Primal Heat(Wild Lake Wolves Book 3)(14)

"Connor and Eli, meet Abby," Bas said, barely stopping as he led me up the stairs.

I gave them a light smile and a wave. "Hello. Oh, do they understand me?"

Bas laughed. "Of course. They'd shift and give you a proper greeting if I let them."                       
       
           



       

"If you let them? They can't, I mean, unless you tell them?"

"Oh, they can. I just figured you'd rather give them a chance to put  some pants on before they walked over here bare ass naked to shake your  hand."

He reached over and hooked a finger beneath my chin to close my gaping  mouth. A twinkle lit his eyes, sending a fresh wave of heat spearing  through me. He led me into the house and the grand foyer with wide open  spaces and floor to ceiling windows just like his office. A warm fire  burned in a great stone fireplace on the far side of the room. On one  side, he had a giant kitchen with a long table island in the center and  more than a dozen chairs around it. The other side of the room had the  fireplace and deep, comfortable chairs and couches. A double, curving  staircase framed the room leading to the loft. This was a wolf's lodge. A  man's place. I wondered how many outsiders had seen this place. I  guessed not many.

"Are you hungry?"

I cast my eyes downward. I was, but not for food. I couldn't help it.  Being this close to Bas affected me in ways I couldn't understand. My  body tuned to his. Heat flowed from him to me, and I craved his touch.  Subtle changes in his posture set my blood humming. We were alone. I  meant to be cautious, conservative, sensible. But, as we stood together  face to face and inches apart, I felt something new. Belonging. Craving.  Hunger.

"Abby," he said, his voice no more than a choked whisper. "Did he hurt you? That asshole at the bar?"

I shook my head. Cal seemed like a million years ago. "I'm fine. Really.  I'm glad you came when you did, but I can take care of myself."

He crossed the distance between us in a blur of motion, gripping my  upper arms with his strong hands. Not hurting me. But the heat of his  touch sent a shudder through me as I slowly lifted my head to meet his  eyes.

"I can't stop it now. I can try to keep my distance. But, I will not let  anyone or anything hurt you. Not ever. Do you understand?"

A beat. Two. The air shifted and Bas's face came sharply into focus.

"Were you following me? Tonight? The other day?"

A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he held my gaze. "Not the way you think."

What did I think? Twice in the last week, he was there as if  materializing out of thin air the instant I was in even the slightest  hint of danger or distress. "You can, um, feel me. Can't you?" God, I  made no sense. And yet, things seemed to shift into place and align as I  spoke it.

He took a breath and lowered his chin in a slow, solemn nod. "Yes."

"What is it? What am I?"

He lifted his index finger and traced a line just above my brow and  trailed it down over my jaw, across my collarbone then rested it just  above my heart. "Don't you know? Don't you feel it too?"

I tried to swallow, but my throat ran dry. I felt a tiny pulse beat in  my neck. Bas's eyes flashed as he saw it too. "Tell me what I am." I  managed to whisper.

Bas cocked his head and his lips parted in a smile. "Mine."

My heartbeat skipped when he said it. Mine. Simple. Primal. It should  have scared me, perhaps. Offended me, even. Except, it didn't. That one  simple word seemed obvious and right.

Then, he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine, feathering them  gently, his tongue darting in and out as his hands slid around me,  pulling me close. He came to me strong and solid just when my knees went  weak. Sensing it, Bas hooked his arm beneath me and lifted me off the  ground. The room spun for an instant. I went rigid, afraid to touch him,  afraid what it would mean if I admitted the truth of what he told me.  But oh, I felt the truth of it in my cells, my nerves, the way my body  called out for his. Mine. Mine. Mine.

"Bas!" I gasped his name, and that was all it took. A dam broke inside  me and I lifted my hands and cupped his face. We moved. We flew. Up the  stairs and down the hall. All the while, I kept my lips locked with his,  my hands carving through the thick softness of his hair.

Then he set me down. I took a stuttering step sideways, reaching out to  grab the end of the bed. He had me breathless. Senseless. Bas stood  before me still and strong. Instinctively, I knew what he wanted. Or  more importantly, I knew what he gave. A choice. My choice. He said he  could keep his distance. It was in me to tell him he must. Whatever this  was scared me as much as it felt right. And yet, in that fraction of a  second when my sensible brain told me to do the safest thing, something  else flared to life and snuffed it out.

This. Bas. I couldn't breathe without him. Couldn't stand not to have  him touching me for another second. I didn't know what he wanted or  needed from me. And then I did. I raised my head to meet his eyes and  said one word that changed my life forever.                       
       
           



       

"Yes."

He moved like molten lightning. Quick and sure. He peeled his shirt off  his shoulders and unsnapped his jeans. The sight of him set off a  starburst behind my ribcage. God. He was beautiful. Savage. Strong. The  perfect cut of his muscles. From his molded abs and tapered waist to his  sculpted thighs and powerful calves. He grew hard before me, and his  massive erection bobbed. My own thighs quivered at the power and promise  it held.

Bas took a slow step toward me, his eyes never leaving mine. His swirled  and changed, and I sensed the wolf hovering just beneath him, naked and  powerful too. He reached out and started the slow process of  unbuttoning my blouse. My breath hitched and my breasts trembled as he  took his time with me. He spread my shirt and ran his fingers across the  smooth slope of my breast, hooking them beneath my bra. With a deft  thumb and index finger, he unclasped the front. His eyes flashed pure  wolf as my breasts swung free for his inspection.

God. I wanted him. My core became liquid heat as he trailed a skillful  finger over each nipple, pebbling them. I wanted more. I wanted his  mouth. His body pressed against mine. For now though, he took his time,  delivering delicious torture as he worked one nipple, then the other,  raising them to throbbing peaks as he watched.

He reached up and slid my shirt and bra off my shoulders then spanned  his hands across my waist. He knelt slowly before me, and I placed my  hands on the crown of his head. Bas wasn't as gentle as he tore the  button of my jeans and peeled them off, taking my panties with them. I  stepped out of them and stood before him completely naked now.

He parted my thighs and took in my scent. I could hide nothing from him.  My sex glistened with my arousal as he flicked his tongue against my  most sensitive flesh. I gasped and swayed, but Bas held me steady. He  looked up at me with those devilish eyes. Oh, he enjoyed this.

"I want to look at you."

"You are looking at me." I don't know where I found the strength to form  words. I felt strung tight like a bow. The slightest touch of his  finger or breath on my sex might send me spasming toward my first  climax.

I couldn't take it. I wanted him too badly. I sat down on the bed and  slid my hands across his shoulders then tilted his head toward mine.  Drowning in kisses, I curved my body toward his, dropping slowly to my  knees. And then he was before me, hard and turgid. He groaned with  anticipation, but it was my turn to deliver a type of torture. I ran my  tongue along his thigh, letting the hairs tickle my nose. With my hands  gripping his taut ass, I went up on the pads of my feet and slid my  mouth around him.

"Oh, God!" I looked up to see Bas throw his head back as I fastened my  mouth around the tip of his cock then brought it slowly down. He filled  me. I strained from the effort of bringing all of him into my mouth, but  I knew I needed it. Him. All of him. I sucked and licked, wanting to be  slow and sensual. But, it didn't work out that way. A fuse lit within  me and the more of him I tasted, the wilder I became until the world  became the sounds my mouth and tongue made as I struggled to take more  and more.

His held his fingers in my hair, urging me on. I licked and stroked and  reveled in the pleasure I knew it gave him. It gave me such pleasure  too. My thighs trembled as I held myself in place and tried to keep pace  with his thrusts. He was steel and velvet in my mouth. Salt and spice.  His pulse thrummed inside of me. Somehow, I was his before he even took  me. I had always been his. I just never knew it until now.