“Well, then, if you’re a good girl maybe I’ll tuck you into bed after your bath,” he purred.
Her eyes flashed red as his fingers tweaked one bubble-covered nipple. “What if I’m a bad girl?”
He growled, his eyes flashing gold. “Then I’ll just have to punish you.” He stood abruptly, lips twitching as she gasped in surprise. “Now be a good girl and take your bath.”
“Pig,” she pouted.
He laughed all the way down the stairs, his heart lighter than it had been in days as he heard her amused sigh.
As soon as her muscles were all nice and warmly relaxed from her bath he had every intention of seeing his princess safely ensconced in his bed. He then had every intention of licking every inch of her body.
And once she was boneless he’d curl up around her and finally get his first night’s sleep in days.
He heard the phone ringing and decided to answer it in his office. “Hello?”
Silence.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
That stupid danger sense of his was tingling again. “What the hell do you want, Parker?”
“I think you know the answer to that, Giordano.”
Adrian leaned one hip against his desk, every sense alert. He could hear Sheri splashing gently in the tub.
Outside the house was silent. He could hear Parker’s breath over the phone, and the sounds of traffic in the background. “She’s my mate, Parker.”
Parker laughed. “Sure she is.”
“She bears my mark.”
“She bears my mark,” Parker snarled.
“Sorry, Muttley, but you need to back the fuck off. She’s all mine.”
He could almost feel the other man smile. “Sheridan has the sweetest pussy I’ve ever fucked.” Adrian’s Puma growled possessively and his eyes flashed gold. “And she loves taking it up the ass. I bet I’m still the only man who’s ever taken her there. She screams so loudly and clamps down so hard around your cock you feel like she’s going to squeeze it off.”
Adrian snarled silently, his mind racing. There might just be a way to get Parker focused on him and not Sheri. He smiled coldly. “I know,” he purred. He could hear the other man’s breathing accelerate. “I love it when those sweet lips of hers wrap around my cock. Did you know I was inside her when she marked me?” Adrian laughed softly at Parker’s growl. “That’s right, Parker. I bear her mark.”
“I’ll fucking kill you,” Parker panted.
“She’s upstairs, naked, wet, and waiting for me, Parker. As soon as I hang up this phone I’m going to go upstairs and fuck her until neither one of us can see straight.”
“You’re a dead man!” Parker screamed.
“Then I’m going to curl up around her and sleep with her in my arms. My arms, Parker.” Parker’s growl wasn’t even human anymore. He hoped the man had control of his change, or things could get really ugly really fast. “And do you know what I’m going to do tomorrow night?”
“What?”
The gravelly voice on the other end of the line let Adrian know it was time to end this. “The same damn thing I’m going to do tonight. Fuck my woman.”
“I know where you live.”
If Parker thought that would scare him, he had another thing coming. “Bring it on. In the end it’ll be my cock in her tight little pussy.”
He hung up the phone and took a deep breath. It had taken every ounce of his self-control to play that little game with Parker; talking about his princess like that with her fuckhead ex was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He didn’t even want the other man thinking her name, let alone spewing his filth about her body.
“You sure that was wise?”
He turned, not surprised to see Gabe standing in the doorway. The other man had volunteered to spend the next few nights with them. He was supposed to be out front in an unmarked car, though, not inside the house where Sheri could see him.
“I want him focused on me. Not Sheri or the Pride.”
Gabe nodded. “Yup. Telling him how you like to fuck the woman he’s obsessed with definitely grabbed his attention.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Hell, it grabbed my attention,” he muttered, smiling slyly.
Adrian rolled his eyes. “You have a better idea?”
Gabe shrugged. “Even if I did it’s too late now. Odds are good he’ll be here before morning.”
“When is Richard due?”
“He’s already here. He’s staying with Mr. Friedelinde.”
The Friedelinde mansion was probably the most comfortable place for the visiting Pack Alpha and his entourage. “Give them a call and let them know what happened. I’ll call Max.”
Gabe nodded and pulled out his cell phone on his way back towards the front door.
Adrian shook his head, still somewhat uncertain how he’d wound up the Marshal and Gabe his Second.
The other man radiated authority from every pore. His loose limbed stride and relaxed posture fooled no one. Those dark blue eyes could be cold as an arctic breeze in an instant. That large frame, almost as big as Simon’s, moved with a grace and agility only professional athletes could mimic.
But when the other man looked back at him, a question in his eyes, something in Adrian immediately responded. “What’s the problem?”
“Richard wants in.”
Adrian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d planned on meeting with Ben, the Pack Marshal, in the morning over coffee to discuss strategy. Apparently that plan was now in the crapper. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. I told him I’d call him back.”
“How many does he have with him?”
“Four. His Marshal, the Second and two others.”
Adrian stared at a painting on his wall without really seeing it. Plans were busy whirling through his mind.
“Van?”
Gabe nodded and grinned. “I’ll park them at the corner.”
“Get Simon to bring them. I want you here.”
“Will do.”
He shook his head and picked up the phone. He dialed Max, quickly filling him in on what was going down. Max agreed to have Simon play liaison with Richard, since there was no Omega to do the job.
Then he climbed the stairs to his wet, willing princess.
Sheri was already out of the tub when she heard him coming up the stairs. She’d heard his entire conversation with Rudy, and was ready to kill Adrian herself. She wrapped the robe closer around herself and waited, tapping one foot impatiently.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew why he’d said what he’d said. She hadn’t needed to hear him explain it to Gabe. But the fact that he was making himself a target for her sake had driven her out of the tub. She wanted to scream at him, rant and rave until he gave up his idiotic plan. But it was too late for that. Rudy would have him in his sights now, and if Adrian died because of her she’d never survive it. Just the thought of Rudy sinking his teeth into Adrian, pulling away flesh, making him bleed, had her seeing red.
She’d kill Rudy herself before letting him hurt her mate.
The man himself stepped into the bathroom, took one look at her out of the tub and frowned. “Why aren’t you soaking?”
“I got out because I didn’t think there’d be enough room for both me and your fat head.”
“Huh?”
The man looked totally clueless. “I heard your conversation with Rudy, Adrian.”
He sighed wearily. “Princess—”
“Don’t you princess me, Adrian Giordano! How could you put yourself in danger like that?”
He rolled his eyes and took her hand, gently leading her from the room. “I can handle Parker.”
“Sure you can. But can you handle him and five of his best friends?”
He led her into the bedroom and stripped the robe off her before she could blink. “Into bed with you.”