by Jaime Rush
His gray-brown eyes held hers, and she saw both his hunger for her and his control as he reined it in. She drew his hand down over her breast. She took his other hand and did the same, closing her eyes for a moment at the feel of his hands covering them, gently squeezing.
She leaned her head back, absorbing. Only Greer’s hands. No other memories crept in, only the here and now. He kneaded her softly, his thumbs grazing her nipples. Her body came alive, electrified like she’d never experienced. His gaze moved from his hands, her body, to her eyes. Checking to see if she was comfortable. She was far from comfortable, but in a good way. She wanted to feel his hands on more of her.
Then she remembered he wasn’t doing anything that she didn’t direct. She drew his hand down across her stomach, feeling it tremble beneath his touch. His hand nearly reached across the span of her. His pinky finger grazed the top of her black panties, dipping just below the lacy edge. Heat pooled lower, pushing her hand to slide his down beneath the material. His fingers slid through her hair, moving now of their own volition. She’d given him permission; he needed no guidance.
He stepped closer, so their thighs touched, and he kissed her. While his mouth loved on hers, his fingers hooked the side of her panties and pushed them down over her hips. She shimmied, feeling them drop to her feet, and stepped out of them. He grasped her butt and pulled her against him, and she heard that deep groan as he continued to kiss her. His erection pressed hard against her, even through his jeans.
Panic fluttered through her stomach, and like a butterfly, flew away again. This was Greer. He would stop at her request.
“You okay?” he asked, proving the point. He’d picked up her hesitation.
“Perfectly fine.”
His fingers found her again, and he gently nudged her legs apart so he could access her better. And he did just that, sliding his fingers through her folds and making her gasp. She was wet, giving away just how aroused she was. He turned and laid her down on the bed, continuing to touch her. His mouth covered hers, his thigh stroked hers, and he slid his finger inside her. At the same time, he stroked her nub, and the twin sensations of pleasure swirled through her.
She jammed her fingers into his hair, soft and thick, trying to stay afloat. He could so easily do crazy things to her body with his fingers at the same time as he toyed with her tongue, running his tongue over her teeth, nibbling at her lower lip.
He slid in a second finger, stretching her . . . readying her, she realized. He knew she’d be tight. She clutched his shoulders as that realization sent her over the edge. She bucked, arched as the orgasm claimed her. She could tell, even as he continued kissing her, that he was smiling.
“Ready for more?” he asked, his fingers also continuing to stroke her.
She could hardly stand the intense feeling of his touch, her whole body stiffening. “I don’t think—”
“Don’t think.” He chuckled against her neck. “Just feel.”
The second orgasm rocked her even harder, and then he kept touching and playing, and when she couldn’t even breathe, he pushed her right over the edge again.
“Oh, my God, that’s crazy,” she said, flopping back onto the bed, breathless.
“You’ve never gone more than once?”
She shook her head.
He grinned. “Maybe women have to go through the monthly thing, but they also get multiple orgasms. I think that evens it up.”
She found the strength to hit his arm. Well, maybe it did.
He shifted to the side, running his hand across her stomach while she came back to herself. “We can leave it at that, if you want. You’re in control.”
She laughed, making him raise his eyebrows at her. “Leave it at this? Are you freakin’ kidding?”
His mouth twisted into a smile. “No, but I was hoping you wouldn’t take me up on it.”
He would let her take her satisfaction so she could not venture into more dangerous territory. When she could damn well see how aroused he was. Why did he have to be so good?
He skimmed his fingers across her cheek. “Why the shadow across your face?”
She shook it away. “You would never just toss me aside.”
She hadn’t asked it as a question, but he shook his head in answer anyway. “Not you, Shea. Never.”
He hadn’t even been with another girl since he walked in on her. He’d been faithful when they weren’t even involved.
That’s when the affection she felt for him all these years as more of a brotherly like guy she lived with morphed, like Darkness, into something much more fierce. She reached up to his face. “Make love to me.”
He gave her a soft kiss that quickly became more intense. Then he rolled off the bed and shucked his jeans. He pulled out his wallet and extracted a condom. “I have always used protection. Just so you know.”
“Of course you would.”
His eyebrow quirked at her statement. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s just the way you are, Greer.” She twisted her fingers in the sheets, the rush of feelings washing over her as strong as the orgasms had.
He rolled the condom down over his erection with a practiced hand, then got back into bed. But he didn’t get right down to it. He pulled her against him, sliding his thigh between hers, holding her close.
She’d never had someone hold her like this, with sex imminent. But it wasn’t going to be just sex with Greer. And he seemed in no hurry, tracing his fingers over her curves. And once she got used to that idea, she took the opportunity to touch him, too, to feel the body she’d been admiring for a while now.
“You are gorgeous,” she said, watching her fingers slide over his ridged abdomen, over the paler skin of his hip. He had great thighs, the lines of muscling and shadow of dark hairs defining them.
They explored each other’s bodies, and she reveled in all the sensations of him, the friction of his hairs against the pads of her fingers, the dip of his belly button, the curves of his pecs. The way he touched her, she might believe he hadn’t touched a woman before. He took her in, every inch, with a wonder she didn’t understand.
Finally he pulled her on top of him as he rolled onto his back. Oh, boy. Still driving.
She found she liked being in control, loved that he’d give it to her, but now performance anxiety settled in.
She took him in hand, felt the girth and wondered how the hell he was going to fit inside her. Another reason for letting her drive, she realized; she could ease in at her leisure. She did, feeling a pinch, a stretching, and then all of him filling all of her. It hurt and felt good at the same time. The good was worth the pain.
They moved together, his hands gripping her hips, kneading her butt, and she found herself falling into a rhythm. A feeling of satisfaction like she’d never felt before washed over her. She could easily get lost in the sensations, but she wanted to be present, to focus on everything she felt in her body.
He never stopped touching her, sliding one hand up her stomach, caressing her breasts, and taking his time getting to his own satisfaction. When she felt him pulse and jerk, he squeezed her tight and arched his body. He let out those deep, low groans and somewhere in there whispered her name.
Hers.
He slowly came back to himself, surprised to find her watching him. She grinned. “I like watching you come.”
He didn’t even look embarrassed, grinning back. “Ditto.”
She, however, was embarrassed at that. She lay down on his chest, sliding her hands up over his shoulders. “You’re too good.”
“ ‘Too’ good? Because I’ve had experience? None of that matters. You were great.”
“No, not that. It has nothing to do with lovemaking skills.”
He tried to sit up, to meet her gaze, but she remained there, keeping him from doing so. Instead he fluffed his fingers through her hair. “What are you talking about?”
She traced circles around his nipple. “You’re good, Greer. A good person.”
“So are you.”
“I have all this baggage. And I always seem to mess things up. The position I put myself in six years ago. Look how I overreacted over the whole you-walking-in-on-me thing. I stupidly put myself into Darius’s space, triggering some crazy reaction in him that’s gotten you two into altercations. I moved out, losing my home. I know I’ll mess this up, too, or you’ll see that I’m too damaged to deal with long term. And I’ll understand, you know, when that happens. For God’s sake, don’t stick around when you want to leave.”
He rolled her over this time, keeping her close enough so they were still intimately connected. “Are you trying to tell me that I’m too good . . . for you?”
“Well, yes. Look what you are, and what I am.”
“You have a successful business that you started all by yourself.”
“You guys helped in the beginning.”
He pressed his finger against her collarbone. “You did it, Shea. We helped you figure out some stuff, hauled some plants in the beginning, but this is your baby.”
“And you save lives. You saved that toddler a few months ago. You’re a hero.”
“It doesn’t matter what we’ve done, good or bad.” He drew his finger down to her heart. “It only matters what we feel for each other. And you matter too much for me to let you turn away under the guise of you being damaged or that you might screw this up. You’re not as damaged as you think. You just made love to me, let me touch you everywhere. You didn’t cringe or flinch away.”
“Because of you. You made it all right.”
“You made it all right. I only helped. Just like with your business. And if you screw up and, what, piss me off, what will I do? Just up and leave? You think that would do it?”
“I don’t know. You might up and realize I’m not what you want.”
He gripped her face, leaning close to hers. “I won’t, Shea. I’ve known you too long to fall in and out of love with you like that. The thing is, I never fell in love with any of those women. Infatuated, sure. But I did fall for you.” He took her hand, which was fisted in her agony, and pressed it against his heart. “You’re here. The only thing that would mess that up is if you screw around on me. Then I’d have to kill the guy, and I really don’t want to do that. But you don’t strike me as the fooling around type.”
She started to shake her head, but a thump against the wall jerked their attention in the direction of Darius’s room. Big thumps, like a body slam.
“Hell,” Greer said, pulling away from her to grab his pants. “Either he’s gone batshit crazy or . . .”
“Frost found us.”
Chapter Nine
THEY THREW ON clothes, and Greer ran to the room next door, Shea right behind him. He tried the door, banged on it, but heard only growls and thumps coming from inside. Two different kinds of growls.
“Frost,” they both said in unison.
Fat chance anyone was going to let him in.
With a quick glance at Shea, he morphed to smoke and slid beneath the door just as Darius had earlier. The room was dark, with paneled walls and curtains drawn. In Darkness, he could see well enough: a broken lamp, nightstand on its side, one man-thing and . . . a bear. Frost was a friggin’ bear. Both turned to him when he materialized as panther in the room.
Darius said, “I’ve got this.”
The bear turned to him, his own gray eyes—minus the brown ring—boring into him. Frost tried to ram him, but Greer stepped out of the way with a second to spare. The bear slammed into the wall. Darius jumped on Frost then, taking advantage of his momentary disorientation. Greer saw him wrap creepy long arms and legs, in the misty form he’d assumed, around the bear.
Frost turned and took a chunk out of Darius’s arm. He fell back, his dark mist trying to repair itself. Greer as panther launched himself at the bear then, tearing at his back. He sank his claws into the cool, dense energy that was Darkness. The bear howled, spinning fast and throwing him off his back. He was slammed into Darius, who was making yowling noises as he repaired his wound, and they both fell to the floor. When Greer jumped up, Frost was slipping beneath the door.
Shea!
He followed, his chest so tight he couldn’t breathe. As bear again, Frost had her by the throat. She scratched and flailed at his thick arms. Frost looked up, his eyes widening as Greer flew at him. He dropped Shea and ran.
“You okay?” Greer asked her.
She nodded, her hands at her throat. “Fine. Go.”
Greer shot after the bear. In the wee hours, if someone spotted them, they’d think them wild animals. They crossed a highway and an expanse of dirt. Far from civilization, though he could see lights in the near distance. He remembered seeing it from the road, a large piece of land with a lake in the middle. It had caught his eye because it was odd to see a lake in this area.
Footsteps pounded behind him. It was instinct to check, which he did, though he figured it was Darius, who he saw barreling toward him as fast as a long-distance runner. Greer turned back toward Frost, who was now out of sight. He saw reeds move and ran toward them.
“I’ll handle this,” Darius whispered fiercely.
“That’s what this guy wants, you idiot. One on one. We outnumber him. Let’s pound him and finish this.”
With a grunt, Darius launched himself into the reeds. The sound of two bodies colliding followed, then a splash. Greer rolled his eyes. What the hell was his problem? Why take on a guy by yourself when you’ve got help?
He threw himself in, his feet sinking into the muddy water. The two of them were struggling a short distance out, big bear and weird-shaped man. Too caught up in their fight to notice him. Darius kept tearing at the bear’s throat, sending bits of Darkness flying. They knew shredding Darkness faster than the enemy could repair it could kill.
Like water and oil, Darkness and water didn’t blend well either. It was harder to hold the form while submerged. Greer remained mostly out of the water, feeling the slipperiness in his lower legs as he crept up behind the bear. He tore at his thick leg, sending the bear falling sideways.
Greer moved out of the way in time to avoid having the beast fall on him. Darius rode the bear down, sinking his fangs into its neck. God, he reminded Greer of a vampire, claws extending from his fingers, bloodlust in his eyes. That those eyes were focused on him sent a shiver down his body.
The bear’s paws flailed, trying to push Darius off. “They’ll only send more of us,” Frost growled. “If I disappear, too, they’ll send more. They know about you and the girl.”
He was talking to Darius. They knew only about the two they’d seen at the house, was that what he was saying?
Finally the bear sagged fully into the water, morphing back to man. Which meant he didn’t have the strength to mend himself. Greer had gone into Darkness to heal himself when he’d gotten burned in a fire once. Tuck had pulled Darkness into himself to heal when he’d taken a tumble down a cliff. But the man in the water, sinking now, not struggling . . . he was dead.
Except Darius kept at him.
“Stop. He’s gone,” Greer said, uncomfortable with his bloodlust. He morphed back to human.
Darius eyed Greer with bedeviled eyes and kept at it. Greer stepped out of the water, his jeans heavy and wet. Thankfully, he didn’t see Shea anywhere. At least she knew better than to throw herself into the fray. Without Darkness, she had no chance. He turned back to Darius, who was walking out of the water now.
“I told you I had it,” he said on a growl.
“You’re welcome for the help. Look, that’s what we do, back each other up. Work as a team.”
“Is that what you were doing in Shea’s room.” Darius’s upper lip lifted in a wolflike snarl. “Were we working as a team?”
Greer’s body prickled with wariness at the snide, angry tone in his voice. “What Shea and I do is none of your business.”
Darius launched at him. “I’m not going to let you break her heart.”
Gr
eer Became the moment before he hit the ground. He felt Darius’s fangs sink into his arm as his claws tore at Darius’s shoulder. “I’m not going to break her heart, you son of a bitch. I love her.” The words slipped out.
“You don’t love her,” Darius said, twisting his body around, trying to get at his neck. “Maybe you want her, because she’s a challenge. Poor Greer, the one girl who won’t fall into his bed.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You have plenty of women. Why pick Shea? Why the one I want?”
“I’ve known her for five years,” Greer said through gritted teeth, trying to reason with someone who, he realized, couldn’t be reasoned with. Darius had definitely gone off the rails. Over Shea. He’d had too much taste for bloodshed lately, and because he’d saved her from her stalker, felt he owned her.
And Darius was trying to kill him to get him out of the way. To save Shea from the threat that Darius’s warped mind had decided he was.
Hell.
Greer lowered his head and butted Darius as his head came down to bite him. Darius staggered back, and Greer landed on him. “Enough.” Darius bucked, but Greer held him down. “You think Shea will want you if you kill me? You think she likes that kind of violence?”
“You have her under a spell. She’ll be free of you when you die.”
Good God, the guy was delusional, too.
He tried to pin him down, even as Darius struggled. “I don’t have her under a spell. We care about each other. What you saw between us was our relationship changing from friendship to something more. Yes, uncomfortable for her because she doesn’t want to be in a romantic relationship. Let her choose who she wants to be with. I’ll step aside if she chooses you.”
He knew she wouldn’t.
“Not with your spell on her. You’re using Darkness somehow to spell her.” Surprisingly, Darius morphed to man. He was breathing as heavily as Greer was. Something had changed in his expression, and Greer didn’t like it one bit.
He got off him, though, and morphed to man, too. “Darius, listen to yourself. I can’t use Darkness like that.”