Vivian Arend - Black Gold

A wolfish grin, with a full flash of teeth greeted her just before he stuck out his tongue and licked her from jaw to hairline.

She giggled and grabbed him. All thoughts of how utterly enormous his wolf was compared to the other wolves she knew disappeared as she wrestled with him on the mattress. Instantly comfortable with this stranger in her room, she targeted all the prime wolf ticklish spots, laughing as he squirmed under her.

Then he rolled and shifted at the same time, and instead of the weight of a furry wolf pinning her to the bed, the full length of a very smooth-skinned, muscular and naked man held her captive. His black hair hung in unruly tangles around his head, beautiful dark brown eyes with simply enormous pupils filling their cores hovered inches over hers.

A squarish jaw. The smile she’d seen moments earlier on his wolf—the expression was still there, although his teeth were now human-shaped and even. His nose had a slight bump in the middle, broken at some point she suspected.

“Hello, love.”

His voice tickled inside her ears, drowning out the background music and sending an icy sensation down the length of her spine. She instinctively arched and hit the brick wall of his body. He held her immobile. His hips nestled tight to her groin, her breasts crushed to his chest.

The interest on his face flashed hotter.

Gem panted with need. She’d been turned on before, but now the scent in the air was an impossible-to-ignore aphrodisiac. “Hello. Are you…? I mean…are we…?”

He lowered his head and kissed the hollow of her neck. The icicles spread from her spine, threading in an intricate pattern over her skin. How could she be on fire and so cold at the same time?

“Are we what? Are we going to fuck?”

The dirty word was accompanied by a light nip to her throat, and Gem cried out. She thrust her hips forward, the rising heat between her legs meeting his erection. His very large erection.

Oh my goodness, they made everything about these northern wolves larger than in the south.

She tangled her fingers in his hair, reluctantly pulling his lips from where he’d been laying a trail of soft bites and lazy kisses.

“Stop. We need to stop for a moment. I don’t even know your name.”

He licked her bottom lip and moaned in approval. “Shaun Stevens. What’s yours, princess?”

Shaun. Nice name. Gem found herself having difficulty speaking as he’d resumed kissing her jaw and the tender spot right under her ear. “Gemmita Ellen…Louise May…oh my, that feels wonderful…Jacobs.”

He paused. Snorted lightly. “That’s a bit of a mouthful, love. You have a shorter handle?”

“Gem. My friends call me— oh !”

A sharp pain struck, smearing into a wave of pleasure. The dangling earlobe where he’d nipped her throbbed in time with the ache between her legs.

“Pretty. Gem. Almost as pretty as you.”

She smiled. Sweet-talking on top of the incredible rush of hormones dancing in her cells? This was going to be one extraordinary evening. A couple wiggles later, she was able to prop herself up on her elbows and stare at him. “Shaun?”

He twirled a fingertip around her right nipple as he rested on his other elbow, gaze fixed on hers. “Ah-huh?”

“Are we going to talk some more?”

Shaun leaned closer, his hand cupping the side of her breast, supporting her nipple skyward. He licked the tip. Once. Again.

“Later.”

He closed his mouth around her and sucked. Electric impulses sparkled through her system, nerves going off standby and into highly sensitized and ready-to-explode mode.

Maybe talking was overrated. She relaxed back onto the pillow, her wolf rumbling its content as she smoothed a hand over Shaun’s broad shoulders. His muscles shifted under her fingers as he played with her breasts, driving her with deliberate slowness to the brink of undeniable need.

All her earlier confusion faded. Making love with Shaun was right. Being with him was not only right, their meeting was the first thing in her life that had the potential to be perfect. Her mate, coming to claim her. She would claim him. Together, they’d be able to do anything.

All the stories of how much happiness there was found in having a partner were going to be true for her, starting this moment. Predestined mates might not be the human way, but her wolf inside basked in the attention, the total correctness of the situation.

Shaun licked her ribs. “I’ve dreamed about you.”

She shivered.

“I never imagined you’d show up today. And now I can’t stop touching you. Wanting you. Needing to bury myself in you.” He dropped his forehead to her belly and she squirmed.

“Keep going,” she begged.

Shaun looked her in the eye. “You’d have to kill me to make me stop.”

That made them even. She’d kill him if he stopped.

His wolf wasn’t far away—the beast was still visible in Shaun’s eyes, in the way he went rigid at moments, as if fighting for control. Gem let a touch of her power escape to soothe him.

For one second the mystical connection worked. He relaxed, eased back into her arms. Then it was as if a totally impenetrable wall rose between them. Shaun’s wolf vanished in that moment, and all that was left was the man who stared at her with extreme hunger in his eyes.

“It’s not the wolves’ turn, love. We’ll let them out to play later. Right now, it’s just you and me.”

He lowered himself between her legs and touched her intimately with his lips. A soft caress to the inside of her leg. Another at the top of her curls.

When he slipped a finger along her slit, she realized something important.

“Shaun, you haven’t kissed me yet. My lips, I mean— oh …”

One thick finger slid into her core as she spoke, and her question ended on a breathless sigh.

“Soon. Trust me.” Shaun stroked in deep, the heel of his palm rubbing the apex of her sex, his finger stretching her. “You’re very tight. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” Gem spoke with utter conviction. He was her mate. There was nothing a mate wanted more than to make their partner happy. Even as she wondered how they would be able to juggle their lives, and locations, her momentary concerns faded.

He was touching her. How could she concentrate on anything but enjoying this moment?

The steady thrust of his hand into her core notched the tingling up to overdrive as he made additional contact—his mouth. He tongued the aching nub at the apex of her mound, lapping and licking in unending sweeps until she couldn’t take it anymore. An orgasm ripped through her, shaking her, squeezing around the two fingers he’d carefully worked into her.

Gem pulled her knees farther to the side in expectation of him rising over her. He didn’t shift position, but he kept moving all right—that talented tongue of his. She gasped for air as he stroked gentler now, forcing her to accept his touch until stars floated before her eyes. Moisture pooled around his fingers, her body loosening and wanting more.

“That’s it, love. You’re beautiful. Really and truly. The way you taste—hmm.”

Shaun lapped again, sucking on her clit, and a long, slow pulse broke through. Gem quivered on the bed, wondering if she’d be able to walk when they were done. He hadn’t stopped, but he hadn’t given her what she needed yet.

She reached down and grabbed his hair, tugging harder as urgent desire rose. “Please. Take me, now. I need you inside.”

His laughter rang out, a low rumble of amusement. “I need you too. But my wolf said to go slow.”

Really stupid, bad idea . She tightened her grip and hauled him up to her level. She might be smaller than him, but she was still a wolf, and that made her strong enough to force even his bulk to change position.