Wild (23 page)

“Sure, you’re a smart woman.”

Suddenly I could feel his hands stoke my body. His head wandered to my breasts and his lips started caressing me. His tongue felt hot on my nipples. His mouth locked around them and I felt him suck gently. His hands squeezed my breasts so softly, so gently I could barely believe he was the same man who had just made love to me with such urgency and passion.

I let my hands run down his back, but he stopped me.

“Oh no, my little angel. If you start doing that, I’m just going to lose it again really quickly. So keep those hands to yourself,” he ordered. “For now,” he qualified just a second later.

He had called me his little angel. I liked it.

“You mean I can’t touch you?”

He looked up and smiled. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to not just take you like a wild animal?”

I moved my leg to place my foot onto his erection and found exactly how hard
he
was.

“Oh, I know.” I smirked.

He got hold of my foot and thus stopped me from stroking his aroused cock.

“How about a cold shower for you?” he suddenly threatened.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Wouldn’t I?” He grinned and before I knew it he scooped me up into his arms and carried me to the bathroom.

He gently sat me on my feet in the shower but kept holding me, while he switched on the water. There was no escape. To my surprise the water wasn’t ice cold like he had threatened, but comfortably warm. I looked up at him as he gave me a broad grin.

“You’re impossible,” I said.

“So are you.”

He lowered his head and started kissing me, first soft and gentle then he became more urgent and demanding. As I let my hands run up and down his gorgeous naked body, I felt how he suddenly pressed me against the tile wall of the shower and lifted me onto the ledge.

He lifted one of my legs to wrap around his hip, and pressed his body against me. He was as hard as a steel rod when he plunged into me, taking my breath away. I gasped loudly.

“Oh, Vince!”

His smile showed more than just satisfaction. It was almost as if he was proud, proud to elicit this reaction from me, proud that I was his.

His transformation was almost instantaneous. As soon as I saw the first flicker of amber in his eyes, I could already feel him grow inside of me.

As he rocked back and forth creating the most intense emotions within me I had ever felt, I realized he had stopped caressing me with his hands. I looked at them.

He tried to avoid touching me with his claws afraid he would leave claw marks on my skin again. While still supporting me with one arm, he had rested the other on the tile wall. I could hear his thoughts.

Don’t hurt her,
they were telling me.

You can’t hurt me. Believe me,
I responded.

I pried his claw hand from the wall and guided it to my mouth. With my lips I kissed every individual digit letting my tongue slide over the sharp edges. I knew he wanted to pull it back, but was too afraid a fast movement would hurt my lips.

As I took each individual claw into my mouth one by one, I could feel how he had stopped moving inside of me. Instead he stared at me in disbelief. Then I noticed how his claws suddenly retreated and turned back into fingers. Had he already transformed back?

I stared at him, but his eyes were still glowing amber, and he was still inside of me, rock-hard and huge.

“How did you do that?” He whispered breathlessly and kissed my lips tenderly despite his sharp teeth.

“I don’t know.” I couldn’t explain how I was able to initiate a partial transformation in him.

I let his hand go and he immediately started caressing my breasts. His gentle fingers played with my nipples.

“I love touching you.”

I could feel his movements become more demanding, as I felt how he wanted to get deeper and deeper into me. But this time his movements were slower, more sensual and more deliberate than when we had been in bed. He was exploring my body and he was taking his time enjoying every moment. The pictures his mind allowed me to see heightened my excitement. I felt what he felt. I realized what he wanted to do even before his hand found my most sensitive spot and started forming circles around it. The anticipation alone excited me and I twisted and flexed under his touch. As a moan of pleasure escaped my mouth, I saw him smile.

You’re mine. No other man will ever touch you again.

His thoughts were crystal clear to me: I was his mate for life.

He continued moving his fingers back and forth in a smooth and gentle motion. There was no need to tell him how I wanted him to touch me. He knew as if I had shown him.

Don’t stop!
I told him.

How can I?  I want this as much as you do.
I heard his voice in my head.
You excite me.

My breathing became uneven and I was close to ecstasy. He stopped moving exactly at the point when my body erupted in spasms, and right as the last wave washed over me he moved again and flooded me with his warmth as he came.

I knew one day soon I would have to talk to him about birth control. Since I had only just had my period I couldn’t conceive right now, but if we were carrying on like this I would be pregnant within a couple of weeks. And I wasn’t ready for that yet. I wanted to be alone with him for a long time first.

We collapsed onto the shower floor, the water still drizzling onto us. I couldn’t get up. My legs were shaking. I was stretched out over his chest which pumped air heavily.

“Just give me a minute or two,” he echoed.

I shook my head. “I think you’ve proven your point. There’s nothing wrong with your sex drive.”

He laughed a throaty laugh. “I wasn’t out to prove a point. I’m just out to still my hunger for you. I have a lot of catching up to do.”

It felt good to hear that.

“And don’t worry, I’ll get you some contraceptives.” He suddenly said.

I had completely forgotten that I had formed my thoughts about birth control while he was still in his animal state.

I laughed. “I guess I’m going to have to be careful about what I think.”

He smiled. “Don’t. Being able to hear you makes me a better lover.” He paused and kissed me.

“Vince?”

“Yes?”

“Tell me about the animal.”

He lifted his head to look at me. “The animal inside me? I don’t know what I can tell you about it. You seem to know it better than I do. Even though I’ve dealt with it for the last thirty years, I’ve never been able to do what you do – appease it.”

“Do you know why it is there?”

“I have my theories, but I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure. There are beliefs in the Native American societies that point to it being my power animal which protects and guides me, but I don’t really believe in a lot of this hocus pocus.”

“I think you do. You seem to believe that I’m an animal whisperer, therefore your theory about the power animal can’t be too much of a stretch for your imagination anymore,” I reasoned.

He smiled. “You’ve made me believe in a lot of things again, you know that?”

My stomach growled unexpectedly. He heard it and immediately changed the subject.

“So, how about dinner?”

“Not if it involves you getting dressed.”

“Very funny, my little angel, but I don’t think there’s a nude restaurant anywhere in the City, despite this being San Francisco.”

“We could stay in.”

“What if I promise you that you can undress me as soon as we get home?”

I thought about it for a moment and found it acceptable.

“And one other favor please. Could you please wear something a little less revealing than that dress, so I can make it through dinner without ripping your clothes off and throwing you onto the dinner table?”

“It was Carmela’s idea,” I confessed.

“I figured that much. Nice friend you have, letting you walk into the lion’s den looking like the most delicious meal ever. You nearly gave me a heart attack,” he exaggerated.

Suddenly a terrible thought crossed my mind. “You’re not going to have a heart attack or something like that. I mean because of your real age?”

He pulled my head closer to his so he could look into my eyes.

“My heart is doing as well as my sex drive, so you have nothing to worry about.”

His lips locked onto mine and I could feel passion building up in him. As I let my lips part I felt his tongue slide inside and play with mine. His kiss felt like he never wanted to stop, but when I let my hand slide down his stomach he stopped me immediately.

“I think we should go to dinner before you get any other ideas,” he smirked. “And we need to get you a dry bandage.”

I had completely forgotten about my leg. I looked down at myself and realized the bandages were hanging off my leg, wet and mangled.

After he had done his medical duty and bandaged my leg nicely, I complied with his wish and wore something casual.

I watched him get dressed and remembered the first time I had seen him come out of the shower dressed only in a towel. Everything I had hoped for then had come true. His body was perfect. His kisses were tender and passionate, his touch was tender, yet hungry. And he always knew what I wanted.

The one thing which was the biggest surprise for me was his transformation. There was a wild beauty about him when he was in his animal state and feeling his raw power and strength was what launched me into a state of ecstasy I had never known before.

Arm in arm we walked to a small restaurant tucked away on a side street away from the noise of North Beach. Walking with his arm around me made me even more aware of how tall he was and how muscular his body was.

A generous tip to the hostess secured us a table in the corner of the restaurant. I was sure he could have achieved the same by just smiling at her with his charming smile and she would have melted.

We sat down in the corner at an angle to each other, rather than opposite of each other. It was more intimate and we could touch without reaching over the table. He leaned to my side and kissed my neck.

“You look absolutely radiant,”

I smiled. “That’s because I’ve just made love to an extremely sexy man.”

He smiled back. “If that’s all it takes …”

I could feel his hand resting on my lower back. I let my hand glide onto his thigh. I could feel him drawing in his breath very slowly, but he didn’t remove my hand.

“You’ll get used to it,” I assured him.

“I don’t think I want to get used to it. You excite me. I don’t want to lose that.”

The waiter interrupted us. We hadn’t even looked at the menus yet.

“Do you want to have a look at the menu, angel?”

I didn’t really know what I wanted and I didn’t really care, so I let Vince order for us. I knew he would order steak for himself, and I was right. He had ordered me a mixed grill and a large salad.

“Eat. You’ll need your strength.” He winked at me. “I wasn’t sure what your favorite meat is …” he said and pointed at the various pieces on my plate.

I looked into his eyes. “Mountain lion.”

He grinned. I had never seen him in such a good mood, and so relaxed. “That’s dessert, but only if you eat up.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

“How’s Carmela feeling?” He suddenly inquired.

“She’s doing great, thanks to you. And I don’t know what you said to her, but she really did some PR for you. She threatened she’d take you if I didn’t.”

He chuckled, then turned serious again. “I only wanted you. I could have gone another thirty years without a woman if you hadn’t come back.”

“Does that mean you wouldn’t have come after me if I hadn’t turned up at your doorstep?”

His hand stroked my cheek. “Of course I would have. I was just getting ready to go and see you, to beg, grovel, fall on my knees, whatever it would take,” he confessed and looking at his green eyes I knew it was the truth. “You just beat me to it.”

I felt how he put his hand on my lower back, but instead of resting it there this time he let it slip underneath my t-shirt. His hand caressed my naked skin and sent shivers down my spine. He bent to my side and kissed my neck again, while I could feel his hand slide around me to the front of my body reaching my breast. I stared at him.

“They’ll never let us come back here if you don’t behave.”

He grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll tip well.”

Suddenly his hand froze and his grin was wiped off his face. He turned me fully toward him, and looked into my eyes. His expression was serious.

“We have to leave, now.”

I didn’t dare ask why, I just knew something was wrong. I had noticed a group of people enter the restaurant from the corner of my eye but had not taken any particular notice. Vince threw a wad of cash onto the table, more than enough for the food and a good tip.

“As soon as I’ll tell you, you’ll need to get up. Don’t look anywhere, just go out straight as soon as I tell you to. I’ll see you outside.”

I nodded. A few seconds passed. Then he gave me the signal.

“Now!”

I walked through to the front of the restaurant, passed the empty hostess table and went outside without looking left or right. Seconds later Vince came out behind me and whisked me to the next alley. He put me down on my feet and held me close to his chest.

“Vince, what’s wrong?”

“Entwhistle and a bunch of his colleagues came in. I’m sure he didn’t see us. That was close.”

I tried to calm him down. “I don’t think he would even recognize me.”

Vince gave me a long look. “Annette, he’ll recognize
me.
He’ll expose me.”

My mind started working overtime. “But he doesn’t know you, does he?”

“His father-in-law was my lab manager back in the seventies, that’s who stole my research papers. He would know the whole story, he would have seen photos, he would recognize me instantly. He can’t know that I’m alive, that I’m here. He’ll use it to get what he wants.”

Vince’s voice was agitated and I was scared, scared because I had bad news for him.

“He already knows.”

“What?”

“I saw him and his wife at Golden Gate Park on Sunday.”