Roaring for Him (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Wicked in Wilder Book 1) (25 page)

Tilly’s lioness leapt forward, shoving into her human space with her agitation and anger. Something in those three words, something in Phoebe’s tone, had the animal anxious and… furious. “Phoebe?” She raised her voice to be heard above the mixers steadily running and the small crowd that slowly filled the bakery after school. “Do you need—?”

“I’ve got it. You two go back to whatever.”

“Phee?” She couldn’t shake the feeling, couldn’t shake the knot in her stomach that told her to get out there. She headed for the door.

Phoebe’s stomps reached her ears a split second before she poked her head around the corner. “Geesh, can’t a girl get in a fight with someone without her sister getting all up in her business?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. Bitchy Phee she could handle. “What kind of fight—”

Mitchell stepped forward and mirrored her pose. “Who do we need to take care of?”

That would be so sweet if she didn’t know his version of “take care of” probably included fangs and claws.

She elbowed him and grumbled, “I got this.”

“Funny, so do I.” He didn’t even bother keeping his voice down. “What’s going on?”

“Oh my God, you two. Go back to making dicks and let me deal with this. I already promised not to go crouching bear-bitch on people. Tills, Marcia is gonna cover for me for a sec.” With that, she disappeared from sight.

Tilly took a step forward, intent on following her little sister, but Mitchell’s firm hand on her arm had her stilling. “She’s fine, Tilly. Roman and Cooper are across the street.”

She frowned. “You said we were safe with you.”

Mitchell shrugged. “You are, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take extra help to keep my family safe. Let her be a kid. Argue with her friend outside or whatever.” He waved at his face, drawing her attention to the mess he’d made. “Help me get dick off my face.”

Tilly licked her lips, gaze intent on the bits of icing. “I can take care of this in two ways.”

“Uh-huh.” His eyes shifted to amber then pure yellow as sexual heat filled the air. “How’s that?”

“I can grab a towel or…”

Mitchell eased closer, turning to face her fully as he pressed his front to hers. His cock hardened against her hips, telling her without words that his mind was following hers. “Or?”

“What else can I do with a dick?” she murmured as she slid her hands over his shoulders and tugged him nearer. “Any ideas?”

“I have so,
so
many ideas. In case anyone was wondering.” Marcia popped her gum. “Because, old guy or not, he’s hot. Just saying.”

Tilly groaned and dropped her head forward to rest on Mitchell’s shoulder. “Cock blocked by a teen. Again.”

“Speaking of cocks. Mimi Santori called about her order and wondered if she could pick up everything an hour earlier.” Of course that’s what the woman wanted. “What do you want me to tell her?”

Tilly shifted her attention to the tables and then to the clock before she backed away from Mitchell. It’d be tight, but she could swing it. “Tell her that’s fine. And lemme know when Phee gets back. I’ll need her help.”

Marcia poked out her lower lip. “Aw, how come I don’t get to help decorate the dongs?”

“You get enough dick, young lady. You don’t need mine.” She wrinkled her nose. “You know what I mean.”

“Uh-huh.” Marcia’s gaze flicked over Mitchell’s body and focused on her mate’s groin just a little too long.

“Excuse the fuck outta you?” Tilly took a step forward. Logical-Tilly knew the young wolf was no competition. She was a pup and Mitchell was
hers
. Illogical-Lioness-Bitchtastic-Tilly wanted to claw out the teenager’s eyes.

Luckily, Mitchell was there to keep her from flying off the handle. “Go talk to the customers, Marcia.” A low growl came on the heel of those words and the girl squeaked before spinning and racing away. The second she was gone, Tilly relaxed and her mate was there to catch her. “Bit of a jealous streak, baby?”

She shook her head, turned in his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Not normally, but you…” She sifted her fingers through the hair at the base of his skull. “You do something to me.”

Mitchell waggled his eyebrows. “You do something to me, too.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Boys.”

“Nah, baby, this is all man.” He pressed his hips against hers and flashed a wicked grin. “All your man.”

All man covered in dick frosting, but she wasn’t going to point that out. Instead, she captured a little streak of icing with her finger and drew it into her mouth to lick the digit clean. “Delicious man,” she murmured and pressed to her tiptoes. There was a spot on his neck below his jaw and… She licked the skin, gathering the sweetness and moaning as it was combined with the saltiness of his natural flavors. “De. Licious.”

He shuddered, his whole body trembling, and his hard cock nudged her belly. “Dammit, Tilly,” he growled. “We can’t do this here.”

“Damn straight you can’t.” Marcia. Again. And still popping her gum. Tilly wasn’t sure she’d ever heard anything more annoying. “Phee is having a mid-life teenage crisis and asked if I could fill in the rest of the day. That good with you two?”

She withdrew from her mate and faced Marcia. “What happened? Is something wrong? Do I need to—”

Marcia held up her hands, palms out. “Whoa,” her eyes were wide. “Chill on the third degree.”

And that snippet of disrespect got Mitchell growling—again. Which had Marcia squeaking—again.

Tilly ignored them both. “Is everything okay, Marcia?”

“Yeah, she said she had a little girl-boy drama to figure out and that she’d be home for dinner.” Marcia shrugged as if it were no big deal. Tilly stared down the girl, searching her features for any hint of a lie, and found nothing.

That didn’t mean her suspicion, Marcia wasn’t telling everything, disappeared. “You okay manning the counter for a couple hours, then? I’ll finish these and get a start on tomorrow’s orders. We should be out of here by six.”

“Yup,” the teen nodded and a jingle of the front door’s bell reached them, which had Marcia retreating. “Welcome to Bless Your Tart. How can I…”

Mitchell’s arms tightened around her waist and he pulled her back against him, rubbing his cloth-covered hardness against her ass. “Now that we’re alone,” he murmured and dropped soft kisses along her neck.

Tilly tilted her head to the side, giving him room to continue, even though she knew she’d have to cut him off soon. “Alone-ish. There’s at least twenty—”

“I hear thirty.”

“—thirty people out there.”

“Hmm… At least half are pack. They won’t be scandalized if I bend you over this—”

The door that separated the kitchen from the front of the shop swung open and a single arm slid through the crack to slap a sticky note on the wall before disappearing. Tilly squinted at the sheet and tried to read the words…
Spooge free zone.

She groaned and eased from Mitchell’s embrace so she could snatch the small square from the wall. “Shit.”

“I’m gonna kill her.” Mitchell moved to pass her, anger suffusing his body, and she grabbed his wrist and tugged him to a stop.

“Down, boy. I hate the message, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s right. Hanky-panky can wait until we get home.”

* * *

“…until we get home.”

Those words sounded good. So fucking perfect that he’d nearly creamed his damn jeans like a pup. And she was too far away. Any distance that separated them was too far, actually. He wanted to touch her every minute of every day. His hands… his mouth… his
cock
.

Those thoughts combined with Tilly’s nearness had his dick twitching and his wolf howling. Damn he wanted inside her. As deep as he could go and then he’d stay there, connected with her, part of her.

Shit, he had it bad. He was gone for her. Head over tail
gone
and he didn’t give a fuck if everyone knew it. She was his mate and tomorrow night he’d tell everyone—show everyone.

Tilly loosely held his hand as they drove down the street. They’d made a quick escape, anxious to be alone. They eased down the tree-lined streets, passing some of the older homes, and he finally asked the question that’d been on the tip of his tongue since the words left her mouth.

“Home, huh?” He grinned at her and then focused on the road. He gently squeezed her fingers and he realized he’d never smiled so much in his life. “Where’s home?”

In his peripheral vision, he watched her nibble her lower lip. “How lame would it be if I said it’s wherever you are? Super lame? Or just marginally lame? On a one to ten scale of lameness, where would that fall?”

“No biting your lip, baby. I’m the only one who gets to do that.” He brought the SUV to a stop at a red light.

“You are?” He met her gaze and she raised her eyebrows.

“Uh-huh. ’Cause I’ll kill anyone else who gets near you.”

“That’s…” she shuddered, her body trembling against him.

His dick throbbed as the knowledge that he pulled that reaction from her settled into his bones. “As for being lame… Baby, I got something you can fall on.”

“That… You…” she sputtered and pushed against his shoulder. “
That
was lame.”

Mitchell shrugged. “Doesn’t change the fact I’m hard for you. That I can’t wait to drag you home, and sink into you.”

And make you mine
. But he couldn’t do that quite yet. Maybe they should wait on full-fledged sex because once he got started, he didn’t think he could hold back.

“You can’t say things like that.” She licked her lips and he noted the rise and fall of her chest, the shallow breaths, and the way her hard nipples pressed against her shirt. Yeah, she wanted to be his just as much.

“My parents told me the heart of a good mating is communication.” He shrugged. “I’m just communicating, baby.” He winked at her. “Want me to communicate some more? Tell you where I wanna kiss you? Taste you? Fuck you? The ways I wanna make you scream my name?” A deep breath revealed that his little, curvy mate was aroused. He bet she was slick and wet. If he put his hand between her thighs, she’d burn his palm with her heat. “The number of times I’ll make you come until you beg me to stop?”

Tilly placed a single trembling hand on his chest, right over his heart. “Just one thing. Tell me one thing.”

“Anything.” And he prayed he wouldn’t cream his jeans.

“Tell me…” She licked her lips, her pink tongue darting out and teasing him. “Tell me about your parents.”

Mitchell froze, disbelief and pain spearing him at once. “Tilly…”

“You never talk about them.”

Mitchell winced. “We haven’t been together long enough to talk about them.”

“You know about my mother. My sisters. What I went through raising them. And Phee…” she immediately countered and his gut clenched. He hated the pain she’d experienced growing up and the last thing he wanted to do was add to the drama that surrounded them.

“Tilly…”

“No.” She shook her head. “Give me something of yourself, Mitchell. I know this sounds super bitchy, but I need more than a hard cock and passionate kisses.”

“We’ve known each other for five minutes,” he cajoled, trying to get her to see his side of things.

“And you want to mate me tomorrow night.”

He sighed. “Yes.”

“That takes a whole lot of trust on my part. I’ll be vulnerable.” She placed her hand over his. “Trust—
communication
—goes both ways. I trust you, Mitchell. Trust me. I’m only asking you for what I’ve already given.”

“Dammit, Tilly,” he growled and his fingers ached, telling him his wolf hated this confrontation with their mate.

“Dammit, Mitchell,” she wasn’t backing down.

He sighed. “You’re gonna keep pushing, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t talk about this shit, Tilly. It’s done. I dealt and moved on.” A car behind them honked their horn, reminding him they were in the middle of Main. Shit. He hit the gas and roared down the street, turning left and then making a right. All the while talking to his mate. “Reliving it doesn’t accomplish anything.” Though God knew he’d replayed the day over and over again, wondering if he could have done something differently. If he’d kept his mouth shut… If he hadn’t come home… If he’d just dropped his fucking gaze like he had for seventeen fucking years…

“I’m not asking for all of you, Mitchell. Not yet. I just want one tiny part,” her words were low, but his wolf’s hearing let him catch each syllable.

He shook his head. “How’d we get from penis cookies at the bakery to here?”

“Magic.”

“Black magic.” He shook his head and pulled into her driveway. The second they stopped, he put the SUV into park and released a heavy sigh. He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not pretty. It’s not a long story, but it ain’t pretty. I want to hide this shit from you, Tilly. I don’t want you to see that part of me.”

“I’m going to emotionally blackmail you now.”

“It doesn’t work well if you warn me ahead of time.” He tried to smile, but it fell flat.

“It will. I’ve had practice.” She took a deep breath and released it slowly. “If you want to mate tomorrow night, you have to give this to me. What happened to your parents? You haven’t introduced me to them, so where are they?”

“We’ll talk about it inside.”

Mitchell yanked on the door handle and climbed from the vehicle. He met Tilly on the other side and they walked to her home side by side. His mate was quick to unlock the front door and he stepped into the house first. He inhaled and sorted through the scents, searching for any that didn’t belong and found nothing. Dammit, what he wouldn’t give for a good, bloody fight. It’d keep him from delving into his past.

Tilly slid her hand into his and entwined their fingers. “We don’t have to—”

He shook his head. “Yeah, we do. You shared so much with me, baby. The least I can do is do the same. It’s just…” Hard as fuck. “C’mon. Lemme sit and hold you while I do this.”

He tugged his hand from hers and grasped her wrist, dragging her behind him.

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” He drew her into the living room. The space was large but cozy with a comfortable couch and large chairs that flanked the furniture.