Lance
“Move it.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Channing asks as I elbow him out of the way of the refrigerator. The guy seems to have taken up permanent residence standing in the open door, staring at the food.
I reach past him and grab three packages of bacon, not bothering to answer.
I admit I’ve been cranky as hell lately. The wound of being shot down by Charlie for a second date has festered all week. I rejected my frequently recurring idea to go and arrange a ‘chance’ meeting with her in town. Charlie is smart—she wouldn’t buy it, and I don’t want to come off as desperate.
Which I am, by the way.
This woman is under my skin in a big, bad way. An I-can’t-sleep-at-night-because-I’m-thinking-of-her way. And jerking off five times a day does nothing to relieve the mounting pressure to get inside her again.
I couldn’t have fucked this one up more. I tear open the packages of bacon with my teeth and throw the contents of all three into a cast iron pan.
“Seriously, dude. You’ve been an asshole all week. Ever since—” He stops with a look of surprise on his face, like he thinks he’s put something together. “Ah…”
I want to kill the guy.
“Ever since what?” Rafe asks.
Fuck. Now I’m really going to kill Channing.
“Who did you say you spent the night with last week?” Channing asks.
Rafe folds his arms over his chest, leaning one shoulder in the doorframe of the kitchen of our old ski lodge turned headquarters. “I don’t think you did say, did you?” He tips his head, his sharp alpha gaze suddenly trained on my face.
“Fuck you both.” Gah. Now I’ve basically acknowledged that Charlie is the cause of my distemper.
“I don’t believe it. Did Fate kick you in the nuts, Lance?” Channing chortles.
Rafe stiffens, even though his posture doesn’t change.
I rub the back of my neck. Rafe is going to flip, but if Charlie really is my mate, and the fact that I sprouted fangs and wanted to mark her that night proves she is, then this shit is going to come out anyway.
My pack will have to hold my collar if I go off the deep end.
So I don’t attempt to lie. Instead, I say, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, we’re talking about it.” Rafe is suddenly in motion, crossing the kitchen to pen me in against the stove.
Channing follows his alpha, and takes up my other side.
I don’t mean to, but a growl comes out of my throat, as if the two of them are trying to keep me from my mate.
“Did you just fucking growl at me?” Rafe demands. He’s not just my big brother, he’s pack alpha, meaning his dominance rules here.
“Who is it?” Channing wants to know.
“A friend of Sadie’s,” I admit.
“Which friend?” The ferocity in Rafe’s voice makes me wonder if his interest in Adele, the prickly chocolatier, isn’t also fate-related. But Rafe would never mate.
“Charlie. The blonde. We hooked up; that’s it. She’s not interested in seeing me again.”
Rafe’s gaze narrows. “But you’re interested?”
There’s no point in lying. Rafe would smell it anyway.
“My wolf came out,” I admit. “He wanted to claim her.”
Rafe takes a step back and shakes his head. “Fuck.”
“I’m sorry. I never intended to mate. I definitely wasn’t looking. I mean, she’s a human!”
“Fate kicked you in the nuts.” Channing is so fucking thrilled with himself for figuring it out.
“Shut up, asshole.”
“What are you going to do?” Rafe asks. There’s warning in his tone. A hint of danger.
I shrug. “What can I do? I have to convince her to see me again. Every day that goes on… gets harder.”
“Son of a bitch.” Rafe turns away.
“Tell me about it.”
“The player got played.” Channing’s still way too gleeful about my sitch.
“Played by Charlie?” I snarl.
His perfect toothpaste-commercial smile widens even more. “Played by Fate, sucka.”
“I really don’t know why you find this so amusing.”
“Neither do I.” Rafe backs me up, for once, sending Channing a quelling look. To me, he says, “You’re sure? She’s yours?”
“I’m hers,” I say miserably. I don’t dare tell my alpha that I’ve reduced myself to stalking her in wolf form along her mail route every day just to stay near her. Just because the need to protect her, to keep other males away from her, is so strong, it consumes me.
Rafe’s brows pop. “Well. I guess you’d better figure out how to get that second date.” He says it like it’s a military order.
I rub my hand over my short hair. “Yes, sir.”
I flip the sizzling bacon and tear open a five pound package of ground beef to go with it. I need all the fuel I can get. This need to mate Charlie is running me dry.
After I make a dozen hamburgers piled high with bacon, I take them out to my workstation. I’ve been working on the only angle I could come up with for Charlie: her brother Chad. Charlie’s worried about him because he’s been out of contact. That happens in the military, especially when soldiers are on a tour. It doesn’t mean he’s necessarily in any more danger than usual.
I call Colonel Johnson. He’s the officer who put together our Shifter Forces team. A lion himself, he literally sniffed out shifters in the service and invited them to serve on elite nightwalker teams. He put our shifter skills—night vision, strength, speed, spontaneous healing—to good use, and by putting us only with our own kind, he ensured we didn’t have to hide what we were.
Not all Shifter Forces teams are grouped by species, but we wolves were, because we already function well as a pack. We follow our alpha implicitly. Of course, it also means our pack would follow an order from Rafe over an order from the colonel, but that was a chance Colonel Johnson was willing to take.
Colonel Johnson answers on the second ring. “Corporal, I located your fly-boy.”
“Great.”
“He’s flying combat in Syria—active air strikes.”
I curse inwardly. “I’ve got a favor to ask—it’s pretty big.”
“I can’t pull that kid out of there,” Colonel Johnson says immediately.
“Not that big.”
“What do you need?”
“Any chance I could get five minutes of video conferencing with him?”
“What’s this about?” the colonel demands.
“It’s about a female, Colonel,” I snap back, my patience a frayed wire.
“I don’t follow.”
“He’s my mate’s brother. She’s worried about him. I’d just like to give her a chance to connect with him. Can you hook me up?”
Colonel Johnson lets out a low chuckle. “Fate caught up to you, did she? Lotta women gonna mourn the loss of you on the playing field.”
“Well, it’s not in the bag yet, so I’d appreciate this solid.”
“Oh. You haven’t claimed her yet? And she’s human? That doesn’t bode well.”
I bite back the fuck you that rises to my lips. “No, sir.”
“Okay, Corporal. I’ll see what I can do.”
“I owe you. Big time.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I just said I’d see.”
“I appreciate it, Colonel.”
I hang up and bring my empty plate to the kitchen, thinking of Charlie when I put it in the dishwasher. Everything makes me think of Charlie.
She’ll be out on her route right now.
Which means… that’s where I need to be, too.
I slip out the door and climb on my bike to ride it down the mountain. Once I get close to town, I hide the bike, strip off my clothes, and shift.
Charlie
I get out of the mail truck and tuck the mail into the boxes on the bank of mailboxes at the corner, then sling my bag over my shoulder to walk along the dirt road and deliver the rest.
I’m nerved up because I’ve been seeing a wolf on my mail route lately. It’s big and grey with a splash of white on its nose. And it’s fucking huge. Wolves look so cute in the Save the Planet calendars I get in the mail—the ones with beautiful wildlife photos of coral reefs and baby elephants. I'm a sucker for donating to Save the Planet type causes, so I get tons of these types of calendars free. There’s always a cute and fluffy wolf featured in one or two of the months.
In real life, wolves are not fluffy. They are not cute. They are massive, graceful, super deadly predators, and the sight of them activates the OH SHIT part of your brain. The part that tells you to Run!
Except all I do is freeze mid-step, with my mailbag heavy on my hip.
I’ve seen the wolf three times this week, which is downright weird, considering they have a huge territory.
I’m three quarters of the way down the road when I spot him. I freeze, careful not to make eye contact.
“Nice wolfie,” I call nervously. My mail person training never covered what to do when confronted with endangered wildlife. Aggressive dogs, yes. Attack squirrels, yes (don’t ask). Disgruntled people. Rain, sleet, and snow.
But not big-ass wolves with my, what big teeth you have muzzles and yellow eyes.
Fuck fuck fuck. What do I do?
Whelp, you’re gonna die, my frontal lobe offers helpfully.
I review my options:
- Pee myself
- Run away and hope the wolf doesn’t chase me. Too much to hope I can outrun it
- Fall down and play dead
I think option number one is a certainty no matter what I choose.
I go with a fourth option. “Nice wolfie. Good wolfie.” I sidle away.
He keeps his distance, trotting along beside me, but a good fifty feet away. He doesn’t seem to be hunting me. I mean, he’d square off to me if he were, right?
“Nice wolfie,” I say again, darting another glance at him. He stops and sits with a little whine.
Huh?
Could he be someone’s domesticated wolf-dog?
But no way. I mean, this wolf is huge.
I’m so busy worrying about the wolf, I forget to worry about my feet, and trip over a loose stone.
Eek!
I go down, flat on my face, belly, and hands. The mailbag spills its contents, but that’s not the part that freaks me out. It’s the wolf sprinting for me.
“No!” I shriek, scrambling to my feet. The last thing I need to do is lie on the ground and offer my neck like a sacrificial goat. Or lamb. Whatever.
Amazingly, the wolf skids to a stop, leaving twenty feet between us. He lowers his head, almost like an apology, then turns and trots away, glancing over his shoulder a couple times. What the F? Seriously—what is up with that crazy wolf? When he disappears behind the sagebrush, I let out a long, shaky breath and bend my trembling legs to start picking up the mail scattered across the dirt.
Now, belatedly, I remember I have pepper spray clipped to my bag. Lot of good it did me there. Well, if it happens again, I’ll be prepared.
Lance
I pull up in front of Charlie’s house at 9:00 p.m. I’m itchy and edgy. I feel like I need to shift and run off the excess energy, but I just did that. Literally. I ran all evening, then showered and changed to come here.
I’m still wincing over seeing Charlie fall on her face today. I’m the biggest asshole. I didn’t mean to scare her, but of course I did. My wolf is huge, and she felt threatened. The reminder that she’s human—fragile and breakable and completely in the dark about my kind—hit me hard.
It had me questioning whether I was wrong about her being my mate. I mean, why would Fate choose a human for me? I’m not alpha of my pack, but I could be. I’d certainly be at the head of any pack. Pairing an alpha male with a human doesn’t make sense. Not when our species is already dwindling.
Standing in front of her door, though, all my doubt vanishes. Her scent lingers everywhere, prickling at my skin, sending my blood south. Her effect on me is undeniable.
I’m ready to beat down her door to get to her, then throw her over my shoulder and carry her home, caveman style.
Too bad that won’t fly. I raise my fist to knock. She’s going to think this is a booty-call visit. Showing up at nine at night? This isn’t going to look good.
If she’d given me her number, I could’ve texted her before I came over. Of course, I have access to her number. I looked it up and put it in my phone the minute I got home the morning after her birthday. But I figured texting without her permission wasn’t going to fly any better than showing up, so here I am.
I rap on the door with my knuckles, shifting on my feet.
Fates, I’ve never been so nervous with a female before. I was the kid who had girlfriends by age ten. I literally was born with game. Rafe got the serious gene. I got the player one.
Nah, that’s not true. We weren’t born to these roles. Rafe wasn’t born with a stick up his ass. He was a normal shifter kid before our parents’ murder. But the PTSD of that trauma forced him into the role of alpha far too early, and he took the whole world on his shoulders. He refused to let me take any responsibility at all, other than to do what he said. So I guess I purposely took on the role of playboy. It was that, or resent the hell out of Rafe for treating me like a fucking baby.
I hear Charlie moving inside. She looks through the peephole at me.
I hold up my palms. “It’s not a booty call. I have a surprise for you.” My breath catches and holds as she remains still for a moment inside. When she opens the door, my heart starts beating again.
“May I come in? I promise you’re going to like it.”
Charlie’s in a tit-hugging threadbare graphic tee with no bra, and a pair of loose pajama bottoms that fall below her hips, giving me a view of a swath of bare skin at her midriff that makes my mouth water. She folds her arms across her apple-sized breasts and cocks a hip. “What is it?”
“Please don’t make me spoil the surprise. I swear on everything holy you will be glad you let me in.” Yeah, I’m literally reduced to begging here. My female has zero interest in me. How can this be?
Except, that’s not true. Because I see her nipples—hard and stiff—poking out through that shirt behind her crossed arms. That confidence boost is all I need to turn on the charm. I lean one hand against her house, giving her my best pirate smile.
She leans in toward me. I don’t even think she means to, but it’s like my body calls to hers. Her face gets closer to mine and I breathe in her pine and peaches scent. My semi grows. My wolf is both appeased and incensed at being so close to her. My heartbeat picks up. I risk a casual touch, brushing a lock of pale hair from her eyes.
“Come on, don’t leave me hanging out here.”
Charlie’s smile is reluctant. She grabs a fistful of my leather jacket and tugs me inside, walking backward in the cutest possible way. I know, backward walking isn’t meant to be cute, but fuck—on this woman—it’s insanely adorable. I check out her bare feet. Her toes are polished in bubblegum pink and I make a mental note to suck every single one of them as soon as possible.
I pretend to mop my brow. “Whew. You had me sweating it for a minute there, and we don’t have much time. Come on.” I take her hand and tug her to the couch, where I sit down. When she hesitates, I reach for her waist and pull her onto my lap.
“Oh!” she exclaims, one of her cute bare feet kicking out.
“See what happens when you don’t trust?”
The scent of her arousal blooms as she squirms on my knee, catching hold of my shoulders to steady herself.
I’m dying to explore this position way more intimately, but there’s no time. Besides, I’m supposed to be proving I’m not here for a booty call.
I turn on my phone and flick open the email from Colonel Johnson, then click the link he sent me.
“What is this?”
“Just wait, angel. It’s coming.” The spinner spins on my screen as the teleconference loads. Then it brings up an empty screen.
Charlie looks at me. “I really don’t under—”
An image appears. A handsome but tired-looking young man in uniform blinks at the screen. “Charlie?”
“Oh my God, Chad!” Charlie covers her mouth with her hand, snatching the phone from my hand and surging up from my lap. She spins to give me exaggerated bug-eyes.
“Is everything okay? What’s going on?” Chad sounds alarmed.
“Yes! Everything’s okay! I don’t even know what’s going on. I was worried about you and...” —she shoots an apologetic glance my way— “I guess my friend arranged this for me.” She mouths the words, thank you at me.
I’ll be following up for more of her thanks later.
All fucking night.
No—no. That’s wrong. I’m not here to get my dick wet. I’m here to court Charlie. As if I have any clue what that means or how to do it. If she were a wolf, it would be so easy. One sniff and she would know she belonged to me. She might kick up a little fuss at being claimed—make me work for it a little, but there’d be no question that I would prevail.
But with a human female—fuck.
I don’t even know how to begin explaining to Charlie what she means to me. How I’m biologically required to mate with her, whether she likes it or not. I mean, of course, I’d make her like it. I’d devote my fucking life to ensuring my female was satisfied on every level.
But I don’t know how to smooth my way into this. Getting from Point A, post one-night-stand to Point B, claiming her as my lifelong mate, feels pretty damn daunting at the moment.
But at least I got this right. Charlie’s face is bright with emotion as she questions her brother.
“I can’t tell you that, either, sis,” Chad says when she asks where he is. “Everything’s classified, that’s why I haven’t been in touch. And Sarge says I only have two more minutes before they have to end this call, but I’m so glad I got to tell you happy birthday to your face.”
“Yeah, me too. Seeing you is the best birthday present ever.” Her warm gaze flicks to me, making my dick go rock hard.
“So who was it who set this up?” Chad asks.
Charlie blushes. “Um, this guy. My friend.” She sends me another look, this time with curiosity ablaze. “I don’t even know how he set it up. He’s former Special Forces.”
“Mmm, he’s got the inside hookup. Sounds like a bigshot. What kind of friend is this?”
Charlie turns her back on me. “None of your business,” she says tartly.
“Oh, so it’s like that?” Her brother chuckles.
“Time’s up,” a gruff voice barks.
“Sorry, sis, I gotta go. Tell Mom and Dad I love them. And you, too.”
“I love you, too. Take care of yourself, Chad.”
“Yep, I will. Bye.”
Charlie keeps her back to me for a moment and I rub the back of my neck, wondering if I should leave. When she turns, her eyes are bright with tears. “Thank you,” she says.
“Told ya you wouldn’t be sorry.”
She shakes her head. “Not sorry. That was really, really nice of you.”
I get up from the couch, because it’s not looking like she’s going to sit back down with me. I step into her space, slowly. Close enough to be suggestive, far enough away to stay respectful. I reach out and lightly rest my hand on the curve of her hip, savoring the feel of that band of bare skin under my palm. “You’re welcome.”
“How did you do it? You really are that well connected?”
I shrug. “Getting a five minute call wasn’t that hard. Getting him out of there would be.”
Her face clouds and I kick myself for ruining the mood, but it’s not fair not to be honest with her.
“So he is in a dangerous zone? I mean, I figured he must be if he couldn’t tell me anything.”
“I can’t tell you either, but yeah. He’s in the thick of it right now.”
Her face falls. “I knew it had to be something like that.”
I want to tell her something like, He’ll be all right, but the truth is, I don’t know. He’s human, like she is. Their lives are so fragile. “I’m sorry, angel. I’ll keep close tabs on his unit, okay?”
She studies my face, then blurts, “Why?”
I falter. Playboy Lance knows exactly how to play this. How to turn this into a sex-charged conversation that leads to the bedroom and me getting into those sexy pajama pants. But another one-night stand isn’t my objective.
“I told you—I like you, Charlie.” I take my phone from her hand and tuck it in my back pocket, then I step in close to touch her waist again. I lower my face, hovering an inch above hers. Our gazes lock. Her breath catches and stops.
I slide my hand behind her head to cradle it.
“Fuck it,” Charlie says, grasping the lapels of my jacket and lifting onto her toes to kiss me.
For one glorious moment, I kiss her back, my mouth descending over hers, drinking from her lips. My tongue slides into her mouth with a slow, sensuous pulse. It’s not a practiced kiss. I forget all finesse. It’s not the dominant, claiming one my wolf wants me to lay on her, either. No, I’m fully present. I’m following the moment, tasting her, following her beautiful lead. Seeing where it takes us. Her soft breasts brush against my chest, her scent gets up in my nose.
And then the fuck it registers.
I ease back. “Hang on a sec, angel. What does fuck it mean?”
Charlie’s pupils are blown, her cheeks flushed. She rubs her swollen lips together. “I mean… one more round can’t hurt, right?” she says.
Fuck.
I force myself to put a little space between us so I can breathe. So I can think.
“Come on, angel. I know I’m easy, but I’m angling for dinner first this time.”
Some of the focus comes back to her eyes. “What?” Those sweet nipples are giving me a full salute through her thin blue t-shirt with a faded rainbow across her tits. I can’t resist reaching out to lightly brush one with the pad of my thumb.
I’m rewarded with the scent of her arousal.
I slap her with my most charming smile. “You heard me.”
“Lance…” I can read her indecision. She doesn’t want to, but thinks she probably owes me now. I know I’m a jackass for leveraging her into this, but I can’t bring myself to let her off the hook. If I give in and have sex with her tonight, I stand the chance of her writing me off as just a good fuck.
I want—need—so much more than that. Fuck, I need everything from her. Her entire life, future, existence.
It’s either that, or I face death.
“I guess I owe you,” she says.
My smile widens. My fingertips lightly mold around the side of her ribs where my thumb can still reach her nipple. I don’t touch it again, though. It just hovers, ready to strike. “You do.”
She looks down at my poised thumb. “So you’re just going to rile me up and leave, then?”
“Kind of a dick move, isn’t it?”
That elicits a throaty laugh from her. “Kind of.”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll stay and give you what you need, if you promise I still get dinner.”
Her hesitation costs me oceans of self-respect. To make matters worse, if she turns me down, I’m sure I’ll die of blue balls. So I do what I’m good at, stepping into her space and touching her waist. I slide both palms up the inside of her t-shirt along her ribs, and thumb both nipples from the inside. I keep my touch light—just a brushing tease, enough to drive her mad and make her chase it.
It works.
“Fine,” she says, reaching for my jacket and shoving it down my arms. I let it drop to the floor, and tug my shirt off using one hand below my nape.
Charlie’s hands are already coasting up my abs. The suddenness of her acquiescence makes me lose all game. I’m rougher than I mean to be when I take a fistful of her hair to bring her face to mine. My kiss is an assault—bruising, claiming. So fucking needy. I suck her tongue, bite her lips. She scratches my shoulders, her legs trying to climb me.
I force her backward swiftly until she hits the wall and then my hand dives into her pajama pants to palm her sweet pussy. She’s not wearing panties, and she’s dripping wet for me.
“Lance.”
I fucking love the breathless utterance.
“It’s me, baby. Keep saying my name.”
“You are so cheesy,” she complains, but her voice is far too husky for me to take it as an insult.
“You want me to shut up?” I screw one finger into her as my open mouth drags along her jaw. I bite her ear.
She whimpers, her internal walls clenching around my finger. “I-I didn’t say that.”
I ease my finger out, then fuck her with two. My palm presses against her clit as I sweep my fingers along her inside wall. “Do you like dirty talk, Charlie?” I ease both fingers out and yank down her pajama pants, dropping to a crouch in front of her.
“Um…”
“Take your shirt off.” I tinge my voice with alpha command. Not on purpose—she’s not a wolf—it just came out like that. I lift one of her knees and toss it over my biceps to get access to her pussy.
She obeys immediately, even though I wouldn’t say my female is the obedient type. Maybe alpha command works a little on humans, too. Or maybe she just likes a take-charge guy. All that resistance is because she’s afraid what would happen if she let go. Let someone else drive. She needs to stay in control to think she’s safe.
I’m gonna show her there’s something else. So much more.
“Hold your breasts.” I lick into her and she shrieks at the contact. Her hands fall to my shoulders. I remove my tongue and pin her with a stern look. “Hands on your breasts.”
She sucks in a sharp breath as if she really did feel my alpha command viscerally, the way we do. Her hands jump to cup her breasts.
I hold her gaze. “Play with them.” I wait until she starts to squeeze her breasts, her belly shuddering in on a breath before I slide my tongue between her nether lips again.
“Ahh… uhn.”
Her cries are delicious. So is the tangy taste of her. I trace around her inner lips, then penetrate her with my tongue, pinning her hips against the wall with one hand, the other braced against the wall to hold her knee up. I lick up and down her slit, swirling around her clit. I start to lose my mind with the scent of her and I lick and suck faster, more furiously.
“Oh… oh, Lance!” Her hands grasp my shoulders again.
I lift my head. “Uh-oh.” I catch her wrists. “I told you where I wanted these.”
Her green eyes widen in surprise. I tug her down to the floor, catching her around the waist to guide her fall. I spin her and place her on her knees.
“Now you’re in trouble.” There’s laughter in my voice. I give her ass a light slap.
She gasps and looks over her shoulder. Her eyes are dark and there’s a wild, feral quality to her I haven’t seen before.
“You like that?”
“I-I don’t know.”
I spank her again, a little more firmly. “I’m pretty sure you do.” Honey drips from her slit. I slide a finger through her juices. She moans.
“Down on your forearms, beautiful.”
When she doesn’t move, I give her a sharp spank that makes her squeal. “Oh my God. You’re… crazy.”
“You love it.” I press between her shoulder blades to encourage her down to the carpet. She follows my guidance. “That’s it, angel. Now tell me how you wanna get fucked.” I open my jeans to free my straining cock.
“You’re so… dirty.”
“Mm hm. You didn’t answer me when I asked if you liked it.” I sheath my cock with a condom, and drag the head along her slit.
“I like it,” she admits. My wolf does a victory flip.
“Good.” I grip her hip with one hand and press in. She pushes back on me and I slide in deep.
She groans.
“You feel so good, Charlie.”
“Oh my God.”
I fill her and retreat, savoring the way her slick walls squeeze my cock tight. It occurs to me that this was exactly the scene I’d meant to avoid. Giving Charlie rug burns while I nailed her from behind on her living room floor wasn’t the get-to-know-me kind of date I had in mind. But now that we’re here, I’m helpless to stop myself. I need to hear her scream. Need her to come all over my cock like I need my next breath. Satisfying my female is a drive that will never go away. Not that I’d want it to.
“Yes,” Charlie breathes.
“That feel good, angel?” I can’t help it. I start pumping faster.
“Y-yes. So good.”
Damn. I’m lost. I slap into her forcefully, gripping her hips to hold her in place.
“Oh, yes!” She sounds surprised. Alarmed.
“You gonna come all over my cock, Charlie? Squeeze it tight when you go off like a rocket?”
She whimpers.
“Reach under and rub your clit,” I tell her, because apparently I’m Mr. Bossy when it comes to making Charlie come.
She reaches between her legs, her fingers brushing the base of my cock, the place where we’re joined together. Instead of rubbing her own clit, she scissors her fingers around the base of my cock, giving me the extra sensation of her fingers there.
“Fuck!” I curse because I’m getting damn close. I barely lasted fifteen minutes, and my female hasn’t even come yet.
I reach out and grab a fistful of her short hair, tugging her head back. “Come for me, Charlie. Come all over my cock.”
Her lithe back arches to accommodate the position I’m holding her in. She cries out in protest, but miraculously, it works. Her muscles pulse and squeeze. I stay deep inside and hold her head captive until she finishes, and the moment she does, I pull out.
“Come here, angel. I don’t want to bruise your knees.” I wrap my arm around her waist and help her to stand. Keeping my arm firmly around her, I walk her forward to the sofa and fold her over the stuffed arm.
“Spread those legs for me.”
I push her ass cheeks wide before she complies, drinking in the sight of her most intimate parts. Her tight little rosebud anus and that swollen, dripping pussy. “So beautiful,” I mutter.
She slides her legs wider, twisting her head to look in my direction. There’s an element of shock in her expression. No one’s ever given it to her dirty or rough before.
I shouldn’t be proud of myself for going there, but I can tell how much she loves it, even though it’s out of her comfort zone.
I prod her back entrance with my cock just to tease her.
She gasps, reaching back with one hand, kicking one leg.
“Too soon?” I joke. I press back into her pussy. “I’m gonna take that ass next time, and you’re going to like it.”
“There is no next time,” she tells me, breaking my fucking heart.
I soldier on, though. “We have a date,” I remind her. I force myself to arc in and out of her slowly.
“A dinner date.” She’d be more believable if she wasn’t so breathless. If her throat didn’t sound hoarse from crying out while I fucked her.
“We’ll see,” I say, even though sex after the date isn’t my end goal. My end goal is getting another date. And another one. Convincing my beautiful female she can’t live without me.
I work my hand under her hips to find her clit. “How do you like to touch yourself, Charlie?” I rub the little nubbin with the pad of my finger.
“Oh! Yes.”
“Like this? Or is it more… this way?” I slow down and rub in a little circle.
“Lance,” she pants.
“Uh-huh,” I purr. Say my name, beautiful.
“I need more.”
“More here?” I circle some more. “Or more here?” I shove in with a deep thrust.
“There. I need you. Harder.” She sounds desperate even though she already came.
“Aw, baby. I’ll give you everything you need. I promise.” I lean one hand against the sofa and pound into her, my vision swimming as pleasure overtakes me. But I remember hers. I tap-tap-tap over her clit, then rub.
“Yes, yes!” she screams.
I let out distinctly wolf-like snarl right before I come like a fucking freight train. Her muscles squeeze as she comes in perfect timing with me. I move my hand out from under her hips and stroke my palm down her slender, bare back. Beautiful, beautiful human.
Charlie
Whoa.
Just wow. It’s really hard to imagine how any guy could top sex with Lance. I mean, our chemistry is off the charts. Or, wait. Is it just because his experience level is off the charts?
I need to remember that this guy is a player. He is not the stable, secure man I’m looking to settle down with. I want a kinder, gentler man who will be safe and stick for good. Someone like a schoolteacher. A sweet veterinarian. A dentist, even.
My body apparently doesn’t care about my mental rejection of Lance, though. It hums and purrs with pleasure. You’d think a player like Lance would make me feel out of my depth sex-wise. But it’s the opposite. I’ve never felt sexier. Hotter. He pulls out that bossy tone with me, and I turn to butter.
Yum.
It’s so wrong that I want to do this again with him. Soon. Very, very wrong.
Lance wraps an arm under my breasts to lift me upright before he eases out, then leaves me to take care of the condom in the bathroom wastebasket. I manage to stand on my wobbly legs enough to pick up my pajamas and slip them back on as he returns.
“Give me your number, angel.” There’s that bossy tone again. He’s cocky as hell. I would find it annoying except for the fact that he also manages to pay attention to me. Something I never expected from a guy like him.
I mean, tracking down my brother?
That was freaking epic.
I definitely owe him. It’s funny how he made the sex more like his favor to me, and the date is my favor to him. I mean, that’s the opposite of how it’s supposed to be for a player, right?
What am I not understanding about Lance Lightfoot?
I push my hair out of my face. “Yeah. Okay.”
He hands me his phone and I enter my digits, fingers trembling slightly.
He takes it back and pockets it. “I’m leaving town tomorrow, but when I get back, we’re going on that date.” His dimples wink at me. He’s so damn charming.
Oh. I shouldn’t be so disappointed to find out it won’t be soon. I shouldn’t be disappointed at all.
“Where are you going?”
“Mm, that’s classified, angel.”
My brow furrows. “You’re going on a mission?”
He gives a single nod.
I don’t know why something drops to the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t even counting Lance as a candidate for The Big Plan, but I hate that he’s presumably in as much danger as my brother. Guys like him are adrenaline junkies. Here one day, gone the next, like my parents were when I was growing up.
“So you’re still in the thick of it, aren’t you?” I eye him, that quiver of anxiety I was feeling for Chad starting up now for him. “Your missions are as dangerous as when you were in the service?” When he hesitates, I see the truth. “Even more dangerous?”
He shrugs. “Let’s just say when my brother decided our unit needed out, the government jumped at the opportunity to use us in ways they couldn’t when we were in the armed forces.”
Anxiety grinds harder.
Lance seems to see it, because he touches the place between my brows where I must be frowning. “You don’t need to worry about us. We are specially equipped for this sort of work.”
I swallow, not liking the taste of this. “I think that just means desensitized to danger.”
Lance opens his mouth, then seems to think better of whatever he was going to say. He shrugs. “Something like that.” He leans in, giving me a kiss on the temple. “You good? Did I satisfy you, or do you need another round?”
My laugh comes out husky. “You definitely satisfied me.”
“There’s more where that came from, angel.” He winks, but when I wince, his cocky smile dips. “I’m good for more than sex, too, though,” he says.
Huh. It doesn’t quite compute. Why does it seem like Lance is looking for a girlfriend? He definitely doesn’t strike me as the settling down type.
“One date,” he says. “Promise me you’ll stop judging me for one date. Then you can go back to all your assumptions about me if you want.”
My lips part, a puff of breath coming out with my surprise. My face grows warm. “I’m sorry. I’m just confused about what this is.”
Lance perches his hip against the arm of the sofa, looking sexier than a man has any right to. “Okay, can I be totally honest?”
I fold my arms across my chest, defending against the charm and whatever it is he’s going to lay on me. “Please do.”
“The truth is, I feel like I screwed up with you.”
The shock of his statement makes something fluffy explode in my chest. Like if a dandelion suddenly turned to puff. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I went into it for the hookup, you’re right. But then I realized… “ He chews the inside of his cheek, looking sideways. “I don’t know, I felt like we had a real connection, and I wanted something more than a one-off. I wished I’d started this thing the right way.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say.” I nibble my lip. It’s true we have a surprisingly easy—and uberhot—connection, but I was chalking that up to the fact that he wasn’t a real relationship candidate for me. I’m just not sure I could switch him into that category. I mean, he’s the opposite of what I’m looking for. The opposite of my man-plan. He’s everything I made The Big Plan to avoid. He’s probably an adrenaline junkie—addicted to speed, danger, and women. He’s daring death with every dangerous mission he goes on.
“How do you feel about doing taxes?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Never done them. Why?”
“No reason.” This is not my guy.
But I don’t have the heart to tell him that. I owe it to him to give him a chance.
Show up for our date with an open mind.
“Just say you’ll give me a chance?” Lance shoves both his hands into his pockets, suddenly appearing far less cocky than usual.
I lean in and give him a peck on the lips. “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to our date.”
It’s not a lie.
Spending time with Lance is no hardship. I just don’t want to lead him on…