After another pause, he finally continued, “You understand that wolves have a highly developed sense of smell, right?”
Rolling my eyes, I nodded.
“Hey, just checking,” he said defensively. “Anyway, the day we tracked you down and rescued you, I could smell you. It wasn’t the same as it usually is when I’m tracking. Your scent seemed to….call out to me. I could smell your anger, your fear, and it enraged me. I’ve never felt that way during a hunt before.” He turned his green eyes to me once again. “It was as if your very essence was imprinted in my soul.”
I wasn’t sure if the trembling that ran through my limbs came from his confession or the liquor I’d so rapidly consumed. Either way, I couldn’t control it.
When he continued, the warmth created by the Scotch transformed into a different sort of heat. “I think I would recognize your scent fifty years from now, even if I never saw you again. It’s as if a part of you lives inside me now.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Calder’s as he set the bottle aside and reached for me. Slowly, as though he didn’t want to frighten me, he rose from the table and moved to stand in front of me. I stopped breathing as his hand lifted and he slid his fingers along my cheekbone, below my ear, and to the back of my neck. His touch was light, but confident, and it left tiny sparks dancing along my skin.
Completely entranced, I watched as his face came closer. I knew he was going to kiss me, but what surprised me the most was how badly I wanted it. He was a walking sensual promise and I wanted a taste. In fact, I wanted the whole fucking banquet.
Chapter Four- Calder
My body tightened to the point of breaking when Ricki sighed against my lips. Jesus, this woman managed to push every single button I had. First, she was feisty and now acquiescent. It was as if she knew exactly what to do and when to do it in order to make me crazy with lust.
I wanted to wrap her long, wild hair around my fist, yank her head back, and devour her mouth the way I wanted to devour her pussy. Somehow, I held back. Ricki was a human woman, not some bitch in heat. It had been a long time since I’d fucked a human, probably not since college. Vaguely, I remembered that the last human girl I’d been with liked slow, soft kisses and gentle touches. She complained if I was too rough or demanding, saying it frightened her.
As I took Ricki’s mouth for the first time, I focused on keeping the kiss light, almost chaste, rather than ravenous the way my body demanded. However, the urge to take remained, bubbling relentlessly beneath my skin.
When her tongue darted out to swipe my bottom lip, I couldn’t hold back the low growl that crawled up my throat before I opened my mouth over hers and plunged my tongue inside. Her whimper brought me back to myself and I pulled back slightly.
We were both panting as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Ricki asked breathlessly.
I shook my head and lowered my mouth to her neck, kissing the soft skin beneath her ear and down her throat. Once again, she grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled hard. My head snapped up and I bit back a snarl, not of anger, but of enjoyment. I loved it when my partners played rough.
“What?”
Ricki studied me with narrowed eyes. “Why are you holding back?” she demanded.
“What?” I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Earlier, you bit me hard enough to leave a mark, but now it’s almost as though you’re afraid you’ll break me. What’s going on here?”
“I thought human women liked their partners to be gentle,” I answered defensively. Why in the hell were we having this conversation? I lowered my face to her collarbone and licked. When she shivered in my arms, it took everything I had not to yank her hips against mine and grind my aching cock over her pussy.
The damned woman yanked my hair again, this time even harder. Before I realized what I was doing, I growled and pinned her flat on her back on top of the table. When I saw her wide eyes, I felt disgust with myself.
To my complete shock, she smiled smugly and stated, “That’s more like it.”
Certain I was hearing things, I asked, “What?”
My spine arched as her hand moved from my hair to beneath the hem of my t-shirt and she dragged her nails down the skin of my back. I knew there would be marks, but she didn’t press quite hard enough to break the skin. I was going to go out of my fucking mind if she didn’t stop touching me like that.
“You’re not going to break me, Calder.”
I shook my head, trying to focus so I could explain that I could, in fact, break her. I could seriously injure her if I lost all control. “You don’t understand-”
She made a frustrated sound as she interrupted, “No, you don’t understand. I like a little pain with my pleasure, Calder. In fact, sometimes I like a lot of pain.”
I lifted my head and said the first thing that came to mind. “Like BDSM?”
Ricki shook her head. “Not exactly. I mean, I don’t get off on the idea of someone whipping me and I’d probably swat your nose with a newspaper if you tried to boss me around. But I like it when my partner is rough or gives me love bites. I like looking in the mirror the next day and seeing finger imprints bruised on my wrists or thighs. It turns me on.”
What she described was how wolves fucked. Wild, rough, and intense. I wanted to do each and every one of those things to her and a hell of a lot more. I had to close my eyes when her nails dug into my lower back again. If she kept it up, I would lose what little control I had left.
I blew out a breath. “I understand what you’re saying.” I opened my eyes to find Ricki staring up at me, an uncertain expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“You think I’m a freak, don’t you?”
I shook my head. “Hell no.”
“Then why are you staring at me like that instead of kissing me?”
“Because, if I kiss you, I won’t be able to stop until I’ve fucked you raw.”
Chapter Five- Ricki
At Calder’s bold statement, I felt as though the blood in my veins had turned molten. My entire body was burning. My hips moved restlessly beneath his and I moaned as he ground his erection against my clit. I couldn’t believe I’d said all those things to him. I had confessed my deepest desires to someone I’d only met minutes ago.
This was insane. I didn’t even know this man but my body was begging for him to do exactly what he threatened to do; fuck me raw. I wanted it and, if I closed my eyes, I could see it. His naked body stretched over mine, sweat gleaming on his golden skin, as he drove into my body hard and deep.
Green eyes intent on my mouth, Calder began to lower his head. My heart was beating so hard and fast, I felt as though I were seconds away from passing out.
Just before his lips touched mine, I whispered, “Wait.” I could swear I heard him whine, but he stopped, our mouths less than an inch apart. Calder tilted his head so our foreheads touched. I sucked in a shaky breath. “This is happening too fast. I don’t know what in the hell I’m doing.”
As though it hurt to move, he moved off the table, his hands grasping mine and pulling me up into a sitting position. I managed to get to my feet and stagger to the bottle of Scotch Calder had set aside earlier. Even though my head was spinning from a combination of liquor and lust already, I took a huge drink, coughing as the amber liquid seared my throat and stomach.
My knees gave out and I grabbed onto the table to catch myself. Putting the bottle on the table before I dropped it, I waved Calder away when he moved toward me. “No, please. Don’t touch me right now. I can’t think straight when you’re touching me.” I rolled my eyes at his satisfied smile. I needed to think before I opened my mouth. That wolf already had a healthy ego, it would be a bad idea to continue feeding it.