On his way, he passed a group of kits protectively guarded by a pissed-off mother. Cute little red foxes. Their curious faces surprised him by stirring in him a need to look after his own family, which didn’t exist. Of course thoughts like those swayed his recollections to Julia.
Again he remembered her that night weeks ago, when she’d asked him so nicely, with alcohol on her breath, to make love to him. The first night off he’d had in forever, no trouble on the horizon. He’d planned to spend it with his friends drinking himself silly. Instead, he’d helped Julia get home and into bed, ignored her plea to fuck, and spent his night alone, masturbating to thoughts of how good she’d actually be in bed.
And now he was trying to run through the woods with a hard-on. He stopped, panting, and sniffed around for the stream he’d recently passed. He found it up ahead and drank to relieve his thirst.
After sating himself, he entered a small, unoccupied enclosure near some boulders and curled up for a rest. He really had been up all day and night. Panicked to find her, he’d made sure, at least, that Gerald had things well in hand to help Sarah before he’d left. If the bears and wolves ate each other in the meantime, so be it. And as far as the silver foxes trying to pass that new mandate about mating…so long as they paired him with Julia, he didn’t care.
Fuzzy with exhaustion, he didn’t consider marriage to the shifty fox a bad thing. He fell asleep dreaming about what should have been.
“Please, Ty. Make love to me. I want you.” Julia sighed, her breath sweet with alcohol and something else.
Ty parted his lips, allowing the scent of her to linger on his tongue. He hadn’t wanted anyone this badly, ever. Though that should have worried him, at the moment, he didn’t care. A better man than him would tell her no, wouldn’t take advantage of her soft plea. But Ty needed her.
He stripped out of his clothing, incredibly aroused. He took his time removing Julia’s clothes. He’d seen her undressed before. Each and every time he’d had to hide his erection. Now he proudly showed her what she did to him as he slid her shirt to the floor and followed it with her skirt.
To his shock, she wore no underclothes. Her small, perfect breasts fit in his hands as if made for him. Her nipples stabbed his palms as he cupped her, and she moaned his name like a prayer.
“Suck them, Ty. Yes,” she whispered when he lowered his head. He took first one then the other nipple in his mouth. With gentle bites he sucked her closer to orgasm. Her need hit him hard, the scent of her heat one that would carry past her house to the other males around them.
Ty needed to claim her, to mingle his semen within her ripe body. Except Julia didn’t want to wait. She pushed him away, all vixen now, and dropped to the floor. On her hands and knees, she crawled to him, her eyes like cinnamon beads, her rich, dark red hair shining under the dim light of a nearby lamp.
So sleek and pretty. For a small woman, she moved like she owned the world. And she owned him, of that there was no doubt. Ty stood on shaky legs, watching with narrowed eyes as she approached. She didn’t stop, stalking him like a true predator.
She kissed her way up his legs, from his calves to his knees to his thighs.
Trembling with need, he let her spread his legs wider. Her hot breath excited his tight sac, and then she ran her tongue along his shaft, catching the falling drop of come from his slit. Her mouth closed over him, so slowly, like ecstatic torture he never wanted to end…
Ty frowned, wanting Julia to take all of him, when a foreign voice that didn’t belong anywhere near her intruded. “I’m telling you, something’s not right about that bastard.”
He blinked into darkness and wondered how long he’d been out.
“So beat the shit out of him, take Julia and fuck her out of your system. Hell, if you’re really set on making Mama happy, marry her and give Mama that grandkid she’s wanting,” one of Ned’s brothers said.
“Yeah, what Dave said. That way she’ll leave us alone,” the other added.
Their footsteps approached, the crunching of branches giving way under large boots.
“With Jason taking Meghan, that little shithead will finally be out of our hair.”
“Kid’s not bad,” Dave said.
“He doesn’t belong, and you know it,” Ned replied, his deep baritone impossible to mistake. “What the hell did he need to go to school for? Only thing he’s good for is giving Mama money when she needs it. Meghan’s a hot piece, I’ll give you that. Not as hot as Julia though.”
Ty growled and the men froze.
“You hear that?” the other Williams brother asked.
“Sounded close.” Someone cocked a rifle.
Ty stilled. He couldn’t see them, and he had no idea if they were all armed or not.
“Point is, I need that fucker away from Julia. Woman’s being stubborn as all get-out, but I know she wants it. Maybe if I promise to put a ring on her, she’ll settle down. That’s all any of them want, anyway. Marriage.” Ned snorted. “But you know, Julia’s different from the women in town. I can’t explain it, but there’s something kind of wild about her.”
She’ll rip your balls off and feed them to you, Ty wanted to snarl. Instead he lay still, listening.
“I bet she’s hot as hell in the sack.”
“But she’s so little.”
“Perfect for me,” Ned boasted. “Wonder how much cock she can take?”
“Man, I wonder if Gabby’d like to hang around?” Dave asked.
“All the sisters are fine. Too bad Jason won’t share. Little idiot thinks he’s too smart for us. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s good he’s moving away,” the other brother commented.
“So what, you want to go back and deal with this Roderick guy or what?”
Ned answered, “No. Not yet. I want him to meet Dad first. With all of us there together, he’ll shit a brick for sure. I’ll take him aside, talk to him nice-like.” His brothers snickered. “Then he’ll leave town and leave Julia behind. Once she sees the real me, she’ll be begging for it. Hell, if she’s as good as she looks, maybe I really will marry her, and she and I can get to work on making Mama those grandkids.”
“And if she doesn’t want to?”
“She will.” Ned’s surety raised Ty’s hackles. “One way or another, that woman’s going to belong to me. No one says no to Ned Williams.”
Long after they left, Ty followed their path back to their truck. He then trailed their tracks through the woods toward a rundown house full of people. At least a half dozen wandered in and out of a wood and brick house. Off to the left sat a barn full of tools and a still, complete with moonshine and the requisite old men reminiscing to fit the picture. A family reunion, Ned had said. Terrific.
Quietly, Ty skirted the barn and trotted around the house, only to come nose to nose with a Husky sleeping downwind. The dog opened his eyes in a flash and let out a series of warning growls and barks. The only thing keeping him back was the chain around his throat.
Ty slipped away from the attention drawing near and ran back into the woods.
“Damn, that’s the second fox I’ve seen this week. Not as red as the other one that keeps hanging around, though. Get your gun, son. Time to go huntin’.”
A glance over his shoulder showed an older version of Ned—same large frame, same dirty brown hair but threaded with gray, same mean, squinty brown gaze.
Then what he’d said dawned on Ty, and he raced back the way he’d come. Not as red as the other one.
Ty was going to paddle Julia silly for putting herself in danger. Because he knew, without a doubt, that Julia had been staking out the perceived threat to protect her sisters.
He’d put an end to that. The vixen wouldn’t put herself in danger anymore, not now that she had Ty to protect her.