She shrugged. “I’m not sure they’ll even hire me, but I really think I’d enjoy it. I think I’ve finally found where my passion lies.”
Samuel started nuzzling her neck. She giggled as he growled and gently nipped her neck.
“Surely not all your passion is in teaching kids?”
Giggling, she wriggled, trying to escape out of his arms. He tightened his hold and continued nipping her neck, insisting on a response.
“Well, I seem to have a lot of other passion for one long, thick, warm object. But at the moment the teaching is looking really promising.”
Laughing outright as he growled and rolled them both onto the floor, she wriggled as he trapped her body underneath his own much larger one.
“Only teaching is looking promising, huh? What do you say we go back to playing Dominic’s card game?”
Without lessening the pressure on her, he lifted one arm up, felt around until he held the small box of cards, and pulled off the lid.
Only a single card was inside the box. It had a red border, with “Advanced: for those who dare” emblazoned on it.
Chloe sobered up, her laughter dying away. She had a funny feeling about this.
Samuel sat up, sitting on his knees on the floor and offered her the box, looking incongruous with its solitary card inside.
Chloe reached out to take the card, idly noticing her hand shook very faintly as she reached for the card. Picking it out, she turned it over.
I love you. You are my heart’s passion, Chloe. Marry me. Please.
The script was not the typed print of the other cards. Obviously the game had come with a number of red-rimmed cards that were blank, for the man or woman to fill in themselves.
The bold, masculine script could only be Samuel’s.
Chloe looked up to the man who sat opposite her. Opening her mouth, she tried to form words. Nothing would come. She was so totally shocked.
Samuel stared at her, his beautiful blue eyes piercing her with his intensity.
“It’s simple, Chloe. I love you. I think I fell in love with you at Dom and Mary’s wedding. I just didn’t want to admit that such a young, willowy woman could bring me to my knees. I want to help you reach your dreams, want you to realize all your passions, particularly those of your heart. But most of all, I want to be your heart’s passion.”
Chloe felt a tear trickle down her face. Sitting up she threw her arms around Samuel.
“Oh my, that was the most beautiful proposal. You are my heart’s passion, Samuel. Your fantasies make me so hot I want to bring each and every one true. I want to come home from school to see your smiling, cheeky face. Yes. I’ll marry you.”
With a groan, he swept her close for a soul-searing kiss. Plucking the card from her hand, he let it drop to the floor and rolled them over so she was astride him.
“Ride me, baby,” he groaned. “Ride me until we both burst.”
Eagerly, they stripped each other until they were both naked. Chloe pumped his cock with her hand, once, then twice. As a tiny pearl of pre-cum squeezed out of his tip, she murmured and bent down to lick it up. Rolling it around in her mouth, she reached up and kissed him firmly on his mouth, letting him taste their mingled essence.
“Please, baby,” he groaned, tilting his hips suggestively at her.
Grinning, she teased his nipple.
“Patience,” she intoned.
“Fuck patience,” he muttered, bending his head to take her nipple in his mouth. She gasped at the shock that ran through her body. She felt the world moving, and realized it was only Samuel rolling her underneath him, pushing aside the coffee table with a loud thunk, so they didn’t hit their heads at a busy moment. Laughing, she caressed his shaft and balls.
“What happened to me riding you?”
“Next time,” he promised.
With one, fierce thrust, he was inside her, both of them moaning in pleasure. Chloe stroked the delicate skin between his shaft and balls, and he lightly fingered her clit. She was amazed at how quickly she felt herself spinning out of control. Before she could even catch her breath she felt her head arch back into the rug, her back bow out and the climax tear through her.
A split second later, Samuel was shouting, thrusting even deeper inside her, his seed erupting deep inside her.
He collapsed on top of her and they panted, catching their breaths. Chloe resolved to turn him over as soon as her lethargic muscles would move.
The air was pierced by the shrill ringing of the phone. Chloe frowned.
What the hell?
She looked at Samuel, who shrugged.
“No one knows I’m here. It’s not for me.”
“But no one knows I’m here either.”
Lifting himself up on one arm, cursing at the coffee table, Samuel looked around until he saw the phone on a small table by the window. Getting up, uncaring of his nudity, he picked it up.
“Hello?”
Chloe could hear a feminine voice on the other end. She sat up, wondering who on earth it could be. Before she could wonder and begin to panic, Samuel laughed out loud.
“Really? What were the two of you doing this time?”
More talking from the other voice.
“Ahh…I understand. Yeah, she’s here, hang on.”
Samuel crossed back over to her, taking the cordless phone with him. He sat back down on the soft carpet and handed her the phone. He mouthed the word, “Mary”. Understanding dawned, and then embarrassment set in.
“Uh…hi, Mar. How’s the dirty weekend going?”
“Pathetically. Never make love out in the rain. It’s romantic, but messy as hell and now Dominic has a bad cold. We’re coming back tonight. I take it you’ve had an interesting weekend yourself?”
Pretending to misunderstand, Chloe agreed.
“Oh yes. I’ve decided to do elementary teaching. There’s an opening back in town. It’s not that far from you, and Matthew is back there after all.”
Mary laughed. “Fine. Be that way. Can you spend the night at Samuel’s?”
Chloe looked over at him, and drew a quick breath as he started sucking her nipple again, waggling his eyebrows in a comical manner.
“Umm…probably. I think we’re going to get married a little later.”
Mary laughed.
“Just wait until I tell Dom. He owes me twenty bucks now.”
Chloe frowned.
“Huh?”
“We knew something was up at the wedding. I said it was love, Dominic insisted it was lust and Samuel would forget it. I gave you both ten months to work it out, so I win the money. I’ll split it with you. If you get married within six months, I get a further fifty.”
Chloe laughed.
“I’ll think about it. We haven’t set a date yet, but it’s a pretty safe bet to be within six months. You owe me a night on the town, maybe something new and exotic for the Hen’s Night.”
Samuel jerked his head back and frowned menacingly, waggling his finger in a comical manner. Just to tease him, Chloe continued over Mary’s voice.
“Maybe we can call in a few favors. I hear there are some fantastic strippers in town. We can work out the details later.”
As Samuel reached out to grab the phone, she laughed again. “Gotta run, see you tomorrow.”
Pressing the end button, she hung up as Mary protested.
Grinning hugely, she explained to Samuel.
“Your brother bet Mary that it was just lust between us. She bet him twenty bucks we’d be together within ten months, and an extra fifty bucks that we’d be married six months after that. Surely you can’t blame me for their deal?”
“No,” he growled as he rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him, “but you’re not to go to a bar, and you certainly aren’t going to see any damned exotic stripper. You realize we’re the only ones who haven’t met in a bar? I don’t want to tempt fate. Anyway, if you want to see a stripper I’ll be happy to oblige you.”
Chloe smile
d and bent down to kiss him. She had months to talk him around if she chose to.
“You’re my passion, Samuel. There’s no need to worry. We can work it out later. Right now, there’s a certain fantasy I recall you mentioning. Something about a woman pleasuring herself as well as her partner…”
“Mmm,” he agreed, “later sounds good. So does that fantasy, but right now I have a much deeper need to be inside you, not being teased out of my mind.”
Chloe smiled, letting him have his way this time. She didn’t protest when Samuel lay her down on the soft rug, covering her body with his own. He dipped his head to her pussy, kissing her in the most intimate way a man can, and then raised himself to cover her again.
Kissing her mouth this time, he shared their mingled tastes with her. Chloe enjoyed the tangy yet sweet taste of them joined. It soothed her. She arched as his wicked hands began stroking her. Her sides, teasingly over her breasts, he warmed her with his intimate, knowing touch.
When he moved his head down to the juncture between her neck and shoulder, she moaned. Like most women, she was particularly sensitive around there.
She felt shocked when she felt a tiny sting of sharp teeth, then a soothing, warm laving of his tongue. She felt…filled by Samuel, but not in a sexual sense. It was as if he had left a part of himself in the small bite.
“What…?”
Samuel lifted his hand to her ear. “I marked you, love, mingled our essences and souls. We belong to each other.”
Raising an eyebrow, not sure if he was being poetic or dead serious, Chloe decided to let it ride for now. There was something much harder that she wanted.
Deciding enough foreplay had occurred, they could always take it slowly next time, she assured herself, she gently took a hold of his cock. Lightly teasing him, running her slightly cold hands up and down the hot shaft, she snickered at his hastily indrawn breath.
“You don’t want to get me started too quickly, baby,” he warned.
“Wanna bet?” she teased.
“Fine, don’t blame me then,” he replied, turning her over onto her hands and knees. Chloe arched her back so she wiggled her ass at him. She was dripping and more than ready for playtime to begin.
With no more caresses, no preliminaries, Samuel thrust balls deep inside her. Chloe arched even more, cried out, and without thought closed her eyes. The pleasure radiated out from her and she couldn’t believe how intensely she felt Samuel filling her from this position. Just his first simple thrust had her feeling the beginnings of her orgasm just out of reach.
It started in the pit of her stomach, the growing, electric feelings of the wave of satisfaction. It hovered just a moment out of reach, until Samuel withdrew himself slightly, and then plunged back in.
Chloe felt shocked, surprised really, as his second thrust was enough to push her over. She tightened her muscles, squeezed her ass and stomach, and made her insides squeeze his cock.
She assumed it worked as Samuel let out a low, almost painful-sounding groan and held her hips tightly as he plunged deeper inside her, erupting and filling her with his seed.
They collapsed together on the rug, panting and sweating. Samuel pulled her close, spooning her and holding her tightly.
“We need to get a ring,” he said panting.
Chloe simply nodded, still trying to stop her head from spinning from the intensity of the climax.
“We need to get you that teaching job and signed up for classes for your diploma, as well.”
Chloe smiled sleepily, glad Samuel took such an interest in her and listened to what she talked to him about.
Chloe closed her eyes, thinking wistfully of a warm bath and nap in a warm bed. Before she could begin to fall asleep, however, there was a strange buzzing noise coming from the dinner table.
“Shit,” Samuel complained, “who the hell…?”
Regretting the loss of his warm body, Chloe snuggled deeper into the rug, determined to catch the nap she had thought about.
“We need to get the hell out of here.”
Chloe opened one eye at Samuel’s words. “Mmm?” she inquired.
“That was Dominic IMing me. ETA 10 minutes, he says. Which means we have to get dressed and clean the signs of debauchery. Maybe even put the cooking pans to soak.”
Chloe blinked again and reluctantly pulled herself into a sitting position.
“How about you put the stuff to soaking while I grab a quick shower?” At the sparkle and mischievous look in his eyes, she hastily added, “Alone! Just think of how shocked Dominic would be to find us making out in his shower. He’d never let us live it down.”
Chloe smiled as Samuel pouted, but obediently moved into the kitchen, pulling his jeans back on as he went.
Chloe gathered her clothes and headed into the bathroom, throwing things in her suitcase as she went. Peering at the small bite mark on her neck in the mirror, she smiled. It wasn’t exactly how she had planned her time away, but somehow everything managed to be cruising along just fine.
Life was odd sometimes.
Good, but odd how things always managed to turn out well.
Smiling, she jumped into the shower. She needed to be at her best when Mary came in with that smug, “I told you so” attitude.
Epilogue
Zachariah Rutledge stared deep into the flames of his fireplace. Shifting slightly on his cushion, he cursed his old bones and worn-out flesh.
He couldn’t pass on just yet. The pieces were all in place. He had done his best. Roland and Helene were happy and secure. Roland had finally healed, forgiven his past, and embraced his future. Zachariah had redeemed that small piece of his own soul from his past mistake.
Yet, it was the mental picture of Edward who grabbed his attention deep in the flames. Young Edward. Even had he not been born when Roland returned, Zachariah would still have healed the man, still have repented the mistake he had unwittingly made with Roland’s father and mother.
However, upon first seeing the child Edward, still a mere infant back then, he had known the boy’s future and the future of Zachariah’s own kin were intertwined. Zachariah knew he had what they used to call The Sight. All of his grandsons had it to some degree or other, yet he had it strongest. It was a knowing, an intuition. All he knew was that the very first time he laid eyes on young Edward he had known his future was tied with that of his kin.
And so his desire to help out the floundering family became even stronger.
He only hoped he had done what was right—what was good. He had always striven for that, for the best. Yet often one’s intentions were not enough. In this instance, he hoped it was.
When baby Christiana had been born and presented to him, he had again intuitively known she was tied up in all this somehow. A part of him suspected both she and Edward were linked spiritually, souls as well as destinies. Yet, it wasn’t for him to meddle. He had repaid his debt to Roland, and in turn young Edward. He refused to tamper with Fate and Destiny any more than he might have already done.
He shifted his body, uncomfortable even on the cushions and in front of the fire. He was just too damn old.
He had done his best, had set the pieces all up, nurtured them as best he could. He had been alone for so long. He could still feel his beloved Naomi beside him, calming him, supporting him. He knew he would be returning to her soon. With luck, his best would be enough this time around.
Zachariah closed his eyes, his meditation finishing. He let his favorite fantasy wash over him. His luscious Naomi, all soft curves and big smiles—forever loving him; holding him, embracing him. Even at his well-advanced age, he still lusted for her, loved her. Such was the bond of a mated werewolf pair. No other woman came even close for him. No other women, human or wolf, would ever be a tiny speck on his beloved wife.
He indulged himself in the fantasy, felt again her soft curves embracing him, felt her heated kisses along his neck. Felt her desire and love consume him in the best kind of flame. The flame of eternal love.
Yes. He would be joining his lost love very soon.
About the author:
Elizabeth Lapthorne is the eldest of four children. She grew up with lots of noise, fights and tale-telling. Her mother, a reporter and book reviewer, instilled in her a great appreciation of reading with the intrigues of a good plot.
Elizabeth studied Science at school, and whilst between jobs complained bitterly to a good friend about the lack of current literature to pass away the hours. While they both were looking up websites for new publishers, she stumbled onto Ellora’s Cave. Jumping head-first into this doubly new site (both the first e-book site she had ever visited, as well as her first taste of Romantica) they both devoured over half of EC’s titles in less than a month. While waiting for more titles to be printed (as well as that ever-elusive science job) Elizabeth started dabbling again in her writing.
Elizabeth has always loved to read, it will always be her favourite pass-time, (she is constantly buying new books and bookshelves to fill), but she also loves going to the beach, sitting in the sun, having coffee (or better yet, CHOCOLATE and coffee) with her friends and generally enjoying life. She is extremely curious, which is why she studied science, and often tells “interesting” stories, loving a good laugh. She is a self-confessed email junkie, loving to read what other people on the EC board think and have to say, she laughs often at their tales and ideas. She recently has developed a taste for the gym. She’s sure she read somewhere it was good for her, but she is reserving judgment to see how long it lasts.
Elizabeth welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, #13, Stow, Ohio 44224.
Also by Elizabeth Lapthorne:
Lion In Love
Payback
Rutledge Werewolves 1: Scent of Passion
Rutledge Werewolves 2: Hide and Seek
Rutledge Werewolves 3: The Mating Game
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
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