Sanibel Seduction - Vampire Werewolf Menage (Fanged Romance Series Book Four) (13 page)

“But you didn’t know me before today. We just met,” she said cautiously. “What was there to imagine?”

“Last night, when I first heard of you,” his voice deepened. “I imagined someone with a heart big enough to open their mother’s home to those still on the streets instead of selling it to someone that would have, more than likely, rent it out to drug dealers.” He led her to a chaise upholstered in butter-smooth suede, seating her against the back while he took the end.

“Oh, well, it’s really small, though.” His gaze touched her slutty shoes. She suddenly hated Abby for pressuring her.
I
could be here in my wedges, not resembling a whore.

“Yes, at first, we’ll have a small capacity.” He moved with masculine grace, brute strength evident in his long arms and broad shoulders. “But it’s the start of many places that I’d like to have. And what’s the problem someone needy would have with sleeping in a small bed in a shared room, when their alternative is a dangerous alley. Consider that drug peddlers prey on every corner, tempting those who are struggling to revert to their dangerous addictions. Therefore, I don’t think anyone will complain about the coziness.” He pulled off his jacket, inadvertently brushing her thigh, and placed it on a side table.

“Nick -”

“The one you watch porn with?” He placed her purse on top of his jacket.

“My friend that I also work with,” she corrected with a slight giggle, wondering if she could live her earlier embarrassment down, “is the man you want. He’s a psychiatrist finishing his residency.”

“Sounds intriguing,” he said dryly, lightly trailing his index finger over the curve of her cheek, “but only if he’s not your man. Wherever you’re concerned, I’m counting on becoming jealous.”

Jealous? “He’s gay.” Nick was open, but that still wasn’t any of Gage’s business.
He’s touching me
. She was nervous, and nervousness gave her a big mouth.

He shook his head no. “That information won’t keep my green-eyed monster at bay,” he murmured, now looming over her. “I have found that blunt honestly usually works best for me.”

“Blunt honesty instead of brutal honesty?” She took a deep breath, staring at his parted lips. Azure could have sworn that his eye teeth looked a touch longer, but that was her being crazy.

“Nothing brutal, Love,” he murmured wickedly. “I want you.”

“Want me?” He wanted her. Him? Walking, talking Adonis? Wanted her? She’d heard that ‘cougaring’ was a new trend, but never thought she’d be faced with it twice in one week. Of course, Sayer was a male slut. Most guys his age were. But this man, Gage MacGelton seemed far more controlled than Sayer. Seasoned by time, yet he only appeared to be in his upper twenties.

“You’re surprised?” He ran his hand down her arm, closing his eyes briefly as if to savor her. “Why? You’re an extraordinary woman.”

Surprised? Stunned was more like it. After she’d gotten over the initial shock of Gage’s appearance – and she still hadn’t quite recovered, the palatial views had overwhelmed Azure. Realization now hit that she was in his master bedroom - an extravagant room centered by the biggest bed she’d ever laid eyes on - and the owner of that bed - the hottest man she’d ever encountered - was staring at her with sex in his eyes. The dirty kind. The sex she knew she’d been missing out on for far too long. The sex she
truly
wanted. But still… she eyed him, knowing that he could break her heart worse than Will ever did if she gave him half a chance. “I can’t stay here,” Azure blurted out, flushing red.

She started working past him, getting her ass out of his too-comfortable chaise, but he wasn’t having it. With a purposeful finger beneath her chin, he raised her to face him, all kinds of sincerity oozing out of his voice, “I would never hurt you. If that were my intention, I could have done so in the foyer, bringing you up here wouldn’t have made any difference.” Rather casually, he waved his opposite hand at the bed. “I thought you would enjoy the bay view. This is the best room for that.” His blue eyes riveted on hers. “The bed is secondary.”

Secondary to what? Azure angled her head, easing away from him. “Okay. But if you truly need me out of the house
today
, I can stay with Nick.”

“This is a good-sized place. I’m the only one here.” He stayed focused, never dropping his eye contact. “And we probably wouldn’t see one another unless we were discussing our project. Unless you decide you want me, too,” he sighed, “the way I want you.”

“This is getting uncomfortable.
I’m
uncomfortable.” She actually was. Her skin was heating up again, and a jolt shot through her core that was as close to a lightning strike as she was ever going to encounter. “Even though you’re not set on hurting me” – she flashed a grin – “we don’t know each other.”

He inclined his head in acknowledgement. “We will if you stay, Azure. So why postpone the inevitable.”

“Inevitable?” Though this conversation was starting to freak her out, part of her wanted to cozy up to his hard body, stroking him until he laid her upon that sinful bed and had his wicked way with her.

“I always have a way of getting what I want,” he answered with a peculiar reverence while following a bead of her sweat with his fingertip, trailing it until it disappeared behind her ear. “I sense that you want to know me. Your furniture is being moved into one of my air-conditioned storage facilities. Your clothes and personal items are on their way here.”

“I just left the house an hour ago. You’re mistaken.”

“I make things happen, Azure.”

“But -”

He stilled her, putting his fingers on her lips. “The man you were with, Sayer, he worked for me.”

She pushed his hand away. “Worked?” She choked out, realizing Sayer must have told him about their date. “Something really happened to him?”

“He hasn’t checked in yet,” he replied solemnly. “You were the last one with him.”

Her eyes rounded. “I-I didn’t do anything to Sayer.”

“Hush, Love, you’re misinterpreting. Remember me and blunt honesty? I admitted that I wanted you. I’ll also admit that I’m honestly concerned for your safety. I want you here, under my roof and my protection.” He encircled her wrist with his fingers, a loose manacle. “In fact, I’m insisting on it. I feel responsible for you.”

That simple touch, his fingertips settling on her racing pulse sent a rush of wetness down her vagina. Before she even blinked, his opposite hand slipped down, curling around her ass. Her dress didn’t afford the same security as slacks or jeans, and his fingers easily caressed her through its thin fabric - hot skin stroking hot skin. A bold move one shouldn’t make even on a first date. One they weren’t on. But he was doing it anyway. And they’d just met.

With a sense of self-preservation, she pushed away from him. But the more she resisted, the more she wanted him. Her back was pressed against the chair, and her palms were against his chest. “Oh, God, I told Abby you were probably a weirdo.”

“Weirdo? Hardly,” he scoffed, blinking innocently. “Over the years, I’ve eased up on the peculiar.” He took his hands back, giving her a measure of space. “You might say I’ve downgraded myself to kinky.”

“I knew it was too good to be true.” The feel of his cock was still imprinted on her stomach. “You think I’m in some sort of danger.”

“Oh, in certain ways, I am too good to be true,” he drawled. “As far as the danger goes, if I don’t let you out of my sight, we won’t have anything to worry about.

“Tell me that you don’t lock women in a cage.” Azure shivered; he was too arousing. “I had that thought in my head on the way over here,” she teased half-heartedly. “I didn’t confess it to Abby, though, kept it quiet.”

“Ah,” he said with a rakish smile, “you’re one of those who subscribe to self-fulfilling prophecies, then. You say it; therefore, you own it?” He reached out, stroking down the length of her arm, trying to soothe her – manage her. And it was working. She wondered what all that golden skin would look like nude, sprawled out on that giant bed nestled in sex-tangled sheets.

He breathed deeply as if smelling her before his whole body stiffened. A low, throaty growl left his chest. It was a primal, rumbling sound - one of utter dominance - delivered by an animal. A pretty one. Her fingers curled around the chaise, holding on for dear life. “Gage MacGelton,” she whispered hoarsely, watching his eyes shift from blue to midnight, “there’s something inside you that wants out.”

“Only to claim you, sweet Azure,” he whispered, his breath a drugging pleasure, “and you would enjoy it immensely.”

She was weak against his virility, craving him to the point of pain. “I need some air,” she panted, “a breather.”

“Do I really scare you that much?” Dilated pupils narrowed, taking offense before Gage leaned in, brushing his lips across her jawline. “No, Azure, don’t answer that.” Fingers slipped inside her loose collar, grazing the skin over shoulder. “Your heartbeat tells me everything. Fast. Pumping hard. Stuttering here and there. But it’s not from fear, is it? No. Not fear.”

“Enough,” she said sternly, though wanting him to go on. What would a man his size feel like nestled between her thighs? “Slow down.”

His face came right next to her head, his voice gruff and raw against her ear. “You are saying the things you are supposed to say, not what you want to say.” He pressed his hot length against her stomach, holding it steady when she wanted him to thrust a few inches lower. Clothes couldn’t mask an unbelievable length. Definitely bigger than Will’s. “Listen to your body, Azure. I am.” Something soft and wet slid down her neck – his tongue. “You are hot and needy.”

True. All true. She wanted to pull him to her, pretending they’d known each other for ages so she wouldn’t feel guilty about grabbing his ears and riding his face. As far as needy went, her skin actually hurt, begging to be caressed. Her breasts and sex were aching, even tender. Still, no matter how much dirty talk left her lips or wormed its way through her head, it was just that, all talk. She’d never had a one night stand, encountered a hook-up, or even woke up to an embarrassing drunken mishap. Her night with Sayer was as close as she’d ever come to acting out as a real slut, and Azure kept telling herself that she would have stopped him before they went too far. Azure Malloy was one of the nice girls, the few remaining. And she refused to apologize for that, even to herself when she was all alone in her bed at night. “I have to get out of here.”

Gage MacGelton was building up a fiery, hormonal passion she had no intention of releasing with a total stranger. She pushed at him, but he didn’t budge. He was frustrating her, but Azure didn’t seriously think he would hurt her. Considering his strength and what he’d said earlier, he could’ve already accomplished that quite easily. And although he exuded some type of unnamed power, she felt certain he didn’t use it against women. He just didn’t have that cruel vibe. More than likely, he was a successful man used to getting what he wanted – the sex he demanded, and probably thought she was playing hard to get, maybe into the rough stuff. He could think about that all he wanted to. Right after, she walked out the door.

Through all her squirming around to get away from his embrace, she worked herself into a creamy lather. He inhaled sharply, and she could have sworn another electrical jolt ran from
his
body, this time, right into hers.

“If I only asked for a full kiss,” he whispered softly, back at her ear, flicking the tip of his tongue deep inside, “would you give it to me?”

That gruff whisper sounded darkly familiar. “A kiss?”

“Um hmm.” He raked his nails up the back of her thigh, and her breath hissed between her teeth. “Azure Malloy, even weirdoes are apt to go mad if not permitted a simple kiss.”

“I didn’t exactly say you were a weirdo.”

“I think you did.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

Azure raised her hips to him, her low breaths stroking his skin in the most delicious way. “Gage?” It was a question. She needed assurance, afraid he’d cooled down on her when she so blatantly needed release.

Nerve endings were jumping all over the place, calling him to pleasure his female, but something was wrong. Majorly wrong. Otherwise, Jayce wouldn’t bother him in this moment. “Love, look at me.”

She blinked her golden eyes open. He gave her a few seconds to get her bearings, waiting for that tell-tale flush humans always gave when they’d been caught doing something impish. She wouldn’t understand that her fierce attraction to him was wholly natural to her inner Were, and now wasn’t the time to explain. “I have to speak with my business associate,” he spoke softly.

“Oh,” she gasped, lurching forward to see Jayce standing a few feet away. “I didn’t know anyone was up here.”

“You guys didn’t hear me come in.” Jayce cleared his throat and reached over to take her trembling hand.

In that simple clasp, palm on palm, Jayce was reading her genetics in the way of his Alpha, and placing her under the pack’s protection. Gage had drunk from her, but he hadn’t had the right opportunity to mate her. And hopefully, when the time came to claim her fully, she would be staring back at him with passion-darkened eyes, thrashing as she enjoyed his branding.

“A-Azure Malloy,” she said quietly, not making eye contact. In natural deference to her Alpha, but she didn’t understand that inborn instinct.

“Jayce Jordan, nice to meet you.”

“Of…oh, you’re the Jordan in Jordan Marketing,” he voice strengthened with her enthusiasm, but she still didn’t meet his eyes.

“Oh, don’t listen to anything you’ve heard about me, especially from Gage.”

She laughed at that while easing off the chaise a little too slowly, hitching her purse over her shoulder. “You played pro-football.”

“Guilty.” He shifted, signaling for Gage to get her moving. “You enjoy football?”

“I used to.”

“When you decide to like it again, I’ll take you guys to a game along with my family.” He stepped back, looking pointedly at Gage. “Heath is downstairs. Maybe she would like a tour of the new digs. That is, unless you’ve already shown her around.”