Two Minutes (Seven Series Book 6) (22 page)

His voice cracked, barely audible. “Because he was evil.”

“So that’s why you’ve been pushing women away your whole life. You’re afraid of losing them. You can’t live that way. Have you told the pack? Does Austin know?”

He shook his head. “What good does it do to dig up the past?”

I kissed his ear. “Maybe it’ll help people understand you better.”

“She never knew how I felt about her. Maybe if I’d loved her, she wouldn’t have died. Maybe I would have been there; things might have been different.” Then he laughed softly. “She probably didn’t feel the same anyhow, but I’ll never know.”

I threaded my fingers through his hair, still holding him. When Denver lowered his knees, I straddled his lap and held him tight. Held him like a person needed to be held when they were racked with emotional pain.

“It doesn’t matter if she loved you or not, Denny. You loved her.”

Jesus, nobody deserved to die that way. Her ex sounded like a lunatic—probably a man that couldn’t have been stopped. No wonder he’d never told anyone this story; his confession could mean his going to Breed jail.

“She told me they were still legally mated and he felt entitled to her. I’ll never know why he flipped out, what she said to him. The fire wiped out all evidence, and that meant he would walk. I couldn’t let that happen.”

He nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck and pressed his hands against my back. The air charged with electricity as thunder rolled once more. His hands swept down beneath my short top and then back up so that his fingers were tickling across my bare skin.

My body hummed with desire, but I stayed still, uncertain what Denver’s intentions were. His breath heated my neck, and then I felt a petal-soft kiss. I circled my fingertips around the nape of his neck before sliding my hands to his upper back. Denver had never held me like this before.

Not like
this
.

My heart was thumping wildly, and a few tiny drops of warm rain touched my arms. I’d never felt so aroused. Ever. I was going to burst if he didn’t make a move to show me this was more than just a momentary lapse of reason.

Denver’s hands found their way to my midriff, and my breath hitched. Then he smoothed them around to my back again. The friction made me tremble, and I knew he was hesitant about going further.

“Touch me,” I whispered against his ear, nibbling on the lobe.

He released a ragged breath. “Are you sure?”

I was sure if he didn’t do something about this, I was going to explode. “
Yes
.”

He moaned at that word and moved his hands to the front again, exploring the satin material of my bra. I arched beneath his palms, and the warm wind blew my hair back. I reached behind me, unlatched my bra, and pulled it out through a sleeve.

Denver looked at me with heavy-lidded eyes and a subtle grin. “That’s always fascinated me.”

“What?”

“How a woman can undress herself without looking.”

I laughed and realized that was what I loved about Denver. I didn’t want to choose between the funny man and the sexy man; I wanted both. He settled his deep-blue eyes on mine and lifted my shirt. I raised my arms, allowing him to strip it off.

A raindrop landed on my breast and Denver licked it away. That sparked the fire that set my body aflame. The moment he drew in my nipple and rolled the other between his thumb and index finger, I forgot every other man I’d ever been with. Thunder crashed—louder this time. I tugged at his white tank top and he raised his arms, allowing me to remove it. The moment his hot skin pressed against mine in a brief embrace, nothing else existed. I held his tight biceps as he moved down and drew in each nipple, sucking and tugging until sharp desire raced through me like lightning.

I rose up on my knees. Denver slowly unlatched the button on my shorts and pulled down the zipper. I gasped when his mouth kissed below my navel, traveling lower to the edge of my panties.

“Lie down,” he growled.

It was hard to pull away from his raw heat, but I managed to shove my watermelon out of the way and into the grass. He hovered over me like a predator, and I saw his wolf spirit watching me through his indigo eyes. Denver slowly pulled my shorts and panties down, tossing them to the side.

Without hesitation, he removed his own pants.

“Anyone ever told you how sexy you are?” I asked stupidly.
I’m sure he hears it all the time
, I thought.

He answered me with a kiss to my knee, then my inner leg. I moaned as he stretched his arms forward and cupped my breasts, laving his way up to the apex of my thighs. Just when he was a centimeter away, he crawled over me with a hungry look—a fierce look—his tongue lazily dragging over my breasts.

I’d never had a man look at me like that before. Most looked at me with urgency, but he looked at me with confidence, like a man who was about to torture me with pleasure. The other men I’d been with hadn’t subscribed to the theory of seducing a woman.

Then again, they weren’t Denver.

“Turn over,” he commanded.

Just hearing those words sent a rush of need between my legs that gripped me relentlessly. Shifters preferred it from behind—this I knew. I’d never been with a Shifter before and didn’t realize how strong their energy became—how potent.

The moment I turned onto my stomach, a low growl rose in his chest. A shiver danced through me when his rough hand cupped my ass and moved up the curve of my back. He pressed a kiss at the base of my spine, and I whimpered when his tongue licked all the way up to the middle of my back. Denver brushed my hair away, and I splayed my hands in front of me, lifting my hips.

“Don’t do that,” he said in a raspy voice. “Not yet.” Easy for him to say. His kisses moved around tortuously and then stopped near my right shoulder blade. His finger circled around. “What’s this? I’ve never noticed this before.”

My mark. Suddenly it dawned on me what could happen, and I wondered if I should tell him. I decided against it because it would lead to conversation, and that meant taking us out of the moment. I wanted us to be intimate because he desired me and nothing more. No ulterior motives. No fears. No hopes. Just our bodies coming together the way they were meant to be.

“It’s just a birthmark.”

“Looks like a spade,” he said playfully. “That means rebirth, you know.”

I grinned and turned my head to the side. “Did you learn that in Vegas?”

He kissed it once more and dragged his mouth to my shoulder. “Ben used to read a lot on the history behind playing cards and symbols. I don’t know; it just stuck in my head.”

I felt a couple of raindrops touch my back, and Denver must have noticed them because he licked them up slowly. The earth had never felt more significant beneath me. Then he settled his weight on top of me and kissed the back of my neck.

Sucking.

Nipping.

God, it was sexy feeling him almost naked against my back. I lifted my hips and he sucked in a sharp breath, rocking against me so I could feel the swell of his arousal, as hard as a diamond.

The trees rattled overhead as the rain began to fall, making tapping sounds against the leaves. When Denver moved off me, I heard him stripping out of his briefs. My entire body became wet with the light rain. We had absolute privacy since no one in the pack ever ventured on this side of the property unless they were in wolf form.

“Damn, you should see yourself,” he whispered. “I’m taking a mental picture of this. So beautiful.”

I turned over and locked eyes with him as I rose to my knees. The rain had dampened his hair, and I ran my fingers through it and drew his mouth to mine. I tasted rain, so I deepened the kiss to get more of him.

He gripped my waist, fingers digging in as he kissed me with intensity. When our tongues danced, he moved his hands up, gliding over my wet breasts.

“I need you,” I whispered.

I love you
, I thought.

“I need you too,” he said with more conviction than I had anticipated, his arms encasing me. “Tell me if I’m too rough; I don’t want to hurt you.”

I feverishly kissed his neck. “You could never hurt me.”

In a swift move, Denver tossed me on my back. He lifted my left leg and his shaft rested heavily against my core. Needing. Wanting. Hesitating.

The rain covered us. Joined us. Washed us clean of all our doubts, sins, and pain. It put a lustrous shine on his body, and he looked down at me—water dripping from the ends of his messy hair, scar prominent on his forehead, lips still swollen with my kiss. We were two connected souls discovering ourselves anew.

He slid deep and I gasped, locking my hands around his neck. His eyes told me a thousand secrets, branding me with a look I’d never forget.

A gust of wind skated across my skin, causing my nipples to tighten. The friction of them rubbing against his chest as we made love was seismic. I lightly bit his shoulder, and he kissed my neck in the most slow and erotic manner imaginable.

“You’re so damn wet,” he moaned. “
Christ
.” The primal sound in his throat penetrated my mind, his hips crashing against mine as our slick bodies rocked against one another.

I fisted his hair and cried out. He was hitting every sensitive spot, and I was about to lose control.

“Turn over,” he growled, flipping me on to my stomach. He lifted my hips until I was on all fours. Denver slid in so slowly that I felt every inch of him until his hips were flush against me. His fingertips bit into my skin, and he thrust even deeper until we were more connected than two people could possibly be.

With a demanding tempo, he pounded against me faster and faster, thunder crashing around us as if to mask his shouts.

“
Don’t stop
,” I hissed. He filled me perfectly, and I found myself driving against him as his hands loosened and stroked my back.

“That’s it,” he said. “Just like that.” Then he pulled my wet hair into a ponytail, giving him something to grip.

The rain began to taper off just as my legs started trembling. I couldn’t hold myself up any longer as pleasure ripped through me.

As if sensing it, Denver turned me onto my back and held my wrists. His tongue circled around a nipple and he lifted his eyes to mine. “I can’t decide which way feels better. I think I’ll try them all.”

I feasted upon the visual of Denver taking me. We had become the storm, and he crashed against me. The world spun as I thought about the first time his eyes traveled down my body and looked at me with lust on the day I came home.

Denver let go of my wrists and anchored his hands on the blanket.

My teeth nipped his shoulder and I stretched my legs out and hooked them over the back of his calves. Heat pooled low in my body and I surrendered to him completely.

“I’m coming,” he announced. His left hand had come off the blanket and was in the mud. “
I’m coming
,” he kept repeating, driving faster. He put his forearm in the mud and groaned.

I reached for the edge of the blanket but instead found mud. So I held on to his chest and shoulders, spreading a streak of mud across his heart.

He growled and looked at me with dark hunger. Denver leaned on his right arm and then stroked my breast, a faint smile touching his lips as he spread mud across my skin.

Our skin was slick from rain and slid against each other in the most sensual way, awakening every nerve ending I didn’t know I had.

I gripped a fistful of his hair and cried out his name. As I did, I involuntarily arched my back and slammed my eyes shut.

A loud crack of thunder sounded and Denver roared, his body stiffening, every muscle hardening like granite. It felt as if the world had ruptured—split wide open from the joining of our bodies.

Out of breath, we looked at each other and rocked with laughter. Denver’s cheeks were flushed, and I didn’t even care that my hair was a tangled, wet mess. He slid next to me and kissed my temple, stroking his hand up and down my thigh. Denver made me feel as though I belonged to him, and I liked that feeling.

As my heart continued to race, I cuddled close beneath him. He propped himself up on his left elbow and angled his body in such a way as to shield me from the remaining drops of rain that sporadically fell.

“That was…” He bit his lip, staring down at my muddy breast.

“Yeah, it was,” I agreed. Heavenly. Rapturous. Something I was going to remember for the rest of my life. This moment, this place, lying beneath him.

“I think I just screwed myself over,” he said. “I’ll never be able to top that.”

I wiped my face and smiled. “I’m willing to let you try.”

He stole a playful kiss. “I just bet. Ready for some of that chicken?”

I furrowed my brow. “We’re all wet. And dirty. And naked.”

“Best time for chicken,” he said, waggling his brows.

“I thought I’d feel different,” I murmured.

“What?”

I flattened my hand on his chest, and a feeling of dread suddenly washed over me. “Denver, there’s something I need to tell you.”

His eyes softened. “What’s that?”