Hot Pursuit (20 page)

“They’re sitting out there,” he said, content to change the subject. The less Angel knew about why he was here would protect her and make his job a hell of a lot easier.

“Oh, are they?” Angel came around the counter, her bare feet making soft sounds against her tiled floor.

“They are probably waiting to see if you’ll kick me out, or not,” Wolf said dryly.

“At least they don’t know why you’re in Zounds, either,” she pouted.

Wolf glanced down at the adorable curls that framed her face. His shirt looked better on her than it ever had on him. When she looked up at him, her blue eyes so full of emotions they were almost lavender, he couldn’t help smiling at the blatant way she showed her frustration about not knowing something about him.

“Just tell me this much,” she said, searching his face as she moved to stand in front of him. “Is it Cortez? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“That promise I’ll hold you to, in spite of not being able to enlighten you. The fewer people who know why I’m here, the easier it will be to do my job. I’ll tell you this much, though,” he said, hating her pouting expression when she accepted what he said but obviously didn’t like it. “Zounds will be a much safer place once my work here is done.”

Angel smiled and her entire face lit up. She glanced outside her shop where the headlights still glowed like two soulless eyes staring at them in the night. “Why are they just sitting there? Do they think you’ll leave and will follow you? Or come back in here and try harassing me?”

Although he liked how she said “try,” Wolf worried they could and would make Angel’s life hell for knowledge they wondered if she might have.

“They are more scared than we are,” Wolf told her. He took one of the curls alongside her face and let it twist itself around his finger. “Cortez has found out I’m a bounty hunter. He has guessed Ben and I are partners, and he doesn’t know where Ben is. I’m sure he believes I’ve closed in on him and am sitting here gathering any final evidence. Since his men didn’t tear your place apart tonight searching for Zoey, I’m pretty sure I’m right. They don’t like me in your bookstore and haven’t decided if there is anything they can do about it yet.”

“I think you’ve just made me the happiest woman in town,” she whispered, and wrapped her arms around Wolf’s neck as she leaned in against him.

Wolf grabbed her rear end, quickly pushing his shirt out of the way so he could stretch his fingers across her smooth, cool flesh. “Why is that?”

“Zounds is my home. I grew up in this store and now it’s mine. My life is almost perfect except for Cortez. And if his goons are going to sit outside my store and wonder if you’re leaving or staying, I must insist you stay.”

Angel had already decided she wanted Wolf to stay the night, if he was willing. It had been a long time since she’d been this attracted to a man. His shrewd nature and incredible good looks were wrapped up in a perfect package. It had stung a bit hearing from someone other than him what he did for a living. Angel wasn’t stupid, and she wasn’t spoiled. Why he hadn’t told her made sense.

She tightened her grip behind his neck and arched into him for a kiss. His hands were on her instantly, caressing and fondling. In spite of the fact that she knew it was hard for people to see inside her store at night, even in a car with headlights trained on the front windows, Angel wasn’t into the idea of putting on a show for anyone.

“Let’s go back upstairs,” she suggested.

“Are you asking me to stay to piss off Cortez?” Wolf whispered against her lips.

“Just that you’d ask me that makes me want you to stay even more.”

When she studied him a moment, she thought she saw a hint of emotion swirling in his dark eyes. They were what she’d call hazel. She saw streaks of green and brown surrounding his attentive black pupils. His wide cheekbones and strong, sharply chiseled facial features made it easy for him to look hardened, wise, and a bit calloused toward the world. Angel had a feeling she wasn’t the first person who had entered Wolf’s life and tried good and hard to find the real emotions and feelings floating around deep inside this man.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Wolf’s voice was raspy.

Angel blinked. And here she’d been thinking that he might be hurt thinking she only wanted him to stay to take a stab at Cortez. It had been on the tip of her tongue to tell Wolf she wouldn’t have sex because of Cortez, whether he willed it or forbade it.

She laughed, let go of Wolf, then wrapped her fingers around his thick wrist and started pulling him to her stairs. “I’m a big girl, Wolf,” she told him. “Unless you toss me too hard onto my bed, you aren’t going to hurt me.”

The thought of him doing just that almost made her trip over her own feet when they reached the stairs. Wolf wrapped his hands around her waist when she began climbing, leading them up to her apartment.

“You like the idea of being tossed on your bed,” he whispered into her hair as he held her waist firmly and moved up the stairs behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder, enjoying how the tension in the air had shifted to something light between them. This was what she wanted, what she needed, a relaxed, mature relationship with a gorgeous man who understood where both of them were coming from.

“Only because I’m not strong enough to toss you onto the bed,” she said, grinning.

God, she loved how he growled. Would he do that when he came? Angel sure planned on finding out.

The second they reached the top of the stairs, suddenly her bed seemed so far away. Wolf’s hands were all over her, and his shirt was quickly a crumpled pile somewhere on her living-room floor. His strength turned her on as much as his skilled hands and incredible moves. Not once did she feel that unbearable awkwardness sometimes experienced when two people didn’t know each other that well and both were eager to get off.

Angel didn’t remember him pushing her backward, but he must have when she suddenly felt her living room wall pressed against her backside. Her wall wasn’t all that uncomfortable. Wolf’s kisses were off the chart in the hot index, though. Their mouths molded together, their lips scorching hot and their tongues performing a lovers’ dance that had her soaked and swollen.

Reaching between them, Angel tugged at the button on his jeans, then unsuccessfully tried unzipping them. He was making it incredibly hard to accomplish the task when his mouth left hers and he began kissing her neck.

“I want these off,” she demanded, tugging at the top of his jeans. “Unzip them now.”

“I never thought I’d like bossy in a woman.”

“I’m not bossy.” There was a smile on her lips, though, when Wolf reached between them and unzipped his jeans, then shoved them down his legs. “That’s far enough.”

Angel pushed against his bare chest, loving all those tight, coarse hairs that were rough against her palms. His expression was pinched, his eyes wild with lust when she caused him to take a step backward.

“I want to do it,” she informed him, hearing how raw her voice sounded.

His brown hair was tousled around his face. Had she messed it up like that? And his mouth was open, his lips moist and dark from their kisses. She imagined she might look exactly the same way. When she put her hands on the top of his jeans, he helped her, stepping out of them without wasting any time.

“Whoa! What?” she cried out when Wolf lifted her into his arms. “I was joking about you throwing me around.”

“No, you weren’t,” he told her, carrying her easily to her bedroom in spite of her trying to twist against him in his arms. “That isn’t why I’m carrying you, though.”

Before she could ask why he was, Angel was airborne. Wolf threw her on to her bed, but with such grace and just enough force that she sailed from his arms, experienced air whooshing against her scorching flesh, before she bounced on to the middle of her bed. She landed on her back, her arms and legs stretched out to brace herself.

“You’re driving me wild, Angel.” Wolf stood at the end of her bed. He was fully exposed for her mouthwatering scrutiny. “If we had stood out there much longer, I would have fucked you in a matter of minutes. I want to watch you come before I do,” he finished.

Men only really said that in books, right? She stared up at him, not feeling as fully naked, with every inch of her revealed for his viewing pleasure, when Wolf not only stood there so she could enjoy the eye candy but also revealed a bit of his compassion. The man had many hard edges, but Angel bet there was a soft, loving heart buried deep inside his warrior-like exterior.

“If you think I’m going to play with myself while you watch, you can think again.”

His grin sent shivers rushing across her flesh. Fortunately, with her large window that faced the street front offering minimal light into her bedroom, Angel was pretty sure he didn’t notice.

“You never masturbate?” His tone made the question sound so innocent.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, not caring if he saw her do that. Then propping herself up on her elbows, she took her time focusing on the many amazing parts of his body.

“I masturbate all the time,” she admitted easily. “Which is why I’m not going to do it tonight. The real thing is right in front of me. Toys are for times when there isn’t a man present.”

“Toys?” He sounded eager.

She couldn’t help laughing. Some characteristics in men were all the same. Their love of toys, no matter what kinds of toys they were, never varied regardless of the man. Although the few times in the past when a man had asked her about her personal use of sex toys, she’d dubbed him an unstable pervert and banned him from her store. She hadn’t noticed anything unstable about Wolf and had no intention of banning him.

“Don’t even go there,” she teased.

Wolf’s deep, sultry laugh created a swelling that spread painfully between her legs. Moisture pooled in her pussy. Her inner thighs grew damp, and in spite of her refusal to play with herself while he watched, she ached to touch herself there. She wanted everything possible that a man and woman could do together, and possibly some of those acts more than once.

“What do you want me to do to you?” Wolf asked, and knelt on the edge of her bed. He began crawling over her.

“I want you to show me what you’re best at doing.” Angel didn’t want it scripted, but telling him so would be doing just that.

“You’ll have to let me know what I’m best at doing and I’ll be sure and do it twice next time.”

Next time. She liked the sound of that.

“I’ll make notes and remember.” She was reaching for him, digging her fingers into all that muscle on his shoulders, and drawing him to her. Her actions weren’t premeditated. And although her mind seemed clear in noting what he said and did, Angel moved on instinct. The painful swelling inside her spread. It throbbed. It intensified. All she was able to focus on was that Wolf was the only man who could appease this craving inside her that now ignited like wild fire. Angel pulled his mouth down to hers before acknowledging she wanted him kissing her again.

He wet his lips just before their mouths became one again. Already she knew he would be kissing her everywhere with those lips. He would use the tongue that warred with hers now to taste her entire body. Wolf was a damn good kisser. If his skills were as finely tuned elsewhere, she was in for one hell of a ride. Wolf deepened the kiss. He impaled her mouth with his tongue. His lips were moist and soft against hers. He seared their mouths together. That wild fire inside her escalated. She wanted—needed—more before every inch of her burned out of control.

Angel lost track of time. He kissed her for either seconds or minutes.

It wasn’t until after experiencing erotic torture for what seemed like forever that he adhered to her wishes and began moving down her body. Angel didn’t notice she was pushing her hands against his shoulders once again until solid muscle twitched against her fingertips. Maybe Wolf was so much man that focusing on everything he was doing to her made it impossible for her brain to also register what she was doing to him.

Which wasn’t fair, she decided immediately.

“Wolf,” she began, intending to find out what would give him the most pleasure. Angel wasn’t a selfish lover. If a man was good to her, she wanted to be just as good in return. Since already, possibly at some sub-conscious level to start, but now foremost in her brain, Angel understood this wouldn’t be a man she would take long walks with or sit lazily after a meal and learn all there was to know about each other, all she could do was come out and ask, “What do you want?”

“Hush, darling,” Wolf purred in his raspy baritone. His mouth was just over her belly. He placed a wet kiss there before looking at her. Light from her storefront shone through her window and cast long shadows across his masculine face. “Let me make you come.”

“Oh, I will.” She smiled and reached for the side of his head. His brown hair was thick and soft. Already one of her favorite things to do was drag her fingers through it. For such a rough and tough man, his hair almost had a baby-soft downy feel to it. “But I doubt I’ll hush.”

His grin was a mixture of masculine satisfaction and something bordering on wicked. “I’d possibly like it less if you did.”

“What does it take to make the great Wolf howl?”

She swore his eyes turned raven black. “Once I know the lady, then I’ll know the answer,” he informed her, and began kissing her again.

His eyes remained locked with hers as his mouth surged a path down her body until he’d reached the mound at her pelvic bone. Wolf was layered with more characteristics than most men possessed. She’d never known a guy who wouldn’t profess if he was an ass man or a breast man. There were men who swore it wasn’t good sex if they didn’t get a blow job out of the deal. Other men were more passive and spent all their time getting their lady off, leaving only a few minutes for sexual intercourse before they exploded. Still others were into darker, kinkier sex and wanted it anally or even possibly to spank or inflict nipple torture.

Angel hadn’t known men who had displayed all those different sexual preferences. She’d had a few lovers, most of them normal, although normal wasn’t what she read about in
Cosmo
or in paperbacks. Her customers had told her plenty of stories about their husbands and boyfriends over the years.