Chapter 20
Leidolf arched a brow, his hands stilling on Cassie's narrow waist, not believing what she had just proposed. Fooling around? Nothing more? He fought giving her a satisfied smirk. Hell, she wanted him, and she was willing to go partway. She wouldn't be able to stop at that for long. She had given him just the opening he was waiting for.
"No mating. We could get awfully close to the real thing. Just to fulfill some... primal need," she said, sounding a little unsure of herself.
"Sex without intercourse." He had to know what she desired, not wanting to go too far if that hadn't been her intention. It was killing him not to just lift her up and carry her back to their primitive bed and make her his mate.
"Or not. Just an idea."
Already she was distancing herself. Which he couldn't have.
He slipped his fingers between her legs and stroked her wet feminine lips. "Just this," he said, and licked her earlobe. His free hand cupped her breast, his thumb and fingers caressing with a circular motion over the fleshy mound.
"Is this what you want?" He spoke with a seductive hush designed to solicit her surrender. His fingers rubbed her sensitive nub, already swollen: every nerve ending had to be screaming for more. She was ready for him, had to have been for a long damn time, as wet and primed as she was.
She reached down to cup his cock, but he stayed her hand. "I want all of you, Cassie. The sex, the mating, the mate who'll stand with me... waking up with you in the mornings, having lazy wolfish naps with you midday. But for now, I'll give you only what you want."
He wasn't sure he could hold back. Not the way he felt about her. Her hardened nipples, the drenched curls between her legs, and her erogenous fragrance all clued him in that he was the one for her. No other.
He truly craved having her for more than the sex. With Cassie, he wanted to settle down, and he thought he could finally have what he'd been searching for--something that would dissolve his need to find excuses to get away from the pack for his own solitude. He wouldn't need that if he had her with him always.
She reached again for him, but he wouldn't let her touch him. He was ready to burst he was so ready. But forestalling the pleasure made it all the more erotic.
"Here I thought you were so bad...," she murmured against his cheek, her hands sweeping down his arms in a tantalizing caress.
"I am," he whispered into her hair, his breath touching her ear, his hands cupping her face. He leaned down to take a nipple between his lips, his tongue quickly teasing the firm tip.
She would have slid down the wall if he hadn't lifted her in his arms and carried her back to their makeshift bedding. "Which is better for your shoulder, Cassie?"
Her voice breathy with lust, she said, "Any way you want to do this."
He cast her a small smile. The way he wanted to do this was to bury himself deeply inside her and take her for his mate for now and always. But he was fairly sure that's not what she meant--although he couldn't help but feel he could push her into wanting him for the long term, if he played the game of seduction right.
He meant to have her on her back, resting her shoulder so he could show her just how he could give her maximum pleasure. She quickly changed his plans. She made him get on his back and then she climbed on top of him, her wet feminine lips pressed erotically against his throbbing cock. He knew then that she meant to tease him to death with her seductive charms. He was willing to have her any way he could, too.
"Like to be on top, do we?" He reached for her hands, grabbed hold, and pulled her closer.
"I like to be in control of my destiny, since so many times in the past..." She quit speaking, and a painful shadow of her past seemed to haunt her expression.
He wondered what other difficulties she'd encountered to make her distrust a pack so, and he had every intention of dispelling every one of her concerns. "It's hard for me to really get close to you like this, Cassie, without... getting closer."
She twisted her mouth in thought. Her legs remained spread to him, her sweet opening begging for him to fill her, if she'd just agree to the commitment.
She wasn't buying his suggestion, though, so he rested his hands on her legs, his thumbs stroking the flesh of her inner thighs. She spread her legs further, her feminine lips pressing heavier against his erection. He moaned low.
She smiled wickedly. Vixen.
He brushed his thumbs against the feminine cleft between her legs, and she gave a start. He craved having her beneath him where he could suck her sweet nipples and kiss her tantalizing mouth. He wanted to be on top, in control, possessing her, for now. Until she agreed to be his. And then she could have her way with him in any way or at any time she wished.
He dipped his fingers in her wetness and then circled her swollen nub with a teasing touch. She closed her eyes, her mouth open, and a throaty groan escaped her lips. She arched her back and slid against his cock. Then she opened her eyes and gave a little devilish smile. Leaning down, she kissed his forehead, and as soon as she did, he held two generous breasts in his greedy grasp.
But his attention shifted to her soft lips brushing against his cheek, lowering still until she captured his mouth with hers.
Then her hands were on his nipples, her fingertips cajoling them into submission. And her tongue. Sweet God, her tongue pushed his lips open and then thrust inside his mouth like he wanted to do with his cock between her legs.
That's when he took charge and gently moved Cassie onto her back. Her eyes were dark with desire, and she seemed embroiled in the passion of the moment, almost willing to capitulate. At least she appeared that way. Or it might have been a case of desperate "wishfulness" on his part.
But seeing her on her back, her knees bent, her legs parted for him, her gaze saying she wanted him as much as he wanted her, he hated not fulfilling his primal needs. Still, he settled between her legs and covered her mouth with his. His tongue swept around hers in an erotic, ravaging dance. His fingers molded around her breasts, while his thumbs stroked her swollen nipples, and his heavy arousal pressed against her opening. And then he separated her feminine lips with his fingers and pressed the length of his penis between them like a hot dog sandwiched in a slick bun, sliding against her nub, the eroticism of the friction between them fulfilling his raw need. Although he still wanted to be deep inside her.
Faster, more vigorously he moved, adding fuel to the fire already heating his blood. She gripped his hair and parted her lips. His mouth took advantage of her open invitation. Tempestuous kisses added to the building climax, until her lips wrapped around his tongue and she began sucking. Gently at first, then harder, more rapidly, and he couldn't hold out any longer, his breath coming rapidly, his heart beating at a frantic pace. Slipping his fingers to her nub, he stroked until she cried out, a sheen of light perspiration and a look of sinful wonderment on her face.
He felt the world explode all around him as he came, spilling his seed on top of her. The fault was her own for not allowing him to take the desperate plunge deep inside her where he belonged.
She gave him a wickedly delicious smile, her hands grasping his arms and pulling him down on top of her stomach. "Hmm, you're good."
"Could have been better." He kissed her lips, heard her heart still beating overtime, took a deep breath of the way she smelled fully aroused.
"Nothing could be better," she said, and wrapped her arms around him.