Down & Dirty (Bundle) (21 page)

His jaw tightened, and he looked away from
her.  “You may not have a choice, Charlotte.  I can try
my hardest to smooth this over, but there’s going to come a point
where Jack has to make a hard choice.  One or two complaints
we can handle.  But if it gets out of hand… just think about
it.  Please?”

Anger prickled over Lottie’s skin, and she
gritted her teeth.  “I’ll follow whatever decisions Jack
makes, you can be sure of that.”

“
Lottie --” Now he
just sounded frustrated.  “I think it’s stupid too.  But
I have to do my job, whether I agree with it or not.”

She rose and stalked around the desk. 
“I didn’t know your job included placating insecure, bigoted
men.”

His gaze snapped to hers,
and she felt the first taste of his power as he scowled. 
“Actually, my job includes placating
everyone
.”

“
Then it’s a miracle you
haven’t already snatched yourself bald, Thomas
Crawford,” Lottie shot back fiercely, ignoring the
lash of power that whipped through the room.  She braced
her hands on the arms of his chair and leaned down until her eyes
were level with his.  “Because no one can make
everyone
happy. 
Just doesn’t work.”

“
Welcome to my life,
Lottie.”  And if the raw pain in his voice hadn’t been
indication enough she’d struck a nerve, what he did next would have
been.  Because he kissed her.

He didn’t coax or
tease.  His tongue drove past her lips and slid over hers, and
she choked on a moan as fire shot through her.  Her hands
curled around his arms as she tumbled into his lap.  One
strong hand cupped the back of her neck, and Jack’s words came back
to her. 
He’s got it bad for
you.

She hadn’t believed him.  But
now, with Thomas kissing her as though he’d never
stop, she knew it was true.  So Lottie tilted her head
and kissed him back, pouring out every bit of her own frustrated
desire.

Thomas groaned, and power rose between them
so fast she was sure people out in the bar would feel it.  His
hands found her shoulders and he pushed her back with another
hoarse moan.  “Lottie -- God, Lottie, I’m sorry --”

It took her a moment to
process his words, to realize he was
apologizing
, and she scrambled off
his lap, horrified.  “It’s all right.”  The words came
out sounding shaky, and Lottie smoothed her skirt so she wouldn’t
have to look at him.  “No harm done.”

“
No, not for that.” 
He moved so fast she was on the desk with his hands planted on
either side of her hips before she realized he’d picked her up.
“For this.  I’m sorry for this.”  One hand slid up to
curl around the back of her neck as he kissed her again.

Her hands skidded over the
polished wood and then she reached for him, driving her fingers
into his hair.  An empty ache bloomed inside her, and she
cried out at the thought of him filling it.  Filling
her
.  “Don’t be
sorry,” she gasped against his lips.  “Just don’t
stop.”

He fumbled at the knot in her hair for a few
seconds before finding the pins and pulling them free.  The
strands tumbled down and he wound them around his hand and inched
her head back.  “I have been trying to court you for a month,”
he whispered against her chin.  “You ignored me.”

If he’d kissed her like this, just once,
ignoring him would have been impossible.  “You acted like you
didn’t feel this.  I didn’t know.”

“
You wanted me to grope you
in inappropriate ways in front of the whole town?”  His mouth
found a sensitive spot on the underside of her jaw.  “That
would have been an unusual courtship method.”

Lottie shivered, and her nipples tightened
almost to the point of pain. “No, I just meant --”

He cut off her words with another kiss, and
she forgot what she was going to say anyway.  Her lips parted
under his again, and hunger overwhelmed her. Need drove away
everything but Thomas, and she dropped her hands to tug at the
buttons of his vest.

The hand in her hair slid down her back and
along her hip, and he curled his fingers in her skirt as he broke
their kiss again.  “You should kick me out,” he
murmured.  He gathered her skirt inch by inch, sliding it up
her legs.  “If you don’t, I don’t think I’m going to
stop.”

She didn’t answer, just kicked off her
low-heeled shoes and pulled him closer as she started slipping free
the buttons of his shirt.  The thought of stopping was
ridiculous, unimaginable.  Unbearable.

Thomas groaned and dragged her hands away,
then pulled his shirt over his head without bothering to finish
unbuttoning it.  “Tell me you want this, at least.”

Lottie couldn’t remember a
time she
hadn’t
wanted him to touch her like this.  “I want you,” she
whispered, transfixed by the play of muscle under skin as he
moved.  “Thomas, please.”

He groaned again and smoothed a hand up her
leg, under her dress.  “Tell me,” he repeated as his thumb
brushed her inner thigh.  “It’s the only good thing I’ve heard
in weeks.”

“
I thought about
this.”  She leaned into him and spoke in between the soft
kisses she pressed to his chest.  “I waited for you to touch
or kiss me,
something
.  Anything.”

A growl worked its way out
of his chest, which vibrated under her mouth.  “I was
trying
to be
polite.”  His thumb swept higher, teasing along the edge of
her underwear.  “Respectful, even.”

“
You did an admirable job,”
she admitted, arching toward his hand.  “But now you need to
fuck me.”

“
Is that so?”  He
lifted his head and stared down at her with rough, unmasked need --
a raw expression she’d never seen on his face before.  “Do you
know what you’re asking, Lottie?  I’m a werewolf who hasn’t
had a woman in three years.  You should know --”

“
Yes.”  There wouldn’t
be anything controlled or careful about it.  He’d be hard and
rough.  Wild.  Anticipation made her whimper, and unsated
desire sharpened the ache between her thighs.  She caught his
face between her hands.  “I know, Thomas, and I want
that.  I want you.”

His thumb pressed between her legs, rubbing
wicked, taunting little circles against her clit through her
underwear.  Without taking his eyes from hers he shifted his
head and caught the heel of her hand between his teeth with a low
growl.

Lottie’s head snapped back as pleasure
flooded her, as much from his ardor as the firm touch on her
clit.  She cut off a desperate, almost animal noise by biting
into her bottom lip.  Her hips jerked, and she fell back on
the smooth wood of the desk.

A moment later Thomas was hovering over her,
one hand planted next to her head while the other continued its
wicked caress.  “If you want me to fuck you on your desk,
Charlotte, you are damn well going to come first.  Maybe more
than once.”

She tried to brace herself, to ground
herself in reality even though the world was spinning away in a
haze of heat and need, but all she managed to do was knock a marble
paperweight to the floor.  “Thomas --” His name dissolved into
a low cry.  “More.”

The fabric of her panties gave way with a
tear.  He watched her face as his hand returned, rubbing
against slick, sensitive flesh this time before he pivoted his hand
and thrust two fingers into her. “Like that?”

Everything was burning fast and hot inside
her, and she was going to scream. Lottie couldn’t hold back her
tortured moan so she gripped his back, nails digging into his
flesh, and sank her teeth into his shoulder.

“
Yes,” he rasped.  His
breath blew hot against her neck as he lowered his mouth and licked
over her throbbing pulse.  “That’s right.  This is what I
imagine doing to you when I’m
not
being respectable.”

His words snapped the thread of tension his
touch had woven.  She couldn’t scream, after all, because she
couldn’t breathe, could only writhe under him and wish for the
ecstasy to never end.

And just when she thought it would, he
closed his teeth on her neck with a possessive growl and worked a
third finger into her.  The hard thrust of his fingers sent
another orgasm tearing through her, and she bit him harder as she
fought not to shriek in pleasure.

He stroked her as she came down, the gentle
touch of his fingers a stark contrast to the hot, dangerous look in
his eyes.  “How do you like it, Lottie?  Like
this?”  His hands hooked under her body and lifted her easily,
pressing her to his broad chest.  “Do you like to be on
top?”  Her feet hit the ground for just a moment before he
turned her and pressed his hard cock against her ass.  “Or do
you like the animal inside us?”

Her hands slipped on the desk as she rocked
back.  “Like this, like -- God, hurry.  I need to feel
you inside me.”  Her neck stung where he’d bitten her, and she
knew he’d bear bruises from her teeth.  “I need to be
yours.”

“
Mine.”  His hands
dragged her dress out of the way and she heard him fumbling with
his pants.  “Is that what you want?”

“
Yes.”  She could
barely force out the whisper, even though it was the truth. 
The truth was stark, terrifying.  It could break her
heart.  “I need to be yours.”

“
Good.”  He squeezed
her hip and held her steady as he thrust into her with one long,
powerful stroke.  His tortured groan filled the room as he
leaned over and pressed his chest to her back.  “You’re
mine.”

It wasn’t how she’d imagined sex with Thomas
Crawford.  Even in her fantasies, he was usually slow,
careful.  He didn’t drive his cock into her hard enough to
lift her off the floor.  He didn’t claim her, not like
this.

It was perfection.

It felt so good already, and he hadn’t even
started moving.  Papers crumpled under her hands, and Lottie
tossed her head back.  “I’ll never be quiet enough,” she
warned.

He slapped his hand down on the desk next to
her and growled in her ear. “Then bite me.”

Lottie knew she might have to, but she
couldn’t resist the temptation to drive him crazy.  Her tongue
traced a delicate path up the inside of his arm, and she growled
back at him.  “What about you?”

Thomas pulled back and laughed low in his
throat as he surged forward again. “My whole life is not yelling
when I want to.  But even that might not be enough to keep me
quiet with the way you feel…”

A shiver ran through her, and she ground
back against him.  “How do I feel?”

“
Hot and tight and
perfect.”  His mouth brushed along her jaw.  “So damn
perfect.”

Lottie turned her face to his and kissed him
gently.  “Perfect,” she echoed. The only things holding her
back -- his reserve and her own misjudgments -- had vanished, so
she let go, abandoning herself to him.  “Thomas.”

He rocked into her again. 
“Lottie.”

She hissed in a breath and shuddered. 
“What?”

Wet heat closed around her earlobe a moment
before she felt the scrape of his teeth.  He chuckled, and air
tickled her cheek.  “Maybe I just want you to keep saying my
name.”

“
Thomas,” she whispered
again, wiggling her hips as she raised one foot to stroke his
calf.  “Thomas.”

He growled and bit her ear as his hand
tightened on her hip.  “Don’t wiggle so damn much.  I’m
barely holding on as it is.”

“
Why do you think I’m doing
it?”  Frustration lent her voice a sharp edge, and she bucked
in his grasp.  “You’re making me rethink the question of
whether I want to be on top.”

“
Lottie --” His breath
caught and he let it out on a hoarse curse. 
“
Three years
,
woman.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

“
You won’t.”  Lottie
brushed her lips over his cheek.  One of his hands still
rested on the desk beside her, and she twined her fingers with his.
“I trust you.”

Thomas closed his eyes and
tried to summon up some of his infamous self-control.  But
he’d come here expecting Lottie to hate him, and somehow he’d ended
up sheathed in her body and barreling toward the sort of rough,
desperate sex that would leave a poor first impression.  And
that was the last thing he wanted to do. Somehow it had to be good
enough that she’d ask him to touch her again.  A hundred more
times.  A
thousand
more --

Her body gripped his cock as he slid back,
telling himself he’d go slow.  He meant it too, until she
whimpered again and the need to claim her overrode all sense. 
With one hand still braced next to her head, he slipped the other
under her body and held her steady as he gave in to the pressing
need and thrust into her.

Lottie shuddered under him and moaned, a
throaty, pleased sound that scattered what was left of his
control.  “Harder,” she begged. “Please.”

So he thrust again, harder,
burying himself in the warmth of her body with a satisfied
groan.  She felt so
good
, more perfect than he’d
imagined.  And not even his fantasies had provided him with
the truth, the way she moved back against him when he pulled away,
as if she couldn’t bear for him to leave her.

“
So good.”  Her head
hit his shoulder, and her whimpers turned into sharp, pleading
gasps.  “Don’t stop, Thomas -- You can’t ever stop
--”

“
I won’t.”  He
couldn’t
; he’d lost
control of his actions.  She was tight and wet and so fucking
hot, and he couldn’t slow his pace.  He slammed forward so
hard she gasped, and pleasure took on a sharp edge as he felt
release moving closer.  “God, come for me, Lottie,
come
for me.”