Obsession (5 page)

Especially with women.

Women and their friends.

But Jessica said nothing of importance, only murmured, “Wow!” and “Oh really?” as Alexa rambled about her new life with J.J., being mated and the ranch. Then Alexa mentioned how happy her family was living here.

Jessica’s expression fell, ever so slightly, but he noticed.

So family was a sore spot for this Lupine. Hmmm.

Alexa moved toward the house, so Raphael picked up Jessica’s battered suitcase and held open the door. The two females went inside.

“Rafe, could you please put Jess’s luggage in the second floor yellow bedroom?” Alexa turned to her friend. “I thought you’d like that room. It’s so cheerful and gets the morning light and it’s right down the hallway from J.J. and me.”

Jessica’s face shuttered. Interesting. “That sounds lovely, but I really don’t want to be a burden. I can take a room on the first floor.”

Translation: I don’t want to be close and overhear you and your mate making love.

“You sure? The first floor bedroom is a little small.”

“Having my own room will be heaven. I don’t care if it’s a closet.” She saw Raphael looking at her and flushed again, the crimson bright against her pale skin.

Saying nothing, he led the way to the guest bedroom off the kitchen. Originally a maid’s room, J.J. had redesigned it for visitors who couldn’t climb stairs. A blue embroidered quilt covered the queen sized bed and the oak dresser and bureau were plain, but serviceable. The adjacent bathroom had connecting doors to the hallway and the bedroom.

“It’s a full bath, though the shower’s a bit small. Just make sure to lock the door when you’re in the bathroom so someone doesn’t surprise you while you’re showering,” Alexa told her, as Raphael set the suitcase in the closet.

“Thanks,” she told him.

He smiled.
I would definitely like to surprise you in the shower. You would much enjoy the surprise I had for you…

“Do you want to unpack?” Alexa asked Jessica.

Jessica avoided looking at Raphael and placed her computer case and handbag on the bureau. “It’s been too long. Let’s sit and catch up.”

He sensed Jessica didn’t want her friend looking over her clothing, if it was as ragged as the suitcase.

They went into the kitchen, where he poured them both chilled lemonade the housekeeper had made and helped himself to a glass. The two females sat at a table with their lemonade. Jessica took an ice cube from her glass and sucked on it.

His dick went hard again as he watched her lick the cube, her red tongue swirling around it, then she popped it into her mouth.

“How is Daniel?” Jessica plopped the ice cube back into her glass. “Is he staying here with you and J.J.?”

“My parents took him into their home. Daniel needs extra attention and Mom is an expert at loving kids who have been traumatized.”

“Although Daniel does not remember what happened to him,” Raphael interjected. “Fortunately for the boy, the years he spent possessed by the gnome were all a blank.”

“How did he deal with the news that his parents are dead?” Jessica asked.

“He was quite grief-stricken, but seems to be settling down a little,” Alexa said.

Jessica shook her head. “Kids who have no parents have a hard time dealing with life.”

Raphael caught the bitterness in her tone and wondered about it.

“My parents are treating him like one of their own. And dad’s doing so much better,” Alexa told her. “Rafe taught him how to ride and they’ve been on the trails every day. I think the fresh air here is improving his health. He’s much steadier on his feet and now that he eats regularly, he’s recovering his strength.”

Leaning against the wall, he watched as Jessica flicked her gaze to him. “Nice of you to teach him to ride.”

He rubbed his bearded chin. “I can teach you how to ride, too. We’ll take it very slow until you learn how to go faster, and before long, you’ll be begging me for rides.”

Another flush tinted her cheeks. Alexa, totally unaware of the double entendre, sipped her lemonade and continued to chatter about the ranch. He liked Alexa a lot. She made J.J. happy.

But her friend Jessica, hell, she made him totally hot. That ice cube…the things she did with her mouth…

Jessica turned to Alexa. “So, you pregnant yet?”

Raphael spewed out his sip of lemonade as Alexa grew red-faced. “Jess!”

“Just asking. You know, you’ve been mated a whole two months now…what are you waiting for?”

He expected Alexa to be infuriated. Hell, if he’d asked that question of J.J., the Lupine would have scowled. Instead she grinned and squeezed Jessica’s hand. “We’re not. It will happen when it does.”

Women. He could never understand them.

Jessica’s expression grew wistful. “You’ll make a terrific mom. Always knew you’d find the right mate. You deserve J.J., hon. I’m so glad you found him. I wish… I could have a real family.”

Then she quickly drained her lemonade, as if regretting that little aside. Raphael set down his glass on the counter and fetched the pitcher. He lifted it.

“Would you care for more?”

“No thanks. Though you do make a good server. You must have experience.”

“Jess,” Alexa scolded.

Raphael set down the pitcher on the table and locked gazes with Jessica. “I have a lot of experience, and there is much I could teach you.”

Naked, on your back.

Jessica looked away and squeezed her glass. A small crack appeared and she removed her hand, staring at it. She opened her palm.

Tiny droplets of blood beaded the skin.

“Oh no! I’ll get the First Aid kit.” Alexa hurried from the kitchen.

“I’m okay! Not the stingy stuff,” Jessica called after her in a mocking voice.

Raphael went to her. “Let me see.”

Huge, green eyes searched his face. She kept her hand away, like a child fearing the “stingy stuff.”

Very gently, he took her palm and unfurled it as if touching a fragile flower. Raphael stared at the cut. Then he raised it to his mouth and ran his tongue over the cut. Her skin tasted like the most exotic chocolate. His favorite, milk chocolate as rich and luscious running over his tongue, mixed with the sharp bite of her blood.

Arousal, fragrant as a field of wildflowers in summer, filled the air. Hers? And his, he acknowledged ruefully. Jessica’s breathing hitched as she stared at him.

Raphael drew back and watched the cut disappear, willing his erection to vanish as quickly. He thought of the Gnomes gnawing on his back and his muscles twitched.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“I have a wicked tongue.”

Hearing Alexa return, he stepped back. His alpha’s mate rushed into the kitchen, carrying the First Aid kit.

“No need. It’s healed.” Jessica waved her hand.

“Jess, let me see. You know you don’t heal as fast as other Lupines.” Alexa set the kit on the table and took her friend’s hand.

Not heal as fast? Interesting. He had not discovered that information, even after doing an extensive background check on Alexa’s friend.

Why did Jessica not heal as other Lupines did?

Alexa stared at Jessica’s palm as if divining secrets. “How did that happen? It’s gone.”

“Must be the fresh Colorado air.” But Jessica snatched her hand away and avoided Raphael’s gaze.

Alexa shook her head. “In that case, let’s get you out of this house and into more of that fresh air. I’ll give you the grand tour of the ranch. J.J.’s still on an international call. He wrote a note that he’ll join us for dinner.”

She turned to Raphael. “Can you get the golf cart? It’ll be easier than using the horses.”

“Of course.”

Raphael left, deep in thought as he gave Jessica one last glance. Tempting. Oh, so very tempting.

She would prove a challenge to him in the coming days. He sensed it.

Chapter 3

I have a wicked tongue.

The Lupine had a most wicked tongue, indeed. It felt like fire licking between her legs and all he’d done was make one slow stroke across her hurting palm.

Jessica tried to gather her scrambled thoughts as she and Alexa rode in the back of the four-person golf cart. Raphael drove, silent and assured. She didn’t dare meet his gaze, lest he see the flare of sexual awareness in her.

He smelled like citrus and spices, as if he’d bathed in a rich, fragrant and very male aftershave. Not overpowering, but enticing. Instinct told her it was his natural scent.

Only pureblood alpha males had such powerful scents. It allowed them to attract females for mating. So if Raphael was an alpha, why did he serve as J.J.’s beta?

Heat flushed her face as she remembered how good it felt when he’d licked her palm. Surely he’d scented her arousal. Raphael was a red-blooded male Lupine and they were known for detecting when a female was sexually interested.

It was going to be a long week.

Raphael stopped the golf cart before a 10-car garage that was bigger than her entire house. She and Alexa climbed out as he shut off the engine and then opened the doors.

Jessica stared at the line of luxury cars. Their worth could pay off her student loan and the student loans of all the young in her adopted family.

Matching Porsche sports cars.

“This one’s mine. And the one next to it is J.J.’s” Alexa pointed to a bright cherry red car sitting next to a sleek black one. “His wedding gift. Now we’re a matched set.”

Jessica stared, envy coiling through her. The car she drove was a 10-year-old sedan with bald tires. Her boyfriends in college had never given her gifts. Except for Bill, who’d thought it was funny to give her a box of condoms wrapped in shiny red foil for Valentine’s Day as a hint to sleep with him.

She’d blown up the condoms into balloons, then used them to decorate Bill’s front door.

Jessica walked through the garage. A black Lexus, new and equally sleek, with a leather interior. She wanted to drool. Such horsepower!

“That’s Rafe’s,” Alexa told her.

“A birthday gift from your mate?” Jessica asked.

“No, Rafe has plenty of money of his own. And the red truck is Rafe’s, too. And the motorcycle.”

“Must be nice to have money.”

Alexa’s smile wobbled. “It is. All those years we were with our former pack and I never had a decent meal because the alpha liked to ration food. I never want to go there again.”

Guilt pinched her. Alexa knew hunger and want. She hugged her friend and whispered, “I’m so glad you found him and he loves you.”

Still, she wished for something pretty, something shiny and rich for herself.

Then she remembered.

The belt.

Alexa shaded her eyes and peered into the distance. “Dad’s returning from his ride with Mom and Daniel. Stay here, I’ll bring them over.”

Tempted to sit on the hood of Alexa’s gleaming new car, she sat on a bench beneath a shady oak tree. Raphael followed.

He parked a lean hip against the tree’s trunk and folded his muscular arms. In his red flannel shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to display tanned forearms, and faded jeans with scuffed Western boots, he looked like an ordinary cowboy. But there was nothing ordinary about this Lupine.

Curls the color of blackest night spilled down to his collar. His strong jaw was covered by a close-trimmed beard, and a crisp mustache framed a mouth far too sensual for a man. But there was nothing sensual about the sharp, angular features of his face nor the darkness of those brown eyes.

Those eyes seemed ageless, and ancient pain lurked in their depths as he gazed down at her.

Jessica studied the acres of green pasture, the gleaming buildings, and thought about the expensive motor cars parked in the garage. “It must be nice to be wealthy,” she mused.

“There are worse things than having no money,” he said quietly.

“Easy to say when you have plenty of it.”

“I’d trade all the money in the world to regain what I’ve lost.”

He looked dark and dangerous and yet he had an air of vulnerability.

“What did you lose?”

Raphael shook his head. “Another time, little one. Perhaps one night I will share that information.”

“You don’t believe in sharing during the day?”

His gaze became hooded. “With you, I would much rather share…things…at night.”

Jessica felt her entire body flare with heat. Every time he gazed at her with those bedroom eyes, she felt a jolt of sensual awareness.

Her Lupine nature, with all its raging hormones and sexual need, howled for release.

But his seductive gaze wasn’t centered on her face now. He stared at her curls.

“What’s wrong? Never seen a redhead before?”

“Not of that color. I have met some red wolf Lupines, but their coloring is darker.” Raphael left the tree, approached her. Before she could squeak a protest, he wrapped a strand of her hair around his index finger.