Page 9
Garth paused at the entranceway of Nicolette’s home.
The large green front door stood open and he leaned partially against it, knowing that once he passed through the threshold fully, there would be no turning back for him.
Not with the raw need he had coursing through his veins for the woman before him.
The goddess was testing every ounce of his resolve and, sadly, he was failing.
Common sense said he should cut and run.
That he should put distance between himself and the woman, especially since he’d let Auberi test a drug on him.
But running wasn’t an option. He was all in.
Nicolette tossed a set of keys on a serving table near the front door and headed into a large living room.
The sway of her hips beckoned, and he clutched the doorframe so tightly he worried it would break.
Thor, give me the strength I need to keep from ravishing her.
He was pretty sure the god was laughing at him and wishing him the best of luck, because he highly doubted Thor would have been able to resist Nicolette either.
Considering how Garth’s month was going, Loki was probably the god who had answered his call.
The trickster god was more than likely laughing his ass off at the situation.
Garth stepped backwards a bit, still able to see into the living room fully, despite having yet to actually go all the way into the house.
His hands slid to the brick front of Nicolette’s home.
The entrance area was covered in green ivy that had grown up the side of the house.
The yard in the front barely existed.
To the right was a large black trash can, tucked against the house and behind a row of hedges.
A six-foot iron fence was around the front as well, with a gate that opened onto the sidewalk.
Many of the homes in the neighborhood seemed to have something similar.
The home was large, especially for only two women, but that wasn’t for Garth to judge, as he was a single guy who owned a fair number of homes.
All were large.
His main house had nine bedrooms.
He only used one.
His gaze locked on Nicolette’s backside as she turned on a lamp that was sitting on an end table near an oversized light-colored sofa.
His mouth watered at the sight she presented.
Her hips drove him wild.
He loved a woman with curves and Nicolette had them in spades.
It was easy to imagine sinking into her, getting lost in her, and planting his seed in her.
Planting my seed?
He was instantly struck with the image of her swollen with his little one as they began to fill his empty home with young life. With a gasp, he slapped his palms against the brick in hopes the jolt of pain would knock some sense into him.
Little ones? I’ve lost my fucking mind.
He did not want children. At least he never had before. Why in the hell was he thinking about them now? And why did the idea of having them with a woman he’d just met appeal to him so much?
Not that it mattered.
He could only reproduce with his mate.
A snort came from him at the idea he had a special someone assigned to him by the gods. As he began to laugh the idea away, the urge to go to Nicolette came over him. He didn’t dare move a muscle for fear he’d lose his mind and do something incredibly stupid. Just like Malik had done five years ago in Egypt.
Like Garth wanted to do now.
Take the human and try to mark her as his.
Pull your head out of your ass. She’s off the table as an option. You’re just thinking about her birthing your little ones because of Auberi’s stunt. No other reason.
He made a mental note to drive a stake through the vampire’s heart when the opportunity next presented itself. He’d then sprinkle the asshole’s ashes all over his front yard as a warning to other living-challenged jerks to avoid messing with him.
Nicolette kicked off her shoes and wiggled her sock-covered feet. It took Garth a second to realize her socks had inspirational phrases printed on them, along with tiny pink flowers.
A smile touched his lips. She was an interesting mix of sweet and wanton. It was the perfect blend. One he wanted to lose himself in.
He swept his gaze over the surrounding area as a nagging feeling they were being watched came over him once more. He inhaled and caught a heavy whiff of what smelled a lot like vanilla and cloves. Was that cinnamon he smelled, too?
Whatever it was, his senses did not like the amount of it.
He could have sworn earlier that they were being hunted—stalked by a predator. Now he wondered if he didn’t just have baked goods on the mind since colliding with Nicolette and her cupcakes.
He was never happier to be wearing a baked good.
The urge to lay claim to the woman had come over him when he’d nearly taken her against a fence, in the open, for all to see. That burning need had not lessened any. Again, he pictured her expecting his child, her stomach swollen with his son or daughter. The idea caused a pang of grief to move through him because it could never be.
Damn Auberi and the drug he’d given Garth. Was he unlucky enough to suffer the very same lack of control Malik had run into while on the suppression drug? He could still remember having to pin his longtime friend to the floor of a hotel room while he was stuck in lion form. That had been less than easy. Not to mention the entire ordeal had left Malik a shell of his former self for five years as he’d suffered in silence, longing for the woman he’d unintentionally laid claim to in his uncontrolled state.
Then again, Malik had found himself presented with his true mate. The man had only thought Brooke was human. She was anything but.
Garth stiffened. Was Nicolette more than she appeared to be? Could it be that she was like Brooke? That she simply didn’t radiate the signs and signals that other supernaturals tended to? Could it be that she was Garth’s true mate? His special someone?
Had Auberi’s spoken curse come to fruition? Had Garth walked right into his mate without realizing who she was to him?
No.
His luck didn’t run that way, and Auberi was no fucking oracle. He was just a pain in the ass.
The notion of Nicolette being Garth’s mate, while romantic, wasn’t realistic. He’d have sensed if she was, right? It had to be super obvious. Like blinking-sign kind of obvious. If Nicolette really was a supernatural, Garth would have known. There was simply no way he could be fooled to the level Malik had been, messed-up serums and all.
“You coming?”
Nicolette asked as she turned to face him.
No. But he would be very soon.
He reached down and adjusted his cock when her attention was elsewhere. He could smell her scent everywhere—strawberries and powdered sugar. It was divine, and only served to arouse him more, if that was even possible. He picked up on others scents, too, faintly over the damn overpowering smell of cloves, cinnamon, and vanilla that made it difficult for his acute senses to smell much beyond. But Nicolette’s sweet scent was one he locked on to with ease. As it stood, if she refused him, he’d end up jacking off to the point he’d more than likely have no skin left on his dick and blisters on his hand. He was that turned on.
Would James have a cream for chafing? If so, Garth would need it by the bucketful.
“You okay?”
she asked, her voice light.
“I’m great,”
he supplied. And he was. If you didn’t count his wolf lingering just below the surface and the fact he was pretty sure his arch nemesis slipped him something funky in a shot.
Other than that, he was having the best night he’d had in ages.
As he inhaled, he caught her scent again, over the sugary smell of smashed cupcakes. His nostrils flared in excitement, and he did his best to keep the wolf from gaining freedom.
That would be bad.
Very, very bad.
Putting his shoulders back and lifting his head high, Garth committed to entering the home fully.
His wolf did its version of a contented purr.
That was new.
If he suddenly got the urge to chase a ball of yarn, he was going to have a seriously long talk with James about his meds.
There was a lot Garth was willing to deal with as far as side effects. Acting like a cat-shifter wasn’t one of them.
Garth slipped off his boots and set them near the door, next to Nicolette’s shoes.
His socks didn’t have cute sayings on them.
Nothing he owned did.
Some of the men at work wore specialty shirts they had made to mock one another, but that wasn’t Garth’s thing.
He did pitch in when the shifters had bought a truckload of sunscreen and had it sent to the Fang Gang.
And he’d once spent a weekend fashioning wooden stakes with four other shifters, so they could fill the front lobby of the Fang Gang’s headquarters with them.
That had been a sight to see. When Daniel Townsend had opened the door, hundreds upon hundreds of stakes fell out and onto him, knocking the man backwards.
Too bad it hadn’t been Auberi.
That would have been nice. Especially if the jerk would have tripped and impaled himself on one.
The Asshole of the Week wall of awards had a framed photo of Auberi running from a mortuary wearing nothing more than a silver tray held in front of his groin, compliments of Garth.
The picture was the result of Auberi’s teammates waiting until he was asleep before moving him to a funeral home.
Many vampires appeared dead when they slept.
Auberi was apparently one of those kinds.
The vampire woke later, naked on an exam table, with a mortician preparing to embalm him.
Garth regretted missing the event in person.
Thankfully, the rest of Auberi’s teammates had been sure to take a lot of photos and video of the incident.
Garth had made sure every single PSI Division in the world was sent them all.
He’d also set the video footage to music, and would have posted it to social media to go viral if there weren’t strict rules about that sort of thing within PSI.
He bit his lower lip, reconsidering the rules.
After all, he enjoyed bending them.
Like now.
He wanted to give in to his beast and permit it to do as it pleased.
To let it free to mark the woman.
He didn’t let it loose, but a deep, dark part of him wanted to do just that.
Nicolette neared Garth, her arm touching his, making fire shoot straight to his groin.
A portion of her long hair was stuck to the smashed cupcakes on her chest.
Reaching out, Garth eased the strands free.
He pushed her hair over her shoulder and found himself crowding her personal space in a big way.
Cupping her face, he inhaled again, her scent making his dick hard. He couldn’t wait to taste her.
A frustrated growl trickled up from him and he closed his eyes tight, feeling them change.
The last thing he wanted to do was scare Nicolette.
Having his eyes change colors would do just that and more.
It took a second for him to be able to ease his lust enough to gain a measure of control.
When he knew his eyes would be green once more, he opened them and feathered his lips over hers.
She dragged her lips over his in a teasing manner and bunched his cake-smeared shirt.
She put her forehead to his lips and sighed, her body tensing.
“If you changed your mind, I’ll go,”
he said, knowing it would take every ounce of his willpower to walk out the door, but her safety and security meant everything to him.
If she was nervous having him in her home now, or no longer wanted to be with him sexually, he’d honor that.
Didn’t matter that he’d rub his dick raw later trying to get the release he needed from being around her.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,”
she said, her voice husky and low.
“Do you still want to be doing this?”
Please say yes.
She nodded against his chin.
He eased his arms around her and hugged her, liking how she fit against his frame. “Nicolette, I need to hear you say it.”
“I still want to do this,”
she said, this time louder. She stayed where he held her though, her fists still gathering his shirt in front. “I think I just need a moment to process the fact that I really want this. That probably doesn’t make any sense to you.”
A half laugh came from him. He was having a similar inner war. He knew the serum was affecting him. That whatever Auberi had done to it left Garth dancing on the edge of darkness, and that for the sake of all involved, he should leave and never look back. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to be here, with her, holding her, touching her, making love to her.
Making love? Fucking Auberi!
He tensed and then swallowed hard, still holding her close. “It makes more sense than you know. How about we get these foul-smelling cupcakes off us and we take this a little slower? Will that help?”
He didn’t want to take it slower. He wanted to take her then and there, but she needed time to adjust, and he’d give her the time she required. His wolf would just have to cool its jets.
At the thought of having to delay gratification, his wolf made its protest known by making Garth’s eyes change again. He closed them once more.
Nicolette gasped and stiffened in his arms.
Shit.
“That is the second time tonight I thought I saw something with your eyes that can’t be real,”
she said, touching under his right eye. “The first time was when you were in the square.”
She’d caught the other loss of control too? With a shaky breath, he looked at her, praying the amber of his wolf’s eyes had receded. He was too worked up to tell.
A question formed on her brow. “Weird. They’re the sexiest green I’ve ever seen, but I swear to you that when the light catches them just right, they look amber. Then again, I could be totally nuts.”
She was anything but crazy.
Divulging the truth of who and what he was couldn’t happen, but Garth wanted it to. He didn’t want secrets between himself and this woman. He wanted open communication.
Never before had he wanted to lay all his secrets bare before a woman he was about to bed—or any woman, for that matter. Yet he wanted to do just that now. He wanted to explain that he wasn’t human, that his eyes changing color wasn’t a play of light or her imagination.
Opening that door of truth was a bad idea, and he knew it. He knew that once the horse was out of the barn, putting it back wouldn’t be easy—not without the help of a vampire or a Fae to mind-wipe her. What if she panicked? What if she thought he was crazy? Worse yet, what if she ran to the media about it all?
A target would be painted on her. There were certain factions in the supernatural world who wouldn’t bat an eye at eliminating a bothersome human. Especially one who knew the truth about them.
His wolf snarled within him.
She was not to be touched. Ever!
“Garth?”
she asked, hesitation in her voice.
Pressing his lips to her forehead, he relaxed and hugged her quickly before releasing her. “Time to get what you claim were cupcakes off us.”
She laughed softly and nodded. “Follow me.”
He did. She led him through the house and then stopped at a half bath that was built to fit under the staircase. Thankfully, the old home had high ceilings, or Garth would have had to add remembering to duck on his long list of things he needed to do. Avoid pinning her to the floor and fucking her senseless. Don’t shift in front of her.
“You can wash up in here. There are washcloths on the shelf under the sink. My roommate and I have a friend who occasionally stays over on the pull-out sofa. He leaves clothes here all the time. You’re about the same size. I’ll get you one of his T-shirts.”
It was then Garth caught the scent of another woman within the home. He’d been so captivated by the succulent smell of Nicolette that he hadn’t bothered to notice any others. That should have been alarming. As a shifter male, it was natural for him to notice lingering scents. His only focus had been on Nicolette.
While the other woman’s smell was pleasant, it didn’t make him want to fuck until he couldn’t fuck anymore, like Nicolette’s scent did. “You mentioned your roommate is on a trip?”
“For business, yes,”
said Nicolette as she stepped back. “Or else she’d be here demanding fingerprints from you and a full background check. Then she’d want you to get naked, so she could rate you before telling me to take you to my room and not let you out again. She’s both wild and overprotective. Interesting mix. I’m never sure if I’m going to get scolded or possibly arrested when something involves her.”
Garth was very open to being locked in her bedroom for eternity. He’d tie himself to her bed if she simply hinted at it being an option. He chuckled and pulled his T-shirt up and over his head. He washed his arms and hands thoroughly, getting the smeared cupcake off himself. He used the hand towel to dry himself and when he turned, he found Nicolette hadn’t budged.
She was staring intensely at his torso. For a second, he assumed she was checking him out. He wasn’t a shy man, and he knew what his body looked like. He also knew women had always seemed taken with it, with him.
But Nicolette’s expression wasn’t one of lust, it was of sadness.
“What happened to you?”
she asked.
Confused, he followed her gaze to the scar that ran from his upper right chest down to his lower left side. It was thinner than it used to be, and time had left it faded to the point he often forgot he had it. He had many others, but that one was by far the worst. A fair number of tattoos covered most of them. He kept his tattoos confined to his chest and back, for now. All of them had something to do with Norse mythology. After all, that was the religion he’d been born into and grew up practicing.
Garth opened his mouth to give the standard response he’d handed to countless people over the centuries. The one where he told them he’d sustained an injury in battle. That wasn’t what fell out. The truth did.
“My father gave me the scar. My brother was standing next to me. When the blow was delivered, it was my brother who was first struck. Though, he was cut on the face, nearly losing his eye in the process.”
Garth touched his face where Grid’s scar was. “And the blade of the sword continued downwards at an angle, across me.”
“Blade? Sword?”
she asked, edging closer to him. “Your father sliced open you and your brother?”
He offered a curt nod, unsure how to express his feelings on the matter. They were something he’d buried long ago.
She cupped her mouth and teared up. “Tell me he was locked away.”
A snort came from Garth. “No. But in the end, justice was delivered.”
Her hand found the start of his scar. She leaned and pressed a kiss to it before glancing up at him with moist blue eyes. Nicolette drew back from him quickly and swallowed hard, her fingers trailing away from his skin slowly.
He caught her hand in his and their gazes collided. Whatever was happening between them was powerful. It made him want to act out of character, say things he wouldn’t say to others.
“I was going to get you one of Cody’s shirts,” she said.
Garth stiffened at the mention of the man’s name. “And Cody would be the friend that spends time here?”
She smiled. “Yep. He crashes on the pull-out sofa when he’s in town.”
Inhaling deep, Garth tried to pick up on the smell of the male but came away empty. If it had been some time since the man had been in the home, it would lessen his scent. And the damn cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla that lingered in the air continued to confuse his wolf senses. There was no reason to be jealous about another man when it came to Nicolette. After all, it wasn’t as if Garth and the woman were an item or anything. Each of them was free to see and do what they wanted.
His gut clenched at the idea of Nicolette being touched by another man.
Stop it. She’s just a random woman.
He couldn’t be certain, but it felt as if his wolf actually laughed at his denial. That couldn’t be good. But he was right: she was a woman he’d happened to walk into on the street. It could have been any woman. It just happened to be this one. Had he slammed into a different woman, he’d have more than likely wanted to ravish her as well. It was the shit Auberi gave him. It had to be.
Even as the thoughts filtered through his head, Garth knew deep down that something felt off. He remembered the four women in the tight, short skirts. Yes, he’d found them attractive and had entertained having some fun with them, but this was different. He didn’t want to merely have some fun with Nicolette. He wanted to devour her sexually and emotionally. He wanted to see her face when he brought her to culmination, and he wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her close afterwards.
The fact he wanted there to be an afterwards spoke volumes.
He’d been a bachelor all his life and never planned to change his bad boy ways. Sure, he wasn’t quite the playboy his friend Malik had been before mating, but Garth was no slouch. In all his years, he’d never once longed for something more with a woman.
Something real.
He wanted that with the woman standing near him currently. It didn’t help to see her genuine heartache for what his father had done. There was no pity in her gaze as she looked upon him. Just kindness.
Nicolette made a move to leave the area, but he caught her hand. “I don’t need another shirt right this second.”
He wanted her to remain close to him. It was then he noticed he was caressing her wrist with his thumb. He tugged gently on her hand and she came to him. He lifted her hand and kissed each of her knuckles, one by one, his gaze never leaving hers.
She closed her eyes briefly, and then stepped away from him all the same, leaving a sense of longing remaining in him. He knew why she’d done it. She felt overwhelmed too. That meant the pull went both ways.
Nicolette headed down a short hallway to the kitchen. He followed behind her, leaving his shirt in the bathroom. Nicolette stretched upwards near the refrigerator and it took Garth a second to realize she was trying to get a bottle of wine from the rack built above the appliance. He moved up behind her, his body crowding hers, and he reached up. Bending, he put his lips to her ear. “What do you want?”
She melted against him and the scent of her arousal nearly shattered his already feeble self-control. “You. Erm, a merlot. Do you like wine?”
“I do,”
he said, a smile touching his lips as he stayed close to her. He selected a merlot from the rack, but he lowered it leisurely, savoring the moment and the closeness he had to Nicolette.
Her hand found his upper thigh and she squeezed, pulling him closer. Garth set the bottle of wine on the counter and put his hands on Nicolette’s hips. “Tell me where your opener is, and I’ll handle this while you get cleaned up.”
“Huh?”
she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. She blinked and then gasped. “Oh, right. Cupcakes. Clean up. I knew there was something I was going to do. In my defense, you feel really good right there.”
He chortled and rubbed against her backside, his dick pushing at the confines of his jeans. When she swayed her hips just right, it was his turn to get lost in the moment. He groaned and jerked her to him tighter. He growled against her ear lightly. “You should go now.”
She nodded but didn’t move.
“Nicolette.”
“Do you feel it?”
she asked, squeezing his thigh more. “The heat?”
“Yes,”
he managed, only barely in control of himself. This woman was going to be his undoing. He took a step back, knowing someone had to be the voice of reason. That or they both needed to be naked, stat.
Either would work.