18
Harrison
As I left the clinic for the day, I was surprised to find Fern sitting in her minivan in the parking lot. Her window was down and she peered out at me with a shy smile. “Hey.”
I raised my brows. “I was about to head over to your place. What are you doing here?”
“Want to get in?” There was something different about her, something I couldn’t place. She seemed slightly out of breath and a little nervous. “I thought we could take a drive.”
I rounded the car to the passenger side feeling a little awkward to be letting Fern drive. I didn’t want to appear sexist, but there was something about driving my lady around that was akin to caring and providing for her—a natural instinct to a shifter.
“We could take my truck, if you want.”
“It’ll be a short drive, I promise.”
I wasn’t going to argue. I was desperate to be near her. If she wanted to pilot me to the moon in her spaceship, I would’ve hopped into the copilot’s seat as long as it meant getting to spend time with her.
I got in and she drove out of the lot heading in the direction of East Public Beach. We only drove for two or three minutes when she parked in a secluded public parking lot behind Cap’n Jim’s. We were both quiet. In my case, it was because I was watching her, curious to know what she was up to.
“Close your eyes.” She leaned over and stole a quick kiss before getting out of the car. “Keep them closed.”
I listened as she opened the back door of the minivan and fiddled around with something. A few minutes passed and then she was back in the front seat, doing something next to me. “What are you up to?”
“Open your eyes.”
I did as she said and found that she’d darkened the van by hanging stuff in all the windows but mine. A few towels, a sheet, even what looked like a curtain over the back window. There were also battery-operated tealight candles glowing in the back window. I looked back at her and she had one more towel and some magnetic clamps in her hand that she held out to me.
“Block your window and meet me in the back?”
I was a motivated man, is all I can say. I blocked the window and then hurried out into the rear of the van through the back door. She’d taken out the removable seats and thrown down a comforter that I recognized as the one from her bed. Once we were both inside, I closed the door, looked over at her, and sucked in a deep breath.
She was sitting on her feet and the dress she had on was riding up around her thighs. Her chest heaved as she began what seemed to be a prepared speech. “There is never going to be a perfect time. Kinsley is always going to be home, probably grounded, and I don’t even know where you live. I want you, though. I want this. I want us. So, I’m creating a perfect time. Right here, right now…if you want.”
If I want? A grin spread across my face. I had to be the luckiest guy on the planet. She was not only adorable, but she’d obviously given this some thought and preparation. What an honor. If I want? Hell, yeah, I want.
More animal than man, I lunged for her, grabbing her and pulling her onto my lap. Kissing her hard, I held her too tightly, too desperately. Instead of pulling back, Fern hiked her leg over my thighs so she was straddling me. Her hands were hot on my shoulders as she held onto me.
I stroked the seam of her lips and then into her mouth as she parted them for me. Drinking in the honey taste of her, I deepened the kiss and growled at how good it all was. Running my hand down her back, I cupped her ass and pulled her closer to me, until her core bumped against the straining erection in my jeans.
Fern gasped and let her head fall back, exposing her delicate neck to me. I ran my mouth down her neck and back up again, then nipped her chin. She tasted so good, no matter where my mouth landed. I sucked on her skin and drank in the sounds of her cries of pleasure. Kissing across her collar bones, I pushed the sleeves of her dress down and tasted her shoulders.
Writhing in my lap, she pushed her chest out at me, and I swore before dragging her dress down farther and exposing her breasts to my starving eyes. I buried my face between them and inhaled her scent. The lace of her bra was soft against my skin, but I wanted it gone.
Reading my mind, her hands were already at the hooks, undoing it. I pulled the bra out of the way and growled low in my throat. Perfect breasts with dark-pink nipples waited for me. Full, round, and heavy, they filled my hands. Running my thumbs over her nipples, I lowered my mouth to them. Licking, biting, and sucking, I teased her until her hips rocked against me. Her hands were lodged in my hair, and each hard pull on her sensitive flesh earned me a hard tug on my hair.
I worked my hand between us and cupped her hot core through her panties. As she rocked her hips, I pressed my palm against her clit and let her ride my hand. Little gasps and mewls flooded the car as she worked herself higher and higher. Just when she was about to come undone, I slipped my hand away and gave her nipples one last lick.
“Harrison…”
I grinned at my mate and slowly worked her dress up her thighs. “I promise it’ll be worth the wait, honey.”
She grabbed the hem of my shirt and yanked it up. I had to let go of her dress while she tore my shirt off, but when her hands went to my belt, I lost my playful spirit. I pulled her dress over her head and tossed it aside. Seeing her straddling me with nothing on but a pair of lacey white panties just about did me in.
I didn’t want to be rough with her, but I needed to feel her around me. I ripped her cute little panties off and slid my thumb through her wetness. She was drenched for me, that honey dripping down her thighs. I wanted to drag her up and lick her clean, but we were both too far gone.
“Later. I’m going to taste this pussy later.”
Fern’s cheeks burned red and I watched in fascination as it trailed down her neck and chest, all the way down to the tips of her pink nipples. She yanked at my belt and growled. “I can’t get this off.”
“You had no problem the other night.”
She cupped me through my pants and let out a desperate sigh. “Pull your pants down.”
I shoved my pants down as far as I could get them with her in my lap, but it was enough to get my dick out. I swore worse than a sailor as her hand wrapped around me and started tugging up and down. “Need to be in you.”
“Do it.” She let go of me and dug her fingers into my shoulders, readying herself.
I stroked through her wetness and teased her opening, needing to be sure she was able to take me. Pushing one finger in, then another, I fucked her that way while she moaned and worked her hips up and down. It would be tight, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Lining our bodies up, I ran her wetness over myself and then slowly pushed into her.
My entire world narrowed until all that existed was her, on top of me, breathily begging me for more. Inch by excruciating inch, I pushed inside of her until our bodies fit together so tightly that not even a piece of paper could’ve fit between us. She squeezed around me, her body molding perfectly to mine.
Clinging to me, Fern suddenly let out a breathy laugh. “I shouldn’t have waited so long to do this.”
Groaning, I slid out and thrust back home. “You were waiting for someone who would cherish you the way you deserve. You were waiting for me.”
She peppered kisses on my mouth and neck as I pumped in and out of her eager body. Her hands tangled in my hair, and she moaned as she pressed her chest flush against mine. “So…good.”
I gripped her ass and took her with all the need I felt for her. Harder and faster, until the car was filled with her cries. I growled her name and held on through the need to sink my teeth into her neck, marking her as mine.
Fern’s body squeezed around my shaft, pulsing, gripping me over and over, as she threw her head back and let out a wild scream. Her body shook as her orgasm overtook her. Mine followed just behind and I felt my very soul attempt to leave my body to be in hers. Gripping her hard, I fought the urge to mark her. Not until she agreed to it.
As the strongest orgasm I’d ever felt crashed through me, I knew that life as I had known it was forever changed. There was never going to be a day when I didn’t think of how it felt to have my mate come apart in my arms. There would never be a day when I didn’t desperately want to hear her cry out my name.
I gripped her hair and lifted her head so I could kiss her. Hungry, still starving for her, I poured everything I couldn’t say into that kiss. Everything she probably wasn’t ready to hear from me, everything that was too soon to say, everything I’d felt for her since the moment I saw her. I forced it all into that one kiss. A declaration, or a warning, I wasn’t sure. Fern was mine. I was hers.
She kissed me back just as fiercely and only pulled back to look into my eyes with a declaration of her own. “Mate.”
19
Fern
The air conditioner was running, but it wasn’t enough to combat the heat we created. A droplet of sweat rolled down between my shoulder blades, but I was too spent to move. I never wanted to move again.
Harrison held me, wrapped tightly in his big arms. The beat of his heart was strong and steady against my cheek, his breath gentle as it ruffled the top of my hair. “I should’ve told you sooner.”
It’d been several silent minutes since I’d said the word that was still hanging in the air between us. Mate. That’s what we were. After being with him physically, I knew it with crystal clarity. He was still hard inside me, our bodies still connected. I was his and he was mine.
“I can’t blame you. I’m not sure I would have believed you. It’s crazy.”
“But you do believe it?” He rubbed my back. “You better believe it after what we just did. I don’t know if there was a better way to show you.”
I kissed the side of his neck and sighed. “I believe it. I wouldn’t mind you showing me again a few thousand more times, though.”
Laughing, he ran his hand up to the back of my neck and held me even more tightly. “At least a few thousand more times. In the next year alone. There are all kinds of things I have in mind for you.”
“It still feels completely off the wall. I never knew anything about mates. To say my mind is blown is an understatement.” As reality started to slowly seep between us, I wiggled off him so it wouldn’t be as awkward when I brought up my kid. “With Kinsley…things are complicated. I don’t think I can just bring you into our lives fully until she’s more prepared.”
He pulled me back into his arms and kissed me. “We’ll figure it out.”
“If you were smart, you’d run.” I held his gaze and felt my chest tighten at the warning I just gave him. I was only half kidding. “Kinsley is never going to be easy, at least not for the next five or six years. She has these moments when she looks at me and I think she wants to murder me in my sleep. There are fights. Always. And when there isn’t fighting, there’s the silent treatment. Some days, it goes from an inferno to an igloo in that house fast, I suffer frostbite.
And it’s not just her. It’s easy to point the finger at the screaming, cursing teenager, but it’s me, too. I get stressed and fight back when I shouldn’t and say things I regret. I let her get away with things sometimes because I’m too tired to stop her.”
“I’ll help.”
“I’m not supposed to let a man I barely know into our family like this. There are entire childcare books about it and it’s advice I’ve always heeded.”
“I’m not some random man you barely know. I’m your mate. I would do anything for you, and I would do anything for Kinsley. I will fight to the death to protect both of you if I have to. I’ll damn sure fight to make sure that you’re both happy.”
I bit my lip. “Can we still take it slow?”
He looked down at my nude body and arched a brow.
“Not that part. I mean the part about bringing you into our family. If we ease you in, maybe it won’t be as big a deal for Kinsley.”
“Whatever you want. I’ll let you set the pace on this and I’ll follow your lead. I’ll do anything you ask in order to make this easier for you. The fact is, I’ll do anything to be a family with you and Kinsley.”
I buried my face in his chest to hide the stupid smile that insisted on stretching my lips across my face. My life suddenly felt exciting and, dare I say, fun? Wrapped in Harrison’s arms in the back of a hot minivan, I felt like things were going to be okay. More than okay, exhilarating.
“Where is Kinsley now?”
“Home. She had homework to do. I told her I was running to Laila’s and I’d be back in a few minutes, hoping she wouldn’t be bold enough to sneak out.” I sighed. “I need to get back.”
“So, you snuck out to see me?”
I grinned up at him. “Like a teenager.”
He adjusted me on his lap until our bodies were lined up again and pulled me down on his shaft. He kissed my moan away and used his grip on my hips to rock my body against his, reaching my most sensitive spots. “Just one more time.”
I kissed him back, stroking his tongue with my own. “One more and then I have to go.”
He slipped his hand between us and found my clit with his fingers as his hips started working under me, filling me slow and hard. “I better make it count, then.”
It was getting dark when we finished, and I dropped him off back at the clinic parking lot. He pulled me out of the car and we made out against the side of his truck while traffic went by on Main Street. I was on cloud nine as I drove home, unable to wipe the smile off my face. Every moment with Harrison made that mate bond thing between us stronger. It was like a tangible connection I could feel tugging at me as I drove away.
I was already plotting our next covert meetup when I pulled into my driveway and hurried inside the house. I planned to check on Kinsley and Boots and then climb into bed and replay every second of what just happened.
Still grinning from ear to ear, I knocked on Kinsley’s bedroom door and pushed it open when she didn’t answer. “Hey, Kinsley?”
What greeted me was an empty room. Swearing, I searched the rest of the house and then checked the yard to see if she was maybe outside somewhere. She wasn’t. Boots was whining in his crate, so I let him outside while I paced trying to figure out where my daughter might’ve gone.
The weight of my reality settled heavily on my shoulders, and I couldn’t help playing the same self-deprecating thoughts in my head that re-emerged anytime I took a selfish moment to myself. I’d been out getting laid instead of home parenting my child. Frustration built in my chest and bubbled up until it lodged in my throat. It always felt bad, but this time, it felt much worse than usual after the happiness I’d just experienced being with Harrison.
As soon as Boots had done his business, I carried him back inside and let him run free through the house while I went back into Kinsley’s room. I hardly ever ventured inside her bedroom, but I was stressed and angry and wanted an answer as to where she might have gone.
Hoping something on her desk would give me a clue, I sat in her chair and started rifling through things. Notebooks full of school work, random drawings of wolves and bears, even a couple of little doodles of hearts with two sets of initials drawn in them, but nothing that was any help in determining her whereabouts. I started opening her desk drawers but stopped instantly when I saw what was inside the bottom drawer.
My heart beat so hard that it rang in my ears. There, inside her drawer, was a baggie with little white pills. I sucked in a sharp breath and picked up the small plastic bag. My world narrowed into tunnel vision and that bag was the only thing I could see. I didn’t need to be a detective to know what I was holding in my hands. My child, my fifteen-year-old daughter, had some type of illicit drugs in her possession.
Shock and fury washed over me and I stood so fast that the chair flew back into the wall and the force knocked a few precariously shelved knickknacks off the bookcase. I was angry at my child for having drugs, but I was angrier that someone had given my child drugs. I didn’t even
know what the pills were exactly. There was still the tiny voice in my head that whispered maybe they were an oddly shaped acetaminophen or ibuprofen or some other over-the-counter medication. And maybe they just happened to be in a baggie because the original container had been damaged. And maybe my daughter was suffering from headaches or a head cold or something that would warrant her having OTC meds. But I knew better. She didn’t get headaches. As a shifter, she hadn’t been sick a single day in her fifteen years of life. Whatever else the pills were, they were most certainly bad news.
Reeling, I stormed out of the house and started calling Kinsley’s name. My entire body felt numb. I stumbled over my feet and only barely regained my balance in time to keep from falling flat on my face.
I called out one last time in complete desperation. Then, I spotted her. She was leaning against a car a few houses down, staring at me with a scowl on her face. It seemed as though her temper was seething, too. Mine was worse. Much, much worse.
I glowered at the older boys she was standing with and grabbed her arm. “Get home right now.”
She yanked her arm out of my grasp and stepped back. “What is your problem?”
It was then that I realized I was still holding the bag of pills. I thrust it angrily in her face. “This. This is my problem. Get home, now.”
20
Fern
Kinsley marched home in front of me. I could tell the gears in her head were grinding and she was preparing for a monstrous blow up by the way her hands kept fisting and unfisting at her sides. If she thought she was going to win the fight we were about to have, she had another thing coming. She stomped up the stairs and tried to slam the door in my face, but caught my shoulder instead. Instead of apologizing for hitting me, she merely stomped off into her room.
Charmed Mate (Cybermates Series Book 2) Page 9