Panthers' Pleasure [Impulse 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

“People in Impulse like to walk. It’s a small town.” He paused, following the line of her gaze, which was focused on his forearm. She hadn’t noticed it before, but when he reached out to remove a plate from the bar, she saw a mishmash of thin white lines, similar to those on Vilas’s torso, on the inside of his arm. “What happened?” she asked.

“A disagreement with an unruly customer.”

“What did he hit you with? Those look more like deep scratches than knife wounds.”

Someone called out to Rafe and he turned his back on her to answer the man. Chantal got the feeling that he’d deliberately dodged her question. She was starting to feel like Alice—curiouser and curiouser.

“You were telling me that Impulse is a small place,” she said when Rafe returned his attention to her. “But it’s not that small. Speaking of which…” She glanced at the customers perched on barstools, conversing amongst themselves but seemingly watching her with interest, too. “Does anyone know anything about a hotel called O’Malley’s here in Impulse? Can you tell me where it is?”

Conversation died, and no one filled the heavy silence. Instead they all looked toward Rafe.

“I’ll go through that with you after your shift.”

“Oh, okay. I just thought someone here might know—”

“They won’t.”

Chantal didn’t see how he could be so sure but was willing to let the matter drop, at least temporarily. Rafe was still behind the bar with her, not actually serving anyone. The rush had subsided and he left her to attend to any customers who still needed anything. He kept right on watching her like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. She felt his piercing gaze even when her back was toward him and wondered what it was about her that he found so objectionable. Why else would he keep staring at her? She didn’t look bad enough to stand out, did she? Hell, it would be pretty difficult to achieve that ambition in a place like Impulse.

“I can manage if you have things to do,” she said, tired of being in his orbit, especially since her body had woken up and taken more than a passing interest in the man. “There’s no need to babysit me.”

“I’m good right here.”

“I won’t run away with the day’s takings.”

Several people chuckled, which is when Chantal realized how alike a lot of them actually were. They had the same piercing blue eyes as Rafe and Vilas and they all growled rather than laughed. Yet they were different, too. Their facial features varied, but they were all blessed with above-average looks.

“Do you always get this many in for breakfast?” she asked.

“Nope.” Rafe flashed a sexy smile that went straight to her pussy. “You’ve drawn quite a crowd, sweetheart.”

“But no one knew I was starting work today. Anyway, why would they be interested in me?”

“You’re a stranger.”

“You don’t get passersby in Impulse?”

“Sure we do, but not ones as special as you.”

Chantal shook her head. For all the sense he was making, he might as well be talking in Swahili. She was tired of feeling as though she was the only person in the room not in on a secret. Before she could say as much to Rafe, a man with long, striped hair called out to him.

“We still on for tonight, Rafe?” The stripy man winked at Chantal. “Or do you now have other priorities?” He paused, as though listening to something and nodded. “Okay, Rafe, I get the picture.”

How could he, Chantal wondered, when Rafe hadn’t said a word?

“Can you reach me down a sack of that flour, Rafe?” Rochelle asked, poking her head around the kitchen door. She grinned at Chantal and pointed to a shelf a good ten feet above the bar.

“You doing okay so far, honey?” she asked.

“Yes, thanks,” Chantal said. “I’ll get the stepladder for you, Rafe.”

Before she could do so, Rafe seemed to elevate himself from the floor with…well, with almost feline grace. She gasped when he reached the shelf, grabbed the sack, and landed again, all in one fluid movement.

“Oh shit,” she thought she heard him mutter beneath his breath when he saw her gaping at him. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Rafe dragged himself away from Chantal, aware that he ought to leave her to it and go upstairs to see how Vilas was doing with his Internet search.

“Press the buzzer here if you need me,” he said, pointing to a button beneath the bar. He would know if she had any problems before she even told him, but he didn’t want to freak her out by telling her so. “It goes straight through to the apartment.”

“I think I can manage,” she said, glancing around the bar that now only had about half a dozen customers.

“Okay.” He loitered, reluctant to let her out of his sight now that she’d finally come into their lives. No, he amended, now that she was here and had the ability to save their very existence. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“What time do we start serving lunch?” she asked.

“Oh, whenever people want it. They don’t usually come in before five.”

“I guess they wouldn’t, seeing as how half the town has just eaten big enough breakfasts to keep them going for several days.”

The locals’ appetites appeared to amuse her, and she smiled at him as she spoke. The gesture lit up her entire face, enhancing her elfin features. It turned the copper in her eyes to a burnished gold and elevated her from averagely attractive to knock-out status. Her spontaneity went straight to Rafe’s groin, causing him to half turn away from her so she wouldn’t notice. He didn’t want her to think he was a raving sex maniac, even if sex was all he’d been able to think about since she pitched up here this morning.

“You’d be surprised,” he said. “People around here enjoy their food.”

“That part I already got,” she said, laughing.

“Don’t discourage them, babe. It’d be bad for business.”

“Okay if I take a break once I’ve cleared up here? I wouldn’t mind taking a stroll around Impulse and…well, you know—”

“Give me a shout when you’re ready. I’ll give you the guided tour.”

“No need. I’m sure you’ve got stuff to do.”

“I insist.”

When she didn’t respond, Rafe decided not to push it. He took the stairs two at a time and kicked his shoes off the moment he got back to the apartment.

“How did she do?” Vilas asked, glancing up from his laptop.

“She did great. Half the town came to take a look at her, the rest are out on patrol.” Rafe extended his claws, dug them into a thick rug, and stretched, arching his back until the joints popped. “Find out anything?” he asked when he’d loosened his limbs to his satisfaction and retracted his claws.

“She’s definitely been set up,” Vilas said with a rumbling growl. “She moved to Tallahassee about two years ago to be with some guy who lectured at the university.”

“Where does she work?”

“She does office work for a retail outlet. She doesn’t get paid well and doesn’t have much by way of savings. Her mom and dad passed when she was still in high school. Her brother’s several years older than her and took over as parent. I guess that’s why they’re so close.”

Rafe scowled. “She still seeing the jerk at the university?”

“No. She caught him in bed with his much-older female boss.”

“I take it you took a peek at her e-mail to learn a lot of this.”

“Of course, but some of it’s a matter of public record, like the deaths of her parents.” Vilas shrugged. “As to the rest, I got creative, just like always.”

“How recently did her relationship break up?”

“A couple of months ago. He swears he doesn’t know how he ended up in bed with someone twenty years older than him, especially since he doesn’t even like her and hadn’t been drinking at the time. He’s still at Chantal to take him back.”

“So someone played tricks with his mind, making him do something that would get him caught so Chantal would be free for them to manipulate.”

“No prizes for guessing who.” Vilas hissed his disapproval. “That’s where your buddy Boscombe and his pride of lions hang out.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Boscombe’s the worst of the lot. He’ll never let up until he gets his grimy paws on Impulse and undoes all our good work here.”

“Yep, which means our job just got harder.” Rafe raked a claw through his hair as he thought it through. “We need to be absolutely honest with our mate. The problem is, if we tell her the guy she was supposedly in love with was set up, will she forgive and forget?”

“Let’s keep that one back until we’ve won her trust.” Vilas took his turn to stretch, growling when a hang claw caught on the rug. “What’s she doing now?”

“Finishing up in the bar. Several of the colony are keeping an eye on her. She was getting suspicious about me hanging around so I figured I should give her some space.”

“Yeah, don’t crowd her.”

“I couldn’t stay near her like this. It wouldn’t subside, and she’d have noticed sooner or later.”

Rafe unzipped his jeans and his cock sprang free—rock solid, pulsating, and aching for action.

“My, my, we are a big boy today.” Vilas rolled his eyes. “Get naked, buddy, and I’ll sort it out for you.”

Rafe was only wearing two items of clothing, as was Vilas. They were both down to their skin in a blink of an eye.

“Look who’s talking,” Rafe responded, nodding at Vilas’s equally rigid penis—thick and angry and jutting almost all the way up his navel.

“We’ve waited fucking long enough for her. I figure we’re allowed to get excited now she’s finally here.”

The two men fell into one another’s arms, kissing passionately, their long panther tongues tickling their way seductively down one another’s throats.

“You think she’ll like being kissed like that?” Vilas asked when Rafe finally let him up for air.

“She’ll like it just fine, once she gets used to it.” Rafe placed a hand on top of Vilas’s head. “Get down on your knees, buddy. You know what I need.”

Vilas fell in front of Rafe, grabbing his swollen balls with one hand and his cock with the other. He massaged the former and wrapped his lips round the head of Rafe’s prick, lapping delicately at the spot of creamy pre-cum seeping from it. Rafe closed his eyes and threw his head back as Vilas expertly sucked him down his throat, teasing him by tickling the underside of his cock with his rough tongue.

“Geez, that’s so fucking good.” Rafe pushed himself in and out of Vilas’s mouth. “I’m gonna come for you, Vilas.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he pulsated into Vilas’s throat, an endless stream of semen shooting from his cock, draining his aching balls dry.

“Thanks,” he said when he found enough breath to speak. He touched Vilas’s rigid pole and smiled. “Got anywhere in mind for this thing?”

“Your ass is mine, buddy,” Vilas replied, savagely pushing Rafe down on the rug. “Get on your hands and knees and be ready for a hard fucking.”

“You think she’d like to watch us doing this?” Rafe asked, groaning as Vilas lubed up his fingers and rimmed Rafe’s ass. “She might get turned on by it.”

“She’ll have to watch us sooner or later.” Vilas replaced his fingers with the tip of his cock and plunged deep with one sharp thrust of his powerful hips. “Ahh shit, that feels
soooo
good.”

“You’ve got that right. I’m getting hard again already.”

“You want me to fuck your ass, buddy?” Rafe could hear laughter in Vilas’s voice as he withdrew almost all the way, eliciting a groan of protest from Rafe. Vilas so loved to tease. “You want it, you gotta beg me for it.”

“Just fuck me like you mean it and quit stalling. She could finish up downstairs any time now.”

“And walk in on us.” Vilas chuckled. “That’d be one way to cut to the chase.”

“Probably not the preferred method.”

“You imagining doing this to her ass?”

“Damned right I am.”

“Think she’ll let us?”

“She’ll let us. You can sense how passionate she is just as well as I can. We’ll just have to educate her and get her keen to experiment with the two of us.”

“Get her to do as she’s told and to beg for it.” Vilas grinned. “I so want to hear her beg.”

“Right.” Rafe let out an elongated moan. “Shit, Vilas, give it to me harder. I’m gonna come for you again.”

Vilas obliged, his heavy balls crashing against Rafe’s buttocks as he drove himself as deep as he could get, hitting Rafe’s prostate dead center with each thrust. He slapped Rafe’s backside with the flat of his hand, while Rafe balanced on one arm, massaging his cock with the free hand.

“Let’s come together,” Vilas said, clearly straining to explode, his breathing labored as he drove himself closer to the brink.

“As long as you mean right now. Fuck it!”

Rafe howled as a shower of sperm shot from his penis. Vilas was right there with him. Rafe could feel him pulsating deep inside his ass as he came, and then came some more.

“Shit, she’s left the place!”

Rafe jumped from the rug and pulled his two items of clothing back on. “I tuned out the pheromones while we were fucking—”