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  “I will never marry Lance, old man,” she told him with vehemence. “He may be handsome and powerful, but he is well-known for his cruelty.”

  So, she ran as far as she could, tucking away in a hidden corner of the universe where she was sure the clan would never find her.

  The slam of a car door drew her attention to the driveway separating her house from the one next to it.

  Jesse’s home.

  From where she sat, she could see Jesse Farrell’s lean, muscular body running through the rain to his porch.

  One a.m.

  She could set her clock by him.

  His shift with the Palmetto County Sheriff’s Department ended at midnight. Unless paperwork kept him longer than usual, he’d stop for coffee and a hamburger on the way home. At one o’clock, he’d be pulling into the driveway. Alexa never failed to notice the fatigue that slowed his steps or the tension in his posture.

  What bothered her the most were the feelings she was developing for him, feelings that went far beyond worries for his safety. She’d thought hiding away in this small Southern town was the answer to her problem. A top researcher, her website brought her many clients and allowed her to work from home.

  Then I saw Jesse, and I was right in the fire again.

  She found herself wandering out into her backyard when he was working in his, carrying a pitcher of iced tea or lemonade. From there, it was nothing more than a short step to inviting him to dinner. Or over to watch television on his nights off.

  Fool! Stupid! Idiot!

  Little by little, she found herself pulled more and more to him. At night, she dreamed about him in her bed. Naked. Hot. His big hands touching every part of her body. His hard shaft plunging into her. His sensual mouth devouring her. She would awaken in a state of high arousal, her nipples painful points, the pulse in her cunt throbbing, and liquid seeping onto her thighs.

  The last thing I need is to fall in love with another human.

  Love! The forbidden word.

  Yet, she felt it barreling down on her like a steamroller, and she didn’t know how to get out of the way. She was lost, either way.

  Alexa shivered.

  Can it, girlfriend. You were in trouble the moment you first talked to him. Go make yourself a cup of tea. Chamomile. Nice and soothing. Something to stifle these feelings that are definitely going to get you in trouble.

  Sighing, she unfolded herself from the seat and headed for the kitchen.

  The sound of the doorbell startled Alexa. On tiptoe, she peered through the peephole. She was stunned to see Jesse on her porch, dripping wet and shifting from one foot to the other.

  She yanked the door open. “What’s wrong? It’s pouring rain. Why aren’t you inside?”

  “Can I come in, please?”

  “Oh, sure. Come on.” Yes, bring your fantastic body into my house.

  “Sorry to bother you. I left my key on the counter this morning.” He raked his wet hair back from his forehead. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

  Jesse always carried his car keys separately.

  “In case I’m ever attacked,” he’d explained, “I don’t want anyone having a key to my house. I can keep an extra one of yours, too, if you want.”

  Another link to him she should avoid.

  “I’ll get it,” she told him, “but come into the kitchen. You look like a drowned rat, and you must be freezing. At least get that wet shirt off and let me make you some coffee.”

  “I’ll drip all over your place,” he protested.

  “Tile floors are easy to mop.” She took his hand. “Come on. I’d feel terrible if you got pneumonia and I could have prevented it.”

  In the kitchen, she flipped the switch on the coffeemaker while he took off his shirt. Then she handed him a large towel from the stack in the laundry room.

  “You look exhausted. Bad night?” Her heart pinched at the weary sight of him.

  Jesse scrubbed a hand over his face. “Every night’s bad with the gangs. We’ve got a couple of new ones out there ramping up their so-called initiation requirements. That makes it pretty tense on the streets.”

  He was a member of the sheriff’s gang task force, a thankless and dangerous job. On the night streets, he was a shadowy figure in jeans and T-shirt, looking to stop trouble before it started. Even in a county as small as Palmetto, gangs were a big problem, many of them migrating south from Tampa.

  She’d taken to waiting up for him, knowing she’d be unable to rest until he was home safely. If only she could find a way to protect him. Well, there was one, if she transformed. But she had no idea how he’d feel about a giant wolf following him around the county.

  She ran a critical eye over him, noting his soaked jeans, and pulled out another towel. “You’d better take off the rest of those clothes and let me put everything in the dryer. Coffee should be ready in a minute.”

  “I’m all right, Alexa. Honest. The only thing I need is to get some sleep.”

  How about in my bed?

  “I told you. Go to sleep like that and you really will get sick.”

  “Alexa, I….”

  She grinned at him. “I finally have a chance to get you naked in my house. Don’t give me a hard time.”

  Something primitive flashed in his eyes at her words, and the muscles of his face tautened. He took his wallet out of his jeans and flipped it onto the counter. Still holding her gaze, he undid the snap, lowered the zipper, and slid the wet denim down his legs, along with his boxers.

  In seconds, he was unselfconsciously naked. Alexa’s face flushed. She quickly handed him the second towel and turned toward the laundry room. “I’ll go dump all this stuff in the dryer.”

  Her hands shook slightly as she dropped the clothes into the dryer and set it on the spin cycle.

  Am I out of my mind? Jesse Farrell naked in my kitchen, wrapped only in two of my towels?

  Correction. One towel—slung low on his hips and knotted at the side. When she came back into the kitchen, he was still using the other one to dry his hair.

  He winked at Alexa. “I’ve sure waited a long time for you to get me naked, darlin’.”

  “Don’t get any ideas,” she tried to joke. “I’m just doing my Good Samaritan thing. Want a shot of something in your coffee to take the chill off?”

  “No thanks. Sounds good, but straight from the pot.”

  When she turned to hand him the mug, he was so close behind her the hot liquid nearly sloshed over the rim. “S-Sorry.”

  His scent drifted past her nose, musk and citrus and the clean smell of the rain. Her wolf sense of smell went on high alert. She tried to inch away from him, but he had her trapped between his body and the counter.

  Oh my God! His body!

  Exactly as she had imagined it. Lean, hard, muscled, with thick curls of dark hair covering his chest and narrowing to a point beneath the top edge of the towel. And his face. Lines of exhaustion carved into the rugged planes accented the sensuous mouth and the slightly crooked nose. But his eyes dominated everything. God, she could get lost in those dark whiskey-colored eyes fringed by thick lashes.

  Alexa had to stop herself from licking her lips.

  He’s not for you.

  But oh, how she wanted him. In her heart as well as her bed. Most definitely in her life.

  He’s not for you.

  The words echoed again in her head.

  “You must be exhausted,” she murmured, searching for conversation. “Your clothes should be dry in a minute. Why don’t you take your coffee to the table and sit down.”

  “I like the view better from here.” His voice was like warm syrup sliding over her.

  “Jesse, I—”

  “You what?” He set his coffee mug on the counter and leaned forward, his hands on either side of her. “Do you know how many times I’ve watched you out there in what passes for a backyard here? Seen you in those shorts and T-shirts that hug this round little body? How many times I’ve stood and talked to you hopi
ng you wouldn’t notice what a hard-on you gave me? How many nights I’ve dreamed of taking your body into my bed and doing the most exciting things to it? With it?”

  “Y-You have?”

  “Sitting in your house eating dinner with you and watching television has been an exercise in self-control worthy of an award. You have no idea how I’ve been fantasizing about you.”

  She placed her palms on his chest and realized instantly what a mistake that was. Electricity sizzled through her fingertips and shot its way through her body. Her nipples, already hard, were now like tiny granite pebbles. Liquid dripped from her cunt and trickled down the inside of her thighs. Embarrassed, she squeezed her legs together.

  “Don’t fantasize about me, Jesse. There are things you don’t know.”

  Don’t give me the chance to love you.

  His eyes were like twin flames, all signs of teasing gone. “Afraid of me, Alexa?”

  His words sent shivers skittering along her spine. She swallowed twice before she could answer him.

  “W-What should I be afraid of?”

  “Maybe this.”

  He bent his head and captured her mouth with his, a soft kiss that gradually turned hard and demanding. His tongue swept the warm, wet cavern of her mouth like a flame, scorching her everywhere it touched. His hands held her firmly to him, crushing her breasts against his bare chest. The length of his erection pressed into the softness of her belly.

  The kiss was endless, stealing her breath and ramping up her heart rate. When finally he lifted his mouth from hers, she felt as if a tornado had struck her and left her still swirling in its wake.

  “Is that what you’re afraid of, Alexa?” His voice didn’t sound any steadier than she felt. “Time to stop being scared. I want you, and I know you want me. What are you running away from?”

  Oh, God, Jesse, if you only knew. You’d be the one running.

  But her feet wouldn’t move and her mouth wouldn’t work. She could do nothing more than stand there, immobile, silently begging for more. And he was about to give it to her.

  “Which way?” he asked, lifting her in his arms.

  She was confused. “For what?”

  “Your bedroom, darlin’. For what I want to do, we really need a bed.”

  A tiny puff of breath escaped her lips. How had this gotten this far out of control so quickly? “Last door down the hall.”

  Reaching to pick up his wallet, he carried her to her room with long strides. She barely had time to draw a breath before he had her robe untied and on the floor. His eyes darkened almost to chocolate as he raked them over her nude body.

  “Magnificent,” he breathed. “But then I knew you would be.”

  He cupped her breasts with his large, warm hands, weighing their fullness, squeezing them gently. When the pads of his thumbs rasped over her already sensitive nipples, she couldn’t help but gasp.

  “Like that, do you? How about this?”

  He bent his head to capture a breast in his mouth. His tongue pressed the nipple against the roof of his mouth. One hand molded to her other breast, pinching that nipple in a steady rhythm.

  Alexa’s legs trembled and her knees wobbled. She was glad when Jesse carried her to the bed. His mouth still sucked her breast. Teeth gently nipped at the tip, followed by his tongue soothing the bite places. His hand continued to pull and tug on her other nipple.

  She hadn’t thought her pussy could release more liquid but she felt slick and wet. She was hot everywhere. If he didn’t touch her there soon, she’d scream. She arched her pelvis and pressed her hips against him, urging him to do something. Anything.

  “Don’t make me rush this,” he whispered, his mouth now at her ear. His tongue traced the delicate line of the shell. “I’ve waited too long.”

  His lips drew a pattern down the side of her neck to the sensitive spot where it met her shoulder. Again, he placed tiny bites on her soft skin. With maddening slowness, he trailed his mouth over each breast, between the valley separating them, and down over her stomach. He paused in his journey to give proper attention to her navel.

  Then he was kneeling between her thighs, her legs resting on his shoulders. His thumbs parted her labia, slick with her own cream. His tongue was an instrument of torture, stroking from her throbbing vagina to the swollen knot of her clit. Her body jerked under the lash of his tongue while his thumbs opened her wider to the assault of his mouth.

  Her body felt hot, her skin stretched far too tight. This was beyond anything she could have imagined.

  “Easy, darlin’,” he crooned and nipped gently at her clit.

  His tongue continued its broad strokes the length of her sex, denying her its entry into her waiting hot channel. When he finally stabbed it into the slick flesh, a tiny cry escaped her lips and she fisted the bedclothes.

  His tongue moved in and out of her greedy cunt, her hot muscles grasping at it, clenching, desperate to hold it inside her. She tried to close her thighs to squeeze him inside but his broad shoulders held her legs far apart.

  The coil of need inside her wound tighter and tighter as he relentlessly pushed her up the spiral. Higher and higher he took her, toward the ultimate explosion. His tongue fucked her in a steady rhythm while his clever fingers tormented her clit and pinched her labia.

  “Please,” she begged. “I want you inside me. Please, please, Jesse. Please.”

  One hand drifted lower and the fingers teased at the tight rim of her anus. “This is where I want my cock, Alexa, if you’re willing. This is what I’ve dreamed about.”

  He was going to fuck her in the ass. Every animal instinct inside her roared to life, and, unbelievably, her need escalated.

  “Yes,” she moaned. “Do it. I want you to.”

  Moving her so her legs were pushed back almost to her shoulders, his hands separated the globes of her ass. His tongue lapped at her anus. Then two fingers slid inside her hot, grasping vaginal sheath, scooping out her fluids and spreading them over the tiny anal rosette. One finger pushed against the tight ring of muscle, easing inside.

  When he was in to the knuckle, he forced another finger in beside it and began a scissoring motion.

  At first, she felt an almost painful fullness and a burning sensation in her tissues. But the more he stretched her, the better it felt. Every nerve in her body seemed to be firing at once.

  “Oh God,” she moaned. “Do it now.”

  With swift motions, he pulled a foil packet from his wallet, ripped it open with his teeth, and sheathed himself. Then he positioned himself over her. His breathing was unsteady.

  “Here we go, darlin’. Get ready to feel me in that tight little ass of yours.”

  The broad head of his cock pressed against her anus. His hips flexed and slowly, one tiny bit at a time, he pushed himself inside her. When the head popped in past the ring of muscle, he began to stroke her clit again, driving her higher.

  All her pulses throbbed and fluid gushed from her cunt as Jesse’s cock continued to press into her rectum.

  And then he was in, all the way. He leaned over her, balancing himself on one hand while the other continued to stroke her screaming sex. With a deep breath, he began to move his hips, stroking in and out of her. Peering up through slitted eyes, she saw the sweat coating his face and the tightness of his jaw as he fought for control.

  “Let go, Jesse,” she rasped. “Do it now. Now!”

  “Not until you’re ready,” he spat out through clenched teeth.

  “I’m ready,” she cried, her hips moving with his. “Please.”

  “All right, then.”

  He increased the pace of his rhythm. Then, with one final pinch of her clit, he thrust her into her orgasm as his own overtook him.

  On and on it went, shudders racking her body until she thought her bones would break apart. Above her, she felt Jesse shake with spasm after spasm. At last, as his tremors subsided, he collapsed on her and held her through the aftershocks.

  After a long time
, he lifted his head and feathered kisses over her face. His eyes searched hers intently. “Please tell me you’re not sorry.”

  How could she be sorry about something so incredibly wonderful? The realization of her fantasies was even better than the dreams themselves. “I’m not sorry.”

  Relief smoothed out the worry lines on his face.

  “But you must be exhausted. You finished your shift and you need some sleep.” She couldn’t help the little grin that turned up her mouth. “You only came over here for your key, remember?”

  “I think I really came over here hoping to get more than that.” He traced the edges of her lips with his tongue. “Darlin’, you’ve been driving me crazy for too long. You couldn’t get me to go to sleep now unless you knocked me out.”

  He slid his penis slowly from her and lowered her legs with great care. “Give me a minute to clean up and catch my breath. We aren’t finished for the night. Not when I’ve waited this long for it.”

  She watched the flex of muscles in his exquisite ass as he walked toward her bathroom. Her body still limp from her incredible climax, she realized what big trouble she was in.

  She still harbored a natural desire to protect him from the dangers he faced each day, but now something had been added. In giving him her body, she’d cracked open the wall she’d built around her heart. But Jesse Farrell would never, ever knowingly want to mate with a shifter. And she couldn’t bear the thought of the revulsion she’d see in his face if she revealed herself.

  What should she do now?

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six