Page 25 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)

~Amanda~

I didn’t actively decide to proposition my mate. His macho declarations about fighting my father to protect my honour, or whatever he thought it would accomplish, were kind of cute, but the way his muscles rippled with tension tipped the scales from cute to sinful in mere seconds.

Once I started looking at his body, I couldn’t stop.

Over the past seven years, I’d done everything I could to avoid looking at it, pretending not to notice the way his broad chest and sculpted ass filled out his guard’s uniform anytime we happened to be in the same room.

With those same assets within arm’s reach, they became a lot harder to ignore, especially when the anger and resentment I felt over his past actions began to recede.

He was a damn fine specimen of a man, locked in a small space with a woman who hadn’t been touched in far too long. Who could blame me if I pushed things a little further than I intended?

Be careful, Cinder warned in my head. This isn’t a one-and-done scenario. He’s our mate.

I knew what she meant. Each touch between us would mean more than it did coming from any other person.

If we gave into the rising heat between us, it would have consequences.

Messy, potentially destructive consequences depending on how everything played out.

Just because I believed what he told me about his conversation with my father didn’t mean that seven years of hurt and loneliness simply disappeared.

It did , however, open up new possibilities, and one of those was to finally indulge in some physical pleasure with the one person who had the ability to make my body light up in a way no other man ever would.

People always said nothing compared to a mate’s touch, and suddenly, I couldn’t wait to find out if they were right.

For his part, Troy seemed to have lost the power of speech when I suggested a little mutual enjoyment, and I had to laugh at the way his mouth hung open, jaw slack, looking like he might begin to drool at any second.

“You said you haven’t been with anyone since that night,” I reminded him, my tone softening in recognition of the sacrifice he’d made on my behalf since discovering we were mates. “But I assume you’re not a virgin?”

His lips pressed back together as he swallowed hard. “No. Things were pretty… open… in my training program.”

My mind flashed to the trim, fit women on the guards team, their muscular bodies in stark contrast to my softer one, and an irrational flash of jealousy seared across my chest. I had no right to be jealous, not when we hadn’t even met then, and certainly not when he’d forsaken any pleasure of his own once we did, but it didn’t change the fact that the idea of him touching or being touched by another woman irked me.

It made me want to stake my claim, to make sure that any memories he might harbour from those times paled in comparison to what I could do for him, and the feeling startled me with its intensity.

When I agreed to take Vaughan as my mate, I hadn’t cared one bit if he’d been with other women before me.

When the hell did I become so possessive?

As if he noticed my hesitation, Troy leaned closer to me and flashed me a teasing grin. “We had to shift in front of each other all the time, so being shy wasn’t an option. And what can I say? The ladies liked what they saw.”

The line couldn’t have been any lamer and he knew that. He did it on purpose to keep things loose, and it worked: I laughed, my jealousy fading into the background as lust once again took over.

I leaned closer too, our faces now only inches apart. “Don’t hype it up too much. You don’t want me to be disappointed.”

Both amusement and naked desire flashed in his stunning eyes. “I’m not worried.”

A simple statement, but the confidence with which he uttered it made my pulse quicken. The throbbing between my legs that had started up as soon as we started talking about his body kicked into an even higher gear. “Put your money where your mouth is, soldier. Show me.”

His gaze held mine a moment longer, years of yearning and unfulfilled need condensed into seconds of scorching heat, before he reached down to the black belt wrapped around his waist. My eyes dropped down to watch as, with one hand, he undid it and, with a snap of his wrist, pulled it completely free from the loops of his pants.

My thighs immediately clenched. Why the fuck is that so hot?

My fingers itched to reach over and help, to feel the bulk of that bulge beneath the black fabric for myself, but I forced myself to sit still and watch as he pulled down the zipper and roughly tugged down both his pants and underwear, yanking them down to his knees as his cock finally came into view.

He was right. He definitely didn’t have anything to be worried about.

As he leaned back to resume his previous position, hands on the mattress behind him and body half-reclined, his hard, thick cock lay rigid against his stomach, dripping a few drops of pre-cum onto the fitted black t-shirt he still wore.

Veins lined the length of it, drawing trails I ached to follow with my fingers or my tongue.

I didn’t even realize my mouth had fallen open until he laughed, a deep, rich sound that rumbled from his chest. “No snarky comeback, Alpha?”

For some reason, him calling me ‘Alpha’ at that moment caused my brain to temporarily short-circuit. I could only blink up at him in a stupor until I regained control of my body and snapped my mouth shut.

“I guess you’re not all talk,” I conceded, trying to keep some control over the situation as I got to my feet. “Lie down. Prop yourself up with the pillow.”

Troy frowned up at me, his handsome face torn between eagerness to please me and his masculine pride. “I told you I’m not letting you…”

I cut him off before he could finish. “You said you wouldn’t come before I did. Well, we’ll just have to see who’s faster, won’t we?”

Before I could second-guess myself, my hands went to my own pants, undoing the button and pulling down the zipper.

The way Troy’s breath hitched at the peek I gave him of my lacy black panties gave me the ego boost I needed to go the rest of the way, kicking off my heels and pulling off the pants and panties all at once.

When I’d stepped out of them and tossed them to the side, Troy’s focus hadn’t shifted from the smooth skin between my legs.

I preferred being waxed, for myself rather than for any man, and if I ever worried my mate might not like it, those doubts vanished in the heat of Troy’s stare.

“Lie down,” I instructed again. “I need somewhere to sit.”

At last, realization about what I intended to do dawned on him, and he immediately abandoned his protests, shifting his body horizontally onto the narrow, twin-sized bed.

Due to his height, his feet hung off the end and his upper half was at a 30-degree angle, his shoulders against the wall in order to fit.

The bed definitely wouldn’t fit both of us lying side-by-side, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t intend to lie next to him.

Doing my best to ignore the way my heart pounded in anticipation, my whole body tingling with excitement, I stepped towards the head of the bed and turned around.

With my back to his face, I rested my hands on his firm abdomen for support.

Before I could even lift one leg, Troy’s strong hands gripped my hips, giving me the feeling of flying as he lifted me up and positioned me over his chest. My knees rested in the crook of his elbows as I wiggled forward until his cock lay just below my salivating mouth.

“Are you ready?” I asked, trying to sound flirty and in control, but the words came out breathy and almost desperate.

“No,” he breathed out from behind me, the exact same mix of need and excitement in his tone. “But I’m not going to fucking stop.”

Neither was I. “First one to come loses,” I teased, even though I could already feel the wetness gathering between my thighs. Just the thought of his mouth on me had my body throbbing.

I didn’t say what the winner got. I didn’t have to. We both knew it didn’t matter.

All that mattered at that exact moment was the feel of his cock in my hands as I lifted him to my lips, and the earth-shattering cascade of sparks that lit up between my legs when he pulled me down onto his face.