Awakening Abduction (7 page)

The slow perusal turned on a dime when he pinched one nipple tight between two fingers and then immediately dipped those fingers into her pussy. With her eyes closed in sensual overload, she’d not seen that coming and flinched against his chest on a moan.

“Will you be good? If I swirl my fingers here…” he paused to emphasize his words with actions, “and then drag your arousal here?” Those same damn fingers jumped up to surround her clit with her own wetness, circling the nub once again without touching it.

“Does your clit come out of its hood on its own? Or do I have to pull it back to see the pulsing little member?”

Hannah gasped.

Without warning, James flipped toward her front, flattening her to the mattress on her back. “Grab the headboard right here,” he placed her fingers over the rungs behind her, “and don’t move them until I say so or I stop. Got it?”

Hannah bit her bottom lip and nodded.

James climbed down her body and settled between her thighs. “Open your legs for me, baby.”

When she wasn’t fast enough, or maybe they weren’t far enough apart, he added, “Wider.”

Hannah bent her knees and let them flop all the way apart. Why was she letting him do this to her? And why did it feel so good, make her so horny?

James pressed two fingers inside her again and drew them out, over and over, fucking her gently, but not nearly enough to make her come. Yesterday she might have come against his leg with her pants on, but today she wanted more.

When she started lifting her torso and gyrating against his fingers, James pressed her hips with his other hand to hold her down.

“Let me make you feel good, Hannah. My way. Slow and sexy.”

She moaned. “I think I like fast and furious better.”

James laughed. “We can do both. But this time we’re going with slow.” His knees pressed forward against her thighs, forcing her open even wider.

“Oh God. James.”

The fingers gently stroking in and out of her finally withdrew to trace warm lines of wetness around her pussy, areas that cooled in the air and made her even more aware of herself.

When he finally arrived to trace circles around her clit, she was so aroused, she thought she might come after all, embarrassingly early in the game.

“Hold on. Don’t come until I say.”

Did he think those words helped?

He chuckled softly, but never lifted his gaze from the spot between her legs, his finger slowly, agonizingly circling her clit.

Hannah’s heart beat so hard and fast, she thought it would pump right out of her chest.

“Ah, there it is.” James might have glanced at her face, but she wasn’t sure. Her eyes were mere slits. “I knew I could make you so horny, I could coax that sweet nub out without touching it. So sexy… It pulses in time with your heart.”

When he leaned down and blew against her exposed clit, Hannah nearly lost it.

“James, fuck you. Touch me.” She writhed beneath his steady forearm now being used to hold her down at the waist.

“Can you be more specific, honey?” he teased. “Here?” He reached back and gently pinched her butt.

“No,
dammit
. Pinch my…my clit, you ass. Push your fingers into my pussy and rub my juices over my clit until I come…please.” She strained to add that last word, not opposed to begging at this point.

“Yes, ma’am.” James pushed what must have been four fingers into her core as far as he could and pressed his thumb tightly against her nub. She shattered, her orgasm shaking her entire body and rocking the bed until it banged against the wall.

When she finally came down, she realized he’d been right, the sensitive nerve endings of her clit had been exposed of their own accord, otherwise his thumb wouldn’t have made such precise contact so easily.

James leaned over and kissed Hannah on the mouth, a sensual kiss one would use to
start
a morning of mind-blowing sex, not finish one.

“I know we’ve only known each other about eighteen hours now, but…I love you, Hannah. You’re my life. I swear on all that is mine, I’ll never let you down. I’ll spend the rest of my days making sure you’re the happiest woman on earth.”

As soon as we get past your father
.

Comfortably settled between her legs, James shook that last thought out of his head and pressed into her. This time he intended to take it a little slower, watch her face for every tiny reaction while he slid in and out of her tight warmth.

James slid his palms up her inner arms where they still lay resting above her head, no longer white-knuckling the headboard, but limp alongside it. When he reached her hands, he entwined his fingers with hers, stretched her tight and made love to her body until it seemed to hum.

Hannah wrapped her legs firmly around his middle and rocked with him, helping herself to just the right angle that would ensure he pressed into her clit with each snug contact against her.

When they were both spent, he carried her sated body into the shower and sensually washed her. She stared up into his eyes, disbelief written on her face, her mind wandering with thoughts she couldn’t keep from him of how she’d gotten so lucky.

James smiled, heart beating quickly in the knowledge
he
was the lucky one.

He filled his palm with shampoo, turned Hannah so she faced the wall and proceeded to massage the suds into her scalp.

“God, that feels good. No one’s ever…”

He grinned again and reached around to run his soapy palms over the smooth silky skin of her breasts. When he plucked at her nipples, she braced herself against the wall with her hands and spread her legs ever so slightly.

James watched her reaction to his ministrations from behind, smug in his ability to make her body thrum as though he was playing a violin.

His soapy hands wandered down her body, paying special attention to the firm globes of her ass, and then reaching around her to slick over the folds of her sex. She was wet, and not just from the water. The scent of her arousal filled the bathroom, overpowering even the soap and floral shampoo.

Could he make her come again so soon? She’d already had two orgasms since waking. How many could a woman produce in the first days after being claimed?

At least one more. James pressed his body against hers, leaving scant inches between her and the wall. With his feet, he pushed her legs farther apart and then used both hands to spread the folds of her sex.

Hannah’s knees threatened to buckle, quaking against him. “I can’t… Not again.”

“Yes, you can. And you will. I’ve got you.” She wasn’t going to fall. There wasn’t enough space and he’d easily grab her before she slipped.

In this position, James spread his palms to splay her wider, grasped her clit between his thumbs and pushed several fingers into her still-unbelievably-tight sheath.

Hannah let her forehead press into the wall and moaned around the orgasm that almost immediately shook her body.

God, he loved this woman. He knew she was slightly embarrassed at her body’s repeated ability to be played as if it was a finely tuned instrument. But James felt only pride at his role in the tuning.

Resuming his cleansing, James hastily finished washing his mate, her skin glowing beneath his hands. Quickly he soaped himself, rinsed them both and lifted her from the tub to set her on the bathroom rug.

As soon as he grabbed two fluffy towels from the rack, he hastily patted her shaking body down and wrapped her in a cocoon of warmth. “Are you cold, babe?” She kept shivering.

“I don’t think so.” Tangled masses of hair hung down her back and curled around her face.

“You need to sit.” He angled her out of the room and over toward a chair, where he pressed her into the seat and began to comb through her glorious curls.

“I can do that.”

“Of course you can, but you don’t have to ’cause I’m doing it this time.” He let the silky length slip repeatedly between his fingers as he worked.

“What happens next? To me, I mean.”

“Now that you’ve shifted, you’ll learn to control when and where you want to shift. As soon as we can, we’ll find a place to run free in the woods so you can change a few times and get the hang of it. And as for your sexual appetite,” he smiled gently, “it’ll get stronger over the next few days while your body demands mine. It’s all part of the process. Under normal circumstances, we don’t usually see a mating couple for several days. It’s a private affair.”

“Oh, right. I guess that makes sense. I’m certainly glad someone else hasn’t been with us for the last day. It’s bad enough you’ve seen me at my…most interesting.” She shuddered.

James dropped the comb on the desk and turned the chair to bring her face-to-face with him. “I wouldn’t have been anywhere else. And you’re a beautiful woman, and wolf. I’m beyond proud fate brought us together like this and we shared such a wonderful experience together, the first of the rest of our lives. I mean it when I say I love you. I know this is all strange to you right now, but it’ll get easier, I promise.”

Tears hung onto the corners of her eyes. If he hadn’t been able to climb into her head and sense they were a product of joy, he would have shot himself to think he’d caused her pain.

“We have to get going. I think you’re…stable.”

“Leave, now?”

“We have a lot of miles to cover. It’s a long way to Seattle. Your parents…they, um, won’t know why we’ve stopped like this. I’m sorry.”

“Wait, can’t we just call them? Tell them they don’t have to worry anymore about whoever this Gerald guy is? He can’t have me now, right? If you and I…”

James was already shaking his head. “Believe me, the idea is tempting and I’ve certainly thought of it, but I can’t do that to your father. Until yesterday, I was his right-hand man. He trusted me to retrieve you and bring you home safe and sound. In fact, he already had a mate in mind for you. He told me so. He isn’t going to be happy about this and I’m not about to cop out and tell him over the phone.”

“You have a point. Do you really think I’m in any danger?”

“Not sure. Depends on Gerald’s motives. If he spotted you as an infant and truly believed he was meant to claim you, then no. He will know you’re already taken and back off as soon as he gets near you.”

Hannah exhaled, a small smile crossing her lips.

“However, I have a hard time believing it’s that simple. Why would a man in his forties feel the need to claim a young child? Not to mention he’d be sixty by now. I’m not saying it never happens, but it’s rare and this particular situation has always reeked of sleaziness to me. It doesn’t add up.”

“What could he want?”

“A position in your family, money, status, any number of things.” James stood and pulled Hannah up with him. “Come on. Let’s get dressed and get moving. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get to stop again for the night and I get to peel back your clothes and worship your beautiful body again.” He grinned at her.

“Is that all you think about?” The little tease dropped her towel and sauntered catlike away from him, leaning over every few steps to pick up discarded clothing.

He ought to spank that sexy globe of flesh taunting him.

Two can play this game
. Thankful he had more ability to block his thoughts from his mate, he too dropped his towel and proceeded to ignore her as he grabbed their duffels, tossed them on the bed and dug around in his for clean clothes.

Hannah sidled up next to him and did the same, hands shaking, her body’s aroma filling the room with her arousal. How long would it take before she stopped needing sex 24/7? Hell, he did not want that day to come.

James gritted his teeth and jerked his clothes on. They could have sex all day and it wouldn’t change anything. He needed to get them on the road again.

As it was, the tight confines of the little sports car would fill rapidly with her scent. He’d have to roll the window down to breathe without steering off the road.

Chapter Six

“Are we…somewhere yet?” Hannah lifted her head from where she’d been napping nearly all day.

“Getting there. I was thinking of stopping for the night. I have friends living not far from here. Their place is out of the way enough we could go for a run.”

“Are you crazy? A run? Why the hell would I want to go for a run?” Hannah glanced down at her jeans, thought about her few clean T-shirts. Her sneakers weren’t even fit for such a thing. Hannah was
not
a jogger.

James laughed, a deep sound making her glare at him. “Sorry. I’m not laughing
at
you. You misunderstood. When I say ‘run’, I don’t mean a leisurely human jog, I mean in wolf form. We do it all the time. It’s fantastic. Freeing. You’re going to love it.”

“Oh.”
Stupid
.

“You aren’t stupid. Just inexperienced. I’m sorry, really.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed reassuringly.

“I talked to your mom while you were dead to the world over there.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You needed your sleep. Obviously it was a deep sleep—you didn’t even hear the phone ring or me talking. Anyway, your mom is already in Seattle with your dad. She filled me in on what we’re up against. Apparently your family’s been keeping an eye on Gerald and his people for all these years, making sure he never found you.

“His pack lives a few hours away, but he’s never been satisfied he couldn’t have you, even after sixteen years. When the investigator let your dad know several members of his family have been missing for about a week and were thought to be hanging around in the Boston area, your father decided it was time to bring you home. He didn’t want to risk waiting any longer. That’s when he sent me.”

“Why didn’t he just call my mom and we could have flown there?”

“At first he didn’t want to worry your mom unnecessarily until he was sure there was a real threat. They had agreed to wait a few more years. Until you got older.”

“What does age have to do with it?”

James cleared his throat. “Hannah, they have, or at least had, someone in mind for you to mate with. They wanted you to have more time before being faced with such responsibility. The plan was to keep you from Gerald until you mated someone else.”

“Oh… So, why was it necessary to, um, kidnap me like you did?”

James smirked. “You liked it and you know it. But seriously, I was watching you, making sure you were safe, for a few days. When your dad decided it wasn’t prudent to wait any longer and he couldn’t reach your mom, he sent me in.”

“You could have been more civil about it.” She tried not to be pouty about it, but seriously.

“Riiight. That would have worked splendidly. Hi, Hannah. My name’s James. I’m a wolf, oh, and so are you. Would you come with me to Seattle to meet your not-dead father and live happily ever after?”

“Okay, okay, you have a point.” She looked away for a moment. Then changed the subject.

“Did my mom mention where Gerald’s people are now?”

“No, so we’re sticking to the plan. Even though I’ve claimed you, he doesn’t know that and neither do your parents. I don’t want to get caught somewhere having to defend you against God knows how many of them with no backup.”

“What if they’re following us?”

“It doesn’t seem they had quite located you yet in Boston, if that’s even what they were doing there. So hopefully they’re still chasing their tails around.”

“Literally.”

“Exactly.”

She processed this for a few minutes before continuing. “Why do you suppose my dad sent
you
specifically?”

“I’ve been working for him for years. Our families have always been close. I’ve done jobs for him all over the country.”

“What do you do, exactly?”

“I have a finance degree. You father buys and sells properties, usually businesses, fixes them up and flips them over. I fly in to supervise, make sure everything goes smoothly with the closing.”

“Will he be mad? About us, I mean? What’s he like?”

“He is a stern man, but fair. I’m not worried about him screaming and yelling, if that’s what you’re thinking, but he may be very disappointed. This certainly isn’t what he had in mind when he sent me. I’m more worried about whoever your father had in mind for you to mate. That’s the guy that should be pissed.”

“If nature brought you and I together, how could someone else have ‘claimed’ me, as you say?”

“Oh, plenty of wolves mate for life without such a monumental claiming. Not everyone meets their perfect mate. Just like humans. When it happens, it’s wonderful. When it doesn’t, mates almost always grow to love, depend on and even need each other as much as they would have otherwise. It just isn’t always quite so…obvious, I guess you could say. Besides, once a couple is mated, their pheromones change. If there had been someone else for them, they’d never know it.”

“Maybe we could keep it to ourselves for a while?”

“Fat chance.” James snorted and shot a glance her way. “Babe, you reek of me and I of you. We have extremely sensitive senses. You’ll soon realize it yourself. Not only will your parents know we had sex before we walk through the door, but they’ll know I’ve claimed you as my own. No one can break that bond,” he added.

“I see. James?”

“Yeah?”

“What if I’m pregnant? We had unprotected sex…I don’t know how many times.” Hannah wrung her hands as she let this thought filter back through her mind.
I’m so young. We just met.

“You aren’t.”

“How the hell do you know?” He could be so cocky.

“Hey, don’t get testy on me now.” He smiled at her and grabbed her fingers, stilling her nervousness.

“And what about STDs? How could we be so careless?” She yanked her hands away from his attempt to soothe her.

“Hannah, shifters can’t catch, carry or spread STDs. As for pregnancy, I would never consider keeping you from carrying a child of mine. It’s just the way we’re wired. My inner male screams to impregnate you.”

When she gasped, he continued, “However, I would and will know when you’re pregnant. Everyone will, in fact. We can smell it like everything else. Nature buys us some time together. Even though you are technically in heat right now, it’s just nature’s way of drawing us together, like magnets. Your pheromones and mine are totally in sync. But you aren’t ovulating yet. I’ll know. Your scent will change. So will your sex drive.”

“Are you saying one day I’m going to want to have sex even more than I do right now?” Hannah sat up straight and glared daggers at this crazy man beside her, whose body was already sending hers into overdrive with need to be filled by him again. Just the mention of the word “sex” pebbled her nipples and made her squeeze her knees together.

Hannah crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself tight as she slumped back into the comfortable bucket seat again to stare out the window.

James hadn’t responded to her. It didn’t matter. It had been rhetorical anyway.

He noticeably didn’t reach for her either. She wasn’t even sure if she was pleased or pissed about that.

Just trying my damndest to give you some time…space. If you would prefer, I’ll pull over right now and fuck you senseless.

Hannah didn’t glance his way. Without moving her face from the outdoor scenery she could avoid knowing whether his look was mocking or serious. Even though he’d spoken into her mind many times already, she knew she’d not perfected the art of understanding tiny nuances in the words.

Comfortable silence enveloped them for a while before James finally pulled off the highway.

“James?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you mind if we just keep going?” she implored. “As much as I’d love to stop and make love at every highway exit along the way, I’d also really like to get to Seattle as soon as possible, see my mother, meet my father and get some answers.”

“I totally understand.” He pulled into a fast food joint and stopped the engine. Turning toward her, he continued. “I have the rest of my life with you. If we drive all night, we should be able to get to you father’s by about midday tomorrow. Let’s just grab a bite to eat and keep moving.”

“Thank you.” She hoped her feeling for him shown in her eyes. She truly felt extremely connected to James already and hoped he understood her unease and her need to get to Seattle as soon as possible.

If he read her thoughts, he didn’t say anything, just climbed out of the car, a smile on his face.