by A C Warneke
If she stayed there any longer, she wouldn’t be held accountable for her actions, and that thought scared the hell out of her. Attraction was one thing; this all-consuming, all-compelling force was something else entirely. With her pulse racing, she knew she had to get out of there. Unfortunately, she had no desire to leave.
His silver eyes melted her bones as he spoke in a husky tenor, “I saw you standing over here and I was wondering if I could I buy you a drink?”
She needed to get out of there because touching him was everything she had hoped and dreaded. But then she found her voice coming out in a low and velvety rasp, “One drink.”
He smiled, revealing perfect white teeth and her stomach dropped to her feet; he was even more dangerous to her well-being when he smiled. Holding up two fingers, he ordered a couple of shots and Lexi almost groaned, already tipsy from her earlier shots. But then he looked at her with those silver eyes and his voice caressed her as he murmured, “If you don’t mind?”
She looked at him as he held out his hand towards her. Not knowing what else to do, she put her hand in his, catching her breath at the electric sensation that shot up her arm. His fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her against his hard body. His eyes glittered as he held her gaze, bringing her wrist up to his mouth; he ran his tongue along the delicate skin and then sprinkled salt on the damp spot. Unaware of anything other than his beguiling eyes, she was startled when a wedge of lime was placed in her mouth.
“Thank you,” the gorgeous stranger murmured as he licked the salt from her skin and then slammed the glass of tequila. Lexi was transfixed by the way his throat worked as he swallowed, how the tendons moved and his Adam’s apple bobbed. She didn’t get to spend enough time studying the lines of his neck before his mouth was on hers and he cursed beneath his breath.
Pulling back slightly, he squeezed the bitter juice into her mouth and pulled the lime out before continuing with the kiss, his tongue stroked along hers and she lost herself in his lips, receiving the full impact of his kiss, feeling it in her belly and lower still. Her arms slid around his trim waist and she pressed herself harder against his solid body, luxuriating in the heat that wrapped itself around her. Her head was spinning and she wasn’t sure if it was from the tequila or the kiss; probably a bit of both. She wanted the kiss to go on forever, which was ridiculous since she didn’t know the man at all. But, oh! he could kiss!
Reluctantly pulling her lips from his, she took a wobbly step backwards and looked up at him, a siren’s smile curving her lips, “My turn.”
As much as she despised tequila, she was looking forward to doing the shot, if only to taste the scrumptious man once more. With one hand on his arm to steady herself, she glanced at Dima, ignoring the cynical humor blazing in his eyes as he poured the tequila into a second shot glass. With a wince, she took a deep breath and turned back to the gorgeous stranger. “Ready?”
“Always,” he rumbled, his molten silver eyes caressing her face and making her burn even hotter.
Leaning against him and going up onto her toes, she slowly slid her tongue along the exposed skin of his neck, tasting his woodsy, masculine flavor and closing her eyes at the sheer pleasure of it. A stifled groan came from the back of his throat and his fingers wrapped around her elbows, as if he was as unsteady as she was. She pulled away just enough to squeeze the juice of lime into his mouth, running her finger over the ripe fullness of his bottom lip. His eyes flared even brighter as she grabbed the shot and, pausing but a moment, slammed it down her throat with a shudder. Her throat burned and her eyes watered but it was worth it; even the hangover she knew to expect in the morning was going to be worth it.
Wrapping a hand around the back of his neck, she pulled him down as she rose up, their lips meeting somewhere in the middle. Citrus and man erased the vile taste of the alcohol and she took her time exploring the wet heat of his mouth, a hum of approval coming from her own throat. Suddenly, she wanted this man more than her next breath, more than she ever wanted anything; she wanted to explore the defined ridges of his hard body, the heavy weight of his thick erection. She wanted to tear off his clothes and touch him everywhere.
She wanted to fuck him until the world ended and she was left standing among the ruins.
With their lips still connected, she blindly set the shot glass down on the table as they stumbled a few feet away from the bar, lost in a haze of unexpected and overwhelming lust. Her fingers slid into the black silk of his hair and she pressed herself until she was flush against him, the hard planes of his chest and stomach hot and unyielding; the stony ridge of his erection tantalizing. His palms were blistering her skin and she knew that she was going to have hand prints on her back everywhere he touched her, stroked her.
“Let’s go somewhere,” he rasped against her lips, giving her a chance to catch her breath and let a smidgen of rationality return.
She licked her lips, still tasting him against her tongue and wanting to give into impulse and throw all caution to the wind. This insane rashness wasn’t like her but at that moment she didn’t care, even if he didn’t arrive alone. “But your date?”
“We’re just friends,” he said, brushing his thumb over her lower lip, the silver gaze tracking the movement. The intensity of his expression made her stomach tighten in awareness and a little bit of trepidation; was she really going to do this? Did she even have a choice? Well, of course she had a choice; it just wasn’t one she wanted to make because she wanted him. “I was only going to stay long enough until her friends showed up. And look, they’re here.”
How could he possible tell, since he hadn’t taken his eyes from her since he captured her in his arms? Intrigued, she looked past him to see the red head surrounded by a pack of equally gorgeous men and women. They were watching her and the man with amused and inquisitive expressions; even the red head was more curious than angry. Lexi’s eyes returned to him and he was smiling at her as he said, “See? I’m all yours if you’ll have me.”
“Oh, hell yeah,” she blurted out, blushing slightly at the blunt enthusiasm of her reply. Glancing at Dima, she offered an apologetic shrug, “I guess I have a ride. Um, good luck.”
“Be careful, Lexi.” His voice came out in a low rumble as he warily eyed the man who was taking her away. “If anything happens to her, I will hunt you down and kill you.”
The man simply smiled, dismissing the threat as he turned away from Dima. Putting his arm around Lexi’s shoulders, his heat and scent wrapping itself around her, drugging her, he whispered, “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She knew she was an idiot and that she was being reckless and stupid but she couldn’t seem to help herself. With one last look at Dima, she followed the stranger out of the bar. If he ended up being a murderer or a rapist, she was going to have to rethink instant lust and impulsiveness. But if he was simply a gorgeous man that had her hormones battling for supremacy over her mind, well then….
*****
Duncan Tremain prowled along in silence as he led the blond from the bar, sparing an apologetic glance towards Ashley, his friend and prospective mate, the only woman his wolf could tolerate for any extended length of time. She gave him a mocking grin and exchanged words with one of the pack members and the two of them laughed. He knew they were talking about his odd behavior but he didn’t care; he had a gorgeous blond on his arm.
He liked the feel of the blond’s slender body against his, the smooth skin of her arm beneath his palm. He had volunteered to go up to the bar because he had seen her standing there, a thoughtful gleam in her eyes as she checked him out, oblivious of his attention. Her full, ripe lips beckoned him and invited a kiss and he wanted to taste those lips. She was exotic and luscious, to say nothing of her seductress body and come-hither outfit. It was enough to make a pious man sin and he was not especially pious. But it was more than that; a gut-twisting reaction had him walking towards the bar despite being on an outing with Ashley and several of the single members of their pack.
It was an unusual feeling, this powerful, instant attraction and he wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not. He could feel his wolf's interest perk up, matching his own interest. He decided that the best course of action would be to get closer to the girl and discover whether or not the instant and raw lust was genuine or an anomaly due to the whole image she presented. So he told Ashley that he would get them a couple of beers while they waited for the others.
He didn’t expect he'd be able to touch her until she fell against him; and despite the attraction he wasn’t prepared for the intensity of his reaction. Blood rushed to his cock, leaving him slightly light-headed as his body responded instantly and painfully. He knew she would be able to feel his erection pressing against her back but she didn't cringe or leap away in disgust. For the longest moment, she just stood there in his arms, her back pressed against him, taunting him, torturing him with the smell of citrus and tequila. But beneath the citrusy scent she smelled like spring, clean and fresh.
When she had turned around and looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes, he was momentarily stunned by her prettiness. Even though her hair was light, her lashes were dark, long; and her large eyes were really the most remarkable color, gold and green all swirled together. A smattering of freckles danced across the bridge of her slender nose. But it was her lips that still begged to be kissed, bee-sting and shiny. She was, in a word, breathtaking. For the briefest moment of time, the world disappeared, and all that existed was the girl and him.
Wanting to bask in her presence a while longer, he offered to buy her a drink. It was unexpected and perhaps inevitable when he did a shot off her luscious body and promptly asked to take her somewhere for sex, something that was completely out of character for him. It was foolishness and madness to take a stranger off to his hotel but he couldn't muster up the energy to care. He simply wanted her with a desperation that bordered on the tragic if it weren’t so potent and intoxicating.
Really, he knew nothing about her and in relationships, as in business, it was best to know as much as possible about the opposing force. Usually he never reacted on gut-instinct alone; that was something his wolf would do. Instead, it was best to approach any given situation with a cool head; emotions just mucked everything up. And yet he was going to take a gorgeous stranger to his hotel because he could not wait to get the blond naked and spread beneath him.
He glanced back at Ashley as he got to the door and smiled somewhat guiltily even as she gave him another amused smirk. He knew he should be staying with Ash; a nice, companionable relationship with another wolf was exactly what he had wanted, not the tempestuous reactions elicited by the blond sex bomb walking next to him. He needed to find a wolf to mate, even if it wasn't Ashley; he was of an age to do so and it was what was expected. Hell, his pack had joined them tonight in the hopes of enticing him into selecting a mate from amongst their females.
They were probably laughing at him for bailing on them before anything could happen but he didn’t care. He was going to have sex with the most tempting woman of his acquaintance and his beast was roaring his approval. He would get the girl and this strange and powerful reaction out of his system.
Chapter 2
“The hotel where I am staying isn’t very far from here,” the man said as they left the loud nightclub behind. “Would you mind walking?”
“I’m okay with walking, as long as you don’t mind me leaning against you for support,” she said with wry smile, grateful that she wasn’t wearing her stilettos. Lexi knew that she still had time to change her mind; she could offer an apologize and run back to Dima with her tail between her legs.
He chuckled, wrapping his strong arm around her waist and hauling her against his hard body and she forgot her objections. “I don’t mind in the least.”
She sucked in a breath as sexual awareness rushed through her body at the contact. She should have expected it, considering the sparks that had been flying from the moment he had walked into Skin, but it still came as a surprise. Now that they were alone, everything seemed more intense somehow, including her reaction to him. She had no desire to turn back and walking through the city in this man’s arm was absurdly appealing, even knowing he was taking her back to a hotel to have sex with her. And she didn’t even know his name. “Lexi, by the way.”
He paused and looked at her, a slight frown crinkling his forehead as he cocked his head. “Hmm?”
“Since we’re going back to your place for sex, I figured I should tell you my name.” She felt the heat in her cheeks as she explained why she blurted out her name like that. “It’s Lexi.”
The corners of his mouth turned up in that sexy smile of his, “Duncan.”
Her cheeks tightened as her smile grew impossibly wide and she leaned more fully into him. He radiated heat and she could have wrapped herself up in his warmth. Why couldn’t they be there already, then she would be that much closer to seeing his naked body, to exploring his naked body. “So, how far away did you say your hotel was?”
“Not far,” he grinned, obviously reading her sexually-inundated mind. Bending, he wrapped his other arm around her knees and swooped her up and against his chest. Her breath left in a whoosh as she automatically wrapped her arms around his neck, holding onto the only port in the hormonal storm raging around them.
Breathlessly, she asked, “Did you think I’d change my mind?”
“That never even crossed my mind.” His eyes moved over her face and the laughter faded from his silver eyes, leaving only desire behind, “I simply wanted to hold you in my arms and I figured this was the most efficient means of doing so.”
“It certainly was,” she agreed, absurdly pleased by his display of strength and manliness. If she were sober or had two brain-cells not completely turned on by him, she might have been concerned by his superhuman strength; instead she felt safe, cherished. Resting her head against his broad shoulder, she let her eyes drift shut and simply breathed in his woodsy scent, “I feel so primal right now, a helpless damsel being taken by the big sexy wolf back to his lair to have his wicked way with her.”
She felt his jaw tighten against her forehead a moment before he spoke, “I don’t normally accost strangers in bars and solicit sex from them.”
She chuckled; he sounded almost offended. “I’m not complaining. Besides, I don’t normally go home with strangers I just met, hoping to have my brains fucked right out of my head.”
A low rumble of hunger vibrated against her breasts and he relaxed the tightened hold he had on her. His words rasped over her skin as he said, “I can’t wait to get you naked, Lexi; I want to kiss every inch of your skin until you are begging me to fuck you."
This time she moaned and felt her body loosen; she was already too close to begging and he had barely even begun. Hell, they were still on the sidewalk heading to his hotel! Maybe she should have had sex before so the surge of lust crashing through her body right now wouldn’t be so overwhelming. On the other hand, she doubted anything would have prepared her for Duncan; he was different from any of the men in her life, from her best friends Cole and Dima to the men at the office where she worked. He was just so… primal beneath his façade of a civilized man and that very primal-ness called to her.
She also knew that it could only be sex because what woman in her right mind would want to marry a man who could reduce her mind to mush mere moments after meeting him? Her brain would turn into tapioca pudding and she would spend her days counting the moments until they could fuck again. She’d die because she’d forget to eat, spending her days in a fog of arousal. Chuckling to herself, she had to admit that she was a little bit more than buzzed and her thoughts were not making any sense. She knew next to nothing about Duncan, not what kind of husband he’d be or what type of lover he was or what type of man he could be. For all she knew, he was a serial monogamist or a philandering cheater or a virgin like herself.
She laughed out loud at that; there was no way the man that so easily carried her i
n his arms was a virgin. He practically radiated virility and sex; it oozed out of his pores and left a trail of desire and broken hearts in his wake. He probably started having sex at an early age and hasn’t stopped to take a breath since. How many women had he been with? A gazillion and a half….
“What’s so funny?” he asked, his lips quirked up in a half smile.
She shook her head as she managed to get her giggles under control, “I was just wondering how many women you’ve fucked because you probably have women throwing themselves at you all of the time and it would be so easy to give in to temptation when it is so readily available and I don’t know why I just said all of that.”
He tilted his head to the side, a thoughtful expression descending over his face as he seriously considered her statement. “You will be the… fifth, I believe. No, the fourth; I didn’t actually have sex with the first one.”
She pulled her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing out loud but tears welled in her eyes and a snort escaped. “I wasn’t asking for numbers.”
He smiled ruefully, “No, but it emphasizes my earlier point; I don’t usually do this.”
“Or you could be lying,” she offered, noticing that they were entering the lobby of an elegant and exclusive hotel. People were staring at them but she didn’t care; let them stare and be envious.
He cocked his head to the side in that adorable way of his as he stepped onto the elevator and somehow managed to push the button to his floor. “Why would I lie?”
“Well, in this day and age of sexual promiscuity, some might be charmed by your lack of experience.” Her eyes sparkled with amusement even as her body continued to burn for his possession. And she was oddly charmed by his low number of lovers; a man that gorgeous and sexual and dominant could have scores of women. That he didn’t said more about him than anything and her heart did a stupid pirouette in her chest that she was to be among those low numbers.