Grayslake: More than Mated: Unbearable Love (Kindle Worlds Novella) (4 page)

“You think I’m sexy?” His dick ached to be set free as it pressed against her ample bottom, but he didn’t dare let it go. Lily was wine, and roses, and happily-ever-afters. Eli was bees and brew, and he was broken.

A
sliver
of light sliced through the gap in the curtains and stabbed Lily in the eye. She bolted to a sitting position and looked around the room—her room.
How did I get here?
The last thing she remembered was telling herself if she drank enough, she wouldn’t feel Julia kill her. How stupid could she have been to drink so much, and then let herself be put into a vulnerable situation? It was bad enough she showed her weakness to Eli, but had he not been there, Julia could have most certainly crushed her. That damn man put her in danger and then saved her. Was that chivalrous or shitty? Eli was a lesson in opposites. He was an advocate and an antagonist. He was sexy and sinful. He was everything she wanted, and nothing she could have.

Salty tears slipped from her eyes, and ran down her face to plop on her balled fists. She was accustomed to harsh words, and demanding dictates, not the softness she felt in the arms of Eli Silver. She had limited time before she was forced to marry Dane. And in that moment, she promised herself to live fully, if only for a few days.

Once showered and dressed, she made her way downstairs to the dining area where a vast array of food was spread out across the dark, wooden table. Eggs, fruit, smoked salmon, and breads were presented on platters fit for royalty.

At one of the tables, Queen Julia sat with her ass-kissing court.

“Hey, little mouse?” Julia stood and walked to the buffet table. She dished up a few berries and a piece of cheese. “How’s the head?”

Committed to her new plan to enjoy the time she had in Grayslake, Lily straightened her shoulders and smiled. “I feel great. I’m starving.” She looked at Julia’s plate. “You eat like a mouse, odd for a woman who claims to be a lion.” Lily filled up her plate and took it outside to the front porch. Behind her, she sensed the tingling of Julia’s ire. Lily had always been perceptive. She felt anger and hate float through the air like a windblown leaf. With an uncanny ability to tamp down her rage, she prided herself as being levelheaded and measured. Unlike Julia, who was an accelerant waiting for a spark. She was dangerous.

The screen door screeched as it opened. “You know, I fucked him on the hood of your car.” Julia walked over and plucked a strawberry from Lily’s plate. “It was so hard.”

Heat spread through Lily’s body. She didn’t like sharing. The only times she shifted was when she was pressed too far. Once, Brandy Harper stole her Beach Blanket Barbie. It took two sets of parents to pull her off the poor girl, and Lily was certain Brandy still had a bald spot at the back of her head from where she’d yanked the girl’s ponytail clean from her scalp. Over the next few years, Lily’s mother preached restraint and taught her patience. All in all, Lily could count on one hand the times she’d shifted. It had never turned out well—for the other person. Lily was feeling that kind of anger now.

With a flick of her finger, Lily sent the pilfered strawberry flying through the air. “Stay the hell away from what’s mine.” The feelings of possessiveness caught her off-guard. She didn’t care how Julia interpreted her statement because in Lily’s mind, both the strawberry and Eli were hers, for the moment.

“Yours? Puh-leeze. That man belongs to anyone who will spread her legs.” She zeroed in on Lily’s thighs. “He’d get exhausted trying to pry yours apart.”

“I’ll have him contact you when he’s tired and needs a walking stick, you skinny bitch.” Lily was surprised at her lack of filter, but she was proud of herself for speaking out. She was silenced for a decade, and it felt good to give a voice to her thoughts and emotions. Yes, this was the new Lily, but soon, she’d have to go back to being the mouse Julia accurately accused her of being.

“Who do you think you are? I’m an Itan’s daughter and you’re a…what?”

“I’m someone you shouldn’t screw with, because I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m already a dead man walking.” And that’s exactly what marrying Dane felt like. Lily was on the road to the executioner. She would walk the gauntlet because it was her duty, but until that day, she was granting herself furlough.

A cloud of dust billowed around the approaching silver truck. Julia ran her hands through her hair and pinched her cheeks. Lily bit into a strawberry and watched Eli approach. She waited for some kind of silent acknowledgment to cross between the two lovers, but nothing did. Eli’s eyes never left Lily, and something in her heart twisted.

Rather than walk up the steps and pass Julia, Eli hopped over the whitewashed rail and landed in front of Lily.

“Hey, darlin’, I waited for as long as I could.” He pulled her half-eaten strawberry to his lips and sucked it from her fingers. When her knees wobbled, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

“That was mine.” Lily slowly pulled her fingers from his mouth, but not before his warm tongue wrapped around them and sucked the berry juice completely from the tips. All she could think about was his damn code sixty-nine.

“You’ll share with me, right?” He pulled another berry from the plate and rubbed it along her lips before he pulled it to his mouth and bit off the end.

“She just told me she doesn’t share.” Julia leaned against the bannister.

Eli didn’t acknowledge her comment or presence. He rubbed the juicy berry over Lily’s lips and then pressed his mouth to hers, leaving the berry to be devoured between them.

Nothing had ever felt so explosive. He was hot sex mixed with fruit. She knew she should have backed away. For all she knew, he had taken Julia on top of her car, but in that moment, she didn’t care. She wanted his lips. She wanted his hands. She wanted everything he had to offer. Didn’t she deserve a little happiness? This wasn’t forever, it was a few days. She’d never get her happily-ever-after, but she could demand her happy-for-now.

Lily wasn’t sure when the berry had disappeared, and all that remained was their lips and tongues. He drew hers in like it was something to savor, and with each gentle stroke, he pulled forth passion that Lily had never experienced. It was a dance, where he led with the confidence of a seasoned professional. Before she knew it, her plate was on the ground and his hands were on her hips, pulling her in to him, pressing his hard length against her hip and making her brain foggy and her body ache with desire.

“Let’s go to your room.” His deep voice moved over her body like a magic spell. He lowered his hands to grip her bottom and lifted her up until she wrapped her legs around him.

She refused to stop kissing him. “Upstairs, third door on your right.” She threaded her fingers into his hair.

He carried her like she weighed nothing. They walked without a care past Julia who had returned to her cronies inside. He took the steps two at a time, and after Eli pushed through her bedroom door, he took her straight to the bed.

When he tugged his shirt from his body, she gasped. He was a hard wall of scarred muscle. It wasn’t unusual for a shifter to bear the scars of battle, but Eli’s scars were extensive.

“What happened to you?”

“Battles won and lost. Nothing I want to talk about. If they bother you, I can put my shirt back on.” He reached over and picked up his black, cotton T-shirt, but Lily pulled it from his hands and threw it across the room.

“I want to see all of you.”

“Don’t ask for something you’re not willing to take, darlin’.”

“Don’t take something you’re not willing to ask for, Eli.” She felt so comfortable around him even though she’d only just met him. Something about him connected with her on a molecular level.

He crushed his naked chest against her and laid his body on top of hers. Although he was at least a foot taller, they were a perfect fit.

“You’re driving me crazy. I didn’t sleep at all last night because I was thinking about kissing you. Which is odd, because when it comes to women, I’m a doer…not a thinker.”

Lily’s skin rippled with arousal. She was ready to give this man her body and soul—just for a day—maybe two, but a sliver of jealousy at the thought of him and Julia sliced through her.

“Are you sure it was me you were thinking about?” She ran her fingers over the hills and valleys of his muscled back.

He lifted onto his elbows, caging her between the mattress and his body. “What are you talking about?”

“Miss Congeniality downstairs told me about how you made love to her on top of my car.”

Eli rolled off her body and came to rest propped on his side. With a swift pull, he turned her to face him.

“She told you I made love to her?”

“Yes.”

“She said, I made love to her, on the hood of your car?” His voice was a mix of angry man and growly bear. In her experience, that was never a good combination. “I don’t know what I’m more upset about.” Brown hairs sprouted from his chest. “The fact that you think I’d fuck that thing downstairs, or the fact that you’d let me in here after you thought I did.”

“Don’t you lay there and spout your frustration at me.” Lily poked at the emerging hairs that popped through his skin.

“First off, I didn’t make love to her. I don’t make love. I fuck. There’s a big difference.” He stood up and stalked toward the corner where she’d thrown his shirt. He tugged it over his head and pulled it over his bulging chest.

“Okay, so you fucked her.” She sat up and threw herself against the headboard. The wood gave under the force of impact but didn’t crack. “Damn it.” She wedged her pillow behind her back. “I’m not paying for that word. This is my room, and I’ll cuss if I want to.” She sounded like a kid and began to laugh at the silliness of it all. They were arguing like an old married couple, and they just met.

Eli chuckled, and then came to sit by her. “Why would you let me take you up here if you thought I’d been with her last night?” He took his position back on his side and pulled her beside him. “I didn’t fuck her on your car. Deacon did. Fucking her would be like screwing a bag of tacks.” He rubbed his hand over her rounded hip. “I like my women with curves.” His appreciative eyes floated over her body, causing her fur to ripple beneath her skin. “If I want to fuck a board, I’ll dry-hump a fence. Something tells me it would be less painful and more satisfying.”

She lowered her head, trying to hide the pleasure she felt at his words. He wasn’t into Julia, literally or figuratively.

He deserved more credit. In her heart, she knew Eli was a good guy. “I like you, Eli, you make me feel safe, in the weirdest, unsafe way.”

“I like you too, Lily. You make me feel settled, in a weird, unsettling way.” He turned her over and pulled her back to his front. “Shall we start again?” His chin rested on top of her head and his breath became light and even.

“I’d like that.” This was perfection, she thought, just before her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep in his arms.

E
li had slept
with a lot of women. In truth, they rarely slept. Those times were all about sweaty bodies and pleasure. Emotions were never a part of the equation, but waking up in the late afternoon with Lily tucked next to him was a completely different experience. They kissed, and argued, and slept, and he felt immense satisfaction. How was that possible? Even now, as his dick strained against his jeans, he was more interested in her happiness than his pleasure. That was a first for him.

Ever since Kari died, he made sure to stay emotionally detached. Losing someone was too painful, and he wasn’t in any hurry to experience those emotions again. And yet, here he lay with this woman he hardly knew, and he felt something—something he’d never felt before, even with Kari. Every cell in his body screamed
mine,
and it rocked him to his innards. He wanted to run, but he couldn’t. He had to stay right here with her.

Her skin was velvet soft and felt right under his work-roughened fingertips. Her hair smelled like flowers and was the color of dark, aged honey. Those lips that called to him were the color of deep, red, rose petals and her eyes…oh, her eyes were like sparkling gemstones.

An entire day could be spent remarking on her finer features—perfect breasts that his hands begged to cup, a tapered waist that flowed into the most magnificent ass known to man or beast. He wondered how stunning she would be shifted. Would she retain the depth of color in her fur? Would her eyes shine black like his, or would there be a glimmer of the green that made his heart soar?

When her lashes fluttered, he pressed his lips to hers, and she melted into him. He liked the feeling of oneness he had with her. This foreign emotion was both exhilarating and terrifying, but this wasn’t who he was. He was one-and-done, love and leave, a one hit wonder. Maybe that was it. He needed to sleep with her to get her out of his head and out of his system.

“Did you sleep well?” When his lips slipped down to her neck, she purred like a cat. His bear was fighting to get out and claim her.
What the hell?
He wasn’t claiming anyone. Claiming was worse than a wedding ring. It was the true forever. Until death do us part and all that bullshit.
No fucking way.
This would be sex, and once it was done, he’d be done. They’d be done.

She stretched and pushed her arms over her head. An inch or two of her stomach peeked out and Eli salivated. She was like a decadent dessert and he had an insatiable sweet tooth.

He slid down to nip at her stomach and she spoke. “You’re the first man I’ve slept with.”

His bear danced while he tried to process the information. “What do you mean? Like slept together or…?” There was no way she hadn’t had sex with anyone. Her kisses were passion-filled, and her fingers had the skill of a masseuse. Her touch scorched and soothed.

“All of the above.” She covered her face with her palms. “Strict parents. Not much freedom.”

Eli rolled to a sitting position. This changed everything. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-five for another two weeks. I know, it’s stupid.”

Stupid wasn’t the word he was thinking.
Remarkable
was the first word that came to his mind. The second was
fuck
, and it was more of the
I’m so fucked
rather than the
I’m going to get fucked
variety. There was no way he was taking this girl’s V-card. The universe hated him.

“Wow.” It was a rarity for Eli to be silenced, but meeting a twenty-five-year-old virgin did it. “Strict parents, is that why you ran away?” The words were out before he could analyze them and from her expression, he’d hit it on the mark.

She hopped from the bed and began pacing the room. “I’m taking a break from my life.”

“But you’re going back. Right?” He growled inside. The thought of her going anywhere ruffled his fur, but the common sense side of him was glad she was temporary.

She pulled her lip between rows of straight, white teeth. “I have to return sometime. It’s my home and it’s expected.”

“Do you always do what’s expected?”

Rather than look at him, she stared at some invisible point on the floor. “Obviously not, otherwise, I wouldn’t have run away.” In her own sweet way, she had validated his question. She was running, but from what?

Keeping his distance was impossible. He walked to her and wrapped her in his arms. He could feel her tension and smell her fear. He didn’t like it. “Where’s home?”

“What, all of a sudden you’re a cop again?” She squirmed in his arms, but he didn’t loosen his grip.

“No, I’m just a man who wants to make sure you’re happy, even if it’s short-term.” He should have turned and left. Eli didn’t do complicated, and he knew, without a question, Lily wasn’t going to be easy. He also knew she’d be worth it.

She relaxed against him. “I’m from the north.”

“North is nice.” After Kari’s death, Eli roamed the country. He understood her need to separate herself from whatever plagued her. “Are you running from a man?”

“Listen, Columbo, I’m not giving you the four-one-one on my life. It’s a waste of time. I’ll be gone before you know it.” She pressed her face into his chest and inhaled deeply. It was like she was collecting his scent for a memory.

“Columbo? Really? That was way before your time.” His fingers skated down her back and he relished the shudder of her body.

“No, it ran until two thousand and three. Mom and I watched it Monday nights, without fail, while Dad held his…work meetings.” Her voice sang with happiness at the mention of her mother, but it faded to gloom when she brought up her father.

“I was a MacGyver fan, myself.” Despite her virgin declaration, his bear was trying to MacGyver a way into her pants while he reminded himself that she needed a forever and he wasn’t it.

“Let’s see if you learned anything from the show. I’m starving. What can you whip up from nothing?”

“An appetite.” It looked like his bear would win this round. He covered her mouth with his and dipped his tongue into the sweetness. Strawberries and sugar flavored the kiss. Her tongue caressed his like a long-lost lovers. She took, and gave, and gave, and gave, and his cold heart thawed a little in her arms.

Chastising his weakness, he pulled away from her. Eyes normally light green, were now deep emerald. Her passion could be seen in the intensity of their color. A blush covered her exposed skin from her cheeks to her hands. They breathed together. She sucked in oxygen whereas he breathed in her essence. Her arousal filled his nostrils, and his bear leaped forward.

The seams of his clothes began to pop, starting at his arms. He silently screamed for his bear to back off. Feeling like the little girl from
Firestarter
, he closed his eyes and repeated her mantra.

Back off.

Back off.

Back off.

She pulled away. “Okay, I’m sorry. I was feeling vulnerable, and you make me feel something else.”

“Ah, shit, Lily, did I say that out loud?” He reached for her but thought better of it and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You make me feel a lot of things, but I can’t act on them. You’re a happily ever after girl and I’m…”

“You’re what, Eli?”

“I’m hungry.” He lifted his shoulders. “Let’s get something to eat, and then, I’ll take you to your car.”

Lily grabbed her purse from the dresser and beat him out of the room. She raced down the stairs and came to an abrupt stop at the bottom step. Eli almost toppled over her, but his swift reflexes had him lifting her up and setting her aside.

In the sitting area, with her eyes glued to the stairs, was Julia. She smiled, making sure to show Lily her sharp, protruding canines.

“Come up for air?” Julia rose from the chair and walked around the common room like a hungry predator—each step planned, each word calculated for maximum pain. “I told you it would take a lifetime for him to get through your thighs.”

“Julia,” Eli said in a voice that could scare the skin off a snake. “Turn around and take your poison elsewhere. Do you ever ask yourself why you had to come to Grayslake to find a mate?”

“Let’s go.” Lily gripped his hand and tugged.

Eli pressed Lily behind him. “You had to come to Grayslake because your daddy couldn’t make someone marry you.” Lily inhaled sharply, but when he turned around, she was gone.

He found her pacing the edge of the forest. Tiny honey-colored hairs sprouted from her body. It was a beautiful sight.

“Are you all right?” Eli matched her pace step for step.

“Yes…no…I don’t know. Half of me wants to hate her, and half of me knows how she must feel.”

“Do you want to run? We can shift and move into the forest if you need the space.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m hungry.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“She’s a bitch, and her words aren’t true. Your thighs are perfect. I’ve spent all day dreaming about being between them.”

“But your better sense won out?”

“Yes.” Eli warred with himself. He wanted her, but there was also a part of him afraid to want anything. Often, the results of wanting were painful. “No, I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not true. There’s nothing I’d want more than to lay you down and claim you right here.”
Shit, did I say claim?
“But, you deserve more. You need to be with a man who has something to offer you.”

“Eli, I’m never getting the happily-ever-after. I was hoping you could make me happy-for-now.”

Eli took in every last word. They were filled with resignation and followed up with hope. Her hope hinged on his answer. “Let’s go eat. We’ll figure out the rest later.”