“Why do I get the feeling that you want that to be the truth, but you aren’t really sure that it is the truth?”
Chapter Seventeen
Shit, shit shit!
Clay stared at the beautiful woman in front of him and tried to find a way to answer her that would be the truth, but not scare the living hell out of her.
He couldn’t very well tell her that he and Gunter could shift their shape into that of a lion. Nor could he tell her that if either of them were very likely to assault her that it would be Gunter—especially since he knew that it wouldn’t necessarily be the entire truth.
Even now, he could feel the heat of the el calor bathing his innards. It was only a matter of time before the pain he felt was the same as what Gunter must already feel. It got worse with each passing moment he spent in her presence. It wasn’t any wonder that Gunter had insisted Clay be the one to stay with her through the night. He probably didn’t trust himself to be alone with her for so long.
“It’s nothing. Just know that there isn’t a man in this town who wouldn’t die to protect you. The men of Paradise have taken the protection of the women here seriously since the town was founded.”
He didn’t offer the information that for a while the men in the town thought protecting the women meant enslaving them. That time was over, however, and didn’t need mentioning. Now that Adam Greer had taken his rightful place as alpha, the men took their responsibilities seriously and they once again protected their women as they should be protected—with love and respect.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go get dressed. I’ll send Gunter in here while I change. If you’ll go into the bathroom and get dressed, we’ll go out for something to eat and a trip to the nearest department store in Mason.” Turning, he headed for the room that he and Gunter shared.
“Just tell me one more thing before you go.”
Closing his eyes, Clay fisted his hands at his sides. He wasn’t sure he could answer more questions if they ran along the same vein as her last. As much as he didn’t want to tell her what they were just yet, the woman needed to know that she was playing with fire. He didn’t turn around when he answered, “Yes?”
“Why is the dresser sitting in front of my door? Did you think I’d sleepwalk and leave the room or something?”
“No.” He shook his head. “It was nothing like that.” There was no way to tell her the truth without frightening her and he refused to lie to her about it. “The sheriff visited us last night while you were unconscious. Apparently, a man visited Doc Parker asking about you and Holly. When the sheriff came to warn us, we decided the best way to protect you both without all of us holing up in the same room was to barricade the doors. That way, the only way into the room was the windows and no one is getting through that glass without making a hell of a racket.”
There. He’d told her the truth. He’d most likely scared the shit out of her as well, but at least she could direct her fear where he needed to, instead of being afraid that he or Gunter would lose their minds before they could mate her. That it was a real possibility was something she never needed to know. He could only hope they could convince her to stay with them before it came to that.
“Get dressed. I’ll send Gunter in here to make sure you and your daughter remain safe. We’ll leave for breakfast as soon as everyone’s ready to go.”
Gunter was on the bed, his feet crossed, with one arm under his head, the other draped across his chest, sleeping when Clay entered the room.
He thought about slamming the door to wake him up, but didn’t want to startle the two females. Waking his triad mate was a dangerous proposition. With the present danger, Clay knew that though his friend was sleeping, he had put his animal on alert. If he wasn’t careful, Gunter could awaken in mid shift just as he dealt a killing blow.
Reaching out, he wiggled the other man’s toe. “Wake up, you lazy bastard. I need to shower and get dressed, our mate is alone in her room.”
Gunter sat up with a growl, his cat eyes glowing in the dim light afforded by the closed drapes. His hair thickened as his mane grew in the few seconds it took him to recognize Clay.
“One of these days you’re going to wake me like that and I’m going to take your head off.” Gunter sat up with a scowl.
“Why do you think I stand at the foot of the bed and wiggle your toes? I’m not crazy and I don’t have a death wish.” Clay grinned. “You might want to get in there. She’s dressing for breakfast and we need to take them to Mason to get some clothes. They’re women. They won’t borrow underwear, though I can’t say I blame them.”
“Try not to take too long. I need to get out of here for a bit before I go nuts. Her scent is enough to drive me insane. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay here without…” He let the words trail off, no doubt knowing that Clay knew what he meant.
“I know what you mean. It’s beginning to get to me as well.”
Gunter gave him a sharp look. “The heat has set upon you, too?”
“Yes.” No one was really sure how long it would take for the el calor to affect the formerly-human males. Clay wasn’t the first of them to find his mate, but as with all things, it could influence them all in differing ways. “I don’t remember Fish saying anything about feeling the heat while he courted his mate, but then he’d already been in love with her and had consummated their relationship before he became a full shifter.”
That Fish’s mate turned out to be the woman he’d dated as a human for a few years, was a lucky turn of events for him after he’d agreed to the blood and saliva exchange that made him one of the strongest shifters in Paradise.
The fact that the other soldier was able to rescue his mate from the clutches of evil was something the people of Paradise still talked about on occasion.
“I still need to shower and she’s alone in there. You know as well as I do that she needs protection. What if she is the woman that the tudra male came looking for last night?” Clay knew if anything would get Gunter on the move, it was a tudra threat.
“If one of those sick bastards even thinks about touching our mate or the child, I will rip them to shreds.” Gunter bared his teeth in a dark grin. “I might not even change into my beast to do it.”
Chapter Eighteen
After dressing and brushing her teeth, Riana stared at herself in the mirror with a frown. She still had the bandage wrapped around her head. She would have to contact the doctor when they came back to the hotel and ask how long she would have to wait before she could wash her hair.
Her scalp itched like crazy already. She didn’t know how long she could handle walking around with dirty hair. Still, she didn’t want to undo everything the doctor did. Perhaps if she let him examine it and see for himself that she healed faster than most people, maybe he would let her wash her hair sooner rather than later.
She’d opened the bathroom door after she dressed. She couldn’t stay in here with the door closed. All she could think about was the fact that she had fallen asleep and that someone had drained the tub and carried her to the bed. Had it been Clay or Gunter?
Riana had already faced Clay and he hadn’t made her feel uncomfortable. She could only hope that things would be the same with Gunter. What was it about the two men that made her feel so strange and hot inside?
Not once in her adult life had she ever desired even one man. Now, after her plane crashed in this strange, but wonderful town, she lusted—actually lusted—after two men. She looked down at the sink and wondered what was different about her now? Why did she constantly burn for these two men?
Leaning closer, Riana ran her fingers over the dark circles beneath her eyes with a critical look.
“Stop frowning at your reflection like that. You’re beautiful.”
Spinning around at the sound of Gunter’s voice, Riana brought her hand to her chest. Her heart raced beneath her fingers as she looked up at him. He looked absolutely delicious leaning against the door the way he was. “You f
rightened me.” She tried not to stare at the way his t-shirt hugged his chest and shoulders.
What was this thing she felt for these two men? Was it some kind of hero worship because they had saved her, Holly and the other woman from the plane before it caught fire and burned them to death?
Never before had she ever felt such a deep-seated desire to be with even one man. What made her feel this now, with two?
Riana felt something for them and couldn’t figure out why. She yearned for them with such alacrity that she wasn’t sure she would survive a union with either one of them.
She glanced back at herself in the mirror and frowned again. “You’re just saying that.” She looked away from her reflection with a sigh. Riana didn’t need this man flattering her anymore. She could barely control herself around him as it was. She didn’t want him looking better to her with every pretty word that passed his lips.
“No, I’m not.” He moved closer and cupped her cheeks with both hands, forcing her to look up at him again. “I’ve wanted to tell you that since I first saw you, but the timing never seemed right.” Gunter slowly lowered his head toward hers, gently brushing her lips with his.
Riana wanted to stop him, yet she didn’t. She wanted to pull his head away from hers and tell him that what they were doing was wrong, but she couldn’t. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him closer, and deepened the kiss.
Thankfully, Holly was asleep in her bed, the door between the two rooms closed and Holly would knock if she did wake up. Riana was going to grab onto this chance to kiss this man with everything in her and, if it led to something else, she would think about it later. Right now, all she wanted to do was feel. For once in her life, she felt something for someone else that wasn’t an all consuming fear.
She opened for Gunter when he licked the seam of her lips, his tongue tangling with hers when he thrust it inside her mouth. Riana lost her breath. Her body shuddered with the surge of sensation as his mouth took hers. His hands moved from her cheeks down to her shoulders, pulling her tighter against him as his lips continued to play over hers while he deepened their kiss.
Tingling began in her toes as liquid heat seeped from her channel to coat her panties. This was what she had been missing all of these years. How could she have forgotten something so delicious? Perhaps she had never felt so precious in another man’s arms. Perhaps a kiss had never felt so right as it did with this man. Perhaps Holly really had been conceived in violence and there were no tender emotions to remember.
As much as she wanted to feel the soft, gentle press of Gunter’s lips against hers, Riana also wanted to feel his passion, his need as he held her in his arms. She moaned when his tongue brushed against hers once again. It was as though everything inside her melted as he held her against him, his mouth playing expertly over hers.
Again, he thrust his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. Heat seared through her like magma rushing through her veins. Stars burst behind her eyelids as he reached down to cup the cheek of her rear and draw her close, pressing her against his massive erection.
“Never say that you aren’t beautiful. Never say I tell you that you are the most gorgeous woman in the world just to make you feel better.” Gunter breathed the words against her lips before taking her mouth in another forceful kiss.
After that kiss, he added, “I feel you melting against me. I can smell your arousal as your body grows softer in my arms, and I can hear your heartbeat beating for me as my own heart pounds for yours.” He lowered his head to suckle her ear for a moment. “You were made for me, just as you were made for Clay and we intend to keep you.”
Gunter pulled her hips against him with a groan. His hands pressed upward, pushing her shirt up and out of his way. His hands cupped her breasts as he brushed his thumbs over her lace-covered nipples.
Riana wanted to tell him to stop. She didn’t belong to anyone and she needed to tell him that. She was her own person and she definitely didn’t belong to two gorgeous men in some strange, backward town where everything felt so familiar. Yet, instead of stopping him, she urged him along by fisting her hands in his hair and pulling his head back up to hers.
“Kiss me. I need you to kiss me.” Her voice was breathless, filled with want, with passion. If she hadn’t known that voice was hers, she never would have recognized it as her own.
Gunter’s lips covered hers once again. His hands caressed her hips before moving around to her stomach. His fingers fumbled with the button on her jeans before it finally gave way and he unzipped her pants before pushing them down and out of his way.
Riana gasped when his fingers slid beneath the waistband of her panties to caress the curls at the apex of her thighs. She gasped again when his fingers slid through the moist flesh to find the sensitive nub within her slick folds. She knew she should stop him. Letting this continue was just plain crazy, but she couldn’t find the strength to make him stop. She didn’t want to find the strength to stop this madness.
Though she knew it was wrong, and they both needed to come to their senses, Riana groaned when he pulled his hand free of her sex. Without warning, he grasped the ends of her borrowed t-shirt that had fallen back into place, pulling it over her head before his mouth claimed her turgid nipple through the delicate lace of her bra.
Throwing her head back, Riana reached up with a moan, thrusting her fingers through his hair to pull him closer still.
Gunter moved forward, backing her against the bathroom sink before he reached out and swept everything from the surface. His breath came in harsh gasps as he pulled away to yank her pants and underwear all the way down before he picked her up and set her on the counter.
Before she knew it, his mouth again covered her hard nipple, his low groans vibrating against her sensitive flesh. His hands set to work, one on her other breast, the other between her legs.
Riana knew she should end this madness, but couldn’t seem to force her hormones under enough control to stop herself from pulling on his shirt until the buttons gave way, as they spilled over the counter and floor. The sound of them hitting the hard tile seemed loud, but didn’t draw his attention away from her body, as though he didn’t care that she’d just ruined it.
She arched into him in an attempt to glean more pleasure from his questing mouth and hands. Never before had she ever felt anything so decadent, so delicious, as his skillful fingers moved over her moist and sensitive flesh.
Heat traveled up her legs to her very center and she stiffened in Gunter’s arms. Quickly, he pulled away from her breast, covering her mouth with his to catch her scream as she came for the first time since she woke up cold and alone so many years ago.
Slowly, Gunter lifted his head and stared deep into her eyes. “Stop me now. Tell me to leave this room and I will.” He looked down at her body as she sat half lying against the mirror, her legs spread wide as he stood between them.
He jerked his thumb toward the doorway. “I’ll find a way to walk out that door if you tell me to leave.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “But you have to tell me to go…now! Once I start to make love with you, I won’t be able to stop.” He cupped her cheek and kissed her gently. “Make your choice now, little one.”
Chapter Nineteen
Gunter held his breath and waited for Riana’s answer. He would find a way to leave her if that was what she wanted. It would most likely kill him, but he would do it. He closed his eyes and prayed that she wouldn’t give the response he dreaded to hear. He needed her as much as he needed to draw breath.
Opening his eyes, he stared down into her face. He watched as she bit her lip, deep in thought and wondered how he would ever walk through that door when she told him to go. He couldn’t risk hoping that she would say yes. Hope was something he didn’t dare cultivate. If he convinced himself there was no chance she would say yes, perhaps he would be able to control his beast long enough to walk through that door and out of her life.
“Make love with me.”
He still wasn’t sure if he could manage to walk away now, but he would—Gunter gave her a sharp look. “What did you say?”
She smiled softly, her fingers smoothing the lines around his lips. “You take things too seriously. You should smile more.”
“Say it again,” he said, the words coming out almost a growl.
“I said…” She paused to smile at him again. “Make love with me.” She bit her lip again.
Damn if he wasn’t beginning to adore that little nervous habit of hers.
She looked away for a moment before meeting his gaze once again. “I want you. For the first time since I can remember, I want a man and that man is you. I said, make love with me.”
The expression in her eyes told him she would say please if he waited long enough, but he wouldn’t do that to her. She was his mate, his queen, his goddess and she would never need to beg for anything as long as he lived.
“If we do this, you’re stuck with me forever, darlin’.” He gave her a half grin. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?” He didn’t dare tell her that she would also have Clay in her life. It was better that she faced her new life one shock at a time. Besides, if he told her, she might change her mind and he feared that he was already past the point of no return. If she stopped him now, he might hurt her and didn’t want that—he never wanted that.
“You’re sweet to say that, but it doesn’t matter. I still plan to leave for Washington State and you will stay here.” She put her fingers over his mouth when he would have told her she was mistaken. He would remain with her until the day he died. She was his mate, and like full-animal lions, his species mated for life. As far as he knew, all shifters mated for life when they found their true mate.
A true mate was the one person whose soul would bind to his. They were rare, coming around once in several lifetimes. For a shifter, whose longevity could be a curse as well as a blessing, finding their true mate was a miracle.
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