Marisa Chenery - Skylar’s Devotion

Skylar made a choking noise, drawing Braelyn’s attention. He stood in front of the display where she’d gotten the boot. “What?”

“Are you seriously thinking of buying those?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Did you look at the price?” he asked incredulously.

“Of course. That’s why I’m more than likely going to get them. They’re on sale.”

“Maybe so but they’re still over seven hundred dollars. What the hell would the price be if they weren’t discounted?”

She shook her head over his naiveté. “Over a thousand dollars. The boots are Manolo Blahniks.” When Skylar gave her a blank look, she sighed. “Manolo Blahnik is one of the top shoe designers.”

“That would have no bearing to me. I still wouldn’t pay that price.” He looked down and stuck out his foot, giving her a good view of the black shit-kicker boot he wore. “These are what I call boots, and they sure as hell didn’t cost as much as that heeled contraption you want to try on.”

Just then the saleswoman returned. She put the box she carried on the floor in front of one of the chairs against a nearby wall and opened the lid. Braelyn went and sat as the woman pulled the boots out. She slipped off her shoes and put on the boots. Standing, she walked back and forth before she stopped at the small mirror sitting on the floor. The angle of it gave her a perfect view of her feet and legs. Braelyn nodded. The boots looked really good with her skinny jeans, and they were comfortable to wear.

She walked back to the chair and slipped them off. “I’ll take these.”

The saleswoman took the boots, put them back in the box and headed for the register near the front of the store while Braelyn slipped her shoes back on. At the counter, she opened her purse and took out her credit card.

Skylar had followed her. “I just did the mental math, adding up what you bought today. Do you spend this kind of money every time you go shopping?”

Braelyn shrugged. “Sometimes. It’s not as if I spend beyond my means. And the business I’m in, it’s all about keeping up with the latest fashion. I think of it as a work expense.”

“A very expensive work expense,” Skylar grumbled.

With the boots rung in and the credit receipt signed, Braelyn took the bag from the saleswoman and headed out of the store with Skylar in her wake. “I guess that’s it.”

“Good. Let’s get all these bags put in your car. Where are you parked?”

“In one of the lots a couple blocks from where you parked your motorcycle.” She’d seen it at the curb when they’d left the lingerie store.

With a nod, Skylar got them moving in that direction. He also seemed to be in a hurry. Braelyn found herself having to almost trot in her heels just to keep up with his long strides. But that didn’t cause Skylar to slow any.

Skylar kept up the quick pace until he saw the lot where Braelyn had parked her car. A short glance around showed they were the only ones there, which suited his purposes. He intended to get his kiss from Braelyn as soon as they reached her car. His mating urge had been pushing him to kiss her, take her in his arms and show her exactly what she did to his body, and to his peace of mind.

And he knew it would only get worse until he finally claimed her as his own. His mating urge would continue to ride him until the mating bond formed between them. That would only happen when they made love for the first time. Once bonded, werewolf mates couldn’t stand to be away from each other for any length of time. One hour apart felt like months. Their minds would play tricks on them and make them think something had happened to the other. And, once they were together again, hot, intense sex followed shortly thereafter.

Never having been mated before, Skylar so far hadn’t experienced what mates went through when separated. But with his sister-in-arms, Saskia, his true brothers Roan and Jager, and his brother-in-arms, Leif, all mated, they’d done a pretty good job of describing it. Apparently it was a bitch to go through, and an experience that should be avoided at all costs, especially when it came to the newly mated. Over time, the separation would become easier to handle, but that took over a year at least.

As soon as they entered the parking lot, he asked, “Which one is your car?”

He would be more than happy to get rid of all the shopping bags he’d been toting around for the last hour and get Braelyn into his arms. She’d promised him a kiss, and he intended to get it.

She pointed to the end of the line of cars in the aisle where they walked. “Mine is the blue BMW.”

Skylar looked where Braelyn had indicated and spotted the dark blue BMW M3 coupe. The car was obviously a newer model, and something he totally expected his soon-to-be mate to drive. Braelyn liked the best things out of life, be it clothes, shoes or cars. It was a good thing he had more money than he knew what to do with—being alive for a little over a thousand years had allowed him to amass a fortune—and would be able to provide Braelyn with whatever her heart desired.

At her car, she reached into her purse and pulled out a ring of keys. She pushed a button on the remote, and the BMW’s trunk popped open. Braelyn lifted the lid all the way up and stepped aside for Skylar to put the bags inside. She put the single one she held next to the others and closed the trunk.

Before she could turn around, Skylar stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his body. He nuzzled the side of her neck with his nose. “Now about that kiss,” he said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until after dinner to claim it?”

She leaned into him and put her hands on top of his arms. Skylar bit back a moan of need as a rush of intense arousal surged through him. Her scent wrapped around him, making him drunk on it. His cock, now fully erect, pressed against the small of her back. She had to be able to feel it. He wasn’t exactly small by any means.

“No,” he said, barely managing to keep a growl from his voice.

Braelyn spun in his arms and put her hands on his chest. She lifted her gaze to his. “One kiss only. For now.”

Skylar tightened his arms around her and did what he’d been dying to do since he’d first seen her crossing the street. He took her lips in a heated kiss, angling his mouth until he had a tighter fit. Her lips softened under his when he swept the seam of her mouth with his tongue, begging for entrance. Once she let him in, he groaned deep in his throat at his first real taste of her. Their tongues twined, tasting and stroking. Braelyn moaned softly as he rocked his hips into her, his cock throbbing in time with the surging of his blood through his veins.

The kiss seemed to go on and on. Skylar knew one taste of her would never be enough. It took a considerable amount of control not to take the kiss further, regardless of them being outside in a public place. And, when her hands balled into the front of his t-shirt as she deepened their kiss, he found himself hanging on by a mere thread. He’d finally found his mate, and having her in his arms, he wanted to claim her, make her irrevocably his.

If Braelyn had been a female of his kind and not a mortal, they’d have already been well on the way to becoming mates. Since she wasn’t, it meant he’d have to take things a little slower, no matter how hard his mating urge pushed him to make her his.

Finding the willpower to break the kiss, Skylar lifted his head. They were both breathing at a quick pace. With each deep breath Braelyn took, it brushed her taut nipples against his chest. Meeting her gaze, he saw a dazed look in her eyes. She might not be a werewolf and she might have been unable to sense his mating urge, but that didn’t mean she was any less affected by their kiss. The smell of her arousal wafted around them, giving proof to the fact she was as hungry for him as he was for her.