Alpha Temptation: Sanmere Shifters Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

“I was looking for Shauna,” Callin said.

  “Oh,” Brianne said. “Umm…”

  “Don’t worry, you’re not going to get her in trouble by telling me she’s left for the night. You’ll just save me the time wandering through the whole place looking for her. I told her to leave hours ago, but often she ignores me and hangs around until I leave. I just wondered if that was the case tonight,” Callin said, interrupting Brianne when he saw she was debating on what to tell him.

  “She left about half an hour ago,” Brianne said. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “It looks like Valerie has already left you with more than enough to do if you’re still here at this time,” Callin said.

  “Oh, for once I can’t blame Valerie. I would have been finished hours ago if it wasn’t for me fighting with the internet for so long. It took me over two hours to find and reset the damned router and then it wasn’t even that causing the problem.”

  Callin smiled.

  “Yeah. I can imagine. The IT team does a great job, but my God, the mess they make in their server room,” Callin said. “Just miles and miles of cables tangled around each other, and the things we need actual access to buried beneath them all.”

  “That sounds about right,” Brianne agreed with a grin.

  “It’s fine if something goes wrong when they’re on-site. Somehow, they seem to know where everything is. But if they’re not there, then that’s when the problems start,” Callin said.

  Brianne smiled again and nodded her head. They fell silent for moment, just looking at each other, and Callin felt his dragon stirring within him. He tried to ignore it, but it was hard when he was so close to Brianne.

  “So?” Brianne prompted him after a moment, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

  “So… what?” he repeated, with no idea of what she meant.

  “So, is there anything I can help you with? Now that you don’t have to feel bad about my workload,” she smiled.

  “Actually, yeah, if you’re up for something that’s not technically in your job description,” Callin said.

  “Go on,” Brianne said, one eyebrow raised and her interest clearly piqued.

  “Well, I wanted Shauna to read a few lines with me. I’m worried this scene is a little stiff. Are you up for it? I understand if you’re not and it can wait until…”

  “I’m up for it,” Brianne said, interrupting him. “It sounds kind of fun. And how many girls can say they got to read lines with Callin McKenzie?”

  Callin smiled.

  “Surprisingly few, actually,” he said. “Let’s go down to the set. Nothing ever feels quite right in the wrong setting.”

  Brianne grabbed her things and shut off the office light and then she followed Callin down to the set. He took her to the scene set up to mimic a parking lot and nodded to the side where the cameras would be.

  “You can leave your stuff over there,” he said.

  Brianne went over to the area and put her handbag and her coat down and then she came back onto the scene. Callin watched her, and he realized this was his moment. When this was done, maybe he could ask Brianne if she wanted to grab a quick bite to eat. Yeah, way to go, Callin, take her out when the only places open are all-night diners. A greasy burger and a milkshake. That’ll show her you know how to treat a girl.

  “Where do you want me?” Brianne asked as she came to stand beside him.

  That was a loaded question, one Callin refrained from answering honestly. The honest answer was in his arms. In his bed. In his life.

  “Over there,” he said instead, pointing to the trunk of a red car. “That’s your character’s car. You’re just about to get into it when you spot me and turn toward me. Then we have this bit of dialogue here.”

  He handed Brianne his script and pointed to the section he was referring to. She walked toward the car, reading the script as she went. He thought he saw her stiffen a little and he knew which part she had to have reached. The almost kiss. He hoped this wasn’t a mistake, but he could hardly call it off now without her thinking she had done something wrong.

  “Whenever you’re ready, start from the line ‘Oh great, it’s you’,” Callin said.

  Brianne read the line and Callin answered with his own line, slowly closing the gap between him and Brianne. They went through the lines and Callin knew he had been right. With the very real chemistry that bubbled between him and Brianne, the lines sounded good, but he knew without that authentic tension in the air, the scene would feel flat and audiences wouldn’t be convinced by it at all.

  He could see Brianne was enjoying the moment, though, and so he kept going, not calling time on the scene. He had to admit he was enjoying it himself, although he thought for him, it was for a very different reason. For him, it was the moment of closeness with Brianne. For her, he thought it was more likely to be the novelty of reading the lines with him.

  He followed the directions from the script and Brianne did the same, getting quite into the character. He had closed the gap between them completely now and he stood so close to Brianne that he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face when she spoke her final line. He looked deep into her eyes like the script directed him to do, and he counted three beats. That was the point the director would call cut.

  Instead of doing that himself, Callin reached down and took the script from Brianne’s hand. He dropped it to the ground, still looking deep into her eyes. Her chest was heaving, her eyes seeking his for the answers as to what he was doing. She made no move to step away from him, though, and finally, Callin let his dragon’s desire take over from his head.

  He reached out and touched Brianne’s cheek, and then he closed the last inch that separated his lips from hers. He kissed her deeply and she responded to the kiss, kissing back every bit as hungrily as he kissed her. He pushed one of his hands into her hair and placed his other hand on the small of her back, pulling her more tightly against him. She wrapped her arms around him, her hands roaming over his back and sides. She pulled his shirt free from his jeans and pushed her hands beneath it, touching his bare skin. Her hands were warm and soft and her touch sent waves of desire spreading through his body. He wanted her with everything he had, and he knew he had to do whatever it took to make her his.

  She pulled back slightly from him, breaking their kiss, and for a horrible moment, Callin thought Brianne was going to be upset with him for kissing her, accuse him of taking advantage of him, say she just got caught up in the moment. Instead, she smiled and he relaxed slightly.

  “I don’t think that was in the script,” she said in a breathy voice that made his already hard cock stiffen further against her.

  “Let’s just say we’re going a little off book,” Callin said. “I…”

  He didn’t get to finish the thought as Brianne’s mouth closed over his again. Her kiss made his whole body tingle with need. She tasted sweet, like the soda she had likely been drinking before she crawled beneath her desk. Her tongue sought out his, wrestling with it and caressing it.

  Her hands continued to roam over his body for a moment, and then they were gone, and she was pushing them between their bodies, fumbling his buttons open. He took that as her wanting more, and it was as if they had both been unleashed as their hands grasped at each other’s clothes, tugging them off and casting them aside until they stood naked together, looking at each other, their chests heaving.

  Callin picked Brianne up, sitting her on the trunk of the car behind her. She was as light as a feather, her tiny frame barely weighing a thing. Callin felt like he should be gentle with her. He was almost afraid he would break her, but Brianne seemed to have no such worries. She took his hand when he set her down, pushing it between her spread legs. He felt her warmth, felt how wet she was, and any idea that she was somehow fragile went out of his head as his fingers began to work her clit.

  She gasped as he moved his fingers on her and her mouth came up and found his again. She kissed him like she ne
ver wanted to let him go again, and he realized that she had felt this pent-up desire every bit as much as he had, that she, too, had likely been trying to work out a way for them to spend some time alone together. Shauna leaving on time for once had actually worked out better than Callin could have ever imagined it would. Maybe I should give her a bonus, he thought to himself.

  Callin moved his mouth away from Brianne’s, kissing down her neck and over the top of her shoulder. He moved his face lower, sucking one of her pert little breasts into his mouth. He sucked on her nipple and she moaned. The sound made Callin’s body shiver and he knew he had to work on Brianne fast before he lost control and had to be inside of her.

  He kissed down her stomach and took his hand away from between her legs. She moaned in frustration as his fingers left her, but the moan became a moan of pleasure as he fell to his knees before her and replaced his fingers with his tongue. He licked her clit, tasting her salty arousal. She pushed her hands into his hair, holding his face in place against her, and he worked her clit, wanting her to know how much he wanted her.

  Her moans became longer, louder, and Callin felt her thighs tense up, gripping his head as pleasure assaulted Brianne. She moaned his name as she began to reach her climax.

  Her thighs tightened as she came hard, her moan becoming a scream and her hands making fists in his hair, tugging at it as she screamed his name. He waited for a moment, wanting her to experience her full climax. As she began to pant in desperate little gasps, Callin gently pushed her thighs away from his shoulders and got back to his feet.

  Brianne looked into his eyes, her chest heaving, her skin covered in a sheen of sweat. He kissed her deeply, claiming her mouth like he had claimed her pussy. He reached down between them and grasped the base of his cock. He lined it up with Brianne’s dripping wet opening. She opened her legs wider, opening herself up to him, inviting him in.

  He pushed his cock inside of her center, moaning into her mouth as he felt her warm tightness gripping him. He took his hand away, thrusting the rest of the way into her in one smooth movement.

  She pulled her mouth from his, pressing her face against his neck. As she moaned, her breath tickled him, sending goosebumps chasing each other over his skin and making his whole body tingle deliciously. He pumped into Brianne, wanting to fill her all the way up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and leaned back, taking her weight on the palms of her hands behind herself. She thrust her hips in time with his, bringing them together, stretching herself to accommodate his full length.

  He leaned forward and ran his tongue down her neck. She threw her head back and he kissed where her neck joined her body, and then he straightened back up, increasing the speed of his thrusts. Brianne’s core tightened around him as she threw her head right back and moaned. He could see the tendons pulling tight in her neck as her orgasm took her away to a whole new level.

  His dragon roared within him, being overtaken by the lust he felt for this girl. He kept thrusting, enjoying the added tightness. His cock was on fire, and the pleasure he felt was almost too much to take. He tried to hold himself back, but Brianne clenched around him again and he couldn’t stop himself. He came hard.

  His breath left his lungs and they were momentarily useless, not allowing him to snatch another breath as ecstasy rushed around his body, making all of his senses come to life and feel his climax completely. He felt his cock going wild as he claimed Brianne as his own.

  She lifted her head back up as his orgasm began to recede and he found he could breathe again. His cock slipped out of Brianne as he pulled her into his arms. They stayed that way while they got their breaths back, clutching each other, panting, coming down from their respective orgasms. Callin was aware of Brianne’s nipples, hard against his chest, of the heat coming off her center in waves. Her hands moved up and down his back, but now they were gentle and soothing rather than frantic.

  When he trusted himself to move without his legs giving up on him, he pulled his head back a little and kissed the top of Brianne’s head.

  “I’ve wanted us to do that since the first moment I saw you,” he admitted.

  “Me too,” Brianne said. “Although I promised myself I wouldn’t let it happen.”

  “You did?” Callin said, pulling back far enough to look at her face. “Why?”

  “Valerie,” Brianne said with a shudder. “I don’t think she’ll be too happy if she finds out about this, and I really don’t want to get fired.”

  Callin kissed her forehead and smiled down at her.

  “Well, I’m not planning on telling her about this. Are you?” he said.

  She smiled back at him and shook her head.

  “Not a chance,” she said.

  She wriggled free of Callin’s arms and began to retrieve her clothes. Somewhat reluctantly, Callin began to get dressed too.

  “Did you get what you needed for the scene?” she asked him.

  “The scene?” he asked.

  Brianne laughed, the soft laugh he liked.

  “Yeah. You know. The scene you thought was too stiff,” she said.

  “Oh that,” Callin said, shocked that for a moment there, he genuinely had had no idea what she was talking about. “Yeah. It worked for us, but I think it’s going to need a bit of tweaking to work in the actual movie.”

  “Well,” Brianne said. “If you don’t need me for anything else, I’m going to get going. I’ve got a pretty early start tomorrow.”

  Callin debated asking her if she wanted to come back to his place, but he quickly dismissed the idea. He didn’t want to come on too strong and scare her away.

  “Sure,” Callin smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into his arms for a long kiss goodbye. A kiss Brianne returned with as much fervor as he felt. He hadn’t scared her off. He had awoken her desire.

  7

  Brianne felt a little bit nervous as she headed for work the following morning. She also felt hugely excited, like something wonderful was going to happen today. She reminded herself that the something wonderful had already happened and she felt herself smiling widely as she parked her car.

  She couldn’t believe what had happened last night with her and Callin. Of course, when she first met Callin, she had told herself nothing could happen because of who he was. Now she saw she had judged him unfairly and couldn’t have been more wrong about him. But there was still a voice inside of her that said they shouldn’t be together. That was because of Valerie, though, rather than because of any misconception about him.

  The way Brianne saw it was this: if she got with Callin now, Valerie would find out and fire her. Although she had been ready to quit her job herself, getting fired would mean she would likely never find any more assistant work. Word spread quickly in this industry and no one wanted someone working for them who had been fired from their last assistant’s position. The only solution Brianne could see was to wait until the movie was wrapped up. Valerie still wouldn’t be happy about it, but there was a good chance she wouldn’t even find out when they weren’t all working together for upwards of fourteen hours a day.

  The working fourteen hours a day thing was the main reason why Brianne didn’t just quit and hope Valerie let her go. There was no way she and Callin would be able to see anything of each other while his schedule was so intense, so to Brianne, it just made sense to wait.

  She told herself she was getting way ahead of herself. They’d had sex once. She didn’t even know if Callin wanted to do it again, let alone wait almost a year for her. And even assuming he did, did she want that? In theory, she did want that. Callin made her feel alive, and there was no doubting that she craved him mentally and physically. She was really starting to think he was the one. But was she willing to think about becoming a dragon herself and becoming immortal? It was a huge thing to consider, and right now, she shouldn’t even be thinking about it. She wasn’t even supposed to know that Callin was a dragon.

 
; Hypothetically, if things were to somehow work out with her and Callin, she would either have to wait for the right moment to tell him she knew what he was, or wait for him to find the right moment to confess the truth to her. That would mean they were pretty serious by that point, and it might be too late for her to think about it rationally.

  She gave her head a little shake, trying to clear her mind. It was a one-night stand, she told herself. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop overthinking everything and making a big deal out of it. You’re acting like a high school student.

  She got out of the car. It was still early and all of the cars she spotted belonged to crew members and other assistants. Filming wasn’t due to start for another hour and it would be a while before any of the cast started to show up.

  Brianne resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she headed for Valerie’s trailer. Valerie had her come in an hour before filming started for the sole purpose of switching on the heater in her trailer. Brianne had tried to tell her she could set a timer for the heat to come on, but Valerie’s response had been to say that was fine, but then she still needed to be here to make sure the timer didn’t fail.

  God, she’s unbearable, Brianne thought as she let herself into the trailer and moved over to the thermostat. She flicked the heat on. Even if things don’t work out for me and Callin, when this movie is done, I need to be done with Valerie too. I mean, what is she even protecting our family from? It’s not like people were regularly getting attacked by dragons.

  Brianne started to fill the sink to wash up the glasses, cups, and plates Valerie had used yesterday. In theory, she could take them to the kitchen and have the staff there wash them, but it took longer to go there, wait for them to be done, and come back than it did to just do them herself.

  She had barely gotten started on the small pile of dishes when she heard a soft knock on the door. She frowned. So Valerie wasn’t even capable of opening a door herself now? She told herself she was being unreasonable. It was likely to be one of the runners with some script changes or a message or something. She wiped her hands on the tea towel and pulled the door open.