Excessive Force (Force of Nature Series) (8 page)

“Are you all right, my
dear? You sound frustrated.” She might have thought that he knew something, but thought that he was simply stating a fact. “Now that Curtis is dead, we need to get together and see what you want to do with the sale of the property.”

She star
ted to tell him she had it under control when she thought about him knowing she’d sold it already. The phone call had only happened less than thirty minutes ago, and she knew that the realtor wouldn’t have called him too.

“I haven’t done anything with the property as yet.
What do you mean?” He laughed again in that sarcastic way that grated on her nerves. “Who called you?”

“The buyer.
Austin has had his eye on this land for some time. He’d even offered Curtis a fair amount for it before you came in and paid off the taxes. Did you know that the land butts right up against his?” She didn’t know that and told him so. “He’s to meet you at the bank in the morning, and so you know, he’s paid the asking price. That should put a nice deposit in your account.”

The asking price was enough to put a deposit on a great many things
, one of which was a house she’d had her heart set on since she’d been a child. It was not far from where she was now, but she knew that it was a pipe dream. Buying that house would put her close to her brothers, as well as the Force family.

“If I sign a waiver, can you complete the sale?” He told her no.
“Why not? I thought that’s what lawyers were for. Besides fucking up people’s lives and robbing them blind.”

He laughed. Phil was the strangest man she’d ever met and by far the weirdest lawyer.
When he calmed down enough where she could speak to him again, he still chuckled at her as she continued.

“I don’t understand you. Any of you people.
Are you on drugs or something? I simply want to get this completed, make sure the fucking bastard is dead, and get on with my life.”

She could almost hear his smile. “Does that include Reid?
Will you allow him to be a part of your life now that you’ve settled this part of things?”

“I don’t have room in my life for a mate. And if you knew me better
, you’d try to convince him that he’s better off without me. I’m not a nice person, and I’m horribly…messed up. Not just my body but my head too. And my body is bad enough.” She no longer even looked at herself in the mirror. It was bad enough that she had to see her arms. “The mage did a number on me before he got away. I’m not…I’m not whole anymore.”

“What do you mean, Jodie?
Not whole how?” She looked around the lovely room and didn’t answer him. She had been injured, more than just her flesh but inside as well. Children were never going to be an option for her, and she knew that as a wolf, Reid would want plenty.

“Never mind.
Curtis’s funeral is set for tomorrow at ten. I’ll be at the bank at noon. Will Mr. Force be able to make it?” She heard papers shuffle around and waited for Phil to answer.

“He can. I have his
schedule here. He wants to also go over the house with you. He will want to know what you want from it.” She thought he was kidding her. What the fuck would she want from that disgusting house? Then she realized that Austin had never been in it.

“Nothing.
There is nothing in that house I want. When I left, I took what I wanted with me and that’s it. He can do whatever he wants with the furniture too. For all I care, he can burn the place down.” She felt tears threaten as she realized that she truly didn’t have anything there. “I’ll be at the bank at noon.”

She put down the phone and la
y back on the bed. Jodie was depressed now and didn’t really understand why. When the phone rang again, she didn’t answer it. Nor the next four times it rang. Finally, when it stopped, she closed her eyes and fell to sleep.

Chapter 8

Reid knew that going to her hotel was a mistake. But she wasn’t answering the phone
, and frankly, he was worried. She might be all tough and bad assed, but she was still his mate. The second time he had to knock on her door, he was ready to bust it in. When he heard her moving around, he still wasn’t satisfied until she opened the door. Finally, when she did, he could only stare at her.

Christ, she looked good enough to eat.
Her hair was tousled and laying down over her unfettered breasts. The tee-shirt she had on was tight, and her nipples were hard and peaked. The shirt hung just to the top of her panties that would make any man whimper, and she was his.

Not really thinking about what she might do to him, Reid pulled her to him and kissed her.
Her arms wrapping around him was all the invitation he needed to lift her up and take her to the nearest hard surface.

The bed was there
, and he wanted to lay her across it and feast on her as he’d imagined doing when he’d been in her mind, but he didn’t go that way, but to the wall directly across from them. As soon as he had her pressed against it, he tore her shirt off her and took her breast into his mouth and suckled.

“Reid, please.”
He had no idea what she wanted but knew how to please her. When her fingers curled into his hair and pulled him away from his bounty, he had to catch himself from snarling at her.

“This doesn’t change a thing.”
He didn’t answer her but took her mouth again. When she lifted his head this time, he rocked into her hard enough to make the pictures on the wall bounce. Whether she wanted to believe him or not, it changed everything.

Lifting her up high enough to open his jeans
, she licked his throat. He could almost feel her hunger to bite him, but she stopped just short of sinking her teeth into him. He wasn’t worried. Before this night was over, she’d be his and he would be hers. When he’d freed his cock, he tore her panties off and sank her onto him.

Of all the things he’d thought of when he took her
, it wasn’t her being a virgin. When she screamed out in pain, Reid’s wolf snarled as well. He didn’t care for his human hurting his mate. Reid didn’t much care for it either.

“I’m so sorry
, baby. I didn’t know.” He held her to him, not moving for fear of hurting her more. When she moved, he groaned and held her still with his hands on her hips. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore honey, but if you move again, I’m going to come.”

Her breath fanned across his pounding pulse
, and he had to think of anything other than her. When Jodie nipped at his ear, he rocked into her as gently as he could, but he knew that he’d hurt her again because she groaned.

“Again.”
He looked at her thinking he’d not heard her correctly. “Do that again, only harder this time.”

Reid felt sweat roll down his back and his shirt stick to him.
When he rocked his hips into her, she didn’t groan, but she moaned deep in her throat. Moving slowly, he moved inside her a little harder with each up and down stroke.

“You’re killing me.” She smiled at him
, then threw back her head and moaned. “Christ, I want to bite you.”

He licked at the pounding pulse at her throat and nipped hard enough to draw blood but not mark her.
When her fingers tightened in his hair, he did it again until she was riding him with a wildness that took his breath away. He wanted her to mark him, not because of what Tristan had told them, but because the thought of her sinking her fangs into him had his cock jerk inside of her. She moaned his name as she tightened her legs around him.

Moving to the bed with her wrapped
around him, he sat down. She was all around him, so rolling her to her back and settling between her legs was easy. Lifting her breast to his mouth, he bit down on her nipple and felt her tighten around his cock.

Reid rolled
into her over and over, bringing her just to the point of coming then slowing again. When she growled at him, he nearly laughed but was afraid she’d kill him. Now that he had her here, he wasn’t taking any chances with her stopping him. Reaching up to his throat, he morphed his fingers into a sharp nail and opened his vein. As soon as she covered the wound with her mouth and sucked the first time, Reid pounded into her.

“Come. Come for me
, Jodie.” She rolled him to his back, never taking her mouth from his vein, and sat up, bringing him with her. She straddled him, rode him as she sealed the wound.

“I’m
hungry.” His heart skipped several beats when what she said sank in. “When I feed from you, you’re going to have to do the same from me.”

“I don’t…how do I do that?”
Her wrist was pressed against his mouth, and he bit into her. When her fangs tore into his throat, Reid rolled her to her back and came deep inside of her as she screamed out her own release.

Stars dotted his vision
, and he felt his world darken as he came twice more. When she lifted her head from his throat and howled, Reid joined her. Christ, she was his. And he knew for as long as he lived, if he lived after this, there would never be a more defining moment in his life than having his mate feed from him.

When he dropped onto her
, she wrapped her arms around him and held him to her. Rolling to his back, he pulled her with him and settled her lax body over his. He could hear her heart pounding as hard as his was and had to smile. Good Christ, she was amazing.

“You cheated.” He lifted her head to see what she meant. “You sent me all those thought
s and images to make me want you more.”

“So you wanted me, huh?”
She slapped him on the chest as she laid back down. “I’m sorry, but you’ve no idea how hard it was for me not to come here and follow through on some of those. And I could feel your need, too, and that didn’t help.”

He ran his fingers up and down her back
, touching places where he knew she’d been scarred. Reid wasn’t worried about how they looked on her. She was his, and as far as he could see, she was perfect. When she spoke again, he could feel her pain, and it hurt him in ways he’d never imagined it would.

“I don’t want this. I know that it’s much
too late for that, but I don’t want this. I’ve enough going on, terrible things that you’ll get hurt from, that having a mate will be dangerous. Not just for you but for both of us.” She rolled to her back, and he moved to his side to look at her. She really was perfect. “The mage, when he finds me or I find him, he’s going to use whatever he can to try and make me not kill him.”

“You think he’ll use me against you?”
She nodded. “That means a great deal to me, you know. The fact that he can use me and it would upset you.”

“I’m not in love with you. I’m not even sure I like you most of the time.
The sex was…it was great, but it doesn’t change that I don’t want a mate.” Reid nodded, trying his best not to be hurt by the truthfulness of her words. He didn’t love her either, but he did want her.

Toying with her nipple
, he watched it pucker under his fingers. When she moaned, he leaned over and licked her until she moaned. Lifting his head, he looked down at her. She was by and far the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.

“I have this house. It’s too fucking big for me
, and thanks to your father it’s well furnished and has a top of the line security system in it. I’d like for you to come and stay with me tonight. I know you have another life, and I’d never do anything so stupid as to tell you that you have to quit whatever it was and stay here with me. Nor am I stupid enough to think even if I did say that to you, you’d do it.” He took her nipple into his mouth again and suckled just the tip until she arched beneath him. Lifting his head, he looked at her again and saw hunger. “I’d very much like to take you back to the house and fuck you again and again until neither of us can move.”

He watched her face
, looking for anything that would tell him she wasn’t going to do as he asked. If nothing else, something that told him that she was leaving him now. But she finally nodded.

“I have Curtis’
s funeral tomorrow. Will you go with me? I need to…I have to prove to myself that he’s really dead and gone.”

“What did he do to you?”
She stared off into the room, and he didn’t think she’d answer him, but when she did, he felt as if finding Curtis and tearing him apart wasn’t ever going to be enough.

“He did everything to me.”

~~~

The house was much bigger than she’d thought.
The master suite was bigger than her entire hotel room, as well as having a bathroom any girl worth her salt would kill for. It alone was enough for her to want to stay with him. When he asked her if she wanted a bath, she nearly shoved him out of the room so she could fill the enormous tub to the top and soak for a week in it.

Turning on the taps
, she started to strip down. But he stood behind her and pulled her shirt off her, taking the time to kiss her shoulders and spine. By the time he’d taken off her bra, she was wet, and it wasn’t from the steam of the tub. He was that yummy.

“I want to wash you.
All of you.” She nodded, wondering why she’d ever thought bathing alone was a good idea. Helping her into the tub after he’d stripped all her clothing off, he moved in behind her until she was cupped in front of him, back to chest.

The large sponge was incredibly soft
against her skin and the soap he used smelled of vanilla and peaches. By the time he’d washed both arms and was rubbing it up and down her leg, she was as limp as a wet noodle and hot enough to boil water.

“Randy is my brother. We were going to buy this house together and sell it in a few years.
But he decided that he wanted to live alone in the city closer to where he would be working.” She didn’t understand family. Hers was fucked up, and she didn’t have any interaction with others so had no idea how other families worked together. “He’s right, I suppose, in saying that it’s for a man with a family.”

Her heart clinched
, but she kept her mouth shut. They were only going to be a fling for a little while, she told herself. As soon as she found the mage and killed him, he’d be sickened by her and want her to move on. Trying to ignore the pain that thought caused her, she started to scoot to the other side of the tub, only to be stopped by him.

“You’ve seen my body. Are you grossed out by it?” Shaking his head
, he lifted her leg again, kissed one particularly nasty looking scar, and smiled at her. “My entire body is messed up. Inside and out.”

“You
can’t have children. I’m aware of that.” She looked at him, shocked. “Jodie, I’m a doctor. I can see the damage on your abdomen and know that to have been hurt that badly you would have had internal injuries as well.”

“You
can’t have children by me.” He shrugged and moved toward her. “You’re a wolf. You want to have lots of children. I can’t give them to you.”

“There are other ways to have children.
Not all parents who have them want them. And there are children everywhere that have no one to love them.” He kissed her on her mouth and moved to where her shoulder met her neck. “I want to mark you.”

His teeth were sharp as he sank them into her. He didn’t hurt her
, but she was ready for him to take her again. Moving her hand up his body, she found his cock and wrapped her fingers around him. Reid moaned but didn’t lift his head from where he was.

He was thicker than she’d thought. Of course
, when he’d taken her the first time, she’d thought he was at least a foot thick. But now that she was touching him, she could barely get her fingers to touch around his shaft. When he sat up in the water, resting on his knees, she could see his cock just beneath the water.

Her mouth watered to taste him.
Jodie wasn’t sure how to tell him this, but he seemed to understand. Moving to the edge of the tub, he sat down and opened his legs. Sliding toward him, she put her hands on his thighs and looked up at him.

“You’ve no idea how much I want to feel your mouth on me.” She nodded
, thinking she wanted it as much as he seemed to. “Take me into your mouth, baby. I want to feel you suck me.”

She wasn’t sure what she thought he’d taste like
, but the paradise that filled her mouth was enough to make her come. Swirling her tongue around his thick crown, she tasted something salty on her tongue and lifted her head. There was a drop of something creamy white at his tip, and she licked it into her mouth. Christ, it was enough to make her come again.

“Again. Christ, suck me again.”
His voice moved over her body like his hands did, touching her everywhere and making her need leap to nearly overwhelming her. When his fingers curled into her hair and held her over him, she nearly cried out when he rocked his hips up and touched the back of her throat.

Reid took her hand and put it over his sack.
His balls were heavy, and she found that they were incredibly hot. Cupping them in her hands, she heard him moan and knew that he was enjoying this as much as she was. When they started to tighten next to his body, she knew that he was close to coming. And she planned to drink everything he gave her.