Charlie
Saturday morning, Lance tells me he wants to help me relax for the weekend. He corrals me into his brother’s Humvee. “Come on,” he says, “I have a surprise for you.”
Surprise. I sort of hate surprises. I mean, how do you plan properly?
But it’s Lance, who makes me feel like I’d be safe anywhere, who I trust to take care of all my needs, because he’s made it his life’s mission.
“We’re flying somewhere?” I ask, digging my nails into my jeans so I don’t bite them off.
“Maybe.”
Lance drives down the road toward the tiny Taos airport. The not knowing drives me nuts. Meanwhile, Lance sits completely relaxed, one big hand on the steering wheel, the other one covering my knee. Maybe some of his calm will rub off on me.
He passes the terminal and drives us to a smaller building near the runway. A bunch of small white planes sit, waiting for their flights.
“We're taking a private flight?” I ask.
“That's right, baby. Nothing but the best. But it's a military plane so it's a little stripped to the bare bones. Come on.” He gets out and gets my door.
I grab my purse. “Um, did I need to bring anything?”
“Nope, just you.” He kisses me and takes my hand, a giant grin on his face. Like a little boy who is going to show me his toys. His grown-up and very expensive toys.
Our plane is the last one on the tarmac, a boxy-looking one painted a dull grey-green. Army green. It’s pretty bare inside, with an open cockpit and a few simple hard seats folded up between hanging straps.
I have a thought. “Lance,” I say nervously, “we’re not going skydiving?”
“Nah, angel. Nothing like that. This weekend is all about you and me relaxing together.” He leads me to the middle of the seating area, where two comfier looking seats have been retrofitted in between the basic ones.
“So where are we going?” I clutch my purse, wondering how in the hell Lance managed to get me here without giving me any details. I feel naked, being in a plane without a suitcase. I at least would have packed a carry-on bag with some essentials.
“You'll see.”
He kisses my forehead then drops his head to brush his mouth against mine. I lean into him and the kiss, then give a start as the doors begin to close. Someone’s climbed into the cockpit.
“All right, this is it.” Lance buckles me in. “Strap you in, nice and tight.”
Another kiss, and the plane engines start to roar.
“Might be a little louder than you’re used to,” Lance shouts over the noise. But his excitement is catching, and my heart is pumping after that kiss. Lance straps himself in right next to me and settles his hand over my knee. I lean back with a smile. Maybe this could be fun.
“So what do you say?” hollers the pilot. “Wanna do some barrel rolls?”
“Nothing but the easiest ride for my girl,” Lance calls back.
“Is that Teddy?” I point to the front. Sadie told me about him, and the epic helicopter ride Deke took her on for a date.
“That's my name,” the pilot hollers back. Somehow he heard me over the noise. “Coz I'm cuddly like a teddy bear.”
I crane my head around Lance. Teddy is a giant dude in a cut off shirt that shows off his tattoo-covered arms, bulging with muscles. He’s definitely not soft and squishy like a stuffed toy. His muscles have muscles.
“Don’t flirt with my mate,” Lance shouts back. His body’s still relaxed but there’s a whisper of a threat behind his words.
“Is he a wolf shifter, too?” I guess, since Lance used the word mate with him.
“Bear, baby,” Teddy calls, again hearing me when I don’t think it should be possible.
“Call her baby again,” Lance grits out, “and I’ll castrate you.”
“Who’s doing the favors here?” Teddy pokes back.
“Doesn’t mean you can cross any lines.”
Teddy grins over his shoulder. “Take it easy. I’m just giving you a hard time.” He sends me another wink.
I relax. I can trust these guys, even if I don’t know the plan. Between the noise and my new pregnancy tiredness, I doze for the rest of the flight.
I wake a few hours later when the plane touches down on a small runway. “Hey, angel, we're here.” Lance lifts my hand and kisses my knuckles. As we exit, I wave to Teddy. He gives me a two-finger salute.
“Take it easy, baby-mama,” he says, aviator shades flashing over his grin. He grins bigger when Lance growls.
We step out of the plane, and warm air hits my face. I tilt my head to the sun. “Where are we?”
I was supposed to watch the landscape and guess, but there weren’t any windows. Plus, I fell asleep.
“I figured a day at the beach would be nice.” He shrugs. “You work too hard. You need to relax and soak up some sun. Come on. I got them to leave us a car.”
We’re definitely somewhere warm. A few palm trees dot the desert landscape, and a few mountains slope along the horizon.
We walk over the tarmac, bypassing the tiny building that passes for a terminal, and heading for the parking lot. This is as small an airport as the one we left, and that’s saying something. “Who's they?”
“Our friends. I called in a favor.” He takes my arm and my purse and guides me to a big black Escalade. He punches in a code on a keypad on the door, and it unlocks. In a minute, we’re passing a big sign that reads: ‘Welcome to Cabo San Lucas’.
“Oh my gosh,” I cry. “We're in Cabo? Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he confirms. He reaches across to the glove box, pulls out a pair of aviator sunglasses, and puts them on. He hands a second pair to me.
“What about passports? And customs?”
“I called in some favors. We’re fine. It can be easy, Charlie. Life can be like this.” He drives one handed again so his right hand can massage the back of my neck briefly. “Just take it easy.”
The windows are down and when we wind over the mountain rise, I get a whiff of salt air. Relax, Charlie. It’s a day at the beach. Blue ocean, bright sun and ice cream. Even I can’t get stressed about this.
We pass through the resort town. I keep expecting Lance to turn into one of the hotels, but we zoom by and turn into a private road. There’s a gate ahead. Lance stops to punch in a code and wave to the camera. The gates open and we glide on through.
“Who exactly are your friends?” I ask. The houses in this gated community aren't houses. These are mansions, set on the side of the mountain overlooking the ocean.
“They’re shifters. We tend to get to know each other. We helped them out with security from time to time, so it wasn't a big deal to call in a favor.”
Great. Millionaire shifters. Maybe I should have dressed up. At the very least, I shouldn’t have worn my Sasquatch ‘Hide’n Seek World Champion’ t-shirt.
We turn into a private drive paved with stone, lined with palm trees and cacti. The house is built on a bluff over the harbor. It’s sprawling, several stories, with a multi-colored adobe roof and stucco in different shades of sunset colors.
“This is huge,” I say. “Is it a hotel?”
“Nope, private residence. Ten bedrooms, I think. Infinity pool.” He parks and I half expect armed security to rush up to the car and escort us off the premises. “What do you think, babe? Will this be suitable?”
“Oh my God,” I mumble.
He strides up to the house with perfect confidence. Another keyless entry. The door opens without a sound, and I cling to his hand as I shuffle over the marble floors.
“Is anyone home?” I whisper. If I lived here I’d never leave.
“Just us.”
We enter a huge room that faces the ocean. Panoramic views all around. There’s a huge patio with hammocks strung between the marble columns. We can sit and watch the sunsets here.
Lance points out the fire pit and grill area. The infinity pool is built to look like it's floating in the ocean.
I wander to find a bathroom and return shaking my head. “The master suite is larger than my house.”
“They’re all that big, angel.” Lance has already raided the fridge. He hands me a water bottle before swigging from his. “And then there are two guest houses.”
I clutch my water. Did I really just walk into a rich person’s home and help myself to their water? “This is incredible. And you know people who live here?”
“They don’t live here. This is just one of their homes.”
I rub my forehead. A noise makes me turn. There’s a huge TV on the far wall, behind a bar-height table and stools. A Cheers style bar, recreated inside someone’s house. Light flickers on the screen as the TV comes to life—a screen bigger than my dining room table.
Pinkish shadows, and then a little face backs away from the camera. It's an adorable little girl with a white bow askew in her brown hair. She's in a yellow dress with what looks like purple paint smeared on the front.
“Hello.” She waves.
I wave back, unsure if she can see me.
“Jaylin,” someone calls off screen. “Jaylin, are you done with the paint? Oh, damn it.” A brunette comes into view.
“Dammit,” the little girl echoes.
“No, Jaylin. What did Mommy say about swearing?” The woman crouches down to dab a wet cloth at the purple smears on the girl’s dress.
“Don't do it in front of anybody,” Jaylin answers dutifully.
“That's right,” the mother says. “They might judge me.”
I must have made a noise because the mom raises her head. “Oh wait, did you turn on the screen? Is that…” The woman peers at the screen and waves. “Hi, there.”
“Hello.” I guess she can see me.
“I'm Kylie. I left the CallBot out because I was going to check on you guys later. I guess Jaylin got it to dial you. She uses this all the time to call her great-grandma upstairs. Anyway, did you get in okay?
“Got in just fine,” Lance calls from across the room. He bounds up to my side and puts his arm around me. “Thanks so much.”
“Oh, no problem. We'll be down there in a few days, so it should be stocked with everything you need.”
“Awesome, thanks,” Lance says. “Kylie, this is my mate, Charlie.” He squeezes me tighter.
“Hello.” I wave. Then I realize Lance called me mate.
“Is this…”
“Yep, they own the place.”
“My beach house,” Jaylin says. Kylie laughs and draws her daughter onto her lap. “That's right, Jaylin, all yours.” She rolls her eyes.
“We go there in my white plane,” Jaylin explains proudly, her little voice adorably squeaky.
“Yes,” Kylie says, “we'll go there in our white plane in a few days.”
“What color is your plane?” Jaylin asks.
“Green,” I answer.
“That’s nice.” She twists to face her mother. “Can I have a green plane?”
“I think one plane is enough,” Kylie says and kisses the top of her daughter's head. “Now go play.”
“Okay.” Jaylin pushes off her mother’s lap and waves to me with a small hand. “Bye.”
“Bye.” My hand goes to my belly. I'm surprisingly choked up seeing a mom and daughter. One day, the baby in my belly will be this big and this adorable.
“Charlie is, ah, new to our kind,” Lance says. “She’s carrying my pup.”
“Oh, yes.” Kylie cocks her head at me. She's as beautiful as her daughter. “I’m half-shifter, like your pup will be, but I didn’t know what I was until I met my mate. Get my number from Lance. You can always call if you have questions.”
“Thanks.” I clear my throat. I’m not going to get choked up by this woman’s generosity. “I will.”
“Wow,” I say to Lance when Kylie ends the call.
“I know, right? She and Jackson are pretty cool. Well, Jackson’s a little stiff, but Kylie has softened him. She’s not a wolf—she’s some kind of cat. Panther, I think. Or maybe jaguar. Her shifter genes didn’t kick in until she got pregnant. There’s lots of shifters like that we know. We can meet them, if you want.”
I stroke my belly. I want my kid to know his or her people. “I think I’d like that.”
“But enough about that. Today’s about fun. You wanna take a swim?”
“Definitely. But…” I look around as if expecting a bikini to appear magically. “Aren’t you forgetting something? I didn’t bring a bag.” He could have at least told me to pack a swimsuit. Ridiculous man.
“No problem.” Lance slants me a grin and slowly strips off his shirt. I’d pay good money for a striptease like this. Lust pushes the thoughts out of my head for a moment.
His hands go to his jeans. He holds my gaze as he undoes the top button and draws down the zipper.
Is it getting hot in here?
He kicks off his shoes, and I realize what he’s planning. “You’re not going to…”
He just gives me a grin.
“Lance, no.” I cross my arms over my chest. “We can’t skinny dip. Not here.” Some rich person will see us and swoon into their caviar, clutching their South Sea pearls.
“No one will see us. Charlie, relax.”
This man. He’s going to drive me to drink. Except I can’t drink for the next nine months.
“Race ya. Last one in gets dunked.” He winks, and it’s on.
I strip.
Lance
I let Charlie win, of course. No way I’d ever dunk my female. Or let her lose anything but her heart. And, of course, her clothes.
The water in the pool is warm, and Charlie cuts through the water like an Olympic swimmer.
“That’s an impressive freestyle you have there,” I say when she finally swims up to me, a smile lighting up her face.
“I won first place at State in high school.”
I slide my hands down her sides. “So many things I don’t know about you yet. I want to learn them all.”
Her lids droop. “Is this really how it’s going to be? All the time?”
I stop stroking. “What do you mean?”
“Is this our honeymoon phase? And then you turn into a lazy, bossy jerk with a beer gut who lies on the couch and doesn’t take out the garbage?”
I laugh so loud, I startle her. “Is that what you’re worried about today, angel?”
She blushes. “Not really. I just don’t want to get used to you being so into me if one day it’s going to stop.”
I hold her gaze. “I told you, it never stops. Not until the day I die, angel. Wolves mate for life. We don’t fuck around. And,” I take her hand and bring it to my washboard abs, “luckily for you, we don’t often get beer guts.”
Her smile grows sultry as she runs both palms over my abs. “That is lucky,” she murmurs. Then her smile fades. “But my body won’t be so perfect. Especially not after a pregnancy.”
I cup both her breasts and back her against the pool wall. “What do I have to do to make you believe me? I will always be hot for you. It’s biological. Nothing will change my need to satisfy you. To take care of you.” I slide one hand down her belly and cup between her legs.
She lets out a soft moan. I drop down under the water to push her legs open and use my tongue. I hear her muffled scream and her legs thrash around my shoulders. She taps on my head. I ignore her, sucking her nether lips, nipping, trying to get her swollen clit between my lips. She taps more insistently.
I resurface, grinning.
“Don’t make me worry about you drowning.” She slaps my chest with a wet palm.
I laugh and scoop her into my arms, carrying her to the pool steps. “I guess I’ll just have to take you out of the pool to ravish you,” I tell her.
“Mmm,” she agrees as I climb the steps and carry her out of the pool. “I think you should always use the word ravish when you’re talking about your intentions with me.” She looks down at me and her breath catches. “Your wolf is showing.”
I’m sure she’s right. My wolf leaps to the surface every time I’m near her, especially when she’s naked. “I won’t hurt you,” I promise, laying her gently on a chaise-longue.
“Maybe you should,” she offers in barely more than a whisper.
I go still, my teeth punching out of my gums, my cock lurching painfully in her direction. I work hard to school my breath. I’ve been half-crazed all week, my wolf in a frenzy to mark her, but I’ve worked hard not to let it show.
Still, if I don’t mark her soon, I could do it by accident, after losing control. It could go badly.
“I’ll be careful,” I promise. “I won’t go deep.”
Charlie’s gaze holds trepidation, but I see excitement there, too, and the scent of her arousal wafts around me like a sweet perfume. “Okay,” she says softly.
“Where do you want it? Somewhere no one will see?” I brush the backs of my fingers between her breasts, down her soft belly.
She rolls to her side and strokes her own ass. “How about here?”
“Aw, Fates, angel. That’s hot. Really hot.” I hook her top leg over my arm to spread her knees, and go to town with my tongue between her legs. It’s so much better out of the pool where I can taste her tangy essence, feel her every tremble. I trace inside her labia, push my tongue into her entrance. I eat her ass, making her squeal and squirm.
Normally, a mating bite would happen at the height of an orgasm. My wolf would take over, my teeth would grow, coated with a special serum embedded with my scent, and I’d sink them into her flesh at the moment we both reached ecstasy. But that doesn’t feel safe. Not with a human mate. Especially not a pregnant human mate. I slide a finger into Charlie, knowing her moan of pleasure will bring my wolf out. It definitely makes my dick punch out hard. I screw a second finger in and caress her inner wall, looking for her G-spot.
Her moans get louder and needier. I flick my tongue over her clit. My wolf roars to the surface. I withdraw my fingers from Charlie and close her knees, finding her anus with my thumb at the same moment I sink my fangs into her beautiful ass.
She cries out in pain, which immediately subdues my wolf. Carefully, very carefully, I withdraw my fangs from her sweet flesh and lick the wounds to aid their healing. All the time, I massage her back hole to keep the sensations erotic.
“Angel, are you all right? Please talk to me.”
“Is it over?” she asks breathlessly, like the kid who looks away while getting a shot.
“Yeah. I’m so sorry it hurt.” I kiss all around the puncture wounds, my other thumb sliding between her legs to rub her clit.
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t hurt. I mean, it hurt a little, but I’m okay.” She peers at me from under the blonde strands of hair cascading in her face. “Please say you’re going to finish.”
Fates know I want to finish. But I don’t want to cause Charlie any pain. “Come here.” I lift her up off the chaise and sit down on it, then pull her to straddle me, lying back. “You ride, angel. I don’t want to hurt you any more.”
Charlie’s lids droop as she climbs on top of me, then lines the head of my cock up with her entrance and seats herself. “I get to drive?” she asks in a husky voice.
“You can drive any time you want to, angel. I’m only bossy when you want me to be.”
She rocks her hips over mine, sending me into spasms of ecstasy. “I do like it when you’re bossy.” Her voice is practically a purr. “I could even get used to your surprises,” she admits.
I would answer, but I’m already halfway to the moon.
“Your wolf is happy,” she murmurs.
I grip her waist and thrust up into her. “How can you tell?”
“I don’t know.” She rides me harder, making it difficult to concentrate on her words. “I just can tell.”
“I’m so fucking happy, Charlie. You just made me the happiest guy in the world.”
She draws in a sharp breath and her hands drop to my shoulders. She glides her slick pussy up and down over my rigid cock, grinding her clit down against my loins, taking me deep inside her with each forward thrust. She starts sounding off with the sexiest little cries in the galaxy, and then we both come in perfect concert. I grip her hips and pull her down snug, and she squeezes my dick in rapid pulses with her internal muscles, milking my cock for every last drop of cum.
Charlie drops down on top of me, her hard nipples coasting through my chest hair. I cradle the back of her head and hold her.
“So, is this the equivalent of marriage? We just sealed the deal?” she asks teasingly when she lifts her head.
“Yep. I’m forever yours now, angel. And you will never, ever be rid of me.”
“Hmm, super-hot wolf guy whose sole purpose seems to be to feed me, fly me to exotic beaches, and give me orgasms? I think I’m cool with that.”
I caress her lips with mine. “I love you,” I declare, then freeze. “Is it too soon to say that?”
“Um, you just mated me for life. So… no. Humans would usually do the love thing first.”
“Where are you with it?” As soon as I ask, I’m sorry I did. I don’t need to pressure her, and I’m not sure I want to hear if she’s going to throw more reservations up at me.
“Falling. Hard.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Also, I’m afraid my butt’s going to get sunburned. I think we should go inside.”
Sunburn. Fuck. I scoop my laughing mate into my arms and stand in one smooth motion, then carry her inside Jackson and Kylie’s mansion, where I can spend the rest of the afternoon ravishing her on a nice soft bed, away from the danger of sunburn.