“Are they alright?” Lucas asked, his tone controlled.
“We have meetings every couple weeks about safety,” Scarlet leaned against the large chrome at the front of the pick-up truck. “We have a few people who are less than…umm…less than trusting of certain agencies of the government and other packs.”
“Oh for pity sake, Scarlet,” Lily laughed out loud. “You’ve got half a dozen survivalists who think the feds are going to be coming for them. If anything’s going on that shouldn’t be, believe me, she knows within the hour.”
“Things are fine,” Lexi said with a shrug. “You can’t come and go there without someone watching you. They protect each other. But for some reason, they have to talk to Scarlet and it just works better in person.”
“And you’re her battle general?” Eli asked gruffly.
“Hmmm…that would be the sheriff. He’s much better at it and always did have a thing for…owww!” Lexi looked at Lily and the sharp elbow to her side. “What was that for?”
“Stop. Talking.” Lily glared at her. It was quiet for several long minutes.
“The sheriff had a thing for you,” Jess said quietly, one brow up questioningly.
“If this streak of independence is a problem,” Scarlet looked for a long silent few seconds into the man watching her before continuing. “Then I need to know now.”
“We…” Lexi corrected firmly. “We need to know now. Being a friend and partner doesn’t mean giving up our independence.”
“You’re needed and belong here just as much as we’ve worked with the people in Morning Star,” Lily looked from one to the other. “Lexi did the wiring and set up the security system. She wasn’t running to Scarlet, she’d quit and was relocating to start her own business. The same is true for me. Granted, the time table was pushed a little by strange texts and the James thing, but we’re not helpless little girls.”
“I don’t think we’re asking you to be anything but who you are,” Jess, the calmer of the three spoke before his brothers had a chance. “The anger you’re seeing now is…residual…kind of like aftershocks, if you will,” he looked pointedly at Lily. “We can’t beat the shit out of the ones responsible and need to vent.”
“So? Go for a long, exhausting run. Work out in the gym. I’m going to bed,” Scarlet shook her head, walking toward the house with a backward flip of her palm. “I’ll find you guys tomorrow. Good night.”
“G’night, Scar,” Lily shook her head and hitched the strap onto her shoulder. “So can I still stay at your place?”
Jess laughed and jumped off the porch. “Try and run, Lily,” he told her, taking the long case with one raised brow.
“You know what it is, Jess.” She said simply. “Good night, Lexi. Try and stay out of trouble, will you?”
Lexi growled, winced at the slammed front door and looked at Eli.
“You think they’ll be okay?” Lexi asked, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.
“You think we will?” Eli returned, sighing at the glare from his brother. “Sorry.”
“I’m sorry about the truck. We can pay to get the dent out,” she watched him walk around the front, his fingers on the chrome and steel.
“I’m not upset about the dent, Lexi,” Eli allowed himself to breathe. “Okay, maybe a little, but it’s a work truck. It was only a matter of time.” He reached for her palm and sighed. “Let’s go home.”
“I’d like that.”
Chapter Eighteen
“You’re good at the peace making thing,” Lily commented, walking with Jess to his SUV.
“They both tend to run hot and think it over later,” Jess answered with a shrug. “It’s been part of us, I guess.”
“You think they’ll be alright?”
“Don’t you? I think Lucas and Eli care too much to lose it. No matter how strong you are, how competent, we’ll always worry,” Jess lifted her to the seat with a crooked grin at the frown on her face.
He leaned in and kissed her before she could comment, his palm up and stroking the side of her face. There was no protest, but it was a long few seconds before he felt her relax and return the pressure. It was what he wanted, what he’d been thinking of since meeting her.
Jess felt the hunger in him growing at a rate he wasn’t used to unleashing. Her tongue surged forward, stroking along his lower lip until she nipped it and groaned into his kiss. He tasted her, their tongues teasing and flicking over one another.
Lily felt his kiss vibrate through her body, sending wild bolts of lightning to her center. She raised her leg, wrapping it around his hips and holding him against her. She felt his groan and the hardness pressing against hips that rotated to stroke herself along his length. Her hands went from his shoulders, caressing along his throat to spear into his hair.
She heard the low, deep growl and chuckled, closing her fingers around his hair and tugging his head back, their lips half an inch apart.
“I think we should get out of the rain, Jess,” Lily watched the droplets strike his glasses. She felt a hard shudder track through his body as he dragged in a long breath, his forehead against hers.
“You were headed this way?”
Lily shrugged, waiting until he moved around the front and climbed behind the wheel. “I’d sold the nursery about four months ago. We talked about starting some kind of business in Morning Star.”
“Devil Hills is a lot bigger prospect.”
“You barely know me, Jess.”
“We were just playing tonsil hockey, Lily.”
“I like kissing and you’re very good at it,” she admitted with a teasing grin.
“Funny, I was thinking that same thing about you,” Jess watched the rain fall for a moment. He hadn’t even noticed it hitting them when they were kissing. But then he didn’t really think of much but Lily when she was near him. “Do your friends’ behavior bother you?”
“Bother me…” Lily asked, puzzled as she turned toward him on the large seat. “I think they’re happy. How could that bother me?”
“You’re more cautious than they are,” he suggested carefully, watching the garage open before guiding the SUV inside.
“I’ve never met anyone like you…who affects me…” Lily lifted her pack and the rifle case, stepping down into the garage and closing the door behind her.
“I didn’t think I was alone.”
“I kissed you back, Jess. But I don’t know what you want from me. I don’t know if…I can see Lex and Scarlet settling down,” she followed him up the stairs to the second floor.
“But you don’t see that for yourself.”
Lily continued up the stairs, dropping the rifle case on the dresser and shrugging out of her jacket. She watched him set her pack on the chair. Her back was to him, her head shaking slowly.
“You think it’s because I’m full human,” Lily said softly. “The uncertainty.”
“No,” Jess moved behind her, his palms beginning at her shoulders and stroking down her arms, crossing them in front of her. His mouth moved to whisper just below her ear. “I know that something about you…and I don’t honestly know what, Lily, but I know it’s strong enough for me not to question it. I know that it doesn’t feel temporary and like it or not, if you’re only here for a week or a month, I know I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
“And if I wanted you now?” Lily felt her knees weaken and was glad he was holding her against him. She tipped her head a little more, groaning when his teeth bit along the lengthy column of her throat. “Jess…”
Jess took his glasses off and laid them aside before turning her in his arms. His palms went to her face, thumbs stroking over her lower lip and eyes peering down, studying her.
“Then we negotiate,” he told her.
Lily felt the breath catch in her throat, his eyes shining with more than simple human lust. She could see the wolf in there, waiting. She dragged her tongue around her lips, watching him.
“Negotiate?”
“Hmm…I
want the winter with you. You stay until April.”
“Until…you’re crazy…” Lily shoved, expecting to be able to pull free and frowned when the bands holding her tightened and held firm.
She made the mistake of underestimating the wolf and the man.
Not a good thing.
“You weren’t planning to run. Until I asked for a specific time,” Jess grinned down at the hands gripping his forearms. “Admit it.”
Lily continued to stare, pale lashes narrowed. He seemed the least aggressive one of the three. Alright, admit it, you saw him as the weakest one, she thought, chewing her lip. Momentarily.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Are you accepting my terms? Or countering with ones of your own,” Jess leaned closer, inhaling deeply and drawing his tongue along her throat.
Satisfaction raced through him when she didn’t try and push out of his hands. Instead, her fingers tightened on his forearms. He could feel her pulse quicken, her breathing as ragged as his own even as he claimed her mouth in a long, hot kiss.
Lily realized her palms were refusing to pay attention to orders from some very small part of her brain. It wasn’t until they parted, breathless and panting, that she found words to form sentences.
“This isn’t…you’re devious…”
“Devious?” Jess repeated the word against her throat, inhaling scents of citrus and spice that had become part of what he knew was Lily. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called devious before,” he admitted, sounding just a little proud of the idea.
“I keep forgetting there’s more beneath that…that cute, sexy…country doctor…oh, god, Jess…”
His name came out in a low, plaintive moan. How did his palm slid in there? And then she felt his fingers circling, stroking and pinching her nipple and she didn’t care. Her eyes went wide when he gripped the end of her tee shirt and pulled it over her head, dropping it before adding his to the floor.
“Cute and sexy…” He grinned down at her, his palms beginning at her naval and stroking heavily higher until each held one breast, thumbs and fingers teasing them into hard, tautly wrinkled peaks. A sweet fullness that filled his palms. “Beautiful…”
Lily had to agree, pale lashes blinking at the expanse of tanned, muscled chest beneath her fingers. She let her palms play, caressing along his shoulders and down his arms, barely aware of the ragged breathing from them both. She heard him suck in a deep breath when she leaned forward and stroked her tongue over his collarbone, teasing the hot flesh with her teeth next.
Jess felt his body tensing, that wild part of him alive and hungry. His palms moved to her face, pulling her mouth to his with a long, hard kiss before breaking off and dragging in a steadying breath.
“Lily…I didn’t make it to the store…I can’t…”
Slightly dazed; more than a little breathless, Lily looked toward the pack she’d dropped to the chair at his side. She met the green eyes flecked with gold without speaking.
His hand reached for the pack, the box inside lifted out and held in her palm. He watched her toss it to the nightstand before dropping the pack and shuddering when her hands went to the belt at his waist.
Jess gripped her hands and pulled them up, holding them tightly against his chest until he had her attention.
“Are you accepting my terms, Lily? I don’t want you for one night,” he told her gruffly, a low growling sound that told her how difficult it was to think clearly.
“This isn’t a fair time to ask…”
“Yes or no, Lily. I’m just as vulnerable as you are and contrary to what you might think of males, I’ll walk away now,” Jess felt the thudding inside her chest when a glimpse, a tiny glimmer of panic struck her eyes. “I want you, Lily…now…and tomorrow…” He let his mouth lower, lips parted and tongue sweeping in to ravage and arouse until he trailed hot nipping bites along her jaw to her throat. “Stay with me, Lily.”
Lily groaned when his mouth covered hers again, his tongue sweeping along her lip and inside to fence with hers, taking that wild taste of him and shooting it through her senses. She didn’t know how, but she knew the wolf was lying just below the surface, just enough to stake a claim.
Her.
A little frightened he’d leave her, she opened her eyes and met the man studying her, a shiver racing through her when his tongue traced a slow, teasing line around her lower lip. Did she see more than desire in his gaze or was she hoping?
“I want to be with you, Jess…now and tomorrow,” she whispered hoarsely, groaning when his palms released her hands and opened the button of her jeans, shoving them over the curve of her hips.
Neither of them was sure what happened, but a tangle of feet in boots in jeans and pale lashes slammed shut at the same time her hands grabbed for his arms. Both went backward onto the floor.
A loud burst of breath from them both, but mostly from Lily when Jess landed hard on top of her, one hand out to brace only some of his weight from her body.
Two groans filled the large bedroom seconds before Lily gave in to the urge to giggle.
“Smooth move…” She dragged in a breath when he managed to slide to the side and sit staring at her. She slowly sat up, looking down at the jeans and boots tangled at her feet and began to pull things free and sit there looking at him, naked. She was about to protest when he pushed himself to his feet and lifted her from the floor, dropping her into the center of the bed before ridding himself of his clothes.
“Then it’ll be memorable,” Jess teased, letting himself fall back against the surface and pulling her against him, his knee pressing between hers. “Where were we?”
“Negotiating,” Lily teased back, one palm stroking over his face. Fascinated by the abrupt heat that flared to life in his eyes, she let one finger trace around his mouth, her breath catching when his teeth took her finger tip. “I’ll be here, Jess. I don’t understand it…and maybe that’s why I feel…”
“Scared? You can face down four guys in an open field but you’re afraid of me.” Jess decided this was perfect. He could see and touch. Nothing more important at the moment. Until she began moving her hips and pressing the pale amber coils between her thighs against his thigh. He knew she knew she’d caused a reaction when her eyes widened just a little more, the smallest of smiles curling her lips.
“Power…” She whispered before leaning in and taking his mouth, the heat that had been on simmer suddenly rearing back and slamming hard into them both.
“Lily…” her name was dragged from somewhere he knew had no bottom.
“Shh…” She leaned up and took a condom from the packet, her palm stroking over the hard cock waiting for her. His head went against the bed, a long deep growl surfacing as she made a fist and let him force himself through the center.
She stroked him, let her fingers tease around the thick, solid base and then trickle along his length to the blunt tip before she sheathed him and slid her leg over his thighs.
Lily flattened her palms on his stomach, her thumbs meeting in the center and hands stroking upward to his shoulders. She leaned over him, brushing a pair of sharply aroused breasts against his chest. Her mouth moved to his stomach, kissing and nipping as her hands ran over his shoulders and down his arms until their fingers curled together.
She lifted herself and let the damp center stroke down on the hardness between them. Excitement flared inside her, shooting flare of sensation through her when she arched her body to catch his erection against her clit.
Jess was glad he had a home separate from anyone else. He doubted neighbors would appreciate the noise that was going to come from this mating. And like it or not, she would be his mate. He’d find a way to make her understand. Find a way to make her believe and accept.
Lily rotated her hips, mewing softly as the sparks began inside her. She knew she was wet. Something about this man struck a part of her she’d let no one near in her whole life. She felt herself coating him and released his pa
lms, a low groan mingling with his when his palms moved to grip her hips. But he was seconds too late.
Jess felt his mind and body explode when she thrust down, taking him inside her without pausing. Hot, clenching and pulsing around him in a way he’d never felt before. Her body pressed hard against him, her mouth against his with a long, steaming kiss, her tongue sweeping in and taking his for the ride.
Large palms went around her hips, pulling her ass hard against him, his thrusts hard and deep and met by the female he was seconds from claiming. He forced his canine teeth to recede but he knew she’d felt them touch her tongue.
A small part of him expected her to shove him away and bolt but she only rotated her hips, stroking her clit against him and whimpering when what she was after stayed just outside her reach.
Lily growled in frustration when Jess moved his hands to her sides, stroking heavily upward and cupping her breasts until she leaned up slightly. She continued to rock and thrust against him, the hard heat inside her pulsing.
She leaned up a little more when she felt his palm glide over her stomach, strong fingers tangling with the amber coils and stroking, pressing, touching and circling back for more. He didn’t stop his attention until a low scream left her lips when the convulsions swept in and took over her body. Lily felt the hard waves; the sweet pulsing and ripples that swept through her, tightening the muscles that held him captive and curling her toes.
Feminine muscles clenched, tightened and threatened to squeeze the life out of him. His hands moved to grip her hips, holding her down and thrusting one last time before his own shout filled the bedroom.
Sweat pooled beneath his hands, his body convulsing, jerking and exploding even as Lily slowly collapsed onto his chest. Now and then he forgot how much shorter she was, the sweetly fragrant scent of blond curls and pure feminine arousal rushing through him as he coasted back.
“Lily…” Jess reached up, brushing the damp curls from the side of her face. She smiled at him, her eyes closed and body still. On the outside. Those inner muscles were killing him. “Can you stop the muscles…please…or I’m not going to be responsible when this thing breaks.”
Devil Hills: #1 Scarlet, Lexi & Lily Page 15