Taming the Beast

She’d said yes!

Now I was running with Faye tucked against my chest, her hands wrapped around me and mouth nibbling distractingly at my throat, her soft little sighs heating my blood to a rapid boil. I’d refused to take her there and then on the dusty lane, nor would I carry her into the forest and press her up against a tree. Though I’d filed away the idea for later.

The first time we came together it would be special. It would be an event goddamn worthy of the woman who’d agreed to become my mate. I would show her with my body how much she meant to me, even if it killed me.

“Bash?”

“Do you have to call me that?” I grunted, slamming through the front door and taking the steps two at a time.

Her hand caressed my cheek, her nails dragging across the rough stubble.

I should shave. I could hurt her.

“Bastian!”

I was already on my way to the bathroom, having deposited her on the bed. I eyed the room critically, trying to see it through her eyes. A large wooden four poster bed, dark navy blue linen, solid oak dresser, and not much else, since I’d sold everything. It was lacking refinement and warmth, something I hadn’t even cared about until right now, having only considered it a room to pass out in after a late night. She was staring at me as if waiting for something. “Yes?” Even I could hear I sounded distracted. But if this was really all I could offer her, she—

“Bash! Look at me.”

Demanding little thing. I dragged my eyes away from cataloguing my home’s many faults, back to the woman kneeled up on the bed. “You deserve so much more than this. I’m virtually bankrupt, a shifter whose beast has deserted him, and I’m a drunk.”

“You’re not really a drunk, and haven’t we covered all this? Wait a minute, are you getting cold feet?” She slumped back onto her heels, her eyes widening in a way that would have been comical, if not for her obvious distress.

“No. I’m not. I…” I tried to put it into words, finally throwing my hands in the air on a growl. “It wasn’t meant to be like this.”

She gestured me over, giving me a glower when I didn’t move fast enough. “It never is. My first marriage was meant to be forever, do you think I went into it thinking that I’d be emotionally abused and divorced within a couple of years? I wanted kids, a family, the whole nine yards. I learned from my mistakes and grew a backbone. I ended up alone … until I met you.”

“You want kids?”

“I do. With you,” she added, as if I might deliberately misunderstand. Her face dropped, her hands tugging at the comforter. “You do want children, don’t you?”

“I’ve always wanted kids, it’s why I—” I stopped myself at the last minute, cursing silently, but it was too late, her eyebrows were already knitting together.

“Why you what?”

“Joined a dating site. That’s where I thought you’d come from.” Shit.

“A dating site that I presume you will be canceling just as soon as you get near a computer?” Her prim words might have sounded like a question, but there was no mistaking the steel underlying her words. She was deadly serious. Staking her claim.

Damn. It was hot. “What dating site?” I replied, earning a small smile.

“And I’m an accountant, among other things, so the whole woe-is-me-I’m-bankrupt crap isn’t really a viable excuse.”

“Who the fuck are you and what did you do with my shy and timid Faye?” Before she could answer, I lowered myself down onto the bed in front of her, nudging her back until she was laying beneath me. “You, my love, are a bundle of surprises. And I’m pretty sure I’ve met my match.” My head lowered, lips hovering as I watched her eyes darken with desire, and scented her sweet, sweet arousal that perfumed the air.

“Oh, you definitely have,” she whispered, sliding a hand around my neck and closing the gap.

Faye

He’d calmed down, the spooked look fading from his eyes, but for a second there I’d thought he was going to revert back to square one of self-inflicted punishment. But the way he was moving over me, his hands plucking at my clothes and peeling them away until my breasts were bare for his touch, his mouth hot and demanding against mine, banished the doubt from my mind. Banished everything from my mind, actually, except him.

I groaned against his mouth as his hand reached inside my jeans, easing the zipper down and burrowing beneath my panties. Desire curled in my stomach, fogging my mind as he sank a finger deep inside me, a low hum of satisfaction vibrating up through his chest.

My bare chest brushed against cotton as my hips arched up into his hand, chasing the elusive high, head thrown back and lips parted on a silent moan.

Work roughened fingers cupped my breast, thumb sliding over sensitive nipples back and forth, circling around and around in mimicry of his finger inside me.

“Bastian…” I gasped, bucking against him as he plunged harder inside me, stroking and teasing, his mouth lowering to tongue my distended peak, biting down and flicking with his tongue, his hot, moist breath heating my skin.