The Billionaire Shifter's Curvy Match (Billionaire Shifters Club #1) (13 page)

A twinned pulse rammed through him, her hand a supernova, the Beat a shockwave of emotion and need.

With one swift movement he was in her, cock sliding into her slippery refuge, his breath urgent against her ear as he moved inside her, slow yet deep.

“Be careful what you wish for, Lilah,” he murmured as she moaned, her elegant neck vibrating against his shoulder.

“I’m not wishing for anything, Gavin,” she gasped, her words halting and hitched. “I am asking outright. Let me in. Let me know you. Let me love—”

His mouth stopped her words, the fire inside making the water feel like it was boiling purely from their mutual heat. His tongue took hers and made it submit, though she didn’t require much insistence. Lilah’s heart battered her fear like a hammer and Gavin felt every blow.

He sought to chase the fear away, one pleasure-filled thrust at a time.

Perhaps he was also chasing away his own, but now was not a time to think. The feel of her creamy skin under his masterful hands made him will away all uncertainty. The rush of animal lust overpowered him, driving thought into the shadows. The pore-by-pore pinprick sensation he’d grown to understand began its slow march across the landscape of his body, and he fought the change that was imminent. Why now? He was supposed to resume control once they’d mated. And yet...

His cock burrowed in her, the friction between his hammering and her welcoming was a divine space. Each thrust made her fingernails rake his back, each hoarse cry from one of their throats a call to Mother Nature. A thank-you.

A hello.

“I— Oh!” Lilah said, words gone now as their bodies glistened in the moon’s light, Gavin’s muscles broadening, his body one large sheet of instinct in flesh form. Their cries mingled in the night as their frantic pace splashed water onto the stones. Gavin was long beyond caring as he rammed her against the edge again and again, her body begging for more, legs wrapped around his waist, one knee cocked up to give him better access as he poured his seed inside her, bathing her inside and out.

Lilah’s nails drove into his buttocks, her body twisting and writhing with climax after climax, her pussy walls pulling him, drawing him in. Pinning him in place.

And then.

His vision changed, nostrils flaring as the scent of her juices pierced the veil of lust he wished he could enjoy. The shift was beginning and he struggled to control it, ears perked for the sounds of the woods. What the hell was happening? His eyes adjusted, the light more than enough to see the layered darkness, and he slumped against Lilah’s loose form, pulling out.

Eye contact right now simply would not do. Would she see his wolf eyes?

He forced himself to plant a simple kiss on her neck, teeth aching to nibble. If he bared his lips he might show fangs. Gavin’s nose picked up a pack of wolves in the distance, an owl, a raccoon near the trash cans at the back of the kitchen.

And two people fucking in the bushes near the sunroom off the east wing of the main house. The man wore far too much cologne, and as he inhaled deeply, he realized it was his own brother, Derry.

The woman was on her second sex partner of the night.

If he could smell Derry from here, then Derry could certainly detect him.

He kept his head down, eyes unable to stop taking her in. The harsh light of regular moonlight was no match for the subtle view he had now, her body a relief map of pure urge.

If he thought that he was speechless with pleasure when he was in human form, he was sorely mistaken. In those moments he could, with great will, speak.

Right now he could not.

With a great lunge he pushed off her body and landed on all fours, the cool night air broken slightly by the thickening fur that filled in as he carefully sprinted into the shadows the trees afforded him in the night.

Lilah did not call his name.

If she had, he likely would not have understood it.

L
ilah turned
, dizzy from the hot water and the lovemaking, reaching out for Gavin but catching only tendrils of steam.

Why was he running away? She heard movement in the woods. Maybe somebody was coming up the path and he was hiding to protect her from being seen with him.

She ducked her shoulders beneath the surface of the water, her heart pounding in her throat as she tried to catch her breath without making a sound. Even alone, she didn’t want to be found here. She was naked with her clothes strewn all over the rocks. Not exactly professional Platinum Club cocktail waitress behavior.

But she waited for several long, silent minutes, not moving, and nobody arrived.

And he didn’t return.

Thinking he may have seen or heard something earlier that she hadn’t, she decided to get dressed and find him at his house. He was probably waiting for her. She cast out her feelings, searching for him with the sixth sense that grew stronger every day.

Yes. There he was. Not far.

Mine
.

Not knowing if it was her own voice or his that echoed in her head, she hurried into her clothes and shoes, not caring she was dripping wet, and climbed over the rocks to the path. She couldn’t wipe the dumb smile off her face.

It’s not just sex,
he’d said.
It would be so much easier if it were.

He wasn’t ready to tell her he loved her, but he did. She knew it. Felt it.

He’d shown her the only way he knew how—yet. His body showed her what his mind and heart weren’t ready to express.

That’s what she hoped, anyway.

Desperately.

The night was turning cold, the sky deepening into black now that the moon had set. Shivering in her wet clothes, she jogged up the path to the house she felt was his, knew was his. A gorgeous, outsized cabin nestled in the woods greeted her, its wraparound porch dotted with welcoming benches and chairs to take in the lake view in the valley to the east.

The door knocker was heavy, cold iron. She dropped it on the door, licking her lips and shifting her weight from foot to foot, eager to get inside to the warmth, the privacy, and him. To the love he wasn’t ready to talk about.

No response. She tried to feel his presence like she had before, but this time she felt nothing but wild silence.

Where had he gone?

Confusion battled hurt and indignation. There had to be some explanation. He’d been called away. Something important. In the midst of their mad passion at the pool, she hadn’t been sharp enough to realize what had happened. He’d explain when he could. She had to believe that.

So she returned, damp and increasingly exhausted, to the lodge and her own room with its empty bed.

In spite of her concerns about Gavin, she fell asleep in seconds, not moving from where she fell until she woke, just before dawn, in a cold sweat. She’d been having the most alarming dream about a pack of wolves. They chased her through the Montana woods, then through the streets of Boston, almost tearing her to shreds on the sidewalk in front of her apartment. But she got through the gate just in time, slamming it in the face of the largest wolf, a huge, furious animal with mottled gray fur and sharp eyes.

“If you love him, leave him,” the wolf said.

His voice was Asher Stanton’s.

Body shaking, she stumbled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, the words echoing in her brain. Too much stress, too much sex, not nearly enough downtime. She was bound to be on edge, a little crazy.

But the words haunted her for the rest of the morning as she went about her day, while she tried to joke around with the staff at breakfast, then later when she rested in her room until her evening shift.

Gavin never appeared, never called her cell, never sent her a message through somebody else. At first she was calm, assuming business interfered, but after hours of serving drinks that night, she couldn’t think of any good reason that would’ve kept him away from her for so long. If he’d cared, if he’d thought it was important, if
she
was important, he would’ve contacted her somehow.

She began to fear the worst: he regretted getting too close. After saying good night to Carl and the other waitresses, she went to her room alone. Now she was angry.

That night, again she had bad dreams, again the wolves chased her, again Asher’s voice came out of the wolf’s mouth and warned her away.

When she woke the next morning, she felt drained and sad. Making it through the morning and afternoon without snapping at guests or coworkers took all her strength. She hid out in her room whenever Eva let her go and tried to distract herself online.

But an email from her sister only gave her something else to worry about. Her mother had intentionally hidden the date of her hip operation from both her daughters and was at that moment recovering in a hospital bed.

She says she’ll let me water the plants
, Jess wrote in the email.
But that’s it. She says she has a ride home and doesn’t want me missing any work.

“That woman!” Lilah cried at the screen of her phone. “Why are all the people I love totally crazy?”

By the way, your old friend from college, Natalie, called a few times. Might want to call her back,
Jess added in the email. Lilah made a mental note to remember to call when she was home. She could go long stretches without talking to Natalie, and then a single phone call erased months or years.

But not now.

She tried to reach her mom on the phone, but the nurses said she was napping and wouldn’t put her through. Jess wasn’t answering either, leaving Lilah helpless, worried, and alone in the guest room. Too far away to do a damn thing.

By the time she was at her station serving drinks, her jaw was tired from grinding her teeth. She’d chewed off one beautifully manicured fingernail and was fighting the urge to chew off the heads of everyone around her.

Who the hell did he think he was? Making her fall in love with him and then leaving her like that?

He’s the One
, she thought, not even knowing what it meant.

* * *

“
Y
ou’re avoiding her
.”

Gavin hated when Derry was right.

“I am shoring up strategic business relationships with major world leaders.” Gavin guzzled a bottle of water and searched his bedroom for another. The maid was slacking. He took the empty bottle and walked into his bathroom, filling it from the tap. The day had been an endless series of business meetings, mostly focused on intellectual property and international law. If Gavin heard the term “IP” one more time, he was going to tattoo it on his ass and just pull his pants down whenever the term was spoken.

That would liven things up.

“Is that a new way of saying ‘getting shitfaced with a group of guys’?” Derry joked.

“Do you have to be so vulgar?”

“You’re just pissed because I’m right.”

Gavin was halfway through the second round of water when he gagged, choking up half the volume in an enormous spray of liquid. Derry deftly moved out of the way, surprisingly quick for a man half the size of Paul Bunyan.

He was a live wire. Tense, irritable, easily annoyed, and utterly obsessed with the coming meeting with Lilah.

During which he would bare his true self.

He’d spent the better half of two days trying to create the perfect speech to explain this all to her. To explain him to her.

I’m a werewolf
seemed too blunt.

I’m a shape-shifter with a life expectancy of two centuries
seemed too out there.

We’re fated mates and you have to love me
was too stalkerish.

Join with me and you can have my long lifespan and we will make beautiful shifter babies
would have her screaming into the woods.

“And then there are those stupid football games,” Derry continued. When he smelled weakened prey, he always went in for the kill.

“I’m catching up on sports news. It’s the language of business.”

“I can hear you replaying that 2007 David Tyree catch over and over again. How is that up-to-date?”

“You wouldn’t understand if you’re not a football fan,” Gavin sniffed. “Which you aren’t.”

Derry gave him a hard look but said nothing.

“Why are you here? Did Asher send you on a little errand? Here to spy on me and report back to the boss?” Gavin asked, avoiding his little brother. He finished his water and stripped naked, without shame. The brothers had all seen each other in the wild. Their human form wasn’t any different when it came to modesty.

Turning the shower on, he walked back into his bedroom and waited for the hot water.

And an answer.

Derry’s brow lowered. “No. This has nothing to do with Asher. It has to do with you and your uncontrollable shifting.”

Fuck. He knew.

“Of course I know, Gavin,” Derry answered, as if Gavin had spoken aloud. “Everything about Lilah is written all over your face as if you tattooed it there in neon ink.”

“Is that what they’re doing in all the Bangkok brothels these days, Derry? That the new fashion?”

“Quit deflecting. You can’t be this unstable in the middle of your conference.”

Or ever
. Those words weren’t spoken, but they hung in the air anyway.

Gavin let out a long sigh that sounded like a defeat. “I know.”

“Is that why you’re avoiding her?”

“I’m not avoiding her. Not technically,” he added with a hand held out toward Derry to ward off the inevitable argument. “I needed some time to clear my thoughts and plan out the next step.”

“The next step?”

“Yes.”

“Which is...?” Derry looked at his wrist. Twenty years ago a watch would have rested there. The habit was deeply ingrained. Nonplussed, Derry fished around in his back pocket and found his smartphone.

“You have exactly three more minutes of my time.”

“What’s the rush?”

“Three Finnish representatives from that enormous mobile phone manufacturer. Hair like blonde ice and thighs so toned they could press tortillas in them.”

“So glad you’re using this conference as an opportunity to further your business goals,” Gavin said dryly.

Derry gave him a toothy smile and simply said, “Two minutes.”

An unnecessary wave of anxiety flared up in Gavin, along with a longing for Lilah so immediate he could taste her in his mouth, the sweet flavor making him stagger backward, his tight ass muscles hitting a small library table behind his couch.

“I’m afraid, all right?” Gavin looked away. “There. Are you happy?”

“Afraid of what?”

Gavin clenched his teeth and swallowed. He tasted copper. “Afraid she’ll find me beastly.”

“There’s a perfect choice of words.”

“You know what I mean.”

Derry blinked rapidly, then ran a hand the size of a small Chihuahua through his bushy, dark hair. “No, Gavin,” he said softly. “I don’t know.” His face was unguarded, and as his eyes met his brother’s, Gavin felt a kinship.

He was struggling with feelings of love greater than he could explain.

And he couldn’t explain them to a brother who was pained never to have felt them.

“No one wants to be rejected, Derry. Especially not for being their true self.”

“You can’t be anyone else.”

“We certainly do pretend,” Gavin whispered, feeling both more childlike and ancient than his soul had a right to be.

“That’s because if we didn’t, we’d be whipped to the bone every day just from being in public. And I don’t mean just us. Not just shifters. Society is a cruel mistress, Gavin. Being just the tiniest bit different is a curse.”

“Then our animal DNA is the fucking megacurse.”

Derry looked puzzled. “Really? You despise it that much?”

“I created a biotech empire to study it so we could find a way to neutralize the shifter genes, for God’s sake. What do you think?” That research was still fifty years away from bearing fruit. By then, Gavin would be headed into his final third of life. Perhaps it could help his children.

Their children.

His and Lilah’s.

Derry waved his hand as if shooing a fly. “I think that’s all a lovely excuse, but I embrace my power. No technology or intervention should be allowed to strip me of my essential animal inside.”

Gavin felt slapped.

“And,” Derry added as he looked at his smartphone and made his way toward the door, “I think that the harder you fight it, the stronger it becomes.”

“You should write greeting cards for a living, Derry,” Gavin said in a wry tone.

“If this billionaire heir thing falls through, I might give it a try.”