by Multiple
“Not until you hear me out. We need to talk about you thinking this is a one off thing—some fun and games. I told you I wanted more so imagine my shock when your brother came home telling me our relationship was over when we haven’t had a chance to really start. Granted, he didn’t know I was the mystery man that screwed his sister then blew her off, but that isn’t the point.”
“We don’t have a relationship Jett. From what I can tell, you just like to sneak around kissing me and feeling me up and I’m dumb enough to let you. In my book that does not make us a couple. And you did blow me off. I haven’t heard from you in days.”
He nuzzled her neck and snorted. “You didn’t seem to mind my kisses or groping before.”
She wiggled beneath him, growling. He felt the sharp tips of her Tiger claws dig into his arms. Damn she was really pissed.
“The point is you weren’t at all interested in letting anyone know you were at the bakery to see me. Coming in first thing when we opened, and knowing no one else would be there. Then the first sign of life from MJ or a customer and you’d bolt out the door. I tried not to think you were ashamed to be seen with me but when you didn’t show up Friday and I didn’t hear from you at all, the thought sunk in and grabbed hold. I haven’t heard from you in days.”
“I called. You just kept hanging up on me.” In his mind it sounded a lot better than when it came out. He thought it would lighten her mood, but by the grinding sound of her teeth, it didn’t.
“That’s because it’s close to midnight and I was asleep you idiot.”
“But I called,” he said weakly.
“Four days after the fact. I don’t think that counts since you’re drunk, and I don’t want to hear your excuses. You blew me off. I got the message. You’re not interested.”
He looked down into her face, saw the anger get washed away with pain and hurt. It killed him to know he’d hurt her again. His chest ached and his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach.
“Please kitten, just hear me out,” he whispered. “I really do have an explanation. I ran into my psycho ex-girlfriend after work Thursday. I freaked out a bit, got a little paranoid. She seemed normal enough but she didn’t used to be. I didn’t know how she would take it if she knew I found someone, so I stayed away.” He dropped kisses onto her cheeks and nose.
Corrine quit squirming beneath him. He was oddly thankful, not sure how much more he could take without the beast in him taking over. With his dick cradled against her core, he could feel the heat of her seeping through his jeans. He was stiff and aching, dying to thrust into her welcoming body. She may not know it, but she was only egging him on with each move she made.
Now with her lying beneath him still as can be, he could concentrate on why he was there. They needed to talk.
“What do you mean, she didn’t used to be normal?”
“Promise me you won’t hop up off this bed the minute I’m off you. I can’t think straight with you under me.” To prove his point he pressed his hips against hers. The erection he’d been ignoring prodded her pelvis. “You need to get it in your head that this thing between us is more than a one night stand.”
Corrine gave a quick nod affirming her agreement. Rolling to his side, he propped his head on his hand, keeping the other arm around her middle. He tunneled his finger inside her robe, rubbing circles with his fingertips against the smooth skin of her bare belly.
Damn I hope she’s naked under this thing. The thought rolled through his head before he could stop it. He swallowed hard, gaining a modicum of control.
Staring at the glow of the computer, he told her the story of Macy.
“I met Macy when I was growing up. She’s from the Larsen founding family. We’d always been around each other. Sorta pushed together by our parents in hopes of a great family merge.
I was never that interested in her when I was young. I had better things to do than hang out with a girl. She, on the other hand, said she was madly in love with me since the first time we met, and was planning our life together.
We went to the same private schools but never dated. I was into sports and she was Miss Popular.
When it was time to go to college, I wanted to break out of my shell. Picked a state university. I was surprised when she followed along. I was sure she was going to take her parents up on their offer of a year in Paris. I was wrong.
At first it was nice having someone I knew around. In a way she reminded me of home. I dated random women off and on the first couple of years at college. That’s where your brother’s stories come in. We definitely did some wild stuff back in the day.”
Jett looked down to see Corrine’s full attention on him. Her hand was on his chest. Just having her touch him of her own free will was comforting, making it easier to talk about his past. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. A small smile tilted her lips.
“My junior year I was buckling down. My parents warned that I needed to stop playing and start planning. They’d put up with a lot of my free will so I did what they asked. I knew they wanted me to try and make a go of it with Macy, so I did. It was easy to fall into a relationship with her. She was around all of the time.
Almost two years into the relationship things started to go bad. I knew it wasn’t going to work. She swore it would.
She was spending every minute of every day with me, completely foregoing her classes and following me around instead. She moved herself into the apartment without invitation, started rifling through my mail, checking my emails, and going through my phone to see who I was talking to.
At first I didn’t care. She was always ready for down and dirty sex, and having her right there whenever I wanted was handy.”
Jett looked at Corrine when she flinched. “I’m sorry kitten. I just need you to know what happened. Where my head was.”
“I understand. Please go on.” He was surprised when she leaned over and kissed him. Nothing consuming like the kiss in the bakery the other day. The kiss he went to bed reliving every night. This was a sweet, gentle kiss. A show of support and affection.
He cleared the emotion clogging his throat. “The more she intruded on my life, the creepier it got to have her around. I couldn’t hang out with my male friends without her asking a million questions. And heaven forbid I made friends with a woman.
After a while I started to ignore her. Brush off her touches or not answer when she called. I didn’t care for her anymore and didn’t want her around. With Sam’s help, we slowly gathered up all of her things and moved them back to her dorm room a little bit at a time.
I came to the decision I needed to break it off with her. I just didn’t know how without hurting her feelings.
Things kept going as they had been, Macy being possessive while Sam and I moved her stuff. Until the day I walked in on Macy threatening one of my sisters, who had stopped in for a surprise visit. Macy was wielding a large kitchen knife, a crazed look in her eyes as she told Jessie if she ever came near me again, she’d kill her.
I defused the situation by getting the knife from her and introducing Jessie, who she should have known and recognized since we all grew up together, but I couldn’t take any more. I broke things off once I got my sister safely in another room.”
Shaking his head, he tried to make the memories go away. It was no use. Once he started down this path he couldn’t stop.
“Sometimes I can still hear Macy’s hysterical cries when I told her it was over; her insane rambling about plans and soul mates. She kept repeating that we were the perfect couple, and I would never find anyone like her.
She ranted and raved for an hour while I just stood there between her and the room I ushered Jessie into. Thankfully, Jessie called our parents and quickly explained the situation. They sent someone from the Guild to cart Macy away.
I never filed charges or anything like that. You know how we like to keep things within the community. Deal with it internally. Plus, there was
the fact that she’s part of a founding family. It wouldn’t look good. I just wanted the whole ugly situation to be forgotten, to go away.
Unfortunately it didn’t. After a few blessed months being Macy-free, she started her stalking campaign. She left small notes on my car and under my apartment door at first, all of them begging me to take her back. The phones calls and messages were next. She was sorry, vowing it would never happen again. She was just so in love with me, knew that we were meant to be together, that she lost her mind a little.
With graduation just around the corner, I changed my cell number. I was planning on leaving the area. It became a habit to delete any messages on the machine in the apartment. Eventually, we just got rid of the home phone. It also became a habit to toss any stray note lying around.
The day I graduated college, I packed my car and took off. I thought she wouldn’t have a clue where I was going since I didn’t have contact with her, she found out anyway.
One day she just showed up, moving into the apartment across the hall from me. She began following me to work, waiting for me in the parking lot, and never saying a word to me directly. She left messages at the front desk and on my new cell phone. Always the same thing—wanted to see me, we needed to talk.
How she got my number still escapes me. It could have been the woman at the front desk where I worked at the time because I turned her down for a date. Or it could have been some underling in the Guild hoping to gain favor with Macy’s family.
Yet again I was forced to change my number, making sure only my boss had it in case of emergencies. I told only my parents and warned them about letting the Guild have it. Surprisingly, they agreed.
Weeks went by. I became accustomed to her presence no matter where I went. The day she wasn’t waiting for me as I left work, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had the fleeting thought she was finally bored and moving on.
I went home in such a good mood. Damn near whistling the entire way. When I walked down the hall to my apartment, I found Macy leaning on my door – I’d had enough. I knew I needed to end it once and for all. Standing in the hall we had a long talk about her needing someone who would love her and worship her like she deserved. I pointed out all of my bad habits, the drinking and flirting. How she always accused me of cheating and didn’t actually trust me. How absolutely unromantic I was, forgetting her birthday or the anniversary of the day we met. I thought of every small thing that I could to turn her off. Making me sound like the worst guy out there, even going as far as to tell her I wasn’t man or Tiger enough for her.
In the end, she left without a fight, agreed with what I said. I walked her to her car, ensuring she got in it and drove off.
I was relieved. I went inside to crack a beer and celebrate. When I opened the door I found the place trashed. Barely anything left worth saving.
Two weeks later I got another job offer in Cascade. Packed the few things I had left and got out of town under the cover of darkness. Call me a coward but I just couldn’t deal with her again.”
He looked down into her face. Her beautiful brown eyes staring up at him. The concern he saw glimmering in them a balm to his emotional wounds. “To have her show up after I thought she moved on freaked me out. I started thinking about us. What we have is fresh and new. I couldn’t take the chance she would do something to you because of me. I admit I was scared. So I flaked on showing up at the bakery. Didn’t call because I wasn’t sure what to tell you, how to explain. There was also a part of me that was afraid you’d turn out like her. I haven’t slept, dated, or even been attracted to another shifter since Macy. You’re the first one, and I’m coming to believe the only one.”
“I didn’t even think about what would go through your head. When your brother said you thought I blew you off and was only after a one-night fling, I was shocked. It hit me like a ton of bricks then. I’m done being scared of my past. I can’t let some crazy bitch hold me back from my future. I needed to see you, talk to you, and beg you to actually give us a chance.”
Corrine rose up and pushed him onto his back. Hovering over him, her eyes were narrowed and he swore he was in trouble.
“I can see why you went stupid the past couple of days, that doesn’t explain your actions the past couple of weeks though. I’m not Macy and you should have realized that by now. I never asked or expected anything from you. Not marriage or mating or any of that. Frankly, I don’t think that stuff is for me. What I did want, and should have told you, was for you to spend time with me and not just time locking lips when no one was around. Not that I didn’t enjoy it for your information. I just don’t want to feel like a dirty secret or some plaything you can toss aside whenever you want.”
“I didn’t plan on sneaking around. It just happened,” he said. “I didn’t know if we were going to last or how to tell my best friend that I’m interested in his sister and not in a ‘she’s cool I wanna hang out’ kind of way. In all my male logic, I thought if no one saw us together, then I wouldn’t be put under a microscope and be forced to explain my feelings when I didn’t even know what they were.”
He lifted his head placing a soft kiss on her lips. “You aren’t a dirty secret or a plaything. You’re my mate,” he whispered before increasing the pressure. Drowning in the taste, feel, and smell of the woman he craved. In that instant he was home. She was the woman of his heart, the Tiger of his soul. And he was never letting her go.
Chapter Ten
Mate? Corrine knew they needed to talk about that ludicrous idea before they went any further. This was the second time he had said it. There is no way this gorgeous man could think she was his mate after their very few encounters together.
Sure their Tigers seemed to want each other and were really compatible, but there was more to picking a mate. Pheromones mixed and attracted but they had a choice. Personality and physical appeal also played a part. Well, depending on what was more dominant: Human or Tiger.
Jett’s tongue swiped across her lips. Without thought, she opened her mouth, granting him access. The tang of beer she tasted as she matched his tongue stroke for stroke, reminding her he had shown up drunk.
That’s why he thinks we’re mates, she thought. He’s too drunk to know the difference. She bit back the sigh before it could escape.
In the back of her mind her little annoying voice was telling her to stop, that he was using her for sex again. Her body ignored it, responding to his touch, calling for more.
She drew away from him. Staring down into his heavy lidded gaze. Without a word, she threw a leg over his hip straddling him, the robe parting just enough to show the smooth lips of her pussy and a hint of the small patch of neatly trimmed hair above.
She watched as his gaze traveled down her body to the juncture between her legs.
Gently, she lowered herself down over the ridge of his hard-on, which was visibly straining at his zipper. The rough texture felt wonderful pressed against her sensitive skin. The heat from her body collided with his, pulling a moan from within.
Jett grunted as she rocked slightly back and forth, slick arousal coating the material of his jeans. She needed them off, but hated to move.
Reaching down, she flicked open the button before raising enough to carefully lower his zipper. His erection sprang from the opening, practically begging to be touched.
Thank god! Commando.
Wrapping her fingers around his cock, she raised up on her knees, using the tip to circle her hard clit. He hissed at the contact.
Tingles shot through her, straight to her belly and the arousal curling, tightening within.
“Please baby, don’t tease, not now” he said, the strain evident in his voice.
“You’ve teased me all week, Jett Murphy. Coming into the shop—kissing and touching, never once seeming to want more. Then you leave me high and dry on the weekend. No contact of any sort.”
She released his cock, letting it thump against his belly. Jett released what sou
nded like a pained grunt. A satisfied smile tipped her lips. It served him right to be in a little pain.
Too bad she couldn’t stand to see him suffer longer. Her soft heart just wouldn’t let her torture him more, at least not without gaining more pleasure.
Spreading her nether lips with her hand, she nestled over him. With a roll of her hips, she slid over his length, coating him with her arousal. Letting the sensitive head of his cock bump her clit just like she liked.
She had taken the backseat in everything they had done up to this point. Let him lead, which had gotten them nowhere. It was time for her to take control of the situation and get exactly what her body demanded every time he was within reach.
“All week I’ve wanted you. Needed you,” she said as she rolled her hips faster. The thrill of being the one in control, revving her arousal up another notch. “We could have gone off anytime you wanted. I would have left with you in a heartbeat,” she panted.
“I didn’t know. Didn’t think past seeing you,” he murmured.
“Why not Jett? I’m only good for a quick roll in the grass or a couple of fumbling touches when no one was around? Was the sex so bad you didn’t want more? Or are you too embarrassed to be seen with me?”
“God no. That’s not it at all,” he groaned as she ground against him.
When he didn’t explain, she lifted off him completely. Planting her hands next to his head, she stared into his face, attempting to read his thoughts. “I’m not sexy enough? Pretty enough? You couldn’t stand the thought of seeing me naked in daylight?”
His beautiful golden eyes popped open in shock. “Fuck no. That’s not it either.”
With the speed of his cat, he hooked her around the waist and flipped their positions. His heavy body settling between her legs, his erection pressed firmly against her belly. She felt overwhelmed by his masculinity and power, and loved it.