, too. But what could she ask of him? What dare she ask of him? This was a fantasy come true. Only, she’d never fantasized about a paranormal lover. Just a commanding one. A man sure of himself and what he could do for her.
And wasn’t that the opposite of how she envisioned herself? Bella Reynolds, strong, capable, not about to take shit from anyone.
Unless he asked with that mischievous glint to his eyes.
He still leaned over her. She touched the base of his neck where the fine hairs flowed down and across his chest. She twirled her fingertip among them, liking the silky play of them across the whorls of her skin. He stretched his neck, as if he were a cat coaxing her to stroke him.
“You like that?” she asked.
“I should not admit this, but your touch… It gentles me.”
She liked the sound of that. Of taming a wild and wicked stranger. Because she still considered him a stranger.
Heck, she didn’t know his full name. By now she should have looked him up on Google. Was Severo even a name? It was probably his last name. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to know his whole name. Might spoil the adventure, which, he’d correctly guessed, she loved so much.
“Take off your shirt,” she decided. Bella grinned, savoring the empowerment she hadn’t thought he would allow her.
The small black buttons slid from their slots faster than she thought possible. Shirt abandoned on the ground before the lounge chair, her wicked stranger smiled in anticipation and waited for direction.
This was too easy. This wasn’t empowerment. The man was just plain horny. He’d strip naked for her if she asked.
However, nothing was wrong with a better view of this guy’s ripped body.
She ran her fingers across his chest, raking her nails over his tiny rigid nipples. He clenched his jaw and gave her quick kisses to her chin and at her earlobe.
“I’ve never touched a man with chest hair before. I like it. It’s so masculine.”
“Your touch renders me hungry for more, sweet. What is your next command?”
“Hmm, take off my shirt,” she said, sliding up a knee to hug his hip. “And that’s it for tonight. Deal? Shirts off,
nothing else.”
“Second base. I can live with that.”
“You’d better not make me regret it.”
“Never.”
She lifted her arms as he tugged off her T-shirt. The air swirled across her bare breasts, only to be quickly replaced by his hot mouth on her nipple.
Arching her back lifted her breast up against his mouth, and he answered her plea with insistent suckling and a gentle tweak to the other one with his thumb.
“Your breasts are gorgeous. I could feast upon them all day and night and never wish for more.”
“Sweet talker, you. Oh, mercy, that’s good. That tongue of yours makes me tingle all over.”
“Tingles are for amateurs. I’m going to make you come, sweet.”
“But we agreed second base was it.”
“I don’t need to go further.” He lashed his tongue across her nipple and dipped his head to the left to pay the other breast its due. “Mmm, your breasts fit my hands as if they were made for them. I like them this size. Small yet so round.”
With a hand behind her back, he lifted her and pressed her groin against his. The intense tugging and laving at her nipples sent exotic shivers scurrying through her body in all directions. He alternated between quick laps with the pointed tip of his tongue and long, sweeping tastes all about her rigid flesh.
Her breasts were so sensitive to a man’s touch, but more so at Severo’s attentions. Bella felt his tongue all the way through her body as the delicious sensations traveled up, down and everywhere in between.
He dizzied her with his talent. And he was making her so wet that she clenched her thighs to capture the feeling, to increase the intensity that hummed there.
“Yes, squeeze your thighs together to make it happen, sweet. Come for me.”
No man had ever talked to her like that. But the words sounded so sexy coming out in his husky voice and in a wanting, deep tone that hummed against her flesh.
Pushing her fingers through his hair, she dug in and tugged.
He laved across her nipple slowly. “Hot and…receptive. God, you are so sensitive, Bella. Do you feel this in your—?”
He used a word that startled her yet at the same time made her gasp with desire. Because he was right on target. The man knew what his touch was capable of. He could make her come merely by—
Could he? She might have an orgasm if he slicked his tongue a little to the right.
A soft nip at the outer edge of her areola was what did it.
Bella cried out as an orgasm utterly blindsided her and swept her up. Her body shook beneath his powerful torso. His hands glided across her breasts. He kissed them slowly, dragging his tongue around them and then up to her mouth, where he caught her surrendering sigh in his mouth.
Bella clung to him, gripping his hard muscles, as if letting go would make her fall endlessly.
He let out a smirking chuff next to her ear. “You’ve never come that way before, have you?”
“Are you kidding? That was amazing. How’d you do that?”
“You’re very sensitive to my touch.”
“No shit. Oops.”
He smiled against her breast. “You don’t use language like that, do you?”
“Never.”
“Do the things I say offend you?”
“A little. No. I mean, they sound good the way you say them. Oh.” She moaned again, catching a lingering wave of orgasm. Muscles languid, she melted in his strong embrace.
“I like the sound of your pleasure. You cry out to the heavens. Feel how hard you’ve made me?”
Despite her resolve to stay planted on second base, she reached down and stroked his hardness through the snug leather pants.
Bella wanted to feel him. To stroke him. To give him return pleasure.
She unzipped his pants, but he caught her hand in a clutch. “What happened to second base?”
“I think I slid over the plate. I want to touch, to feel you.”
“You can’t just touch, sweet. You know how things work. You’re a big girl.”
“And you’re a big boy.”
He growled and gave her a bite on the neck, softened with his lips stretched over his teeth. “Very well, but you were the one to break the rules. I want that one to go on the record. Aaah.”
She gripped his erection and tugged it out from the tight confines of his pants. He shifted his hips and pushed down his pants to offer her easier access.
He was big and Bella delighted at the feel of the soft velvet skin. It was like suede covering steel. The smooth head snuggled against her palm as she stroked over it lightly, gauging the funny little bobs and jerks it made with her every touch.
“You’d better mean business,” he hissed at her ear. He nipped the lobe and sucked it hard. He pinched her nipple.
Bella gripped her prize firmly and stroked up and down. Flesh shrugged along the hard column. He breathed heavily against her neck, loving her work, which she knew from his lack of commands or comments.
Severo pressed both hands to the chair arm over her head. The flimsy wicker creaked. She didn’t stop.
And he met her eyes, branding her with his deep, dark intensity, which still managed to frighten her, yet also gave her confidence. She stroked the beast, taming him to her command. He loved it. He touched her with his eyes. Pleading. Thanking. Promising. Daring.
Shudders racked his immense shoulders, and as he came, he maintained eye contact. His seed warmed her belly, over and over.
When he was finished, he reached for a towel and wiped off her stomach, then tossed it aside and collapsed on top of her.
“I like third base the best,” he said on a satisfied huff. “Your turn?”
“I’ve already had a turn. That was…”
“Worth doing again?”
And again. The weight of him upon her made her giddy. This powerful man was so relaxed and comfortable with her. A man who was more than human.
“I hate to be a spoilsport, but I’m meeting Seth tonight. I probably should get ready.”
“You have a date?”
“It’s not a date. It’s a ‘what the hell are you doing dating a vampire?’ kind of meeting with my friend.”
“And what if he asks about your werewolf?”
“I’m not dating you. You are not mine.”
“No, but we’re involved in something here, Bella.” He stroked her neck like a cat. The sticky head of his penis nudged her belly. “This is not two people being casual.”
“You’re my protector.”
“And you—” he bent to kiss each breast and smoothed his hand down her stomach and adjusted his new erection so that it lay straight along her belly
“—are my destroyer.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s a good destruction, trust me. I want it over and over, if you’ll give it. But I’m not sure about you going anywhere alone. It’s night. Will you allow me to escort you?”
“Do I have an option?”
Seth expected only her. But if Severo’s guess about Seth’s girlfriend siccing vampire slaves on her was anywhere near correct, then she’d like to have him along for support.
You want the werewolf to go along because you’re not ready to say goodbye to him.
How could she after what they’d just shared?
Chapter 7
She’d dressed sexy to meet her friend Seth. A body-hugging black top and skirt with white polka dots decorating the double layer of ruffles at the hem. Bella claimed it was her dance-practice skirt. Whatever it was, it showed every curve!
She’d tugged her hair into a sleek ponytail that emphasized her sharp cheekbones and narrow face. And her eyes were all dark and smoky with makeup.
Severo wanted to eat her alive, suck her until she moaned for him to stop. He wanted to feel those short, glossy fingernails dig into his muscles again and to capture her climaxing cry in his mouth.
God, he loved holding her body when it shuddered beneath hi
m.
But she gave him the excuse that she had to dance at the club this evening, after she met with Seth. Part of her dance-class requirements.
They strolled along the boulevard, heading toward the Moonstone. He knew it was a family diner that served well past midnight. Steaks, fries and lots of grease. Heart attack on a plate. His kind of watering hole.
“So I’m not invited to watch you dance?” he asked.
“You can come along if you like.”
“But you’d rather I not.”
“I didn’t say that. Do you want to sit and watch me beat the floor with my feet? Or would you rather play security outside the back door?”
“Now you’re taking advantage of me. Did you consider I might have something to do after your little meeting?”
“Like watching me?”
She had him there.
He didn’t like being a third wheel. Just who was this Seth, and how had the mortal attracted attention from the likes of the insufferable Elvira? She normally didn’t do mortals. Not for long.
“He’s already inside. I can see him.” Bella waved and then touched Severo’s chest.
Severo knew what was coming. “I can stay outside if you prefer to keep your dog tied up on the leash.”
“Now look who’s getting snarky.” She toyed with the collar of his leather jacket. The dark shadowing around her eyes made the green irises so bold, like sweets to be devoured. “I was going to invite you in.”
“I’d like that. But?”
“But let me do the talking, okay? This is weird enough introducing you to Seth.”
“Weirder than him confessing to you that he’s dating the mistress of the night?”
“I suppose not. Are we dating?”
“I consider you the only woman in my life. But if we must do some sort of ritual involving movies and dinner and roses, I confess I’ve fallen short.”
Her shy smile made him want to kiss her, to show the world how she had captured him. But they were in the parking lot of a family restaurant. He had a sense of decorum. Unlike vampires, he could control his animal instincts. Most of the time.
The hostess directed Bella and Severo to a table at the back of the restaurant that was lit by a flickering plastic Tiffany reject hanging overhead.