Seduced by a Shifter Read online

  She didn’t even hesitate. She simply took his hand and stepped in.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Swimming came easily to Willow, and when Ben didn’t press her about her injuries or try to kiss her, she began to relax.

  Okay. That was a lie. She couldn’t completely relax, not while painfully aware as she was of Ben’s long, muscled arms and thighs flashing in and out of the water as he swam next to her. She was glad to be in the pool, if for no other reason than the water hid the drool that was no doubt falling from her lips whenever she glanced his way.

  Stupid drool.

  She swam back toward the shallow end, making her way to the edge where Ben had dropped his towel. She wiped her face with one corner then turned back to watch Ben glide effortlessly through the water.

  He must have sensed her focus because he stopped mid-stride, treading water. Their eyes met.

  “Come here.”

  She resisted the demand.

  “It’s too deep for me to stand.”

  He smiled, and she wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam rise from the pool. “Then I’ll come to you.”

  Muscled arms swept wide, propelling his body through the water until he stood, droplets running in tantalizing rivulets down his sculpted body. By the flare of heat in his eyes, she felt he was stalking her, in slow, steady steps, the water no obstacle to his determined advance.

  Some female part of her screamed to retreat and she took a step back, her heart beating heavily against her ribs, her blood turning molten.

  Cool tile hit her back. A very satisfied, very male smile tugged his lips. “You’re not afraid of me, are you, Willow?”

  She swallowed. “No.” Instinct kept her eyes glued to his.

  He cocked his head. “I think you should take your top off.”

  “I—what?”

  “It’s only fair, seeing as I don’t have one on.”

  The statement, of course, drew her gaze to the muscles roping his very fine chest. His nipples were flat, a dark brown that had her hands closing into fists under the water to keep from touching. “That’s because I have breasts.” Well, duh.

  He growled, eying said breasts and her own nipples that were currently poking a hole through her swim tank. “Beautiful breasts. Soft and smooth like rich cream.”

  “II—” Her IQ plummeted.

  One callused hand wrapped around her nape, the other at her back, protecting her from the hard tiled edge of the pool. He moved in, close, closer, still until her breasts were flattened on his hard, bare chest and she had to crane her head up to meet the fierce gleam unmistakable between his heavy lids.

  Sexy bedroom eyes, Willow thought just before Ben dipped his head to kiss her, and her mind went blank.

  As before, the kiss started slow and sweet. Lips pressing gently to one side of her mouth, then the other before his tongue ran along her lower lip until it trembled open. Those firm lips tasted hers with a playful gentleness, licking and nipping. The sensations, raw and primal, flooded her, causing her breasts to swell, and melting the place between her thighs. Desperate for an anchor, she clenched his hard shoulders and moaned into his mouth, daring to reach out with her own tongue.

  The low, deep sound in his throat was her reward and the kiss changed into something harder, hotter. Angling her head to his satisfaction, Ben opened his mouth over her own, thrusting his tongue into the wet cavern, their tongues dancing, dueling, exploring.

  His hands were also exploring, no longer holding her but moving with firm, sure strokes along her back, edging ever lower until she felt his hand open wide on her bottom, squeezing and kneading, holding her tight against the thick ridge of his erection. The hand at her nape shifted to hold her throat in a possessive grip for a long beat before he let go, his fingers trailing oh-so-slowly over her collarbone, and down to whisper over the exposed upper slope of her breast. Wanting more, remembering how it felt to have his hands, his mouth, on her, she arched into the caress.

  As if sensing what she needed, Ben grazed a knuckle over one pebbled nipple.

  She whimpered in need and he did it again, just a quick swipe of his fingers that were gone much too soon. Blinking her eyes open she looked up at Ben, her eyes narrowing at the mix of desire and mischief that sparkled in his.

  The bastard was playing with her.

  With a frustrated growl, Willow nipped his bottom lip.

  “Hey.”

  “Stop teasing me,” she grumbled.

  “Hmm.” He kissed her collarbone, outlining the shape of her breast with one too-gentle finger. “Something hurt, sweetheart?”

  He was going to hurt in a second. “Just kiss me.”

  He gave her what she wanted, taking her mouth with hungry petition. Closing a hand over the proud thrust of her breast, he squeezed, catching her cry in his mouth.

  Breaking the kiss, he made his way down her throat, nipping at the throbbing beat of her pulse, flicking his thumb over the taut bead of her nipple.

  Her entire body jerked in response.

  A low groan left his lips. “I want to taste you, Will.”

  She shivered, thinking he was tasting her with his mouth moving over throat, his tongue a moist caress against the heated skin. “You are,” she whispered, all but lost to the pleasure coursing through her veins.

  A rough chuckle that caused the warm air of his breath to dance over her wet flesh. A sharp shiver nearly brought her to her knees. The hand on her bottom shifted, edged further down, bringing the tips of his long fingers into alignment with the swollen entrance to her body. His hips moved at the same time, the steel of his erection gliding over her mound. “Here, Will. I want to taste you here.”

  Her thighs muscles quivered and a soft whimper escaped. God, she was so pathetic. Whimpering and moaning and—“‘K.”

  Good Lord! Had she really said that? She was such a slut.

  But the single syllable was still echoing as he disappeared beneath the water. Willow felt his hands at her hips, easing the bottoms of her swimsuit down her legs. Large hands spread her and she felt the soft kiss of his cheek on her thigh. Excitement and uncertainty swept through her, to be replaced by unmitigated shock as he rose—and she rose!—from the pool. Water streamed from his hair. She knew because she had fistfuls of it in her hands.

  Dear God! He’d come up right between her legs!

  She squeezed her thighs in a death grip, mirroring the one she had on his head, his tongue doing wild and wicked things deep in the folds of her sex. He bent down and sat her on the edge of the pool, raising one hand to the middle of her chest to gently push her back.

  She lay down, only because she didn’t think she had the strength to keep her body upright. And looky there! He’d positioned her right on the towel he’d lain out earlier.

  Sneaky man!

  “Oh, yeah.” He licked his lips, his eyes half closed with pleasure. “Fucking ambrosia.”

  He set her feet on the pool edge, sliding his hands up her calves to her knees, spreading them out with careful intent. “Phase Three of Pleasuring Willow.”

  She gasped as he bent down to spread her lower lips open with his thumbs, and felt her face turn beet-red when he only stared at what he uncovered. Self-conscious and totally at his mercy, she tried to press her knees back together.

  He wasn’t having any of that.

  He dipped his head and conducted a very thorough oral investigation. His tongue stroked her quivering flesh, testing and exploring every succulent fold. She felt the tip of his tongue trace the swollen entrance of her body and tiny muscles trembled at the gentle probing. Her legs dropped back to the sides of her body and he delved his stiffened tongue deep, an erotic invasion that had her hips lifting for more. A fiery inferno began to build as he swirled that clever tongue, licking at suckling her with long, hard pulls.

  “That’s it,” Ben praised, replacing his tongue with a finger that barely dipped inside the swollen flesh. Her breathing came in hard pants, rough and raspy-sounding
in the cavernous room.

  She felt his mouth at her thigh, then his teeth, as he not-so-gently bit her flesh. “Do you need this, baby?” He teased her more, not quite giving her what she needed.

  “I’m going to kill you,” she said, rocking her hips against his hand. Another love bite, then he slid his finger through her thick juices, lodging inside her where no man had gone before. “Oh, God.” Her eyes crossed at the sensation, the glorious friction as he pistoned his finger, pushing her harder then she ever thought possible.

  Then he flicked his tongue over her clit and she swore she saw stars.

  A second digit joined in the erotic invasion and her hips bucked against his hand. “You’re so hot and wet, Will.” He flattened his tongue and ground it in a slow circle against the hard knot of nerves and mewling sound escaped her lips.

  Ben groaned, as if he were in severe pain. “I can almost feel you squeezing around my cock like you’re squeezing my fingers. Milking me dry.”

  Undone, she wrapped her arms over her face, but Ben never let up, plunging his fingers in her pulsing sheath, his tongue so fast it seemed to vibrate on her clit. He was tireless, as if he could happily feast on her forever.

  Her head twisted under the weight of her arms. She couldn’t handle forever, much less another minute. She was on the edge, on the very edge, and she just might scream from the tension coiling in her belly.

  “Let go, Will.” Ben’s voice was so rough, it was unrecognizable. “Let go and come for me. You’re so close. I can feel your pussy clamping around my fingers like a vise. So slick and hot.”

  “Yes.” Her inner muscles spasmed and she heard him growl. Adding a third finger, he twisted his wrist, the friction becoming a dark sinful abyss that she craved. His knuckles rasped against tissue so sensitive she gasped out.

  She panted, tightening around his fingers, her hips kicking up in complete abandon as she sought release from the ravenous need spiraling deep inside her.

  He licked her throbbing clit. “Yes? Yes you can feel my cock inside you, Willow? Taking you with hard thrusts, so fucking deep that neither of us will walk for a week?”

  Taking the pearled nub into his mouth once again, she felt the rough graze of teeth. Then he gently bit down. Willow exploded. Her body bowed, her muscles locked as pleasure shattered her from within. A strange keening sound echoed from the room, but she ignored it, riding the waves of such ecstasy she’d never known its equal.

  Chapter Fifteen

  His arousal acute, bordering on pain, Ben rested his forehead on the silky smooth flesh of Willow’s inner thigh. She still trembled under him. Male satisfaction was a smug comfort for both man and wolf, attesting to his prowess to give his mate pleasure. To recognize that her needs were far and above more important than his own—though his own throbbed like the devil, hard and angry, as he pressed his erection against the smooth, cool wall of the pool.

  He wanted to roll around in her scent, her abandoned response an erotic thrill he wanted to savor and then drive her to again and again. But the sound he just heard turned his erotic intentions to one of violent darkness. Now he just wanted to murder someone.

  Fucking Rome. Currently the bane of Ben’s existence.

  He got it, really. Rome’s protective streak, especially when it came to Willow. The agent no doubt felt like shit because Willow got hurt on his watch. Added to that was Willow’s sweet nature and innocence. Anyone and everyone who met her loved her.

  But Willow was his mate, not Rome’s, and the asshole was about a minute away from receiving an ass-kicking.

  The sounds and the voices grew louder. It appeared Scott and Joe were with Rome, arguing and instigating delaying tactics loud enough to wake the dead.

  “Shit,” Ben growled, the tips of his fingers burning as his claws tried to escape his control. His gums fared no better, already swollen and aching from fangs descending to bite and claim his mate. “I’ll kill him for sure this time.”

  Willow sat up. “Ben? I think I hear someone.”

  It appeared playtime was definitely over.

  Lingering for just a moment longer, he pressed a kiss to her thigh before edging back to look up into her wide-eyed face.

  Damn, but she took his breath away. Somebody had better be dead for this interruption. “Yeah. Sounds like your jailer and two bodyguards.”

  Her mouth dropped. “Oh God. Rome?”

  Not appreciating her using the same exclamation as when he’d had his mouth on her for Rome’s impending arrival, he narrowed his eyes. “Relax...”

  “Relax? Relax!” In a blur of bare flesh, she lifted her legs from his lax grip and swung them around, standing and wrapping herself in the towel she’d just been splayed out on in a graceful move. “How can you say relax? Crap. My bottoms.”

  She peered down at him. “Give me my bottoms.”

  If she wasn’t so upset and he wasn’t so irritated, Ben might have grinned at the look on her face. Obliging, he caught the wayward material with his foot, lifting it out to Willow’s stretched hand. “Sweetheart, listen.”

  “No, you listen here, Ben Anderson. I see that grin in your eyes. You think this is funny.” She wiggled and hopped, maneuvering the lower half of her swimsuit up her legs and over her hips. Reaching under the towel, she adjusted her top, sliding it over her breasts. “Maybe you’re used to getting caught in these kinds of situations, but I’m not.”

  “What? Getting caught at the pool with a woman who’s not only dressed in her own swimsuit, but has a towel wrapped around her like a shield?”

  “I...” Willow looked down at herself, then at Ben, who pushed away from the wall to stand in the middle of the pool. “Well. I still don’t think it’s funny.”

  He grinned, despite his raging erection. How could he not? Willow looked so indignant and if she’d only listened instead of panicking, he would have told her they had a few minutes. Plenty of time to get respectable.

  “You’ll find the funny when you tell the story.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “I won’t be telling this to anyone.”

  He frowned. “Why not?” He knew damn well women talked to each other about sex. Especially great sex. And hadn’t he just given her a mind-blowing orgasm? Or was that his arrogance talking? “You not ashamed to be with me, are you?” ‘Cause he might just lose his mind if she were.

  “What?” Astonishment crossed her face, easing the tight knot of trepidation in his gut. A soft blush kissed her cheeks. “No. It’s just. It isn’t anyone’s business.”

  He swam back towards her, gave her a saucy wink. “I don’t mind if you want to brag to your friends.”

  Her laugh delighted him. “You idiot. Like you need anybody to inflate your sex ego.”

  Folding his arms at the edge of the pool, he flashed her a cocky grin. “A man always needs to be...pumped up in that department.”

  Willow only shook her head and took a step back, out of arm’s reach. Smart girl. “Not you.”

  “Why not me?” He was a guy, wasn’t he?

  Her slay-me-dead baby blues lit with jest. “Please. I know you’ve seen yourself in a mirror.”

  He paused, not liking where this might take them. “Yes. And that means what, exactly?”

  Her slim shoulders shrugged and she glanced over at the door on the far side of the room as the voices grew louder. “You’re very attractive.”

  Yeah, he’d been blessed in that area of his life. “And?”

  She shifted her stance, placing one foot on top of the other but still refusing to meet his gaze. “And sexy.”

  He barely made out the whispered words and bit back a grin. “Though I’m pleased you think so, I meant ‘and’ as in, what does my outward appearance have to do with anything?”

  Now she looked at him. “Oh.” She looked away with another shrug of her slim shoulders. “Just figured you had a lot of experience, thus perfecting your, um, abilities.”

  “I see.” He drummed his fingers on the tile floor. �
��Willow?” He waited until she turned to look down at him. “You’re extremely attractive. Does that mean I should assume you’re as experienced as I am and thus have perfected your sexual prowess?”

  Her face blazed almost as red as her beautiful hair and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. He’d swear she wasn’t well versed in the joys of sex. Then again, after some initial shyness, her lushly uninhibited responses to his touch kept him guessing. She was sweet, gorgeous, passionate, and sexy, and there was no way she was untouched.

  And maybe he was as guilty of assuming as Willow was.

  Her stammered response was cut short by Rome’s thundering, warning knock on the door. Seconds later he entered the room, followed by Scott and Joe, both wearing apologetic expressions, alternating with relief when they spied Ben and Willow not locked in a passionate embrace.

  As if Ben hadn’t heard them coming five minutes ago. Then again, if he’d been buried inside Willow’s delectable body like he craved, he may not have.

  His dick bobbed in agreement.

  Stupid appendage.

  Ben might have chuckled at that, not recalling a time he’d ever wanted to curse his manhood, but Rome’s worried features made him uneasy. “Willow, I need you to get dressed and come back to the cabin.”

  “Why? What’s going on?” Ben demanded.

  The cat shifter shot Ben an exasperated look. “I need Willow back at the cabin where it’s safe.”

  “She’s safe with me.” Ben bristled at the implication.

  “And she’ll be safer yet at the cabin.” Rome waved Ben’s rising anger away. “I may be acting like an overprotective father, but I need to leave and I want Willow tucked in before I do.”

  “Leave?” Willow’s eyes went wide in confused panic.

  Rome’s tone gentled. “Unfortunately. It’s that other case I told you about. Well, there’s been a problem and I have to fly out and fix it. I’ll only be gone a few days, four at the most. Joe and Scott will stay with you, and of course, you have Ben at your disposal.” The latter was said with a hint of mockery.