“It is a bitch out there again,” he said. He turned before she could get her gaze in a more appropriate location. She’d been staring at his package, so lovingly outlined by the softness of his well-worn jeans.
She stared at him and felt herself color.
He returned her look with a little glint of wicked amusement in his eyes. “Good morning, baby.” His gaze drifted from her freshly washed hair looped behind her ears to the black t-shirt she wore. His t-shirt. She hadn’t been able to resist putting it on. Thankfully, with her knees drawn up, he couldn’t see her hardened nipples. Which had more to do with his electric stare than the cold he’d let in.
“Good morning, Hunter.”
Hunter wanted to close his eyes and groan at Julie’s sweet, sleep-coated voice and the sight of her in his shirt. His wolf rumbled in contentment. His scent was covering her, and it made the animal want to take her again.
Instead, he held up two white paper sacks he was holding. “I brought breakfast.” Now why the hell did saying that make him feel like he’d just taken down a ten-point buck for her? To feed his female.
Care.
Cherish.
Protect.
And why did that always come to the forefront when he thought of her.
“Was the diner open?”
“Yep. We were lucky it just now started snowing again, or the owner wouldn’t have tried to come in, I’m sure.”
He opened the curtain and Julie glanced towards the window, white frost covered the corners, telling her how cold the room had become last night, but she could still see out. The wind growled fiercely on the other side. It was snowing harder than it had been when they’d arrived. Now, visibility looked like it was down to zero.
“You went out in that?”
His mouth moved with a lazy smile, making her breath hitch at the back of her throat. “I’m a wolf, Julie. I like the cold and the snow. I needed to get you something warm to eat.”
He was right. Even in a battle with the elements, Hunter would come out the winner
She started to giggle, which made one of his dark brows raise in response.
She got her laughter under control and smiled at him when he asked what was so funny. “I was just picturing a big black wolf trotting down the highway with a white paper bag in its mouth.”
An answering smile curled his full lips up, and she thought she’d melt right there. Damn, the man was gorgeous. Sexy. He took off his jacket and hung it on the back of one of the chairs that matched the small dining table at the side of the room.
“Let’s get a couple of things straight, sweetheart. For one thing, I would not trot. I’d be running. And for another, any shifter would know exactly what I was doing.” He stepped over to the bed, looking down at her from his great height.
“And what’s that?” She had the sudden desire to lean back on the mattress and yell take me, big boy. Take her like he had last night.
“Taking care of my mate.”
Well, that stopped her train of thought in its tracks. Having a pleasant—who was she kidding, damn panty and snow melting—interlude with a stranger was one thing. Having a shifter declare she was his mate was another.
She’d somehow pushed away the memory of the one time he’d said it last night. Right after he’d taken her for the first time.
There was no way in hell that fate had decreed that chubby Julie Monroe was Hunter McCall’s one and only. A woman he’d be stuck with all of his supernatural life. No, men like Hunter would be paired with women who were beautiful, refined. That’s what he needed.
Not a sturdy little nobody like herself.
She was grateful that she’d had last night—and if she could get that idea out of his head that she was his mate—maybe tonight as well. She was realistic enough to realize that memories were all she would be taking away from this snow-bound adventure.
She swung her legs off the other side of the bed, getting away from him as fast as she could. Once on her feet, she faced him, grimacing when she realized the borrowed shirt she wore revealed more than it covered. Not the thing to be wearing when taking the stand she was about to take. “Look, we had a good time last night.”
A grunt interrupted her speech, and she rolled her eyes.
“Okay, we had a scorching hot time. But that’s all. A pleasant interlude to wile away the hours. I’ll make us some coffee.”
Julie didn’t particularly like coffee, but anything hot would be great. She thought she was in the clear when he allowed her to walk around the end of the bed. She’d had the feeling he’d like nothing more than to jump over the bed and take her down. Like the predator that he was.
He didn’t move until she passed him on the way to the coffee pot. A large hand gripped her arm right below her elbow, and he took a step, closing the distance between them. Warmth seeped into her from his body, even though he wasn’t touching her. His breath moved her hair when he spoke.
“Keep telling yourself that, baby, if it makes you feel good to ignore the truth.”
He bent his head, placing a kiss on the soft skin beneath her ear. Before she could stop herself, she felt her head lull back on her neck, giving him a clear path to her throat. He moved his mouth and opened his lips over the skin where her neck joined her shoulder, taking her flesh inside. He sucked slowly, reminding her of how he’d sucked her clit last night.
When he let her go, he whispered in her ear. “Here, baby. Right here is where I’m going to mark you as mine.”
He let go of her wrist and stepped back.
On shaky legs, she grabbed a pair of knit pants from her suitcase that still lay open on the low chest of drawers. Turning around, she pulled them on before moving on to the coffee maker. Her hands shook as she emptied the packet of coffee into the disposable filter.
All of Hunter’s good intentions almost flew out the window when Julie bent over and pulled on a pair of pants. That was the one way he hadn’t taken her last night. The one way that would have broken his control if he had. He never could have resisted marking her if he’d pounded into her pussy from behind. His wolf would have snapped the bonds that held him in place and overrode any human restraint Hunter might have still had.
He wanted their mating to be a mutual decision, not pressed upon her in the heat of the moment because he couldn’t control his damn wolf. He watched as Julie busied herself with making coffee. He stood there like a hungry man outside a bakery, salivating for a taste of something sweet.
Or a wolf, hungry for his mate.
One part of him told him he shouldn’t have kissed her. Held her last night. Taken her. He should have left her the hell alone. He wasn’t any good for her. The other part, the part that felt the healing of his soul when he’d touched her, knew he’d never be able to let her go. In the bright light of the morning, he’d realized he’d only been fooling himself when he’d thought he’d been able to fuck her and walk away. Now that he’d tasted her passion he knew she was his for eternity.
How the hell was he going to claim her? She was as skittish as a newborn colt around a wolf.
He took the cup of coffee she handed him, watching her every move as she did everything she could to avoid him. When she’d made the bed, he reached out and pulled her to the table. She resisted at first, then gave into his forceful tug. “Sit down and eat before it’s too cold to eat.”
The eggs and toast weren’t hot by any means, but they were still warm and tasted better than anything she’d ever had. And she didn’t even really like eggs. She almost moaned in appreciation. As she finished her last piece of buttered toast smothered in grape jelly, she looked at him, savoring the sweet taste.
Imagining the taste of him on her tongue. They hadn’t done that last night, but she really wanted to. “I’m not your mate. I can’t be.”
“Why not? You’re all rose and ivory and have the most tantalizing curves. Perfect for my wolf.”
“I’m not. I’m a chubby, overweight woman with very little experienc
e in these types of situations.”
“Situations?” One dark brow rose above his dreamy brown eyes.
“Situations. Seduction. One-night stands.”
His dark brows drew together in a frown, and he started to speak
She interrupted quickly. “That’s what we agreed on last night.”
“Things changed, sweetheart.”
“No, they didn’t.”
“Yes, they did.” They were both remembering the first time he’d come inside her, and his knot had stretched her pussy. How his eyes had turned a dark rich amber, and his voice had grown thick as sin as he’d whispered the word mate.
Fuck. He shifted in his seat, his cock more than ready for a repeat of last night. His language be damned at this point. “Don’t tell me you don’t want this as much as I do, Julie.”
“I don’t.”
He half rose from his chair, leaning across the table, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he snared her gaze. “Oh, you can lie to yourself, baby, but you can’t lie to me. I know you want this.”
He pushed his chair back, straightening to his full height. Before she could protest, he pulled her up against his body. “You want this. You want a man’s hands running over your skin.” He stroked his palms over her shoulders and down her arms. They weren’t skin to skin but they might as well have been the sensation was so powerful. “You want to be held. Have your breasts touched, your nipples pinched, your beautiful mouth claimed.”
And he did just that, drew his hands down the front of her borrowed shirt to cup her breasts and run his thumbs over her nipples beneath the soft cotton. Her breasts were tender to the touch from his possession of last night. The thin layer of cotton provided no barrier and the heat of his thumb seeped into her nipple. She closed her eyes, wanting to tell him to stop. Wanting to tell him never to stop.
He rubbed and pinched and played with her nipples until her breathing became erratic. He stopped, sliding his hands down to grasp her waist. He gently squeezed her roundness before tracing the curve of her ass to the bottom of her borrowed shirt. His hands moved again, burrowing under the shirt and brushing the tops of her pants and panties. He gripped the cheeks of her ass, squeezing hard. With a swift move, he’d pushed her pants down, and they fell to the floor, puddling at her feet. His hand caressed the junction at the top of her thighs, his touch hindered by the white cotton of her panties.
“These have got to go.” With a savage pull, he ripped off one side of her panties. She cried out as the material bit into her flesh. Another yank and they were history, and he threw the torn garment away “I’ll kiss it and make it better, baby.”
“Spread your legs,” he whispered in the curve of her neck, tracing the vee of her legs with his finger. His hand moved closer and closer to her heat. Against her better judgment, Julie did. With a rough sigh, she gave herself over to him, adjusting her stance so he could touch her where he wanted. Immediately he palmed her pussy. “Oh, yeah, baby, you’re so damn hot. You’re almost burning me.” He stroked up and down a time or two. “And wet. So fucking wet for me.”
He pulled her closer so he could kiss her lips.
She kept them stubbornly closed even though she’d just allowed him such an intimate touch. That didn’t deter him. He moved to her jaw, peppering it with kisses before moving to her ear. When he licked the soft skin under her lobe, she moaned. And opened her mouth.
He took immediate advantage, covering her mouth with his, thrusting his tongue inside so she couldn’t lock him out again. As if that set something off inside of him, his kiss deepened. He thrust his tongue in and out, his other hand coming up to hold her head still so he could ravage her mouth. On, and on, the kiss went, until she was running out of air. When she pressed against his shoulders, for a moment she didn’t know if he would stop. He growled and pulled away, breathing just as heavily as she was.
It was as she’d feared it would be from the moment she’d seen his face outside the window of her car, impossible to remain unaffected. There was between them a surge of sheer magnetism, a physical match between the tall, hard planes of his body and the soft, padded curves of her own. Surprisingly, she felt none of the self-consciousness she had when she’d thought of having a lover. The need to pull away when if his hands touched her belly, the fleshy part of her thigh.
All the time he’d been kissing her, he’d been fingering her, stroking up and down her slit, rubbing her clit.
He smoothed his palm over the bottom curve of her hip.
She stared into his eyes and felt like a butterfly pinned to a cloth.
“You’re my mate, Julie.”
“I—but. How could you want me for a mate?”
His laugh was without humor. “How could I not? You get me so fucking hard every time you’re near. Let me show you how much I need you for my mate.”
Now this was the way to spend your time when you were trapped inside by a blizzard, Hunter thought as he woke later. Julie’s body was draped over his, her head against his chest, her round leg slung over his thigh, her knee nudging the very alert part of him. He tightened his arm, pulling her closer and buried his nose in her hair. Flowers and sunshine. Everything good. Everything right.
He continued to stare at the ceiling as doubts crept in on him. Could he do this? Could he take a mate? Satisfy a mate? He’d let his need overtake him again last night, and they still hadn’t discussed what it would mean if they did mate. Marry. Not just from the shifter perspective, but because of his obligation to the military.
He eased out from under her and sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. “Fuck.” The curse was low and succulent. His wolf was pushing at him, snapping and snarling that the man would even think about not claiming his mate. Especially now. Now that they had both had a taste of her.
His phone vibrated on the nightstand, and he grabbed it like a lifeline. Maybe his mission had been moved up. He hadn’t exactly told Julie the truth last night. He could have gotten them out of here yesterday if he’d wanted to. The roads had been cleared enough for him to make it out in the Hummer. But he’d decided to stay. Needed to stay as close to his mate as he could.
Since neither of his brothers had ever gone through the mating process, he had no firsthand knowledge of what to expect. Just the stories he’d heard from the mated men on his team. And he always took their exploits with a grain of salt. Even shifter sex couldn’t be as good as they sometimes claimed.
The display told him it wasn’t his sergeant with a mission update. It was Logan.
Grabbing the phone, he walked across the room and opened the curtains to check the weather. It had stopped snowing. The last little band of bad weather had dropped another three inches on the area. According to the forecast that should be the last of it. He expected the snow plows to come by again sometime today. Tomorrow at the latest.
And then he could take Julie home.
Or ask her to stay.
“Hello.”
“Are you okay, bro?” Leave it to Logan not to beat around the bush.
“Yeah. You and Jarod?” He knew if his parents or sister had been having trouble, someone would have already contacted him. He and his brothers liked to take care of things themselves, rarely asking for help, Hunter more so than the other two. Logan was the intermediary, checking on Jarod and Hunter more frequently than they asked how he was doing.
“I haven’t spoken to Jarod since Friday, but I’m thinking he’s doing just fine since he finally got off his ass and claimed Sara.”
Hunter stopped breathing for a moment. His brother had claimed his mate?
“Hey, you’re not upset are you?” Logan asked. “You like Sara, right?”
It wouldn’t matter if Hunter, or anyone else in the family, didn’t like Jarod’s chosen mate. Jarod would still claim her.
Just like Hunter should claim Julie
Damn, damn, damn.
“Sara’s a sweet woman. She’s got a little sass in her that will keep Jarod on his toes
. Is that why you called?”
Of the three brothers, Logan was the more family oriented man, and ironically the one with the worse reputation as a playboy. “No, that’s not why I called. I expected you to call when you found a safe place to stay.”
“You’re not Mom, and you aren’t my sergeant at arms. I don’t need to keep you apprised of my every move.” He didn’t know where the anger was coming from. Perhaps the noose slowly closing around his neck? If he took a mate, he would be answering directly to her, curtailing his actions to suit her needs.
“No, but the snow storm is still causing some major problems. You could have been stranded on the side of the road for all I knew.”
Hunter looked toward Julie, still asleep on the bed. “Not quite what happened, but close.”
Something in his voice must have revealed some of his inner turmoil. Or else his brother was just a damn good guesser.
“Oh, shit. You found a mate too, didn’t you?” Logan’s deep laughter rang in Hunter’s ear.
“Yes.” There was no use denying Julie was his mate. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was him.
“You don’t sound very excited.”
“Why the hell would I be excited? Once this snow melts, what the hell am I going to do with a mate?” Hunter had never discussed his missions with his family before. They just knew he sometimes disappeared for weeks at a time.
“Maybe it’s time you said goodbye to Uncle Sam.”
Hunter ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Hadn’t he been thinking the same thing? But hearing it from someone else made his back bristle. He’d never been one to be forced into doing something.
“The military has been my life for close to twenty years.”
Alphas for the Holidays Page 108