by Elle Thorne
Last night’s conversation with Gabe had been a little different. The man had been waiting for Judd after he’d returned from the ranch house and a short tour of the flatlands in his wolf form.
Gabe tipped his head in greeting. “How’s Maisie? And Cash?”
“Both doing better, I think. She seems happier.”
“Seems?” Gabe hid a smile, but barely. “You haven’t—” He waved his hand as though to say a plethora of things, probably all along the lines of had he claimed her as his mate.
“Nope. But I have a date with her tomorrow.”
“Good.” And then the big man left. And Judd still wondered what the man was.
But that was last night. And this was today. And today was the day.
Maisie had feelings for him. Some sort of feelings. It was evident from the way her heart rate picked up when they were together. The way her scent showed the desire she felt when they were near one another.
Today was the day of the showing and the telling.
He’d cleaned up his truck, packed them lunch, and was waiting for her.
There she was. She was in a white tank, faded-blue jeans, hair down and wavy, just like he liked it. Looked like she’d borrowed some boots from one of the girls.
That reminded him, he needed to get her set up with some clothing. Would she accept his help? What if they were together?
She stepped closer almost to the truck when he got out to greet her. Her pulse raced so, making his own speed up. His wolf howled a greeting she surely wouldn’t hear. She stepped into his arms, just like she belonged there. He held her close, inhaling the scent of her.
She was fucking edible. So much so he wanted her, right here and now. He leaned slightly away, not wanting to let her know the extent of his desire for her. She might not be ready to know that.
“You won’t believe what Cash did.” She looked up at him, her nose cute and upturned. Her full lips with just the slightest bit of color on them.
He could only imagine. Maybe he shifted into his wolf and shredded his blanket. “What’d he do?”
“He said Judd!”
“He did not. You’re putting me on,” he teased, but inside a warmth flowed through him and his wolf. “No, seriously, was that the second word he ever said?”
She nodded furiously. “Uh-huh.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Maisie couldn’t hide the way she felt about Judd. She was sure he could tell. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. Her body was one big blob of jelly.
He’d driven them fifteen minutes away from Crooked Arrow to a cabin that sat beside a river, then told her to wait in the truck while he did something behind the truck’s bed.
“No peeking,” he said.
So she waited patiently as the time passed on the phone she’d held on to since the night she’d spent at the bunker at Gabe’s. Gabe had said to hold on to it.
Abruptly, the door opened, and Judd waved his arm with a flourish then brought his hand to hers to help her out of the truck. Guiding her, he walked her to a picnic blanket under a large tree with swooping branches. A cool breeze ruffled her hair, forcing her to hold it back to keep it from her face.
At the blue-and-white quilted blanket, he helped her to a spot then took one next to her.
“Is this your place?” She pointed to the rustic cabin. It appeared old.
“It is. It was my father’s and my grandfather’s before him. We’ve been Crooked Arrow for a few generations, but after my father died, my mother married another shifter, so I ended up in the Appalachian Mountains for a while. That’s where I met MacI—”
She shuddered. If she never heard that name again, it would be too soon.
“Sorry.” He rubbed her arms, pulling her close.
She leaned her head against his chest. “I’m wondering if I’ll ever not feel this way when I hear that name.”
“You hungry?”
For you. She couldn’t exactly say that. A week of seeing him at dinners only had made her miss him frightfully. It didn’t make sense he’d become so important to her she’d spend her days missing him and her nights drinking him in while they had dinner at the ranch house, only for him to leave again.
“Not particularly yet.” The butterflies were interfering with her appetite, that was for sure. “This is where you came after dinner every night?”
He nodded. “It’s my home.”
She wasn’t sure she’d like living so far away from Crooked Arrow. Call it her crutch, but she’d come to rely on Mellie and Rachel. She was slowly beginning to meet the other women there, but, as yet, had only been close to those two.
“I’d consider living closer to the main ranch house, though, in one of the smaller cabins near it.”
“Really?”
“Well, if the right situation presented itself.” His gaze pierced hers, then locked on her lips.
Pulse out of control. Heart racing. Face heating. Body reacting. Heaven help her. “What’s the right situation?”
“You. Being mine.” He spoke the words so softly it was as though they were being carried on the breeze.
She closed her eyes to enjoy the emotions his statement had spawned.
A rattling sound, like thrumming, came from him. She put her hand on his chest and found it vibrating. “What is that?”
“The wolf. Short of shifting, it’s one of the ways that are as close as he can come to communicating with you.”
“He’s communicating with me?”
Judd laughed softly, his face so close to hers she could feel the heat of him against her cheek. “He’s crushing on you.”
“You’re teasing me!” She opened her eyes to find his so close. They were like pools of molten, heated silver. “I see him,” she said, cupping his cheeks. She drew closer. “I see you, wolf.” The thrumming grew louder, deeper, stronger. His chest vibrated even more against her arm. “Judd?”
“Mm-hmm?” His lips were so close to hers. His breath was earthy, male, outdoorsy.
“I have a thing for you.” There! She did it! She admitted it. She let go of the fear of being rejected. The fear of falling in love and letting love rule her life.
“I have a whole lot more than a thing for you.”
“Do tell,” she whispered against his lips.
“I can’t live without you and Cash in my life. It’s been hell the last few days out here, alone. And to compound it, I never even got to witness him saying my name for the first time.”
Tears sprung to her eyes. She hadn’t even thought of that. “Damn. I’m so sorry.”
“Let’s do something to make sure it never happens again.” He put his hands in her hair, pulled her head close, and pressed his lips to hers.
She climbed up and over into his lap. “I’m game.”
And she was. She was all-in. He brought a side of her out. A tigress deep within. Maybe his wolf brought it out. All she knew was she wanted to be brave, bold, fearless in her love for this wolf shifter.
She kissed him slowly, moving her lips against his, taking control, letting instinct guide her tongue into his mouth, her hands on his chest, running her fingertips over the muscles rippling with the wolf’s thrumming.
She straddled him, bringing her body to press against his, every bit of it. His telltale hardness made her breath hitch, and her pulse decided it was at a derby because it was out of control racing.
He grabbed her hips. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me, woman?” His voice was sex-husky, driving her deeper into an abyss of desire.
She stared into his eyes. “Do you have any idea what I want to do to you?” Again, she was temptress, fierce, daring, and she had no clue where this all came from, but she liked this side of herself.
Holding on to her hips, he yanked her body tight against his, driving his hardness against her mound, pressing it into that very part of her that seemed to be humming and buzzing with desire.
“Judd,” she said with a grunt.
He
adjusted the angle and began to grind. She threw her head back, arching her body, pressing into him even harder. He trailed kisses from her chin, down the column of her throat, to the décolletage at the tank top’s edge.
“I need you.” The words were ripped from the core of her very being, a hoarse declaration of so much more than mere lust.
He trailed his hands around her back and unsnapped her bra through the tank. She tugged it out of the tank’s sleeveless openings, and enjoyed the freedom, the sensation of her erect nipples pressing against the fabric. He cupped the fullness of her breasts, hefting their weight, his thumbs on her nipples, rolling and pulling through the fabric.
Seconds later, she’d lost the top in one swift move and sat before him, topless, enjoying the look in his eyes as he feasted on her breasts. He leaned forward, taking one nipple in his mouth, lapping at it while he tugged and twisted the other one, then switched the attention from one to the other.
Maisie’s body reacted in a way she’d never expected. She was certain she was going to climax from what he was doing alone. She’d never had that happen before.
She grabbed his shoulders, digging her nails into his flesh. “I can’t control. Judd, I—”
“Do it.” He dropped one hand to her jeans, pressing his fingers at just the right spot, and moved in swift, tight circles.
And with that, her breathing became ragged. Her world turned upside down; the pressure between her legs was spilling over the edge.
“Gah—”
He jerked on the button, pulled down the zipper, and dipped his hands inside her panties just as her universe began to spin. “I need to feel you coming undone.”
He slid his fingers downward, teasing her clit as he made his way down, until finally, he slid one inside. She thrashed against his finger, seeking the pleasure that was just there.
Just. Right. There.
With a scream that caught her completely off-guard, she climaxed on his hand, her muscles spasming and going into full-on aftershocks. He kissed her, adding a second finger, his other hand supporting her back, pulling her closer to him. His tongue claimed her mouth, making her his.
Seconds later, and she couldn’t even remember it happening, she was completely naked next to him. He’d stripped as well, and stood there, holding her hand, appraising her body with hungry eyes while she checked his out. He was muscular, like a Greek god, but not bulky. His chest was wide and sheer perfection with its rippling pecs that drew down into his abs. His cock was thick and perfectly formed, making her want to hold it.
She couldn’t resist, that temptress tiger-self she had kept contained for so long reached out and took him in her hand, wrapping her fingers around it, but unable to make her fingertips meet—that was how thick he was.
“I want you,” he murmured, closing in, lips meeting with hers. “I want you right now.”
Not more than she wanted him. “Same.”
“Come with me.”
Okay, that was new. She let go of his length to see where he planned to take them. He was walking toward the river but made an abrupt turn at a large standing boulder. A timeworn, smooth boulder. He leaned her against the boulder and put a hand on either side of her shoulders and leaned in, taking control of her lips, claiming her mouth.
Her breathing was uneven, jagged gasps. He released her lips and reached down, pulling her knee up, moving her body, adjusting her until his hardness was poised at her entrance.
“Are you mine,” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.
She was his. This she knew for certain. She was his. Forever, if he wanted her. And her heart told her he did. So did the vibration that had started in his chest. “I will always be yours,” she told him.
He drove his hardness halfway in her then pulled out slowly with a shuddering sigh. “I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to control it this first time. I’m like a teenage boy with you.”
“I feel brand new with you.” There was no other way to describe what this man did for her. To her.
He pushed himself in her fully, completely filling her and then some, while his mouth reclaimed its spot on hers.
He pushed in and drew out with the insistence of a jackhammer, his body slamming into hers, though he somehow managed to not hurt her.
“More,” she begged him. “Please, don’t stop.”
Thrusting, skin slapping, gripping, driving, their love was furious and fast and passionate, while, at the same time, it was so all-consuming she was lost in him. Lost on him. And he was wrong, he wasn’t like a teenage boy at all. He filled her and fulfilled her, making her feel like she’d never been made to feel before.
They exploded into another stratosphere together, both gasping, laughing, smiling, kissing. He sank his teeth into her shoulder, marking her as his.
Later, when she awoke, she was lying on the picnic quilt, covered with another blanket, while he had both arms around her.
“We mate for life,” he said.
“Perfect,” she replied.
Afterword
What’s next?
Iron Flats Rebel - Coming April 2020
Another book in the Shifter Realms Saga!
Please refer to the website for newest releases as we spend time with our Shifters Forever and all the wonderful spin off series!
ElleThorne.com
Thank you for reading!
Shifter Realms
SHIFTERS FOREVER SERIES
Are you ready for it?
A new shifter series! Shifter Realms!
Iron Flats
Wolf shifters and their mates steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvy women ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.
•Iron Flats Exile
•Iron Flats Justice
•Iron Flats Rebel
I do hope you’ll be able to join me on this wonderful journey with our Shifter Realms shifters and their mates!
Hugs, Elle!
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The Shifters Forever Worlds
SHIFTERS FOREVER SERIES
Are you ready for it?
I have a whole world full of shifters to share with you. I’m listing them here, in the suggested reading order, though I’ve tried to make it so that you can pick up anywhere in the series as we all have probably done that at one point or another.
Many of these are organized in box sets for savings. Be sure to visit www.ellethorne.com to see which box sets are out!
Where’s the best place to start? Well, probably with Shifters Forever.
SHIFTERS FOREVER
Grizzly bear shifters and their mates steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.
•Protection
•Seduction
•Persuasion
•Invitation
•Temptation
•Attraction
ALWAYS AFTER DARK
A spinoff with the white tiger from Shifters Forever: Vax, born Vittorio Tiero. He’s the one that helped Kane out during a shifter battle. Follow the Tiero family, a group of white tiger shifters, as they head to America to find love... and heart-stopping danger. Full of romance, suspense, and gritty drama, this red-hot collection is sure to entertain!
•Controversy
•Territory
•Adversary
•Sanctuary
NEVER AFTER DARK
Another spinoff that takes place in Europe. Here we visit cities along the Mediterranean and meet the old school Tiero white tiger shifters who are resistant to change.
•Forbidden
•Forsaken
•Forgotten
•Foreplay
ONLY AFTER DARK
Taking place in New Orleans, the Arceneaux shifters, led by Lézare, Vax’s white tiger cousin—on his mother’s side—are sure to capture your hearts. The Arceneaux are the black sheep of the family. Lézare doesn’t cave to public opinion. He dictates policy in the area he rules and he shuns old school European rules and regimes.
•Desirable
•Insatiable
•Combustible
•Undeniable
MORE ONLY AFTER DARK
Another spinoff that takes place in New Orleans. The Arceneaux shifters and the Matthieu witches wreak havoc and find love within this city set on the steamy Louisiana coastline.
•Inevitable
•Inescapable
BITTER FALLS FOREVER
This romance features Mae Forester’s nephew Dane Forester, a freewheeling, sexy, successful, movie star who uses every role and every woman to escape and forget the heartbreak he left in Bitter Falls.
•Unbound
BARELY AFTER DARK
This series features more of Mae Forester’s nephews! Grizzly bear shifters steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.
•Cross
•Lance
•Judge