Instinctive (8 page)

One perfect eyebrow arched. “Yeah?” Her tone deepened and she shivered with something that looked like a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Turbulence danced in her eyes as though she was struggling, trying to decide her next move, and then by small degrees, something in her expression changed, darkened when she said, “You’re a very bad boy, Slyck.”

Fuck, she didn’t know the half of it. “Yeah, I know,” he murmured.

“So all this time we’ve been talking, you’ve been watching me.”

It was a statement, not a question, but he answered, anyway. “Yeah. I’m a regular voyeur.”

“Tell me, does watching me masturbate excite you?”

“Uh-huh.”

Her edgy laugh morphed into a heated moan, and Slyck got the sense that she wasn’t at all stepping outside her comfort zone. That she was really adventurous, daring, and perhaps even an exhibitionist.

Her pretty pink tongue darted out to moisten her plump lips. “So your cock is hard then?”

He heard the longing in her voice and wondered where she
was going with this. “Real hard,” he said, deciding to play along to see where this led them.

She whimpered with pleasure, obviously pleased with his admission. “And you thought you could just spy on me, without consequences?”

“Yeah, I kinda did.”

“Spying is very naughty, Slyck.”

“Mmmm. And masturbating in front of your window isn’t?”

One hand went to her chest. She feigned offense, but the gleam in her eye turned wicked. “But my lights were out and I didn’t think anyone could see me.”

“I can see you.”

With that, the little vixen cupped her breasts, held them high, and flicked her tongue across her nipples. “I think naughty boys need to be punished.”

“Me, too.”

Her soft chuckle bombarded him with need and a wave of possessiveness swamped him.

She shot him a smoldering look. “So here’s what you’re going to do. You get to watch, but you don’t get to touch. Take your hand from your cock, Slyck.”

He grinned. “Intuitive, aren’t you?”

Amusement laced her voice when she said, “Well, you
are
a man.”

Okay, he’d give her that. “So if I stick to your rules, you’ll continue?”

“Yes.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I just might have to punish you.”

Her words told him she liked the control, the power. “Okay,” he agreed, shivering in anticipation. “I’ll just watch then,” he added, urging her on.

With that, Jaclyn threw her head back and began to ride the come-soaked vibrator. His mouth went dry as he ached to touch her all over, to taste the cream dripping from her cunt.

The soft, sexy bedroom noises she was making had him trembling uncontrollably. Her skin glistened with moisture and he licked his parched lips in response.

Savoring the moment, he whispered softly, “Come for me, baby. Let me watch you drip.”

Her body began shaking and he suspected an orgasm was pulling at her. Her eyes strayed toward his window and swept over his silhouette as he briskly worked his hand over his cock, desperately needing to release the tension inside him.

Okay, so he was still whacking off. So what? And, yeah, once again she had him breaking all the rules, even self-imposed ones.

When her face flushed hotly, Slyck ground his teeth together and braced himself. His skin grew tight, and his balls constricted as pressure brewed.

“Yessss . . .” Her soft cries of ecstasy pushed him over the precipice, and he came. Hard. His muscles contracted, his liquid heat filling his hand. With her breathing labored, she continued to feed the rubber cock in her hot pussy as she too tumbled into orgasm.

As she worked the cock in and out of her, her head fell forward, spilling her hair over her breasts while her body clenched.
She exhaled a whimper of relief. “So good,” she mumbled and blew a wispy bang from her forehead before sinking back and resting her head against the sofa’s cushiony headrest. After a long, quiet moment, she glanced his way, lightly brushed her finger over her clit in a soothing motion, and cut the easy silence encompassing them. “Slyck, did you come?” she asked. There was something deeply intimate in the way she was talking to him. It caught him off guard and filled his darkest corners with warmth. He felt his whole world shift.

His heart began to slowly return to a steady rhythm. “Yeah,” he admitted, noting the easy intimacy between them after what they’d just done.

She
tsk
ed. “Now you’re really looking for trouble,” she teased.

“I think I already found it,” he responded, suspecting this woman was panther, and she was his mate. He didn’t know how and he didn’t know why, but everything inside him told him she was the one woman meant for him, even though she didn’t seem to know it herself or know
what
she was. There was only one way for him to confirm that she was indeed a panther, and that was to get between her legs and breathe in her feminine scent.

Another thought struck him and his stomach clenched. If she truly was panther, that meant her life was in danger. After all, council rules were in place for a reason. He drew a deep breath and worked to center himself. Oh shit, this wasn’t good. Not good at all.

Grinning seductively, she said, “Well, I think you need to be properly punished for not adhering to my rules, Slyck.” Jaclyn climbed from the sofa, walked to her window and stared into his
bedroom window. When intense blue eyes met his he could barely form a coherent thought. “But right now it’s time for me to go to bed.”

“Jaclyn.”

“Hmmm.” Her voice sounded sleepy, and not quite satisfied.

“You’re not really that prim and proper girl you’re pretending to be, are you?”

A pause, and then: “Good night, Slyck.”

No, it wasn’t a good night. Hell, it wasn’t even a great night. It was a fabulous night. An absolutely, unequivocally, blissfully, fabulous night.

And it never should have happened, dammit.

What in the hell had she been thinking?

So much for masquerading as a prim and proper city girl. Her act was as flimsy as rice paper, and it only took a bad boy like Slyck one meeting to rip through that thin veil.

With the intention of calling it a night, and cooling her heated body down, Jaclyn made her way to the bathroom, and took an icy-cold shower. Unfortunately the cool spray against her heated nipples only managed to arouse her more. She spent the next few hours tossing on her bed, with sleep continuing to elude her. Frustrated, and deciding she needed air, to clear her head, and her libido, she climbed from the mattress and reached into her closet for something to wear.

After pulling on a knee-length floral sundress—a dress that would make any debutante in her high-class society proud—and a pair of flat sandals, Jaclyn dabbed her neck with perfume and stepped from her house. Of course, no debutante she knew would be caught leaving her house without panties, she mused. It was naughty, for sure, but her pussy was just too damn hot to keep covered up.

It was nearing midnight as she made her way to town, convincing herself that her trip down Main Street had nothing at all to do with the hopes of seeing Slyck at his club, and everything to do with cooling off her heated flesh.

She took note of the people milling about, and watched them wander in and out of Vibes, as the lure of the music called out to her like an aphrodisiac.

She walked the streets, noting how there seemed to be an abundance of partygoers out on a weeknight. She found it odd that all the stores were lit up. Didn’t anyone in this small rural town sleep? Back in her grandmother’s quaint village, the majority of shops all closed up after dinner.

Treating her the same way they treated her at the department store—as though she was invisible—townsfolk passed her by, barely sparing her a glance. Waves of energy came off them, charging the warm air around her and creating static in the night sky. It made her feel antsy, like she wanted to run away, yet familiar enough that she wanted to stay.

Jaclyn pressed her back to the wall of the candy shop and hugged herself, suddenly feeling very alone and agitated. As the bar crowd sailed past her, she knew what they saw: a buttoned-up
prude not worth talking to. But not Slyck. No, Slyck saw the real her. And she wasn’t certain that was a good thing.

As her mind raced to Slyck, and their erotic phone call, her entire body quivered in yearning. She’d only gone along with the sexy game to get him out of her system, but the truth was, masturbating on the phone with him had left her needing the real thing.

Once again Jaclyn’s skin grew itchy without warning, and she wondered if there was something in the town that she was allergic to.

“Hey.”

Her breath stalled, and she didn’t need to turn toward the voice to know who it was. His rich tone bombarded her with need, and her skin grew more irritated, inflamed. Jeez, maybe it was Slyck she was allergic to.

She turned to face him. Unlike the well-groomed guy she’d first met a couple of days ago, he now looked rumpled, dark, and somewhat dangerous. As she wondered what got him in such a disheveled state, she fought the urge to squirm. Right into his powerful yet scrumptious arms.

“Hey,” she finally managed to respond.

He pitched his voice low and dipped his head. “What are you doing, Jaclyn?”

“I needed air,” she rushed out quickly.

She noticed the way Slyck glanced over her shoulder, his expression guarded, and how he pressed himself deeper into the shadows.

She gestured with a nod toward Vibes. “So I thought I’d check out the music.”

In a move that took her off guard, he caught hold of her hand and hauled her into the dark alleyway between buildings. Breath ragged and body tense, he put his arms on either side of her head, caging her between him and the wall. The clean scent of his freshly showered skin reached her nostrils, and she pulled it into her lungs. His seductive aroma curled through her blood, reminding her she was a libidinous woman—a libidinous woman with so very many unsated needs. Slyck touched a damp lock of her hair and searched her face.

His gaze was so dark and intense it took two locked knees to keep herself upright. The air grew ripe with the scent of her arousal. She watched Slyck’s nostrils flare when he caught her excited tang as it saturated the narrow alleyway. His eyes closed for the briefest of seconds.

She touched his face. “What—”

He cut her off and brought his mouth closer and she could have sworn she heard him purring. “You need to get out of here.”

“Why?”

He pulled her against him. Turmoil flashed in his green eyes. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to ravish you. And I don’t think it’s in your best interests,” he said with quiet certainty.

She gulped air. “What is in my best interest?”

His lips hovered over hers, and she got a heady whiff of aged scotch. “Leave town.”

That took her by surprise, especially after the sexy voyeur game he’d played with her. She crinkled her nose, wondering what was going on. Why was he suddenly pushing her away? “You want me to leave?”

“Yes. It’s for your own good.” He pulled her in tighter, his actions seeming to contradict his words.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s for
your
good,” she said, stating the obvious as his hard cock pressed into her stomach.

His nostrils flared again, and he growled into her mouth. “Tonight, Jaclyn. Leave tonight.”

God, the steady way he held and touched her made her feel so edgy, so out of control. She wanted him more than she had ever wanted any other man, which gave credence to her logic to stay away, because sleeping with him wasn’t conducive to her new image. Then again, the phone sex hadn’t helped either. But the fire that brewed between her legs and the way her birthmark began to burn and sizzle urged her to answer the demands of her body.

Just once.

Just for tonight.

Then tomorrow she’d get back on track.

She had no idea what possessed her to say it, but without censoring her thoughts she said, “But you haven’t been properly punished yet.”

His hands fisted. His jaw clenched. She could feel his heart pounding so hard against his rib cage, she was sure it was going to burst wide-open.

“And I’m just the girl to do it,” she added.

“Oh, fuck, Jaclyn. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

She thrust her pelvis forward. “Maybe we should be thinking about what you could be getting yourself into.”

The invitation in her voice seemed to unleash something wild
inside him. His hardened expression changed and took on a resigned look. Gone was his will to push her away.

“Come with me.” He roughly shackled her arms and pulled her deeper into the alleyway. A moment later she found herself cutting through the deserted park with him, taking a shortcut back to his place.

Silence hovered in the air as he guided her through his back door. They entered the kitchen, where he reached into his cupboard and poured them both a stiff drink of scotch. Jaclyn definitely wanted something stiff. But scotch wasn’t what she had in mind.

A sliver of moonlight outside the window provided sufficient light for her to see him in the dimly lit room. She shook almost uncontrollably as she watched him recap the bottle and put it away. There was something very sensual in the way he moved, she decided. He turned back to face her and pushed the glass into her hand.

“Drink,” he said.

“Thanks.” She took a small sip. As the liquid burned a path down her throat, she watched him, noting how he never once took his dark, seductive gaze from hers as he downed his glass in one gulp.

“Thirsty?” she questioned, barely able to keep her voice from shaking and her body from quaking as she hungered for him with an intensity that both scared the hell out of her and excited her just the same.