Page 14 of Nick (The Moonstone Pack #4)

AS SARAH AND NICK approached her unassuming, sun-faded trailer home, Sarah’s skin tingled with the nearness of the man who haunted her deepest dreams and darkest regrets.

She fumbled for her keys, the metal cool against her warm palm. She slipped the key into the lock and pushed the door open, stepping into her living room.

Her phone buzzed with a text as she turned the deadbolt, securing them away from the world, and she took a moment to check it.

“Una and Javier are headed to the art festival,” she said. “We just missed them.”

“Good.”

When she spun around, she almost gasped at the sight of Nick standing so close behind her, as beautiful as always. His presence filled the room, the power and domination in his stance reminding her of the wolf that lurked beneath his skin.

Without a word, he closed the distance with a predator’s grace, his movements deliberate and certain.

“Are you sure?” she asked as he pressed her against the door, the wood cool through the thin fabric of her blouse, a counterpoint to the heat radiating from his body.

“Are you?” The intensity of his desire, the depth of his yearning, threaded through his voice. And in that moment, she found her own fierce need to claim and be claimed.

“Always,” she finally said.

Nick’s intense gaze seared into her with an unmistakable hunger that echoed the need rolling through her. The air in the room seemed to thicken with unspoken words, dancing frustratingly out of reach.

He murmured her name, his voice rough, as if dragged over their shared past. His hands rose, deliberate and sure, until his fingers brushed against her cheeks. It was a gentle touch, but it carried all the ache of their long separation.

This was a bad idea. Sarah knew it. They shouldn’t act on this desire—not until she was sure he understood why she’d allowed the pack to plot against him, was sure he forgave her.

And yet she couldn’t bring herself to stop.

The contact sent shivers cascading down her spine, igniting tiny fires beneath her skin where his fingertips grazed. A gasp slipped from her lips, and she leaned instinctively into the warmth of his palms. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself a momentary surrender to the sensation.

When she glanced up at him again, her breath caught in her throat. She saw the protector, the kind man who had been forced to harden the edges of his heart, standing before her now.

She stepped closer, her body moving of its own accord until they were mere inches apart, the space between them charged.

Without warning, Nick’s head dipped, his breath hot against her lips before he claimed her mouth with his own. The kiss was teasing at first, a tantalizing brush. But desperation soon bubbled to the surface, spilling over as their bodies pressed together.

Sarah’s world narrowed to the feel of Nick’s lips moving against hers. He tasted like redemption, like second chances. Her arms wound around his neck, drawing him closer, her nails grazing his nape where tendrils of dark blond hair fell.

She felt his need for her radiating from his skin. The kiss deepened, and Sarah’s hands moved to clutch at his hair, releasing it to fall around his shoulders.

His hands were steady and sure as they traced the line of her jaw. She could feel the echo of his wolf beneath his skin, and she allowed herself to drown in the sensation of being wanted, not just by any man, but by him—her fated mate, the only one who had ever truly held her heart.

After a moment, he pulled away, placing his hand on the small of her back to guide Sarah through the narrow hallway of her trailer until they stumbled into her bedroom.

“Here,” he murmured.

Sarah reached out and grazed the hem of Nick’s shirt, her fingers trembling as she made contact with the fabric, feeling the heat of his skin radiating beneath as he watched her.

“May I?” she whispered.

“Please,” Nick answered, his voice rough with need.

In one fluid motion, Sarah lifted the shirt over his head, revealing the taut muscles of his torso.

Nick’s hands reached out, deft fingers undoing each button with a kind of reverence that sent chills through her body. The fabric parted, cool air kissing her heated skin, and Sarah leaned into the touch, craving the sensation of his fingers against her flesh.

He slid the blouse off her shoulders, and it fluttered to the floor, forgotten in the wake of their escalating passion. Sarah’s wolf prowled inside her, responding to the proximity of her mate. His scent enveloped her, earthy and familiar.

Nick pressed against Sarah’s shoulders. She stumbled backward, her bare feet tangling in the rug before the edge of the bed halted her retreat. With his gentle push, she felt herself toppling back onto the mattress.

Kneeling at the foot of the bed, Nick reached for her. His fingers gripped her hips as he drew her toward him, and she slid across the sheets.

Tears formed in her eyes as she realized how much she’d missed this man, the simple touch of his hands setting her ablaze with desire.

Their connection was a live wire, electric and pulsing between them. In that instant, Sarah allowed herself to forget the past—the betrayal, the hurt, the unbearable choices she had made. Right now, there was only Nick.

“Let me make it right,” she heard herself say.

Nick’s response was not verbal—a tightening of his grip, a darkening of his gaze as he positioned himself between her thighs.

Sarah bit her lip, the anxious flutter in her chest warping into a tight coil of anticipation. The stark need in Nick’s eyes reflected her own—a mirror to the raw desire she’d tried to bury. Now it surged through her as his breath ghosted over her.

Then, contact. His tongue lapped at her with a focus that arched her back off the bed as she gasped.

His tongue circled her clit, a deliberate, rhythmic motion as he worshipped her with his mouth. With each revolution, Sarah spiraled closer to something primal, something that connected them beyond the pack, beyond the past.

“Please,” she breathed out as her fingers curled into the mattress.

Sarah’s knuckles turned white, her body arching again toward the heat of Nick’s mouth.

His tongue continued its dance, circling her with a precision that was both maddening and divine.

The bedding twisted beneath her clenched fingers as waves of pleasure threatened to tear her apart.

Her breaths came in short, uneven bursts, mirroring her quickening pulse throbbing through her. The room filled with the sounds of the quiet whimpers that escaped her lips despite her attempts at restraint.

Nick’s movements were relentless, his lips and tongue moving over her with raw hunger. As he traced more circles around and across her clit, Sarah’s world narrowed to the exquisite point of sensation that gathered at her core.

“More,” she whispered. She was close, teetering on the brink, and Nick held her there, suspended in a moment of pure ecstasy.

As Nick’s mouth on her sent tremors through Sarah’s body, he shifted, sliding one finger inside her. His finger moved with an insistent rhythm, pumping into her in time with the strokes of his tongue.

She gasped out his name, her voice cracking on the edge of desperation. Her breaths became ever more shallow, her body struggling to keep up with the pleasure building within her. The sensation of Nick’s finger moving inside her, coupled with his tongue, drew a whimper from her lips, a raw sound.

Only sensation existed—Nick’s mouth on her, his rhythmic hand, the aching desire that coiled tighter in her core—as the wave swelled within her, threatening to crash over her and wash away everything except the blinding ecstasy.

And then, with a sudden, breathtaking surge, Sarah crested the wave. Pleasure detonated inside her, radiating outward in pulsing waves of pure intensity.

Her back lifted off the bed, a primal, involuntary response to the overwhelming sensation.

A keening cry filled the room, echoing against the aluminum walls of the trailer.

And then she landed back on the mattress, gasping for air.

Determined to take her turn next.