Unleashing the Storm (34 page)

Chills
of pleasure raced across her skin as his tongue danced over her clit, licking,
flicking, applying just enough pressure to keep her motionless, waiting for
just the right touch. He knew her well enough by now to tease her to the edge
and then pull back, prolonging her pleasure and at the same time infuriating
her.

“Put
it inside me.” She lifted her leg, braced her foot against the weight bench so
she was wide open, exposed to him like never before.

His
tongue swiped her valley once, twice, and then speared her deep.
Tommy.
Her knees went weak, and if not for the firm grasp on his head, she might have
crumpled to the floor. He stroked her with his tongue, used it like he would
his cock, pumping deep, and then swirling the tip around her sensitive
entrance.

“Is
this what you want, Kira?” he murmured against her center, his voice buzzing
through her labia, his hot breath searing her core. “Do you want me to make you
come with my mouth, or with my cock?”

Oh,
he was entirely too aware of what she wanted, that her greedy self wanted it
all.

Stepping
back, she dropped to all fours so she faced him, her mouth a mere inch from
his, which glistened with her juices. He watched her warily as she moved
closer, avoided his mouth, and rubbed her cheek against his. Rough whiskers
scratched her skin, but she didn’t care. It felt too good to touch him.

She
dragged her lips across his ear, his cheekbone, then nibbled at his jawline,
working her way toward his mouth. His muscles tensed as she drew close, and she
knew he’d pull back if she kissed him; his kisses were doled out on his terms.
Instead, she flicked her tongue over his lips, tasted herself on him.

“Enough.”
His voice was rough, hard, as he hooked her leg and dragged her around so he
could mount her.

She
felt the dig of his fingers in her hips, the hot prod of his cock against her
buttocks. The carpet bit into her knees.

“Tom,
please,” she whispered. “Let me love you.”

His
entire body rocked back. She took advantage of his moment of stunned silence
and spun, brought her hand down on his head and sank her teeth into the back of
his neck, pressing him back down on his hands and knees, head bowed.

Never
had she seen his body go as taut as it was now, the muscles bulging, straining
under the skin. His breathing went harsh, deep and even. Battle-mode. He was
thinking this through, staying calm even though his body wanted to act.

He
could break her hold with little effort, but maybe he felt what she felt, a
need to make a powerful connection with this mating.

Slowly,
as though gentling a stallion that threatened to balk, she stroked his back,
worked her way to his flank and then to his jutting erection. Taking his shaft
in her palm, she caressed him until his breathing grew less controlled, until
the tight cords in his neck relaxed and then began to tighten again for a
different reason.

She
released her bite on his neck, soothed with her tongue the indentations she’d
made with her teeth. Then she fastened her mouth to the pulse in his throat and
let it pound into her. Her clit pulsed in time to his heartbeat, and she
squeezed her thighs together to relieve the ache there.

Tom
froze, and she knew he felt the connection too, the one that seemed to tie them
together via an invisible artery from his body to her very womb.

Mine.

She
sucked lightly, wondering if he’d have a hickey on his neck later, and then she
kissed her way across his collarbone.

Visions
of being with him like this permanently, not just until he took her to ACRO,
ran through her mind as she massaged his shoulders, ran her hands down his
arms, traced his straining muscles.

“You’re
so beautiful,” she said against the skin between his shoulder blades.
“Physically perfect. Powerful. Strong.” She smoothed her tongue along his
spine, all the way to his tailbone. “What every female wants in a mate.”

He
groaned, remained motionless as she skimmed her fingers over every part she
could reach. Opening her mouth over his hipbone, she bit down. Not hard, but
enough to hold him there, to show him without words that she wanted to hold him
in every way. She released him, licked the bitten area tenderly.

The
sounds of his quickening breaths were like little slaps on her skin, each one
making her wild, making her remember how he’d spanked her with the horse crop
in the barn, and later with his bare hand.

Creamy
wetness spilled between her thighs, because God, she was so ready for him, but
not yet. This was about him. She wanted to worship his body and show him what
he meant to her.

She
moved behind him, and this time he held his breath as her palms squeezed and
massaged his buttocks. Her thumbs dropped lower, skimmed the crevice of his
ass. The first light touch of her fingers on his testicles made him lurch
forward, but she caught him around the thigh with one hand while she put her
mouth where her fingers had been.

The
musky scent of aroused male heightened her hunger, drew a soft moan from her as
she sucked his firm balls between her lips and scraped the tight sac lightly
with her teeth.

“Kira…
sweet
damn…
”

Insanely
aroused by his reaction, she lapped, licked between his legs and up to the
smooth, sensitive place behind his balls. When she pushed her tongue into the
seam there, separating his testicles, a ragged, guttural groan ripped from deep
in his chest.

She
could have stayed there all day. Instead, she scattered kisses along the backs
of his thighs while his muscles quivered and his breath came in shallow gasps.

“I
love how you taste, Tommy. Like danger and sex, like you fought a battle to win
me.”

A
shudder shifted his entire body toward her. She nibbled, tiny love bites across
his waist. Then she bent her head, went beneath him, and he whispered her name
as her tongue flicked over the head of his brutal erection.

She’d
never seen him so engorged, his head so ripe and hot that she could feel the
pulse beat against her lips.

She
teased, licked, dipped the tip of her tongue into the weeping slit. He arched
his back to slip his cock into her mouth, but she angled her head away, rubbed
her cheek against it, something close to a purr welling up inside her.

“What’s
the matter, baby?” The taunt made him grind his teeth so hard she heard the
click of bone on bone. “Is this what you want?”

She
flicked her tongue along the ridge of the sensitive head, and then took him
deep, until he knocked on the back of her throat. He pulsed inside her,
spilling a few drops of cum, which she took greedily.

“Oh,
yeah,” he murmured. “Suck it hard.”

She
hummed around his length, and he pumped his hips, fucking her mouth.
So
good.
She’d never been so turned on from giving oral sex, had never been on
the verge of orgasm without a man even touching her. Unable to wait, she
fingered herself as she sucked him.

“Kira,”
he rasped harshly. “You’d better stop. I can’t hold it.”

She
applied serious suction, wanting to drink him in, to take his life-giving seed
in the most intimate way possible. He cursed, tried to withdraw, but she
stopped pleasuring herself to reach between his legs and tug gently on his
balls to hold him. Straining and bucking, he roared out her name, gushing into
her mouth.

She
loved the sound of his groans, of his rasping breaths. His body began to jerk
as his climax faded, and she gently swirled her tongue around his softening
flesh, until she felt his fingers trail down her thigh.

He
dragged his hand up to her sex, dipped two fingers into her slick core. “I need
a minute before I can take care of you.”

Then
his tongue joined his fingers, and she cried out, because he could take all the
time he needed.

Ender
snapped his cell phone shut and leaned back against the old tree trunk on the
south side of his property.

He’d
made another call he shouldn’t have and found out things he hadn’t wanted to
know. Typical of his life lately. But he knew Kira was panicked about what was
happening to her animals, and besides, there was only so much he could watch as
she rearranged his whole life and put herself directly in the center. Because
what was going to happen when she left?

She
didn’t see that consequence, obviously, didn’t see that she was going to leave
behind a big, gaping hole.

But
he had things to worry about other than himself.

Apparently,
the only one who knew what the hell they were doing at the animal refuge had
been Kira. Suddenly Rafi was in a cage because there was no one who could
control the pretty lynx, and Luke, the monster German shepherd who’d nearly
killed him and then helped save him, hadn’t eaten in weeks. Babs was just
wandering around listless and Shamal refused to leave her stall.

For a
second, he saw his yard filled with dogs and tigers and God knows what else,
all of them surrounding Kira.

He
imagined Babs snuggling up next to him and realized that he’d probably lost his
fucking mind. This much sex couldn’t be good for anyone’s brain cells.

Except
he knew, deep down, that this much sex wasn’t necessary—hadn’t been for days.
No, Kira’s heat cycle was over. He could tell the difference when he took her,
the way she was able to enjoy the buildup more, the way she wasn’t as frantic,
even though she played it well.

Why
she was doing so wasn’t that big of a mystery—she was putting off going to
ACRO. He didn’t let himself believe she was faking it to stay with him.

“Hey,
I was looking for you.” Kira circled the old oak and stood in front of him.
She’d confiscated his favorite T-shirt and cut it to fit her. She’d done the
same with a pair of his old camouflage shorts and he had to admit, grudgingly,
they looked a lot better on her than they ever did on him. “Why are you shaking
your head like that? And muttering? You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

“I
wasn’t hiding,” he said. Man, he was tired. He’d been doubling up on the
protein bars to make up for the fact that it had been almost two weeks since
he’d eaten any kind of steak or burger, but it wasn’t the same kind of fuel at
all. He was still dragging. “I’ve, ah, got to talk to you about something. Why
don’t you sit?”

She
sank gracefully to the ground in front of him, stretching out on the grass next
to his jean-clad legs. She rested a cheek on his thigh and he wondered how
things had gotten this far, this fast.

He
sighed and told her about the phone call to the refuge.

“Tommy,
I’ve got to go back there.” She would’ve been on her feet and on a dead run
toward his car if he hadn’t put a hand on her arm.

“Calm
down, Kira. Please.”

“I
can’t stay here knowing that they’re hurting.”

“And
if you go back there, Itor will have you in no time. How will that help?” he
asked. She bit her bottom lip and her resistance to his grip faded. She put her
head back down on his legs, tears welled in her eyes, and for a few minutes
they both just stared up at the beautiful blue sky.

“What
do I do, Tommy?”

“I
can’t make your decisions for you.”

“Did
you walk into ACRO on your own terms?”

His
head started to throb, and if he thought about it really hard, he could hear
the bars of his cell door slamming behind him. “No. I wasn’t given that
choice.”

“Do
you regret that?”

“I
regret an awful lot of things,” he said quietly. “But this isn’t about me.”

She
sat up and faced him again. “If I go to ACRO, they’ll let me ship the animals
here?”

“Yes.
I already talked with Zach about that,” he said, and she just stared at him.
Her whole face softened. “What?”

“You’ve
been calling the refuge a lot, haven’t you? Even though you told me it wasn’t
possible.”

He
refused to admit that this was his third call to the damned place. A man had to
keep some pride.

She
didn’t force anything more from him, though, and for that, he was grateful.

“I
want to go in on my own terms,” she said. “On my own. Without you escorting me
there.”

“Me
escorting you is for your own safety.”

“I
can make it there on my own.”

“Not
an option.”

“Your
car is fast—”

“No,”
he said and she sighed heavily, but it wasn’t with defeat. It was the
how-can-I-convince-Tommy sigh.

“I
know! I can take Zorro.”

“What
the hell are you talking about, woman?”

“Zorro,”
she said patiently as she pointed though the trees. His neighbor’s animal was a
mile away, and thanks to the protein deficit, fuzzier than it should have been
at ten times the distance. He didn’t realize that she’d been that far over on
his property and he sorely needed to stop underestimating her.