by V. A. Dold
Julia’s head rose, and her eyes searched the bar. Her wolf was on full alert; Tommy was near. He was the only person who could cause such a reaction in her. He was here, somewhere in the bar; she felt him. His energy swirled around her, like a soft caress. Excitement coursed through every fiber of her being, setting her pulse pounding. Sure enough, he was sitting in the shadows, against the far wall, devouring her with his eyes. As she stared back, a woman at the table beside him struggled to pull two of the tables together into a group setting. Julia knew from watching him; Thomas always stepped in to help anyone in need. He would never admit it, but he was always the first person to offer help. He might try to appear grumpy to the world, but on the inside he was all sweet gooey marshmallow. An amazingly good man, one she was proud to call ‘mate’.
As she continued to watch, one thing became visibly clear. Her man really filled out his clothes nicely. For just a moment, she wished she were the cotton threads in the t–shirt that he wore like a second skin. A perfectly fitted, very lucky t– shirt. His shoulders rolled, and back muscles rippled as he moved the heavy antique tables into position.
Her wolf rumbled its contentment to have its mate safely home. Just the sight of him made her mouth water. Absentmindedly, she licked her lips, in anticipation of the private moments that she knew were coming in the very near future.
This was the perfect opportunity to sneak up on him. Julia leapt over the bar, easily slipping through the crowd until she stood directly behind him.
He must have sensed her presence. Slowly he turned, his expression instantly shifting from concentration to desire. He stepped into her, trailing his fingers up her bare arms until he reached her face. Leaving a wake of goosebumps over her exposed flesh.
Still holding her gaze, he gave her a wicked grin and whispered, “You might want to close your eyes for this.”
“Bring it, mate.” She grinned back as she stood on her tiptoes and tilted her head just right to kiss the pants right off him.
The crowd faded away as Julia became the entirety of his world. Much to soon, air became a necessity, forcing Thomas to draw back far enough for them to draw air.
“How long is your shift?” he whispered against her neck. “I really need to taste you.”
She had been hot and bothered before, but with his throaty declaration, she was dripping wet now. Her whole body tightened and her nipples became beacons for all to see. On top of that, her wolf wanted to rub her head against his chest.
“You do?” she whispered back.
“Oh, yeah. I really, really do.” He moaned, his attention still glued to her mouth and his very hard erection pressed into her belly.
Julia rubbed against him as she licked her lips. “Just one more hour and I’m all yours.”
If it was possible, his sexy growl made her even hotter.
“As much as I hate to say it, I need to get back behind the bar.”
“All right, I’ll be right here when you’re ready to leave.”
*****
A long, low groan rumbled from Tim’s throat, every inch of his body ached when he tried to move. What the hell had he done last night? Whatever he’d taken must have been strong shit.
When he tried to squint enough to see where he was, pain shot through his entire face. Slowly and carefully, he tried to open his right eye, but all that earned him was another spike pounded into his brain. Hesitantly, he tried again with his left, expecting another jab of intense pain. Even though, it hurt like a son of a bitch, that eye at least opened to a thin slit allowing him to look around and figure out where the hell he was.
What the hell?
His sight was so severely restricted; he had zero peripheral vision and could only see directly in front of him. It hurt like a son of a bitch to turn his head to see his surroundings, but that was his only choice.
The lump in his pocket was encouraging; at least he still had his cell phone. Once he figured out where he was, he could call an ambulance because he sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to walk out of this alley on his own power. He could call 911 as long as his phone wasn’t smashed or dead, that is. The condition of his phone was still a mystery since he couldn’t get to his pocket. He was jammed behind a dumpster and would need to wiggle his way out before he could reach it to make the damn call.
He had two choices, give up and die, or work his way out of this predicament. Taking a deep breath, he braced his arms to push; this was going to hurt like hell.
It was the longest, most painful hour of his life. Sweating like a pig and panting from the pain he reached for his phone and called for help.
*****
Julia had been pouring drinks at a breakneck pace for the last thirty minutes. The crowd seemed extra thirsty tonight. In between orders, she snuck glances at her personal Mr. Sexy Pants, not in the least bit surprised to find him undressing her with his eyes. She’d felt his gaze since turning her back to return to the bar. She found she really enjoyed being the center of his world. Like, enjoyed it a lot.
Pouring out a line of eight whiskey shots, she gazed back, nibbling her lower lip and doing a little visual undressing of her own.
“If you two don’t get out of here, I’m going to puke,” Logan snarled playfully from his station at the other end of the bar. “Quintin just came in, he can help close tonight. Grab your mate and leave me in peace.”
“You’re just jealous,” Julia teased. “I can hardly wait until your mate shows up.”
“Me, either,” Logan mumbled.
Julia waved Quintin over and got him up to speed on the orders that needed to be filled then headed for her office to get her purse. With every step her excitement grew. It was finally going to happen; she was going to get Tommy naked and into her bed.
The office door hadn’t swung shut when she felt Tommy’s arms wrap around her from behind. “You’re killing me, woman.”
“I just need to get my stuff, and we’re out of here.”
In a flash they were walking through the back door of her cottage, kicking their shoes off.
Tommy must have come here first. She thought as she took in the flickering candles throughout the house. Then she saw the rose petals trailing down the hall.
She turned to him, a five thousand watt smile lighting her face. “You did all this?”
Thomas gathered her into his arms. “I want our first time to be a memory you hold dear for the rest of your life.”
Julia gasped and covered her mouth with a trembling hand, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“Ah, hell. I’m sorry, babe. Just give me a minute, and I’ll clean it all up.”
“Don’t you dare touch a single thing!”
Thomas frowned at her completely confused.
“But, it made you cry.”
“Happy tears,” she thumped his chest, “you – you – man.”
Thomas ran his fingers through his hair and grinned at her exasperated expression. “I swear, women should come with an owner’s manual.”
Standing stocking foot, in soft worn jeans and black T–shirt, her sexy man made it difficult to think straight. Julia leaned her forehead against his chest, closed her eyes, then drew in a deep breath, filling her senses with his warm spicy scent. A grin spread across her face. All male – her male.
Slowly she raised her head and kissed him softly before stepping from his arms with a saucy expression on her face.
“I’ll be right back. Meet me in the living room.”
She disappeared down the hall to her bedroom.
Minutes later she joined him in a sheer robe and barely-there teddy.
The heat in his eyes, as he slowly checked her out from head to toe, could have set her house ablaze. It certainly got her heart pounding. Beating crazy fast, like a snare drum solo.
His lips slowly spread into a smoking hot sexy grin.
“Come here, I need to touch you,” he demanded, in a husky voice.
The touch of his hands, as he drew her closer m
ade the butterflies in her stomach, do the rumba.
Thomas pulled her lips to his, tasting and savoring Julia’s unique essence. With one hand laced in her hair and the other firmly on her hip, he nestled her between his legs.
Julia melted into him, giving herself over to his magical touch. Their tongues danced a passionate, slow waltz, as her fingers worked the buttons on his shirt.
Blazing a trail of hot kisses across his jaw and down the side of his neck, she pushed the shirt from his shoulders. Stopping only to lave the spot on his neck where she would mark him during the ritual. The contented rumble of her wolf joined their sighs and moans.
Each gentle stroke of Thomas’s thumbs across her hardened nipples increased her pulse, making it harder to concentrate on tasting every inch of her mate.
Thomas reclaimed her mouth, kissing her to within an inch of her life. Vaguely the thought that one night with him and she could die happy flitted through her oxygen starved brain.
Then she teetered over the edge and suddenly tasting every inch of him no longer mattered as much. She would get back to that in a minute. His hands gripped her ass, kneading and slipping under the elastic to stroke her soft skin. He had worked his lips down her neck and was arching her back to suckle her through the teddy.
“This has to go,” he said around her engorged nipple before lifting his head.
After thirty seconds of steadier breathing, she still couldn’t call her heavy panting regular. Not by a long shot, but she was able to string a coherent thought together. Almost.
Had he asked something?
Thomas fingered the silky lingerie. “Babe? This really has to go, and I’m sure you don’t want me to go cave man on this sexy bit of nightwear.”
With her mind functioning again, she gave him a sexy smile before pushing him back into his chair. Taking two steps back, she began performing a mind–blowing strip tease. Thomas knew if she kept gyrating and, Lord have mercy, bent over again he was going to shame himself before he got his jeans off.
Barely able to speak, he said. “Damn, woman, you’re killing me. Take it off and bring your naked self over here.”
Julia laughed at his flustered expression as she stepped from the teddy, leaving it lying on the floor as she stepped between his legs, wearing nothing but her high heels.
She waited for his eyes to find their way to her face before she reached for his zipper. He lifted up, helping her pull the denim and from his hips.
Commando!
As the jeans passed his feet, she stripped his socks off, too.
Reaching for her again, he slid his hands up her legs, brushing his thumbs over her glistening center. His cock jerked in anticipation of her moist, tight heat. “You’re wet for me, babe.”
He encouraged her to join him on the chair. “Kneel on either side of me up here on the chair, I need to taste you.”
She was a feast at precisely the perfect level. Gripping her hips, he pulled her to his hungry mouth. He breathed her in, before taking one slow lick.
Julia’s head fell back as he encouraged her to arch her hips and press against his seeking tongue. He couldn’t get enough, licking and sucking, in total bliss. She was sweet and salty on his tongue.
Julia was getting close, her hips grinding against him, rocking in rhythm to his licks and suckles.
Her body stiffened, and she shouted his name as he greedily lapped up her orgasm.
Gripping her hips to steady her quivering body, Thomas lowered her to sit on his bare lap. Straddling him, her heated core slick with her release, slid up and down his aching erection.
This chair was his new favorite piece of furniture. First her heat was in the perfect position, and now her luscious breasts were before his lips begging for his attention. Closing his eyes, he groaned in pleasure as he ran his tongue around her puckered nipple. Each pull on her rosy peaks had her wriggling in his lap. The most wonderful torment he could imagine.
As much as he was enjoying himself, he wasn’t going to last. “Baby, I need you. Ride me, mon amour.”
Julia lifted enough to wrap her fist around his straining cock. Claiming his lips, she kissed him hard and deep, stroking him from head to balls, over and over. His breathing became ragged, and his head was spinning. One last stroke and she held him in place as she lowered onto him. Taking everything he had.
“Yes…” Her throaty cry mingled with his satisfied groan.
“Ah, hell yeah. You feel…perfect,” he growled, voice husky and deliciously hot.
Thomas’s head fell back as she rode him like she was a cowgirl, and he was her favorite pony. Gripping his shoulders she lifted slightly with each stroke before taking all of him again. Rocking faster and harder. They were both so worked up; it didn’t take long for them to peak. Julia cried his name again as Thomas yelled hers in return.
Gasping for breath, she collapsed against his chest. Thomas held her, stroking her back and hair, wearing the biggest, sappiest grin he was sure he had ever worn. Except for the fact that they were naked, he wouldn’t have cared if the whole world saw how happy he was.
Finally able to breathe normally, Julia raised her head. Instantly she saw the bruising and contusions she hadn’t noticed in the heat of their passion. A distressed cry broke from her throat. Her lips trailed down the side of his face, and across the bluish purple bruising over his ribcage. Kissing him all better.
How bad is it? Her fingers gently skimmed near a particularly ugly contusion. Please don’t sugarcoat it. There was desperation in her thoughts and Lord help him—tears running down her face.
His chest tightened. How the hell did men survive a woman’s tears? Again, where was the owner’s manual when he needed it?
Baby, please don’t cry.
He framed her face with his battle-torn hands. Bloodied knuckles and swollen fingers stood out like ugly disfigurements against her creamy smooth skin. He hadn’t taken the time to see Mom and Grandma for a healing. His focus had been on getting to Julia.
Gently, he wiped her tears away, the pads of his fingers, brushing her lips. The lips of the only woman in existence, other than his Mother or Grandmother, he would die to protect. The woman who could make his heart sore with a smile. Whose kiss took him to paradise. The only woman he would ever love. She was a damned miracle, and it killed him to cause her worry.
“After Las Vegas, I just wanted to come home. You, Julia, are home for me. Would it help if I told you I plan to see the healers in the morning? I love you, baby. Tell me what I can do to make you smile?”
He willingly stripped himself emotionally bare for her. Giving her his heart, and trusting her to hold it gently.
“I’m your home?” she sniffled.
“One hundred percent.”
She searched his eyes, and he saw love and delighted surprise, mixed with something so sexy he lifted her from his lap, took her by the hand and ran with her to the bedroom. If he didn’t get her to a bed in the next five seconds, he was going to throw her on the floor in the living room and bury himself deep all over again.
*****
What a way to wake up! As Thomas opened his eyes, he looked directly into Julia’s beautiful brown gaze. She was draped across his chest, her chin on her arm, watching him sleep and waiting for him to wake.
“Bonjour, mon amour.”
It was a good thing he was lying down, Julia’s sweet smile, and sexy greeting had his manhood saying good morning in its own special way. Which left little blood for his brain, or balance, heck there wasn’t blood for anything else in his body as far as he could tell.
She adjusted her position so she could kiss his already muddled brain senseless.
He could definitely get used to this.
She gave him one last soft kiss and whispered. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen. You can tell me what happened in Las Vegas over coffee.”
Silently he groaned, as only a man denied can groan. That was not the path his thoughts and body had been traveling down.
He threw his arm across his eyes and willed his Johnson to relax. Not as easy as it sounded. He owed her an explanation of what happened and how he came to be the bruised mess he was. If the tables were turned he sure as hell would demand one from her, so he would man up and find his damn pants. How do jeans disappear? It took a minute, but the AWOL jeans were located under his new favorite chair in the living room. It baffled him how they had gotten there, but then again, last night had been very –active.
Julia handed him a huge steaming mug. Nothing, except Julia that is, smelled as good as fresh coffee in the morning.
“Would you like to sit here in the kitchen or get comfortable in the living room?” Julia asked as she looked at him over the rim of her coffee with vanilla creamer.
“Here at the table is good. Closer to the coffee pot.” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
He pulled her chair for her and slid into the other at her bistro style table.
“Where to begin? I’m not sure how bad your childhood was with your crazy ass mother, but I hope you’ll be able to understand how bad it got for us. Growing up with that bastard was like living in a war zone. We were always on guard. I had escape routes and survival bugout packs stashed in several hiding spots. John and I had secret words and bird calls we used to communicate.”
Julia took his hand, offering him her strength through their physical connection.
He searched for a way to explain to her how it had been. Having to describe his childhood and talk about their survival techniques was new to him.
“I tried many times to figure out what triggered my fathers attacks. I thought if I knew what set him off, I could make sure we didn’t accidentally provoke him. It was years before I realized there were no triggers; he was just a mean bastard who enjoyed tormenting his children.”
Julia didn’t say a word, she seem to understand he needed to get this all out without interruption.
“I was ten when he hit me the first time. Before that, emotional abuse was enough to satisfy him. But for some reason, the older we got, the more physical he became. I knew if I didn’t get John out of sight when he was around, he would get slapped around like I had. I started watching hunting shows and reading every survival book I could get my hands on. I had to keep him safe. We never knew when he would show up, so we avoided friendships with the kids at school. We couldn’t chance one of them being at our house or coming over to play when he was around. We developed a habit of not allowing anyone outside our little family too close. It wasn’t safe, and after a while it was normal for us to live like that. Our dysfunctional way of survival is why neither John nor I ever had a steady girlfriend.”