by Marie Harte
“Burke, take Ms. Penny to see Gerald. He’s waiting on you two. And Hart, you come with me.”
The hairy brute grumbled but followed the sheriff without question, glaring over his shoulder at Bad Ass—at Burke. Four more men appeared at the mouth of the alley and dragged the two unconscious thugs from the scene. Deputies, maybe, though the four looked more like locals than lawmen. They spent an inordinate amount of time studying her, to her discomfort. And the strange, almost hungry looks on their faces had her taking a step back, only to bump into Burke.
Burke ignored her, however, and glared at the men moving the bodies. They hurried out of the alley, leaving Rachel and Burke alone. Together.
Not sure how she felt about being summarily dismissed by the sheriff, Rachel stared at Burke, her expression guarded as she wondered why she’d been left with such a dangerous man.
Burke scowled at her as he straightened his appearance. For a fight in which he’d been outnumbered three to one, he looked surprisingly none the worse for wear. Running his hands through his hair, he tugged the loose strands out of his eyes and tucked the denim shirt he wore back into his jeans.
Unable to stop herself, Rachel watched his long fingers inching under the waistband of his pants and couldn’t help wondering if his skin felt warm even through a layer of clothes. A burst of longing, of animal need, rippled through her body and left as suddenly as it had come. She shivered, confused, praying Burke assumed it was from the cooling temperature.
Seeing her distress, he shook his head and grumbled under his breath. But to her astonishment, he shrugged out of his shirt, leaving him clad in a thin white tee and denims.
“Before you shatter all your pretty white teeth from chattering, put this on.” He didn’t give her a chance to refuse and enfolded her in the large garment. Oh crap, it smelled like him. And her libido, which had gone dormant in the diner except for one brief flare just moments ago, rose again with a vicious slap.
Having helped her into his shirt, Burke began to take his arms from around her when he suddenly froze, then stepped even closer. This near to him, Rachel couldn’t miss the rising bulge pressing against her belly, or fail to note the quickening in his breath as she stared at his broad chest.
“Shit. I just knew you were going to be trouble,” he rumbled before swooping down on her.
“What—”
He interrupted her with a soul-shattering kiss. Not gentle or tepid, Burke kissed like a man used to taking what he wanted. He devoured her, plain and simple. An explosion of scents and tastes, Burke was like a drug that stole through her body with the intent to possess. What started as hot grew to inferno proportions. His hard lips commanded, his tongue invaded and his body pressed her closer, until she was nearly riding the erection straining between them.
Without realizing she’d moved, she felt her back against a brick wall, Burke shoving his tongue down her throat at her garbled insistence. Lust took control of everything as the protestations and denials she should have spouted vanished under his onslaught.
A large hand palmed her breast, kneading the taut flesh before pinching her nipple. She arched into his mouth and cried out, her moans muffled by his kiss. Groaning, Burke lifted her in his hands, his strength a thing of beauty. Positioning her legs around his waist, he settled himself at the junction between her thighs and began thrusting against her, fully clothed.
Rachel shouldn’t have felt much with panties and two pairs of jeans between them. But her strangely over-sensitized body didn’t know the difference. The ridge of Burke’s cock through his pants might as well have been touching her clit, since the nub spasmed with his every pressing graze.
Grunts and need poured from him as he catered to her every unspoken desire. He dominated, accepting nothing less than her complete submission as he pounded into her against the wall, his skilled fingers gripping her ass as he tried to get closer.
Common sense tried to reassert itself. Her ex-husband. Burke’s like-minded arrogance. The fight she still didn’t understand… All of it refused to surface as a ripping climax tore through her like a tsunami.
Obliterating everything, her orgasm took her into another state altogether. Colors and scents seemed sharper, sounds louder, and the feel of Burke against her like perfection made real. Rachel stiffened, twisting her ankles around his back, her thighs like a vise. Burke rasped and rained kisses down her neck, sucking hard at her throat as she panted, trying to catch her breath. His thrusts increased and he bit her neck hard enough to draw blood. The pleasure in the start of pain shot her into another orgasm, this one peculiarly forced, and oddly like an out-of-body experience.
“Fuck.” Burke snarled, shuddering against her as he came, jerking while his gasps of pleasure warmed her all over again. His scent drifted to her from his shirt, and hell, from Burke himself. Surprisingly sweet and definitely sexy, he made her think of caramel corn and hot, naked sex on a stick. A circus of delights brought to her by a man she’d only minutes ago wanted to slap in the face.
As she gradually returned to reality, Rachel blushed with embarrassment. What the hell had she been thinking to have sex with a stranger? A man who seemed very much like her ex-husband, at least at first glance. A familiar anger returned at thoughts of Jesse. But as much as Rachel wanted to blast Burke for taking advantage of her, the blissful look on his face held her tongue. That and the truth—that they’d both been helplessly ruled by lust. A first in Rachel’s life, to be sure.
Burke finally released her hips and allowed her to slide down his body. His eyes flamed at the short contact between them, and Rachel gasped when her desire spiked again. This is so not normal.
“I, ah…” Burke trailed, seeming at a loss for words. But he didn’t step back to give her any room. His gaze roamed her face, coming to rest on her mouth. The awkwardness she anticipated disappeared, and he grinned and nipped at her lips. “You are the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
Flushed at the compliment, she couldn’t help wondering if she’d just made the next notch on his bedpost. Would he rush around to tell his buddies that he’d just dry humped Charlotte’s niece in the middle of an alley? He was a man, after all. She’d been married to one who’d turned into Mr. Hyde. What did she really know about Burke?
For that matter, what did she really know about herself? Burke might be married. The fact that she hadn’t even asked spoke volumes, and she suddenly paled, realizing she’d just acted no better than Lisa, her ex-accountant. Except at least Lisa had had the foresight to screw Jesse in her own office, behind a closed door, and not in an alley in a weird little town.
At Rachel’s distress, Burke’s smile faded. “It’s okay, Rachel. We’re two consenting adults. Both single.” He stared at her ringless finger with his brow raised in question.
Something within her released. At least she hadn’t climaxed with someone else’s husband. Burke was staring at her, waiting, and she nodded.
“Definitely single.”
“Good.” He exhaled heavily, running his hand through his hair in agitation. “Look, you don’t know me, yet, but I don’t fu—ah, I don’t normally fight and have sex in the alleyway before lunch.”
The absurdity of his statement surprised her into a dry laugh. “What, you wait until the afternoon to have sex? Or you don’t do it in an alley? Behind the restaurant more your style?”
That killer grin of his reappeared, a charming dimple winking at her from his left cheek. “We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot this morning, and I’m sorry about that. But I’m not sorry about this.”
The worry she’d been feeling faded at his warm smile, and she took a moment to revel in her relaxed body. She felt wonderfully sated after being deprived for a year and a half, and she couldn’t help noticing the new and improved Burke… Burke who? Hell, she’d actually had sex with a guy without knowing his last name. Desperation at its finest.
She felt her cheeks flame. “Who exactly are you?”
Burke stare
d into her eyes for so long she thought he wouldn’t answer. But when he did, he sounded distracted. “Burke Chastell. My brothers and I own the Catamount Ranch a few miles outside of town.” He ran a finger over her cheek, making her traitorous body tremble. Leaning close, he shut his eyes and inhaled. “You smell like heaven. Hot and wet and addicting. And you have a body made for loving.” He rubbed his cheek against hers before pulling back, his smooth face incredibly erotic against her skin.
She blinked, stunned at the man waxing poetic. When he opened his eyes, however, her throat went dry. The pupils staring out at her were slitted—inhuman—and he shocked her anew when his body began to rumble.
“Dear God, your eyes… Are you purring?”
Chapter Two
Burke shook his head, alarmed that he’d lessened his guards to such a degree. He’d almost fucking turned in front of Rachel, in front of a stranger who had no idea of what he was.
But her scent… In the diner she’d smelled like nothing, which in and of itself was enough to draw a second look. But now he didn’t know what to think. He’d never taken a woman in public, and in a damned alley where anyone could have walked by and seen them. Burke wanted to blame his lack of control on the fight with the gray wolves, or even on his recent dry spell with the ladies. But the truth was, from the moment he’d seen Rachel Penny he’d wanted her. Her prickly exterior hid a well of untapped sensuality, and a spirit ready to know its inner beast.
And if she was anything like her aunt, then Rachel could assume any shape she wanted to if she found that damned totem before a Shifter could mark her. The thought of Rachel becoming wolf was unthinkable, especially now that he’d had a taste of her. She would make an incredible feline. But did he want to go so far as to mark her? To seal her fate as a cat Shifter and tie her to his family, if not as his mate, then as a member of his pride? And more, would she want him to?
But the real burning question…did Rachel know the truth about Cougar Falls and its special inhabitants? From the shock and fear in her eyes, he thought not. Had Charlotte confided anything about the town to her niece, Rachel wouldn’t be staring at him as if he had three heads. Which brought him back to the matter at hand.
Blinking rapidly and forcing his breathing to even, he stopped his change. Focusing, he took a step back, mentally grimacing at the unwanted inches between them.
“What’s wrong with my eyes?”
She stared at him. “They were…you looked…”
“Rachel? Are you all right?” he asked gently.
“I must be seriously losing it,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “I could have sworn you—ah, never mind. It’s been a long trip to Cougar Falls. And that fight earlier, and what followed after, shook me up.” She glanced behind him, refusing to meet his gaze.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, Rachel.” But he really wasn’t. What could he say? I’m glad you went into heat around me. I had to fuck you or go insane, and I can’t wait to do it again, to feel that pussy squeezing my cock. I want you so much I’m hard again. Or maybe, Come on baby, say yes. Let’s go fuck like rabbits until I mark you, and then we can live out our days together as cats on the prowl. His eyes widened at the desirable, thoroughly unwise thought of mating with her, a woman he barely knew.
Even if she was the best fuck he’d ever had, Burke didn’t do strangers. And, his conscience added, you’ve never before experienced such urgent need. So why now? And why Rachel?
Something about her called to him on a primitive level. He wanted to claim her, to possess that untamable quality within her. To soothe the hurt and anger that even now thundered in her expressive gaze, needing an outlet.
“Rachel, you might not believe it, but I don’t normally do this.” He waved a hand between them.
“You just did ‘this’.”
“So did you,” he said quietly, trying not to sound accusing. “And though I don’t know you well, I can sense you’re not the type of woman who takes so quickly to a male.”
“No, I’m not.” Her cheeks turned a pretty rose-pink again. An Amazon who blushed. Burke’s heart hammered, his instinct to hold onto Rachel and never let go almost frightening. “I can’t explain this.”
“Don’t try. Let’s just accept it for what it was.” If only he knew how to define their meeting of minds and, well, almost-bodies.
“Ah, sure.” She cleared her throat and hugged his shirt tighter around her body. “Oh, and thanks for the loan of your shirt.”
The angry woman from the diner had all but vanished, leaving a charmingly vulnerable woman in her wake. Talk about fan-fucking-tastic sex with benefits. Burke wanted her again, right now, skin to skin. But seeing the defensive way she stood, the shields in her moss-green eyes resurrecting, he sighed and stepped back a few paces.
He grimaced at the feel of wetness sticking to his cock and underwear. Good lord, he hadn’t come in his pants since high school with Missy Morgan behind the bleachers. Immediately he had a vision of Rachel and those bleachers, and as his cock stirred, he quickly readjusted his thoughts, blurting the first thing that came to mind. “Ty told me to take you to Gerald, Charlotte’s lawyer.”
“Right.” Some of the pleasure leached from Rachel’s face. “Aunt Charlotte.”
Burke wanted to smack himself for being insensitive, but he was still tingling from coming so damned hard, and his new arousal was becoming painful. “I’m sorry for your loss, Rachel. I knew Charlotte as well as anyone around here, and I know she doted on you.”
Rachel blinked. “She talked about me?”
“Only all the time.” Burke took Rachel by the elbow and stiffly walked her toward Gerald’s office. “Said you were the spitting image of her brother. Got all the looks in the family.” He winked, and Rachel smiled prettily. “Also said you were stubborn as a mule.”
“That’s the truth.” She sounded sad, and he cursed himself for making her feel worse when his intention had been to make her feel better.
They reached Gerald’s building, and Burke knew he needed to prepare himself for whatever outlandish preparations Charlotte had made in her will. It was too good to be true that the woman would have simply willed him the property, the totem, and all that went with it.
Burke opened the door and followed Rachel into the converted post office. As steadfast as their odd little town, though in a new location, Winter and Sons had been servicing Cougar Falls since its official inception one hundred and fifty years ago. Gerald was the seventh Winter to head the law firm, and just as vigilant in serving justice as his father had been before he retired. Burke narrowed his gaze as Gerald walked out of his office and straight toward Rachel, a huge, predatory smile on his face.
A silver fox like the sheriff, Gerald did his best work soothing folks and maneuvering his way around the law. Women found him pleasing enough, and his profitable enterprise didn’t hurt him for companionship. In his mid-thirties and a fellow schoolmate growing up, Gerald, along with Ty and Joel, made for interesting companions when Burke’s brothers drove Burke crazy enough to leave the house.
And speaking of crazy… Burke glared at the sly lawyer cozying up to Rachel. Fortunately for Gerald, Burke was in a forgiving mood. Instead of ripping his throat out for poaching on Burke’s territory—Gerald would clearly be able to scent Burke all over Rachel—Burke turned his roiling lust into fury, and kept it simmering just under the surface.
He growled under his breath, and Gerald swung wide eyes toward him, as if just noticing him. Wily bastard. Burke bared his sharpening canines and huffed audibly, shooting a small nod in Rachel’s direction before turning fully human again. Hearing him, she turned and raised a brow in question. Gerald, however, took the hint and subtly stepped closer to Burke and away from Rachel. The lawyer extended a hand and shook hers, then just as quickly let go.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Rachel.”
His sincerity was clear, and Rachel tried to smile as her eyes welled with tears. Catching her by the elbow, Burke led her af
ter Gerald, who motioned for them to follow him into his office. His paralegal was nowhere to be found, and Burke wondered where she’d gone to.
Seeing the question in Burke’s eyes and his glance toward Julia’s empty desk outside, Gerald shrugged. “Had a family emergency, she said. She’ll be gone a week or more.”
“Nothing serious, I hope.” Burke liked Julia. A quiet fox, she kept to herself and always had a pleasant word for him. And even better, she’d shot his brother Grady down a dozen times or more.
“I’m not sure.” Gerald frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rachel. Not exactly polite to discuss other matters when you’re here for Charlotte’s will.”
“No, that’s okay. I’m in no rush.”
Well I am. Burke took a seat next to Rachel across from Gerald, who sat in a huge leather chair behind his desk. Let’s find that totem and get back to the important things in life. Like how I’m going to seduce Rachel before she turns all prickly again.
“It’s just that my assistant, Julia, is always a rock, always here and helping. And something came up with her family in Washington so she had to leave yesterday—”
“Gerald, can we please get on with this?” Burke sighed.
Gerald cleared his throat and smiled apologetically. “Right, well. Before we begin, is there anything I can get you, Rachel? A glass of water, a soda, or maybe some coffee?”
Rachel shook her head. “Thanks, but Burke’s right. Since we’re here, no sense putting it off any longer. You might as well tell me what Aunt Charlotte wanted done with her things.”
“Of course.”
Nice how the SOB completely ignored Burke, who could have used something to drink. In a steady drone, Gerald read through most of the generalities of the will. All of Charlotte’s personal possessions and money, investments and the like, went to Rachel.
“And as the only relative Charlotte truly cared about since your father passed away, you’ve inherited everything she considered dear to her. Including the house.”