Chapter Eighteen
Tim closed his eyes, relishing the sweet rush of heat. Fighting with his inner beast had been torture, but now, losing control felt good. Ridiculously good, like a dam breaking, and all he could do was go with the flow.
“Yes…” Hailey groaned, making his inner bear preen.
Show her, the beast growled. Show her how good we can make her feel.
Oh, he’d show her, all right. And he had a feeling she’d show him, too.
He wrapped the blanket tighter around both their shoulders and slid his hands down her rear, tugging her even closer. Hailey whimpered and swept her tongue over his teeth. He let her take the lead, chasing her with his tongue, holding her close. But the need in him grew until holding her wasn’t enough. He had to touch her. Taste her. Possess her.
Moving slowly — agonizingly slowly — he gauged her reaction to his hands on her ribs…on her belly…on her breasts…
Hailey moaned, pulling her sweater free of her jeans. “Yes. Please…”
She went back to kissing him — hard — so he explored her like a blind man, inching his hands upward until he’d found the clasp to her bra. A second later, he released it, letting her soft flesh spill into his hands. He started circling his thumbs, nearly groaning at the sensation. Her breasts were small and delicate, and her nipples were already peaked and hard. He flicked the coarsest part of his thumbs over them, making her moan and thrust her shoulders back.
“So good…” Hailey mumbled.
Her hands tangled with his, and a moment later, she helped him pull up her shirt. Not all the way over her head — the mountain air was crisp despite the inferno building between them — but far enough to reveal the lower edge of one pert breast. He popped her pink nipple into his mouth, and she cried out, hitting a high note.
“Yes…”
He couldn’t hold back a happy huffing sound as he rolled his lips. Hailey stretched higher and arched back.
He consumed her. Gorged himself on her. Lapped away until he was sure she would say no. But Hailey whimpered in pleasure, begging for more.
Give the lady what she wants, his bear ordered.
He nipped and suckled until his inner bear was roaring, and then he did it some more, because Hailey was going wild, and so was he. Dangerously wild.
Switching from one side to the other, he scrubbed his chin across her sensitive flesh. His bear was close enough to the surface to have made his clean shave grow out to a stubble, but Hailey didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, she clutched his head closer and moaned.
“Do that again. Please, do that again.”
Hell yeah. He’d do it as much as she wanted.
The starlight was just bright enough for him to sneak a peek. Her nipples glistened like jewels from all the suckling he’d done, and he just about thumped his chest like a caveman. But he wasn’t there to look, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Hailey get cold, so he opened his mouth wide and went back to work.
Ha. His bear chuffed. Work.
Again, his mind registered that something was missing. Her necklace. In fact, he couldn’t remember seeing it all day. But he wasn’t going to stop and ask about it now. Not with Hailey quivering under his touch and making little coos of pleasure. He circled her nipple, then tweaked it, and finally smoothed it over with his tongue.
“Again,” she murmured desperately. “Again.”
It shouldn’t have been possible for a man ten thousand feet above sea level to feel even higher, but Hailey did that to him. His mind grew fuzzier and fuzzier until all he sensed was the driving need to satisfy her. His jeans grew painfully tight, his touches ever rougher.
Hailey’s cries held a note of wonder, and her breath hitched in surprise anytime he switched gears. He wasn’t her first lover, but her cries were those of newfound pleasure.
So give her more, his bear rumbled inside.
Hailey must have been on the same wavelength, because she stood, fumbling with the clasp of her jeans.
“Damn it.” She gave up on hers and went for his like a woman possessed.
Tim’s eyes grew wide when he realized what she wanted, kneeling before him like that.
“Help me.” She looked up at him with shining eyes. “Help me get these off.”
He stared. “Are you sure?”
She laughed. “Do I look sure?”
She looked sure as sin, and he could practically hear the devil cackling when she licked her lips.
He stood just high enough to pop his jeans open — and nearly sighed in relief. When he shoved his boxers aside, his cock sprang free, hard and high.
Hailey’s eyes bugged out and her mouth fell open, but a split second later, she was licking her lips.
“Oh, yes,” she murmured, hunching over him.
Oh, yes did not begin to describe the flames that ripped through his body the second she kissed the tip, and it certainly didn’t describe the wave of pleasure that rocked him — literally rocked him — the second she sucked him in. But Tim couldn’t come up with any better descriptor, so he kept his mouth shut. Which was hard, because holy hell, did that slow, sliding action feel good. The squeeze of her lips, the extra pressure of her tongue…
Tim wove his fingers into her hair and threw his head back, groaning softly. His eyes were open, but the stars blurred and circled like little comets as he rocked in place. He gulped, telling himself not to clutch her hair or pull her closer, but it was hard. Really hard, especially when Hailey came up for air with a faint smacking sound. Then she went down on him again, gripping his thighs tightly.
Down she went, right down to the base, taking him deep. When she pulled back, she did so slowly, and her lips tugged his foreskin when she reached the very tip. Then she pushed forward with her whole body, swallowing him up again.
Tim’s breath came in ragged pants, and every muscle in his body coiled. Any second, he’d explode.
“Hailey,” he rasped, tugging gently on her hair.
She mumbled something but didn’t slow down one bit.
With a supreme effort, he straightened and held his breath.
“You don’t like that?” She looked up in surprise.
He’d made a mess of her hair, giving her a wild look that just about pushed his bear over the edge.
“I love it. But I want you in on this.”
She grinned, ready to lean over him again. “Oh, I’m in on this, all right.”
He shook his head and tugged her to her feet, hooking his fingers into the waistband of her jeans. “No, I mean all in. Both of us at the same time.”
Her eyes sparkled. “All in. I like the sound of that. But I do want a rain check.” She touched the tip of his cock, making it twitch.
It was amazing how his girl next door could not only turn on moments of supermodel, but sex kitten too.
“You got it,” he growled.
She leaned in, capturing his mouth in a huge, sloppy kiss. Then she swiped her tongue over his a few times, spreading around an incredible taste that was part him, part her.
He groaned. “You are definitely getting a rain check.”
She stood back, grinning, and let her hands fly over the zipper of her jeans. The second she shoved down her pants, goose bumps rose all over her legs. He threw the blanket over her shoulders, keeping her covered while she toed off her shoes and shucked her jeans. But when she got to her panties, she stopped and raised her hands.
“All yours.”
His bear growled, and it took all his willpower not to extend his claws and rip those panties off her with one sharp click.
All mine, the beast rumbled.
His fingers trembled as he hooked the sides of her panties and slowly rolled them down. All the way down, because he didn’t want to miss an inch of those long, perfect legs. After helping her kick off the panties, he drew his hands all the way back up again.
“Come closer.” His voice was all scratchy and low.
Hailey stepped forward, straddling his legs. He slid his hands around her waist and down to her rear, reaching up for a kiss at the same time.
“Nice,” Hailey whispered, closing her eyes.
Another one of those words that didn’t capture what he truly felt. Her ass was round and tight, and her wide stance offered him an open invitation to explore.
“Yes,” she panted, keeping her mouth near his while he touched her. She was wet and warm inside, and her hips gyrated slowly as his fingers slipped through her folds.
“Oh…” Her voice rose.
He found her entrance and circled a few times as another wave of heat ripped through his body. Hailey tipped her head back and circled in the opposite direction, moaning louder. Keeping one hand planted firmly on the left side of her glorious ass, he kept up the pressure with his right hand, slipping one finger in then another. Plunging deeper, circling harder.
Mine, his bear rumbled.
“Yes,” Hailey cried, tempting him to keep that up just for the thrill of watching her come totally undone.
But he was coming undone too, his bear dangerously close to the surface. His cock ached, and his lips yearned to close around her nipple again.
“I don’t have a condom,” he managed to rasp, even though it would kill him if she said no. “Don’t often need one,” he admitted so she knew just how long he’d been waiting for someone like her.
Not someone like her, his bear growled. Exactly her. Hailey. No one else comes close.
“I’m on the shot,” Hailey whispered. “And my sourpuss agent makes me get tested regularly. Like I sleep around or something.” She chuckled. “Not with my mother standing guard all the time.”
Finally, a reason to appreciate her mother. Then he shook his head. He didn’t want to think about her mother. What he wanted was Hailey. All of her.
Hailey looked down at him through dazed eyes. Had she read his mind? Maybe she had, because a second later, she straddled his waist and lowered herself onto him.
“Oops,” she purred, missing on the first try. Then she lifted and tried again, gasping when they connected.
Tim hung onto her hips, letting her take him in, one hot, straining inch at a time. Her mouth opened in a silent cry as she pushed harder, bottoming out.
“God, yes.” Her head rolled back, and she gripped his shoulders, starting to rock.
Yes was the right word, because he’d never felt so connected or ready. So on the edge of a total meltdown. He rolled his hips and groaned at the tight squeeze she held him in.
“More,” Hailey murmured.
He closed his eyes, settling into a rhythm Hailey matched, meeting each of his thrusts with a sharp flex of her inner muscles.
Bite her. Mark her. Take her, his bear growled.
“Touch me,” Hailey moaned, making it even harder to resist.
No marking, he snapped at his bear. No mating bite. Just touching, like she wants.
She wants the bite. She wants us, the beast insisted, trying to seize power all over again.
With a supreme effort, he beat the beast down. Not mating. Not tonight.
Why he added that last part, he had no clue, but it did placate his rebellious bear.
Not tonight. But soon, his bear grumbled.
“Please,” Hailey groaned, bucking over him. “Touch me.”
He spread his hands wide across her stomach and slid upward. Her sweater had dropped down, and he rolled it out of the way. For a moment, he basked in the sight of her breasts, swaying seductively before his eyes. Then he leaned forward and captured the left side, squeezing it toward his mouth. The second his lips sealed around her nipple, Hailey shuddered and cried out.
“Yes…”
He flicked his tongue over her perfect, tight bead, working her into a frenzy. Licking, nipping, and thrusting harder all the time. Desire spiraled in him like a storm, and he could barely think. He thrust harder, making his cock burn. Making Hailey burn too, by the sound of it. Seeking out her clit with his free hand was pure instinct, and when he pinched, Hailey jerked.
“Yes,” she cried.
She clamped down over him, and his vision flashed with blinding white light. Fire surged through his veins as he thrust harder. Then, with a sharp groan, he released deep, deep inside.
Mate, his bear cried. Mine.
Hailey mumbled and shuddered while he hung on, determined to fill her as long as he could. Even when his muscles relaxed one by one, he held her tight.
“Hailey…”
She jerked and cried out with an aftershock, then slumped. Her chin weighed heavily on his shoulder, and her cheek warmed his.
“So good,” she whispered a long minute later, drawing lazy, uncoordinated circles on his back.
Slowly, his senses awoke from their blur of ecstasy, and he heard crickets chirp. Somewhere in the distance, a car started. Good thing he’d picked a table far from the rest. He wrapped both arms around Hailey, keeping her close, warm, and safe. Nuzzling her with his cheek, marking her as his.
Soon, we’ll mark her for real, his bear murmured.
He clenched his jaw, concentrating on Hailey, who drew back far enough to look into his eyes and smile. “Can I just say I love your surprises? Especially this one.”
That chased away the dark cloud in his mind, and he grinned. “That was kind of a surprise to me, too.”
She tilted her head, studying him. “You mean you weren’t planning to seduce me up here?” She waved a hand around.
The last of the wispy clouds were clearing out, opening a view to the lights of settlements far, far below. The sea and sky stretched indigo as far as he could see, and a universe of stars winked from above.
He laughed. “My plans only went as far as catching the sunset.”
She chuckled. “You caught more than that, mister.” Then she tightened the blanket around her shoulders and cupped his face in both hands. “Thank you. This is the best night ever. The most special.”
Funny, he was about to say that. “For me too.”
She looked around. “I guess doing it on top of a volcano is hard to beat, huh?”
He shook his head and spoke from the heart. “It’s not the place, Hailey. It’s not the stars. It’s you.”
Her mouth hung open a little as she stared at him.
You, Hailey, he wanted to say. I love you. I need you.
But he couldn’t say that without explaining about his shifter side, and he just didn’t have it in him to see her joy turn to fear of his bear. So he buried his face in her hair and sniffed, memorizing every aspect of his true love. Pretending he could keep her forever.
Forever, his bear growled, ignorant of the dark days he knew would come soon.