Mountain Moonlight (3 page)

“Do you have a family, Katya? Husband, children?”

Family. Her throat constricted and she  pushed the memories aside. “No. My parents are both dead. I have  no  husband. Although I  have a rather large…extendedfamily. And you?”

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“My parents live in Boston. I have three brothers, a sister and a lot of extended

family members here and there.”

“That must  be nice.”

“I take it you have no siblings, then?”

“No. None  at all.” Loneliness surrounded her, the memories thickening like the evening fog. Conner moved in front of her,  forcing her gaze away from the mountains onto him. His eyes were like the sky in the winter. Crisp, cool, and utterly mesmerizing.

Her mind screamed danger, her body warmed  so fast and so hot she wanted to  remove her coat and let the cold air slap some  sense into her. This physical reaction to  Conner was unnerving and unexpected. She had to  keep her distance  from him. “I think  we’ve talked enough tonight. I’m very tired.”

She turned to walk away, but his hand  shot out and grasped  her upper arm. Heat  burned through her coat and layers of clothing. Unfamiliar urges washed over her.  Arousal, desire, want. The need to mate had never reared up before, but primal urges  pummeled her.

Why now, and why with this man?

“You’re a woman of great mystery, Katya. I like that.”

Her throat went dry and she struggled to swallow past the lump forming there. She  had no experience with men, didn’t really know how to handle a sexual attraction that  had materialized out of nowhere. He stood so  close to her that if she inhaled deeply her  breasts would brush his chest.

The thought of rubbing her nipples against  his naked chest nearly sent her to her knees. She fought to still the trembling of her  limbs. A deep need to feel the contact of skin against skin, fur against fur, enveloped her. She began to perspire, suddenly toohot for all the clothing she wore.

“I love uncovering a mystery. How about you?”

She searched for words, anything to break the spell he’d woven over her normal sensibilities. “Mysteries can be dangerous.”

He nodded and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her against his body. “I like dangerous. Do you like dangerous, Katya?”

Her body screamed yes. She wanted danger, wanted to strip off her clothing andrun as far and fast as she could, hoping that Conner would give chase.

She wanted the challenge, and the reward at the end.

She wanted him.

Desires like that could be perilous. “There’s  no place for danger in my life, Conner.  We have a business relationship  and we should keep it at that.”

He paused, his hold on  her loosening. But then he shook his head, smiled and said, “I don’t think I want to. Do you really want  to keep your distance from me, Katya?”

With utter fascination she watched his mouth draw ever closer to hers.

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By the time his breath caressed her cheek,  her lips had parted and she was ready for him. When his mouth descended gently but  firmly over hers, her world shattered in a million pieces. His tongue parted  the seam  of her lips and  slipped inside, gently probing. She sighed, shivered and melted in his arms.

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Chapter Two

Conner felt like he’d been slammed against a wall and had the breath knocked fromhim. Katya sure as hell wasn’t the first woman he’d kissed, but she was the first one tomake him feel dizzy and harden him in an instant.

Her body fit perfectly against his, her soft belly tucked against his hip, her thigh pressed against his throbbing erection.

She moaned and snuggled closer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and leaning intimately against him,  opening her mouth for his tongue.

He entered the dark, moist recesses of her  mouth as if he’d been waiting a lifetime for this. Her lips were warm, sweet, inviting  him to explore. Needing no further urging, he plunged his tongue in again, teasing  her with the promise of something wild and untamed.

She trembled in his arms. But it wasn’t  from the cold. Even with the layers of clothing between them, she was a raging inferno that flamed his senses.

A part of him wondered what the hell he  was doing, entwined in a passionateembrace with a business associate. Katya was a mystery. Maybe that was the appeal.

No, that wasn’t quite right. The  appeal  was her pliant, lush body sliding against him, the woman scent of her, aroused and spiked with the perfume of sweetest jasmine.  The way her mouth followed the movements of his, the tentative way she slid her tongue against his, almost as if she’d never…

She shifted,  her sex brushing against his hard  thigh, and he lost  all train of thought. Accommodating her need, he slid one jean-clad leg between hers until his thigh made contact with  her cunt.

The thin leggings she wore offered no barrier. Her pussy scalded his leg and made him burn in another way, a way that  had him doing the trembling now.

He’d never wanted a woman so desperately before.

Tugging the zipper of her parka, he yanked it down and slipped his hand inside, searching for the hem of her sweater. His lips still claimed hers, his tongue continuing to dive inside and taste her sweet  mouth.

At last he made contact with the hot, bare  skin of her belly, feeling it quiver under his questing fingers. He drew the sweater up with  the movements of his hand, searching and finding one soft globe unhindered by a bra. Thank God. He’d have had to rip the damn thing off with his teeth if he’d encountered it.

When his palm brushed her erect nipple,  she gasped, jerked her head away and stared into his eyes.

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Her eyes were glazed with passion, her lips swollen from his kisses. The flush of her cheeks screamed her arousal. She rocked against his thigh and hissed.

In response to her unspoken request, he  plucked at the nipple and she sucked in her bottom lip,  tugging at it with her  teeth as if  she fought the sensations hammering awayat her. Grasping her buttocks, he moved her  against his leg. She threw her head back, revealing the smooth column of her neck.  Christ, he could spend hours licking and nibbling at her slender throat. Her lips parted and she panted heavily, her whispered cries driving him near mad with lust.

He’d had plenty of spontaneous sex with  women before, but nothing like thisbonfire of sensation Katya had awakened within him. What was it about her that called to him in such a primitive way?

“Come on, baby, let go,” he urged, moving his thigh against her hot pussy.

Eyes widening, she tilted her head forward  and clutched his shoulders, riding his leg hard and fast until she shivered and cried out. He captured  her moans with his mouth, plunging his tongue between her parted lips  and drinking  in the sounds and movements as she climaxed.

Tears filled her eyes as  she rode out her  orgasm. She collapsed against his chest, panting heavily.

As his nostrils drew in the scent of her creamy release,  his balls drew tight, his cock searching relentlessly for escape from its confines.

Shit, he needed to fuck her right here, right now, and didn’t care who saw them.

He wanted this woman.

“Katya,” he started, but before he could  say any more she pulled away from his

embrace and shook her head.

With trembling fingers she zipped her parka, her cheeks turning pink. She didn’t even make eye contact with him, instead spoke to his chest. “Oh, God. I’m…I’m so sorry. I can’t do this, Conner.”

Okay. Step back and breathe. The lady is having  second thoughts
. Trying for a smile she refused to see, he said, “I think you just did.”

Her eyes closed and heat flushed her face  and neck. “That wasn’t me. Well, it was, but… Oh, God, I’m so sorry.” She dragged her hands through her hair and looked at the ground.

“Sure felt like you.”
 
And smelled like you, tasted  like you
 
. And he wanted so much  more than that brief teasing glimpse of her passion. He wanted to sink so far inside her  he forgot who he was.

“It was a mistake and I can’t do  this. We  shouldn’t do this. We have business to

conduct and this…well, it just can’t happen.”

“Why not?”

“It just can’t. It’s not you, it’s me. I can’t explain. I’m sorry, Conner. I have to go.”

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He knew from the tense grit of her teeth  and the way she clenched her jaw that she had as little control as  he right now. He  could drag her into the  nearby woods and fuck her until they both screamed their release.

He wanted that more than anything.

What stopped him was the fear and wariness he read in her eyes, and the sudden realization that Katya wasn’t  very experienced with sex.

How he knew that he wasn’t certain. He  just knew. And while  fucking Katya would be enjoyable, it could also really complicate his job here.

Glancing quickly at him, she shook her head and turned away. Instead of following her, he stood and watched her hurry toward  her cottage, admiring the way her backsideswayed.

Shuddering with pent-up arousal, he forced his thoughts away from immediate sexual gratification and fought to  gain control over his libido.

When  he  felt  like  he  could  actually  walk  again,  he  made  the  trek  back  to  his  room,

knowing he’d get no sleep tonight.

* * * * *

Katya took a long swallow of brandy, then  shuddered as the liquid burned its way down her throat. Though she doubted the alcohol would help her sleep. Not after what had happened tonight with Conner

How could she sleep? Her body throbbed, her sex wept with need and desire and her nipples were so sensitive that wearing clothes was painful. Riding his leg to orgasm had been exquisite, yet not nearly enough to satisfy her.

What had  she been thinking,  letting herself go like that? Her actions were uncharacteristic. Completely unlike her. She knew what was at stake when she got involved with a man. Conner Devlin was a  business partner, and a stranger at that. Yet she’d thrown herself at him like a  woman starving for male attention.

She set the glass down and stood, crossing  her arms in front of her and pacing the living room, trying to bury the embarrassment,  the self-disgust, as far down as it would

go.

What would have happened if Conner hadn’t immediately backed away when she said no? She’d have compromised him, for certain, and by custom forced him into a mating he wouldn’t want.

Of course he wouldn’t want her, other than as a random fuck. They were strangers and nothing more.

But she’d come close  to  screwing up both their lives. In the future she’d have to be more careful. Her body was primed for mating, and for some strange reason it had chosen Conner as the one.

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Ridiculous.  Her mate would be her choice,  not something  conjured up by lupine hormones and the moon. She’d heard that oftentimes a mate was destined, that the oneperson you know you have to spend the rest  of your  life with was preordained, and once you met, neither heaven nor hell could stop the mating.

But that was folklore. Her problem was the fact she should have had sex a long time ago and she’d held out. Her  body was tired of waiting.

Too bad.

She looked up when she heard the knock  at the door, glancing at the clock and frowning. It was one in the morning. Who the hell could it be? Elena had wandered off with Noah,  no doubt in  the woodland  somewhere fucking their brains out.

Her first thought was Conner, but then she  dismissed it. Why would he come to herroom in the middle of the night? She’d made  it clear that what  happened between them was a mistake.

“Who is it?”  she asked at the door.

“Peter.”

Oh, God. Not now. “It’s late. What do you want?”

“It’s important, Katya. I need to talk to you.”

She jerked open the door, intending to tell  him that unless there was some kind ofcrisis, she wasn’t going to allow him in. “Whatever it is can wait until—”

He pushed his way in and shut the door  behind him, his  face twisted in rage.

“What the hell do you  think you’re doing?”

“I saw you with him tonight.”

His eyes glowed with anger. Her heart slammed against her chest. “What are youtalking about?”

“That Devlin bastard. What the fuck were you thinking, throwing yourself on him like that?”

Embarrassment flamed her, but indignation quickly took over. How dare he interfere in her private life? This claim he felt he had on her had  to end. She pushed at his chest. “I did
 
not
 
throw  myself  on  him,  and  even  if  I  had,  what  I  do  is  none  of  yourdamn business. Now get out!”

Peter grabbed her wrist and turned her around, twisting her arm behind her back. Shock heated her body, tears springing to her eyes as pain shot through her arm. Hegrowled into her ear. “I presume whatever  the fuck I want to. You’re mine, Katya. Noman will ever have you but me. As I suspected, you need me around to keep you in line.”