Seducing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Five (6 page)

Her hands went to his back and she rubbed a rhythm across his t-shirt.

Alex felt suddenly under-dressed. Her, in her black heels and gorgeous blue dress, and him in his lounge-wear.

“I know the feeling,” she whispered back.

“I want to see more of you.” He slipped his hand up her back and thought briefly about unzipping her dress, but instead, he anchored his grip in her hair and pulled her into a deep kiss. His lips moved over hers, like he was breathing her in, taking her in, living off her.

He could live off her forever.

“I can’t promise anything,” she said between kisses, “but I want to see more of you, too.”

Alex led her to the chaise lounge and stretched out, pulling her down on top of him. “We’re both adults, Julianna. We can do whatever we want.”

“It’s not that easy for me.”

“Well, it should be.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed her again. He would continue kissing her until she agreed.

A
lex hadn’t been
able to concentrate on the fish or the wine or the pleasant facts about Choaca Julianna seemed to throw at him all night. He’d been watching
her
.

She as much as admitted she wanted him in her life, and then had shut up tighter than a plucked clam. He couldn’t figure it out.

Julianna lit up when she talked about her staff and the expansion of the business, but every mention of her father brought a shadow over her face.

He had to consciously stop himself from asking about Adrian. Maggie would have hated him for not being aggressive and trying to find out more about their relationship, but a part of him wanted to ignore the looming presence of Adrian Rossi on the horizon.

Alex downed the last of his sauvignon blanc and pressed his lips together. She was still talking about the tourist season on the Pacific Coast and the comparisons between Choaca and other more common tourist destinations.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, setting her wine glass on the table. “Don’t you like the crème brulee?”

“It’s great.” He pressed his fingers on the base of his glass. “You made perfect choices with the food. And the wine.”

Her cheeks colored, just a shade, and Julianna looked down at her plate. “I know I talk about my work a lot. And I know you think I work too much—”

“There is nothing wrong with you. Let me just say that.” He leaned forward and tried to meet her eyes, although she was avoiding him. “You’re perfect.”

A small shake of her head. “You don’t mean that.”

“Since you were totally honest earlier, let me be totally honest.” Alex stood and strode around the table, purposefully, and knelt beside her. “I didn’t come to Mexico to meet someone, and I certainly didn’t intend to…fall…as quickly or as completely as I have fallen for you.”

“Don’t…” She drew her chin down.

He ground his teeth. Alex wanted her to look at him. But he wasn’t going to force her. Some kind of wall had gone up between them as soon as she felt the magick. He’d seen it happen, back in the club. Walls didn’t come down by force—at least not walls that would stay down.

It took every ounce of concentration for him to let her play the shy violet.

“I say this because you need to understand, I don’t go around seducing women as a habit.” He made a hard rhythm with his fingers on the table. “It’s been a long time since I’ve…fallen like this.”

“Alex.” She closed her eyes. “Please, don’t.”

Alex flattened his hand and pressed down hard. He wanted so badly for her to look at him. He couldn’t be the only one feeling this magick. Fate never lied.

Why is she fighting this
?

“You said earlier that you wanted to see more of me. I want to see more of you. All I’m doing is agreeing with the premise of your statement.” He turned up the corners of his mouth and her eyes popped open. She snuck a look at him, under heavy eyelashes.

“I do want to see more of you. I want…” She sighed and took her napkin out of her lap, draping it over the creamy dessert she’d barely touched. “I’d set a date for our next weekend right now, if I could.”

His shoulders dropped. “Our next weekend?”

“This has been amazing, and we still have one more day.” Julianna slipped her hand on to his cheek and met his eyes. “And one more night.”

Alex felt a buzz in his pocket and he almost put his fist through the table.
Dammit
. He didn’t want Maggie or Adrian or anyone else interrupting this moment. He just wanted it to be him and Julianna. He ignored the phone and held her hand to his face. “And then what?”

“I wish it could be more, but it can’t.” Julianna dropped her hand. With a tiny shake of her head, she sighed. “You don’t understand.”

“Try me.” He laced his fingers into hers and pulled the hand toward his lips. He pressed his kiss there and held it, searching her eyes for the truth.

Her gaze flipped toward the ceiling and she stood, walking around him. She leaned against the counter. “I had an arrangement with a man.”

“I gathered as much.”

“But I could never give him any more than what I could fit in around my job. That’s just the way it is.” The back of her blue dress was cut so low, he could see her ribs expanding and contracting with her breaths. Some emotion was making this hard for her.

Was that it? Was she still in love with this man?

“I’ll take whatever you can give me right now,” he said. Alex looked down at his pants when his phone buzzed again. Texts from Maggie. He didn’t want to look at them.

“Frank always said that, too. He said he was at my disposal. But the time came when I wasn’t enough for him, when
this
wasn’t enough for him.” She gestured around the room. “One day, when I called him, he was just gone. He wouldn’t return my calls, he wouldn’t email.”

“Frank was a jackass, then.” He got to his feet and crossed the kitchen, pressing his body against hers. “Because if you were mine, I would never let you go.”

Julianna turned into him, her mouth searching his. Her hands gripped the sides of his face and held him against her. “Oh, Alex,” she breathed.

He picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom, keeping his mouth on hers as he walked. His phone buzzed again, and he nearly ripped the stupid thing out of his pocket and threw it across the room.

Instead, Alex set her down and held her kiss for another long moment, then pulled away from her. “I want you to go take off all your clothes, including whatever ridiculous corset you have on, and wait for me on the bed, completely naked.” He kissed her one last time. “I want to see all of you. And I expect the lights to be on bright when I get in there.”

A secret smile played on her lips and she turned to click her way down the marble hallway. “Are you coming?” she asked in a sultry voice over her shoulder.

“I’m going to the fridge and get that whipped cream.”

Alex watched her delectable ass disappear around the corner and something lodged in his throat. He raked his fingers through his short hair and stared at the ceiling.

He wanted Maggie and Donovan and Andrea and Dani and Niko and Hannah to all go back to the States, and for Fate to take Adrian Rossi straight to hell, and his life would be so much better. So would Julianna’s.

Except, he had a feeling, as his team often discussed, they were the hands of Fate, sent to deal out justice to Adrian Rossi. He couldn’t turn his back on his team. Much as he wanted Julianna, justice had to come first.

He pulled the phone out of his pocket.

Maggie had sent three texts.

We’ve searched every drawer, surface, and cabinet. It’s not here.

It has to be there, or she’s got it in her office
.

You have to tell her.

Alex punched the air and wished for something hard on the other end of his fist. Something he could break. Something he could punish for him being in this situation. He walked to the fridge and texted Maggie as he went.

Check again. And check her office.

He pulled the silver bowl of white whipped cream out of the refrigerator and the phone buzzed against the door.

Maggie again.
Stop stalling.

Alex slammed the refrigerator door. He couldn’t tell her yet. Not when they could still have one more day and one more night together.

What about the DNA test
?

Maggie texted right back.
Takes more than 24 hours
.

Alex set down the bowl. He was running out of options. He could find a way to talk to Julianna, but they had to give him some time.

Somehow, he had to buy that time. He thought back over their conversation from the night and a lightbulb went off in his head.

She gave me a name. Frank. He used to be her boyfriend. Find out what you can about him. I need some leverage
.

He turned the phone over and left it on the table near the door, picked up the whipped cream and headed down the hallway toward the bedroom. The lights were on at full brightness and Alex smiled.

He was beginning to love this woman. He just needed a little more time with her.

J
ulianna reclined
on her side diagonally across the satin coverlet on the massive bed. She glanced down her body and tried to arrange her legs and hips in the most attractive way possible. He’d already seen her naked, but she was still a little uncomfortable being so exposed.

She was used to wearing a corset to hold her larger-than-normal breasts in the right place. It gave her confidence.

Alex just wanted her…here…waiting. With nothing helping her look her best. She ground her teeth, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

He finds me attractive. I’m being stupid.

He rounded the corner with a metal bowl in hand. A pleased grin spread across his face as he raked his gaze along the length of her body. “Absolutely gorgeous.”

She exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Julianna shouldn’t be so self-conscious, but years of self-doubt and a father telling her she was overweight would wear on anyone’s soul.

Alex set the bowl on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed. He cupped her chin and brought her gaze up to meet his dark steel one. “You’re an amazing, sexy woman, Julianna. I’ve been waiting for this all day.”

Heat crept over her entire body. Was there such a thing as a full body blush?

“I’m going to taste you from head to foot.” He released her chin and moved his had to her shoulder. “Lie back and just let me make love to you.” He pushed her gently until she was lying flat on her back.

Love?
A tremor slid down her spine. Their chemistry was amazing, but he couldn’t possibly love her in less than forty-eight hours.
Could he?

Why would he say something like that? They were here for sex. Not a relationship.

No man had ever said
make love
to her before.

Still.
The idea of a more permanent relationship with Alex wasn’t unattractive. Her heart raced as she contemplated the possibility of something more than the scheduled weekend of sex.

What if she could figure out a way to keep her father happy and have Alex in her life too?
It’d never work.
His life was in Miami. He wouldn’t stay here. He’d want her to leave.

Her father would never allow that and after seeing what she had in his penthouse this week, she knew better than to risk getting on his bad side. Julianna was trapped in a job she loved, but trapped all the same.

“To much thinking.” Alex leaned down and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth.

She gasped as he scraped his teeth gently over her hard nipple. It worked. All thought fled her mind and she focused on the trail his tongue drew from one breast over to the other.

He straightened and took the bowl from the nightstand. “Close your eyes and
feel
what I’m going to do to you.”

Julianna let a shudder slip from her lungs and she closed her eyes, leaving him to decorate as he pleased. She tensed at the cool sensation of whip cream being spread over one nipple and then the other. Her fingers clenched the coverlet beneath her and the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile.

Alex didn’t stop there. Her stomach was next. A circle or a heart, she couldn’t tell. Then he trailed the spoon along each of her hips and down the front of her thighs and all the way to her ankles. He closed his lips around one of her nipples and she moaned. His tongue swirled and he sucked hard before finally letting it slip from his mouth with a loud
pop
.

“Delicious. That one needs more now.”

Cool whip cream hit the warmed skin of her nipple and she whimpered. She could feel everything. Every inch of her skin tingled with an unfamiliar energy that made her want to abandon all reason, knock the bowl from his hands, and have her way with him right that second.

The metal of the bowl connected with the nightstand. He’d set it aside. The mattress moved as he stood.

“Don’t open those pretty eyes.”

She considered opening them anyway, but there was a certain comfort knowing Alex was dictating what would happen next. Julianna didn’t want that to stop. Everything in her life and her job was organized and ran in the most efficient manner possible because she stayed on top of it. Sex had been that way too, but it was so nice to not need to be in charge of it. To release that responsibility to someone else. To trust someone else enough to hand it over.

Such a huge thing for her. So freeing.

The mattress shifted again and she could literally feel his warmth as he drew closer. Something tingled along her skin, warm and comforting and exciting all at the same time.

There was something about this man. Something she’d never found before. Something she didn’t ever want to let go of.

His tongue swirled and dragged excruciatingly slowly over her breast. “So good,” he murmured. Alex moved his mouth to her other breast, cleaning it of the sweet-smelling cream. Then he shifted, rocking the bed slightly, gliding his tongue to her stomach. Her abdominal muscles rippled under the attention. Her skin warmed from head to foot.