To Lie With Lions: A BBW Shifter Romance (Wolf Rock Shifters Book 4) (3 page)

BOOK: To Lie With Lions: A BBW Shifter Romance (Wolf Rock Shifters Book 4)
4.63Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“Why do you think that is?” asked Nash.

“I don’t know. Maybe the grief was too much for him. Maybe he needed to shut down. You would think that voiding yourself of emotion would make you less human but it seemed to have an even more detrimental effect: he lost his tiger as well. He shed his ability to be kind, to think of others, to nurture and to protect. Everything in his life seemed to motivate him towards a sort of monetary success that had never mattered to my mother, my sister or me.”

“It sounds like you’re right,” said Nash, who was slowly emerging from his own shell. “He shut down. He put up walls. His success replaced human emotion.”

“I suppose that’s what it is. And it hasn’t only affected me. My sister left a while back for Europe. She said it was to travel, maybe study. But I think it was to escape from dad. I think it hurt her too much to see what was happening. When he shut down he seemed to stop loving us. He’d always cared so much, been so happy in our little family. Then suddenly my sister felt rejected. It was awful for her.”

“Do you have a good relationship with her?”

Cecile smiled then. “Great,” she said. “I miss her like crazy. I can’t wait ‘til she’s home.”

“Good. I hope she’s home soon,” said Nash.

“Me too. So…” Cecile looked at the lion shifter a little coquettishly now. “When I looked up ranches to go riding, this place came up with rave reviews. But none of them mentioned the very attractive young lion shifter who seems to run the place.”

Nash seemed to blush. “I haven’t been here,” he said, kicking himself for not denying his attractiveness.

When Cecile had first laid eyes on Nash she’d thanked her brain for telling her that morning to wear her sexiest sensible boots and for actually bothering with makeup. Though the lion shifter looked like the sort of man who didn’t care much about these things; he exuded the sort of ruggedness that seeped out his pores. He was the sort who would spend days on horseback, developing strong legs and a strong sense of freedom. In that sense, she thought, he was the opposite of her father; he had a bond with nature and with animals. Her father pretended that such things didn’t exist.

In Nash
, Cecile saw herself. A roamer who didn’t like being held down in one place. But also an intensely private man—well, an intensely private man in well-fitting jeans which showed off a mouth-watering bulge in the front, but then again, who took notice of things like that? Other than horny female tiger shifters, that is.

His face was beautiful
; hazel eyes against bronze skin, a square jaw with high cheekbones that looked like they’d been carved out of mahogany.

A tuft of his light hair seemed to suspend itself over his forehead and she found herself wanting to reach out and to push it away, though it never did drop down.

Cecile felt that she could see the lion in his human face, and told herself that it was further proof of how strong the animal in him was. In the meantime, the sleek white tiger who dominated her instincts and desires was pacing inside her as though trapped in a small cage, wanting to jump at the object of its desires. To attack him playfully, and to puncture his flesh gently with a jagged tooth. To claim his body as her own.

This was a new sensation and Cecile found herself carried off from time to time, as though she’d been drugged. Her mind was addled and occupied with thoughts of Nash’s
scent and of how his skin must feel and taste. She had to fight her inner cat just to stand still. In truth, grooming the horse was simply a way to keep her hands occupied. She began to clean out Daisy’s last hoof in order to keep from saying anything too forward.

“All done,” she said as she let the fourth hoof drop to the ground with a
thud. Daisy, who’d been half asleep through the entire process, raised her head now, wondering if she could go back to her stall and lie down.

“All right, let’s get them tacked up,” said
Nash, who grabbed the nearest saddle and flung it over the disappointed mare’s back. Daisy let out a snort of derision.

Cecile stood back and watched. The young man’s back
view was as good as his front, she thought. From behind she could see that his blond hair was close-cropped and the back of his neck was tanned, which meant that even in the winter he spent a good deal of time outside. The behaviour of a proper male, and the mark of a shifter.

“Your parents said that you were just coming back from college,” said Cecile.
Nash turned to her with an inquisitive look on his face. “Oh, when I called they mentioned it. What were you studying?”


Psychology,” he said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. That and history. I’ve always been sort of fascinated by both.”

“Well, I have to say, you don’t look like a psychologist or a historian.”

“Don’t I? Well, we should fix that. Why don’t you tell me about your childhood?” he said, grinning and leaning towards her. Cecile could feel his breath on her neck.

“All right, you’re getting there. But where’s the leather couch?
I feel like I should lie down.”

“That comes afte
r the ride,” he said. “For a small fee.”

“Excellent.
A beautiful winter ride
and
a psychological assessment. I need both,” said Cecile. “Or did you have something different in mind with the lying down bit?”

“Never. I’m a perfect gentleman,” said
Nash, pulling back now and refocusing his attention on Daisy’s gear. “Besides, you’re so not my type.”

As he said the last sentence, something twitched between his legs, as if protesting the words that were coming out of his mouth.
His cock, it seemed, was calling him a liar.

“Whoa, boy,” he said under his breath.

“What was that?” asked Cecile, whose smile indicated that she knew exactly what his type might be.

“Nothin
g. Just getting ready for a long, hard ride.”

 

When they’d finished tacking the horses up, Nash put on his cowboy hat, let Cecile walk ahead then led the two mounts outside into the brisk cold. The sky was clear, the air frozen around them. The horses’ breath hung before their muzzles for a few seconds before disappearing.

“Let’s take it slowly at first,” said
Nash, holding a stirrup while Cecile mounted. “We don’t want these guys slipping on anything.”

While he was genuinely concerned at what ice might be concealed beneath the snow,
Nash’s first concern was the fact that it had been months since he’d been on horseback and he needed to get his seat back. He hadn’t counted on doing so in front of an attractive woman, and nothing was quite so emasculating as feeling incompetent at something that should come naturally to him.

Cecile took the reins with
an impressive confidence, and so Nash mounted Flak, leading them further along the driveway onto a frozen dirt path which led towards the snowy peaks. He was quickly filled with the pure happiness that a kid experiences on winter mornings, running out into a new blanket of white. He knew that Flak liked the weather as well, and that he and his stable-mates didn’t get out much these days. He laid a hand on the horse’s neck.

“You’ve been around these guys all your life, have you?” asked Cecile from behind him, her voice echoing in the quiet morning.

“Yeah, pretty much. I sort of hated being away.”

“I can imagine. So, will you be staying?
In Wolf Rock, I mean.”

Nash
turned in his seat, putting his left hand against the solid ridge of the saddle. “Not sure,” he said, looking at his companion from below the brim of his hat. “What do you think I should do?”

Cecile felt herself lose control of her face, happily surrendering to the smile that formed.

“Well, I think you should stay here. You obviously like it.”

“I’m liking it more and more,” said
Nash, turning to face forwards.

His plan had originally been to ride along a narrow trail which would l
ead them onto a safe but somewhat predictable ridge, but now he’d changed his mind. He turned at the first fork they hit, taking a left towards a valley down below.

“We’ll be heading onto a neighbour’s land,” he explained, turning back again. Cecile had had to remain behind him because of the trail’s limited width. Now, as the land opened up, she was able to navigate Daisy to
Nash’s side. “I want to show you the more hidden bits of the territory, if you’re up for it.”


Totally. God, I love it out here,” she said. “You’re so…free.”

“Do you usually feel like you’re not?” asked
Nash. It wasn’t remotely in his nature to ask personal questions, particularly of a stranger. But despite his initial nervousness, this woman put him at ease, somehow. Maybe it was that he’d spent such a lot of time around humans in the last few years, and that she was a shifter. She would understand. She would know his instincts and the reasons for his curiosity. She might even understand his attraction to her, though she was out of his league.

There wasn’t supposed to be a hierarchy in the shifter world; not really. Not outside of the general pack mentality where an alpha male tended to dominate. But class—social class, monetary standing—were not considerations normally. However, it seemed more and more that such a thing was developing, and that this woman came from a family that might be considered above
Nash’s rank. He didn’t like that much, but he liked her, and she seemed genuine.

“I don’t usually feel free, no,” she said. “When you have a father like mine,
there’s no feeling free even if you’re thousands of miles away from him.”


I almost hate to ask, but why’s that?”

“Oh,
let’s see: he controls my finances. Who I see. Where I go. What I study. All that sort of thing.”

“But, and forgive me for noticing this: You’re a grown woman. Couldn’t you do your own thing and tell him to shove it? Or are you afraid of losing your inheritance?”

Nash regretted the last question as soon as he’d asked. It was, he knew, disrespectful and implied that she was superficial and spoiled.

“Because all I care about is money, you mean?”

“No. I…it’s just…some people…”

Cecile laughed. “Relax,
Nash. I’m not like that. I don’t care about those things. It’s complicated is all. There’s a certain amount of pride involved. My dad feels like he’s worked hard to get where he is, and so somehow in all this I’ve become a sort of representation of him. He wants me to be a proper young lady. Fat chance of that.”

Cecile went quiet then, and for a time she seemed deep in thought.
Nash took the opportunity to watch her as she rode. Her seat was confident, and he could see a good deal of evidence that she’d been on horses before. The first clue was always to watch a person’s pelvis; if it moved in rhythm with the horse’s motion, there was a good chance that they knew what they were doing. Her thighs clung to the saddle just enough to hold on should Daisy bolt, but she was relaxed and comfortable.

If ever a woman wanted to know
if she’s sexy while straddling a horse,
thought Nash,
the answer is an indisputable yes.
It was very hard to watch a hot woman put her thighs around something like a leather saddle and not to picture himself under her, being ridden, her pelvis moving into his own, grinding their bodies together. Those hips…

“Yeah,” he muttered, his mind gone.

“You’re a million miles away, aren’t you?” asked Cecile, her sly smile returning to her lips.

“I was just thinking it’s been a long time since I’ve gone riding with anyone.”

“And?”

“I
really like the company.”

Two

 

 

During the course of their time together, the two spoke of their childhoods; Nash’s, spent at the ranch learning independence and how to be a protector and Cecile’s. She and her younger sister had spent their youth largely with their mother, who sounded like a kind and patient woman who nevertheless had an independent spirit which she’d imparted to her daughters.

Cecile’s sister,
Estée, had kept in touch with her older sibling during the course of her travels, but not with her father. Whereas Cecile felt a need to stay close to home and to protect Conrad Malcolm in her own way, despite his coldness, Estee had wanted quite desperately to flee and had done it.

“I envy her,” Cecile had said. “She’s done what I was too afraid to do.”

“You’ve done what she’s afraid to do, too,” said Nash. “You’ve stayed behind. You look after your father. She ran away, but you performed a duty. That’s not always the easiest thing.”

Cecile smiled at him then, a warmth lighting her face. His earnest nature filled her with a sort of fondness, as though she’d known him all her life. There was in him all the comfort of a hearth on a winter’s day, and she felt safe and free in his presence, somehow, as though nothing in the world could touch her. Except, in a perfect world, for him.

The two spoke, laughed and joked as they went. Nash remarked internally that he was unaccustomed to feeling so comfortable with anyone. As a man who enjoyed solitude, he was surprised to discover how much more pleasant the company of a witty, beautiful woman could be.

BOOK: To Lie With Lions: A BBW Shifter Romance (Wolf Rock Shifters Book 4)
4.63Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Scandal's Reward by Jean R. Ewing
Blue Knight by Tracy Cooper-Posey
The Exile Kiss by George Alec Effinger
Weird Tales volume 24 number 03 by Wright, Farnsworth, 1888-€“1940
Dark Homecoming by William Patterson