by Desiree Holt
One of his strong hands cradled her head while the other stole beneath the fabric of the nightshirt. He glided along her skin, over thigh and hip, until he reached her breasts. Cupping one in his palm, he rasped the stiffened nipple with his thumb. Regan moaned into his mouth as lust blazed through her. The pulse in her womb beat heavily and she had to squeeze her thighs together.
Beneath the cheeks of her ass, his thick cock pressed against her body, hot and hard. She squirmed as she tried to work herself back and forth over it but he held her still.
“Uh-uh,” he cautioned. “Last time was too fast, too intense. Almost as if we were caught up in a whirlwind. I wondered if maybe it was just the intensity of the moment but it wasn’t. I thought about it while I was reading the book you gave me. Now I want to make love to you again, but slowly.” His mouth hovered over hers, his breath a faint breeze on her skin. “It’s been so long for me.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “Felicia was—” His voice broke.
Regan placed her hands on his cheeks. “Dante, we don’t have to do this. I can’t know exactly the pain you’re feeling. Felicia was your wife. The other half of you. But I can come close. This…whatever it is between us, was so fast and furious, just like you said. We agreed to take it slow so maybe it’s better if we just back off a bit.”
Another soft whisper of his mouth on hers. “And maybe I’m getting a message that this is just what I need. I don’t want to turn away from you. Just be patient with me, okay? And this time we won’t rush things.” He teased the corner of her mouth. “What we had this afternoon was blazing-hot sex. I can’t get it out of my mind. Now, this time, I want us to taste every moment.”
“A-all right. If you’re sure.” She swallowed the lump rising in her throat, aware that this was a huge step forward for him. That the walls of his self-imposed prison were cracking. She just didn’t want that to destroy him. “I don’t want you to have any regrets.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Please let him mean that.
The kiss this time was a little hotter, a little deeper. His hand kneaded her breast and, through the denim of his jeans, she again felt the swollen hardness of his cock. When she tried once more to rub her ass against it he stood up, mouth still locked to hers, and carried her to the bed.
He placed her carefully on the covers, lightly stroking her cheek before slowly pulling off his clothes. Without the frantic pace of their first mating, she was able to take her time looking at him, enjoy the sight of his body as he peeled off each item of clothing. Well-defined muscles flexed beneath his skin and dark nipples peeked out from the soft dusting of hair that covered his chest. His stomach was flat, his hips narrow, his legs lean and muscular. Runner’s legs, she thought.
And his cock. Regan’s mouth watered at the sight of it and moisture flooded her cunt. The large shaft stood tall and thick against his stomach, the head a deep purple, the sac holding his balls hanging heavily between his thighs. He wrapped his fingers around the swollen rod and stroked himself once. A bead of fluid appeared at the top of the head, right on the slit. She licked her lips and tried to reach for him, wanting to lick that soft skin all over. To taste him. His essence. The flavor of him.
But his fingers closed firmly over her wrist and he shook his head.
“I want your lips around me as much as you want to take me in your mouth.” Ravenous hunger edged his voice. “But my turn first.”
He knelt between her thighs, bending her legs back so her feet were planted on the bed, and opened the lips of her pussy with his long fingers.
“Jesus, Regan.” Lust thickened his tone. “You have the most gorgeous cunt. So pink and pretty.” He touched her inner lips. “And soaking wet for me.”
Bending forward, he ran his tongue the length of her slit, just a teasing caress that sent shockwaves through her body. He used the tip of his tongue to swirl around her clit, a touch so light it drove her mad. Again and again he circled the little nub of flesh until she was shaking with need.
With the same deliberate slowness, he traced her opening with the tip of a finger, ignoring the desperate upward push of her hips.
“More,” she cried, frantic and desperate.
He responded with a gentle nip of her throbbing clit and the slow glide of one finger into her soaked channel. She hummed with pleasure at his touch, the dual assault of tongue and finger making her body vibrate like a tuning fork.
He’d said slow, and he obviously meant it, sliding his finger in and out of her with a deliberateness that drove her crazy. Regan wanted to squeeze her thighs together to hold his head in place, but his broad shoulders kept her legs apart, leaving her open to whatever sensual torment he chose.
When he added a second finger to the first, she tightened the muscles of her pussy and tried to ride them. His laugh was almost a growl, pulsating against her body as he sucked her clit into his mouth and tugged it with his teeth. Deep inside her core, the genesis of an orgasm was growing, gathering speed and force.
More! She wanted to shout it.
But he teased and tormented, driving her slowly up to that incredible edge before backing down then starting again. When he added a third finger, stretching her tissues and scraping the tips of those fingers against her sweet spot, she panted with need. A cry of protest escaped her mouth when he withdrew his hand and traced one wet finger down the sensitive tissue to the tight pucker of her anus. When he pushed gently, she hummed with desire.
“Yes?” he asked. “Okay?”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Do it, she wanted to scream. Do something. Anything!
Very lightly he pressed, until the finger was inside that dark tunnel to the first knuckle. Regan’s body bowed at the touch, thrusting her pussy harder against his mouth. Dante slid one hand up to settle her and cupped a breast, pinching the nipple between thumb and forefinger.
That was all it took for the climax to break. She rode the triple assault as shudders rippled over her, the walls of her cunt spasming with the force of her release. And as she did so, she pushed down so the one finger slid completely into the hot channel of her rectum.
Oh god! Ohmigod!
A giant fist gripped and shook her, every muscle in her body clenched, and she spasmed over and over.
He played her and teased her until she subsided into smaller shudders, her breath rasping from her lungs, her body covered with a thin film of perspiration. When she sagged back against the bed, Dante removed his finger from her ass and slid up her body, rubbing his cheek against her skin, the slight roughness of his overnight shadow a pleasant sense of abrasion.
She opened her eyes to see his, scant inches from hers, the black darkened to an inky color, a look of smug satisfaction on his face. His gaze still locked with hers, he took her mouth in a devouring kiss, sharing her taste. Others had done it before. She wasn’t, after all, a novice to sex. But somehow this time it was completely erotic, waking up those nerve endings she thought had taken a post-orgasm nap.
He tugged her lower lip between his teeth, nipping, his breath lightly fanning her skin. His hands slid up to cradle her breasts, squeezing them gently.
”Better,” he said. A statement, not a question.
“Better,” she agreed and wound her fingers in the silky darkness of his hair. Then disappointment flooded her when he pushed himself up and away. “What—”
“One second.”
She watched as he grabbed his jeans, fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a condom.
Regan lifted an eyebrow. “Prepared?”
“Optimistic,” he corrected.
He tore open the package and sheathed himself. Then he was back between her thighs, lifting her legs up and bending them back so her pussy was fully open. He stared at it for so long she wondered if he was going to move. But then he guided the head of his shaft to her drenched opening. At the first contact, all her nerves snapped to life again and she was instantly ready for him.
Bracing himself on his hands, he dipped his head to pul
l one stiff nipple into his mouth as he slowly eased into her wet warmth. Her muscles tightened around him, squeezing and releasing. When he dragged his teeth over the nipple, the sensation shot straight to her cunt.
Again his eyes sought her, the hunger so evident it consumed her.
“This time I know what I’m doing. This time it’s deliberate.”
Regan was sure she’d be way behind him, needing recovery time for her body to respond again, but she hadn’t been prepared for how easily he aroused her, how intensely he affected her. He set the pace, slow at first, a dragging slide against her flesh as he moved in and out of her clasp. Then faster until the force of his pistoning hips shook her. She wrapped her legs around him, digging her heels into the small of his back to anchor herself.
Now he slammed into her, harder and harder. Her orgasm rushed up through her body, stealing her breath until she didn’t think she could hold on any longer. And then, beneath the grip of her legs, she felt the tightening of his back, the tensing of his body, and they rocketed into space together.
Regan lost all sense of time and self and place as great spasms shook their bodies, breath left her lungs and her heart beat so hard and so fast she expected it to explode from her chest. They shuddered together, caught in the grasp of some intensely wild force, bodies taking and giving to each other. Behind her closed eyelids she saw the flashing colors of fireworks.
As if from a great distance, she felt the brush of lips on her cheek, the whisper of a breeze against her neck. Felt the thumping of her heart and her lungs seeking air.
Only when Dante began to ease himself from her body did she open her eyes again. His body might be satisfied for the moment but she knew from the look in his eyes this was only a beginning.
Could they handle this, with so much disaster all around them? With the history of his loss and the tension with which they all lived?
She lay back on the pillows, spent, as Dante disposed of the condom in the bathroom. The sound of running water invaded the silence momentarily. When he walked back to the bed, he stood for a long moment looking down at her.
“I can go back to my suite tonight.” He said the words slowly and deliberately, giving her a choice.
“No.” She patted the bed next to her. “Stay here. With me.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Do you think people will talk?” She rose on one elbow. “They don’t seem like gossiping types to me.”
“They’re not. I just want them to treat you properly.”
She stared at him, puzzled. “And you think they won’t?”
“That’s not it at all. I just want to be sure you aren’t…” He searched for a word.
“It’s okay.” She reached out and took his hand in hers. “From what you’ve told me, there are others here who found people the same way we found each other. And just as fast.”
“That’s true.”
“So then we’re good.” She tilted her head. “Are you worried about what might happen if you change your mind?”
His laugh was humorless. “I’m worried about what might happen if you change your mind.”
“Then we have no worries.” She slid over a little. “Come to bed and hold me. I really need that right now.”
He curled his warm, hard body around hers, one hand cupping a breast, her head leaning against his other arm.
“I think I do too,” he murmured.
They fell asleep that way, coiled together.
Chapter Six
“So what do you think?” Logan asked.
He leaned against the counter in the kitchen and took a healthy swallow of his first mug of coffee of the day.
Sophia, his almost-sister-in-law, was sitting at the table with her own coffee. It was early in the morning and at the moment, they were the only two moving around. Ric would make an appearance soon to check the ongoing computer searches. Then, one by one, the others would drift in from their individual quarters to get their assignments for the day.
Regan Fortune was sure to be a major topic of conversation, and Logan wanted to get Sophia’s opinion first. During the long, cold weeks they’d worked the case in her home state of Maine, he’d learned to respect her intuition and instincts.
She looked at him, one eyebrow cocked. “About?”
“You know about what. Regan Fortune. And Dante.”
Sophia chuckled. “Are you asking if I think she’s trustworthy? That she’s telling the truth about her brother? Or if I think a woman has finally come along who can crack that concrete shell around Dante?”
Logan took another sip of coffee. “Yes. That. All of that.”
“All of what?” Rebecca shuffled into the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt but with sleep still clouding her face. She glanced at Logan. “You ran off and left me.”
He laughed and poured her a cup of coffee. “You were sleeping so peacefully I hated to disturb you.”
She gave him a sleepy grin. “And whose fault is it that I was so tired?”
“Okay, more than I want to know.” Sophia waved a hand at them. “Let’s get back to the topic of the moment.”
“Which is?” Rebecca asked.
“Regan Fortune.”
Rebecca grinned. “I think Dante’s got the hots for her. Isn’t it great?”
“That was my question,” Logan broke in. “Do you think he really does? And do you get a feeling she’s good for him or is she leading him on for her own purposes?” He caught the look the two women exchanged. “What? I’m just asking a question?”
“You guys are all so protective of each other and suspicious of us females.” Rebecca punched his arm.
“What?” Logan frowned. “I’m just concerned for a friend.”
“Everyone else slid into relationships,” Sophia reminded him. “Nobody said boo about anything. What’s so different about this?”
Logan shrugged. “Maybe nothing. But you know what he’s been like since the team came together. And Craig said he was like that for a long time before. A loner, buried in grief and anger. He’s never gotten over Felicia’s death.”
They had all come to the ranch damaged in some manner. It was impossible not to be when you were immersed in a living nightmare. But for Dante, survival had come in the form of emotional disconnection in which the only things he embraced were rage and pain. Rebecca had learned from her sister that the man kept a large picture of Felicia in his bedroom. Not unusual under the circumstances. They all kept photos of the loved ones destroyed by the Chupacabra. But more than once, when Sophia had needed to fetch him for something, she’d found him sitting on the patio outside his bedroom, holding the picture to his heart and crying silently.
And Dante was not a man given to breaking down easily.
His pain had touched all of them, but somehow Logan more than the others. So was he concerned about him? Protective of him? Damn straight.
He saw Rebecca study him over the rim of her coffee mug. “And you think because Regan is so intent on finding the devil beast, because it’s also part of her brother’s research, that she’s playing Dante? Jeez, Logan. I didn’t realize you had such a low opinion of women.”
Realizing he was digging himself into a hole, Logan wrapped his arm around her and tugged her close, kissing the top of her head. “Not at all. Don’t you think that for a minute. I’m just concerned for a friend.”
“As we all are.” Ric had come into the kitchen while they were talking. “But I don’t sense that about her, Logan. And while that’s just my gut reaction, I’ve also run every check on her possible.”
Logan dipped his head in acknowledgment. “I figured you would. You must have been up before the chickens. If we had any, that is.”
“Too much pent-up energy. My brain won’t shut off.”
Sophia snorted. “No kidding. Do you ever sleep?”
“I’m still pissed about the cold shoulder from the Rangers too. The least they could do is listen to
us.” He sweetened his coffee. “I texted Craig. I’d like to take a run at them on my own. See if I can get somewhere. Show them we can help.”
“Yeah, well.” Logan took a sip of hot liquid. “Good luck with that. But back to Dante.”
“I think she’s the real deal,” Ric answered. He looked at Sophia and Rebecca. “You two are sharp. What’s your opinions?”
Logan saw a look pass between the sisters.
Then Sophia spoke. “I like her. I think she’s truly frightened. I don’t think either she or her brother, despite all his research, were prepared for the reality of the Chupacabra. And I think she and Dante are a little stunned by their connection.”
“Same here,” Rebecca agreed.
Logan nodded. “I’m taking a leap but I’m going to assume he’ll want her to stay at the ranch while this situation is active. Maybe work on it with us.” He looked at Ric. “That’s really your call. Yours and Craig’s.”
“I’ll check with him in a little while. I’d like to hear what they have to say first but I think he’ll be good with it. For Dante, of all people, to bring someone into this environment, she has to be someone who’ll fit.” He looked around at the others. “There’s something else we need to address, though.”
Logan slid him a glance. “Like what?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t sense it, Logan. I think Dante’s lady love is a shifter.”
Everyone stared at him.
Finally Logan found his voice. “Are you fucking kidding me? What makes you think that? I didn’t catch a scent from her at all.”
“I think she’s trying to hide it. From all of us, including Dante.”
Sophia frowned. “So what’s going to happen when he finds out?”
“I’m hoping the same thing that happened with the rest of you. After the initial shock—nothing. Dante’s been here from the beginning. He learned about us when Craig brought us all together. He’s shown us total acceptance.” He gave Logan a long look. “You and Rebecca are good to go. Sophia and Clint are married. Why should this be any different?”