Seven Years s-1

by Dannika Dark

  He ran his hand over the lace of my white bra and dragged his mouth to the soft curve of my neck. My heart thundered like the hooves of a hundred stallions.

  “Seven years,” I whispered. “We’re almost strangers.”

  Austin quit fumbling with my bra, grabbed both cups, and pulled it apart. With a snap, it gave way. His mouth sucked ravenously on my nipple while his left hand curved around and squeezed, sending a bolt of pleasure all through my body. “Then let’s get to know each other. Favorite band?” he murmured.

  “Mumford & Sons. You?”

  His mouth journeyed lower until his tongue leisurely circled around my belly button. I whimpered a soft moan and loosened my grip on his hair.

  “Kings of Leon,” he said, pinching my nipples with his warm fingers.

  “They have like two songs I’ve ever heard.”

  “Yeah, but they’re good songs.” Then he swung his eyes up to mine and slowly sang the opening verse of “Sex on Fire.”

  Oh God, I melted listening to his lush, raspy voice. Austin had a singing voice he rarely used, but when he did, it was a force of nature on my body.

  “How many girls have you dated?”

  He took his sweet time sliding my shorts down, kissing the soft skin surrounding my panties. “Five,” he murmured.

  “Five?” I almost shouted. “Jeez, you make me feel like a slut.”

  “How many?” he asked, pulling my shorts away from my ankles. He knelt at my feet, staring up the length of my body.

  I bit my lip. “Nine. But only two were serious.”

  Austin cracked a smile. “Not serious enough. None of them matter.”

  Then he fell over me and the clash of our heated bodies intensified the tension building between us. I was swimming in a pool of desire and close to drowning in the deep end.

  “You still own those brown cowboy boots?” he asked, kissing my neck roughly. Then his hips took on a life of their own as he rocked them against me.

  I moaned some kind of desperate sound, struggling to pay attention as his tongue moved in slow circles between the sucking. “No, the heel broke.”

  “Good. I hated those damn boots.”

  Well, that was just insulting. “Hey, what about your ‘I’m so badass’ fringed leather gloves?”

  He pinched my nipple and put me in my place as his hips thrust against mine.

  “Still got ’em, and I’m still badass.”

  I nipped his jaw and licked at his ear, making him shudder. “If I see you in them, I’m cutting off those fringes.”

  A grin stretched across his face. “Don’t even try it.”

  Then his mouth was on mine.

  “Pudding,” I said in a quick breath.

  “What?” He didn’t stop kissing me.

  I turned my head to the side, allowing him to taste my neck and shoulder. My fingers weaved through his hair slowly. “You wanted to know what I craved when I shifted from wolf form. It’s pudding.”

  He lifted my leg, grinding against me, and I moaned. “Chocolate or vanilla?”

  I was tired of talking and my breath sounded as if I had run a marathon. Austin cupped between my legs and massaged as he spoke against my lips. “Answer the question.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to if this was the punishment. He stroked his finger deep.

  “Chocolate!”

  I made a complaining sound as he shifted on top of me again.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, lifting his head to look at me.

  “The floor hurts my back.”

  The next thing I knew, Austin stood up and pulled me into his arms. My legs were wrapped around his waist like pythons and he pushed me up against the wall. A painting crashed to the floor and the frame split. We were too busy trying to determine how far we could get our tongues into each other’s mouths.

  I was trembling all over; never had I felt so aroused by a man.

  Then I started working my hips and he turned around, trying to figure out what to do with me as we backed up against the window. I ripped the drapes down and the rod knocked over a picture frame on the TV stand.

  “Oh God!” I cried out, so completely taken by his mouth all over me, the feel of his chest against mine, the smell of him.

  “Shit, where?” he grumbled out.

  “The chair,” I said, staring at the hideous recliner.

  When Austin sat down with me in his lap, we almost went flying forward again. He pulled the lever and reclined back as I unbuckled his belt and pulled down the zipper on his pants.

  This wasn’t the romantic scene I’d envisioned because let’s face it, I’d never envisioned anything romantic with Austin. It was always unadulterated, feral sex.

  His fingers worked diligently removing my panties, and I wiggled my body so I could at least get them off one leg.

  Then his mouth was all over me—sucking and rolling his tongue in rhythmic circles. While he tasted my breast, his hands were trying to shuck off his jeans. In the process, he knocked over the glass lamp and it broke into pieces. A strangled moan escaped from my lips as his hand slid between my legs.

  Austin’s words came out in a heavy breath. “God, you’re so fucking wet.”

  Somehow, stating the obvious was never sexier.

  There was a moment between us when everything ceased. Our eyes met, our bodies calmed, our breathing fell in sync. As he kept his pale eyes locked on mine, Austin slid himself deep inside me, grabbing my hips and pushing me down to the hilt. Our eyes simultaneously hooded, struggling to maintain eye contact without closing and completely losing ourselves.

  That moment would live in my mind for the rest of my life, because it was the first time I’d felt Austin look into my soul. That secret part of me I revealed to no one and saved only for him.

  He shook his head. “You were my single biggest regret, Alexia Knight. I’ll never get that time back. I’m not letting you go.”

  I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him warmly with soft lips and a gentle touch. “It wasn’t the right time. Maybe it took all those years apart for us to be right for each other. But you have me now, Austin. Love me now,” I said, my voice falling to a whisper.

  And then he couldn’t get enough of me. His arms hooked over my back, gripping my shoulders from behind as I rode up and down. He felt thick and delicious and oh God, I couldn’t stop. His fingers gripped my ass so hard I actually cried out his name.

  “Harder!” he demanded in his alpha voice.

  I reached for the back of the chair and in a split second, the room tilted as the recliner fell back and bucked me off. Austin’s legs went over and he roared in laughter as he fell on top of me.

  Afraid the chair was going to topple over, I turned over and crawled toward the carpet on my hands and knees.

  “Christ, Lexi, you’re killing me with that view!”

  The next thing I knew, Austin came up from behind and stroked my hips sensually with his rough hands, and my fingers gripped the long fibers of the carpet. He slid his shaft in slowly… all the way to the hilt. Never had I felt so connected with another man. It felt so right that I curved my back and pressed against him, taking him even deeper.

  Austin released a strangled moan.

  I fell to my elbows as he drove into me, stroking my back and thighs with his wandering hands. He was getting close judging by his chaotic rhythm, and right before he reached climax, I shouted, “Stop!”

  Austin immediately pulled out, rolled me over, and stared me dead in the eye. “What’s wrong?”

  My heart was a banging drum. His cheeks were flushed and damn if his bottom lip didn’t look swollen from my sucking on it.

  “Nothing. I just wanted to see if you would,” I panted.

  “Why, did someone not stop when you asked?”

  “No.”

  “I’m not an animal. If you say no, I back off. That’s the deal.”

  My hands slid around the back of his neck and I smiled. Beckett had lied to me when he said a man c
ouldn’t stop; he just didn’t want to with the other woman. I didn’t mean enough to him when I caught them having sex in the back of my car. But I meant enough to Austin.

  “Don’t stop,” I pleaded.

  When he sank on top of me, I couldn’t move. Austin shifted his hips teasingly as I wanted him back inside me. The heavy weight of his body held me right where he wanted, and he kissed me with a deep stroke of his tongue. It was a slow and steady burn.

  The front door suddenly clicked open and Denver called out, “Hey, Aus. I know you missed me, so I’m chillin’ out with you guys tonight.” His keys jingled as he hung them on his nail by the door.

  In the blink of an eye, I shifted into my wolf. Panic set in and the last thing I wanted was for one of his brothers to see me like that—naked on his tacky rug.

  “The guys wanted me to stay here and watch over—”

  Denver filled the doorway and my wolf snorted, wiggling around Austin’s naked body. One thing I’d learned was that I could remember the shifting, but only the first minute or two before my wolf took complete control.

  Austin stood up erect (in every way) and faced his brother.

  Denver’s jaw hung lax and his eyes were saucer-wide. He pointed a finger at me and I wagged my tail. “That is just wrong on so many levels. You need help, Austin. I’m outta here. You two do… whatever.”

  The door slammed and I shifted back, staring up at Austin from all fours. “Great, now he thinks you’re into my wolf.”

  Austin’s laugh filled the room—loud and full of life.

  I glowered at him as he folded his arms and looked down at me.

  “Aren’t you going to go after him and explain?”

  His brows lifted thoughtfully. “No. Actually, it’s funnier if I don’t.”

  Chapter 30

  Makeup (after getting shot) sex was the best sex I’d ever had. Austin and I just fit in a way I couldn’t explain. An undeniable chemistry existed between us—not just physically, but mentally. And in some ways, emotionally. Everyone has a person in life that just “gets them.” They get all your idiosyncrasies, inside jokes, tells, and the subtext that lies beneath a comment or a wink of an eye. They know you inside out and upside down.

  Austin got me.

  We spent the next three weeks moving everything from their old place, Mom’s house, and my apartment, over to the fixer-upper that Austin had purchased. Maybe it needed a little work, but it was cozy with charm and personality. It was a place I could call home.

  Mom quit her job so she could help get the house in order in addition to feeding the crew of hungry men. In return, Austin not only compensated her with a room, but insisted that he pay her. Mom felt weird about it at first, but I convinced her what she was doing was legitimate work. Shopping, laundry, cooking, decorating—all in addition to becoming the matriarch of the house. I didn’t think the arrangement would last; eventually Mom would insist she was doing it because she loved to. It was a good way to get her mind off my dad and everything that had transpired. I never found out what Lorenzo had done with him, and I didn’t want to know.

  “Denny! Time for ice cream,” Maizy called out from the bottom of the stairs.

  “Mr. Denny,” I corrected her.

  “No. That’s Mr. Reno,” she said, pointing to Reno as he carried a bright red toolbox down the hallway. “And then there’s Mr. Cole, Mr. Jericho, Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Ben, and Denny! He’s not a Mister. He’s just Denny.”

  “Why?”

  Maizy shrugged. “’Cause he just is,” she argued with six-year-old logic.

  “Why don’t you and Denny go treasure hunting for diamonds?” I suggested.

  Denver did a little hop step coming down the stairs, wearing tattered jeans, flip-flops, and a Pink Floyd shirt.

  “Jericho’s going to kill you if he catches you wearing that,” I said.

  He brushed his fingers through his short locks of sandy-blond hair. “Yeah, yeah. Been hearing that for decades. They sell this stuff vintage on the Internet.”

  “I’m ready!” Maizy called out from the doorway. Actually, she was swinging on the door, holding onto the brass knobs and wrapping her legs around either side.

  “Are you stopping by the old house today to see if she’ll show you where she buried those diamonds?” I asked him in a quiet voice.

  “For what?”

  “Because she may forget someday, and that’s fifty million in your backyard.”

  “So? It’s just money,” he said, fishing out his wallet. Denver thumbed through a few bills, doing a count. “Think it’ll make your life better? No, it’ll make it complicated. People covet money and do stupid shit over it. We’re happy, we got a house, and I need to get this girl a strawberry cone before she tears up the door,” he said, flip-flopping across the main room. “Skedaddle!” he barked at her.

  Maizy squealed and ran out the front door toward his yellow pickup.

  Denver had taken over as her watchdog, and apparently it wasn’t uncommon in a pack for a wolf to step in as the protector for a fatherless child or woman. It wasn’t a parental role, as Denver was more of a brother to her, but it gave me peace of mind knowing my family would be looked after. A pack bonded in ways humans didn’t, and it was a way of life that felt natural the more I became immersed in it.

  I heard coins jingling and spun around. Austin stood in the hallway, twirling the key ring around his finger and giving me a peculiar look.

  “What?”

  “Busy?” he asked.

  “Well, I was going to go to the movies later with Naya. I think she misses me being right next door. She mentioned something about how the new tenant that just moved in is seventy and single. Plus, I need to talk to her about the whole Shifter thing she kept from me.” I gave him a look. “Why?”

  “Let’s take a drive,” he said, holding my hand and lacing his fingers with mine.

  My brown summer skirt swished below my knees and matched the bohemian sleeveless top that tied behind my neck. I didn’t wear skirts outside of work, and I could tell Austin enjoyed seeing me in something feminine. He didn’t mention where we were going, so I rolled the windows down in his black muscle car and switched on the radio.

  “Wheeler helping you sort things out?” he asked.

  “He seems reluctant to get involved, but he’s helped me out with a few things. Maybe I won’t be so bad running a business after all; I’m learning a lot.”

  Once the initial shock had worn off, April totally stepped up to the challenge. I bought a cell phone so she could call me at any time, and we had live meetings on the Internet. The first order of business was that she lost her cherry earring, and that segued into a discussion about our work gear, which I didn’t want to change.

  April seemed to be going through some personal problems. I wasn’t sure if it was family or money, but I could hear it in her voice. I wished she’d open up to me, but some people had a harder shell to crack. She revealed she had been riding the city bus to work because her car had crapped out. I didn’t much care for that because April closed the shop late at night. She also had a fear of the dark, which is why she always went in the back room and turned on the main lights. I offered her my car, but she wouldn’t accept. April was like that—never accepted help from others. You can’t force your help on someone; you just have to trust they know what they’re doing. We went over the current state of affairs with the shop and I couldn’t help but start mentally planning the future of Sweet Treats.

  “Okay, that’s it. Where are you taking me, Austin?”

  He grinned fiercely with pressed lips, giving me the impression he had a secret. Austin had a very subtle cleft in his chin that was always more prominent when he did the lip-press thing.

  The car rolled up to a rest stop just off the highway. The kind with dilapidated picnic tables and foul-smelling restrooms.

  “Need to go to the little boy’s room?” I teased.

  The engine purred to a stop and butterflies fluttered in my be
lly when I saw a group of men standing beneath a Texas live oak tree, watching us. Austin walked around the car to open my door and I realized he was taking me to them. I pulled the visor down to fix my lipstick.

  “You look fine,” he said with a soft laugh, tugging my arm.

  Tiny pebbles on the concrete scattered as I dragged my sandals across the sidewalk. Then Lorenzo turned around and a golden shower of sunlight melted across his shoulders, illuminating his dramatic features. Skin taut around his chiseled cheekbones—high and proud—and straight brown hair that touched the top of his skull and crossbones tattoo on his upper arm. He wasn’t smiling.

  Austin squeezed my hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry, they don’t bite.”

  Only Austin could make me laugh in the face of danger.

  “Cole, we didn’t know if you changed your mind,” the older man said, staring at his watch. “She’s a fine-looking bitch.”

  Austin’s arm stiffened, but he made no attempt to correct the man. That’s when I knew this guy held a higher rank. Perhaps there was a pecking order among the Packmasters.

  Including Lorenzo, there was a total of four men. One was a tall, handsome black man with swoon-worthy eyes and freckles across his cheeks. The other guy looked like someone had picked him up at a truck stop—scruffy beard, shaggy hair, and sloppy clothes. The older man who’d spoke to Austin was a Sean Connery body double; I was certain of it.

  “I’ve brought the Packmasters from neighboring territories here to be witness,” Sean Connery said.

  “Uh, wait a second,” I interrupted, getting cold feet all of a sudden as to what exactly was about to go down. “Witness to what?”

  “She doesn’t even know why she’s here?” Lorenzo said through clenched teeth.

  And with one subtle gesture, Austin put Lorenzo in his place. He lifted our clasped hands and slowly kissed the back of my fingers, keeping his eyes locked on Lorenzo. A gesture that sent an unequivocal message to everyone present—I was his.

  “What’s your name?” The older man looked me over and arched a brow.

  “Alexia Knight.”