She pressed her forearms down and dug her fingers in, readying herself for the pounding to come, only to almost leap out of her skin when she felt the broad swipe of Rory’s tongue. “Ahhh! Rory, what are you doing?”
“Eating breakfast. Now be quiet!”
He took his time, capturing every drop of cream her body produced. Incoherent, Shay wondered if this qualified as the long or the deep, as the tongue he used couldn’t possibly be human and reach the depths of her core as it did.
Just when she was ready to come out of her mind, he stopped. Shay emitted a small scream of protest. He growled in response, his breath hot on her pussy. One last swipe of the tongue curling around her clit set her off. Shay bucked in his hands, her squeal muffled by the bed.
Rory rose over her, and Shay felt the bulbous head of his erection nudge her nether lips. As he tightened his grip on her hips, the pinprick of his claws nipped her skin. His muscles tensed, and the phone rang.
“Answer and die!”
He slid in an inch. Shay tried pushing back to take more, but Rory held her still. The phone rang again.
“You wanted long,” he reminded in a gravelly voice.
Another ring.
“I wanted hard and deep too. We did the long. Give me the rest.”
The answering machine clicked on, loudly in the room. “Rory, I know you said not to bother you, but we have a situation at the McCormick site. You better get down here quick. The city inspector’s here, and it’s not looking good.”
Rory’s body tensed. Then he lunged for the phone, cursing. A rapid-fire conversation followed, and minutes later he was dressed and striding out the bedroom door, casting one longing look at her still-naked form.
Shay sighed. So much for morning nooky. Next time she’d pick option A instead of being greedy and wanting it all. She roused her still-quivering flesh and trudged into the bathroom to shower. Then she cooked and ate a full breakfast, heavy on the protein. Rory still hadn’t returned by the time she cleaned the kitchen, so she took advantage of the opportunity to give Shannon a call.
Shannon’s cell phone rang a number of times before her groggy voice answered. “Shay?”
“Keeping vampire hours now?”
“Vampires aren’t the only nocturnal being. Wolves are too.” She yawned. “How are things with my brother?”
“Fine. He gets a little stubborn sometimes. Nothing a good two-by-four upside the head won’t cure.”
Shannon chuckled. “I’ll remember that the next time we get into it.” She could hear Shannon moving around, the whisper of bedcovers. “Seriously, Shay, is everything okay between you?”
“He said he loves me,” Shay heard herself admit. And this, she realized, was the real reason she’d called.
“You don’t believe him?”
“Yes, no…maybe. I think he believes it.”
“But you don’t.”
Shay sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Part of me thinks, if he really loved me, he wouldn’t have tried to get rid of me. But another part of me knows that was simply Rory being stupid and in a strange way, it is actually proof that he does.”
“Did he ever say what that was about?”
Face flaming, Shay explained how Rory had claimed her in front of his men.
“Oh man. No wonder he went off the deep end,” Shannon murmured.
“I’m the one that was embarrassed,” Shay muttered.
“No, Shay. I’m not making light of what you may have felt. It’s just that, well, my mother was a very beautiful woman. Even as she grew older, men would make plays for her. My father’s answer was to publicly claim her, every time. When I was younger, it would horrify me. As I got older, I realized she provoked him. Rory swore never to be like our father, in any way. Now do you understand?”
“Yes.” The idiot. “No offense, Shannon, but the more I hear about your father, the less I like him.”
“Try having to live with him. You know, Shay, I used to blame my father for a lot of things. It’s only since I’ve been with Nikolai that I realize how much of a role my mother played in my father’s behavior. Their relationship was really sick and sometimes twisted. It left scars on us. Be patient with Rory.”
There was a small pause as Shay let that sink in. Then, unable to hold it in anymore, she hesitantly asked, “Shannon, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“You told me about you and Nikolai, how you came together. What convinced you his love was real?”
“Boy, you don’t ask easy questions.” She was quiet for a bit. “I think the first thing to catch my attention was that Nikolai wanted me, in spite of my wolf, not because of it. And he stopped having sex with me,” she added with a laugh.
“What!”
“After my heat had passed, he stopped. Oh, we kissed and touched, but he refused to mate with me. Nikolai romanced me instead. Said he didn’t want sex clouding my mind. That he wanted me to come to him out of love, not lust.”
“Rory’s introducing me to the pack tonight,” Shay blurted.
Shannon, well used to Shay’s manner of conversational ball play, bounced right along with the change of topic without a quibble. “He called a howl? You want me to come?”
Shay thought for a moment. “While I’d welcome the support, I think you being here would send the wrong message. I need to handle this on my own. I just wish I was more confident in my relationship with Rory.”
“If you change your mind, let me know, and Shay, the rest will come. Give it time.”
Time was the one thing Shay didn’t have.
“Since you don’t want me there, tell me how I can help,” Shannon said.
“I need information. I asked Rory what to expect, but he’s a man. They don’t see things like women. Give me a handle on what to expect and who to watch out for.”
They spoke for another half hour to forty-five minutes before Shayla was content that she had the knowledge she needed to handle the coming night. Once she hung up, she realized Rory had been gone now for three hours. Rather than sit in the house and twiddle her thumbs, Shay decided to go outside and explore the grounds.
She tucked her cell phone in her shorts pocket and made sure both the front and rear doors were unlocked before venturing out. Stepping off the front porch, Shay walked into the yard before turning to study the structure. The house appeared to be a ramshackle hodgepodge of additions that had been added to the main one-room log cabin and modernized. Between the basement, the main and upper levels, the building could comfortably house twenty. The kitchen and main rooms were huge. Shay knew that upstairs were seven comfortable bedrooms and four bathrooms.
Shay glanced over the yard. The front lawn was manicured, containing trees and rocks and a bubbling brook running on one side of the property. A few feet in any direction and the land sloped up, fading into trees. She walked down the drive to the one-lane road and glanced in either direction. Though she could see no houses, she noted a few driveways branching off, indicating the presence of neighbors.
Turning, Shay took one of the paths leading around to the rear of the house. At first glance the backyard appeared to be more rugged, less cultured and slightly overgrown, but someone had installed a freestanding wooden swing in the midst of it. Shay sat and set it in motion.
In the calm quiet, Shay reflected. What direction did she need to take next? Her family wasn’t particularly religious, but Auntie Miri had been, or at least she’d become that way after her husband died. She’d dragged Kiesha and Shay with her to a little Baptist church. Shay hadn’t really minded going but had felt obligated to complain because Kiesha had.