Redeeming Rue AP4 (20 page)

His back was smooth and warm under her fingers.  She moved her hand down until she reached the waistband of his jeans.  She shoved at the unforgiving material, growled, and slid her hand to the front of his body.  Or tried to.

Her hands were pulled over her head and pressed into the soft mattress.  “No.”

“I, uh, what?”  She blinked.  She couldn’t think past wanting to see him naked and touching him.

“You first, sweetheart.  I haven’t gotten to take my time with you yet, and I really want to.  Keep ‘em here,” he said as he gave her wrists a light squeeze and sat up, drawing his fingers over her tingling nipples, down the center of her body and her quivering stomach, pausing at the button of her jeans.  “You know what I’m wondering?”

“What?”  She breathed the word like a prayer, squeezing her hands into fists.

“How wet you are.  How swollen your clit is.  How good you’ll taste when you come on my tongue.”

She closed her eyes, her whole body tensing at the sensual imagery his words evoked.  “John.”

“Yeah,” he softly snarled the word.

He undid the button of her jeans and lowered the zipper, spreading the material open and bending over to kiss the exposed skin.  He hooked his fingers on either side of her jeans and tugged a little, lowering her clothes inch by inch, kissing each bit of bared flesh until her clothes were on the floor and she was completely naked.  He circled her ankles with his fingers and thumbs and slowly spread her legs, pushing gently until she bent her knees and spread her body wide for him.

He moved between her legs, his hands moving up the outside of her legs and as he kissed the inside of her thighs.  He settled between her legs, hooking his arms around her thighs to spread her open more.

“You’re so beautiful, wet and pink and all mine,” he said huskily.

She twisted her hands so she could grip the cover and keep herself from moving like he’d asked.  “I’m yours, John.”

She met his eyes as he gazed up the length of her body.  His tongue flicked out, just grazing her, and she let out a soft gasp.  He moved closer, nuzzling the very inside of her thigh where it wasn’t quite her pussy and wasn’t quite her leg, the sensitive area sending a delicious thrill through her.

His mouth hovered over her pussy and he licked her clit gently, laving the bud as he held her spread open for him.  She’d never felt so bared.  It wasn’t just that she was naked; it was that John was the one doing it to her, and she was letting him.  Wanting him to.  Wanting him to have her however he wanted, for as long as he wanted.  It was because they were mates.  Their connection was deeper than a physical attraction even though she found him amazingly attractive.

His lips brushed her clit, his fingers massaging her thighs, and she let go of her hold on the blanket and reached for him.  She gripped his wrists and he tilted his head, kissing her pussy as if he was kissing her mouth, fucking her with his tongue.  He purred and the sound vibrated through her.

She gasped his name, grinding her hips up as he purred.  One of his hands moved, sliding across her body until his thumb reached her clit.  His tongue still worked inside her, his purrs caressing her from the inside out, and now his thumb…latching onto the hard bud of her desire, wiggling it back and forth as bolts of delight zipped through her.  Her legs clenched but he kept her from closing them, kept her where he wanted so he could push her to the edge and beyond.

His thumb found the sensitive side of her clit, deviling it without mercy as she tumbled over the edge and into bliss.  She cried out as her pussy spasmed, and he growled and lapped at her pussy with throaty groans.  She twisted on the bed as her muscles contracted again and again, his thumb drawing out her pleasure until she felt utterly boneless and sank into the bed.

His thumb slipped from her sensitive clit as he eased away from her pussy, his mouth glossy with her come, his eyes burning a fierce blue.  He moved off the bed, his whole body tense and his muscles straining as he shucked his pants and shorts and reached for the pillows above her head.  He climbed onto the bed next to her, stacking the pillows on top of each other and then settled back on his heels and patted the top of the pillows.

She arched a brow but sat up, rolling to her knees and laying her stomach across the pillows.  They sagged under her, but held her lower body off the bed while she rested her head on her bent arms.

“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he said as he slid his hands up the back of her legs.

“I think you said that already,” she said as she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

His gaze locked onto hers as he gripped her hips and pressed his cock against her pussy.  “I plan to say it often.”

He stroked into her, not stopping until his thighs pressed against hers and their bodies were tightly wed together.  His fingers gripped her hips; her body lifted high enough by the mound of pillows to position her just right for him.  They stayed like that for long enough she wondered what he was planning to do, and then she felt his lips press to the center of her brand.  Just as James had, he kissed it like it was a part of her, and it was in a way.  It had defined a large portion of her life, but it didn’t anymore.  It was a means to an end now.  Without the brand, she would have never had Dom or found James and John.  She would never have known about the loyalty that existed between true mates.

His breath skirted over her back, and he kissed the bottom edges of the brand and she shivered.  He squeezed her hips and straightened, his cock twitching inside her and making her clench.  He groaned and she liked the sound enough to squeeze her inner muscles again.

“Fuck, baby.”  He pulled out of her, sliding his thick length out until just the head of him rested in her.  He pushed in fast, their bodies slapping together as he set up a hard rhythm in and out of her body.  She relaxed into him, letting him take control of their pleasure.  He stroked hard and fast, he swiveled his hips, and he pushed and pulled her body where they both got the most pleasure. He flexed his hands, tipping her hips up and thrust into her, his cock rubbing against a spot that made sparks flash before her eyes.  She shrieked as pleasure poured over her, and he growled as he came, his cock spasming inside her, the heat of his climax filling her.

He collapsed over her and she loved the feeling of the weight and warmth of his body.  “You’re perfect,” she said breathlessly.

He eased away, rolling to one side and taking her with him.  He chuckled as she adjusted herself across his chest, her body limp and sated.

“Not hardly, sweet love, but I’m glad you think so.  I think you’re pretty damn perfect yourself.”

He brushed a lock of hair away from her forehead and smiled.  She felt two things happen simultaneously — some of the walls that she’d erected to protect herself slipped away, and her heart swelled.

“You melt me, John.”

His eyes danced with happiness.  “You melt me, too.”

* * * * *

John stroked Rue’s hair as she slept soundly on his chest.  Something had changed while they’d made love.  It
hadn’t
been sex; it had been so much more than that.  He saw the moment she realized that things had changed as well, like it was the first time she’d ever seen the sunrise.  She was amazed and humbled, and he felt the same way.  He’d had very few sexual partners in his life, but he’d used every ounce of knowledge he had when it came to her pleasure.

His knowledge of pleasing a woman had started with his dad, who sat him down one day when he was a teenager and told him that someday John would find himself with a female and he should know how to make her happy so she’d want to come back to him.  Like most mountain lions, John’s dad hoped that someday the females would change their minds and want to form family groups with the males and raise their children together.  It hadn’t happened in his father’s lifetime, and it still hadn’t.  Jilly had broken the goddess’ curse with the twin panthers, so there was hope for other females, too.

The door opened silently and James slipped through.  John glanced at the clock on the nightstand and smiled in the darkness at his brother.  It was just after three a.m., which meant that James had clocked out at exactly three and raced home.

James came to the bed and looked down at them.  He whispered, “Good night?”

“Yeah.  We need to talk.”

“Bad?”

“No.”

“Can I get a few hours’ sleep or do we need to talk now?”

John chuckled.  “Get some rest, you pussy.”

“Hey,” James said, snorting, “I’m not as young as I used to be, and you aren’t either.”

True.

James went into the bathroom and shut the door quietly.  He emerged ten minutes later fresh from the shower, a towel slung around his hips.

“How was your shift?” John asked, yawning.

“Quiet.  Broke up a house party, wrote a few speeding tickets, and did a crapload of paperwork.”  There was silence for a moment and then James said, “I’m jealous as hell.”

“Of what?”

James dropped the towel, climbed into bed on Rue’s other side, and tugged the blankets up over his hip.  “You know what.”

“I’m an opportunist.”

“Whatever.  Why don’t you disappear tomorrow for a few hours?”

“I’ll think about it.”

James grunted and then said goodnight.

John closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him.

In the morning, John and Rue made breakfast together and took it upstairs to James, who was trying to pretend as though he’d had enough sleep.  He’d only gotten about four hours of sleep, and coupled with the previous nights, both of the males were worse for the wear.

“I want to go to Michigan,” Rue said as she spread jelly on a piece of toast and wiggled on the bed to make herself more comfortable.

He and James both froze, staring at her.

She took a bite of toast and looked at them, and then apparently realizing she needed to add more to her statement, she swallowed the bite of food and said, “I want to pack up the house and move down here.  I mean, you two do want us to be here permanently right?  I promised to tell my old boss, Titus, when we were moving away so he didn’t worry about us, and I have to pay the last month’s rent to my landlord.”

They both relaxed.  “When do you want to go and what do you need?” James asked.  John could already tell that James was planning the trip in his head.

“I was thinking we could go today.  I know Henry has school, but Dom can come with us.  I was already planning to move us, so all the packing materials are there, and we’d just need to put everything into boxes and load them up.  We could probably make it home tomorrow, but do you have to work and what will you do with Henry?”

“We’ll work it out,” John assured her.  Certainly he and James had taken over many shifts for Eryx, Alek, and Aaron as they’d found their mates and needed to spend time with them, and Henry would be fine with Aaron, Grant, Sam, and the other pride members to watch over him.

She smiled and hummed happily.

After breakfast, they packed an overnight bag for themselves and Dom, left a note for Henry, and headed to Michigan.  John was not much of a traveler.  He’d been on vacations but had spent most of his life in King, before moving to Ashland.

James and John took turns driving, and Rue sat in the back next to Dom and talked to him about Scarlett and the pack, Henry’s dislike of school, and Dom’s thoughts on college.

It was after lunchtime when they arrived at the small rental house.  Rue went with Dom to his room to pack his art supplies, and John pulled James into the kitchen.  He opened a packing box and taped up the bottom.  Turning it upright on the counter and taking a plate that James handed him, he wrapped it in bubble wrap before putting it in the box.

“Rue said we didn’t ask her to be our mate, and I think we need to fix that,” John said with a low voice so their conversation didn’t carry to the back of the house.

James hummed.  “I guess we didn’t.  It all happened so damn fast.”

“Yeah, but we have time now.  What do you think?”

“I want to marry her, too, not just have her be our mates.  I want to adopt Dom so we can all have the same last name.”

“Me too.”

“How about Sunday night?  We can take her out to a nice place for dinner and romance her like we’d planned, and then we can ask her to be our mate and to marry us at the same time.”

John grinned.  “The pride loves a good wedding.”

“I’d say Lisa needs to get her wedding planner business off the ground like she’s been planning to.”

Their sister-in-law Lisa had handled the weddings of every pride mating since Callie married Ethan and Eryx.  He knew that she’d love to do another one for them.

“I have another idea,” James said, lowering his voice even further and detailing his plans to make sure that Rue knew she was theirs forever.

Which she was.

And they were hers, and James’ idea hit John like a lightning bolt.  It was perfect, and all they needed was a little time and Dom’s help.

* * * * *

Rue felt weird as she walked through the house with her landlady and made sure everything that was hers had been packed up.