Bewitched, Bothered, and Bitten (2 page)

Now that I’d spent so much time with him, I could see beyond the fog of lust that clouded my mind every time he was near, to the man he was beneath the surface. Finn was more than the fanged beast we were taught to fear as children. He was honorable, affectionate, and compassionate. He had flaws, arrogance for one, like anyone else, but, at his core, he was the best man I’d ever met. This knowledge made resistance even more difficult.

“Finn.” His name was practically a soundless puff of air as it escaped my lips, but he heard it.

“You taste better than I imagined.” I felt the vibration of his voice against my throat and shivered.

His hands parted the coat he’d draped around me, sliding under the thermal shirt I wore. While folklore said that vampires were the undead and unusually cold to the touch, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Vamps ran hotter than humans, especially after feeding. His hands were so hot that I expected my skin to sizzle. Tendrils of icy air threaded between us and the juxtaposition of his fiery touch and the cold wind threatened to overwhelm me.

Finn’s mouth moved up my throat as his hand slid up my body. I moaned softly as his lips touched my ear. “You’re shaking, Kerry. Let me warm you.”

My nipples tightened when the tips of his fingers brushed the underside of my breast. Then his palm cupped me, his thumb brushing over my nipple. It only took that simple touch to make me wet. His other hand smoothed down my spine and beneath the waistband of my pajama pants.

When his hand encountered bare skin, Finn hesitated and lifted his head, his beautiful eyes glowing like two amethyst stones. “Goddess help me, you’re not wearing a stitch beneath these clothes are you.”

He didn’t let me respond. Instead he lowered his head and kissed me. He wasn’t tentative or gentle as he had been earlier. Finn kissed me deeply, his mouth opening over mine, his tongue thrusting between my lips. He tasted the way he smelled, like mulled wine, spicy and a little sweet.

Finn groaned into my mouth and I realized I’d buried both of my hands in his hair, wrapping the silky strands around my fingers. His thumb and forefinger tugged at my nipple, the small pain arrowing through my body straight to my clit.

I could barely catch my breath. Sensation after sensation washed over me, making me forget why this was a huge mistake.

Finn released my mouth, his cheek sliding against mine. I whimpered when he used his lips and the tip of his tongue along the side of my throat, up to my ear.

“Are you wet for me?” he asked, his voice rough.

As his hand moved from my ass, around my hip, Finn sucked lightly at the skin right above my collarbone. Just as his fingers grazed my clit, he nipped me sharply with his teeth. The fog blanketing my mind vanished and I realized that I was moments away from being blooded and fucked by the very creature considered an enemy by my coven. I was already on shaky ground with them as it was, I couldn’t afford to push my luck.

“Stop.” My voice was shaky and weak even to my own ears as I grabbed Finn’s forearm.

He heard me, the movement of his fingers between my thighs halting, though he didn’t withdraw his hand. “Are you sure, Kerry?” My eyes almost rolled back into my head when he drew a light circle against my clit. “You’re so swollen, I can feel your pulse here. I know it hurts. I can make the pain go away.” He pinched my nipple lightly as he mirrored the motion with my clit.

I almost came as both pain and pleasure spread through my body. Somehow, I managed to speak. “Stop, Finn.” I forced myself to meet his eyes, squinting against the intense light his irises emitted.

The movement of his hands ceased and he lowered his head. I heard him sigh and mutter something about stubborn witches, but the rest of the words were lost as a sudden gust of wind blew between us. He released my breast, smoothing my shirt down once he was done. My hips jerked when he inched his other hand from between my thighs. I fought to ignore the ache between my legs. I watched wordlessly as he lifted his fingers to his mouth and they disappeared inside.

He removed his hand from his lips, humming in the back of his throat. “You taste of honey and wine. I could spend hours savoring such a delicious treat.”

I could see and feel it after he spoke. His face between my thighs, the swipe of his tongue over my clit. Unable to speak, I fumbled with the doorknob behind me, stumbling backward into the house and slamming the door shut between us. I leaned my forehead against the rough wood of the front door, panting while my body burned with need.

My harsh breathing stopped completely when I heard him speak, muffled by the door and the howling wind outside, yet still clear.

“I’ll be back for my coat, Kerry. And another taste of honey.”

Then he was gone.

A
fter Finn left,
I couldn’t sleep. My body hummed with a sexual tension that couldn’t be relieved and my mind whirled with all the reasons I shouldn’t get more involved with him. As long as I only saw him in my sleep, I could continue to pretend that this dangerous attraction wasn’t real. If we slept together, I could no longer luxuriate in denial and there would be consequences.

I had to do something to clear my mind and relieve the tension coiled in my lower body. I tried, dear Goddess, I tried. The orgasm did nothing to relieve the ache within me. After tossing and turning for a couple of hours, I prepared a cup of my mother’s special tea. She always dried herbs from her garden and brewed them as a tea to help with insomnia. I continued the ritual when I couldn’t sleep, the scent and delicate, almost floral flavors bringing back memories of her.

It was after midnight before I drifted off. When he came to me, I knew it was only a dream. At least, that’s what I told myself. In reality, I didn’t care. I was still so aroused from our earlier encounter on the porch that I couldn’t bring myself to give a damn if this was a shared dream or a fantasy whipped up by my fevered, horny brain. Over the past few months, he’d held me and kissed me in our shared dreams, but that was all.

When I rolled over, I found Finn lying next to me in bed, the blankets pulled up to his bare chest. His tanned skin and dark brown hair glowed in the firelight.

We didn’t speak. Somehow it wasn’t necessary. Finn stretched out over me, his mouth and hands voracious. I touched him in all the ways I imagined, running my hands over the skin of his back, down to his ass. Then I did what I wanted to do earlier on the porch, I brought my hand around to the front of his body and cupped his cock. Finn groaned, his hips thrusting against my touch. I slid my palm against the hot, smooth skin of his erection and wanted to use my mouth instead.

I wrapped a leg around his hip and used my body to turn us. When Finn realized what I wanted, he rolled over onto his back and I knelt over him. I wrapped my fingers around his cock, stroking him from root to tip slowly and firmly. Keeping my eyes on his, I leaned down and used my tongue to trace the same path as my hand. His hands twined into my hair, lifting the long curly strands out of the way so he could see what I was doing.

I took him into my mouth, tightening my lips around him and sucking strongly. I let my mouth slide down his length, using my tongue on the underside. I fell into a rhythm, sucking and stroking, and gloried in the harsh sound that seemed to be torn from Finn’s throat.

“Kerry, I’m going to come,” he groaned.

I intensified my movements, wanting to feel and taste his orgasm. His abdomen went rigid just before his release filled my mouth. I swallowed it down, humming in the back of my throat at the taste of spice and salt.

When his body relaxed beneath me, I gave the tip of his cock one last teasing lick before I slowly released him.

Suddenly, he lunged and flipped us so that I was lying beneath him. “That was incredible,” he rumbled. “But now it’s my turn.”

I watched as he moved down my body until his shoulders rested between my legs and anticipation flooded my body. Finn ran a fingertip over my clit and down to my entrance, sliding inside and causing me to gasp. Bringing him pleasure and making him come had aroused me so much that I knew I was wet.

My IQ shrank to the single digits at the first pass of his tongue. My toes curled and my back arched as he clamped his lips around my clit and sucked. He added another finger to the first and thrust them inside of me smoothly, pressing up and rubbing a spot inside me that made all my internal muscles spasm. As he suckled my clit, he flicked it with his tongue firmly, and I felt the climax unfurling rapidly inside my pelvis.

If it hadn’t been a dream, I would have been embarrassed at how quickly he brought me to orgasm. I cried out as wave after wave of intense pleasure crashed through me.

I looked down my body at him and his amethyst eyes burned brightly. He gave my clit one more teasing lick and tremors rippled from my center. Finn smiled, revealing that his fangs were fully extended. Then he sank them into my inner thigh and I screamed as his bite showed me the true meaning of ecstasy.

Gasping, I sat up in bed, my thighs still trembling and the echo of my climax resonating throughout my body. I looked down, realized I was still dressed in my pajamas and alone. Though it seemed incredibly real, it truly was just a dream.

Flopping back on the pillows, I threw my arm over my eyes to block out the harsh morning light and the aftershocks of a mind-bending orgasm. It was official. Sexual frustration was going to drive me insane. I could be the first documented case.

My cell phone rang and I abandoned my plans to submit myself to scientific study.

“Woman, why aren’t you at home? I’ve been calling your landline for an hour.”

I had to laugh. Leave it to Ricki to get right to the point. “I am at home. Just not my home in the city.”

“Oh.” She paused. “So, does that mean you’re not coming to Donna and Conner’s engagement party tonight?” She sounded a little off.

“No, I’ll be there. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

I started counting down from five, knowing she wouldn’t be able to keep it in long.
Five, four, three….

“It’s just….well, have you met Conner’s friend, Calder?”

I had. As the beta of MacIntire clan, Calder wasn’t exactly my best buddy, but I did know the handsome wolf. “Yes, I’ve met Calder a few times.” Ricki was silent for so long, that I thought she’d hung up. “Ricki?”

She sighed deeply. “Well…shit, I slept with him at Donna’s Halloween party a couple of weeks ago.”

“What?” My voice was louder than I intended. I cleared my throat before I continued, trying to keep my tone neutral. “Seriously?”

“Yes. And, Kerry, it was the best sex of my life.”

“Okaaay. Then what’s the problem?”

Ricki groaned. “Donna warned me it would happen, but I didn’t listen. She told me that werewolves hook up with two, three, sometimes even four different people at these parties. I thought she was exaggerating. Well, after we, ya know, he had a
problem
and had to leave. He asked me to stay in his room and wait for him. When I woke up, he wasn’t back, so I got up to see if he was still even around. I, uh, I saw him with another woman.”

Outraged on Ricki’s behalf, my voice was harsh when I asked, “You found him screwing another woman?”

“Well, they weren’t doing anything when I saw them, but she was in her underwear and he was shirtless and there were these huge scratches on his back.”

With a human male and female, I would agree that the evidence was damning, but werewolves were nothing like humans. It wasn’t unusual for them to walk around naked in front of each other and even snuggle with no sexual intent. It also wasn’t unheard of for wolves to change forms to fight out an issue of dominance, then change back and go have a beer, buck naked. Unfortunately, Ricki didn’t have the same understanding of werewolf culture that I did. Though she knew that supernaturals existed, she hadn’t spent a great deal of time around them, probably because of how overprotective Donna, Ivie, and I were.

“What did he say when you talked to him?” I asked. Surely, Calder would have explained what happened. Werewolves were not big on lying. Actually, they were disconcertingly blunt and aggressive about what they wanted.

“I didn’t. I just got the hell out of there. I felt dirty just by association. I mean, you know how my dad was and my ex. No way am I getting involved with a man who can’t keep his dick in his pants, especially if he screws two or three women in one night!”

I loved Ricki dearly, but she did tend to leap before she looked, which was probably why Donna warned her about shifters in the first place. “Okay, I can understand why you were upset, sweetie, but werewolves aren’t like humans. What we consider inappropriate is completely normal for them. They walk around naked in front of each other and it’s no big deal and it’s also not sexual.”

“Kerry!”

“Ricki, I am your friend and I love you. Do you want me to tell you the truth or what I think you want to hear?”

She sighed, obviously put out with me. “Okay, okay. You’re right. Maybe I should have talked to him. It’s just that I thought we had this amazing connection and it….well, it hurt that he could screw me six ways to Sunday, then go chasing after another piece of ass as though it meant nothing.”