Four Days (Seven Series #4) (15 page)

“Why haven’t you looked for him since moving here?”

I leaned forward and sighed, watching the ends of my braid unravel. “It’s not meant to be.”

“Do you even
know
where he could be? Shifters rarely give away children. Some end up in orphanages, but others go on the black market. Who was the Relic who delivered him?”

“Please, Lorenzo. I’ve lived long enough with those kinds of worries in my head, and they don’t do me any good. It would be impossible for me to find him. But if Fox finds him… I have to go home tomorrow first thing.”

“Agreed.”

I glanced at Lorenzo’s feet. He had nice, strong feet for a man. And he’d set them flat on the ground, never fidgeting or moving them around as a man unsure of himself would. Every quality about him I found attractive—the kind of man I would choose if the choice were mine.

“Do you think I’ll ever find a mate?” I asked in a soft breath. “Be honest. Could a man love me knowing that I’ve had another man’s child? Maybe love is too much to ask, but I don’t want to turn away from my heart. It wants so much to love, and I can’t let Fox steal that away from me.”

“I think… I think you are a noble woman. Strong. Stubborn. Opinionated.”

“And those are compliments?”

He chuckled. “You just proved my point. A good mate would want to pass these traits on to his sons.”

“Or daughters,” I added. “The world doesn’t just revolve around men.”

I rose to my feet, stretching my stiff muscles, and approached Lorenzo with my blanket still wrapped around me.

His lips parted, and when he matched my gaze, I saw experience in the depths of his eyes. He looked as if he’d been carved from stone, with a strong nose and cheekbones that sculpted his face into perfection. Lorenzo had a low brow bone, and the closer I looked, the more I began to notice little details. Like a tiny birthmark by his temple that looked like a speck of dirt, and shadows of muscle along his ribcage that drew my attention to a few small scars. His skin was lightly bronzed, and his black hair had dark shades of brown blended with all the silkiness one could imagine. Because of my mixed descent, mine was more chocolate with a hint of cherry undertones. I wondered about the purity of his blood because his hair wasn’t as black as I’d seen on some who still lived in Shifter tribes. Whatever genes he had inherited created perfection.

“When you kissed me earlier, did you know that was the first time a man has ever kissed me on the mouth?”

His pupils dilated, and yet no witty remarks were cast back at me like tiny stones.

“Can I kiss you, Lorenzo?”

He seemed to have found his voice. “I like that you call me by my full name.” After a moment of staring at my lips, he answered, “Kiss me if you wish.”

I smirked and traced my finger along his mouth. “Your exalted opinion of yourself makes me smile, Thunder.”

With his permission, I leaned forward and clumsily delivered a kiss. I wasn’t sure, but I think I might have bitten his lip in the process. My cheeks flushed.

“Woman, that is hardly anything to blush about.” He widened his legs. “Step closer.”

I stepped forward until our faces were a breath away and nervously looked into his eyes. They glittered with interest as he watched me.

When I moved to kiss him again, his hands cradled my neck and stopped me.

“Your eyes are still open,” he said in a honeyed voice, his breath warming my skin. “You’re not kissing a puppy.”

I clutched my blanket tighter as he slipped his fingers behind the nape of my neck and stroked my skin. Lorenzo liked caressing my face, neck, and shoulders.

“Bring your lips closer until they’re touching mine.”

When I did, the heat was electric.

“Can you feel that?” he asked, moving his lips from one corner of my mouth to the other. “That’s the chemistry between man and woman. It doesn’t need to be forced. You shouldn’t overthink what to do with your mouth or tongue—give in to your instincts.”

His words buzzed against my lips and a riotous wave of desire bloomed between my legs.

He rubbed noses with me. “Do it again. No thinking.”

So I closed my eyes and felt the soft flesh of his lips against mine. The scorch of his breath slid across my cheek as I explored his mouth without kissing, just moving my lips until they found a spot that felt natural. I planted a lingering kiss on his upper lip, tilting my head to the right so our noses didn’t bump together.

The moment it happened, I felt it everywhere like a surge of hot adrenaline. I tasted his mouth as if there were small flecks of sugar to be savored, and he reciprocated in cautious movements until our mouths moved together in a harmonized dance.

Lorenzo pulled back and stroked my cheeks in a downward motion with his index fingers. “You’re a quick study. Now I want you to relax your mouth and part your lips some more. This is the part where it gets sexy.”

“Sexy?” I asked, bemused.
So what we’d been doing wasn’t?

He kissed my chin and playfully rubbed his nose against mine. “Yes, sexy,” he growled. “Give in to me—don’t pull back. I’m going to slide my tongue against yours, and I just want you to let it happen.”

My heart picked up speed and I trembled like a leaf. Lorenzo leaned forward a little more assertively this time and I kissed him as before, only this time he parted his lips, opening his mouth wider. Then I gasped when his tongue brushed across my lip.

I was a grown woman being schooled on how to kiss a man, and I stumbled at it like a child learning to ride a bicycle.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I said, breathless.

“Yes you do.” He drew in a soft breath and thought for a moment. “What do you do with your mouth when eating an ice cream cone? Not licking, but when you take a bite. Think about it, Ivy. You gently stroke the cream with your tongue.”

I smirked. “Maybe we don’t eat ice cream the same way.”

He lifted my chin and held his thumb in front of my mouth. “Show me how you would taste honey from my finger using your mouth and tongue at the same time.”

So I kissed his thumb and lightly sucked on the flat part before stroking it with my tongue. His eyes hooded and I knew Lorenzo Church was aroused. His breathing grew heavy and with every ounce of restraint, he moved his hand away and replaced his thumb with his mouth. I repeated the motion until our tongues met again.

This time it felt right. He tilted his head a different way and I followed his rhythm, his kisses like silk as his tongue swept against mine.

Instinctively, I curved my arms around his neck and my blanket slipped to the floor, as quiet as a whisper. He pulled my naked body against him and the kiss became deep and desperate on both ends. I could feel the pulse of arousal between my legs and I moaned, pressing closer to him. His body went rigid, while mine weakened in his embrace.

“Are you always this warm?” I whispered.

He groaned and his hands were suddenly everywhere.

Then I broke the kiss and pushed at his shoulders. “Lie back.”

He sharply inhaled, as if to protest.

“I owe you my life. Please…,” I said, stroking his shoulders. “I may never find a lover or mate, and I don’t want the only sex I’ll ever know to have been with Fox… in that way. You were right in that my reward is a paltry sum, but maybe it’ll mean something to know that you’re the only man I’ve ever freely given myself to.”

“You aren’t afraid?” he asked cautiously.

I was terrified, but I didn’t want him to know that. I craved his touch, and needed to find out if it would ruin or heal me. “I’m not afraid of anything,” I whispered.

He circled his arms about my waist and regarded me with reverent eyes. “Another man may have taken your pearl, but he did not take away your luster.”

His lips mashed against mine, and I crawled on top of him as he stretched himself out on the bed. Lorenzo raised his arms and I relished the provocative feel of his skin against mine.

I unzipped his black cargo pants and pulled them away, leaving him spread naked before me. I glanced at his large arousal and averted my eyes, erasing the memories of Fox that polluted my thoughts.

This time would be different.

Lorenzo sat up and drew my long braid around to the front
. He began working from the bottom, meticulously unraveling my hair. “I sense you began doing this for the wrong reasons.”

“It’s just hair.”

“Yes, but hair is a woman’s glory, and I want your glory spread across me like a shield.”

I continued to protest, tugging at it. “Maybe all this glory is what got me in trouble.”

He seized my wrist and moved my hand away, settling his eyes on mine. “We both know you did nothing to deserve what that animal did to you. If you wish to wear your hair braided, then that’s your decision. But when you’re in my bed, you’ll be unbound to me. I’ll have no memory tie you up in any form. Take your thoughts away from that time and stay with me here in this moment. Listen to the crackling of the fire and the sound my lips make as they taste your skin. Feel my heartbeat.” He held my hand against his bare chest and it was a banging drum.

I moved my hand upward and touched his Adam’s apple, taking pleasure in the simplicity of learning the things about Lorenzo that no one paid attention to. I kissed the tiny mark on his head, felt his dark lashes with the tips of my fingers, and tasted his skin beneath his jaw.

The intensity in Lorenzo’s eyes couldn’t be matched. “What you said last night… I’m not a terrible lover.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” I whispered.

Our mouths met and then he journeyed down, sucking at my breast. I gripped his hair and moaned, feeling a swell of desire.

Lorenzo patted my right thigh. “Get on your knees. I want you to straddle me.”

I did as he asked and then he patted my left leg to do the same.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I said in a gasp against his ear. “My leg…”

So instead of letting me kneel on top of him, he pulled my left leg out and curved it around his back, watching my face to see if I found this position tolerable, which I did. “You’ve been avoiding looking down, sweet Ivy. I don’t want you to fear anything about me.”

I lowered my eyes. Lorenzo guided my hand to him and encouraged me to touch what I had once considered a weapon. His skin felt so smooth—like silk. I ran my finger around the ridge of his cock and he shuddered, causing a reaction that roused a curious smile on my face. It moved on its own.

My touch alone made this alpha weaken as I circled my finger around the tip. He leaned back on his hands and allowed me to consume his impressive body with my eyes, my hands, and my mouth.

I leaned forward and circled my tongue around one of his dark nipples until it hardened at the tip. Hearing this powerful alpha groan set me on fire, making me want to try more things to incite a reaction. Lorenzo had a defined body, with strong pecs and cords of muscle in his arms. He embodied the power of his spirit wolf.

My hands splayed across his chest and he stiffened, throwing his head back and sucking in a sharp breath. So many years had passed, and I’d thought myself ruined for any man. Now that I felt my own awakening, I realized something. Fox would never be stricken from my thoughts, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel pleasure, freedom, or love. Maybe each petal-soft kiss and gentle touch would replace the awfulness I had carried with me for so long. Fox had taken my confidence as a woman, and Lorenzo had restored it.

A sudden knock sounded at the door, and I froze in panic.

“Enzo, it’s
meee
,” a woman sang.

His lips peeled back and he bared his teeth. “Go away!”

“You’ve been locked up here for days. Is
she
in there with you?”

The locked doorknob jiggled.

Lorenzo summoned his alpha voice and it made me cringe. “Do as I say and go downstairs, or else I will pitch a tent in the woods for you to spend the night in.”

When her footsteps faded, I looked down and gasped.

His brows knitted. “What’s wrong?”

“It… it deflated.”

A boisterous laugh rolled out of him and he encased me in his arms, turning me onto my back. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

I blushed madly at my ignorance. I knew enough about men now to understand the mechanics behind an erection; I’d just never seen one with my own eyes. And he’d lost his arousal just from hearing another woman’s voice? I had to admit that turned me on most of all.

When I felt a long length of hardness resting against my thigh, I knew we were back to where we’d left off. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, kissing and nipping at my skin, giving me access to lick and nibble on his earlobe. The weight of him on top of me was exquisite.

“Mmm, I like your mouth on me,” he whispered, his voice warm and inviting.

“Is it okay for you this way?” I asked in a heated breath against his ear. “On my back, I mean.”

He lifted his head and shook back his tangled hair. “Let me show you how okay it is.”

I jumped a little when he placed the blunt head of his erection against my core and began rubbing in slow strokes. Within seconds, I had forgotten all my fears. I lifted my right leg higher against his side and pulled his long hair away from his face.

While he continued working me, I wound his hair into a thin braid. I wanted to see Lorenzo’s eyes, and I was afraid if his hair masked the gentleness in his face, I’d fall out of the moment.

He hit a spot that made me gasp and writhe.

“That felt good,” I said with a shallow breath.

He did it again. “That?”

Lorenzo rubbed himself a little higher, striking me like lightning with the most pleasuring effect. He did it repeatedly until I lifted my hips, all but demanding he bury himself inside me.

He kissed me on the mouth and then propped up on his left elbow. “Relax and let me take care of you, sweet Ivy. You’re safe in my bed—protected.”

With that, he slid himself inside and filled me up. Lorenzo groaned and his muscles trembled. Then he balanced his elbows on either side of me.

“The first time I saw you, I think you were stoned,” he said with amusement.

“I was. Jericho put something in the cupcakes.” I gasped when he slowly began rocking in and out.

“Then you asked me to make three wishes, do you remember?”

“A little,” I breathed more than said.

The fire crackled and a coil beneath the bed squeaked a complaint.

“One of those wishes was to see your hair out of that braid and spread across my bed.”

He began rocking harder, and goodness, I’d never felt so overwhelmed with carnal need. My short nails bit into his shoulders and he lifted his chin, moaning his approval.

I hissed and he stopped.

“Does this hurt?”

“A little,” I confessed. “But it’s okay.”

He rose off me. “No, it’s
not
okay. I won’t allow you to feel pain in my bed.” He moved to my left side and pushed at my hips. “Roll onto your good side and turn away from me.”

I did as he asked, facing his chair, and Lorenzo lifted my left leg and slid it over his thigh. The pressure vanished and—I gasped as he slid inside me from behind, slowly moving until our bodies were twined together. He cupped my breasts, rolling my nipples between his fingers as he thrust inside me from behind.

I tried to turn—I needed to see him. My heart raced. I couldn’t see his eyes and panic flooded my veins.

Lorenzo stopped and brushed my hair away from my face and whispered in my ear, “Settle down, here I am.” He propped himself up so that he was hovering over me.

He touched my jaw and turned my head so I was looking into his dark brown eyes. They were gentle, and that’s all I needed—just to see him. He kissed my shoulder and looked at me, eyes smoldering.

“It’s not my first time, Lorenzo.”

“Only when you give yourself willingly is it your first time.”

I curled my left arm around his neck and he leaned forward, slipping his tongue into my mouth.

This position required more effort on his part. His hair was damp and a sheen of sweat covered him. He tasted salty when I kissed his jaw.

Time melted away into an insignificant concept. When he finally broke rhythm and sat up on his knees, Lorenzo rolled me onto my back and wrapped my legs around his waist. He was patient in helping me find comfortable positions, and not once did he make me lie facedown or even turn away from him. He held my gaze as if I might disappear if he averted his eyes. When he put a pillow beneath my hips, everything escalated from there.

His hands stroked skillfully, touching my thighs as he thrust his hips against mine. The headboard slammed against the wall and heightened my arousal, as did every sound.

Lorenzo groaned and fell forward, his eyes dark with desire. Every muscle in his arms rippled—his strong pecs and tight abs as they all moved in rhythm. I felt overpowered by this alpha who looked at me with so much intensity it was as if my body turned into a flame.

“Look at me!” he commanded in his alpha voice.

The headboard continued knocking against the wall like knuckles rapping on a door.

When I looked up, I stared at the spirit of his animal gleaming back at me through his eyes. Power dripped from his ardent gaze and a fever came over me.

Then he stopped and lowered his head, taking my nipple into his mouth. “You taste like sweet nectar on my tongue,” he said, rolling his tongue in quick circles. When he moved to the other one and sucked hard, a spike of pleasure made me hiss.

With that quiet sound of approval, Lorenzo held himself up again, thrusting into me even faster than before. The headboard slammed against the wall, caught up in a violent storm of movement, as if our bodies were clashing tides.

“Touch yourself,” he said, his eyes wandering down as if he wanted to do everything but couldn’t. “
Do it
.”

His eyes followed the slow movement of my hand as I smoothed my fingers over my chest and then lower. I wasn’t sure where he wanted me to touch. So when my fingers reached my navel, his hips rocked faster and his eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected that.

“Yes…
There
.”

My fingers sought the place where our bodies were joined, feeling the immense power and rhythm. Then I was lost. That tightly wound coil within me began to spring loose and I gripped the sheets, my breath quickening, my muscles clenching…

When I reached orgasm, it was whisper quiet. Just a sharp gasp and I covered my face with my arms, my mouth agape. It moved through me like white-hot lightning.

Nothing like the tumultuous sounds I’d heard in my pack growing up or while living within the Weston pack.

Or Lorenzo. When he reached climax, he lifted his head up like a wolf howling and released a thunderous shout.

I reached up and covered his mouth, quickly embarrassed by the boisterous noise.
What must his pack be thinking?
He sucked on my fingers and continued rocking against me until I loosened my grip, feeling another quake of pleasure move through me. When I made a small gasp and arched my back, Lorenzo roared again.

I tried to muffle his shouts with my hand but he tilted his head away, laughing this time. “You will not silence me, sweet Ivy. We are like a storm, you and I. Thunder and lightning.”

“Thunder Wolf, indeed,” I said with a short laugh.

Lorenzo howled and I yanked his neck so hard he collapsed on top of me. Our lips met in a molten kiss, and a few distant laughs erupted within the house along with a whistle. He broke away and rubbed noses with me.

“So what were your other two wishes?”

Understanding sparked in his eyes, and he shifted on his side, out of breath, swirling his finger around my naked flesh. “I seem to recall you saying something about planting those wishes in your heart and growing roots if I didn’t speak them aloud.”

“Well, that was very poetic of me. So, what were they?”

He chewed on his lip for a moment, touching the tip of my nipple. “I don’t want to say. Perhaps it’s bad luck.”

“Hmm, men only wish for three things.”

“And what is that?”

“Money, power, and sex. You got your third wish, but you already have the other two.”

Anger bled in his expression and his voice hardened. “My wish was not to bed you—not in the way that you put it.”

“You didn’t know me then. What else could it have been about?”

He sat up and I yelped when he accidentally pulled some of my hair. I tugged the silky strands and flipped them over my head. My hair wasn’t thick, so at least it wasn’t unmanageable, but it fell to my lower back and sometimes got in the way of things. After a while, it was just easier to braid it so it didn’t get caught in car doors.

Lorenzo shook his head and sat up. Most of his hair had come loose from the braid and he swept the tousled strands back. “I wanted to see your hair spread across my bed, but it doesn’t have the same meaning as you see it.” He shook his head. “Foolish thinking.” Lorenzo rested his chin on my left knee where I’d bent it. “How’s your leg?” he asked, wrapping his hands around the crease of my thigh and massaging.

“As good as it’s going to get.”

He smiled and kissed my knee. “You shouldn’t have any worries about it affecting your performance in the bedroom. That was very… satisfactory.”

I concealed my smile. “Well, thank you for that kind compliment, Mr. Church. I’ll be sure to leave a survey card on the table before I go. Tell me, was that woman outside the door the one I saved?”

“Rebecca. Yes.”

“And she’s your, uh…”

“She’s been in my bed,” he confided in a low voice.

I reached up and smoothed my hand over his bicep. “I don’t like her.”

He smiled broadly. “Of course you don’t, because now
you’re
in my bed. Look straight up in the mirror. No other woman compares to that exquisite creature.”

I’d hardly noticed the mirror, and come to think of it, neither had Lorenzo. We’d both been so consumed with each other—so engaged in direct eye contact—that neither of us had looked away.

“That’s not what I mean,” I continued. “I’m not jealous.”

He arched a single brow and I laughed, wiggling my knee until he sat up. Lorenzo curled his arm around my leg and studied me closely. “Then what is it?”