Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
bloom
Maverick’s lips brushed my throat with a kiss after the movie came to an end. It ended up being an action flick, not that I paid much attention to it.
I was too busy being overly aware of the way he was holding me.
His mouth lingered on my throat. I could envision him biting me there again, and honestly, I hoped he would.
I was forgetting every reason I had to keep any amount of distance between us.
“I’m surprised you didn’t kill the challengers when you met them,” I said, trying to take my mind off his touch.
My body was already hot, and I was slick between my thighs. The way he was holding me was insanely comfortable—and the way his erection continuously throbbed against my ass every ten or twenty seconds was anything but.
I wanted him.
There was no way around it.
“According to werewolf law, you have to wait until the actual challenge to take them out if you want to kill them.”
“Do you usually kill them?”
“No. Most of the morons who challenge me are young werewolves who don’t know what it’s like to watch the people you love die. It’s been a few decades since I killed anyone in a challenge. My mate has never been threatened, though, so maybe that will change things.”
“I don’t think it’ll look good if you start killing women for wanting you.”
“If you were a wolf, you’d be the one killing them.”
“Does it bother you that I’m not?” I couldn’t help but wonder. Werewolves and vampires were so different, and he must’ve pictured himself mating with another werewolf.
“I like the idea of you burying your fangs in my throat too much to be bothered any way but sexually.”
My face flushed. “Feeding isn’t sexual.”
“Unless you bite their jugular.”
“You think that makes it sexual? I’ve never asked anyone.”
“Full disclosure, I’ve accidentally seen Oren feeding from Nolan’s throat, and it’s absolutely sexual.” His lips brushed my neck, and I shuddered.
My fangs shouldn’t have descended, but they did.
“I guess no one really talks about feeding after they’re mated,” I admitted.
“Maybe it’s too good to talk about.”
“Or maybe it’s not a big deal.”
“Bite me, then. Let’s find out.”
“You know I can’t do that. Potential horniness aside, you lost a third of your blood this morning, and you need to fight a bunch of wolves tomorrow.”
“After our show in the car, one or two of the women will back down. If we walk into the challenges smelling like we fucked, a few more will do the same.”
“Why would us having sex stop them from wanting you?”
“Because the majority of werewolves respect a fated bond that hasn’t been outright rejected. Even if it involves a vampire and a very rich, very attractive Alpha with trashy tattoos.” His lips brushed my throat with a kiss again, lightly, and I laughed.
“You know you have an incredible artist, right?”
“I know. If I tell him what Phyllis said, he’ll probably eat her.”
“She’d deserve it.”
“You’d be out a best friend though.”
“Harper would celebrate her demise. She doesn’t want to share me anyway.”
“Neither do I. Maybe I need to get rid of Harper too.”
“Good luck with that. She’s the one person in my life that I’d do literally anything for. I love my family, but Harper and I are ride or die.”
“As long as you know who you belong to.”
“Myself?”
“If that’s what you need to tell yourself.” Maverick sucked lightly on my throat. “Tell me I can touch you.”
“Pretty much our entire bodies are touching right now, Mav.”
He chuckled. “Not like that.”
Oh.
Oh.
Crap.
“I don’t think I’m ready for you to touch me if it’s going to mean something to you.”
“All it means is that I’m fucking obsessed with your body and want to make you feel good.”
I bit my lip.
I wanted to.
I really, really wanted to.
But it would change things. Wouldn’t it?
“I’m going to take your silence as a no.” He didn’t sound bothered or upset in anyway. Kind of curious, though.
“I’m just nervous,” I admitted.
“About what?
“Everything.”
He chuckled again. “The murders? The challenges? The mate bond? Me?”
Not the murders. I was terrified of losing Harper over them, and still felt like shit for lying to him about the blood, but those things wouldn’t stop me from having sex with him.
Not the challenges. Like Maverick had said, he was basically the king of the wolves. If he was going to lose a little fight, he would’ve lost it a long time ago.
Not the mate bond, either. Maverick said that having sex wouldn’t affect it, and I believed him. Maybe that was crazy, but I had no reason not to. He was possessive and stubborn and overbearing, but he had never lied to me. Not that I knew of, at least.
And I definitely wasn’t nervous about the Alpha. Whoever and whatever he was beneath all the muscle and ink, I genuinely liked him.
I was nervous about me.
Because between the two of us, I was the one who was lying.
I was the one keeping secrets.
I was the one who had manipulated him.
How could I fuck him, knowing that? I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to live with myself after it was all said and done.
“What would you do, if you found out I was hiding something from you?” I asked him, my gaze focused on the sexy, tattooed arms he had around my waist.
“That would depend on what you were hiding. I don’t expect you to trust me completely after two weeks. One of which you spent eating candy and Hot Pockets.”
“How do you know about the Hot Pockets?”
“There were security cameras in the tower apartment. I haven’t put any in your current apartment, but I’ve considered it.”
“Seriously, Mav? You were watching me?”
“How are you just now realizing that I’ve been stalking you?”
I groaned. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
“The feeling’s mutual.” He bit down on my throat lightly, making my heart lurch before he released me. “I just happen to enjoy your brand of pain.”
“That feeling isn’t mutual.”
“If that’s what you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, go ahead.” He bit down just a little harder, and kissed the spot afterward. “As long as your secrets don’t hurt my pack, I have no problem with them. If someone I love is in danger, I expect you to tell me immediately.”
“That’s fair.”
He kissed a trail up my neck and to my ear, then dragged his tongue slowly over the jewelry in it. The smell of burnt vanilla made me grimace.
“You have got to stop doing that.”
“I like your ears too much to stop. Irresistible, remember?”
I was going to have to swap to some of my other earrings if things between us kept getting more intense.
“You smell like you want me to touch you,” he said.
“You smell like you need to stop licking my earrings.”
“Give me something else to taste, then.”
If he didn’t care that I was keeping secrets, and wasn’t going to think that letting things get steamy meant I was agreeing to be his mate... then what was I waiting for?
“Alright. Touch me.”
His chest rumbled. Instead of just shoving his hand into my pajama pants like I expected him to, he slipped a hand beneath my oversized tee and dragged his fingers over my stomach.
Up my ribs.
And slowly, over one of my breasts.
I sucked in a breath as he teased my nipple lightly. Softly. Chest-achingly gently.
“Does that feel good?” The low gravel of his words felt almost as amazing as his fingers.
“Perfect,” I breathed.
He pinched my nipple. My hips jerked.
His second hand found my stomach while the first still worked my breast.
A shaky breath escaped me when it dipped beneath the waistband of my pajama pants.
His fingers tugged lightly on the thin waistband of my panties. “You have no right to wear a thong with fuzzy pants.”
“Are there laws about that now?”
“Yeah. If you’re wearing panties like this, you go to bed bottomless for your mate’s sake.”
“I didn’t know you were an easy access kind of—ohhh, fuck.” My head tipped back as his rough fingertip brushed my clit before circling it slowly.
“You feel so much better than I imagined,” he rumbled.
“I think that’s an insult.”
“It’s not. How long have you been this wet for me?”
“Feels like all day,” I moaned.
He pinched my nipple again, and I arched hard.
“Good. Can you feel what you do to me?”
“I don’t think you could hide it if you tried.”
“That’s right, Sugar. You’re driving me fucking insane. You’re all I can think about.” “
“I think I’d remember if you—” I cried out when he bit my throat lightly, still not breaking skin, but sending me over the edge and into the fastest orgasm of my life. My hips jerked, my body rocking and trembling on his hand as he got me off way too easily.
My heart pounded, my breathing rapid as I slowly came down from the high of the climax.
He was still touching me, though he’d slowed to give me a break.
“That was...” I trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.
“You’re the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Did you just call me a thing?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. My thing.”
“Now it sounds like you’re talking about your cock,” I breathed, as he pressed a little harder on my clit. “Maybe that’s better than the alternative, considering you were objectifying—shit!” I choked out a curse as he filled me with two fingers.
His cock throbbed violently against my ass, and he pulled his fingers out again, dragging them over my clit.
“What are you doing to me?”
“Fucking you with my fingers. Unless you’d rather do the fucking. I could be persuaded to let you ride them, for a price.”
“What’s the price?”
His lips brushed my ear, still playing with my clit. “I want your clothes off.”
“Unreasonable,” I tried to drawl. I mostly sounded like I wanted him to actually fuck me. Which I did.
“Completely.”
“You want me to take my own clothes off so I can do the work instead of just letting you do it?”
“Yup.” He sucked lightly on my earlobe, and I smelled more burnt vanilla.
“For the love of all that is holy, Maverick, stop licking my earrings.”
“Then take them out.”
“I’m busy. Alternate offer,” I said, arching hard against his hand. “You take my clothes off, and you do the fucking. With your cock, instead of your fingers.”