Axel looked up into her eyes again, one eyebrow raised in question, probably because she hadn’t answered him. She was so horny she could barely think straight, yet he ignored his erection and worried only about her wellbeing. Damn, that was sweet.
Dakota leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his.
Fireworks and nuclear bombs. His mouth was warm, with just the right amount of moistness. And he was wild. As if he’d been waiting for her to make the first move. His hand left her thigh and buried in her hair. Axel tilted her head just a little and swept his tongue into her mouth. He tasted of a hint of coffee, sweet syrup and hot, hungry man.
Reowwww. The most terrifying sound rent the air, and she jerked away in horror.
Falke jumped up on the bed, over her lap, and growled at Axel. The big cat had his face right up to Axel’s, and Dakota was terrified he’d kill the man. She didn’t know what to do. If she moved, it might startle the cat. If she didn’t do anything and Falke hurt Axel…
They glared at each other. Neither man nor beast moved, but they both seemed to be growling. She felt the vibrations through the bed. Heard the low sounds of anger.
“Please don’t hurt him,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”
She didn’t know what else to do or say. The cat seemed to understand so much. “Falke, I’m okay. He wasn’t hurting me. It’s okay.”
The cat broke eye contact with Axel, turned his head to her and swiped his rough tongue up her cheek.
Then he purred and plopped down over her lap, as if he were guarding her like a living, breathing, fanged chastity belt.
She let out a nervous laugh and looked at Axel.
Though he’d just come face-to-face with a furious wild animal, he didn’t appear frightened. No, he looked mad enough to kill the cat.
* * *
Outside, now!
Axel heard and ignored Gunnar’s demand as his brother paced back and forth near the front door in full pissed-off puma form. He set Dakota’s plate of breakfast on the table in front of her.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile for him and a worried glance at the cat. “I think he may need to be let out…to go…you know. Unless you have a supersized litter box around here somewhere.”
Axel smiled, though he couldn’t quite bring himself to laugh. “Yeah, I think you’re right.” Gunnar needed to be let out all right, but Axel didn’t relish the thought of what would happen once he was. He’d been bombarded with dire epitaphs and curses since he’d helped Dakota climb down from the loft.
Here lies Axel, the Asshole. Has a catchy ring to it, don’t ya think? Brother, if you don’t get the fuck over here, I’m not gonna wait for the headstone. I’m gonna carve that into your hide! You’re only delaying the inevitable.
Unaware, Dakota poured maple syrup on her pancakes, the yellow pat of margarine sliding off the side in a melted puddle. Then she looked up at him with an expectant smile.
“Look, I’ve already eaten, so why don’t you take your time, enjoy the meal, and I’m going to go outside too…to, uh, gather some kindling…and maybe chop more firewood. If we want to keep the fire ablaze around the clock, we’re gonna need it.”
“Okay. Be careful and hurry back.” Her grin was adorably cheeky, and he wanted to sit down beside her but knew that would only make matters worse between him and his sibling. He turned to head for the door.
“Take good care of Axel, Falke.”
Don’t worry. I will.
Axel stopped, met Gunnar’s feline gaze and sighed before grabbing his coat, opening the door and accompanying the puma outside.
Gunnar leaped off the porch and plowed a path toward the tree line about thirty yards from the cabin.
Axel knew the cat was headed for a rocky outcropping that was another twenty yards beyond there. He hurriedly fastened snowshoes onto his booted feet and grabbed the ax from the woodpile to go along with the story he gave Dakota. He wouldn’t really need it for protection from his own brother, despite the threats Gunnar leveled against him, but it was good to keep up appearances.
Gunnar’s tail swished angrily as he sprawled on a flat rock when Axel arrived.
“Okay. You wanted to talk,” Axel said, taking the offensive. “Let’s talk.”
I want to beat some sense into you, but Heidi wouldn’t appreciate having to stitch you up after I finished.
Axel propped the ax against a tree and crossed his arms. “I fucked up,” he admitted. “Are you happy now? I never should’ve kissed her, but she started it.”
You didn’t have to finish it.
“I didn’t. A certain possessive puma spoiled it.”
Lucky for you!
Feeling guilty enough as it was, he tried a counter-offensive jab of his own. “You haven’t exactly been keeping your distance, rubbing up against her thigh, playing on her sympathies and pawing her this morning.”
I’m a cougar! What was I supposed to do? Sit around licking my balls while she groaned in pain?
Maybe I should’ve let her keep thinking I’m gonna turn feral when she least expects it and have her for dinner as my main entrée.
“All right. You’ve ma—” And for the record, my ‘paws’ remained on the outside of her clothing unlike someone’s hands.
Seriously, Axel. What was all that talk about, ‘She’s a client, not a target for your sex drive,’ hmm? Was that all just a bunch of bull, or do the rules only apply to the rest of us and not you?
Axel unbuckled his snowshoes, walked over to where his brother lay and sat down on an empty spot.
The ridge that gave the area its name was always windblown, the snow only a few inches deep here.
Gunnar was right. Axel had struggled with his attraction to the caramel-skinned beauty since first setting eyes on her in the shop. He thought he could handle it, despite the close quarters, better than any of his brothers. It was just five short days after all.
He hadn’t made it beyond a day and a half.
But, damn it, she’d impressed the hell out of him yesterday, and she looked so damn pretty, and kissed so fucking-That does it. We’re switching places right now.
“What?”
You heard me. It’s the only way. You know I’m right.
That kiss proved it. What if she tried again? Would you be able to turn her away?
Honestly? No, but he couldn’t admit his weakness to Gunnar. “Would you?”
Gunnar changed from cat to human and immediately began to shiver. “Fuck! It’s cold.” He jumped to his feet on the rock and rubbed his hands together. “And, yes, I could. Now, hand over those clothes.”
Resigned to make the switch, Axel stripped and shivered. While Gunnar hopped off the rock and hurriedly donned his outfit, Axel climbed onto the rock, sucked in a cold breath of air, and let the change begin. Goose bumps skittered across his bare flesh, the familiar tingles erupting at the base of his spine. The shift rippled like an electric current from his core to his extremities. His vision spotted then blurred into a kaleidoscope of colorful starbursts. He exhaled as his height shrank toward the cold stone ground, closed his eyes, and in that instant the cold climate receded, his body warmed by a thick coat of golden fur. He blinked away the last of glittery sparks from his vision and looked around with heightened senses.
Axel noticed the wound still evident on Gunnar’s thigh before his brother all but hopped into his pants.
Small and already on the mend, the pink scratch shouldn’t be a problem so long as Gunnar kept his pants on.
You’ll have to answer to my name.
“As if I didn’t have enough practice doing that when we’d switch classes back in high school. I think I can handle it.”
Gunnar combed his fingers through his hair and then put the pair of gloves on. When he turned to head back, Axel said, Don’t forget the ax and kindling.
“Got it.” He paused and glanced at Axel, who leaped off the rock and turned away from the trail back to the cabin. “Where are you going?”
For a run. I…I need to burn off some energy. And he needed time to think. Time to figure out how a city slicker from Vegas could get under his skin so fast, and what he would do once she was gone…in less than four short days.
* * *
Gunnar took his time gathering the kindling and splitting logs, but once his arms were full of wood, he could put off his return to the cabin no longer.
Despite what he’d said to his brother and his righteous anger over Axel’s apparent double standards, Gunnar wasn’t as confident in his ability to mislead Dakota about his identity. The truth was he didn’t relish the idea of deceiving her. He wanted her to know him, Gunnar, not Falke the puma or the Axel stand-in.
But he had no excuse for Axel’s departure and his arrival on Red Dog Ridge, at least not any kind of story that she’d find believable, so he must keep up appearances as his brother and find some way to get through the next few days without caving in to his more dominant male urges.
As a cat it had been both easier and more difficult—easier because he was feline and couldn’t do more than vie for the occasional tummy rub, and harder because his keen animal senses made him aware of the sexual tension in the room and Dakota’s physical desires without her ever voicing such need or acting upon it.
The trouble was she did act upon it. He smiled at the thought even as he cringed. She was no shy wallflower, which both pleased and terrified him. If he’d met her somewhere else, under different circumstance, things might’ve been different between them.
Although that kiss—or rather Axel’s reaction to it—had infuriated him, it also gave him hope for something he was unsure his brother had considered.
This woman could be their perfect mate. As a human, Axel had certainly picked up on her magnetism, but while shifted, Gunnar had been much more observant to every change in nuance. She could be the one, but what remained uncertain was his and Axel’s readiness to take the risk necessary to discover for sure. A huge risk considering how brief their time with the woman had been thus far.
There was no question in his mind, however, that Dakota was physically—no sexually— attracted to Axel. The only concern he had was whether she’d react likewise to him, not that he could do a damn thing to find out. Not after he’d given Axel such shit about it.
Having literally stepped into his big brother’s shoes, he was now responsible for keeping the family secret, providing for the woman as their client and succeeding where Axel had failed. The problem was that Gunnar wanted to seduce her, to learn whether or not she could be the one, not avoid her temptation as he so boldly declared he could.
Rules were rules, and regardless whether she might make them a good mate or not, Dakota wouldn’t be in town long enough for them to determine that as fact or wishful thinking. Knowing her for forty-eight hours wasn’t enough time to be certain they could trust her with their secret, or their hearts.
He returned the ax to the woodpile, removed the snowshoes and dropped the kindling into a pile on the porch where it would stay dry and ready for use.
Taking a deep breath of cool fresh air, he opened the cabin’s door.
When Gunnar reentered the cabin, he realized one thing was much easier now: his senses were subdued in human form, so he wasn’t plagued by her scent of arousal. Though he still caught a whiff of her unique fragrance, it wasn’t nearly as hard to deal with as it had been before.
Maybe he could do this after all.
He shed his outer gear and breathed in the warmed air of the cabin’s interior, searching the space for Dakota. The fire blazed with a fresh supply of logs, but she was nowhere to be seen. He opened his mouth to call out, but then heard a noise in the bathroom.
He decided to let her be and headed for the kitchen.
Although the cabin didn’t feature indoor plumbing, it did have a manual pump outside for water when fresh snow wasn’t readily available. But Axel had retrieved a wash bucket of snow earlier to clean the dishes once it melted, which it had. So Gunnar dropped in the small stack of dirty dishes, a squirt of soap, and began scrubbing a plate.
Three plates and two forks later, he was whistling while he worked on another utensil when two soft hands slid around his sides and warm breath tickled his neck.
“Where’s my furry guardian?”
He froze, praying to hear the tread of puma paws on the porch. Fuck, his human hearing sucked. How had she snuck up on him?
Gunnar swallowed hard and dropped the spoon and sponge into the water, causing the cool sudsy water to spatter. “Umm, I expect him back any minute.”
Her hands dove up under his shirt, across his chest.
She lightly kissed the side of his neck and hugged him closer to her body. “Mmm, you smell good.”
So did she. So damn good even to his limited human senses. His dick grew thick and pressed against his jeans, and he hadn’t even turned around. Definitely safer if he stayed right where he was.
Rules… Ah, hell, that felt good. No! Rules. Client.
Her fingers dipped lower, unsnapping his jeans. He started to turn, stopped, took a deep breath. “Uh, Dakota, I… What…” He couldn’t fucking think straight with her body so close to his, her warm breath along his neck, her seductive touch against his sensitive skin.
Her hand brushed over the hot bulge in his pants, paused, squeezed.
She sighed.
He ached, throbbed.
“So, while we’re all alone,” she murmured, her tone husky and suggestive, “why don’t you and I start where we left off, hmm?”
His zipper started to descend. Gunnar whipped around and grabbed her wrists in tight fists.
Up on her toes, she leaned against him, pinning him between her sweet curves and the kitchen counter, making him groan—a sound cut off when her mouth covered his.
Oh, damn, she tasted good.
Client!
He pulled back at the thought, though he didn’t want to, and said, “God, Dakota, I can’t.”
She didn’t try to squirm free of his grip. Neither did she back away, her body still perfectly aligned with his hard-on. Instead, she smiled and sensuously ground herself against him until he swore he’d ignite from the titillating friction.
“Something tells me differently,” she said with brazen glee and a wicked glint in her dark eyes.
“I can’t,” he said again, the words harder to push out with lungs that no longer worked.
“Why not?”
“You’re my client. You hired me—”
“Oh, that’s easy. You’re fired. Now kiss me.”
He tried to think fast. Keep her talking, keep her distracted. Where the fuck was Axel when he needed him? “How will you find your way down the mountain if you fire me?”
The instant her lips touched his again, her bare foot slid up one of his calves. Her leg curled around his. He shoved her hands around to the small of her back and heard the catch in her breath, saw the excitement in her gorgeous eyes. “No,” he ground out. “We can’t.”
Though the reasons didn’t seem so clear now.
Dakota nipped his bottom lip and whispered against his mouth, “I want you.” She tilted her pelvis just so, her heat aligning with his throbbing cock. “And I know you want me too.” Then she pressed her lips against his once more. When she emitted an erotic half-moan, half-purr, he was lost.
Gunnar kissed her hard, spun them around, and pinned her against the countertop. She was so fucking hot, so ready. Her sounds of need and excitement made the rest of his reasons for saying no fly right out the window into the snow. He wanted her and, damn it, she wanted him.
She clawed at his jeans, shoving them down off his ass to midthigh. He groaned into her mouth, his tongue dueling with hers, and she sighed.
“Love a guy who goes commando,” she muttered when he released her mouth to suckle her neck and pull her tee from her jeans. When had she changed?
She’d been cute in the pajamas, but was hot as hell in the tight denim and curve-hugging T-shirt. N
o bra, he learned when he yanked the tee up. The sight of her breasts damn near made him come in her hand.
Hiking her up onto the counter, he latched on to one plump nipple and tore at her clothes. With one hand, she clung to his head, her fingers woven into his hair, and tried to help remove her clothes. He just wanted them out of his way.
He heard material rip, but paused only long enough to say, “Sorry.”
She pulled him back to her breast and huffed out, “Don’t stop.”
Seconds later, her nails scored his back as she lifted his shirt up. He released her luscious nipple with a hard pop and yanked the T-shirt over his head.
The disconnection between their bodies gave him a second to try to catch his breath, try to get control of his heart rate, his sanity. Oh, fuck, she was so beautiful. That long straight hair over her bare shoulders, just grazing the top of her sweetly rounded breasts. Those dusky nipples, puckered from his mouth. The tiniest scrap of nothing panties he’d ever seen.
She squirmed a little more, just enough to slide her pants all the way off and her panties to her knees.
When she let them go, the lacy thong fell free of one foot and caught on the other. Dakota dangled the flimsy material like a lure of water to a man dying of thirst. Then she met his gaze and grinned. “Have I told you how incredibly turned on I am by a man in nothing but leather?” As she spoke, she shoved his jeans farther down to pool around his ankles.
He blinked at her question. He wasn’t wearing leather pants. “Leather?”
Her gaze dropped to his collar, black leather bearing his family’s crest. With a sly grin, she nodded and hooked a finger in his collar, drawing him closer.
“Mmm-hmm,” she murmured against his lips.
“Nothing but leather.”
That did it. She was naughty and sweet, and sexy as hell. Even with human nostrils he could scent her arousal. Gunnar kissed her as if he’d perish without her, which he began to believe might be the case. He’d never needed a woman so much in his life. Finesse escaped him. He pushed all thoughts of responsibility to the farthest corner of his mind. His hands weren’t gentle as he wrapped them around her waist and pulled her hot, damp core against his belly. He demanded with his mouth that she give her all…and she did.
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