Chapter Seventeen – Sian

“Hi there.” Matthew straightened up and watched her as she sauntered toward him. Her body tingled with the desire to feel his strong capable hands all over her.

“Hi, how’s it going?” She swallowed down her desire as he turned to face her.

“Good, I should have this finished today. The roof no longer leaks.” He put his hands on his hips and her eyes were drawn to his wide expanse of chest. How her fingers itched to stroke his skin, and her lips buzzed with the need to trail kisses over his hot flesh. “Then I can start on the next job.” He lowered his head and surveyed her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Her voice squeaked. He was fulfilling her fantasy from earlier in the day. When she’d gotten back here and found the house bereft of her hot mate, she’d gone for a walk around the property to cool down. Yet here he was, as if she’d conjured him from her imagination. “I... The porch looks good.”

“Thanks.” He didn’t take his eyes off her. Did he have any idea of how he made her feel?

“I thought I’d make lunch.” She smiled brightly and tried to look normal, but figured she looked more like a demented fool. “Can I get you something?”

Me.

Color rushed to her cheeks. He couldn’t hear her thoughts, but she was certain her body was betraying her with all kinds of subtle hints. Peter had never made her feel like this, her body thrummed with excitement, she could get high just being close to Matthew. Was this how her life would be from now on, barely able to function because of a man? But oh, what a man he was.

“You.” His answer was accompanied by his outstretched arms and she had to force herself to focus on what the question was again.

“The feeling is mutual.” That sounded so lame, but her brain had left for a vacation somewhere warm and fuzzy.

Sian took a step forward and then another until she was in his arms. There was nowhere else she wanted to be. He tightened his grip on her as if he never wanted to let her go. “I know it’s a lot to take in, it’s a lot to believe in,” Matthew said.

“I might find it harder if I hadn’t witnessed the moment Ronni and Lucas met. It was love at first sight. Like they knew who the other was instantly.” She lifted her head and looked up at him. “Did you feel the same way?”

“I did. At the auction, it was as if cupid’s arrow had struck me in my heart. Which was weird because I thought my heart was shriveled up and blackened. But seeing you was like getting an electric shock, which kick-started my heart and my life.” He stroked her hair with his hand and dropped a kiss on her lips before murmuring, “My life changed in that split second, but I didn’t know how to handle it or how you would feel about me, so I swallowed it down and tried to hide it.”

“I know that feeling.” She listened to his heart beat constant and strong. “You’ve woken something in me, too. When I decided to move us halfway across the country for a new start in Bear Creek, I vowed I would stay away from men at least until the girls had grown up. But that promise I made to myself has shattered into a million pieces.”

“I’m glad.” He stroked her cheek and then cupped her chin in his hand. “You are freezing, let’s go inside.”

“I don’t know, I like it here with you.” She snuggled closer to him. “You are so warm.”

“Which is a good thing since I’m living in your freezing cold house.” He reached for her hand and they entered the house.

“Are you trying to make me feel guilty?” she asked. “Because it won’t work. I love it here.”

“So much that you’ll never leave?” His direct question shocked her.

“I don’t know. I mean I know we’re meant to be together. But what about Ella and Rachel?” she asked.

“They’re invited, too.” The hope in his eyes was almost too much.

“I don’t know... We have to tell them about shifters first. I don’t know how they’ll take it.” She let go of his hand and headed for the kitchen, but he pulled her back to him.

“I’ll wait as long as I have to wait. If all we have is stolen moments, then so be it.” His voice was hoarse as he wrapped his arms possessively around her.

“I can’t ask you to do that.” She lifted her face to his.

“You aren’t asking. I’m offering. No expectations, just a chance to be in your life.” He lowered his head and captured her lips and she pressed her body against his. This felt so right. As if this was where she’d been born to be.

“We’ll make it work,” Sian breathed against his neck as their kiss broke and she fought the well of emotion that threatened to explode inside her. It had been so long, too long, since she’d wanted a man. After the first blush of lust for Peter had faded, sex had soon become a formality.

She closed her eyes and drank in the sensations washing over her skin as Matthew caressed her jawline, his fingers trailing lightly down her neck as he reached for the zipper of her coat. There was nothing formal about this, she wanted to tear his clothes from his body and throw him down on the bed before making sweet, passionate love to him.

A small nervous giggle escaped her lips. Matthew had awoken the beast inside her and she was ready to set her free.

“Did I tickle you?” His question was accompanied by soft butterfly kisses along her collarbone.

She shivered in anticipation as his strong fingers curled around her coat and he pushed it off her shoulders. “That’s not exactly how I’d describe what you are doing to me.” Her fingers fumbled for the hem of his sweater and pulled it upward. “But I’m willing to experiment.”

He chuckled, a deep throaty laugh that sent tremors through her body. She wanted him and for once she was certain she was going to get exactly what she wanted. He was a shifter, he couldn’t say no to his mate, right?

“Maybe we should go take a look at the bedroom?” he asked as she pulled his sweater over his head.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak now that she was faced with the reality of sex with Matthew. Sian tried to recall what underwear she put on this morning. Was her bra sexy or serviceable? Did he care?

The dark need barely hidden in his eyes told her she could be dressed in a garbage bag and he wouldn’t care. In fact, he would prefer no clothes at all. But still, she could always run upstairs first and drag something lacy out of her drawers.

Matthew took that decision out of her hands. And into his. Scooping her up as if she were a young, nubile woman, not the middle-aged, fully-ripened mother of two nearly grown children, Matthew cradled her against his body as he mounted the stairs in haste. She could feel his hard length jutting into her thigh, and she swallowed down her panic and instead tried to resurrect her desire. But her mouth had gone dry and her palms were sweaty.

He kicked open the bedroom door and strode across the room before placing her down gently on the bed. This one tender action brought back her longing. Its tendrils unfurled deep in her belly and fanned out until her body ached for him.

Matthew hovered over the bed, uncertainty playing across his face. “Are you sure?”

In response, she grasped hold of the front of his T-shirt and dragged him toward her. “Absolutely, one hundred percent.”

He leaned forward and their lips met, gentle at first, but then the flames of desire raged inside them both. It flickered in their eyes and the heat seared their skin with each stroke, each touch. Sian slid her hands down to grip the hem of his T-shirt and dragged it upward. Matthew sat up briefly and dragged it over his head, throwing it to the floor before he unbuttoned her cardigan, and then her shirt, before pushing them both off her shoulders. She shrugged out of them, her hand getting caught in the cuff of her blouse, but together they worked to free it.

Matthew dropped her jumble of clothes on the floor, and she took a moment to glance down at her bra. It would do. Not her best lingerie, but then she hadn’t expected to be lying here on the bed with Matthew when she dressed this morning. She shook her hair back from her head and tried to look seductive, but Matthew was more interested in the button of her pants and how quickly he could drag them down over her thighs.

If she ever thought to question his own need for her, he showed her the answer in his haste to have her naked beneath him. Sian couldn’t take her eyes off him, he was beautiful. Not in a feminine way, oh no, he was all man. But his body was sculpted from smooth flesh despite his age. Only the silver-gray hairs on his head and the smattering of hair across his chest, which led down to his navel, had been touched by time.

“You are magnificent,” she breathed as he dropped his jeans to the floor.

“You’ll make me blush,” he said coyly.

“I bet you’ve heard it a thousand times,” Sian replied.

“But it only matters when you say it.” He stalked toward the bed, a hunter about to claim his prey, but the desire in his eyes told her that she had as much power over him.

A lump formed in her throat. She understood now, even without the same mating bond shifters were destined to obey, she couldn’t hurt him, would always be faithful to him, because he loved her without expectations. It was one of the purest of loves, unconditional, like that which a parent and a child shared.

Unless your name was Peter.

No. She would not let thoughts of him spoil this moment.

Not trusting herself to speak, Sian slid her hand around the nape of Matthew’s neck and pulled him close. He came willingly, their bodies resting next to each other on the bed. Skin against skin, he sought her lips and claimed her mouth with an intensity that ignited her desire. Sian opened her mouth and he slid his tongue along her lower lip tasting her, teasing her. Every nerve ending in her body anticipated his touch, aching for his fingers to caress her soft skin.

Sian shifted her weight on the bed, angling her body toward him. Matthew took advantage and unclasped her bra and her breasts spilled out, only to be captured by his large hand. With a sigh, she closed her eyes as he teased her nipple with his thumb, his work-hardened hands gentle despite their strength. She reveled in the knowledge that this was the person she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. She sure could get used to having him in her bed.

He broke their kiss and lowered his head, capturing her nipple in his mouth. Rolling his tongue around and around, he kicked her arousal up a notch. Sian stroked his toned skin, exploring his body, her fingertips gliding over the contours of his muscles, working downward along his toned abs and then lower until she curled her hand around his hard length.

Matthew groaned and nipped the sensitive skin of her breasts, while his fingers slid across her skin, lower, much lower until he caressed her mound. Sian opened her thighs, wishing the fabric of her panties wasn’t a barrier between them. Yet his touch was somehow magnified as he played his fingers across the cotton fabric edged with lace.

Then he moved, his mouth leaving her breasts, to place butterfly kisses over her soft belly. She gasped as his teeth grazed her mound, his tongue flicking out to tease her sensitive bundle of nerves and then his fingers curled around the elastic of her panties and he pulled them down over her curvy thighs. Triumphant, he crawled back up the bed, his body slipping between her thighs and she opened her legs wider to accommodate him, urging him on, needing him to claim her.

Matthew’s intentions had never been plainer, his expression one of open hunger as he guided himself into her. If she had ever doubted he was a shifter and she was his mate, then the look of pure naked desire on his face would dispel any doubt. Pushing inside her, Matthew thrust his powerful hips forward, impaling her on his hardness. The sensation was incredible as skin slid against skin. Electricity sparked between them as their passion grew.

He moved, in and out, pushing deeper as if he wanted to crawl inside her skin and be one with her. She ran her nails along his back, urging him on, deeper, harder, his powerful body taking her, waking her dormant body. Sian nipped his neck as he took her toward a shattering climax. She couldn’t hold on, her body, now awakened, needed to reach new heights. When she came, it was as if she’d lost control, giving herself to Matthew and trusting him to go with her wherever their lives might lead.

As her inner muscles pulsed and throbbed around his hard length, he cried out and lost control, his seed spurting deep inside her. A hot flash containing his very essence. So this was what it was like to mate with a shifter. She envied any woman who did not have the same connection with their man. But perhaps normal couples felt this connection even without the shifter element. Perhaps it was only her marriage to Peter that lacked the same spark.

“No regrets?” he asked as she lay in his arms, their breathing not yet returned to normal, their bodies slick with heat.

“Never.” She rolled over and stroked his face with her fingertips. “This is right. This is where we’re supposed to be. I just need time to make sure the girls are happy with the situation. With us.”

“Us. I like the sound of that.” He stroked her back and tilted his head to look in her eyes. “I’ve only thought of me for so long. But that’s all behind me.”

“Even if a multi-million dollar property deal came between us?” she asked.

“Money means nothing next to how I feel for you.” He smiled as she rolled her eyes. “I mean it.”

“And since you can’t lie, I suppose I’ll have to believe you.”

“You should, because it’s the honest truth.”