Chapter 4
Jake pulled Alicia off the hiking trail and deeper into the woods, kissing her mouth and stroking her back while walking backward as she continued to press herself against him, pursuing him and getting caught up in the moment.
When she wrenched his shirt free from his jeans, he knew she was thinking along the same intimate lines he was. He broke free of the kiss, then slid his hand around hers and hauled her even deeper into the woods, far away from the beaten path. He was glad he’d moved her from the trail when the distant conversation of more hikers walking along it drifted to them.
Finally he and Alicia reached a secluded enough spot in the forest, surrounded by tall, slender quaking aspens, their leaves twisting and bending in a fluttering dance to the tune of a warm, dry breeze and issuing a softly whispering rustle. He took a deep breath of the fragrance of the towering ponderosa pine trees, with their subtle vanilla-scented bark, although unless a human stood close to the tree bark, he or she probably couldn’t smell it like a wolf could.
The trees creaked as a sturdy wind shook them. Pine needles rained down in a wistful shower to the forest floor, which was already coated with fallen leaves and pine needles of seasons past. The woods were dark and shady as birds flitted around on the nearby tree branches. Other than the sounds of the breeze in the trees and the twittering of the birds, the place was a perfect depiction of tranquility and beauty. Especially with Alicia in the picture.
He almost wished he had his camera to capture the timeless beauty. But this was all too private and personal, and he wanted to capture the image of her like this for his sake only.
He stopped and looked down at her. She gazed up at him with smoldering eyes, hot and sexy and dark with desire. He reached up, unfastened the copper clip confining her hair on top of her head, and watched with fascination as the dark chocolate curls cascaded over her shoulders. Having imagined tons of pins confining her hair, he was glad that releasing it was this easy.
He tucked the clip into his shirt pocket, feeling as though he’d claimed one of the enchantress’s treasures, forever binding her to him, as she smiled a little at the gesture. He combed his fingers through the luscious, heavy, satiny strands of hair as her fingers rested momentarily on his hips. She watched him as he luxuriated in the feel of her curls.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, nuzzling his face in a handful of her curls. He breathed in the lightly perfumed scent and then leaned down to kiss her forehead with a lingering touch.
“Hmm, likewise,” she murmured back, slipping her hands up the front of his shirt, her fingers brushing through his light chest hair, feeling his muscles, then sweeping across his nipples.
“Are you sure you want to—”
“Yes,” she whispered, sounding nearly desperate to keep going.
He sucked in a breath, the heady feeling she created in him making him pause briefly to savor every whisper-soft touch of her roving fingertips, his body tight with anticipation. When she slipped her hands free of his shirt and began working on his buttons, he reached down and pulled her blouse free of her skirt. He’d only just begun the arduous job of trying to push a round pearl button through the tiny slit of a buttonhole on her blouse when she finished unbuttoning his shirt.
She slowly peeled his shirt off his shoulders, taking the vest with it at the same time, sliding it lower until the shirt and vest rested midway down his biceps. He expected her to pull them both off, but instead, she held the shirt and vest in place, keeping him hostage as she leaned close and licked one nipple, then the other. The warm wind sweeping across his wet nipples created an arousing tingling he’d never experienced before, and he groaned with need at the sensation, wanting to do the same with Alicia. And much, much more.
More than the way her kissing and licking his nipples into ecstasy was affecting him, he was intrigued by the fact she was controlling him, holding him hostage. No woman he had ever been with had done such a thing to him. After one last gentle pull on each nipple with her hot sensuous lips, she finally lifted her gaze to his and smiled, the skin beneath her dark thick lashes crinkling slightly, her eyes sparkling with genuine delight. He cupped the back of her head and angled his mouth over hers, his shirt and vest still positioned in the middle of his biceps and keeping him from having a full range of motion. The confined sensation made him even harder and more desirous, and Alicia more desirable.
He plunged his tongue into her mouth and tangled with her own very willing tongue. Then she finally pulled his shirt and vest downward, forcing him to drop his hands away from cupping her head, their mouths still linked in a mating dance. After she yanked the shirt and vest free and deposited them on the ground, his hands went to her blouse buttons. But again, she thwarted him when she slipped her jacket off her shoulders and then tossed it on top of his shirt. His fingers returned to her buttons, finally managing to undo one, but then continued to struggle with the second one. Hell, at this rate, he’d take all day to get her out of the blouse, and he was ready to just yank a bunch of buttons off it instead.
“Here, let me do it,” she said, sensing his frustration, her hands clasping his with a gentle reassuring touch, her voice softly reaching his ears, although his lust-filled brain was having a hard time deciphering anything but the need to have her naked and in his arms.
He eagerly gave in to her suggestion and reached around her back to locate the zipper on her skirt. But after running his hand around the back of her waistband, he couldn’t locate the fastener.
“Side zipper,” she said, indicating with her elbow which side as she continued to unfasten her blouse.
He noticed she was having a hard time with the buttons, too. The thought occurred to him that if she were a wolf, the blouse would not have been part of her wardrobe as it would be too difficult to remove in a hurry if she needed to shift. But her skirt zipper easily parted for him, and she was soon wiggling a little as he pulled the skirt down her hips. Then she stepped out of the garment.
No slip, no hose. He stared at the pair of skimpy bikini panties she wore, the top edged in lace, and her bare shapely legs. He thought of the contrast between the business clothes she was wearing and the sensual silk and lace underneath. No matter what she wore from now on, he would always envision how sexy she was beneath the professional exterior.
She finally freed herself of the blouse and raised a brow, noticing that he was so distracted that he hadn’t yet pulled off his trousers. Yeah, he was distracted all right, his gaze focused on her creamy skin, confined only in the scraps of lace—a white bra and panties—and a pair of trim leather walking shoes, also white.
Breaking free of his fascination, he quickly divested himself of most of the rest of his clothes. First went his boots, then the socks and jeans. Before he stripped out of his boxers, he crouched to untie her tennis shoes, giving her calves each a kiss while he was at it.
“Beautiful,” he said again. The woman was all pleasing curves, silky skin, and alluring fragrance.
Her fingers combed through his hair while he pulled off her shoes, making his body react with ardent need. The bra and panties and his boxers were piled on top of the rest of their clothes, and he admired the fullness of her breasts and the dusky color of her aroused nipples. Dark curly hair covered her mons, and her long shapely legs caught his imagination as he considered how he would feel with them wrapped around his waist as he plunged deeply into her.
He looked up to see her taking her fill of him, too. Her lingering perusal on his erection made him all the hotter for her, and he took her hands as he sat on the leafy forest floor, pulling her down on top of him in a sitting position to protect her delicate skin. Straddling him, she leaned forward to kiss him, her ripe womanly folds splayed to him, her breasts hanging down like tempting fruit.
He cupped her breasts as she kissed his mouth, her pelvis rubbing against his arousal, which was agonizingly ready for her. Slipping his fingers between them, he stroked the sweet spot between her thighs. She arched her back, her eyes closing, her lips parted as she panted with pleasure, her curls already dewy with expectation. She rested her hands on the ground as she leaned back a little more, barely breathing as he continued to stroke her.
She moved against him with urgency and desperation, soft moans of satisfaction escaping her lips. Seeing her in the dark pine shadows, opening herself to him with her knees spread wide, he thought only of giving her pleasure. When she gasped his name in a quiet, grateful manner, he slipped his fingers into her wetness, felt the climax hit, the pulsing deep inside her, and nudged himself at her entrance, waiting only long enough to see she was still agreeable.
Agreeable, hell. She took charge, centered herself over his erection, and rocked and squirmed on top of him until he was deeply entrenched inside her. He couldn’t believe his fortune to have found a woman who could turn his furnace on high with just a lingering look in his direction, who could make him so completely entranced with her that he nearly forgot his wolf instincts for self-preservation at all costs.
His hands molded to her voluptuous breasts, her mouth on his, until he felt the world lift from his shoulders. Everything ceased to exist except Alicia: her body, her tongue teasing his, her fingernails flicking lightly over his nipples, and with his erection deep inside her, stroking him, tight and hot and wet, her body melding with him until they were as one.
Unable to hold off, he came into her with a burst of satisfaction. Climaxing had never felt this good. The overwhelming release sated him, making him experience a wolf’s runner’s high, a sense of being on top of the world, his body on fire with the feel of her snug internal muscles holding him tight. He didn’t want the encounter to end ever.
He lay down on his back as she continued to sit on top of him, pushing her thick hair away from her face in a sexy way, her heartbeat rapid, her breathing quickened, every inch of her skin flushed with exertion. He could see in her eyes the question forming there. What now? Where do we go from here?
The thing of it was that he wanted her. Permanently. As a werewolf, the thought was lunacy. If he’d been strictly human, he would have done anything in his power to keep her, to enjoy the way she made him feel for hours, days, weeks, months. But he wasn’t strictly human, and the situation was bound to get more complicated in a hurry.
She seemed to see the concern he had about them, and with as much grace as was possible as she sat astride him in all her nakedness, she climbed off him. Unable to move or to take his eyes off the wonder that she was, he watched as she slipped on her panties, hiding the dark patch of curly hair that protected her treasures, the enticing shadow still visible through the silky white fabric. White—he thought of innocence and sweetness and vulnerability. The way she’d made love to him, he thought of her wearing red—fiery and hot—rather than the innocence and sweetness of white.
She avoided looking at him now, making her the picture of vulnerability. She pulled on the lace bra, her aroused nipples straining against the cups as she reached behind her back to fasten the garment, the dusky areolas holding his gaze like two sensual beacons still visible against the white lace. She continued to avoid looking at him as if she was feeling self-conscious now that the adrenaline rush had subsided.
But she’d moved him like no one had ever done, and he couldn’t think of anything else but being with her. Hell, he was already thinking about returning with her to her hotel room and having her all over again. And he knew it wouldn’t be the last time he’d want her like that.
“I guess you’ll be going home now.” She still didn’t look at him, even when speaking.
She lifted her blouse off the ground and shook off the pine needles clinging to it, her voice without inflection, as if the world hadn’t rocked for her as much as it had for him, yet he knew she wasn’t oblivious to what they’d just experienced. He also knew she was pulling away to avoid getting hurt.
He cursed himself for falling for a human female who intrigued him like no other. Something deeper stirred his interest. Something he couldn’t pinpoint. He’d always known his mind, known the right thing to do as a lupus garou. Now, he was fighting any self-doubts he had that being with her was right—even though, deep down, he knew this was a big mistake.
He had never slept with a human woman after sex, often didn’t have sex more than once with the same woman, and hadn’t even had sex with one for the past six months. He never got involved with a human woman for more than the sexual act that mutually satisfied them both. Keeping relationships on that basis worked best for lupus garous.
But in Alicia’s case, he wanted to take a hike with her to one of the lakes, see the falls, share her bed, wake up with her wrapped up in his arms in the morning, and make love to her all over again. He wanted to spend real quality time with her and get to know her in more than just a sexual way. And he didn’t want to analyze why he was feeling that way.
Despite his better judgment, he ignored her comment, which had as much as said she thought he had just wanted her for the sex and now was leaving her behind. He tucked his arms behind his head. “I’ve only been to Breckenridge the one time. You might know the area better than I do. Anyplace you’d like to go? Hiking? Kayaking? Something else?”
Her eyes widened a bit as she pulled on her blouse and began buttoning it. “Are you serious?”
He thought from the tone of her voice that she might even be pleased. But her expression was still guarded. His gaze slid down her long bare legs, and again he envisioned her on her back and those shapely legs wrapped around his hips as he entered her again. He blinked, trying to get the image out of his mind.
“We could take in a movie. Drive-in preferred if they have any here in Breckenridge.”
She smiled a little at the suggestion, and he swore he could see her thinking like he was—snuggling, kissing, getting hot and bothered in the backseat of his pickup, and forget whatever was playing on the silver screen.
“You are serious.” Her expression brightened several degrees. “But the nearest drive-in is about three hours away.”
In that moment, she looked innocent again, not at all as though she might imagine the lustful notions he was conjuring up. He took a deep breath. He had it bad.
It didn’t seem fair to her that she didn’t know what her sweet body was doing to his thoughts. Except that his body was already reacting to his lascivious ruminations.
“I had considered going back with you to your hotel and checking out your accommodations. To make sure they’re safe.” He suggestively waggled his brows, noting that she was having a hard time keeping her gaze focused on his, her eyes considering his physique as if she was amused he was having trouble keeping his bodily reactions under control.
And that was causing him further difficulty in keeping his mind on the idea of tackling other pursuits with her.
She smiled wryly at that. “Umm-hmm.”
“I’m serious. I’m game for anything else you’d like to do. And we’re still having lunch at the steak place later this afternoon—on me.”
“All right,” she said softly, and tossed his boxers to him.
He caught them midair and grinned, the utterly wicked gleam in his eye saying he wanted her again. “You keep looking at me the way you do, and we’ll be here all day and night.” He gave her a lustful wink that said he was game.
Caught in the act of ogling him way too much, Alicia felt her face heat, and she smiled at Jake, although she hadn’t thought he had noticed her studious appraisal of his sinful body since he was so busy admiring hers. She didn’t recall either of her husbands caring anything about what she looked like after she’d been with them for a while, just as long as she removed her clothes quickly and was ready for them to sate their needs in record time. They had been drunk half the time when she was married to them and just wanted to get the deed done before they passed out.
But with Jake, it was so different. So right.
Trying to get her mind off his hunky body and her embarrassment at getting caught perusing him to such a degree, she leaned down to get her skirt. She figured that women were probably always taken in by his arresting looks and he was oblivious to it.
But she could kick herself for agreeing to do anything further with him when she should have been fighting this rabid attraction they had for one another all along. He was so hot. No one she had ever dated had been as sexy or funny or protective as Jake. She’d thought he wouldn’t have been as good “in bed” as he was, that maybe having a fling would make her realize how he was just like her ex-husbands, neither of whom had made the effort to pleasure her.
She’d thought sex was about the man having all the fun. Not with Jake. Her needs, her arousal came before his own. For the first time ever, she’d really climaxed! She hadn’t faked it. Hadn’t needed to. She could still envision Jake’s fingers entering her, as if he was ensuring she truly had reached the pinnacle before he found release in her. She couldn’t believe he had done that and thought the world of him for it.
Yet something was holding him back now. A former relationship gone bad, maybe? A man who could have fun for a little while, but commitment wasn’t part of his psyche?
It shouldn’t have mattered. She shouldn’t have even gone this far with him. But during the three years since her last divorce, she’d avoided men like the plague. Until she had seen Jake and been drawn to him, probably because he had been intrigued with her from the start and then definitely because of his coming to rescue her in the restaurant. And then coming for her here to protect her if she needed protecting. She’d never known any man to stick his neck out for her. Not her fly-by-night boyfriends or her two ex-husbands, either.
She blamed her first marital misstep on his and her youth and wanting to get away from her mother and the loser her mother had picked up at the time. The second marital mistake was one of those proverbial on-the-rebound blunders. Both marriages had been over in a flash since she’d married in Texas and they’d been Army guys. Quickie divorces were the thing. Neither of the guys were hero types like she thought a man in uniform should be. Oh sure, many were. But with her luck with men, she’d picked up two that were anything but. Carousing, drinking, all-around losers. She’d attributed it to looking for love in all the wrong places.
She took a deep breath and zipped up her skirt. Before she could slip on her tennis shoes, Jake was standing before her, wearing only his jeans, his chest deliciously bare, his puckered nipples enticing her all over again. He had her tennis shoes in hand and a silly smirk on his face. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then crouched in front of her. With her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, she treasured the sensation as he brushed off one of the soles of her feet with the soft dusting of his dress shirt, then slipped her shoe on. Then with equally tender reverence, he did the same with the other. She felt like Cinderella. And cherished.
Only in this case, she wouldn’t turn into a penniless scullery maid who vied to go to the ball and meet the prince before midnight. Instead, she’d go back to being a bounty hunter who was bound to get her prince killed just by knowing him. That thought continued to nag at her as she tried to think of a way out of this. But she didn’t want out. Damn it. She wanted him. Like she’d never wanted anyone in her life. She chastised herself again. This was insane.
After he tied her shoes, he rose and tilted her chin up to give her a light kiss on the lips, his eyes studying hers as if he was trying to see into her soul. Then he took a deep breath, slid his fingers down her cheek and her throat, swept them across a breast and the nipple, and then dropped his hand away.
He wanted her again, she thought. But not here. In her hotel room. And despite her misgivings, she felt the same way about him.
Then he left her to tug on his boots. She felt she should return the favor by brushing off his feet with tenderness, but he was already wearing his socks and quickly pulled on his boots. She reached for her gun in its holster and slipped it on, and then her suit jacket.
She considered what they could do together that might be fairly reasonable and keep them from interacting with the thugs for the time being. She needed a solution that would allow her to spend more time with Jake without putting him danger. Then at some point, she’d slip away from him and do what she’d come here to do in the first place. Locate Danny Massaro and arrest him, then turn him in for the bounty and forget her unreasonable interest in getting to know Jake better. Then if Mario didn’t show up for trial, she’d arrest him, too.
With that thought in mind, she watched Jake pull on his shirt, hiding that beautiful chest of his, and asked, “If you’re truly game, how about ice skating?”
“Ice skating?” The arch in Jake’s brows and in the tone of his voice made it sound as though ice skating wasn’t a choice he would have ever considered making.
Alicia didn’t know what to think of him. One minute he was acting like he couldn’t get enough of her, and the next, she could feel him pulling away. Yet his words didn’t fit his actions, as if he was fighting his own feelings.
Well, as she’d told her mother, men and relationships never worked out well for either of them. And certainly with Alicia’s plans to return Mario and Danny to prison, starting a relationship could be a deadly business for the unsuspecting guy. She couldn’t do that to Jake. She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ears.
After he tucked in his shirt, then tugged on his vest, he walked over and put his hands on her shoulders, his thumbs rubbing them and heating her body all over again. A small quiver of need started tingling in her breasts, making them swell, and then moved lower in her belly and even lower between her legs.
He kissed her lips gently but with real meaning. It was the kind of kiss that meant she wasn’t getting rid of him anytime soon.
So much for ice skating deterring him.
Although she still felt he was sending mixed messages. Either he was the master of deception, or he really was fighting with himself over making something more of their relationship. While he was pulling away from her, she was all set to keep this from going too far. But how could she push him away when he kissed her like he loved every inch of her and wanted her for keeps? And when she was afflicted with the same damn desire?
Some part of her told her she deserved a chance at real love, at real happiness. That she couldn’t screw this up if it was meant to be. But the sensible part of her said she could lose him to violence, and there was no way in hell she was losing someone else she cared about like that.
“I’ve never ice skated before. So you’ll have to teach me how to do it. And I’ll try not to embarrass you too much,” Jake finally said, his thumbs still doing a sensual number on her shoulders.
Genuinely surprised he’d be game, she laughed a little. She thought of him as cool and collected, never ruffled. The notion of him falling on the ice had never crossed her mind. But again, she figured that ice skating would be one activity where the bad guys wouldn’t bother with them. So Jake would be safe, she was certain.
“I’ll try to help you. But you can hold on to the railing if you need to. That’s what many of the beginners do.”
He shook his head. “Where you go, I go.”
“Even if I’m doing figure eights?”
He grinned at that. “I think I’ll opt for staying in the upright position and watching.”
***
By spreading their feet on ice and with the fur that protected their pads, wolves were very adept at maneuvering on ice. But as a human, Jake had never ice skated, and if Alicia hadn’t suggested it, he most likely never would have. They agreed to drop by her hotel room so she could change clothes. A business suit on ice wouldn’t work out.
He hadn’t planned on doing anything but waiting for her to change clothes while he called his brother, Darien, to let him know he’d be a little later arriving home than expected. But the hotel room had one large bed and a bathroom, and Jake’s eyes were riveted on that king-sized bed as if it were the most functionally beautiful piece of furniture in the world. Alicia had slipped out of her suit jacket and gun with holster, hanging them over the back of a desk chair, and pushed off her walking shoes. She entered the bathroom to clean up, shutting the door behind her.
The shower turned on, and he was still thinking about that bed and what he and Alicia could do in it together when his cell phone rang. He jerked it off his belt, saw the caller was his brother, and shook his head. Jake should have called him first.
“Yeah, Darien?”
“Lelandi wanted me to check on you since you said you’d be home right after you dropped off the photographs, and you’re an hour late. Since you’re never late, she was worried. If it were me, I wouldn’t have been concerned. But you know how she’s been recently, what with the babies coming so soon. Having any trouble?”
“The art gallery didn’t open on time when I first arrived. But other than that, I’m staying longer to sightsee.” He had no intention of telling his older brother he was smitten with a human woman and intended to stay with her through the night at least, hoping he could convince her to give up her quest and find some other scumbag to take down—one who was a lot less dangerous. And then he’d give her up before he got much more entangled with her. “I’ll be home… tomorrow, sometime.”
“Tomorrow,” Darien said, sounding suspicious.
“Yeah, I’ll call you when I’m on my way.”
“Anything wrong?” Darien’s tone was more worried now.
“No.”
“You… don’t… sightsee ever, Jake. What’s up?”
That was the problem with having an older brother who was the pack leader and who knew Jake too well. “Nothing’s up. I needed a bit of a vacation.”
“A vacation.”
Jake supposed that sounded rather weird to his brother since vacations were not part of Jake’s usual routine. “I’ll be home soon. All right, Darien?” This time his voice said he wasn’t saying anything further, so give it a rest.
A significant pause followed, and Jake was fairly sure Darien was considering whether to pry further—and give some of his brotherly advice—or just leave it be. Then Darien said, “Is that a shower running in the background?”
Damn their wolf hearing. Jake looked back at the closed door to the bathroom, hearing the spray from the shower hitting the tub in a rush. He should have walked outside the room to take the call, but he hadn’t been thinking. Not while he’d been staring at that inviting bed.
“Yeah.” Jake didn’t say anything more than that. Only one reason a shower would be running and he wasn’t in it. Someone else was.
Another very long pause followed. Then Darien finally conceded. “All right.” He tried to sound gruff, but Jake could hear the hint of a smile in his brother’s voice. “Call us when you’re on your way.”
“Will do.” Jake turned off his phone and shoved it into his pocket, annoyed with himself for getting caught in the act. Darien was sure to tell his mate, and Lelandi was sure to attempt her matchmaking with Jake again.
But with Alicia being human… that wasn’t happening.
Jake shook his head, irritated with himself again, but then the shower shut off and his gaze flew to the bathroom door as he imagined a soaking-wet Alicia climbing out of the tub and into his arms.