Chapter 3
3
“I’m going to take a shower,” Cody growled, stalking away from the tempting little human. A cold shower. Christ, what was it about her?
He shut the door to the bathroom with a resounding click and stripped off his work clothes. Ben Stone had seriously fucked up his life with this little alpha-to-alpha favor. He sure hoped it was worth it. With cold water on full blast, he climbed in, letting it pelt his body until the internal heat began to fade. He closed his eyes and rubbed a wet hand over his face, trying to erase the image of the way she’d looked with that tomato dripping down her chin.
That shouldn’t have been so erotic. But there was something unique about this female that made her different from other humans. Maybe that’s why Ben Stone had fallen for her sister. The fact that the powerful leader of the Denver pack—the billionaire CEO of a gaming company, who could certainly have his pick of any she-wolf in the world—had chosen a human said something.
He looked down at his cock, which still flew at half-mast. He’d better take care of it before he went anywhere near that human again, or there’d be trouble.
Fisting it, he leaned one hand against the tile and closed his eyes, allowing Melissa to screech into the forefront of his brain. Images flashed before his eyes—the flash of white thigh when her skirt had ridden up on the motorcycle; the way her arms fit around his waist so perfectly; her scent, intoxicating despite its humanness.
He pumped his aching cock and let the next batch of images flash through his brain. The dampness of her pink lace panties when he’d rubbed her clit, the flash of her pussy after he’d ripped them off. It had been shaved bare—for whom? That asshole of an ex-boyfriend? The thought made him grind his molars, the fingers on the tile wall curling into a fist.
He went back to replay the moment when he’d tossed her on the bed, on all fours, imagined what would’ve happened if she’d welcomed him—the look she might have tossed over her shoulder. A she-wolf would’ve bared her teeth, lowered her front haunches to give him her ass.
Yes… fuck, yes. He shot hot ribbons of cum against the tile wall, his eyes rolling back in his head with pleasure. Turning back into the stream of water, he rinsed off, noting that his cock still remained hopeful, despite the release.
Not going to happen, buddy. Get a grip.
Melissa drew several deep breaths to recover from the intensity of Cody’s presence. His phone buzzed on the table and she glanced at it. Was Jeremy calling back? She shouldn’t care about his welfare, but she couldn’t help it. She picked it up, but the caller came up as ‘Ed Smith.’ Must be one of Cody’s acquaintances.
She’d really like to call Ashley back and talk some more about this wolf stuff, but her phone was back at her apartment. So was her laptop.
If Cody was serious about her not leaving his place, she would need them, or else her business would take a huge dive, which she couldn’t afford.
Her gaze wandered to his phone again. She wondered how long a shower he took. She could call an Uber car to drive her by her place. If it looked like the guys were still there, she’d just have the driver take her right back. But if it looked empty, she could run in and at least put together an overnight bag with the basic necessities. As much as she loved wearing Cody’s shirt, she needed real clothes. And her toothbrush, and makeup, and—yes—her phone and laptop, dammit!
She downloaded the Uber app onto Cody’s phone and logged into her account, which had her billing details already loaded. She quickly entered his address, which she got by poking her head out the door and checking the street sign and numbers on the house. It was a decent neighborhood, she realized. His property might be valued at twice what she originally estimated. Which was weird. Who bought a house in the Old North End and turned it into a workshop?
Yes! The Uber confirmed for just five minutes. This just might work. She could get away before Cody came out of the bathroom. Of course, there’d be hell to pay when she returned, but she was half excited about that, as crazy as it seemed.
Punishment from a sexy, dangerous wolf? Definitely something she’d like to experience at least once in her life. She’d always been the reckless twin, as Ashley liked to point out.
Hearing the car roll up outside, she slipped out. Her outfit was ridiculous, but she didn’t care what the driver thought of her—this was an emergency.
She hopped in the car and the guy took off for her place, which was about fifteen minutes away.
It was a no-go, though. Lights lit up the place, and she could see the flicker of the television, and the dark silhouetted heads of two men sitting on the couch.
Damn.
“I’m not going to stop here,” she said quickly to the driver as he started to park. “Take me back to the address where you picked me up.”
He scowled in the rearview mirror. “That wasn’t what you scheduled.”
“I know. I’ll add the additional ride in right now,” she said, thumbing on her phone, her fingers flashing over the screen as she made good on her promise.
The driver grumbled, but took her back.
Her stomach dropped before the car even pulled up. A giant—seriously enormous—silver wolf sniffed the grass around the front steps. It jerked its head up and ice blue eyes stared right at her.
“Oh, my God, is that a wolf?” the driver asked. “Shut the door!”
“No, it’s my dog. It’s okay. Just a big husky. Not sure how he got out. Thanks, I’ll add the tip to my card. Appreciate it!” She swung the door shut before he could mention the wolf again.
Then she swallowed and forced her feet to move in the direction of the front door—and the enormous wolf.
A low growl came from the wolf’s throat and she froze in her tracks. Was it Cody? What if it was some other, enemy wolf?
The wolf narrowed its eyes and sat down, as if waiting for her. Okay, angry wolf. Definitely Cody.
“Hi, Wolf. Silver. Big boy.” Her voice only wavered a little. She turned the knob on the front door. The moment it swung wide, he pushed through, ahead of her.
Not really the gentleman, was he? It was probably a dominance thing. The alpha goes in first or some such rule. She thought she remembered that from that Cesar Milan dog training show. Not that she was comparing shifters to dogs.
She followed him in and shut the door behind him. He transformed before her eyes, shifting upright into human form, his magnificent male body stark naked, his cock jutting out at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
Her breath stalled in her throat. Whoa.
Damn.
As she’d suspected, his entire body was solid muscle. At least a dozen tattoos covered his body. Her mouth dropped open.
But she had an angry wolf on her hands. Irritation came off Cody in waves. His eyes hadn’t changed back to gray yet, the cold blue gaze icy. He definitely wasn’t angling for sex at the moment.
“Where in the hell did you go?”
She winced. “I took an Uber car to my place to see if they’d gone. I really wanted my phone and laptop. The guys were still there, so I didn’t stop.” The words came tumbling out quickly, as she hoped to answer all his questions at once.
He glowered and stalked away to the bedroom, presumably to put some clothes on. A moment later, he returned in a pair of jeans, his torso still beautifully bare, apart from the ink. She admired the tattoos on his bulging biceps—they were beautiful designs and patterns, like crop circles or ancient symbols. She wondered what they meant.
“What did I tell you would happen if you left?”
She flushed as his graphic words returned to her. I’ll spank you until this perfect ass is red and your sweet little pussy is dripping wet.
She couldn’t decide if she hoped he’d follow through or not. She nibbled her lip. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay holed up here for days without my phone and computer. I have clients and a boss I need to communicate with. I can do a lot online—I might not even lose any business.”
His nostrils flared and he drew a deep breath as if to calm himself. “Your career won’t mean anything if you’re dead. And I made an alpha’s promise to keep you safe, which means if you’d been caught, your decision would seriously fuck my life up, too.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his expression inscrutable. She realized his eyes had gone back to normal without her noticing when they’d changed. Then he held out his palm, as if to hold her hand. “Come here, princess. Time for your punishment.”
He led Melissa to the side of the couch, pushed her torso over the arm, and gave her ass a smack. She sucked in a breath, but held her position, like she was interested in where this was going.
He slapped her ass again. He didn’t want to hurt her—not in a way that wasn’t sexual or didn’t feel good. For a moment, he indulged in the idea of Melissa being his mate. He’d buy one of those furry, padded paddles and give her spankings that never hurt but were only symbolic of his dominance.
He rubbed a circle over her adorable butt, then peppered it with a couple more smacks. How far would she let him take this?
He peeled his boxer briefs down her heart-shaped ass. They were way too big for her and she’d rolled the waistband down several times, somehow managing to make them look both sexy and cute. The fact that she’d gone out in this outfit—alone with an Uber driver—made him grit his teeth, wanting to kill the driver for having seen her like this.
He gripped her wrists and twisted them behind her back, pinning them with one hand as he dragged the briefs all the way off her with the other.
His cock strained at the sight of her naked ass, roaring to life, ready to sink between those beautiful thighs and never stop moving. He lifted his palm and let it fall. It landed with a crack on her right cheek.
She jerked, but didn’t make a sound.
He repeated it on the left.
“When I tell you to stay put, you stay put,” he growled, increasing the intensity of the spanks.
“ Bad. Girl. ” He spanked just a little harder.
She moaned, like being called a bad girl turned her on. Well, hell yeah . She could be his bad girl any day.
He drank in the sweet smell of her arousal.
His heart double-pumped when he realized his prediction had held true.
Her pussy really was dripping for him.
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
He stopped the onslaught and rubbed her cheeks, marveling at how soft her skin was. How much he loved seeing his handprints on her pretty ass. “Won’t do what again?”
“I won’t leave. I’ll be good.”
He liked the idea of her being his good girl even better.
Fuck. He needed to stop obsessing over this delectable human.
But he couldn’t stop kneading her ass, squeezing her perfect flesh, not releasing her from the restraining position he’d put her in. He drew deep breaths in an effort to hold back the beast that screamed at him to throw her down and mount her in the most debasing way possible.
“Part your thighs if you want me to take care of that ache between your legs.” His voice sounded gravelly.
She stilled, only her back rising and falling with the movement of her breath, her pretty face hidden from his view, turned into the cushions.
Damn..
Of course she wasn’t going to offer herself up to him. What was he thinking? He’d just humiliated her. She probably wouldn’t speak to him again.
To his shock, her feet inched apart.
He didn’t move, not quite believing his eyes.
Her thighs opened wider, offering a clear view of the pink heart of her sex, dewy and plump.
A shudder of lust kicked through him. “Beautiful girl,” he murmured, feeling as reverent as he sounded. Without releasing her wrists, he brought his fingers to her ripe core, running them lightly along her slit.
The way she humped the sofa arm nearly made him lose control. He stifled a curse and sought her clit. It was already swollen, hot beneath the pad of his finger. He circled once, twice, then flicked and tapped.
Her wanton cry made his hips jerk to match the movement of hers. He circled again. Flicked. Tapped.
“Cody…”
He loved the sound of his name on her lips way too damn much. He loved the scent of her arousal even more. He couldn’t wait to taste her. Couldn’t wait to hear what her cries sounded like when she came.
He slid his fingers down, seeking her welcoming entrance. They slid into her tight heat. He rotated them, angled his elbow to reach to the front of her wall, seeking her g-spot.
She squealed and bowed upward, her wrists pulling in his hand, her legs straightening, punished ass squeezing tight.
“Are you going to come for me, baby?” His voice didn’t sound like his own; it had dropped two octaves.
“Yes,” she moaned.
“Who are you going to come for?” He slid his fingers out of her and returned to her clit, circling, flicking.
Her thighs trembled, she humped relentlessly.
“You,” she gasped.
He slapped her clit. “Say please .”
“Please! Oh, God, please, Cody.”
“That’s it, baby, say my name. Who makes you come?”
“Cody! Cody makes me come.”
He plunged his fingers inside her again and tickled her g-spot.
She screamed. Once more, she arched, her entire body tightening with her internal walls, which squeezed his fingers.
“Oh, my gawd! What did you do to me?” she wailed as her body continued to shudder and clench, her orgasm going on and on.
Her orgasm was even more spectacular than he anticipated. If he hadn’t known what a fucking privilege it had been to witness, he might have lost control. He still could barely stand not claiming her. And yet he feared if he did, he’d mark her. She had an undeniable effect on him.
With a whimper, Melissa finally finished. He immediately scooped her into his arms and stood.
“I gotta put you out of reaching distance, princess,” he muttered. “Before I do something I shouldn’t.” He carried her to his bedroom, pulled back the blankets and settled her on the mattress. She looked adorable in his oversized t-shirt and he had to work hard to ignore the screaming awareness that she wasn’t wearing panties. With a flick of the blankets, he covered that tempting part of her anatomy.
He thought he ought to say something. The word thanks wasn’t exactly appropriate since he hadn’t been the one who got off, as his aching cock kept attesting. Probably good night would’ve summed it up, but his tongue didn’t work—it was stuck to the roof of his mouth—so he simply turned off the light as he went out.
He would sleep on the couch. As fucking far away from that tempting little human as he could get.
Melissa lay on the bed, as limp as a rag doll. Her ass tingled. Pleasure still coursed through her in waves, but she felt the loss of Cody’s presence acutely.
That was probably the hottest thing she’d ever experienced. He’d made her vulnerable, then rewarded her for it.
The stark intimacy of it all left her feeling raw. And then the way she’d shamelessly given herself over to him—not just that, but begged him to make her come—made her want to crawl in a hole.
She blinked into the darkness, all the emotions of the day catching up to her—from the terror of hiding in the closet, to the post-traumatic stress it brought up from her kidnapping a year ago, to the spanking and then the sex. If you could call that sex. Her orgasm. He hadn’t gotten off, which surprised her. She hadn’t pegged him for the kind of guy who cared about his partner’s pleasure. At all.
She wanted to call Ashley, just to hear her twin, to talk about Cody and everything. Dammit, if she only had her phone!
Out of nowhere, a sob choked her. She didn’t even know what it was about. She wasn’t upset or mad. But all the emotion of the day came rushing to the fore. She sucked in deep breaths, trying to stifle it, but the more she did, the worse it got. Tears spilled from her eyes.
Oh damn.
Well, at least she hadn’t broken down in front of Cody.
She didn’t need to give that jerk any more ammunition. But jerk didn’t fit. No jerk would take care of her needs without meeting his own. No jerk would carry her into bed and tuck her under the blankets like she was worth caring for.
Jesus, she was just so confused.
The door abruptly swung open and Cody strode in, looking dangerous.
She blinked, quickly mopping her cheeks.
“Fuck, Melissa. I’m sorry. Did I make you cry?” He sat down beside her and reached for her.
She didn’t want him to see her crying. But when she pushed against him, he caged her wrists in one large hand and scooped her onto his lap.
Funny how it instantly soothed her.
He tucked her trapped wrists against her chest and thumbed the tears off one side of her face.
She sucked in her breath.
“I’m an asshole. I’m sorry.” He stroked the top of her head, down her neck, across her shoulder. Not in a sexual way like before. No, he was offering her comfort. His brand of it, apparently.
A snuggle. She was actually being cuddled by the dirty-talking tattooed bad boy who had just spanked her ass and put her to bed.
“No, it wasn’t you. It was just everything. This is so embarrassing.”
“Tears are a she-wolf’s weapon,” he murmured. “The scent of a female’s tears makes her mate either go nuclear to protect her, or totally subdued to comfort.”
She chewed on that, wondering what effect a human female’s tears had on a wolf. But her thoughts couldn’t keep up with the exhaustion of the day. She sank into Cody’s embrace, leaning back, her head resting against his shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed, vague thoughts about how she ought to be furious with this overbearing shifter flitting through but taking no hold. Not when she felt so warm and safe for the first time since her kidnapping last year. Possibly for the first time in years.
She woke in the same position, still cradled half-upright against Cody’s chest. The moment she stirred he brought his hand to her head, stroking her hair again. Or maybe he’d never stopped. She blinked at the illuminated clock on the bedside table. It was two a.m. Hours since she’d fallen asleep.
Had he slept at all? Or had he just been holding her like this the whole time?
Wanting to lie fully horizontal, she crawled out of his arms to the bed, curling up with her head on a pillow.
Cody dropped a kiss on her head then got up and left the room.
This time she felt the loss of him even more acutely. His warmth, his scent, though she’d never noticed a man’s scent before. His was particularly pleasing—like leather and pine and strong, hard-working man.
She almost called after him—to tell him he could share the bed with her—but reason returned. That would be a bad idea. She’d already acted like a complete fool, opening her legs and begging him for an orgasm. And he’d made her.
Say my name. Who makes you come?
Even alone in the dark, she flushed at the memory. How had he reduced her to that wanton pleading woman? Stripped her of her pride and brought her right to the brink of ecstasy with just a few flicks of his fingers?
A man—wolf—like him had probably slept with hundreds of females to master that kind of skill. She was glad she’d escaped having sex with him. Never again. No, thank you. A guy like that… well, she was already half lost for him. The intensity of her attraction to him terrified her. She needed to take three steps back and squeeze her knees together real tight. No sex, no flirting. Definitely no more midnight cuddling.
Cody was the epitome of the kind of bad boy she always went for and this time, she was going to resist.
Somewhere out there a nice accountant or engineer would probably love an up-and-coming real estate agent girlfriend.
Somewhere, a nice, plain, boring guy wanted to sit on the couch and hold hands and watch Mad Men at night with her.
Why did that sound so incredibly awful?