by Marie Harte
“Sucker.” Joy snickered.
Miles swore and hurried out of his seat and away from the poolside with an erection he had no chance of hiding unless he took care of it the old-fashioned way. Not wanting his sister to see him in such a state, or any of the others for that matter—and God, not Zoe—he hurried to the unused cottage behind the pool house, avoiding sight of anyone on the grounds. He entered and headed straight for the bathroom, where a cold shower and his hand would do him a world of good.
Chapter Six
The heady rush of power went straight to her head. Zoe knew she looked good, but having so many people around her adding to her ego helped soothe the insecurities plaguing her thanks to that asshole Miles.
Damn he was fine. Those blue-and-gold trunks he wore emphasized his thick thighs and muscular calves. And that chest and those arms… She’d never been into blondes, but holy hell, Miles had apparently been made from the same amazing cloth she’d come from.
Sure, he wore a designer suit and tie well and had done more than his share of justice in khaki shorts and a tee-shirt—what he normally wore around the pride. But in just swim trunks and nothing else, glistening with oil, his pecs and biceps looked huge. Such ready strength and such command in those glowing green eyes.
She gave it a few more minutes prancing under the water with the appreciative cats staring at her. She liked men of all ages and sizes, but young twenty-somethings no longer held any appeal. Hell, since seeing Miles, none of the men she’d met attracted her. It had to be a case of wanting what she couldn’t have—she hoped.
Miles was the first man to turn her down for sex. Ever. But she knew he wanted her. That erection she’d spotted had been all for her. Finally.
She slammed the ball over the net and into the nose of a young cat. “Oh, sorry.” She dunked herself under the water and rose to smooth her hair back. “I’ll be back. Just need the ladies’ room.”
She loved their disappointment, as well as the prayers and mutterings when she walked slowly out of the pool.
“Come on, Zoe. I don’t think we all need to see your ass this much, do you?” Quince protested when she came abreast of him. He sat with Joy on her lounger, and she had to admit the pair looked right together.
Joy nodded to her left. “You need the restroom? The empty cottage is open.”
Quince frowned. “The pool house is right there.”
Joy dug an elbow into his gut and shook her head. “Honestly. He’s cute, but sometimes so very dim.”
“Joy ain’t that great,” he muttered, and she cracked up laughing.
Not understanding the pair, Zoe left them to play and followed the scent of a lusty Miles to the house Joy had indicated. Terrific girl. He smelled like a heady cologne that called to every one of her senses. She wondered how he’d taste as she slowly, quietly, entered.
With a satisfied smirk, she heard the sound of a shower and walked on silent feet to the bathroom. She opened the door, then locked it behind her.
She knew he’d heard her, because he muttered her name and swore at her to leave. But not giving him time to retreat again—and she loved the fact she’d forced him into a cold shower—she yanked back the curtain and stepped in to join him.
The stall seemed plenty big, since the tub boasted jets and was deep enough to accommodate two people lying next to one another.
“Get out,” he growled. He stood with his head tucked down and his hands braced against the wall of the showerhead. The water sluiced over the back of his head and neck and down his gloriously sculpted body. His ass was slightly lighter than the rest of him, and his tan highlighted more muscles she wanted to sink her teeth into.
“I need to rinse off. Chlorine isn’t good for my suit, you know.” She grinned and stepped closer behind him. Then, because she couldn’t help herself, she petted his ass.
He tensed further, his body like a marble statue under the cool water still flowing down his lean lines. But he didn’t protest her touch.
“Go away,” he tried again, but he lacked conviction.
She purred, more than pleased to have this fine specimen all to herself. “You toyed with me not so long ago. Had me begging you to put your cock inside me.”
“Zoe, stop,” he rasped. His scent deepened, a lusty, needy male primed to fuck.
Man, she really needed to send Marguerite a note of thanks for giving her this suit.
“Stop what, Miles? I’m just trying to get clean.” She moved around to the front of him and ducked under his arms. Now caged between his body and the shower wall, she looked her fill.
His erection was huge, his cock jutting out from his body and slick with water. She tilted her head up to meet his gaze, so close she felt his breath on her face, yet she kept her back to the wall, not wanting to touch him anywhere…yet.
“What do you want?” he snarled, his eyes dark with desire as his gaze roamed her face.
“What do you want? Want to lick my breasts, to follow the water over my nipples?” She cupped herself, pleased when his gaze fastened to her chest. “Or maybe you want me on my knees, my mouth open, my tongue darting over that slick, hard cock? Would you like that, Miles? Would you like to come down my throat?”
They stood in silence, and she saw the throbbing of his pulse, reveled in the thick scent of lust between them.
“God help me, yes. I want your mouth on me in the worst way,” he moaned and let go of the wall with one hand to grab hers. He brought her hand to his cock and curled her fingers around him, then closed his eyes and groaned. “Make me come.”
“So demanding.” She pumped him a few times then stopped. “Ask me nicely, and I’ll give you what you gave me last week.”
“Shit. Come on, Zoe,” he whispered and leaned down to nip her earlobe. “You wanted me in you, remember?”
The sexy bastard. “And you made me beg, remember?”
She lowered to her knees, and he widened his stance. She noted the golden nest of hair at the base of his cock, the plump balls tightening in arousal, the thick head pearled with cream. Oh good. He was more than ready to listen to her.
She licked his slit, and he swore and curled his hand in her hair.
“Fuck. That’s it. Yeah.”
So sexy, that gravelly voice. “Put your hands back against the wall.” After he did, she licked him again. “Now stay very still.”
His breath caught as she took his cockhead into her mouth and sucked.
He trembled as she teased the tip of him, nibbling and sucking. She knew she’d broken him when he surged deeper and began pumping. Each thrust went farther, and he continued to shudder as if trying not to ram himself to the back of her throat.
She pulled away from him, and he groaned.
“Don’t stop. Not now.”
“Say please,” she rumbled, her cat loving this. Playing with her mate—
Miles. Not mate. Just Miles.
A heartbeat of silence but for the rain of water down his back and across the tile. “Please,” he whispered.
She sucked him once more before pulling away again.
“Christ, quit teasing.” He sounded desperate. Perfect.
“Miles, look at me.” She untied the knot behind her neck and her top fell down, exposing her breasts.
He licked his lips, and she saw his cat flash in his eyes. “I need to fuck you.”
“I thought you wanted me to suck you off,” she said softly and bit her lower lip, plumping her mouth in a practiced move that never failed to elicit the right reaction from her lovers.
“Yeah. Yeah, suck me off first. Then I want inside you. And between those breasts.” He arched his hips toward her, grazing her cheek with his cock. “Zoe, quit playing.”
She cupped his balls, and he swore long and loud. His hands remained on the tile though, probably so he wouldn’t grab her by the hair and ram into her mouth. Zoe knew enough about Miles to know he hated losing control. And she’d just about pushed him to his brink.
“Beg
me, Miles. Say ‘Pretty please,’ and I’ll suck the come from your sweet cock.”
His raspy breathing and anger layered his musk with an alluring perfume.
“You… You…” He tried to resist, and then she blew a puff of air over his sensitized shaft. “Fuck. Yes, pretty please. Suck me off, baby. Please.”
Two pleases and a baby. Good enough for now. She opened her mouth and drew him inside. Treating him to real skill, she hollowed her mouth as she took him deeper, licking and grazing with her teeth as she blew him with gusto. That he was fucking her mouth as much as she was letting him showed her how much he’d lost control, and her arousal drenched the tub in desire.
“Yes, oh fuck. That’s so good. Zoe, yeah. Oh yeah, I’m going to come so hard. Swallow me, baby. All of it,” he uttered on another curse as he came.
His orgasm was intense, his cock so thick and hard as he emptied into her, and she greedily lapped him up, taken with this powerful male who’d surrendered so prettily.
She finished swallowing him and licked him clean, all the while aware of the cold shower and her own unfulfilled desire. Miles in orgasm was an aphrodisiac all its own.
When she pulled away from him, he dragged her to her feet and didn’t give her a chance to say a thing. He plastered his mouth to hers and kissed her breathless.
Then he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “You little witch.”
The insult was more an endearment, and she heard the difference even if he hadn’t meant her to.
“Best blowjob you’ve ever had, hmm?” she asked.
He chuckled. “You could say that. I can barely stand. You sucked the life out of me.”
“Literally.”
They both laughed, and something eased between them. A subtle softening of wills…which wouldn’t do her any good. Not against such a stubborn, arrogant cat. Though she wished otherwise, she wondered if she’d made things worse between them. But it was between them. Not for the pride, her mother, or any of the cats commenting on what a fine mate he’d make. This sexual play had been for Zoe. And well, to get back at him, if only to remind him he couldn’t lead her by the nose. Zoe was better than his old girlfriends, and she needed him to know that.
Her cat nudged her to release the mate scent. She liked what she’d tasted and felt from Miles, a compatible energy. A strong feline in his prime.
Zoe took her top in hand and quickly tied it behind her neck. She hadn’t come back to mate. And the fact she even considered the notion scared the crap out of her.
“What are you doing?” Miles asked, playful now that he’d had some relief. He lowered his hands to her shoulders and tugged at her string. Feeling it knotted, he pulled back and frowned.
No man should look this good wet. She forced herself to remember him making her beg and then pushing her to orgasm twice before walking away—all to make a point. That he didn’t consider her worthy when it came to running the pride.
The pride, Zoe. Do what’s best for all of them, not for you.
She pressed him back and the shower hit him in the face. While he sputtered, she quickly stepped from the stall and found a towel.
“What the hell?”
“I’m going back outside.”
“Not while smelling like you’re in heat, you’re not,” Miles snarled.
She blinked. “I’m not in heat.”
“No, but you’re wet. And not just from the shower.” He smirked. To her astonishment, he seemed half-hard again. “Now why don’t you bring that fine pussy back in here and let me get you off?”
She laughed and hardened her resolve—because she really, really wanted to let him satisfy her. But she couldn’t afford to show weakness. He had to see her as an equal, even in regards to sex. Deliberately enticing him again, she lowered her bottoms to expose her trimmed pussy, devoid of hair but for a thin strip on her mound.
“Get in here,” he ordered, his cock getting larger.
She wiped her arousal away with a towel, then pulled her bottoms back up. “There, all solved.” Except for her tight little clit still throbbing and her insides all aflutter with need.
“Zoe?”
“Well now, big man. If I need ease, I’ll find it, never fear. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, because you looked pretty needy.” Zing.
He glared at her, fury now mingling with his growing arousal. To her astonishment, she caught a hint of the mate scent as well.
Apparently he noticed it too, because his eyes widened and he yanked the shower curtain closed to separate them. “I’m fine now, thanks.”
“Sure thing.” Her heart raced. What the hell had just happened? “I mean, you were begging so nicely and all…”
He yanked the curtain back, enraged and gloriously golden all over. “Begging?” he roared.
She only caught rage in his scent now, well, that and the carnal need he hadn’t yet lost. His dick was once again rock hard. So pretty and more than a mouthful…
Satisfied she’d finally shown her bearing as a female not to fuck with, she danced back. “Well, I’m back to the pool and all my new friends. Might want to take care of that, though.” She looked pointedly at his cock and chuckled when he scowled. “You’re pretty pent up, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t be if you’d take care of this. Never mind. I’ll get someone else to play with.”
Yet she didn’t rise to the bait, because she somehow knew that he wouldn’t. This new connection between them, though strictly sexual, had only deepened with today’s intimacy. Plus she had finally pulled ahead, if they were keeping score. Which she was.
“Go ahead.” She shrugged. “A man like you has needs. Just like me.” The dark look he shot her only increased her pleasure. “Oh yeah. Can’t control that base desire. Like a lot of men I know.” She shook her head.
“I don’t have to fuck.” He turned off the shower, which had to be super cold by now.
“Oh? So you chose to be with me then?”
He opened his mouth and closed it, obviously aware he’d walked into that one.
“Lovely, and you’re such a polite cat. I hadn’t expected that.” She smiled at him. “You asked me so nicely. ‘Please, baby,’” she mimicked and reached behind her for the doorknob when he stepped out of the shower. A quick flick of her fingers and the lock turned. “I’m flattered, Miles. Really. But I’m focused on the pride. If you’re needing a girlfriend, maybe you should look elsewhere.”
“If I—” He took a deep breath and let it out in a gust. Then he smiled through his teeth. “Come here and we’ll solve this question about need right now,” he said smoothly.
Knowing when to beat a hasty retreat to regroup for another day, she smiled brightly, twisted the doorknob and then turned and darted out of the bathroom before he could reach her.
Ha. Try to seduce me, will you? More than pleased at her victory, she hurried out of the cottage and made a long trip back to the pool, returning only after she’d tamped down her lingering arousal.
That mating scent she’d detected still bothered her. Miles had known he’d projected it, because otherwise, why try to hide behind the curtain? Or had he done that for another reason? It made no sense, but her cat wanted to roll in that smell again. To lift her tail and await a proper mounting.
Good God, but Zoe wanted to be mounted as much if not more than her feline half. It had to be the lack of sex frustrating her. Oral was all well and good, but a true physical joining would ease the ache in her. She hoped. Because for once, she didn’t want to scratch her itch with anyone else, but with one particular cat—a male too arrogant and no good for her. One who stood in the way of her destiny.
Forcing herself to remain outwardly carefree yet focused on her end game, she rejoined the party by the pool and talked to the group growing in number. Miles rejoined them, and they ignored each other for the most part. She felt his gaze on her at odd times during the day, but she wasn’t able to catch him looking.
She agreed to acc
ompany Jace and Ellis in the evening to tour their rounds and watch the way they policed the pride, much to the displeasure of Willow and Dana. Knowing she needed to deal with those two, she pulled them aside and sat with them under an umbrella.
Diego, a handsome cat in his mid-twenties, brought them a tray of margaritas and slid her his phone number on a napkin.
“Thanks, sweetie.”
He winked and walked away, but not before nodding at the napkin, as if she hadn’t seen his number in big, bold black numbers. Men. Subtlety was not in the chromosomes for most of them. And not with the women glaring at her right now either.
She turned to them and sighed. “Relax, girls. I have no intention of screwing with my future lieutenants. I need to know what they face and where they go, that’s it.”
“What?” Willow asked.
“I need to know so that when I take over the pride, I’m familiar with our defensive perimeters and our territory as a whole.”
They blinked at her. “Seriously?” Dana asked. “You’re still planning to assume control?”
“I am. Is that a problem for you?”
Dana frowned. “I don’t get it. Why are you doing this?”
“Why do I want to rule the pride?”
They nodded.
“Because a long time ago my mother saw my future. And it’s to help the pride. I’ll bring back what’s been missing. Michael was a good leader, but once his mate passed, he grew stagnant, and from what I’ve heard from the females at least, things suffered. I want us to be stronger than before. I bring good change, a new way of looking at gender roles, not to mention an infusion of ideas from other places. I spent years roaming Ac-taw settlements and Shifter nations. Africa. China. South America. So many different ways of doing things. The key to growth is change, and that’s something men seem to have a hard time understanding.”
Dana’s frown eased. “You make a good point. I hadn’t thought this was about more than your ego, but maybe I was wrong.”
“Joy said you’ve been connecting with the women. That you even got Marla Jones to talk with you, and Marla hates everyone,” Willow said. “Do you really think you have what it takes to help us?”