Шеррилин Кеньон - Night Play

Heat flooded her. A deep-seated need tore through her body. It was one she didn't understand.

In all her life, Bride McTierney had never done anything other than what she was supposed to. She'd graduated high school and lived at home with her parents while she went to Tulane, where she had seldom dated and had spent more nights than not in the library.

After graduation, she'd gotten a job as a manager at the mall until her grandmother had died and left her the building that now housed her shop. And here she had worked every day without fail. No matter how sick or tired she was.

Bride had never taken a step on the wild side. Fear and responsibility had ruled her life from the moment of her birth.

Yet here she sat, holding a complete stranger in her arms. A gorgeous stranger who had been kinder to her than anyone else.

And she wanted to taste him. To know just once what it was like to actually kiss a man who looked like this.

Lifting her head, she looked up at him and trembled with a deep-seated desire she didn't comprehend. But she felt it all the way through her.

Don't…

She squelched the voice of reason, reached up and pulled the band from his hair. Freed, those long dark strands framed the face of heaven.

The heat of his hazel-green eyes scorched her. He dipped his head down until his lips hovered dangerously close to hers, as if he were asking her permission.

Breathless, she closed the distance and laid her lips against his. He growled deep in his throat like some animal before his kiss turned hungry, passionate.

Bride was thrilled and amazed by his reaction. No man had ever seemed to enjoy kissing her as much as this one did. His strong hands cupped her head as he ravished her mouth as if he were starving for her and her alone.

Vane pulled her to him as the animal inside him roared to life. It wanted her with a desperation that bordered on madness. He could taste her own passion on his tongue. Hear her heart beating in rapid time to his.

Most of all, he could smell her desire and he wanted more. The animal inside him wouldn't be satisfied until it tasted her fully.

In his world, sex had no emotional meaning. It was a biological act between two creatures to ease a female's fertile time and a male's urges. If the two wolves weren't mates, then there was no chance of pregnancy, nor was there any form of sexually transmitted diseases between them.

If Bride were one of his people, he'd already have her naked on the floor.

But she wasn't a she-wolf…

Human females were different. He'd never made love to one of them and he wasn't sure how she would react if he took her the way he would one of their females. Her kind was very frail in comparison.

In all honesty, he didn't know why he was so hot for her now. It wasn't normal. Not once in all the centuries he had lived had he ever even contemplated taking a human lover.

But this one…

He couldn't stop himself. Every instinct he possessed demanded he take her.

His wolf's soul wanted to taste her. It wanted to breathe her in and let her softness ease the loneliness that had filled his heart these past months while he grieved for his sister and brother.

Just for one moment, he wanted to feel unalone again.

Bride shivered as Vane left her lips and trailed his kisses to her throat where he nibbled the sensitive skin there. His whiskers gently scraped her skin, making her burn even more as her breasts tightened with need. Good grief, he was so innately masculine. So incredibly hot. And every lick he delivered to her skin made her stomach contract.

This was so out of character for her. She didn't usually neck with men she knew like this. Never mind a perfect stranger.

And yet she didn't want to push him away. Just once in her life, she wanted something out of the ordinary. Deep inside she knew Vane would be spectacular.

Terrified of what she was about to do, she took a deep breath and braced herself for his rejection.

"Would you make love to me?"

Instead of the laughter she expected, he pulled back from nibbling her throat to look at the open windows of her shop. "You don't mind?"

Heat exploded across her face as she realized it was dark outside and anyone passing by on the street had a perfect view of the two of them necking like horny teenagers.

"Hold on," she said, scooting out of his arms to lock her door, flip her Open sign around to say Closed, and dim the lights.

She wished she still had an apartment to take him to, but maybe this was better. If they left here together, she would most likely chicken out, which would be the smart thing to do.

Or he might change his mind.

No, she wanted to do this. She wanted him.

Taking his hand, she led him through her shop, toward the door to the back room.

As she opened the door, he pulled her to a stop.

Bride looked back to see him staring into the dressing room that was to her right. A wicked grin spread across his face.

Walking backward, he led her into the room and shut the curtains.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He pulled his T-shirt off, over his head.

Oh, dear heaven! Bride couldn't breathe as she got her first look at his bared chest. She'd known he had a great body, but this…

It exceeded anything from her dreams. His broad shoulders tapered to a washboard stomach that could do enough laundry for an entire nation. Forget six-pack, this man had eight, and they rippled with every breath he took. His entire torso was lightly covered by hair, making him look even more masculine and raw.

There were several deep scars that curved around his left shoulder and biceps, and one that looked strangely like an animal bite of some kind.

It was all she could do not to drool.

Or faint.

Really, no mere mortal woman should be in the presence of someone this fine and not need oxygen.

He opened the button on his jeans, then pulled her back into his arms.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered. "I'll be gentle."

But that wasn't what she was afraid of. What she feared was his reaction when he saw what she looked like naked. Good grief, he didn't have an ounce of fat on him and here she was a good, solid size eighteen.

He was going to run screaming for the door any minute.

Instead, he reached up and pulled her hair down around her shoulders. Running his hands through it, he pulled her lips to his so that he could ravage her mouth again.

She moaned in bliss. This man certainly knew how to use his tongue to his advantage. She could have kissed him all day.

Bride ran her hands over the lean muscles of his chest, amazed at how good they felt. She flicked her fingertips over and around his hardened nipples, delighting in the deep moan she heard from him.

He moved to unbutton her dress.

"It's darker in the back room," she said.

"Why would I want it darker?"

She shrugged. Taylor had always insisted on absolute darkness whenever they made love.

She shivered as he unbuttoned her dress and dropped it to the ground. She expected him to pull away.

He didn't. He still wore that hot, hungry look as he stared at her in her underwear. Thank goodness it actually matched and it wasn't her old stuff.

Vane had never been more unsure of himself than he was at this moment. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her carefully, afraid he might hurt her. Ever since he'd hit puberty, he'd heard stories of wolves who had killed human partners accidentally while mating with them.

Human bones lacked the density of his kind. Their skin bruised much more easily.

Carefully, he pressed her back against the wall so that he could feel every inch of her lush curves against his hardness. The smell of her perfume and skin intoxicated him. It was all he could do not to howl in triumph.