Under the Bayou Moon (14 page)

She supposed it was better than what those poor kids had gotten. She’d never seen anything like it as she got into the shower and recalled the events of the evening.

Jacques charged at the teens who were in the water. They’d clearly been scared shitless. All of them scrambled onto land and shifted, moving back toward the trucks. Jacques shifted too, just as naked as the day he was born. She could’ve heard a pin drop in the bayou that night. The only sound she could hear was his growl before lining them up and interrogating them like a drill sergeant. She felt sorry for them. They couldn’t even look at Jacques as they’d explained the game they’d come up with called “chicken.” The object of the game was to get the chicken loose without swallowing the hook. Yes, it was dangerous, but apparently the game was popular among the gator teens in all of the pods. They’d said everyone was doing it. Typically someone would videotape it with their cell phone and upload it to YouTube for bragging rights and to challenge teens in other pods.

After nearly an hour of Jacques’s verbal assault, Angel shifted. The kids were already scared because they’d been caught, but Jacques had threatened to turn them over to Boucher. They’d been trembling, and most were on the verge of tears. She couldn’t take any more of it. They’d learned their lesson. She’d never walked around naked before, but it was obvious nudity wasn’t a big deal for them. Still, she tried to stay behind Jacques as much as she could. She’d cleared her throat and put her hand on his back before strongly suggesting he send them home and have them send him the link to the video, in particular the ones of Steven Boucher.

They’d been relieved to be let go, but Jacques made sure they knew their parents would be notified. They might not have been responsible for the death of Steven Boucher, but they’d been engaging in risky behavior and knew how Steven had died, yet no one said anything. That was a serious offense and needed to be addressed.

When they’d gotten home, her parents and his family had been waiting for them with a Christmas tree and a car full of presents. It was supposed to be a festive time, her first Christmas in the bayou with her parents and with Jacques. Instead, it’d turned into a sovereign summit as they all strategized about what to do with the silly teens. There were at least ten videos on YouTube of hatchlings playing “chicken.” Steven Boucher was in a few of them. In all of the videos, the kids were drinking, and on one video you could even see the camera pan past one teen in the last stages of a shift. The casual observer would have missed it, but a shifter knew exactly what was happening. Jacques notified the other pod sovereigns that there would be an emergency video conference call the next morning.

Angel exited the shower, dried off, and applied oil to her skin. She entered the room wrapped in a thick towel, her curly hair in a ponytail at her neck.

Jacques was reclining on the bed with his laptop, typing furiously.

“So, have you calmed down and started speaking English again?”

Jacques huffed and ran his fingers through his hair before letting out a chuckle and closing his laptop.

“I suppose I should have remembered you don’t speak Cajun or French.”

Jacques got up and placed the computer on the table in the sitting room. He was completely naked, making her lick her lips with anticipation. Lord have mercy.

“Nope, just English. But maybe one day I’ll learn.”

Angel took out a simple black nightgown that skimmed her body and came to mid-thigh. She dropped the towel and pulled the gown over her head before folding the towel and tossing it on the counter in the bathroom. When she came back into the room, Jacques was in the middle of the bed looking at her while propped up on pillows.

“Can I get under the covers?”

She tugged but Jacques didn’t budge from his spot.

“You know, I think tonight would be a good night to start your Cajun lessons.”

Angel eyed the clock; it was nearly midnight.

“I don’t know, it’s late.”

She placed her fists on her hips. Jacques held out his hand and Angel climbed on the bed. At his insistence, she straddled his hips. He was already semi-hard. He pulled her down toward him and kissed her mouth slowly and sensually.

“I think you’ll like the way I teach.”

Angel couldn’t say too much. His warm tongue and teeth were on the tender flesh of her neck.

“Ahhhh, Jacques.” She closed her eyes and sighed his name, melting into him.

One moment she was on top, the next she was on her back lifting her hips towards Jacques, wanting him inside of her.

When he didn’t immediately enter her, she slightly opened heavy lids.

“Repeat after me,
cher
.
Bec
. Kiss.”

He kissed her languidly as if he had all night. It was the kind of kiss that engaged lips, tongue, and teeth. He sucked her tongue into his mouth and released it before doing it again and again. When he was done exploring her mouth, he murmured the word again.

“
Bec
,” she repeated breathlessly.

Jacques kissed down her neck. One hand covered her breast as he nibbled on her shoulder.

“
E’paule
. Shoulder.”

He kissed her collarbone and ran his teeth along her shoulder. The sensation gave her chills and she shivered beneath him, pressing her breast farther into his warm palm.

“
E’paule
.”

He leaned up and ran his finger around one breast in lazy circles; each rotation brought his fingertip closer to her dusky areola and nipple. Angel squirmed next to him, moaning as she trembled.

“
Fressons
. Goosebumps.”

Jacques kissed all around her breast but never connected with the spot that begged for the most attention.

“Please, Jacques.”

“
Fressons
,” he repeated.

“
Fressons,
” she gasped.

“
C’estbon
. Means it’s good. If you like what I do,
cher
, say
c’estbon
.”

Angel nodded jerkily as his finger again rotated around her breast.

“
C’estbon
,” she replied as the air rushed from her lungs.

Her nipples were hard as rocks. This time he circled her areola and plucked her nipple before applying firm pressure. Angel’s nipples had never felt so deliciously sensitive. She ground her pelvis against him, feeling the warmth of her arousal seep from her folds. She was going to come just from the wicked way he was playing with her breast.

“
C’estbon
!” Angel moaned loudly.

Her hands went to his head, and she started pulling his mouth down toward her breast. She needed his mouth on her, but Jacques would not be rushed.

“
Bouche
. Mouth.”

His finger came up and outlined her lips. She quickly sucked the digit into her mouth and took pleasure when he closed his eyes and hissed. He looked at her as if he wanted to consume her soul. He pulled his finger from her mouth and she released him.

“
Bouche
,” she repeated seductively.

Two could play this game.

“If you want my mouth somewhere, touch the spot and say
bouche
.”

Her clit throbbed at his instruction. Angel ran a casino, but even she hadn’t been ready for him to up the ante like that. Jacques Bertrand was going to be the death of her.

He lay half covering her with his warm, chiseled body, looking like he wanted to devour her in his own sweet time, and he wanted to know where she wanted his mouth. Her beast rolled over spread-eagle in invitation, but she wanted to savor the moment. She touched her lips first.

“
Bouche
.”

Jacques’s mouth covered hers in an erotic, toe-curling kiss. After nibbling and sucking her lips, he kissed her softly once more. She exhaled through slightly puckered lips and ran her tongue along her top lip. It felt swollen and pouty, just like the lips of her sex.

Patience,
she warned herself before moving her hand to the next spot she wanted to feel his mouth. Angel moved her hand from his shoulder and tapped her nipple, which was still hard enough to cut glass.

“
Bouche
.”

Jacques’s mouth lifted on one side in a half grin. He cupped her breast firmly from underneath, making it plump up, nipple protruding in anticipation. He hovered just above it, teasing her. She could feel his warm breath, and then his warm mouth covered the achy nub, and Angel moaned loudly in the room.

“
C’estbon
.”

He sucked and nibbled with relish. Angel dug her nails into his shoulders and started humping his thigh, which lay between her legs. Jacques thoroughly explored one breast, and then the other. She needed more.

Angel grasped his wrist and directed his hand down her stomach to the neatly trimmed thatch of hair near her clit.

“
Bouche
, Jacques,
bouche
,” she begged greedily.

She could feel his smile against her breast.

“As you wish,
cher
.”

Jacques’s voice was husky as he kissed his way down her body. Angel lay transfixed. He got into position, spreading her legs wide, opening her fully to his sight. Angel could barely breathe in anticipation of the first stroke of his tongue.

He looked up at her with a gleam in his eye.

“
Tremp
. Wet.”

His face was only inches away from her, yet it could have been miles.

She
was
wet; she could see the evidence on her thighs.

“
Tr-Tremp
.” She swallowed.

Jacques kept his eyes on hers as he licked the wetness from her left thigh. His big, pink tongue swiping up her juices left the muscle of her thigh twitching in its wake. He ended with a light bite and a kiss that had her vision blurring slightly. She closed her eyes.

“Jacques.”

Her fingers dug into the soft bedspread beneath her, and she raised her hips, wanting more.

“Look at me,
cher
.”

Jacques’s voice was deep and commanding. She couldn’t help but look. He resembled the predator he was. His face was hard with desire, the same desire coursing through her. The tribal alligator tattoo etched on his shoulder and going down his back looked menacing as his muscles flexed. She watched as he ran two fingers up and down the folds of her wet slit enticingly before smoothly entering her.

“Yes, Jacques.
C’estbon
,” she gasped, starting to hump his fingers.

He quickly removed them. She thought she was going to explode.

“
Fah-yuh
. Fire.”

Without warning, he dove in, licking and sucking her clit with abandon. Jacques reached around and grasped her thighs, pinning them open. Her senses were flooded with pleasure as his tongue ran up and down and between her folds before his lips covered her clit once again.

“
C’estbon! C’estbon! C’estbon
!”

Angel came with one hand tightly entwined in his hair. His tongue flicked up and down rapidly. She held him close and rode his mouth until she couldn’t stand it.

“You have me
fou
, crazy,
cher
.”

Jacques swiftly released her trembling thighs and covered her with his body. The thick root of his sex found her entrance without guidance as if it knew the way home. They both moaned as her body opened to accept him. Jacques wrapped her legs high around his waist while he made love to her. His cock stretched her deliciously inside as his curly pubic hair created a heavenly friction outside.

“
C’estsibon, cher. C’estsitremp
. It’s so good, it’s so wet,” he groaned near her ear as he rocked into her.

She could feel each thrust deep and strong to her core. This wasn’t good, it was excellent. She met his thrusts as much as she could. Jacques held her immobile, his arms were under her shoulder blades with his weight holding her down. She flexed her calves against his sides and her pussy throbbed with pleasure, squeezing his dick inside her.

Jacques grunted and thrust faster. She could feel his shaft swell within her, ridged yet flexible. Her body tensed in anticipation the more he connected with hers.

“Come with me,
cher
.”

That was all it took for her body to convulse in pleasure. It was like the sound of a slot machine when it hit jackpot. The bells and whistles sounded and lights flashed in her mind. She could hear his roar and knew he was there with her, surrounding her, keeping her safely pinned to the bed.

After a while, he rolled to his back, bringing her with him to lay along the side of his body, her head on his chest. Jacques pulled her chin up, looking into her eyes before briefly kissing her lips.

“
C’estmagnifique
.”

“
C’estmagnifique
,” she echoed, kissing his chest

She wished she could stay like this with him. She felt so filled, so secure, so…
loved
was the one-word answer that came to mind. Yes, it was
magnifique
. Some words didn’t need to be translated. And there it was, she’d gone and done what she promised she wouldn’t. Angel had fallen in love with her mate.

“I need to return to Vegas.”

The statement was spoken low, yet it had the impact of a knife being thrust into his stomach. Jacques sat back in his chair, eyeing his breakfast with distaste. It was Sunday the sixteenth, the second day of Mardi Gras celebrations. On Valentine’s Day, they’d taken a special maiden voyage out into the Mississippi river on the
Bayou Moon
. It had been just the two of them.

He’d made sure the master suite on the riverboat was filled with flowers, candlelight, and good music. They’d danced beneath stars made brighter by the absence of the moon. He’d had a delicious meal prepared in one of the restaurants onboard, and they’d eaten it by candlelight as a jazz band played just for them. They’d spent the entire night making love and feeding each other pralines and strawberries. It honestly had been the best night of his life.