“Al right, kiddo. Let’s get this show on the road.”
6
Four days later they were on the craggy coast of northern California. Chloe flicked her fingers and turned on a lamp before she even entered the living room. Wandering across the room, she lifted the edge of the curtains to peek out the window of their oceanfront condo. She’d have liked to go out onto the balcony and let the sea breeze ruffle her hair, but if Merek found out, he’d freak over the exposed position. He didn’t mess around about security, so she propped her shoulder against the wal and contented herself with staring out the closed, locked, and spel -warded window. The moon hovered in the sky, heavy, bright, and almost ful .
She wanted to tel herself that this was just a vacation she was on, an extended road trip, but worry gnawed at her. It wasn’t just the extra security measures. Alex had become more and more distant as the ful moon approached, the silent intensity that burned in his eyes growing more feral with each day that passed.
He’d have to Change soon, compel ed by the lunar cycles. Worse, she saw a creeping fear haunt his pale gaze, echoes of horror from watching his mother die of Change. It was always like this before ful moon, but she’d never spent so much time in close proximity with the boy. They’d never lived together as they were now.
It was awful.
Her determination to find a potion to control the lycanthropic disease redoubled. If Alex was this terrified every month, then she didn’t want to know what others went through. She just knew she needed to stop it.
Frustration heaped on top of her worry. If she were home, if none of this had happened, then she might have already finished her experiments. They might already have a prototype for the potion to inhibit ful moon Change.
“Damn it.” She rubbed a tired hand over her eyes.
Big hands closed over her shoulders, rubbing the tension from her muscles. She sighed as her body went limp. Merek’s voice was a low rumble in her ear. “You should have been in bed hours ago.”
“I did go to bed hours ago,” she groused. She’d gone to bed exactly when Merek and Alex had. And then stared at the ceiling with gritty eyes. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Clearly.” He pul ed her back against his warm chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Keeping yourself up at night isn’t going to help anyone, sweetheart. You need to rest.”
“I know.” She sighed, quenched the desire to tel him she hated nights too much to sleep sometimes, and rol ed her head on his shoulder to look up at him. He bent forward to brush a light kiss across her temple.
A shiver went through her, the lust that was never far from the surface bubbling up. They’d done their best to be discreet for Alex’s sake, but the calm, worldly eyes of her godson missed very little. She didn’t try to lie to herself—Alex was no innocent child, whether he was of legal age or not. Outside of that, she wanted no details, and thankful y he’d never felt the need to share. She’d caught the looks he gave her and Merek, but he hadn’t felt the need to broach that topic with her either, for which she was even more grateful.
The bottom line was, if she might die, she was going to squeeze every last ounce of living out of the time she had left. That meant she’d turn herself over to the passion that erupted between Merek and her. It was madness, it was stupid, and she didn’t care. She didn’t want to deny herself or him. She wasn’t even sure she could. Something about this man had reached down deep inside her from the very first, and pretending she didn’t want him was even more stupid than indulging herself.
Though they went to bed separately every night, not one had passed that they hadn’t ended up together.
Irresistible temptation. “Kiss me.”
“I’l do a hel of a lot more than kiss you, sweetheart.” Merek stroked his fingers down her torso until he could dip below the edge of her T-shirt.
He let his lips play over hers, a sweet savoring. Fire licked at her bel y, spreading liquid heat throughout her body. Her concerns from just moments before drifted away as the endless desire she had for this man enveloped her in a slow fever. His tongue slipped between her lips, deepening the kiss. The taste of honey fil ed her mouth. She now knew it was because he used it instead of sugar in his coffee. The daily habits, the little details of him, were becoming familiar. Al the things he liked best. She bit his lip, sucking it into her mouth, just the way she knew would make him groan. She grinned when the sound vibrated up from his chest.
The hard ridge of his cock burned through the thin material of her pajama pants. Excitement spiraled deep inside her, and her sex slickened. The feel of him, the delightful flavor, the musky masculine scent of him, made her want anything and everything he had to offer. One of his hands slid up her midriff to cup her breast. She broke her mouth away from his and arched herself into his touch.
“Please,” she breathed.
“Shh.” His talented fingers caressed her nipples, drawing them into tight peaks. He plucked at them, twisting them just enough to make her squirm. Her pussy pulsed in scorching waves, the lips wet with juices.
Just that quickly she was ready to beg for him. Gods, the man did it for her.
Her breath sped to shal ow panting, a whimper breaking from her throat as the lightest sizzle of magic met her nipple. Now. Gods, now. She wriggled against him, but he tightened his arms around her to hold her in place. He skimmed one hand down her stomach until he dipped beneath the waistband of her pajama bottoms. She wore no underwear, so there was nothing between his fingers and her needy sex.
“Spread for me.” His words rumbled like thunder in her ear, and she was more than ready for him.
Easing her legs apart, she tilted her pelvis up in offering. “Touch me.”
He did.
First, a light brush over her soaking pussy, a barely there stroke that made her anticipation spike and her breath strangle in her throat. She closed her eyes and swal owed hard. “Please, Merek.”
“Soon, sweetheart. I promise. Soon.” His mouth opened against her throat, and he bit down. At the same time, his fingers opened the lips of her pussy, dipping into her thick cream. His other hand stil fondled her breasts, kept her nipples in beaded crests. She could feel how wet she was, and every movement of his hands only made it worse. Goose bumps rippled down her skin as his thumb grazed her throbbing clit.
Every muscle in her body locked at that single touch. A deep shudder passed through her, and she twisted in his embrace. She felt him smile against her neck, then he licked a hot path up to her ear and sucked her lobe between his teeth. A delicate sizzle from the tip of his tongue hummed along her overstimulated nerves. Tipping her head to the side to give him greater access, she moaned.
His finger stroked her again, drawing circles from her soaking channel to the hard nub of her clit. Her hips undulated with his movements, trying to deepen the contact. He chuckled, and the sound vibrated against her back. Frustration ate at her. She wanted, she needed. “Now, now, now. ”
Digging her nails into his forearm, she tried to force his fingers into her sex. Shock ripped through her when he didn’t resist. Two big fingers plunged deep into her pussy, scissoring to stretch her sensitized flesh.
It was more than she could bear.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and she came apart. Her sex fisted around his fingers, milking them in endless waves. Lava-like heat spread through every inch of her body, and she threw her head back against his shoulder. The heel of his hand ground against her clit, and his fingers thrust inside her pussy until she crashed headlong into another orgasm. Stars exploded behind her eyes when he sent a spel sparking and dancing from her clit to her channel. Her knees buckled, and he caught her close, stil stroking into her sex.