Brooke, Leah - Panthers' Prey [Black Panthers 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (5 page)

Alarmed that she experienced the same sexual awareness with him that she did with Marc, she squirmed and pressed her thighs together as even more of her juices coated them.

Wondering if they’d drugged her, she lifted her chin and sat up straighter, trying to hide the fierce arousal that almost had her tossing the covers aside and begging both of them to take her.

“Who are you? What do you want? How many people are here? Is that man from last night here, too? Why the hell did you take my clothes? Did you think it would keep me from escaping?”

She hoped the huskiness in her tone hid her fear of her own overwhelming reaction to their presence. She had to get the hell out of here. And soon.

James took one step into the room and stopped abruptly as if he’d run into a brick wall. He looked at Marc, his eyes going wide.

“That scent is…fuck. It’s like it goes straight to my cock.”

Marc dropped his hand and took a step back, and then another. “Yeah.”

James took another step into the room and then stopped again, tossing what she recognized as her clothing onto the bed His eyes held hers, some indefinable emotion warming them until they resembled melted chocolate. He shook his head slightly, his lips curving on one side.

“We undressed you because your clothes were muddy and wet. I threw them in the washer last night. They just came out of the dryer. No one else is here but the three of us, and that man who attacked you last night is long gone.”

She felt more secure once she’d gathered her warm clothes against her, but still didn’t take her eyes off of the two men standing near the bed, both of them looking at her like they would a favorite treat.

“Okay. Fine. Look, I appreciate your help. If you both leave, I’ll get dressed and be on my way.” Checking to make sure the sheet wouldn’t slip, and keeping a firm grip on her clothing, she scooted to the edge of the bed and started to get up, careful to avoid jostling her ankle.

To her alarm, both men leapt forward.

Grabbing the sheet tighter, she froze and glared at both of them, fighting the urge to rub her thighs together against the ache that had settled there.

“Don’t you even think about touching me.”

Just the thought of either one of them reaching for her had her skin tingling and coated her inner thighs with even more of her juices.

Marc lifted a brow at that and took a step forward. With a curse, he stopped abruptly, a low rumble coming from his chest.

“Don’t reject my touch again.” The violent snap of his words made her jump, but he looked just as surprised by his outburst. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and blew the air out slowly. With a small shake of his head, he opened them again, his eyes even a deeper blue and glittering with silver sparks. “Please, don’t do that. Don’t be afraid of my touch. I could never hurt you.”

Not about to show how much he intimidated her, she glared at him, furious and more than a little scared at her body’s demand that he take her right there and then.

“Fuck you.”

With a warning look at Marc, James stepped between them and held out a hand, his eyes warm, but his features remained lined with tension. He swallowed and took a deep breath, blowing it out just as slowly. “Calm down. Just stay there. We don’t even know if that ankle will support your weight.”

Marc scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced at James.

“It didn’t when she got up right before you came in. I had to catch her. I need a minute. I’ll start a bath for her.”

She had no intention of being here long enough to take a bath, and started to say so, but by the time she could get her tongue to work, Marc had already left the room. Surreptitiously sniffing to see if she smelled as bad as both of them seemed to think she did, she kept James in sight as she moved her ankle to a more comfortable position.

James nodded distractedly in the direction of the door Marc disappeared through, staring at her bare shoulders, while the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

“Uh-huh. Yeah. Good idea. She can soak a little and calm down.”

Taking a deep breath, he smiled reassuringly, as though she would fall for that. “Okay. Let me see your ankle.”

Kneeling beside the bed, he held out his hand, eyeing her expectantly. “Well?”

Sneaking a glance toward the bathroom, and then another toward the open bedroom door, Bailey weighed her chances of getting away. She didn’t understand why the hell they both seemed to affect her so strongly and, because of it, she no longer trusted her own instincts.

A hard blow to someone who’d learned to trust her own instincts more than she trusted any person on the face of the earth.

Wearing a sheet and with an injured ankle, she lacked her normal confidence and wanted, very much, to get it back.

She had a strong suspicion that the only way she’d be able to clear her head would be to get as far away as she could from both men as soon as possible.

Disturbed that his nearness sparked a renewed awareness that intensified her arousal, she clenched her jaw and moved back a few more inches. She couldn’t understand how she could be so turned on by
both
of them so much. Unused to the surge of lust that made it hard to even think, she struggled to rebuild her defenses.

They
had
to have drugged her. If they had any plans for her, they would be sorely disappointed.

“My ankle’s fine. Since you and your friend seem to find something wrong with how I smell, maybe it’s better if you stayed back.”

She did smell sweaty, but it wasn’t as bad as they made out. Still, if it kept them away…

Why the hell did that hurt her feelings?

Clenching his jaw, James placed a hand on her knee, and even through the covers, the electric current from his touch startled her so much that she froze, almost losing her hold on the sheet. Coming to her senses, she gasped, yanking her clothes and the sheet to her throat.

Her breath hitched at the wave of longing that went through her, a hunger unlike any she’d felt before, one that made her pussy and bottom clench and scrambled her thinking.

To her surprise, James looked just as startled, staring at the hand that almost negligently caressed her knee as though he’d never seen it before. He blinked when she jerked the sheet as though coming out of a trance, his eyes lifting to hers and narrowing into slits.

She stilled when his lips curved, a slow smile that made her clit throb with renewed vigor and sent a chill of alarm through her.

His warm brown eyes twinkled with playfulness.

“I’ve been trying to get the image of you naked out of my mind all night. Don’t make me stick my hand under there to get to your ankle. Who knows what I might encounter?”

Alarmed at the jolt of heat to her slit, she jerked her leg away, crying out at the sharp stab of pain in her ankle. Unnerved at the arousal that seemed to keep growing despite her best efforts, she slapped at him.

“Leave me alone, damn it. Just get the hell away from me.”

Without making a sound, Marc came racing back into the room, startling the hell out of her.

“What the hell’s going on?” He stopped abruptly, his nostrils flaring, and scowled at James. “Jesus! What the hell did you do? She’s—hell. That scent. She’s even more aroused.”

James nodded, scrubbing a hand over his face. Bowing his head, he blew out a breath and just as quickly breathed in another, closing his eyes as though savoring it. “Okay. Now I need to get out of here for a minute.”

* * * *

Marc gritted his teeth against the surge of blood rushing to his cock, one that made him so hard it hurt. He grimaced as he watched his friend leave, swallowing the automatic urge to call him back.

Finding himself alone with her was no hardship, but he needed some time away from her to absorb the enormity of the situation he suddenly found himself in.

Adjusting his jeans to gain a little more room, he breathed in the most alluring scent he’d ever experienced, wallowing in it like an addict who couldn’t get enough.

He’d delighted in the scent of a woman’s arousal all of his adult life, but the sweet scent of hers threatened to steal the little bit of self-control he had left.

Whether helpless or spitting fire, she shook his hard-earned control to the point that he found it difficult to think straight around her.

God, he wanted her. No, what he felt went way past
want
.

If it had only been sex, he would have felt a hell of a lot better. After carrying her almost two miles, he’d spent the night watching her sleep and missing the feel of her in his arms.

He still itched to hold her, to feel her nestled warm and safe against his chest.

The urge to join her in bed, to keep her warm and reassure himself that she was safe plagued him all night long. Reliving the horror of that other man choking her over and over, he’d been unable to sit still, the restlessness inside him even stronger than it had been before he found her.

Throughout the night, she’d whimpered and thrown off the covers as though trying to escape, her sobs as she grabbed at her throat tearing him up inside.

He’d gone to her each time, surprised at how quickly she’d responded to his crooning tone. His touch also seemed to calm her, and once she’d settled, she allowed him to cover her again. Scared that she would hurt herself, he’d also gently pulled her hands from her throat, relieved that she’d allowed it.

The fact that she trusted him so completely, even in her sleep, without ever setting eyes on him, confirmed his suspicions more than anything.

Something told him that after today, his life would never be the same.

Now he just had to figure out what to do about it.

Unsettled at how strongly she affected him, he’d done his best to keep his distance from her. When she’d tripped, he’d reacted instinctively, catching her against him.

Having her naked and in his arms, clinging to him as though she never wanted to let him go, he’d wanted to toss her back into bed and spend the day taking her every way imaginable.

He had already known that the honey-blonde curls covering her mound almost exactly matched the long, silky hair that flowed like a waterfall down her back. He’d also known the curls hiding her secrets felt just as soft.

His mouth had watered, the hunger to taste the sweet juices coating her creamy thighs bringing out the feral animal in him, and he’d reached for her before he could prevent it.

When she’d arched toward him in invitation, nothing on earth could have stopped him from tasting her.

Now that he was alone with her again, his body demanded that he take her just as fiercely as his mind insisted that he step back. He had to get a fucking grip on himself before he did irreparable damage to the trust she had for him, trust she probably didn’t even know about. He had to build on that and do whatever it took to make Bailey part of his life.

It took tremendous effort not to rip the sheet from her, bury his face between her thighs, and feast on her again. Her defiance by covering herself from his eyes enraged him, challenging him to overcome it.

She was his, damn it. From the moment she’d set foot in his woods, she belonged to him.

Because he’d shifted back from panther form, he’d been naked when he’d held her against him. Listening to every breath she took, he’d carried her limp form over two miles in the darkness, every step both torture and heaven. The tantalizing scent emanating from her threatened to bring him to his knees several times.

He’d never smelled anything like it.