Chapter Eight

Nuria stopped breathing as she blinked up at Austin’s intense gaze. If she inhaled his pheromones one more time…

But there was no way to avoid it. His scent was everywhere. Calling to her. Reaching out to grab her. It was unavoidable. She needed him like a drug. Every hour it grew worse.

She should run from the room, the house, the neighborhood. She should dash out the back door, head for the woods, shift, and get far enough away that she could no longer scent him.

But she couldn’t. Her heart beat so rapidly she could feel and hear it in her ears.

When he lifted his fisted hands, uncurled them, and grabbed her shoulders, she shuddered. “Austin…” Her voice was weak, strained, not her own.

He nodded. He knew touching her was a bad idea. She could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t trying to be obstinate. He simply felt the same pull she did.

What if she slept with him? What if she had sex with him but didn’t let him bind to her? Was it possible? She wasn’t sure. It seemed far-fetched. But so was not sleeping with him.

Her body was on fire. Her breasts grew heavier, her nipples tight balls of need. Her pussy clenched. Wetness dampened her panties. She had the urge to reach between her legs and rub her clit through the denim.

She didn’t realize Austin had backed her into the counter until her lower back hit the granite. And then his hands smoothed up her arms, over her shoulders, and landed on her cheeks. He cupped her face and angled her head to one side. “I’m going to kiss you.”

“Yes.”

He wasn’t really asking a question. She wasn’t really giving an answer, either. More like a demand.

And then his lips were on hers for the second time that day, consuming. Devouring. Claiming.

She met his tongue with every stroke, needing this contact at least as badly as him.

When he pressed his body against her, trapping her to the counter, she moaned.

Heat made her skin flush all over. She grabbed his waist and ran her hands behind his back. In seconds she had her palms under his shirt, tucking her fingers into the edge of his jeans.

Damn he was muscular. It was obvious by looking at him, but he was incredibly more solid than he’d been at fifteen. As a teen, he’d been lanky and not yet fully filled out. Now… He was a brick wall that made her salivate to touch more of his skin. In fact, she needed to see his chest and run her hands over it.

She grabbed the edge of his black company polo shirt with the brewery emblem and yanked upward.

He let her break the kiss for the two seconds it took to whip it over his head, and then his hands were back on her face, and the kiss resumed as if it never ended.

She grew dizzy as she flattened her palms on his torso and smoothed them up his chest. His pecs were as amazing to touch as they were to look at. Perfection. Chiseled beauty.

Austin’s hands slid behind her neck to thread into her hair and tug her head back.

She moaned again, her pussy twitching. Pleading with her.

Finally his mouth left her mouth to nibble along her neck and around to her ear. “You taste amazing,” he murmured into her ear.

She tipped her head back even farther than he was pulling to give him more access. His breath. His lips. The trail of kisses… Goose bumps rose in their wake.

When he released her hair, she felt a twinge of disappointment, and then his hands were on her waist, worming their way under her T-shirt to span her torso. Heat. Desire. He smoothed them up her sides, taking her shirt with them.

His mouth found hers again at the same moment he cupped her breasts and thumbed her nipples through the material of her bra.

She couldn’t even return the kiss. Her lips stopped receiving messages from her brain.

As he licked the seam, tasting her swollen mouth, his fingers drove her to her toes. She arched her back. Her eyes slid shut. All her concentration centered on the pressure of his palms and thumbs.

Nothing she’d ever experienced compared to being touched by Austin. She’d dreamed of this contact with him for most of her life. Even as a teenager, she’d lain awake at night, imagining him stroking her skin. And then later, after she put some distance and time between his brother’s filthy touch and Austin’s loving one, she’d resumed daydreaming about him.

Often, over the years, she woke up at night in a total sweat, gasping for air and finding her hand between her legs. She had stroked herself to completion so many times in the last fifteen years, there was no way to count.

Always to visions of Austin. No one else ever came close to making the mental cut.

She needed more. Now. Right now. Sliding her hands around to his back and lower, she dipped her fingers under the waistband of his jeans again. Lower this time. Low enough to touch his ass. It was damn firm, like the rest of him. How much did he work out?

He broke the kiss again as his hands left her breasts to circle around to her back. They spanned so much skin it felt like he was touching her everywhere. Well, not everywhere. She needed more, actually. He was breathing heavily as he spoke, his lips inches from hers. “Tell me to stop, Nuria.”

She opened her eyes wide and shook her head subtly. “Don’t you dare.”

A smile lifted one side of his mouth. “Baby…I’m hanging onto my sanity by a thread. Tell me to stop, or I’m going to strip these jeans off and bury my face between your legs. I’ve waited my entire life to taste your pussy, and the pull to do so immediately is strong.”

Taste her… Damn. Her face heated again. She had no experience with men, but she knew she wanted him to do that with every fiber of her being. “Do it.”

He searched her face, his brows drawn together. Serious. “I swear I won’t bind you to me. I just want you to see how good I know we can be together.”

“Do it,” she repeated.

He searched some more. Finally he grabbed her hips and lifted her off the floor. “Wrap your legs around me.”

She did as he asked, settling against his waist. Her pussy rubbed against his cock, driving her desire higher.

He spun around and left the room. “Not going to eat you for the first time on my kitchen floor. Bedroom.”

She bit her lower lip, fighting the urge to groan. She watched his intense features as he made his way to the bedroom and then lowered her onto his bed. Seconds later, he hovered over her, one knee between her legs, his hands planted at the sides of her face.

After staring down at her for several moments while the tension grew, he leaned back, grabbed the hem of her T-shirt, and tugged it up her body. “This white tee has driven me nuts all day,” he whispered reverently as he pulled it over her head.

She swallowed as his gaze roamed her face and then, seemingly satisfied with what he saw, lowered to take in her chest. He straddled her torso, rose onto his knees, and let the tips of his fingers explore her skin. They danced lightly over her belly and then the edges of her breasts.

When he reached for the front clasp and deftly popped it open, she gasped. The cool air of the room hit her nipples and made her shudder. She grabbed his thighs, her gaze wandering to the impressive bulge under the front of his jeans and then back to take in his expression.

He paled as the tips of his fingers stroked the soft skin of her breasts and then flicked over her nipples.

She moaned, clamping her lips together the second the sound escaped. Embarrassed.

“Jesus, Nuria. You’re more beautiful than I ever imagined.” For long moments he continued to tease her nipples and the swollen globes. And then he scooted down her body, leaned forward, and took the tip of one into his mouth.

She arched her chest, her hands grabbing his biceps. Nothing in her imagination prepared her for this. Was sex always this good? Or just sex with one’s intended mate?

More importantly, could she walk away after experiencing this with the only man she ever wanted to take her virginity?

It wasn’t that she had intentionally saved herself for him. She hadn’t. Not at all. She had never meant to see him again in her life. But no one she’d ever met had measured up to the way he’d made her feel even at fifteen. Although she rationally realized that feeling could have been the result of teenage lust and possibly exaggerated ten times over in her mind, she still hadn’t found herself craving another man’s touch.

Besides, she also hadn’t been exposed to many shifters, and human males did nothing for her.

Having sex with Austin was a horrible idea. It would make it that much harder for her to leave him. And that much harder for her to find another mate someday.

The spell could be broken. She knew it. All she had to do was meet another man—one who hadn’t watched his brother try to rape her—and bind herself to him. From then on, he would be the right one by default. Her feelings for Austin would disappear, replaced by the shifter she bound to for life.

But that idea seemed foreign. Unimaginable. She’d rather die alone than let another shifter claim her.

As he flicked his tongue over her nipple, she whimpered. He switched to the other one, leaving the first to stiffen further as the cooler air hit the wet tip.

Emboldened by lust, she slid her hands around to the front of his jeans and cupped his erection. He stiffened—his body and his cock. His mouth hesitated on her breast, a moan vibrating through her skin.

Suddenly, he grabbed her hands and pulled them away. “Can’t do that, baby. I’ll come in my jeans.” Holding both hands, he raised them over her head and pressed them into the mattress. His mouth continued to explore, nibbling around her chest and torso as if he needed to taste her everywhere as quickly as possible for survival.

She needed more. Her jeans felt too tight. “Austin…” His name sounded deep, lower than her usual voice.

When he lifted back to his knees to grab the button on her jeans, she kicked off her shoes. They fell to the floor with two thunks. In seconds he had the denim and her panties in his hands, shrugging them down her legs and off.

Normally, her nudity would embarrass her, but not today. Not with Austin staring at her with such reverence again. He set his fingertips on her shoulders and trailed them down over her nipples and across her belly until he reached her thighs. As he spread them open, he scooted down the mattress, shoving her farther across the bed until he lay between her legs, his face inches from her pussy.

She grabbed his shoulders, unsure if she was pushing him away or pulling him closer.

He held her thighs wider, used his thumbs to separate her folds, and inhaled deeply. “Nuria…I’ve waited my whole life to do this.”

She held her breath as he closed the distance and licked a line between her folds.

She bucked. “Austin,” she screamed, unable to keep herself from bursting out like that.

He didn’t stop. Instead he flicked his tongue over her clit and then thrust it into her pussy.

In a heartbeat, she was on the edge. Any second she would come against his mouth. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. He didn’t notice or didn’t care. When he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked, she shot higher.

Nope. Stroking herself to completion with her own fingers didn’t compare to Austin’s mouth.

“Come for me, Nuria,” he whispered against her. “I want to taste it.”

She did as he commanded the moment his tongue thrust into her again. The pulsing of her channel combined with the throbbing of her clit to make her vision swim. She closed her eyes, unable to keep them open while she rode out the waves of pleasure.

Before she was fully back to herself, he climbed up her body, nestling his knee between her legs and resting on one hip at her side.

As she blinked her eyes open, she found him staring at her with a slight smile. His hand cupped her pussy though, and he held her gaze while he stroked through her folds with a finger.

When he slid that finger inside her painstakingly slowly, her mouth fell open on a gasp. More wonderful. More perfection.

He added a second finger and froze, his eyes wide. He licked his lips. “So tight.”

She flushed, nibbling on her bottom lip. Did they have to discuss her lack of experience? Couldn’t he have overlooked that detail and slept with her without mentioning or noticing?

“Nuria…” He groaned, setting his forehead against her shoulder. His fingers moved again, scissoring in and out, back and forth as her arousal grew rapidly back to the same state she’d been in before he made her come.

She tried to arch into his touch, but he leaned against her hip with his and pressed her into the mattress.

His face lifted, his expression once again serious. He swallowed. “You’re a virgin.”

She nodded.

He groaned.

“Why?” He reached into her mind with that one word.

Her ability to block him had evaporated. She stared at him, speaking into his head. “Never met the right guy.”

A low rumbled vibrated through his chest and out his lips. He still held her gaze as he thrust his fingers in and out of her, and his thumb landed on her clit.

She gasped. “Austin. Please…” she pleaded out loud.

He shook his head. “Not this time, baby. Come for me again.”

She shattered again at his insistence, her pussy gripping his fingers with every forceful pulse. Her body wanted more. He seemed unwilling to acquiesce.

As she fluttered back to reality, he eased his fingers out of her and brought them to his lips to lick her come off them one at a time. His cock remained stiff against her hip.

She squirmed, needing to see the rest of him. Taste him. Explore as he had. Rising onto her side, she shoved him to his back. “My turn.”

He shook his head, grabbing her waist. “No way. This was for you this time. Another time.”

“You’re kidding, right?” She lifted a brow.

“Nope. If I take these jeans off, I won’t be able to control myself, and I’m not taking your virginity in a rush.”

She batted his hands away and straddled his body boldly, reaching for the button on his jeans and popping it before he grabbed her wrists.

“Nuria, stop.”

She swatted at him again. “Seriously, Austin. If you think there’s a chance in hell I’m going to end things right here, you’ve lost your mind. I may be smaller, but I’m determined.” She lowered his zipper and reached inside to wrap her palm around his length before he could stop her. Even through the cotton of his underwear, she could feel the heat.

His groan filled the room as he flattened his hands at his sides and fisted the sheets.

She had yet to look around his room at all, and she still didn’t now, but she did notice for the first time his bed was unmade. The sheets were a rumpled mess that made her smile.

Taking advantage of his obvious loss of control, she released his cock to grab the sides of his jeans and tug. “Lift your hips,” she murmured as she squirmed down his body to drag the denim off him. She had no idea when he’d kicked off his shoes or his socks, but they were gone.

And then he was naked before her. A masterpiece of male flesh at her perusal. She straddled his thighs again, acutely aware of the way her pussy opened wide.

His cock was enormous and bobbing against his torso. His head was tipped back, but as she stroked a finger up his length from the base to the tip, he lowered his face and opened his eyes. “I’ve died.”

She giggled, feeling incredible satisfaction at his announcement.

His cock flinched beneath her finger, and then she wrapped her palm around him and stroked again from top to bottom this time. A drip of precome leaked from the head. So damn sexy. She needed to taste it. Now.

Without asking permission and running the risk of him denying her, she lowered her face and flicked her tongue through the slit. The taste was salty, his personal musk also filling her senses.

He groaned louder, his hands releasing the bed to grab her biceps. “Nuria…”

“My turn,” she said into his mind as she swirled her tongue around the head and then drew him into her mouth. It was only fair.

Deep inhuman sounds escaped his lips, vibrating through his body. He held her tighter, almost too tight. She didn’t care.

She lowered her hand down his length and drew him deeper. As she slid back up his cock, proud of the reaction she was getting, she kissed the tip and lifted her face. “Am I doing it right?”

He narrowed his gaze. “Baby, you couldn’t possibly do it wrong. But you don’t have to do that. This isn’t a contest.”

“I want to. I need to, actually.”

He blew out a breath. “Not stopping you, then,” he whispered, seeming to relax more fully into the mattress. He released his tight grip, smoothed his hands down her arms, and picked up her fingers. After drawing them to his lips and kissing the tips, he let her go.

She released his cock, flattened her palms on his chest, and explored every inch of his pecs and then his torso. So hard. And yet smooth at the same time. When she reached his thighs, she lowered her face again and sucked him into her mouth.

He gasped. She tongued the underside of his cock as she drew off him and then did it again. It seemed he liked what she was doing, so she kept it up for several passes until his hands suddenly landed on her shoulders and gave a gentle push. “Baby, I’m going to come. You need to pull off unless you want me to come in your mouth.”

She wanted that so badly, she sucked harder, shaking off his grip. She wrapped one hand around the base of his shaft and drew it up and down with her lips. Moments later, his entire body stiffened, and he came deep inside her mouth.

She swallowed with every pulse, loving the taste of him and the fact that she’d been able to do this to him.

When he finally stopped pulsing and his cock wasn’t quite as hard, she eased off the tip, kissed it reverently, and sat back over his thighs.

The smile on his face as he met her gaze was worth more than he would ever know.