Chapter Ten
Boone knew he shouldn’t go any further. He was crazy to have kissed Nina in the first place, because he wasn’t supposed to be necking with a human on his favorite boulder by the beach. But the kiss came out of nowhere — a little like Nina had, that first night he’d found her — and once it started, it took on a life all its own. A force he wasn’t capable of stopping, the way he couldn’t stop the tide.
Why stop? His wolf howled and clawed at the last of his resistance. This is our mate!
The back of his mind tried to serve up an excuse — something about honor and duty and being a gentleman — but the idea never quite came together, not with her kissing him like that. Not with his wolf yowling away.
She needs us. Can’t you feel it?
He could feel it, all right. Deep down in his bones, the same way he could feel a storm building over the Kahalawai peaks.
No need to hesitate.
He was hardly hesitating. In fact, he was already pulling Nina toward this place. But in his mind, he was still negotiating a dozen roadblocks that stood in the way. Like the fact that he really ought to be following up on the leads they’d uncovered instead of relishing how soft and silky her hair felt against his cheek. The fact that he had to investigate Kramer’s sudden appearance on Maui instead of soaking in the taste of her kiss. Or the fact that…that…
The checklist slowly faded from his mind, making it hard to remember what he had to do other than satisfy the woman in his arms.
He ducked under a palm frond and pulled Nina against his body, drowning her in another hungry kiss. He’d kicked his shoes off by the beach, and the earth felt cool under his feet. The breeze tugged on his shirt, urging him to toss it aside and let Nina caress. Touch. Kiss.
She wants us. We want her. Need her.
He needed to protect her, not mess around with her. Not at a time like this.
Destiny wants this, don’t you see? his wolf insisted.
His step faltered. He’d been smitten with Tammy, once upon a time. What if he was wrong again?
Tammy was totally different, his wolf reminded him. It was all lust, no love.
Boone had to give the wolf that one. At the time, he hadn’t realized it, but now, the difference was crystal clear. God, he’d been such a fool. But still — how could he be sure about his true mate?
Follow your heart, a deep, ancient voice whispered in the back of his mind. The voice of destiny?
His wolf huffed. Fine. Pretend she isn’t our mate. She’s still a woman, and you are a man. So get to it, idiot!
Boone had to give the wolf that. He’d hooked up with a few women over the past couple of years. Why the hell not? But that was just fooling around. This was totally different. This was destiny, and if he screwed it up…
“Boone,” Nina begged.
He lifted her effortlessly, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, squeezing her body against his, stoking the fire inside him.
Need her, his wolf said over and over. Need her.
In the end, that hunger beat his better judgment by a long shot. Boone found himself peeling off Nina’s clothes, then his own.
“Nice tattoo,” she murmured, touching the wolf inked into his arm. Then she gasped at the sight of the scar on his abdomen. A souvenir from his military days — the closest he’d come to dying for his country. Awfully close, in fact, as the scar proved, because it took a hell of a wound to leave a mark like that on a quick-healing shifter.
He guided Nina’s hands away from the scar and led her under the outdoor shower beside his bungalow. Nothing was going to stop him now. Seeing Kramer and Tammy—
Ta-ma-ra, his wolf corrected, rolling his eyes.
—had made him feel dirty and used, and he had to wash that away before getting any closer to the pureness that was Nina.
The open-air shower was sheltered by long vines of morning glory and brilliant red ginger with long, green leaves. The floor was made of smooth local stone. There was always a certain thrill to showering under the sky, a pureness to it, like standing under a waterfall. As if it was just the two of them on a desert island and they had weeks, even months to hide away from the world. But there was urgency, too, the way the setting sun conveyed a sense of urgency. He’d been resisting Nina’s pull for too long, and suddenly, he had to have it all.
“Is this okay?” he murmured, pinning her against the wall. His heart hammered, and his cock jutted against her hip.
When she squeaked her approval, his wolf roared.
He held her hands high, kissing her deeply, trying desperately to hold back the full brunt of his passion. Then kissing wasn’t enough, and he worked his way down her body, bit by bit, nipping and licking desperately. Her throat was musky with the scent of arousal. Her collarbone so fine and gracefully arched, he spent a full minute there. Then he slid lower, over the swell of her breast.
He’d let go of her hands, and Nina plowed her fingers through his hair, guiding him lower. Lower…
“Boone,” she groaned the second his lips closed around her nipple.
His eyes were closed, but he swore he saw fireworks. A whole sky full of them, flashing and crackling with power. His body burned with need, and his cock grew so hard, it hurt.
“Yes,” Nina murmured, scooping the flesh of her breast and holding it high for him.
He sucked hard, making her gasp, then released with a pop and licked her skin smooth. He turned to the other side and held his mouth open under the trickle of water running off her nipple, gulping it down.
“Right here,” he said, guiding her hand to that side, letting her plump the flesh up so he could drink there, too.
“More,” she moaned, shivering under his touch.
Boone didn’t keep track of how many positions he’d ever tried or how many partners he’d slept with. But he’d never done anything as erotic or thrilling as this. Never. He cupped his hands over hers, flicking his thumbs over the nipples to make them peak, gulping down water like a man who’d been lost in the desert for years.
A lifetime. A parched lifetime without her, his wolf said.
But, crap. Here he was, chasing his own pleasure. What about hers?
She likes this, his wolf chuckled.
Yeah, he could tell from the way she ground against him and tipped her head back.
“Hang on,” he whispered, sliding up her body again.
Nina groaned in protest.
“I swear this will be even better,” he said, kissing her ear.
“Not possible.”
He grinned. “Totally possible. Turn around.”
Nina’s eyes were hazy, but she turned in his arms. “Now, what?”
He guided her hands up against the wall, coaxing her to open up by nudging her legs apart. “Now I make you feel even better.”
“Ooh. I like this,” she whispered, grinding back against his cock.
His smile stretched. Who knew his mild-mannered beauty could drop her inhibitions so fast?
She knows her mate, his wolf hummed with pride. She trusts us.
He cupped her waist, then reached forward and teased her breasts. Water ran over her shoulders and down her cleavage, and he watched tiny streams divide and reunite.
Nina leaned her head against his shoulder as he slid one hand lower. Her body tensed, but she spread her legs wider, inviting him in.
“Perfect,” he whispered, admiring her curves, following them to her most private place.
“Perfect,” she sighed, guiding his left hand lower while keeping his right anchored on her breast.
He rubbed her thigh first, then slowly reached deeper to tease her folds. Her flesh was soft and warm, and every line in her body pulled him to the same place.
“Touch me,” she whispered, rocking against his hand.
His voice was hoarse with need when he answered. “I am touching you.”
“Deeper,” she begged, ratcheting up his inner bonfire another ten degrees.
Her slick heat didn’t come from the shower, and when he obeyed her command, his fingers slipped right in. Two fingers, not one, that he circled and scissored.
“Boone,” she cried, arching against him.
He pinched her nipple and ran his teeth over her neck.
Right there, his wolf murmured, already calculating where he’d put the mating bite. And crap, if that wasn’t a reminder of how crucial it was to keep his beast leashed, he didn’t know what was.
No mating bite, he ordered the beast. Just make her feel good.
His wolf half protested, half approved. Make her feel real good.
“Boone,” Nina whispered as he pumped inside her. Moments ago, she’d relaxed against him, but now the tension was building in her body. The good kind of tension, winding her nerves higher and higher.
“Yes…” she breathed, rocking against him.
He added a third finger and pumped harder.
“Yes…”
Yes, he wanted to roar. Yes.
What he really wanted was to lean her over and sink into her from behind. If she liked this, she’d love that. But damn, he didn’t have a condom out here. So, okay. He’d settle for giving her an orgasm to remember before taking her to bed.
“So good,” she cried, massaging her own breasts, circling her hips.
Feels great, he wanted to say. He winced a little, though, because a faint tapping sensation started up in his head. Like someone knocking on the door, demanding to be let in. What was that?
“This is just the start,” he promised, whispering in her ear.
He clenched his jaw, telling himself his words didn’t carry a double meaning.
The start of a lifetime together, his wolf hummed. As mates.
“Promise,” she said, suddenly demanding. “Promise.”
His chest ached with the force of his heart yearning to seal the deal there and then. He could bite her at the height of her orgasm and make her his mate. She’d never leave, and they could spend a lifetime enjoying moments like these.
He gritted his teeth. There was so much Nina didn’t know about him. So much to figure out first. Like what the hell that tapping in his brain was.
Promise, his wolf said. If not forever, then promise you won’t give up on her. Promise you’ll do everything to make this work.
He nodded. That was reasonable enough, right?
“I promise,” he said. Then he quit talking, quit thinking, and focused everything on her.
He nipped her neck. Tweaked her nipples. Thrust his fingers faster. Listened to her cry and mew for more as the tapping sound grew louder.
“Yes…yes…”
Her head rolled on his shoulder. Her body tightened like a spring under pressure. The water plastered her hair over his body and hers. And when he paused briefly, then hammered back in, she shuddered and cried long and hard, totally abandoned to the pleasure inside.
The water gushed over her body, and he looked down to where his hand was locked over her, figuring he’d let her chase the high as long as she could before easing back. But the tapping in his head turned into an explosion, and suddenly, all his senses tuned in to the sound of Nina’s voice.
So good… Yes… Don’t stop…
A blinding white light filled his eyes as her senses took over his own, as if she had climbed into his mind and was writhing in pleasure in there.
God, yes. Don’t let me go…
He could hear Nina. Feel Nina. They were connected.
She said, don’t stop, his wolf barked.
He thrust his fingers deeper and swirled them around as she moaned in his mind, unaware that he could hear.
Yes… Yes…
Boone had never seen anything as beautiful, and he’d never felt as connected. He knew just what she needed and where. When to back off and when to pump deeper. When to press a finger over her clit to wring another ounce of pleasure out of her hidden reserves. Outwardly, her body seemed to be easing back from the high. But her soul was hungry for more, so he stretched the pleasure out.
Now! she cried inside. Now!
Her voice rose higher, and her body danced on and on.
He circled his fingers, withdrew, then thrust in again while sealing his mouth over her neck.
“Oh…” she moaned, slumping slowly.
He caught her around the waist and held her tight. Her high was receding, giving way to deep satisfaction. He could practically hear her purr.
“Oh my God, Boone,” she murmured a second later. “That was so good.”
I know, he wanted to say. I felt it, too.
Which meant he couldn’t deny the truth any more. They were mates. Destined mates. He’d never been that tuned in to another person before. Not to the first woman he’d ever touched, nor the last. Certainly not to Tammy. No one. Ever.
Nina was his destined mate.
Tell her, his wolf urged. Tell her.
He pulled his lips inward, locking away the words. No way was he blurting that out now. Nina would think he was nuts, and hell, he doubted he could put something that monumental into words anyway.
Okay, forget about telling her. Show her, his wolf growled.
He nestled his cheek against hers and held her tight, murmuring meaningless syllables in her ear. He nuzzled her softly, then harder, working his way from the right side of her face to the left.
“Boone,” she giggled, cupping his face close.
He kept right on nuzzling. Let that be the beginning of everything he couldn’t yet voice about wolves, destiny, and true love. Let that be part of his promise to her.
Ha, his wolf crowed. Another promise. Doesn’t even hurt, does it?
No, it didn’t. It just made his soul sing. But there was a danger in that, too, and Boone knew it.
Nina stretched in his arms and hugged him, slowly getting her limbs back into gear. Enough that her hands started slinking down his back and caressing his rear. “You did promise that was just the start, right?”
He grinned and nuzzled her ear. “Sure did.”