Collared for a Night (Crimson Romance) (5 page)

“Christ, darling. You have to ask? I think we both don’t want any complications. Not with our work relationship. For God’s sake, I’ll take care of your needs if you promise me you won’t quit working at Matrix. If you think us coupling will cramp our working together, then I’ll leave and send up a stud banger. Your choice. If you let me, I’ll fuck you past your heat and then it’s back to business as usual. How far are you into your cycle?”

“Two days,” she whispered, not wanting to believe she was having this conversation, like the hundreds of discussions they’d had regarding ad campaigns. This wasn’t color matching or font selection. How cold was he?

How cold was she? was the better question.

She swiveled to the left, leaving his cock pressed snug against her belly. All she cared about was his ability to function like a sex machine. By using his cock, she’d abate the clawing desire that tore into her ability to function.

“How in the hell did you make it that long? I promise you, by the time you’re ready to leave, I’ll have taken you the way you need. That heat will clear from your head.”

She pressed her forehead against his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Shawn squeezed her ass with both hands. “Jesus, you’re on fire.”

Diana bit into her bottom lip, refusing to whimper her gratitude. They’d fuck tonight and that was all. Not a lifelong commitment, just this one time. She stretched, rubbing her hands up his arms, careful to keep her claws from ripping his skin. “Make this hunger go away. Take me like you say.”

His mouth crashed down onto her lips without warning. His insistently hard kiss stilled her longing for just a second.

He broke their kiss. “Give me a moment.” Luminous, flinty eyes stared down at her.

Shawn released his hold on her body and began unbuttoning his shirt. She glanced down for a moment and froze. His chest was delineated with striated muscles. His tight nipples were brown against his tawny skin. My God, finally she laid her eyes on his black, curling chest hair spreading into a diamond shape. She’d been teasing herself for a year, imagining running her fingers over his pectorals. His muscled belly was drool-deserving. Hard and ridged, yet that wasn’t what kept her staring. The same black, curling hair formed a line down his stomach, swirled around his navel and disappeared beneath his pants. She inhaled, gazing at the massive erection outlined by slacks. Diana licked her lips and her whole body began to tremble. “Kitten,” he said. His voice slid like a silk command. “Take that robe off.”

• • •

He clamped his jaw, pressing his lips to keep from sucking in another mouthful of fragrant air. The scent of Diana, and now the taste of her, aroused him to the point of agreeing to any and everything she’d suggested. She didn’t seem to know the power she wielded in the way she almost begged to retain her freedom. She knew he’d pounce upon her. He could see it in her startled expression, hardly hidden by the way her eyes had flitted around the room. Hell, he’d have loved the chase if they’d been in a forest. Him drafting her scent of female sex and flowers.

He inhaled a drought of her seductive fragrance just to torment his crazed brain. His skin tightened under a wave of goose bumps. Without a doubt, he would have chased her until he’d caught her and then he would have mounted her, biting her neck and fucking her every which way. He clenched his jaw, wondering who had chased her in the past. His gaze locked with hers again.

The skin over her face turned a shade darker. After letting go of the last button, he removed his shirt, wondering what on earth she was thinking. She actually blushed, standing in front of him at the edge of the crimson light. Feline predator eyes perceived distinct images in red glowing light unlike humans. Shawn observed the rigid set of her shoulders as she watched him remove his clothes.

“You can trust me,” he said before unzipping his pants. He almost rolled his eyes. Famous last words for any guy to utter at this point.

Her chin trembled and she smiled across the space. “I do.” She untied the robe and let it fall off her shoulders and down her body.

He stalled in his movement. The sight of Diana’s unclothed body awakened the leopard in him. The act of taking in her whole form was like looking straight at the sun. For a second, his eyes reacted as if a brilliant light had blinded him. His cock strained inside his pants to the point of engorged pressure. Any second he’d be ready to burst.

When Diana had acted out her leopardess testing of the waters by rubbing up against him, she’d opened a door that had been locked. He was aware it had been a moment where a leopardess reveled in her alpha’s strength before agreeing to couple. Well, this was the alpha moment, when he wanted to feel her writhing over him with her warm, supple flesh upon his flesh.

“Shall we both explore the degree of our compatibility?” The moment their bodies touched, he’d have to be careful not to let his will get away from him.

“I thought that didn’t matter. You’ve got what I need. Isn’t that enough?”

“The experience can be deepened if we give into the edge of our inner nature. Not all the way, just the pre-rituals that might help you understand your heat and how to control your urges. What drives you to the brink isn’t human.”

“I’ve never done anything to provoke my feline nature once I’m in heat. I don’t know what you mean exactly.”

“You’re the first woman in heat I’ve agreed to service. But, I have worked with many shifters teaching them to control their nature. Tonight, it will take us working together out of instinct and getting in touch with what you need. Does that make sense?”

Big talk
. Christ, he’d better control his urges. His throbbing shaft felt made of lead and he tempered the urge to come up behind her and rub himself against her ass. The leopard in him all but demanded he act and take her round breasts into his hands and sink his fangs into her skin. He nimbly removed his shoes and socks. Each breath he took awakened every cell in his body. She moved slightly away from him, unleashing a primitive growl from his chest.

“Stand in front of me. I enjoy watching you.”

He unzipped his pants and his cock sprang free. She gasped and her eyes widened.

“I hope that was in anticipation,” he murmured.

She nodded with an air of innocent seduction, extracting a groan from him. How’d she hidden such a body from him for almost a year? Curve after curve, his gaze wandered to the point of being dizzy. Her body promised more than she realized by the way she kept in the shadows with her robe in her hands. For the love of everything holy, he’d better divest himself of his clothes before she dropped the thing and his brain overheated past thinking.

Desperation tore at him. “Come to me.” He dropped his pants and stepped free of them. He took the robe from her hands. “Damn, you’re stunning.”

She had waxed the lips of her pussy smooth. His cock twitched up against his belly, more than painfully ready. “Let’s remove this from your neck.”

“No, I might leave.” She recoiled, reaching up for the collar.

“Do you think I’d let you escape? From me? Kitten, you have no idea, then.”

“I can’t go through what happened the last time. Please.”

He pressed his forefinger to her mouth. “You won’t. Baby, you’re mine for this evening. Perhaps for the next few days. I don’t know how long your heat will last. I won’t leave you alone until you’re ready. Let me ease your cravings and then we’ll go back to my house. I don’t want us to stay here except to give you the ability to control your urge long enough to take a drive.”

“Shawn, I’m trusting you. Please, just do whatever you can to calm this hunger. But know, I’ll shift and run if given the chance.”

“Not tonight.” He unhinged the collar, carefully removing the band from her neck before tossing the damned loop of metal onto the floor in the corner.

He rotated her body, admiring the way she was put together with sweet curves and hollows. Her body rippled with each movement. His cock juddered. He pulled her against him, the leopard in him so close to the surface that he released a low roar.

He massaged her shoulders with his hands, then moved downward, taking a breast in each palm. He kneaded her swelling mounds, flicking his thumbs over her taut nipples. Diana ground her hips against his legs. The leopard demanded satisfaction. He moved behind her, cupping her ass cheeks in his hands. She swayed her hips, brushing her rump over the head of his cock. His pupils dilated, making him see flash points. He pivoted a hair so the space between her ass bumped against his cock. He held onto her hips, warring against an inner nature driving him to mount her and fill her with his seed.

“Do that again,” she groaned.

He rubbed his cock against the cleft of her ass, moving himself up and down the valley between her plump cheeks. With every swaying movement of her hips, a jolt of pleasure shot through him, tearing apart his will to slowly join with her. Shawn resisted the urge to clamp his teeth down upon her flesh. He held off plunging his cock in one forceful thrust into her pussy. He followed a row of dark rosettes along her skin, gingerly tracing the edges with his fingers, moving his hands down her ribcage and over her abdomen, pressing her to him. His thumb found her slick opening and a rush of clear liquid dripped from his crown. He slipped his cock in between her thighs. He pumped, spreading her ass cheeks, gazing down at his cock sliding between her thighs. If she only knew the things that sprang to mind. Damn him for not taking her right then and fucking there. He opened her pussy lips, stroking and rubbing her folds with his fingers until she whimpered.

He spoke against her neck. “Only a few more minutes. Let me do this for you.”

“I feel as though I want to flee.”

He absorbed her jagged pulse, felt her heartbeat ramp and race. “But I won’t let you.” His voice chewed the words. He worked his finger around her clit. He licked her neck, scraping his teeth over her skin. “Mine, baby. You are mine to enjoy and savor.”

He bent over her, pulling her tight against his groin. He pumped his cock, searching for her opening. Her slickness glided over his shaft, over his crown. His balls tightened. He swirled one finger down her slick folds, delving lower, sliding his finger against her slit. At the same instant, his cock found her wet opening. He thrust his finger inside her to prevent himself from giving into the urge to take her standing up against the wall. That type of fucking would be ruthlessly hard and near savage. She might think she wanted it down and dirty, but what she needed was to learn how to master her leopardess urges.

Diana rocked her hips, riding his finger. He kissed and sucked a line across her neck and shoulders, keeping his canines from taking hold of her. With his cock and fingers, he delivered her to the brink of full-blown trembling. Her ring of intimate muscles quivered. Her pussy melted around his finger. She whimpered, and then he felt the deep waves within her core.

He kissed her at the nape of her neck and inhaled the scent she released. She clenched and released around his finger. God, he wanted to thrust deep within her.

Even more, he wanted to possess her beyond this cycle. “Diana, you’re incredible. So utterly raw and sensual. I could easily stay with you through this heat.”
And the next
.

The synapses throughout his body absorbed her scent, branding him, and he accepted this imprinting, understanding the depth of his transformation.

Diana panted and stopped moving. A mist of perspiration covered her body. He ran his hands over her skin. He kissed her shoulder, tasting salt and her scent. She shuddered under his palm, and he murmured, “You’re a vision when you climax.”

She relaxed against him. “I never knew how good this could feel.”

His brows knitted. Diana’s inexperience kept cropping up. He kissed her neck, savoring this moment in being the alpha who possessed her. His kitten had no idea of her capabilities. Diana’s inner nature was a mystery to her and so must be the type of leopardess she was destined to become. He should have known he’d be attracted to this type of woman. He pressed his forehead against her shoulder, riding out her orgasm.

It had been a long time since he’d freed himself to feel anything beyond physical release during sex. For years, he’d kept all his emotions on lock-down. Until now.

Diana turned in his arms. She lifted her face, pressing her mouth to his. She kissed him, moving her lips slowly over his mouth. She tasted him, absorbing his scent as her tongue snuck out to lick and outline his lips. Shawn held back for a moment, giving her the freedom to explore him. Then he raised his hand, tracing the line of her jaw, urging her mouth to open to him. She lurched a little when he wound his tongue around hers. He moaned his pleasure into her mouth until she relaxed against him with a soft echoing moan and opened her mouth fully to him.

Her pliable body and this sweet kiss kicked his arousal into overdrive. An unexpected bolt of desire rocketed through his body. Her kiss was more arousing than rubbing up against her had been. A need to possess, not just taste, took hold of him. Shawn’s cock pressed against her abdomen. Her low moans gave way to soft growls rising from deep in her throat.

It was time. He kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, pushing this roused state to the next level. They twined their tongues, wrapping and caressing within each other’s mouth. He drew back and nipped the corner of her lip. They were both breathing heavily.

He pulled apart just a little. “Time for us to dive into your heat.”

Diana’s emerald eyes were glazed. She whispered, “I’ve no idea what to do. This is all so new, being solo.”

“Your nature is stronger than you suspect, sweetheart. Let me show you the way and then you can decide.”

Her admission proved she hadn’t learned her position of equal power, which meant her husband hadn’t been the alpha to a clan. Perhaps they didn’t belong to one and her husband had dominated her completely, which was common enough for paired leopards where only one could be the leader.

She nodded in response. He grabbed several condoms from the bin before kneeling. Shawn tugged her hand, drawing her down to the futon. She arched, exposing a slender column of her neck. His breath came out in short spurts. He knew she didn’t want him to mark her, and he battled a raging hunger to bite her neck. Claim her. Possess her.