A Stranger’s Touch (7 page)

Donovan broke the kiss. As Roxi struggled to force her thoughts back in order, he slid his arms around her and lifted her out of the way as if she weighed nothing at all.

Roxi gaped at him. She was anything but featherlight, yet he’d just hoisted her up in the air and wasn’t even breathing hard.

An elderly woman wearing a giant neon-green hat shaped like a flower made a sound of disapproval as she yanked open the gate, then walked past them.

Donovan hadn’t released her. His breath fanned her cheek, warming her straight to her core. “Yes.”

“Yes?” she echoed dumbly.

“Yes…” The sultry look he gave her robbed Roxi of all reasonable thought. “I want to come up.”

He had enough time to get a quick impression of feminine furniture, soft fabrics and lots of pastels. All of those whizzed right past him as Roxi grabbed a fistful of his jacket and tugged him through a narrow corridor, past an open archway he thought led to a kitchen—and into nirvana.

The scent that had been driving him crazy for weeks now, pure Roxi, was intensified tenfold in her bedroom. It wrapped around him like a sensual blanket and tugged on his cock until he was so hard, he thought he’d burst from the mere smell of her.

Donovan’s wolf trembled inside him, testing the boundaries of his control. He needed to get his hands on her. Needed to be inside her.
Now.

She must have known what he was thinking, because she slammed the door closed with her foot as she stripped. The large coat she’d nearly disappeared under out on the street was on the floor now, tossed in a careless heap.

Roxi stood before him—still fully clothed, damn it—and stretched out an arm when he advanced. Her splayed hand caught him full in the chest. She didn’t have the strength to stop him, but he used the last ounce of self-control he could muster to keep from ripping off her clothes.

“You have seen me naked many times.”

A happy growl tumbled from his throat. Oh, and what a glorious sight it was, too. “Beautiful,” he said.

She quirked an eyebrow. A hint of a smile played upon her full lips. “But I have never seen you.”

His cock leapt against his fly, all too eager to show her what he had. His hands went to his belt and in seconds he’d tossed it on the floor, along with his shoes, jeans and shirt. He stood before her in nothing but his briefs. His shaft tented the fabric, forming a sizeable bulge.

Her eyes widened, but whether in appreciation or apprehension, he couldn’t tell. Only one way to find out. He slipped his fingers beneath the waistband and pulled forward just enough to free his cock. The head slapped against his stomach.

Watching Roxi’s reaction to seeing all of him was a headier aphrodisiac than her scent alone. He loved seeing her pupils darken, her tongue sweep out to moisten her lips, her nipples pebble against her shirt.

Oh yeah, that was appreciation in her gaze, all right. His inner wolf stood up and howled, but the man in him refused to take the time to gloat. “Your turn.” He hardly recognized his own voice. The gruff undertones turned it gritty and thunderous.

She shook her head slowly from side to side, her gaze never leaving his cock. “You are not fully naked yet.”

It took him less than a heartbeat to toss the briefs aside. “Your turn,” he repeated, and this time his tone left no room for argument.

Yet she dared to defy him anyway.

Another slow shake of her head had his claws pressing against the tips of his fingers, eager to come out. It would be so easy to let his inner beast loose, just for a little while. He could tear the material off her luscious body before she could even contemplate shaking her pretty head again.

He clenched his teeth, reminding himself he’d need to be gentle. He’d never made love to a human before. They were fragile creatures, vulnerable and delicate. The violence inherent in shifter coupling wouldn’t just terrify her, it would harm her as well.

He’d be damned if he let that happen. If it meant he had to go slow, he’d go slow. And he’d keep his wolf in check, no matter what it took to calm the beast.

“I have stripped for you many times.” Roxi lifted her arms high into the air. “This time, you undress me.”

Before he could leap on her and start shredding fabric, she stopped him with another press of her hand to his chest, lifted an index finger and wiggled it from side to side. “Slowly.” She drew out the word, as though he couldn’t have understood it otherwise.

Hell, she was probably right.

He slipped both hands beneath her sweatshirt. The first feel of her silky skin against his palms nearly undid him. A bead of pre-cum formed at the tip of his cock and hovered there for a fraction of a second before sliding down his shaft.

Donovan gritted his teeth.

Roxi grinned. “Having trouble?”

“You’re pushing your luck, pretty lady.”

Her grin widened. She winked at him. “And enjoying every moment.” Her features turned pensive for a moment. “You were right. Sex is better when not burdened by expectations of more.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. No, he hadn’t been right. He’d been a hypocritical bastard. After all, he was the one who’d decided not to fuck the entire shifter population of New York because he was holding out for his true mate. He’d thought being bonded to a female meant only for him would turn sex from a merely physical encounter into something powerful and intoxicating. And yet here he was, giving in to the urges of his body with a woman he couldn’t mate with, even though he was beginning to think he’d never want to be with anyone as much as he wanted to be with Roxi.

Fate was a cruel fucking mistress.

If he had half a functioning brain cell left, he’d turn around and walk out the door. But his cock now ruled his world, and neither he nor his wolf were willing to give up the chase when they were so close to having what they craved. Roxi, naked and writhing beneath them.

She didn’t fight him when he slid the sweatshirt up her torso, or when he peeled it off her body entirely. She wore a bra made of red lace, which cupped her beautiful mounds and lifted them up, causing a mouthwatering display of cleavage to meet his hungry gaze.

He lowered his head and licked a path between her stunning breasts. She rewarded him with a low moan, and he did it again even as his fingers went to work on the fastenings of her jeans. He quested with his mouth until he found a nipple. Grabbing it between his teeth, along with a scrap of lacy fabric, he sucked deeply.

Roxi gasped and threaded her fingers through his hair.

He shoved her jeans down her hips and wasted no time with her underwear. He caught a glimpse of more red lace as he shoved them down her legs, but the fabric, sexy as it was, didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was Roxi’s body, finally bare and open, just for him.

He unhooked the clasp of her bra and let that drop to the ground, too. Then he fell to his knees before her. His cock was rock hard, raging with pent-up lust. His wolf whimpered, demanding release. He could have it, too. Donovan had only to push Roxi down on the bed and slide inside her. In ten seconds flat, he could be pumping his seed deep into her body.

Yet he refused to take the easy way out. His release, when it happened, would be glorious. But she came first.

He glanced at Roxi and found her staring down at him. Her chest heaved with the force of her breathing.

He ran a hand along the inside of her thigh. He’d touched her like this at the gallery. He’d been close to her; he’d feasted on her pussy. Yet it hadn’t been enough. A sudden burst of emotion in his chest told him it might never be enough. He struggled to push the thought aside, but it wouldn’t be denied.

Sex. It’s just sex
, Donovan told himself.

Want. Need. Mine. Ours
, the wolf inside him chanted.

His heart did a somersault as he struggled to tame the wolf. No, the beast was wrong. Roxi wasn’t their mate. She wasn’t the one he’d been waiting for, searching for, all this time. She was just a fragile, tender little human. Sexy as hell, sure, but not a wolf’s mate.

And yet… The way he reacted to her left him breathless and confused. He’d never had such a strong response to anyone. Samantha had barely stirred his blood. Mating with her had been a dull, mechanical affair meant to result in pups. It would have worked, too, if she hadn’t run away the day after the mating ritual.

Roxi trembled beneath his touch. Instinctively, he seemed to know exactly what to do to bring her pleasure, as though he already knew her intimately. As though she was made for him.

He skimmed his mouth along her inner folds. Her scent intensified, driving him to the brink of madness. The shift rippled beneath his skin and he fisted his hands, using the bite of his nails against his palms to keep himself in check.

She was so soft, so sweet and so damn perfect it made his chest ache.

When he touched her with his tongue, a bolt of electricity ran straight to his groin. She rocked forward, bringing more of her tender flesh in contact with his mouth. The sensation left Donovan reeling with desire.

His tongue slid through her slit, parting her so he could glide in smooth, easy strokes from her opening to her clit. There, he paused just long enough to draw a circle with the tip of his tongue around her throbbing nub. She was hot and slick, and the way she moved her hips woke a hunger inside him that overwhelmed even the predator instincts of his beast.

This need for her was something else. Raw and fierce and primal, it made him want to take her hard and fast. This was the feeling he’d been waiting for, hoping for. The desperate need that had never been answered by another shifter.

Her juices flooded his mouth until he was drowning in the taste of her. He could smell nothing else, and he didn’t think he’d ever inhaled anything sweeter. His mouth worked her sex, drawing soft mewling sounds from her throat. He growled against her clit and the vibration traveled through her body, setting her off like a firecracker in his arms.

She bucked against him, riding her orgasm as the muscles of her legs and belly clenched. He continued to lick her, cleaning up the cream that trickled from her channel, unable to help the low noise of pure pleasure that slipped from him as he tongued her again and again.

“Fuck.” She dug her fingernails into his shoulders, as though uncertain her legs would support her if she let go. “Fuck me.”

He thought she’d never ask.

His hands slid up the back of her legs to cup her buttocks. He gripped her firmly then rose, taking her along with him. With more gentleness than he’d thought himself capable of, he placed her on the bed.

She spread her thighs for him, giving him a perfect view of her pink slit and the wetness that lay within. His cock jerked with the need to bury himself inside her.

The wolf inside him raged against his chest, insistent and demanding. It, too, wanted Roxi badly, but not like this.

“On your knees.” The order came out gruff, only partly of his own volition. The wolf couldn’t communicate in words, but he made his needs known all the same.

The tip of Roxi’s tongue swept between her full lips. She scrambled backward and did as he asked, lifting her sexy ass into the air as she positioned herself to face away from him.

He gripped her waist in his hands and nestled his body behind hers. His groin pressed against the curve of her buttocks and she parted her legs farther, inviting him inside. It took every ounce of restraint he had, but he managed to grind out, “Are you sure? You have to be sure. Last time—”

“Yes!” she gasped, rocking back against him. “Yes, this is what I want. What I have wanted all along. Just like this. I wanted to be a willing participant, Donovan, not blindfolded or tied up.” She glanced over her shoulder, and her eyes gleamed with certainty and unabashed desire. “Please do not make me beg.”

As much as he’d have loved to hear her whimper and plead, the last remnant of his self-control had snapped the moment he met her gaze.

He curled around her, his lips grazing her neck as he guided his cock to press against her channel. She turned her cheek toward him, offered her mouth. He took it, driving his tongue between her parted lips as he thrust forward just a fraction. His cock slid home, right where it belonged.

Donovan’s body bucked under the sensation. His wolf roared to life, no longer content to be a passenger, but demanding to take control and fuck Roxi until she howled for him. But she was human. She wouldn’t howl. She couldn’t—

All logical thought fled under the assault on his senses. His hands grasped Roxi’s waist, holding her tight against him as he began to move. She whimpered and pressed back against him, meeting him thrust for thrust, over and over again.

Each glide of her tight pussy around his cock sent him into near-delirium. “Oh, honey.” His voice cracked and he swallowed hard. “Roxi, God, I—”

“I know.” Her sigh was as broken as his.

She tightened her inner walls around him and Donovan cried out as a deep shudder began low in his abdomen. He couldn’t hold back much longer. Reaching between Roxi’s legs, he flicked her clit with the tip of a finger. She bucked against him and let out a sharp cry of pleasure. The sound filled his ears, made him yearn to hear it again. He pinched her nub between thumb and forefinger, and she trembled. The pressure around his cock became a ripple of release. Roxi moaned as she came, her body quivering as pleasure whipped through her.