TWENTY TWO
Will
The thought of Bella upstairs, naked in my bath, is more than a little bit distracting as I try to concentrate on preparing dinner. I have to stop several times, setting aside the knife, shutting my eyes and leaning forward with my hands braced on the kitchen counter, while lurid images of her soaping her body run through my head.
I can almost see the delicate soap bubbles sliding down the perfect curve of her breasts. I spend far too long imagining the dark patch of hair on her mound beneath the water until I’m so distracted I almost burn the onions.
I need to snap out of it.
Yes, she’s in my house. She might even be open to the idea of being my fated mate. That’s a long way from accepting the claim, and on top of everything, she’s been through a rough time lately. She needs compassion, not lust.
The only problem is, it’s a full moon tonight, when my animal instincts rise to the surface.
I just need to keep a hold on my wolf a little longer and take care of the things she actually needs right now.
I almost wish I’d watched that video, until I quickly realize the images in my head are already a hundred times better than a sordid glimpse of something she never wanted to be made public.
I’m so distracted I don’t hear or smell Ian until I hear Bella scream.
My fangs and claws lengthen instantly and I feel the bulging of growing muscles as I drop the knife onto the board and race up the stairs to the bathroom on full alert.
I come to a sudden halt and almost stumble over Ian standing in the open doorway of the bathroom. He’s staring in at Bella.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I snarl.
“Sorry.” He backs away—still looking into the bathroom, mind you—hands raised in a gesture of defense. “I just came up to see if you have any of those little cotton bud things for cleaning your ears and then... well...” When he gestures to the bathroom, I let out a warning growl.
I can’t see into the bathroom, but Bella laughs. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I just got a shock. Hi, Ian.”
At this, I poke my head around the door, assuming she must be clothed. She doesn’t sound upset at all. Only, I find myself staring at her luscious naked body, which the bath water is doing nothing to disguise.
Bella laughs again. “They’re just boobs, Will.”
It’s at this point, I realize my mouth is quite literally hanging open.
Ian nudges me. “Congrats. I’ll leave you to it, will I?”
I can’t even muster up the wits to respond.
Ian makes a silent exit. Or, he does if he knows what’s good for him. I can’t drag my eyes away from Bella smiling up at me from the bath. “Could I have a towel? I think I’m about ready to get out now.”
For a full minute, my brain and mouth won’t talk to each other. One is too taken up with thoughts of how I’d like to use the other to worship her body, one inch of flesh after the next until I’ve covered every single slick and dripping part. “I... a towel. Yes.” I turn and walk right past the linen closet, bang my knee on the banister to the stair, and remember what I’m supposed to be doing.
By the time I return, Bella is standing in the bath, water cascading down her body and running in little rivulets between her gorgeous breasts.
I lick my lips. My fangs are sharp against my tongue. I want to lift her breasts, one in each hand to feel the weight, the soft plumpness.
I force myself to look away and hold out the towel instead.
Her shoulder bumps my right hand and I wrap the towel around her. Then I step back.
Not the time!
Not even close to the time.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” At least that’s what I mean to say. It comes out more like, “Nrrrrr.” or some other form of gibberish.
I stalk away, palming down my growing cock and completely and utterly flummoxed.
How on earth am I supposed to last ten more seconds with the next best thing to a goddess under my roof within my reach, without biting and knotting her.
Because she has to consent, you dolt.
Ah, yes. Consent. There still is a man under here somewhere. I wrestle myself back under control and return to cooking the dinner, which turns out far less tasty than planned. In my defense, it’s also very hard to cook with a raging erection and dirty thoughts that refuse to be switched off, no matter how hard I try.
I make it all the way through dinner without ever once throwing her down on the table or suggesting she could be my dessert. I make it most of the way through the film I put on in the background while secretly taking the excuse to stare at Bella and trace the exact shape of her face and slope of her neck. She stands and yawns. “It’s OK for me to stay, right?”
I leap to my feet. “Of course. The guest room is ready. Do you need anything? Clothes? Water? Yogurt?” I could slap myself. Why would she want a yogurt?
She laughs. “Just something to sleep in.”
My bed! my wolf howls. I cough. “Right. Let me find you something.”
I fetch her a shirt and we say goodnight. I trudge up the extra steps to the master bedroom, morosely wondering if I’ll ever wank myself into enough of a stupor to get some sleep.
I’m not even conscious of going to sleep after driving myself out of my mind trying to come with only my hand, instead of the wet pussy I’m craving. It’s useless. All it does is swell my knot to aching and make sweat start to bead on my forehead.
Eventually, I get up and wash my face and fall back into bed. I do my best to ignore my throbbing cock and the images that haunted me all day. I glare through the open window at the glowing orb of the moon and wish—not for the first time—that I was just a regular human.
I must have drifted to sleep after that, because the next thing I know, there’s a soft shuffle of feet and my bedroom door creaks open.
I turn over with a huff. That fucking vampire has no personal boundaries. “Oh, for the love of god, would you fuck off?”
“Oh. Sorry.” The voice I hear in reply is quiet and feminine, and sounds distinctly hurt.
Cursing my stupidity, I leap from the bed and hurry over to the door. “Bella, wait. I didn’t mean you.”
She turns. Her expression is hopeful. “Ian?”
I nod. “Forgive me?”
She takes a step closer. “I was just coming up to see if... well I couldn’t sleep and I heard a noise and I thought maybe you couldn’t either and...” Her gaze drops to the enormous bulge in my boxers.
I’d try to cover it, but at this point, there’s no hiding how I’m feeling. Touching it with her so close would be a mistake.
In the silence, she lifts her eyes to look up at me and now there’s a smile on her lips that wasn’t there before. “Need some help with that?”
I gulp. “Ah, Bella, I don’t know if—”
“Please?”
Oh, fuck. I can’t be expected to think under these circumstances.
I groan when she traces a fingertip down my chest and through the thickening hair at my belly. My body is a riot of sensations. My cock throbs with excitement. My belly tightens. My claws and fangs sting as they burst through the skin, and bones and muscles stretch as I start to shift.
I’m shaking by the time she reaches the waistband of my boxers. The urge to grab her and taste her and hold her wars with the urge to keep her safe.
“I don’t know if I can hold back,” I warn, as she tucks a finger beneath the boxers and tugs them over my straining cock.
The head is already dripping with moisture. It beads at the tip and trickles down the shaft. Under her gaze, it twitches, urgently begging for her attention.
She smiles. “Then don’t.”
I should tell her she doesn’t know what she’s saying. That I’ll bite and knot and claim her if I fail to hold the wolf back. That I would change her.
But I’m too far gone with need.
I sink onto the bed as she takes my aching cock in her hand and pumps me slowly.
Her smile grows wider as it throbs in her palm. The slick sound of the foreskin peeling back makes a strange, erotic harmony with my moans.
She strokes me faster. Her small hands feel a million times better than my own, despite the fact she can’t close her fingers around my girth.
How is her little pussy going to take me if I do lose control and shift midway?
I clench my teeth and force myself to concentrate as she works me beyond my breaking point.
Somehow, I hold my human shape. Almost.
My fangs lengthen, though. The hair rises at the nape of my neck and my tail sprouts and thumps against the bed behind me as she glances up at me with a hungry smile.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she whispers.
That nearly undoes me.
I close my hand around hers. “Wait.”
She frowns.
“If you keep going, I won’t last. Let me make you come first.”