Chapter Nine
Once in the shower, Rhetta’s skin was supersensitive as the beads of water rained down on her. She shivered at the thought of what made her so sensitized and sore. She even heard his growl in her head.
Wait! She heard his growl? In her house?
There it was again, that roaring, maniacal laughter that was barely human. She wasn’t dreaming it. Rory was downstairs in her house.
Rhetta hopped out of the shower and dressed quickly. She bounded down the stairs and there he was. He’d infiltrated her home and thrown her life further out of order.
Rory stood in her kitchen carving roast beef, which her father used to do. Jesus, the young alpha from the neighboring pack sat where her mother used to sit. Her mother sat in her father’s place. Pierce sat next to Viviane where Rhetta always sat. There was no place for Rhetta.
Rory looked up at her. Their gazes locked and he grinned. His eyes roamed her body like he owned her.
She pulled her shirt lapels together. He didn’t own her. He was completely out of order. This was why she wanted to marry Jordan. Everything was in order with Jordan.
Rory set down the carving utensils and pulled up a seat for her. She looked at him; at his hands, his lush lips that curved into a grin. His lazy eyes that worked overtime ogling her body.
All around, everyone was quiet. Their heads turned from one end of the room where Rhetta stood, stiff and stoic, to the other end of the room, where Rory casually leaned against the top of the chair, waiting patiently for her to come to him.
Rhetta turned and dashed out of the house.
Before her feet even hit the grass, she felt him behind her. He moved preternaturally fast for someone who was injured. He caught up with her in just a few strides. His body pressed into her backside as he picked her up and held her to him. His thick erection caused her to gasp.
“Don’t run from me, Rhetta. Not unless you want to get caught.”
“I don’t want you to catch me. I want you to leave me alone.”
He laughed. “No, you don’t. You want my hands on you. You want my tongue on your body, in your mouth. You want my dick in—”
Rhetta broke away from him and raised her hand to strike his foul mouth.
Rory caught her hand easily. “I know you like it rough, ladybug.”
“Do I look like a prissy, little bug to you?”
“No, you look like an irate kitten. But you told me not to call you that.”
“I also told you to leave me alone.”
“I know.” He brought her hands to his mouth and licked her fingertips. “But you didn’t mean that.”
Her family had come outside with plates in their hands and taken seats on the porch to watch the entertainment.
“We need to clear this up,” Rhetta said. “But not out here where we have an audience.”
She shouted the last bit while her family members chewed their thinly sliced roast beef. Rhetta turned on her heel, knowing that Rory would follow her. She led him into the barn and heard him shut the door behind him.
That’s when she realized her mistake. One of the reasons wolves thrived was because they existed in packs. Now, she was alone with this lone wolf who was bent on culling her from the herd.
The second she turned around, he was on her. His hands were everywhere at once. His tongue struck her lower lip, his teeth her top lip.
“What are you doing?” She tried to shove him away. But he wouldn’t budge.
“Clearing things up between us.”
“I came to talk.”
“Oh? Then we do need to clear things up. I came in here to lick you from your head to your toes.”
“No.” Rhetta shoved his immovable chest once more. “That’s not what’s happening.”
Rory frowned down at her. “Would you prefer I start at your toes?”
“You’re not licking me anywhere. I’m marrying your brother.”
He laughed loud, maniacal and slightly unhinged. The sound reverberated through Rhetta, making her press her thighs together.
“You can’t marry my brother,” he said simply. “You’re mine.”
“I am not a piece of property.” She stomped her foot. Unfortunately, it had no impact or resonance on the hay that covered the ground inside the barn.
“I’m yours,” Rory said in that same simple tone. He’d let go of her, but he advanced on her, walking slowly with that limp that had somehow turned into a swagger. “You have me wrapped around your finger. I’ll do anything and everything to please you. We both know it won’t please you to be with my brother.”
“You don’t even know me.” Rhetta’s back was against the wall. There was no way around him.
“Not yet. That’s why I’m here. To court you.” He spread his arms in a manner from the medieval storybooks.
“Court me? You’re trying to fuck me.”
Rory smiled. A mischievous glint lit his eyes. He gave no warning before he advanced.
Rhetta put up her hands, but he passed between them. Somehow, her arms ended up around his thick neck. With her arms around his neck, all of the fight seeped out of her. She was suddenly exhausted. His thick paws and his big body were the only things holding her up.
Two of his fingers reached under her chin and tilted her head up like her father used to do when something got her down.
Rory’s eyes were soft when they looked at her. “What is it, little bird? Tell me what to do to make it better?”
His gentleness threw her further off balance. She knew, in that moment, he wasn’t lying to her. He would do anything she asked him.
But she also knew it would be just for a moment. Life with him would be unpredictable. Rhetta simply couldn’t have that.
“I want you to let me marry your brother,” she said. Her fingers tangled in his hair. The locks were long and thick and in need of a trim. They were also silky to the touch and softened some of the sharp angles of his face.
Rory planted a kiss at her temple. “Why would I do a silly thing like that?”
“Life with you would be crazy, unpredictable. We’d fight and argue because we’re both stubborn. We’d wind up hurting each other, and I don’t want to be hurt ever again.”
Rhetta closed her eyes and relaxed into him as he trailed kisses down the side of her face.
“I’d never hurt you,” he said into the cone of her ear.
“You wouldn’t mean to, but it would happen. I know how this works. I wasn’t your first choice. Your first choice rejected you.”
“Rosalind? I haven’t seen her in years. I haven’t touched another woman until you. I hadn’t wanted to.”
Somehow Rory had maneuvered her legs around his hips, and he was slowly rocking into her. In her haste to get down the stairs at his arrival, Rhetta had forgotten to put underwear on beneath her skirt. Rory’s eyes were trained on hers, clearly taking in her every word and worry. But he didn’t stop his hip motions as he unbuckled his pants.
“I want you,” he insisted. He planted a light kiss on her mouth.
It was the kiss that broke her, not the heat building at her core.
The now familiar thickness of his manhood slipped easily inside of her. The tip of his cock stole past her entrance without knocking, like it had the key. Like she’d left the door wide open for him.
But she hadn’t. There was no room for him inside of her. Rhetta meant to push him away. Instead, she dug her heels into his ass.
“We’ll fight and argue,” he said as he pumped into her. “We’ll have differences of opinion.” He withdrew and plunged into her again. “But there is one thing that will remain.” He ground his hips into her, pushing deeper than her body should have allowed him to go. “And that one thing is my total and utter devotion to doing what’s best for you and your happiness.”
Rory pulled all the way out of her. Rhetta squeezed her thighs to keep him near, but his hips and his will were stronger than hers. He left her only for a split second, but the emptiness devastated her.
When he plunged back in, her body spasmed around his. Her fingers dug into his hair. Her teeth gnashed into his lower lip. Her intimate walls grasped and clutched and clung to him as he plunged even deeper, not letting him fully retreat again.
Rory held still, waiting until he had her attention before he went on. “My brother will not make you happy. You’d chew him up and spit him out in a matter of months, if not sooner. If you take a bite out of me, I’ll bite you back. And you’ll like it. You’ll come back for more because you and I both know you’ve met your match.”
He’d been holding still inside her, but Rhetta realized he was still hard and thick at the center of her still-trembling core. Rory shifted his hips. He set a brutal pace until she reached her climax again.
And then again.