Pack Bound, page 16
She caught her reflection in the mirror by the front door. She’d put jeans on as she’d decided to do this morning, but hadn’t been able to resist wearing the pretty scoop-necked cashmere top she’d bought at the snow. It was in a shade of green that brought out the flaming colour of her hair and the jewel sparkle of her green eyes.
However, she looked pale against all that colour. Almost like she was sick. Or afraid.
She didn’t want to look afraid. A little bit of make-up might fix that.
Marching off to the bathroom, she put on some mascara, a little blush and a light green eye-shadow that enhanced the gold flecks in the green of her eyes. She brushed some pink gloss on her lips and smacked them together, eyeing herself critically in the mirror. ‘That’s better.’ Although it still wasn’t right. With her hair pulled back like that she looked too young. Vulnerable.
Pulling her hair out of the ponytail, she grabbed some of Bron’s mousse and bent over to scrunch it through.
The door opened behind her and, thinking it was either Shelley or Bron, she stood up, flipping her hair back, and turned to face the door. ‘How do I loo—’ The words died on her lips.
Jason stood in the doorway, his eyes piercing her with a look that was so hot she was surprised she didn’t go up in flames.
‘You look good enough to eat,’ he murmured after a long pause.
Skye laughed nervously. ‘You sound like the Big Bad Wolf.’
His gaze swept down her length and then back up again before meeting hers. ‘Are you going to be my Little Red Riding Hood and get the better of me?’
Skye swallowed hard. ‘I’m going to try.’
He grinned, that lopsided grin that tugged at her heart. ‘I’m going to enjoy that.’
They stared at each other, desire pulsing in the air between them. Skye gritted her teeth, trying her best to ignore it, but it was impossible.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked when she managed to get her mouth working again.
His wolfish grin widened, eyes sparkling. ‘You asked me on a date.’
Her mouth dropped open. ‘I did no such thing. You asked me two weeks ago. I just finally said yes.’
‘I love it when you get all pissy. Your eyes flash like green fire.’
The compliment streaked right to her core; her muscles clenched, her nipples puckered.
His nostrils flared and he shook his head, seeming to almost vibrate on the spot before taking a step into the room. He turned and closed the door.
‘What are you doing?’ Panic and desire shot through her as he turned back to face her. Her eyes darted to the closed door at his back. ‘Where are Bron and Shelley? Why did you come in here rather than wait out there for me?’
He stepped towards her, like some kind of wildcat marking its prey. No. He wasn’t feline enough for that. There was too much power, too much hungry intensity. He was more like a wolf on the hunt.
She shivered.
His nostrils flared again as he answered her question. ‘They went to the movies. Bron said you were in the bathroom. She told me to come on through.’
‘Did she just.’ Skye swore under her breath.
‘Yes. And I have to say, I’m not sorry they’re gone.’
He took another step towards her. She didn’t move. She refused to back up.
Then he was there, in front of her, his warmth wrapping around her. He lifted his hand, brushed her hair away from her face.
‘I wasn’t going to do this until after the date, but you’re making it harder than I thought possible to put it off any longer.’
‘Do what?’
It was a stupid question. She could see it in his eyes. She knew she should stop him when he cupped her face, but his long, strong fingers, incredibly gentle, were a brand against her skin, and any words of protest that might have been in her head died in the flame of his touch.
‘Skye.’ The sound of her name brushed across her face with his breath and then his lips were on hers.
The contact made her jerk with the flash of desire that pulsed through her. She gasped. He took advantage of her open mouth, stroking her tongue with his, the kiss hot and wet and wild. She leaned in to him just as she had at the snow, but knew she couldn’t give herself over to what he made her feel. She didn’t want to lead him on. She had to tell him now, before this got out of hand.
‘Jason,’ she said as his lips left hers to kiss a line of fire across her jaw. Hell, it was so hard to say anything when his lips marked her with the possession that seemed inherent in his desire, but she made herself form the words. ‘Jason, you have to stop.’
‘Do you really want me to?’
She groaned as he suckled at her pulse point, his hands dipping to her waist, pulling her against the firm length of him. ‘No … but we have to talk.’
He reared up, hands cupping her face once again and looked down into her eyes, the blue of his intense and bright; they pierced her soul like lightning in the night sky.
‘I want you more than I want to breathe. Please, don’t ask me to stop. It will hurt more than you know.’
‘Jason,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to hurt you, but—’
‘Then don’t say a word. What you’ve got to say will surely keep until later.’
‘But it will change your mind about me.’
‘Believe me when I tell you, nothing can do that. The question is, will it change what you feel about me right now?’
‘No.’
‘Then live in this moment. That’s all I ask.’
She stared at him. He didn’t move, didn’t even seem to breathe as he waited for her response.
She couldn’t breathe either. Couldn’t think. All she could do was give in.
Without another word, she twined her arms around his neck, threaded her fingers into the silky warmth of his hair and sucked his full lower lip into her mouth.
He groaned, hands racing down her back, coming up to brush the sides of her breasts. As he deepened the kiss, he pulled her closer to him, the rigid heat of him pressing against her stomach. His other hand came around to cup her breast, an intimate possession she leaned into.
His thumb swept across her nipple in response.
She whimpered.
He did it again.
She jerked and pressed closer to him.
‘Where’s your bedroom?’
‘What?’ She looked up at him, eyes dazed.
By the Moon! He couldn’t wait, even for a second longer, not with her looking at him like that. ‘Never mind,’ Jason growled, his wolf in his throat as he kissed along her chin and down her neck. ‘The bench will do.’
‘Do for wha—’ She gasped as he sucked on her pulse point again.
He lifted the soft, clingy top over her head in one sweep. She barely seemed to notice as her lips sought his again. He had her bra off a few seconds later, her beautiful breasts cupped in his hands. Her nipples pebbled in his palms, tight and hot as he brushed across them once, twice.
Taking her mouth with his, he kissed her in a deep, drugging tangle of tongue and lips.
Mine.
He wasn’t sure if the thought was his, his wolf’s or Skye’s, heard through the mating bond, but he smiled at the knowledge that it was true.
She didn’t smile as she undid the buttons of his shirt, just looked at him with that hot, intense gaze and then brushed the shirt from his shoulders, her touch creating a blaze of flame on his skin. He let go of her long enough to allow her to slip it from his arms and then pulled her close again, breasts crushed against his chest.
Fuck! That felt so good. So right.
She whimpered and pushed closer.
He slid one hand into her hair and the other between them to find her breast. He cupped it, brushed his knuckles across the pink flush of her nipple. She closed her eyes, a breath shuddering out of her mouth, her teeth catching on her plump bottom lip, cutting in when he pinched her nipple, making her jerk again.
He brushed his thumb across the abused lip before bending to lick the little drop of blood away. Tracing her beautiful lips with his tongue, he swept across the seam as his fingers stroked and caressed her.
She sighed again, opening to him. He kissed her, long and deep, her breath a hot enticement as he moved from her mouth, kissing, licking and nipping her jaw and down her throat to the hard pebbles he caressed with his hands.
He took one of her nipples into his mouth, sucking it deep, soothing it with his tongue.
She cried out, vibrating against him, pushing her pelvis against his engorged cock.
Damn jeans! They were strangling him. But he couldn’t undo them without letting her go. And he didn’t want to take his hands from her. Or his mouth. But he could take care of her jeans and keep touching her.
Kneeling, he peeled her jeans down her legs, his lips caressing the skin he bared inch by slow inch.
She trembled and gasped, her knees shaking.
He lifted her onto the bench, removed her boots and socks and pulled her jeans off the rest of the way, his lips following in the denim’s wake, the scent of her desire teasing him. Looking up at her, sitting on the bench, wearing nothing but a little scrap of lime green silk with black lace edgings that matched the bra he’d tossed aside, he grinned then sucked her toe into his mouth.
She moaned.
He twirled his tongue around her big toe and looked up the length of her leg. She leaned back on her palms, eyes closed, plump lips open slightly, begging to be kissed. Her nipples thrust out from pert breasts. She was an enticement he could barely deny. But first, he had to finish with her feet. He sucked another toe into his mouth, his tongue swirling around the soft, fragrant skin.
She smelled so good.
He ran his hands up her silky-smooth legs, enjoying the trembles in her muscles, and turned his attention to her other foot. She moaned again.
His cock was so hard now he was afraid it was going to be cut in two if he didn’t do something about his jeans. Still sucking on her toes, he managed to shed the rest of his clothes.
Unable to resist the enticement of her, he ran his hands up her legs, his lips following their path, licking, nipping, sucking.
She tossed her head back and forth, muttering gasped pleas for mercy. He smiled. He wasn’t ready to give her mercy yet.
Pushing her legs a little wider, he slicked his thumb over her cleft. She trembled and cried out, grasping his head, stopping him from putting his mouth to her most delicate flesh. But that suited him. Holding her gaze, he slid his thumb into her cleft again. ‘So wet,’ he murmured, sliding his thumb into her, before circling it around her clitoris.
‘Oh, God,’ she sobbed.
He repeated the motion before lifting his thumb and sucking it into his mouth. ‘So sweet. I want to taste more.’
She shook her head, eyes bright with need. ‘If you don’t come inside me right now, I might die.’
All his good intentions were blown to cinders by her words. He reared up, tore her panties from her and buried himself deep inside with one swift stroke.
She came immediately, the orgasm clenching around him, urging him to his own release. But he held back. Bending his head, he took her mouth with his as he drew slowly out; her muscles clenched, trying to draw him back in.
He obliged by pulling her close to the edge of the bench and impaling her on his length all the way to her core. She cried out, but he caught her cry with his mouth, sucking her tongue into his as he repeated the action again and again.
She clung to him, her breasts crushed against his chest as he buried one hand deep into her hair to hold her head in place as he plundered her mouth while his cock thrust inside her.
He could feel her building towards another orgasm, smell the sweet musk of her desire sinking into his skin again where it belonged.
Oh, by the Moon. He’d missed this. He never wanted to stop.
And that determination had him continuing even as she orgasmed again.
When her spasms stopped, he picked her up, still buried deep inside her and whispered into her mouth, ‘Where’s your bed? I want to finish this in your bed.’
‘Opposite door,’ she said, her voice a bare husk of sound as his lips skimmed over her throat.
He turned with her in his arms, her legs clinging to his waist, each step acting as a thrust that made her whimper. They made it across the bathroom and the hall. He kicked the bedroom door closed behind him and then they fell on her bed, the fall pushing him deeper inside her.
She arched up into him, her legs wrapped around his waist. He bent to take her nipple in his mouth. She cried out, hands chasing over him, pulling him closer. He drove into her, faster and faster, his tongue working first on one breast, then the other before returning to her mouth.
He loved her mouth. He wanted to see it wrapped around his cock—the thought was enough to make him finally lose his control.
He gripped her hands, holding them against the sheets next to her head as he moved with her, their mouths clashing as she built to another orgasm. Unable to hold back, he spilled himself into her. His wolf howled its pleasure in his mind and he felt the second link of the mating click into place.
Ecstasy thrilled through him as this important thread of the bond resonated through every fibre of his being. He longed to shout his joy to the world for the strengthening of something he never expected to happen to him. The intensity of it swept through him but the last thing he wanted was to frighten her away at this moment. Instead, he gathered her to him, face buried in her neck, breathing in the scent of her. Hands splayed on her back and hip, he rolled her over so his weight didn’t crush her and just held her close.
They lay like that for a long time, her head on his shoulder, hair spread across her back and his chest, her limbs lax against him.
A lazy smile spread on his lips as he began to stroke her hair away from her face, kissing her temple when he’d bared it.
‘So much for starting over and having our date first. This kind of went the way of the first time we met,’ he whispered finally.
She laughed, but then the laugh choked on a sob and she began to cry.
‘Hey, hey.’ He tried to take her face in his hands, but she buried it in his shoulder and all he could do was hold her, stroke the wild, silken mass of her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder, her tears hot on his skin. ‘What’s the matter? I’ve never made a woman burst into tears after sex before. Did I do something wrong?’
She reeled back, her eyes sparkling with her tears, and punched him in the chest. ‘No, goddamn you. I wish you had. Then this wouldn’t have happened.’
‘I’m rather glad it did. Aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she said, her lip trembling again.
‘You don’t seem happy about it.’
‘I’m not. This isn’t at all what I planned.’
‘You had a plan?’
‘Yes. And now it’s going to be so much harder to make you see.’
‘Make me see what?’
‘Why we can’t be together.’
‘It’s too late for that. We are together.’
‘Don’t say that.’ A tear traced down her cheek.
He brushed it away. ‘Please don’t cry.’
She closed her eyes. ‘How can I feel so close to you when I barely know you? And it gets worse every time I see you.’
‘I feel the same way,’ he said cautiously. ‘It’s like we’re connected.’
‘I don’t want to be connected.’
He almost gasped at her words. They were a slash at his heart. ‘You don’t want to?’
‘I can’t. I wasn’t going to give in to it, to you, but then you turned up and I just can’t seem to say no. And yet I should have. I’ve been so selfish. I shouldn’t have let this happen. When I tell you about me—’ She stopped, her lips trembling.
His heart clenched, the tenuous new threads of the bond vibrating dangerously, close to snapping. Carefully, he cupped her face, brushing her tears away. ‘Shh. Give me a chance to recover from what we just did and then we can talk about it.’ He kissed the tears from her cheeks, kissed the tremble from her lips. ‘I’m sure it can’t be as bad as you think.’ He pulled her back down to his chest.
There was resistance in every line of her body but he couldn’t have this conversation with her now. If she denied him at this moment, the fine thread that was the second step of the mating bond would snap—and he couldn’t bear to lose that now when he’d just felt its joy.
So he kept stroking her hair and her back and eventually she relaxed beside him and fell asleep, her soft breath puffing over his chest.
The thread of the mating bond stopped vibrating so violently, and finally, feeling a little more secure, he reluctantly pulled out of her and settled her next to him.
She didn’t stir.
He looked down at her, fear clutching at his chest for just a moment, but her eyes were closed and she was breathing normally, unlike the time she’d flamed out. She hadn’t used any magic while they’d made love this time; her eyes had remained their usual gold flecked green throughout.
Cordy had been right. As had his wolf. He grinned as he pressed his lips against the top of her head. The strength in the fledgling mating bond meant his wolf knew he wouldn’t hurt her this time.
He yawned and closed his eyes again. He just hoped he could make her see.
Jason was woken by a knock on the door.
‘Have you two finished making wild monkey love, yet? Shelley and I are making pancakes. We figure you need sustenance. Don’t be long.’
Jason blinked and rubbed his eyes. Skye stirred beside him.
‘Pancakes?’ She yawned, stretched. ‘What time is it?’
Light outlined the curtains. She’d slept the night in his arms. The mating bond was still tenuous, but far stronger because of that act of trust. He couldn’t help smiling as he said, ‘Morning, by the look of it.’
She sat up abruptly, pulling the sheet against her breasts to cover them. ‘Morning! We slept through the night?’ She dropped her face in her hands. ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ She peered at him between her fingers. ‘You shouldn’t be here. I was supposed to tell you last night this wouldn’t happen again. It can’t happen again.’
