Christ, Selena was a thing of beauty when she came. He ripped off his boxers and covered her body with his own, lining up his cock to her pussy. Nuzzling the side of her neck, he nipped her as he held his cock in one hand and settled the large head against her opening.
She laced her legs about his waist and slid her arms under his shoulders, so she could dig her fingers into the muscles. “Please,” she panted.
He laved where he’d just nipped then lifted his head to stare into her brown eyes. Lando held her stare and pushed into her wet heat. A hot sheath made just for him, her muscles rippled around him, bringing him in deeper, where he longed to be. Seated fully within her on the most intimate of levels.
Her pupils dilated and sparked as she held his gaze. “Fuck,” she breathed out.
“Selena.” His response wasn’t much clearer than hers had been.
“You won’t hurt me. For the love of Pete, move.”
He wanted to prolong this first experience of being inside her but his cat wasn’t with him on that. It wanted to mate. He bit lightly at the tip of her nose. “Rule one, never say another man’s name when I’m within you. Hell, never say another man’s name at all.”
She tightened her muscles around him again, and gave him a smile which would have knocked him off his feet had he been standing. Pure mesmerizing temptation.
“It’s a statement, not reference to any specific man.”
He withdrew until just the tip of his dick was inside her. “I see.” Pushing forward, he loved the way her lips parted and a sigh slipped through.
In and out, he stroked, each one better than the last. She undulated and writhed beneath him, her legs gripping him tight, arms holding him as if she couldn’t bear to release him. Her mewls and moans grew louder the more he thrust. Her wetness coated his cock and his body responded. He struggled to keep his beast contained, she wasn’t ready for that yet.
The bite of her short nails in his flesh added flames to the fire raging within him. More. More. More.
That’s all he wanted. More. Of her. Of everything, she gave to him. He took her mouth, twining his tongue around hers. The graze of the post in her tongue only added more friction and pleasure for him.
He pumped fast, slow, and in-between. Just enough to keep her guessing about what type of stroke would be next. It didn’t matter, she took them all, willingly. They danced the age-old ritual as if they’d been doing it with each other for their entire lives. He knew her body and she knew his. Where to bite, where to claw, where to suck.
He growled when she came with a cry. Without slowing, he rose up, keeping her on his lap and rumbled in contentment when she sank deeper onto him. Her body taut as he wrapped a hand in her hair pulling to give her a small bite when he came inside her.
He did so with a roar of ownership. One matched by the jaguar within him.
Heart pounding, body slicked with sweat, he stared at the woman on his lap.
Her brown eyes overflowed with passion. But there wasn’t anything in them about giving up. They twinkled as she leaned forward and flicked her tongue over his lips. “My turn.”
Like he would ever object to that.
They lay in bed, having finally made it there earlier in the day for more of the off the charts sex. However, that along with the sleep, the day had gone. It was night time and the moon was coming up over the city.
His cat had curled up and was contentedly sleeping. In fact, so was the woman beside him. He shifted from the warm embrace around him and went for his phone after he heard the faint buzz of the silent vibration. Digging it free from his jeans, he answered, “What?”
“Hello, son.”
“Pai. Is everything okay?” Many of his kind still chose to remain hidden and away from people and didn’t use the phones or anything like that. For his father to call him, Lando was curious.
“Fine. I stopped by your headquarters and Femi said you were away on business.” His father switched to Portuguese.
Leave it to his right-hand man to call it business. In a sense, it was, but there was a better way to describe him going for his mate. “I came to get Selena and bring her home.”
“Right, your mate. The one you say you’ve known was for you since you met her at the village so many years ago.”
“Why the disbelief? You know our kind.”
“Because we don’t know who our mates are until after we reach puberty. You’d not done so. You were smitten with a little girl. You need to make sure she is your mate.”
“I did.” A shrug and a glance back at Selena who still slept. “I do. Even my cat knows it. Has known it.”
“Trying to be honorable for a feeling from long ago isn’t necessary. She’s not a jaguar, she doesn’t understand, so it won’t matter if you leave her and come home to find the woman who is destined to be your mate.”
Lando scowled and pulled on his pants, leaving the top button undone. “I am not mating with your friend’s daughter just because he wants to be linked to our family. Selena is the one.” His father had always pushed him toward Milla, but his cat refused to even consider her. He trusted his cat. “I have to go. I’ll see you when we get back.” Lando ended the call and tossed his cell to a chair in the corner.
“That didn’t sound good.”
Turning back to Selena, he couldn’t help but smile. With his cat’s eyes, he could make her out, lying there on the pillow, rumpled and looking well pleasured.
“My father.” He sat on the edge of the bed and touched her face. His entire body heated with the simple contact.
“’Nuff said.” She curled her fingers around his wrist and tugged.
Selena wasn’t strong enough to budge him had he not wanted to go but hell, when your mate wants you closer, it wasn’t something he would ever deny himself or her.
She instantly curved closer to him and hooked a leg over his. “Think we can talk now?”
“We can try, but you might get distracted again,” he teased.
“It’s your fault for distracting me.”
“I will gladly take the blame.” He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her hair.
“I don’t normally do this. Meet a guy and sleep with him.”
“Me either.” He raised a brow at her.
She punched him in the side and he gave her a grunt, because he believed that’s what she was after, even though it didn’t bother him.
“But now that it’s out of our systems, we should be fine moving on. You don’t have to worry about children, I’m can’t have kids.”
He didn’t pick up on any pain in her statement while it took his breath away. “You cannot have children?” How is this possible that my mate would be unable to give me children to carry on our line? “You don’t sound upset about this.”
“What good will it do me? I’ve had years to know I’m unable to conceive. For a while, I was pissed at the world but it’s not like I’ll never have children. I just won’t have any naturally by myself. I can always adopt when I get there and damn it, can we stop talking about something so personal? I think we need to get dressed. Obviously, you’re distracting me again.”
He palmed her ass and brought her closer to his cock. “I’m doing my best.”
“How long are you in town for?” Her fingers moved in abstract patterns on his chest.
“I told you, I came for you. We go back within the week.”
She stilled. Predator still. “Excuse me?” Her tone carried a dangerous edge to it.
Lando reached around to click on the light.
Selena’s expression was one of anger and wariness.
“When I said I was here for you, what did you think?”
“It was a line.” She struggled to get free and he let her go.
He stared unabashedly at her while she shoved her luscious body into a pajama set, this one was green and purple, long sleeved and looked really comfortable.
Her still swollen from his kisses lips flattened into a thin line.
He sat, running a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t. I’ve come to bring you home.”
She shoved her feet into a pair of lambskin slippers. “And it’s time for you to leave.”
“What?”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. And if this whole thing has been to get me to drop my guard, so you can drug me and drag me back to that country, you can forget it.” She lunged for her phone and sent a text to her friends. “I’ve got my friends coming over, so you won’t be getting get me out of here.”
“You’re my mate. One, I would never hurt you. Two, I’ll never let anyone else hurt you. I’m looking forward to meeting your friends but we are going back to Brazil. I have a job there.”
“Bully for you. I have one here.” She crossed her arms.
Lando wanted to go to her but knew how that would end. Still, he got to his feet. “You can quit. You don’t have to work. I will provide everything you need.”
She gave him a small smile and he relaxed. Within him, his cat hissed and swiped at him. Lando ignored him, what the hell did the cat know about human women?
“And that’s your job, right? Making sure I don’t have to work but can stay home all day while you do?”
“Of course. I’m to provide for you.”
“So, you want me to leave all this behind and come with you to Brazil…to live?”
“We are mates, we’re supposed to be together.”
“And what will I be doing during that time you’re working?” Her voice sounded smooth and calm.
He neared her, pleased the impending storm was over. “There are other wives around, you can visit with them. Or stay home. Whatever you wish.”
“You’ve got it all worked out, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
The door opened and he tensed. Who the fuck just walked into her place? He scented three women and soon, they were right there in the doorway to the bedroom.
Selena went to them and stood in the middle of the group.
Lando had done many dangerous rescues and fights but for some reason, this group of women concerned him. He scented the gun oil and knew two of them had weapons somewhere on their person. “Selena?”
The women stared at him and whistled low.
“Hot or not, you have to go,” the tallest of the group said.
He glanced back to his mate and the calmness had vanished. Anger and pure fury raged there.
What happened? This wasn’t making sense to him. He stepped forward and he found out which women were strapped as both of them drew on him.
The other woman extended her ASP baton. Wouldn’t kill him but would hurt like a bitch if she got a good swing on him.
“Leave,” Selena said.
“I’m not—”
“If you think I’m dumb enough to leave this country and move to Brazil with you, a man I’ve not seen in about twenty years. Then to not have a job and no income, so I could leave you if I wanted to, you’re more delusional than I first thought when you started talking about me going there. I work and I like the independence it gives me. For all I know, you will sell me when we get there. Fuck you, I’m not going.”
His cat’s disapproval rang true and he realized why the beast had been so against his statement. Maybe the thing knew women better than he did. “We’re not done, Selena.”
“I travel all over the world now, seeing incredible sights, why would I give it up to live in a hut?”
“Hush, Sel.” The tallest woman stepped forward. Sure, he remained taller but she held a Glock on him and from the way she did, she knew how to use it. “This is done. You come near her again, and I’ll make you wish for a Brazilian prison.”
Short of taking her by force, he had to let her go for the moment. He reached for his shirt and tugged it on.
The women watched him, cautious about letting him get too close to Selena.
His heart broke seeing the anguish on her face. He’d come back. “You have good friends, Selena and I look forward to the day when they are my friends as well.” Lando went through the living room and out the door.
His cat raged within him and he found his driver still waiting outside. So much for the four hours.
“Where to sir?”
“Everglades.”
“Yes, sir.”
The man drove and Lando thought about how he would go from here and what he needed to do to fix this. Because right now, he just lost it all. She wasn’t trusting him, she didn’t want to hear him out.
“I’ll be fine here,” he informed the driver when he stopped along a road on the outskirts of the Glades.
“Sir? It’s dangerous at night.”
“I know. I’ll be fine. I’m meeting a friend later.”
The man drove away after a few more assurances that he would be fine.
The second he was alone, Lando shed his human form and padded into the home away from home, allowing his beast to take over and go where it wished.
“Dude’s fucking crazy, Sel.” Dianna put her Glock away. “Hot as all get out, I totally get why you wanted to fuck him. Which by the way, I want to know how it went.”
Selena hurt. Deep in her chest, she had this ache of pain, like a slow ripping from the inside out. She rubbed the spot but it didn’t help. “Thanks for coming, guys. I don’t know why but I panicked when he said those things.”
“Because normal people don’t talk that way. You don’t take someone to a different country and tell them not to have money. We all know it’s important to be able to leave, if something doesn’t work out. And he didn’t seem to want you to have that option.” Jo rubbed her shoulders and led her to where she’d made some hot cocoa.
Curling her hands around the airline mug she’d gotten from work, she allowed the warmth to sink into her, doing a meager attempt to heat her up when her insides were so chilled. I can’t be feeling like this because he is long gone from my place. Can I?
Despite not wanting to believe it, the passing of each second increased the hollow feeling within her, making her wonder all the more about his words. “Thank you for coming,” she told her friends as she sat at the kitchen table.
“You sent up the bat signal,” Emily quipped. “Makes it easy to forget you smell like sex.”
She nearly snorted her cocoa. “Glad we’re not bringing up my smell.”
Dianna sat beside her, the cop expression on her face. “Okay, tell me about this guy. It’s obvious you trusted him some for you let him in here and have been in all day. What else is going on?”
She drummed her fingers on the maple table. “Do you remember those stories my dad used to tell us about seeing men who could shift their shape?”
The others joined her at the table with their own drinks. They had cold beverages but for her, the comfort had always been hot cocoa. Emily set down a plate of icebox cookies. Another comfort for her.
“I do,” Jo replied clinking the ice in her glass. The other two echoed her. “We used to laugh about it and think he was crazy.”
“Now, I’m not so sure.”
They stopped and stared at her. “What?” Dianna asked.
“He said he was a shifter.”
“Well, there are people who claim to be vampires as well.”
“Not like that, Emily.” She took a sip. “He means like a shifter. He said I was his mate.” If it hadn’t been these women, she never would have said a word but they knew her, were her best friends. If she couldn’t trust them, there wasn’t anyone she could.
“His mate?” Jo shook her head. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“That we belong together. He mentioned skin boon and he’s got this—” She snapped her fingers, “—glyph that when I touch it, it moves.”
They shared a look amongst themselves.
Selena waited.
“Most tattoos will move when the person’s skin moves. Mine do,” Dianna reminded her.
“I know but it wasn’t like that. I’m not talking in that sense. Look, it was along his shoulders and I touched it. It moved. I don’t know, pulsed may be a better word and the color changed a bit.”
“Did he drug you? Maybe we should get you to the hospital for a checkup.” Jo stood up.
“No, he didn’t drug me. Look, I freaked out when he said he wanted me with him but damn it all, I’m aching for him right now. As in literally aching. I want him by me, I want to be able to touch him, have him touch me. I don’t want to move there but this… This I have to look into. Will you come with me?”
“You want us to go with you to Brazil?”
“I figure we’re safer as a group, than me alone.” Her skin hurt and she rubbed her arms in hopes of soothing the burn. It didn’t work.
“She doesn’t look well,” Emily said. “She’s sweating and her pupils are still dilated.”
“I’m in,” Jo said. “I’ll go with you.”
“So will I. Emily, what about you?”
“I’m a teacher, so I’m off right now. I’m in. My passport is up to date. When are we leaving?”
This was why these women were her ride-or-die crew. They went with her if she needed them. Always had her back and didn’t make her feel like an idiot.
“I don’t know, I have to find him and talk to him.”
“I can help with that,” Dianna stated, pulling out her phone. “If you’re sure about this?”
“I am,” Selena replied.
With the other women watching her carefully, she listened to Dianna use her status as a detective to get information on the town car that had been waiting out by the hotel. It took her a bit and a few calls but she finally put her phone on the table.
“Well?”
“I’m not sure what to tell you, Selena. His driver said he dropped him off in the Everglades.”
She got up and went to her room. Opening her closest, Selena gazed at what her choices were. She loved to dress cute, didn’t have too many things that screamed Everglades in there. She settled on a black long sleeve ribbed shirt that hugged her upper body and a pair of blue jeans that were a slight bit looser than she typically wore.
“Long sleeves?” Jo stood beside her.
“It’s like a jungle, aren’t there bugs?”
“Fuck if I know. But if you’re going out there, we’re coming with you.”
“No, he’ll find me.”
“We’re staying or you’re not going, Selena. No way in hell, we’re leaving you alone out in the damn Everglades, you don’t know what’s out there.”
She did. Lando was.
Soon, they were in Dianna’s vehicle driving out to the coordinates she’d been given. Selena chewed on her thumbnail as they headed along the road, the bright lights of Miami fading for the darkness of the Glades. When Dianna pulled over, Selena gazed out the window. There was nothing she could see, unless she stared through the windshield then it was only what the headlights hit.
“Here we are,” Dianna said, leaving the engine running.
“Why would he want to be out here?” Emily posed the question.
Selena didn’t say anything despite thinking in her mind, shifter. She opened the door and stepped onto the asphalt of the road, combating her fear of things that would definitely go bump in the dark. Or eat me.
The warm muggy air flowed over her and she tugged at the collar of her shirt. Maybe it hadn’t been the best thing for her to wear. Just like this was stupid for me to come out here. How the hell am I going to find him? Hell, there’s probably a gator looking at me right now, deciding just how tasty I’m going to be.
“What’s your plan?” Jo asked, hopping out beside her. Jo had always been the audacious one. She led tours in the park here and loved being out in the Glades. Whereas, Selena loved the city, traveling and adventures near airports.
“I don’t have one.”
“Need to find one quick.”
“I guess I thought he’d just kind of find me.” Even as she spoke the words, she heard how stupid they sounded and winced.
“I will always find you, cônjuge.” His deep voice flowed out of the dark. One moment he wasn’t there, then he was.
Right in front of her, larger than life, strength pouring from him. And the heat she wanted coiled around her. She could be by the equator and she’d want him around her.
“That’s a good way to get shot,” Dianna snapped.
“Good thing you are steady on the trigger.” He drew Selena in his arms as he spoke.
She swallowed her sob of relief as the ache vanished, well at least one of the aches. The other grew. Reinforcing her need to have him buried deep within her once more. There is something seriously wrong with me. I want him, yet I push him away.
“Are you okay?” he whispered in her ear. “I know this is a lot to take in.”
“Yes.” She was now. Closing her eyes, it no longer mattered that she was standing out in the middle of a place that could just as easily kill her as wow her with its savage beauty.
Dianna drove them to a small diner and they all sat around a table in the back, burgers and fries in front of them.
Lando’s thigh was pressed against hers and she didn’t mind. Like she didn’t mind the looks her friends gave her. She didn’t have to explain to them, she got it that they understood. Or if they didn’t, she wasn’t getting shamed looks from them.
“Let me make sure I understand this. You all want to come to Brazil with us?”
“Yes,” Dianna replied for her friends. “This thing between the two of you, we don’t get it, Selena may not get it yet, but she is willing to go visit Brazil with you, but we’re coming with.”
Lando nodded. “Very good. Will you be ready to leave tomorrow?”
“We can’t all get tickets, then we have to check with work.” Jo looked at her, hesitated then amended, “We’ll try.”
“No need to purchase tickets. I will have our plane come up.”
“You have your own plane?” Selena touched his arm.
“Yes. You will always be able to visit your friends or go wherever.”
Emily and Jo were good with that response, Dianna still seemed hesitant. And that, Selena knew came from her being a detective.
Lando captured her hand and laced their fingers. “I know we still have to talk. But I didn’t lie when I said I would never hurt you.” He kissed the back of her hand.
Selena melted a bit more. He was smooth, so smooth and took away her desire to be so damn independent. Not that she suddenly wanted to put on an apron and cook for him but the idea of sharing things with him held vast appeal. He had a bit of old school charm that men of today lacked. Honestly, she didn’t recall that from when they were kids but hey, they were children.
He explained a bit more of the area of where they were going and talked about his business he ran with three friends. All the time he kept a hand on her, either arm, leg, or caressing her hair. They all rode back into the city together and Dianna dropped him off first. The trio of her besties waited in the SUV while she stepped out with him.
Toe to toe, she gazed up at him, awash by the lights of the city. She had to admit there was a terseness about his eyes that she wanted to reach up and smooth away.
“I will see you tomorrow,” he said in a low tone, one that carried easily to her ears, despite the loud traffic.
“Yes, you will.”
He dipped his head until their cheeks touched. “Thank you for your trust.” Cupping her face, he smoothed his thumb over her lips then stepped away to open the door for her. He didn’t move until he could close it on her, then as she looked in the side mirror, he headed inside the hotel.
As they drove away, the ache began again, and she bit the inside of her cheek. This wasn’t a way to live, hurting unless he was beside her. This wouldn’t do at all. So, she shoved it to the back of her mind and said, “Who’s up for a movie?”
Lando Vargas was a hell of a man who made Selena doubt things she should be doing and do things she shouldn’t, but he would wait until tomorrow. She wasn’t going to be sidelined and regulated to trailing him around for the rest of her life. She would learn to deal with the uncomfortable feeling.