Tempted (Two Marks 1)

Using the back of my hand, I wiped my mouth, not sure if it was wet from drool thinking about how insanely sexy Wade was, or from the water.

I hadn’t seen him since that night. He’d said he’d see me again, but who was I kidding? It had been two weeks, and I hadn’t laid eyes on the guy.

He was the first one-night stand I’d ever had, but I knew the deal. He hadn’t meant it. It was called a one-night stand for a reason. One night. But why hadn’t he fucked me? Why hadn’t he gotten off? It wasn’t like he hadn’t been into me. He’d been very into me. As if I was a perfectly cooked steak after he’d been two weeks lost in the wilderness.

Yet he hadn’t wanted a blow job.

It was me. I didn’t ask any of my girlfriends, but I was pretty confident that no guy ever turned down a BJ.

Until Caitlyn Shriver.

I’d thought about all of it every hour since. Dwelled on it like a teenager. Why should I be upset he’d fingered me and forgotten? That he’d gotten his mouth on my pussy and made me see angels and rainbows... A unicorn or two?

“Admit it, Caity. You’re horny,” I said to myself. I was horny. The guy was like crack, and I’d had my first hit and needed more. He’d win a gold medal in the Women’s Orgasm competition.

So he hadn’t wanted to see me again. It wasn’t like he didn’t know where I lived. He was very familiar with my front door. Whatever.

I had my vibrator, although it was a sorry second to Wade. That made me cranky. My battery-operated boyfriend was no longer doing it for me. I’d had the most amazing not-sex of my life and wanted more, but didn’t know where the guy was to give it to me.

I wasn’t given access to the land I needed for my data.

Dr. Andrews, my difficult boss at the university, was looming and asking for updates on my data, threatening my funding if I didn’t deliver.

My parents called frequently enough to tell me how my work was silly and a waste of time and my PhD was wasted—not only in the field I’d done it in but also in research. They were waiting for me to fail so I could return east, and to teaching. As if.

I was so cranky!

I took a deep breath and stomped across the trail, using my frustration to fuel a little righteous defiance. Who was Gibson West to keep me out of the wilderness? Sure, he and his family owned the land I wanted to work on, but the wolves didn’t know about property lines. Neither did my research.

I adjusted the canister of bear spray hooked to my belt as I came out of the woods and into a clearing. Using spray was better than a rifle, and I had no intention of killing any animal out here. The pretty swath of grassland offered a view down into the valley. From up here, West Springs was only a few lights in the distance. The path I was on went to the south but a hundred yards away there was a wire fence, the delineation between public land and private West property.

I might not get more orgasms, but I was going to get on that land. My pussy would be denied, but not my data. I veered off the trail. I was over a mile from the main West house with rugged terrain between, based on my research of the satellite map. This section of their land was remote, but this public trail gave me easiest access to the back side. I’d get onto the property, search for tracks, and find my wolves. Get the chips embedded and head back to Granger. The Wests would never know the difference.

Wolves roamed.

So did I.

I found the nearest fence post, set my hand at the top, and carefully climbed over the split rail fence. My feet landed with a thud, and I brushed off my hands. I turned, and started toward the patch of woods, my eyes cast down, scanning the soft ground for tracks. I stopped abruptly when two pairs of boots came into view.

Then I saw the rest of the men they were on. One of them, I’d never seen before. Big, thickly muscled. Dark eyes boring into me. The other… I gasped. My pussy recognized him because it wept for joy.

“You.”

The men weren’t the least bit identical, but they crossed their arms over their massive chests in the same way.

“Me.” It was Mr. One-Night Stand Wade.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you I live near West Springs.”

I glanced from him to his… friend?

“I think we can ask that same question of you, sugar.” It was the other guy who spoke, then took a deep breath. His eyes flared wide before he looked to Wade. Nodded. “This is a fucking problem,” he murmured, but I picked it up nonetheless.