MANIMAL
Lani Aames
 
Chapter 1
 
“I can’t believe my luck. The first snowfall of the year and I have to be out in the middle of it.” Kelsey Locke grumbled loud enough for the phone to pick up what she was saying. She pushed a curly strand of dark brown hair out of her eyes and wished she’d remembered to pin it back before she left. “The wipers are on high and more snow is covering the windshield as soon as they clear it.”
“You’re almost there, Kels.” Dee’s voice was thin and tinny coming out of the speaker. “You passed the two crooked pines, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, a ways back.”
Both hands tightened on the steering wheel. She never drove on snow. Never. Two hours ago when Dee offered the use of her family’s cabin at Lake Passion, there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky. With a full moon, she had expected an easy trip. Now, the sky was shrouded in heavy dark clouds and the road was covered in a layer of white thick enough that not a bit of asphalt showed through.
“The lane to the cabin is just a few more miles. You’ll be all right. Hold on a sec.” There was a minute when all Kelsey could hear was the steady swish swish of the wipers and the low hum of the heater, then Dee’s voice broke through again. “Charles Leland has been calling every five minutes and now he’s text messaging.”
Kelsey blew out a breath through tight lips. Charles was the reason she was in this situation. They had dated a few months, nothing serious, when Kelsey decided to stop seeing him. It wasn’t fair to Charles that she was in lust with another man.
Dee’s Delights, her friend’s catering business, had provided the food for one of Charles’ business dinners, and Kelsey agreed to help out because Dee was shorthanded that night. Charles had become infatuated immediately and lingered near her most of the evening to the point of ignoring the guests he wanted to impress. Exasperated by his persistence, Kelsey agreed to a date just to make him leave her alone the rest of the evening.
Later, it occurred to her she would have to follow through. Kelsey wished she had Dee’s forthright manner, but she accepted she wasn’t as outspoken as her friend. In her place, Dee would have told him to back off and get out of her face, but Kelsey tried to be accommodating to all, even at her own expense.
In other words, she was a wuss.
So she went out with Charles intending to try her best. Two of his men, who were always at his side, accompanied them at a discreet distance. The two men had been at the dinner, too, and initially Kelsey had been drawn to the tall, dark one. But he was all business that night and never indicated any interest in her at all. Oh, occasionally she’d feel his dark eyes on her, but when she turned to look at him, his bland expression never changed. Kelsey assumed Charles had ordered him to watch her.
Even after she started dating Charles regularly, he didn’t act like he knew she existed as anything other than Charles’ property. Time and time again, she found herself wishing she had piqued his interest rather than Charles’. When Charles began pressuring her for sex, it finally dawned on her that she didn’t really want Charles. She was consumed with desire for the tall, mysterious man who always stood to the side, watching her with his penetrating gaze.
Kelsey wouldn’t sleep with Charles while lusting after another man. She couldn’t even continue seeing him. She broke it off, then freely admitted to herself that she hoped the man would make a move if she was unattached.
Except Charles didn’t think of them as detached. She’d told him it was over a couple of weeks ago, but his inflated ego rejected the possibility that any woman could say no to him. He was constantly calling her or sending flowers and gifts she promptly returned. The situation was so bad, she decided to go away for the weekend to get some work done. She even traded cell phones with Dee so she wouldn’t be distracted with ignoring his calls and messages or left without a way to call for help in case of an emergency.
“Don’t pay any attention to him. Maybe he’ll finally figure it out.” Kelsey squinted, tucking that annoying curl behind her ear, and tried to see through the white curtain of snow that surrounded her. She felt like she was caught in a snow globe and somebody had shaken it as hard as possible.
“Ooooh, I know. I can text him a message that’ll put an end to his bullshit once and for all,” Dee offered.
“No, no. I don’t want to make him mad.” Kelsey knew her outspoken friend would slice him and dice him if she said the word. But she was a little wary of Charles. While his landscaping business had made him rich and influential in the small town of Shadow Valley, Kelsey had a feeling there was something more…something not quite legit that accounted for most of his money and power. She didn’t have any proof and had never witnessed anything underhanded, but the past few weeks had given her plenty of time to think. Why else would the CEO of a local landscaping company need two full-time bodyguards? Why would he need state of the art security to protect manure?
 “Are you sure? I can tell him off and explain exactly where to stick those presents of his,” Dee offered.
“Dee, just don’t answer the messages or his calls. I’ll deal with him when I get back. I think I’m coming up on the ess curve, so I’m going to hang up and concentrate on driving. In the snow. Which wasn’t supposed to happen until tomorrow afternoon.”
“Gee, Kels, I didn’t know you believed in the weatherman. Do you still believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy, too? How about the Easter Bunny?”
“All right. Point taken.”
Dee snorted, an indelicate sound amplified by the speaker. “The lane to the cabin is less than a mile past the second curve, on the left. You can’t miss it.”
“I remember. I came up here with you and your family every summer for as long as we’ve been friends.”
“Right, second grade. You were a crybaby in kindergarten and first. Be careful, Kels.”
“I will.”
Just as Kelsey reached over to push the disconnect button, a movement to the right of the road caught her eye. She had the sense that it was a four-legged animal, like a large dog. Seconds later, a man, not wearing a stitch of clothing, loomed in the path of her SUV. She screamed, a short, sharp sound, as he stumbled through the snow, one hand pressing what looked like a dark colored rag to his left side, his right arm thrown up in front of his face to ward off the headlights.
Instinctively, Kelsey swerved to the right and slammed on the brakes. The back of the SUV fishtailed, swinging around in a wide arc. She tried pumping the pedal lightly, but the effort was too late. By the time the SUV stopped, it had turned ninety degrees and sat crossways on the road, the front bumper less than a yard away from the naked man.
Kelsey’s hands were locked around the steering wheel. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she shook as if she were the one standing naked in the snow. She caught a glimpse of her terror-stricken face in the rearview mirror. Her blue eyes were wide and fearful, and her mouth hung open as if to scream again but not a sound escaped.
When she looked through the windshield again, he had disappeared. At first, she thought he’d moved on to the other side of the road. But her gaze traveled downward and she realized he’d fallen.
What on earth should she do? Was this an act to lure her away from her vehicle so she could be hijacked, mugged, or worse? She waited a few moments, trying to decide if she should get out and help him or not. She couldn’t believe any hijacker or rapist in his right mind would run around in this weather stark naked. There would have to be an easier way to do their dirty deeds.
The man needed help. As if suddenly released from some invisible force that had kept her hands bound to the wheel, Kelsey threw open the door and jumped out, slipping and sliding on the layer of fluff covering the icy asphalt. She approached the man slowly. If this was some kind of trick, he couldn’t lie in the snow for very long.
There was something familiar about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. By the length of his body and long legs, he was a tall man. He sprawled on his back, his face turned away from her. She watched his broad chest and sighed in relief when it rose and fell, but the movements were shallow and belabored. Her eyes traveled downward, following the trail of hair that narrowed as it neared his belly button and pointed straight to his genitals.
She was shocked to see that his penis was partially erect, its burgeoning length lying alongside one thigh. If she’d given it any thought at all, half a hard-on would be the last thing she’d expect in a man in his condition. She took a few steps closer and fell to her knees beside him.
Up close she could see that he hadn’t been holding a dark rag to his side at all. His hand and the left side of his torso were smeared in the blood that seeped from a jagged tear at his waist, just above his hipbone. She reached out and brushed the snow away from his face, to see if he was still alive, when he groaned.
Kelsey gasped, shocked to find that she knew the man. “Durak?” she whispered.
Durak Voronin was one of Charles’ bodyguards-slash-henchmen, and the man she had lusted after for the past few months. Sometimes Charles jokingly called Durak his enforcer. And sometimes, when she looked into Durak’s hard brown eyes, she believed it…a shiver of danger would race through her body to merge with the physical longing.
What was he doing out here? Had Charles instructed Durak to follow her? Kelsey could see Charles giving the order and Durak complying. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t imagine why Durak would be naked, on foot, and injured.
He made another sound, interrupting her thoughts. A cross between a groan and a growl, it rumbled deep in his throat and chest. His legs jerked up as his face screwed in pain. Every muscle in his body grew taut and his arms twitched as his body curled into the fetal position.
“What are you doing here?” She brushed more snow away, startled by the coldness of his skin. She scrambled out of her coat, laid it over him, and leaned in close to his ear. “I’ve got a cell phone in the SUV, and I can call for help. I’ll only be gone a few minutes, then I’ll come back for you and we’ll both get in out of the cold.”
Before she could move, his hand shot out and closed around her wrist, snapping shut with the finality of a manacle. Kelsey cried out and tried to pry his fingers loose, but his grip was as unbreakable as iron.
“Durak, let me go. I’m trying to help you!” she shouted, hoping he would hear her and understand. His eyes opened and he pinned her with his relentless stare.
“No!”
The one word was short but powerful. Yet she didn’t know what he was saying no to. Don’t call 911? Or don’t get him in out of the cold? Both? Neither?
“I don’t know what’s happening, but I do know one thing. I’m not going to sit out here freezing my ass off. Either let me go so I can get back in the SUV, or let me help you so we can both get warm.”
She thought for a moment she’d lost him. He neither blinked nor lessened his grip, and it was almost as if he didn’t breathe. Then he closed his eyes, his fingers relaxing around her wrist.
“Help me…to the SUV.”
Kelsey breathed a sigh of relief and laid her hand over his. “All right. I’m not strong enough to pick you up. You’re going to have to try to walk.”
He nodded. Kelsey maneuvered around until she was holding onto his body, his arm slung across her shoulders. She moved her coat around so that it covered his backside. She didn’t think it was doing him much good, but she couldn’t expose that part of him to the snow and cold again.
He shuddered violently as she rose, forcing him to his feet. He slumped against her and she almost went down. And for a moment, she thought she felt fur, thick and warm, brush her cheek. As they uprighted again, she decided the cold had numbed her face and she was having sensory lapses. Or something. Disregarding the sensation, she took a step and Durak did the same.
Even though the SUV was only a few yards away, it became a long walk. When they reached the vehicle, Durak folded his tall body into the front passenger seat, Kelsey’s coat covering part of him. He shivered, the chill racing through his full length.
She opened the glove compartment and brought out a flashlight. “There’s a blanket in the back. I won’t be but a minute.”
She didn’t know if he heard her or not because he didn’t respond. She shut the door and walked around to the back.
Kelsey shone the beam on the ground, looking for his first set of prints. They had almost filled with fresh fallen snow, but she could still see where he had stepped. She remembered that just before Durak stumbled in front of the SUV, she’d had the impression of a large dog off to the right.
Had Durak been attacked by a vicious dog? Could his injury have been caused by canine teeth? But that didn’t explain why he was as naked as the day he was born. A wild dog might have torn his clothing to shreds, but wouldn’t have totally destroyed them. It wouldn’t have ripped off his shoes and socks, too.
Kelsey walked away from the road and into the trees, shining the light on each print, occasional splotches of blood discoloring the snow. She went deeper than she meant to, until she could only see the faint glow of headlights among the trees behind her. Here the footprints stopped and…she didn’t want to believe what she was looking at. After the last footprint was a pawprint. It was nearly as large as the footprints and twice as big as any dog’s pawprint she had ever seen.
The strangest thing of all was there were no footprints mingled with the pawprints, and there were no pawprints interspersed with the footprints. The pawprints did not go off in another direction. And the footprints hadn’t come from another way. It was as if the dog had disappeared into thin air and Durak had appeared out of nowhere. It was as if…
Kelsey didn’t finish the thought. What she was thinking was preposterous. Impossible. Not only impossible, but improbable. Ridiculous. Mad.
With one last sweep of the flashlight that revealed nothing more, she ran back.

Chapter 2
 
Kelsey retrieved the blanket and got in behind the wheel. She spread the blanket over Durak and turned the heater vents toward him. He huddled beneath her coat and blanket, eyes closed.
He could be bleeding to death or suffering from hypothermia. Either way, he needed help. Kelsey eased the cell phone out of the speaker base. She squinted in the light of the dash and pressed the 9 button. Before she could reach the 1, Durak snatched the phone from her hands and slammed it against the dash.
The effort cost him. The phone fell from his hand and he slumped back in the seat.
“Why did you do that?” She looked at him and found him glowering at her, the glow from the dashboard giving his dark eyes an eerie cast.
“I told you not to call,” he rasped.
“No, you didn’t. But you do need help. You could be bleeding to death or have frostbite. In several places,” she added thinking of one extremity in particular.
“I’m not. The bleeding has stopped.”
“Well, something tore a chunk out of your side. You’ve lost a lot of blood and you’ve been exposed to the cold.” Kelsey picked up the wrecked phone and stared at it, bewildered. Why would he destroy their only means to summon help? What was he hiding? The two sets of prints flashed through her mind, but she pushed them away. There was a logical explanation for them. There had to be!
Kelsey tried to get a dial tone, but the phone was dead. She dropped it in the space between their seats. “You’d better hope you don’t need help now. The nearest hospital is back in Shadow Valley!”
“I don’t need anything but time to rest.”
“It’s going to take more than rest to heal up that hole in your side. You need stitches,” she snapped. Immediately, she regretted the harshness in her voice. He could be dying for all she knew, yet he didn’t seem to be taking his condition seriously.
“I’ll be fine,” he murmured.
“You don’t sound fine. You don’t look fine, either!”
“It might be a good idea to get us out of the middle of the road before another vehicle comes along.”
He was right. Although she hadn’t seen another person crazy enough to be out in this weather for the past thirty minutes, it would be her luck for a car to come along and not be able to stop in time. With her foot on the brake, she shifted into drive and eased the vehicle around until it was on the road properly and headed in the right direction.
“It’s less than two miles to the cabin.”
“This cabin is where you were headed?”
Kelsey pressed the gas pedal lightly. The wheels spun a few seconds, then caught and the SUV jerked forward. “Yeah. It belongs to the family of a friend of mine. You remember Dee from Charles’ dinner party. I used to come up here on vacations with them when we were kids.”
She drove slowly around the ess curves and easily found the lane after the second one, just as she remembered.
“We’re almost there.”
At the end of the short lane, the headlights illuminated the rustic log cabin. Kelsey left them on to light their way. The snow wasn’t falling as thickly now as it had been and the flakes were smaller. Luckily, they weren’t the tiny icy bits that usually meant accumulation. So far there was less than a half-inch layer covering everything.
Kelsey got out and went around to help Durak out of the car. As she fit herself under his arm, she was immediately aware that his body temperature had changed drastically. Before, his skin had felt like ice, but now it was hot to the touch. She was afraid he was becoming ill and running a fever. If he grew worse, she would have to venture out and get help thanks to his temper tantrum with the phone.
His arm wrapped around her as if it belonged there, the other clutching the blanket to the injury at his side. As they trudged up the slight slope to the front porch, she was all too aware of his naked body pressed to hers. She tried to berate herself. After all, he was wounded and ill. But the pent-up lust she’d felt for him all these weeks was aching to break free.
Shoving her inappropriate feelings aside, she found the key in the flowerpot on the window ledge next to the door. It was just as cold inside the cabin as out. She switched on the lights, grateful the power was still on, and led Durak to the couch where he curled up, another groan escaping in a ragged rush of air. Kelsey grabbed the crocheted afghan off the back of the couch and spread it over him, too.
“I’ll get a fire started. It’ll be warm soon.”
He didn’t respond and Kelsey tried not to worry as she made a fire in the large stone fireplace. She tended it carefully until the kindling caught and the logs were burning. Warmth seeped into the room.
She went to Durak. His eyes were closed, and he looked as if he might be asleep. His hair was cut too short on the sides and at the nape for his angular face. A fringe of longer hair, thick and black, fell rakishly across his brow. She swept it back and laid her hand across his forehead. His skin felt hot, as if he were burning up with fever, but that could be because her hands were so cold. She could always do what her mother had done to check her temperature when she was young…kiss his temple.
Kelsey hesitated. He was asleep or unconscious. Either way he would never know. She leaned forward and watched him for a moment. His face was lean and hard with a not-quite-square jaw and prominent brow. His temples were slightly sunken, framed by cranium and sharp cheekbones. Only the soft lines of his lips relieved the starkness of his countenance and provided a hint of sensuality.
Kelsey pressed her mouth to his temple before she could give in to the impulse of kissing those lips. A secluded cabin was definitely the place, but this wasn’t the time. He felt warmer than normal, but not dangerously so. With luck, his temperature wouldn’t go any higher now that they were inside with a fire for warmth and he was wrapped protectively in blankets.
Brushing his hair back one more time, she started to stand when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back down close to him. His eyes were wide open and looking at her.
“This is developing into a bad habit,” she said.
His grip was as solid as iron, and he didn’t even flinch when she twisted her hand one way and then another, trying to break free. He was injured, cold, and possibly ill. It didn’t make sense that she couldn’t overpower him.
But none of this night made sense. Why was he out here in the first place? Why was he buck naked, sporting a hole the size of her fist in his side?
Why had the huge pawprints turned into his footprints?
“I need you,” he whispered, his voice dry and shaky.
For a split second, a canine muzzle replaced his face. She blinked and had the feeling that he had turned from man to beast to man again, rather than the image of a large dog superimposed over him. She shook her head. She was letting her imagination run away with her.
“What do you need?” she asked softly. “I brought plenty of food if you’d like something to eat. Or do you want water?”
His head shook in the negative, one short sharp jerk to the side. “I want you.”
Kelsey frowned. “You want me to what?”
He shook his head again. “I want you, Kelsey. No time to explain, but I need to discharge.”
“You mean you want to…” Her voice trailed off.
“Fuck you.”
Well, that was blunt. During her time with Charles she’d noticed Durak was a man of few words, and when he did speak he said exactly what he needed to say with no embellishment. His being delusional hadn’t changed that.
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You’ve been injured and you’re running a fever. When you get well, then we’ll talk.” She smiled and laid her hand over his to let him know that she was definitely interested.
He shook his head yet again and scowled. “You don’t underSTAND—” And his voice rose into a howl of distress. His face once again changed into a canine muzzle and his hand morphed into a huge paw with claws instead of fingers. Almost instantly, he changed back to human.
With strength born of panic, Kelsey jerked free of his grip. She scrambled away from him and whatever he was. It definitely wasn’t her imagination. She rubbed her wrist where she’d felt thick fur and sharp claws against her skin. Her heart hammered in her chest as she once again recalled how the pawprints had suddenly become footprints in the snow.
“What is going on?” she shouted at him, fear making her voice quiver.
His body jackknifed and he groaned, a deep mournful sound, as fur briefly replaced smooth, taut skin. “Werewolf,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I’m a werewolf. No time…no…time…” His hand-paw-hand reached for her. “Too much energy. Overload. Can’t control. Need to discharge now—need to fuck you now.”
Kelsey drew back, beyond arm’s length, and watched him. Werewolves weren’t real! Yet, he was changing right before her eyes. And wasn’t that the thought she’d refused to consider while looking at the two sets of prints in the snow? That he’d somehow transmogrified from a four-legged beast into a two-legged human.
What if the reverse occurred right now and he turned completely into a wolf? Legendary lycanthropes were ravening creatures that slaughtered anyone in their paths. Would he be any different?
Kelsey took a step toward the door, fully intending to run to the SUV and get the hell out of there. But his voice, crackling with the effort, stopped her in her tracks.
“I want you, Kelsey.”
He needed her, but he also wanted her. She looked back and his hand was still stretched out toward her. He wanted her. Didn’t that make all the difference in the world?
“I wish it could be different because I’ve wanted you a long time.”
Kelsey took a step, then hesitated. “I want you, too, but I’m scared.”
“No danger, I promise.” He changed again, from man to wolf to man. “I won’t hurt you.”
With a deep breath, Kelsey made the decision to take a chance and trust him. She took his hand-paw-hand, fascinated by the way it morphed from one to the other. If having sex would release him from this flickering between wolf and human, what else could she do?
Durak threw back the blankets and coat and suddenly the cabin was much too warm for her. His cock was fully erect, long and thick, jutting at an angle from its nest of dark hair. Heat flushed through her, hot desire she hadn’t felt in a long time curling in the pit of her belly. For months, she’d suppressed these feelings for him, thinking he was out of her reach. Now that she could allow them, they consumed her completely.
She undressed quickly, popping buttons in her haste to remove her sweater. She dropped her jeans and panties, already dampened with the juices of her desire, and pulled off boots and socks. She cast her leg over and straddled him. He must have reached critical because the change between human and wolf accelerated until she wasn’t sure which she’d mount, the man or the animal.
His hands-paws-hands gripped her hips and drove her down onto his cock. Kelsey moaned with the pleasure of him inside her and trembled with her own need. She placed her palms on his chest and closed her eyes. Her back arched as she moved with him, her hips undulating with the rhythm of his as he thrust deep inside her.
Beneath her fingertips, skin changed to fur and back again in a continuous flow. She felt his cock change each time as well. Neither was better nor worse than the other, just different. Both heightened her pleasure, until her throbbing clit reached its own critical stage.
She came, hard, the eruption flashing through her body. Her fingers touched skin-fur-skin and her head fell back. Durak’s thrusts quickened, his hands tightening on her hips, his groin grinding into her sex. As his body stiffened beneath hers, she felt skin against her hands…it was Durak the man releasing hot spurts inside her.
Breathing ragged, Kelsey leaned forward and watched his taut muscled chest rise and fall in deep breaths. Having sex must have worked because he hadn’t morphed since his release. Looking down at him, as she had dreamed of so often in the past few weeks, the idea that he was a werewolf was preposterous.
Her hand trailed down to his side. Still covered in dried blood, the torn edges had closed and the injury was half the size it had been when she first found him.
Less than two hours ago.
No normal person healed that fast. It proved more than anything else that Durak Voronin was something other than human. He was a werewolf.
A breath hitched in her chest and she pulled away from him, removing her hands from him. She had to back away, emotionally as well as physically, from him and what he was. She had to take some time to think.
But Durak caught her hands and intertwined his fingers with hers.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at her through heavy lids.
Kelsey gasped and tears stung her eyes. Oh, wonderful. She had put her life and sanity on the line by having sex with him while he was in the throes of metamorphosis and now he was sorry. She reeled back, yanking her hands away.
“No,” he said and reclaimed her hands, holding tightly even though she struggled to get away. “I’m not sorry we fucked. I wish it had been under different circumstances. It should have been because we want each other and no other reason.”
Kelsey blinked back the unshed tears. He seemed sincere as he looked at her, his dark eyes intense. She took a deep breath and strengthened her resolve to trust him. And her own feelings.
“I’m not sorry either.”
He released her and his fingers played lightly over her skin, sending little shivers through her.
She laid her hands on his chest again. “You don’t feel feverish now.”
“I’m all right. I’ll tell you everything, but now I need…to sleep…” His voice trailed off and his hands stopped caressing her.
Kelsey raised up and looked at him. His eyes were closed and his breathing had evened. He was asleep. She eased out of his arms and stood over him, watching him as he turned on his side and settled in. She covered him with the blanket and afghan.
Man, animal, or manimal, males were all the same.

Chapter 3
 
Kelsey drummed her fingers on the kitchen table and stared at the screen of her laptop.
She wrote erotic romances under a pseudonym, carefully protecting her true identity, and only Dee knew what she really did for a living. The rest of her friends and family thought she mooched off her parents until she started telling them she had made some lucky investments on the internet.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. Kelsey was electronically published online and considered it an investment in her writing career every time she connected to the net. She wasn’t rich, but she was making a comfortable living wage off her writing at the ripe old age of 25.
But right now, she couldn’t concentrate on finishing her latest erotic romance, Deep Thrust. And her deadline was Monday. The only deep thrust she could think about was Durak’s…and the heat rose in her cheeks.
While it was fun to write about her heroines having such thoughts, it was an entirely different matter to have them herself.
She never dreamed she’d meet a man who measured up, in every way, to one of her fictional heroes. She had thought Charles should be it. After all, he had everything most fictional heroes possessed. He was handsome and charming, successful and powerful, but he just didn’t quite cut it. He was controlling and too possessive, bordering on obsessive. To be brutally honest, something about Charles made her squeamish, but she wasn’t sure what it was. He didn’t seem…honest. He always acted as if he were hiding something.
She never should have gone out with him in the first place. And she never should have continued dating him because she wasn’t being particularly honest with herself. The night of the dinner when she found she was instantly attracted to Durak, she should have said no to Charles and approached Durak instead.
Kelsey sighed and rested her chin in her cupped hands. It was always too easy to second-guess one’s decisions in hindsight.
And it was easy to face the truth here in the kitchen in the dead of night, so she had to admit Charles’ obsessive attention wasn’t the only reason she had escaped this weekend. It had been her own obsession with Durak. She hadn’t been able to keep her mind off of him long enough to finish the book. Whenever she tried to write, she spent most of the time daydreaming about him. A weekend away served double duty. It got her away from Charles and drove home the fact that she needed to get the book finished.
But here he was, dropped in her lap, so to speak. It was difficult to stop thinking about a man when he was in the next room, naked, and she had already had sex with him once. She had the opportunity she’d desired, and she’d certainly taken advantage of it.
In her daydreams, one time with Durak was enough to satisfy her lust. In reality, she knew she’d never get enough of him. Hell, he had surpassed anything in her wildest imagination. And they weren’t really trying. She couldn’t imagine what would happen when they did try.
And then there was that werewolf thing.
Weird, that’s what it was. If she hadn’t witnessed the shifting from man to beast with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it. And now that she’d had a couple of hours to get used to the idea, the only thing she was sure of was that she still wanted Durak. No matter what he was.
“Writing your next best-seller, Ms. L’Amour?”
Kelsey gasped and turned to find Durak standing in the doorway. He was no longer naked, unfortunately. After she hauled her supplies from the SUV, she had found some clothes that Dee’s family kept stashed at the cabin and left them beside the couch for him. Dee’s brother’s jeans fit him well enough, although they were a little short. Durak wouldn’t have fit into his shirts, and Kelsey had to raid Dee’s father’s closet to find a shirt to accommodate his broad shoulders. A pair of his boots fit well enough, too.
“I thought you were still asleep.” Kelsey frowned. “And how do you know about Cherie L’Amour?”
Durak grinned and came to sit in a chair next to her.
“Charles Leland had me investigate you months ago.”
Kelsey closed the file and snapped the laptop shut. She had added a final love scene to her novel that duplicated what she and Durak had done on the couch. Without the werewolf stuff, of course. Beyond that, she hadn’t been able to write another word because her thoughts were consumed with Durak.
“Charles never said anything.”
“Because I never told him.”
“Why?”
“It wasn’t any of his business.”
Kelsey nodded. “Thank you. I’ve worked at keeping a low profile. Shadow Valley is such a small town, the news would spread like wildfire. I don’t want the attention.”
“I bought all your books and read a couple of them.”
She waited. He would either like them or hate them. When he didn’t say anything more, she stood and walked to the counter. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, thank you.”
She poured him a mug and handed it to him, then refilled hers, adding powdered creamer and sugar. She stirred it slowly, not at all ready to return to her seat and face him.
“I’m more of a visual person like most men,” he finally said. “But I enjoyed them. You have a way with words. Your descriptive passages created nice pictures in my mind.”
“Thank you.” The awkward moment had passed and she sat down. “How’s your side?”
“Almost healed.” He raised the shirt to show her.
He had washed up before dressing as there was no trace of blood. A little puckering of skin was the only sign of the injury.
“That’ll disappear in a few more hours,” he added.
“Have you always been—you know…”
“A werewolf?”
Kelsey laughed a bit uncomfortably. “Yeah, a werewolf. It’s still hard to believe.”
“I was born a werewolf. My father is one, but my mother is fully human. So you see, I’m only half werewolf. I think that explains what happened earlier.”
“No, actually it doesn’t explain anything. How did you get that injury?”
Durak took a sip of coffee. “Leland ordered me to keep tabs on you. When I reported you were packing to leave, he suspected you were going off to meet another man for the weekend. I tried to tell him there had been no indication you were seeing another man, but he insisted I follow you.”
Kelsey slammed down her mug. “You know I broke it off with him weeks ago. He has no right!”
Durak nodded. “I agree. I tried to tell him that, too, but he threatened my job if I didn’t do as I was told.”
“Why do you continue to work for him? You obviously have excellent skills if you dug up that I’m Cherie L’Amour. You could get another job anywhere.”
Durak hesitated. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you why. Just know that I have to work for him for a while longer, and it is temporary.”
That sounded fishy. But he had kept her secret and she could do no less than not pry into his. “All right.”
“Because I’m only half werewolf, I need to shift regularly to keep everything in balance. It’s been a while, so I thought I’d follow you as a wolf. There’s a full moon tonight and that makes shifting easier. I knew you weren’t going to meet a man, and I didn’t think you were going far. And the run would do me good.”
“How did you get hurt?”
“Someone was following me.”
“Someone?”
“Sam Brady.”
The other bodyguard-slash-henchman. “Oh, Durak, then he knows what you are.”
He nodded grimly. “I was distracted by you and didn’t notice anyone tracking me. When I realized you were on Old Stanfield Road and headed for Lake Passion, I took the more direct route through the forest. I had been waiting at a place about a mile back down the road for some time. That allowed Brady to catch up to me and he shot me.”
“That was a bullet wound?” Kelsey cried out.
“It wasn’t a silver bullet or I’d be dead now. Brady must not have known what I was until I shifted to follow you. He wasn’t prepared.”
“If he didn’t suspect you of being a werewolf, then why was he following you?”
“I have an idea, but I can’t talk about it.” Durak sipped more coffee indicating that line of conversation was closed. “I ran but only about a mile. I was hurt too badly. Then all I could do was limp, and I thought I should be near the road again to watch for you. And then I shifted without conscious effort. I stumbled out of the trees, and that’s when you came along.”
“I thought I saw a large dog or something at the side of the road before you stepped in front of me.”
“I was producing energy to fight the wound and heal it, but it was too much. That’s a result of being only half werewolf. My system takes too much time to adjust to changes. By the time I adjusted, my body was on overload and had to release the excess energy.”
“Like walking across a carpet will build up static electricity and touching something releases the charge?”
“Something like that. I had to discharge the excess and sex is one way to ground. I don’t completely understand it myself. I just know it works.” Durak stood and walked to the window. He pushed aside the curtain and peered out.
Kelsey thought he looked as if he was on alert, ready if something happened. “Brady’s still out there, isn’t he?”
“I’m sure he is. This is something he’d love to hand over to Leland, but he needs a wounded me as proof. Otherwise, it’s my word against his and Leland will believe me, especially since I won’t have a gunshot wound. Brady probably thinks he has time because he doesn’t realize how fast I heal.”
“Henchman rivalry,” Kelsey murmured.
Durak dropped the curtain and turned toward her. “What?”
“I always thought of you two as Charles’ henchmen. I could tell he favored you over Brady and Brady was jealous.”
“Like you said, I’m good at what I do.”
“But Brady’s good enough to track you cross country in this weather.”
“I never underestimated Brady. I was distracted by you.”
“By me?”
“Yes. You. The night of the dinner. I haven’t been able to think straight where you’re concerned since then.”
Kelsey stared at him. “You never gave any indication that you were interested.”
“I couldn’t. Charles Leland would have fired me on the spot, and I couldn’t let that happen. As soon as I finished with Leland, you would have heard from me.”
“Really?” Kelsey grinned and her heart jumped in her chest. He wanted her, too, and he would have come to her as soon as he finished his mysterious liaison with Charles. No longer out of her reach, all she could think of was how she wanted him…right now.
“Really.” Durak set his mug on the table and reached for her, pulling her to her feet. “It was all I could do to keep my hands off you.”
“You don’t have to keep your hands off of me any longer,” Kelsey said and wrapped her arms around his neck. “In fact, I insist you put your hands anywhere you want.”
“Anywhere?”
“Everywhere,” Kelsey amended.
Durak kissed her, his sensual lips soft against hers. Then he rested his forehead to hers. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do this.”
“Oh, yes, I do. Since that night of the dinner. I only said I’d go out with Charles so he’d stop bothering me the rest of the evening. It took me a while to realize it, but I kept seeing him to be close to you. I really wanted you.”
“Is there a bedroom in this place? Does it have a bed?”
“Yes and yes. In the front room, the door by the fireplace. I built a fire in there earlier, so it should be nice and warm.”
Durak scooped her off her feet and up into his arms. Following her directions, he kicked open the door and set her in the middle of the peeled log bed, the down comforter conforming to the shape of her body. He crawled over her, but Kelsey sat up and looked at him.
“I hope you’re not expecting what I write in my books. That’s fiction, you know. Just because I write it doesn’t mean I can do it.”
Durak tilted his head to one side. “We’ve already been together once. I wasn’t out of it enough not to remember. And enjoy.”
“Well, I don’t want you to have expectations I can’t fulfill.” Kelsey lay down again. “It was good, wasn’t it? We were good together even though the circumstances were crazy.”
“It was good,” he assured her.
His weight rested on his hands that were placed on each side of her. His dark gaze roamed over her, lingering at her lips, her breasts, and mound.
“What are you doing?” Kelsey squirmed beneath him, more than ready.
Durak’s gaze swept over her again. “You said I could put my hands everywhere on you. I’m trying to decide where to touch first.”
“Undress me and then decide.”
He unbuttoned her blouse with care, working slowly, deliberately, skimming her exposed flesh with his fingertips. When her breasts were uncovered, he dipped into her bra and found a hardened nipple. She gasped as he caressed the peak, little shocks of pleasure trailing from the tip of the breast to between her thighs.
Deftly, he unfastened the front hooks of her bra and her breasts spilled free. He bent forward and took a nipple between his lips, suckling gently, while fingers pinched the other. The double sensations drove Kelsey wild and her back arched, pressing her breast harder against his mouth. She didn’t know if she could stand for him to take the time to touch everywhere. She wanted him now.
Durak’s tongue trailed across her skin to the other breast. This time he assaulted the tip, flicking his tongue across the sensitive bud, raking it with the edge of his teeth, and suckling greedily, pulling it to a fine point. At the same time, a swirling thumb massaged the wet peak of the one he’d just left. Kelsey burned deep inside, her writhing body aching for him.
The sweet torture subsided only when he lifted his head and his hands pushed aside her bra. He raised Kelsey enough to slide her clothing off her shoulders, raining hot kisses across her flushed skin as the garments slipped away. Kelsey moaned when his mouth took hers, plundering its depths with his seeking tongue. He laid her back on the bed, the comforter swathing her in feather softness.
“Durak,” she whispered. “I don’t think I can take much more of this. Make love to me now.”
He raised up on his knees and pulled off his shirt, tossing it aside. “I haven’t touched everywhere yet.”

Chapter 4
 
Durak finished undressing until his magnificent body was completely revealed to Kelsey. Light from the lamp and fire played across tanned skin, his shoulders, arms, and legs corded with muscle and sinew. His thick cock, rigid in arousal, curved slightly upward and she felt the wetness gather between her thighs.
She had seen him naked and had made love to him only a few hours ago, but the sight of him again increased her excitement to new heights. He climbed into the bed again and knelt, removing her socks. He laid her legs together and crawled until his mouth was even with her breasts.
Durak placed his hands on her sides as his tongue flicked one nipple then the other, rekindling the sensations he’d created before. He then traced the undercurve of each breast in turn and planted a kiss between them.
His hands slid toward her hips as he moved further down, his lips tracking over her ribs and stomach, his hot breath fanning across her skin until he ran into the waistband of her jeans. One hand undid the button and zipper, pushing aside the material. The tip of his tongue circled her navel, plumbed its depth, and Kelsey nearly screamed.
He raised up once more and stripped the jeans from her, spread her legs wide, then fell back to where he had left off. Kelsey writhed and moaned as he blazed a path through the patch of curls on her mound. She anticipated where his lips and tongue would go next. She wanted it, needed it, prayed for it, but he prolonged the sweet agony instead.
He went lower, placing his arms underneath her thighs, his hands cupping her buttocks. His head dipped and he lapped her trickling juice, the tip of his tongue almost but not quite penetrating her. Her entire body ached with the anticipation. If he didn’t touch her throbbing clit soon, Kelsey knew she was going to implode and collapse upon herself.
Kelsey wriggled against his mouth, trying to move so that he would touch her clit, but he avoided her maneuvers. Lavishly, he licked each soft fold of her tender, sensitive flesh. The tip of his tongue wove through each curve and turn, every dip and rise. Kelsey’s fingers clenched in the down comforter, her hips undulating on their own as they moved in time with each caress.
Durak’s tongue traveled up, through the wet creases, and circled her clit. When he finally touched the swollen nub, surrounding it with the wet heat of his mouth, Kelsey’s body bucked, and the burst of pleasure spiraled outward. She cried out, her head thrashing to and fro. Before the sensations had completely dissipated, Durak bent her knees and plunged deep inside.
Each thrust rebuilt what he had just destroyed. He slammed into her clit again and again, his cock massaging her g-spot. When he came with a feral roar, she once again shattered, bursting into innumerable fragments, sending her farther beyond the edge than she’d ever gone before.
Kelsey breathed heavily and was barely aware when Durak lay down beside her. He fit his body to hers, his still warm cock snug against her backside, his arms around her protectively. Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was that she never wanted to be without his arms around her again.
* * * * *
When Kelsey awoke, it was still dark and for a moment she didn’t know where she was. Then it all came back in a rush and she smiled. She rolled over, expecting to snuggle in Durak’s arms, but the other side of the bed was empty. She sat up. The fire had died down, but from its faint glow she could see the dark shape of the wolf as it padded through the open door to the front room.
Durak had shifted and she wondered why. Had his system overloaded again? With thoughts of excess energy and mandatory discharging, Kelsey scooted out of bed. She found the robe she had laid out earlier, slipped it on, and tied the belt around her waist. Would he expect her to make love to his wolf form this time? She shivered, unsure whether she could do it or not. He might have to find another way to ground this time.
She walked through the door into the front room. The fire here had died down as well, but there was enough light to see that neither man nor wolf was in the room. Then she heard a crash and a threatening growl. The only place the sounds could have come from was the kitchen. She hurried down the short hallway.
In the doorway, she switched on the light just as the wolf bounded over the table, toward a man. The light startled both of them, throwing the wolf off-course. The man, whom she instantly recognized as Sam Brady, Charles’ other bodyguard-slash-henchman, turned slightly and took a step backward. If the wolf’s intent had been to hit him square in the chest, he missed the mark, but he did slam into Brady’s shoulder. As his arms flailed against the assault, his hand released the gun he carried and the weapon skittered across the tile floor.
The wolf’s weight drove Brady backward and slammed him against the wall. Brady kept enough of his wits about him to put his hands around the wolf’s throat and squeeze. The wolf snarled, flecks of foam dripping from his sharp fangs. He lunged forward, his open mouth going for Brady’s throat.
“Durak, no!” Kelsey shouted. Even though she knew Brady was a threat to Durak, she couldn’t stand there and watch him murder a man.
The wolf stopped short of Brady’s jugular, then threw back his head and howled. A terrified Brady released him, and the wolf landed lightly on his feet. Brady slumped against the wall.
The wolf looked at Kelsey and gave a short yip as if to tell her to go. She stood her ground and shook her head, refusing to leave. She was in no immediate danger, and she couldn’t let him kill the man even though Brady had tried to kill him first.
The wolf turned toward Brady again. A steady growl, low and threatening, kept Brady in place. They couldn’t remain like this forever. The gun had landed on the other side of the table, closer to Brady than her. But if she got the gun, she could give Durak a chance to shift. Kelsey took a couple of steps toward the table.
The wolf glanced back at her and yipped again. Brady, realizing the wolf wouldn’t attack as long as she was in the room, straightened and also took a step toward the gun.
The wolf lunged, stopping Brady only for a second. Then he tried another step. The wolf snarled and snapped, catching Brady’s insulated coverall pants and shredding the cloth leg. While Brady was busy trying to shake off the wolf, Kelsey moved a little closer. Now, both she and Brady were almost within arm’s reach of the gun.
Kelsey made a grab for it at the same time Brady kicked free of the wolf and sprang forward. Instead of snatching at the gun, Brady seized her, jerking her back against him. Then he produced a knife and pressed the wicked serrated edge against her throat.
“Stay back, Voronin,” he ordered. “Stay back or I’ll slit her from ear to ear.”
The wolf remained still but watchful, his dark golden eyes narrowed and lips curled back, revealing ferocious teeth.
“All I want to do is get the fuck out of this freak show,” Brady said, his voice cracking.
Kelsey heard the fear in his voice and smelled it in his pungent sweat. She was afraid, too, but she knew Durak wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.
“If—you—” Kelsey began, but with each word her throat moved and the blade pressed closer. She tried again, speaking more softly. “If you want to get out of here alive, you’d better not hurt me.”
The wolf growled as if in agreement.
“Fine. I just want the hell out of here. We’ll move toward the front of the house. You hear that, Voronin,” he said louder, almost shouting. “We’re moving toward the front. You stay here, and when we get to the front door, I’ll leave without hurting her. Do you understand?”
The key was to act more courageous than she felt. Although her heart was pounding in her ears and her palms were slick with nervous sweat, she said, “He’s a wolf. He’s not deaf.”
Brady jerked her closer and pressed the blade tighter until Kelsey was afraid to swallow. “No more smartass comments or I’ll leave a mark before I go.”
Maybe false bravado wasn’t such a good idea. The wolf snarled.
Keeping Kelsey between him and the animal, Brady edged around the table. Near the doorway, he stopped. “Stay in here, Voronin, and nothing’ll happen to her. Got it?”
The wolf backed up a step, indicating he would comply with Brady’s demands. Or that’s what Kelsey thought. Brady, too, because he moved them sideways through the door and into the narrow hallway. As soon as they were completely within the hall, the wolf moved. And as he moved, he changed. Fur disappeared and smooth tanned skin appeared, paws morphed into hands and feet. He went seamlessly from four legs to two. Gaining momentum, he moved swiftly, almost a blur. Kelsey lost track of exactly where he was, but when she felt Brady’s hand relax and the blade leave her throat, she dropped like a lead weight and rolled into the kitchen out of the way as the knife clattered to the floor.
Kelsey sat up and looked down the hallway, and all she saw was Durak’s backside, steadily moving away from her. His arms and hands were a blur, but she heard the steady thuds as his fists smacked into Brady’s flesh again and again. Brady cried out in pain each time. Then a bone snapped, the sound reverberating through the cabin, and Brady screamed.
Then Kelsey heard nothing but the sound of her own heavy breathing in the silence that followed.
She scrambled to her feet and raced down the hall into the front room. Brady sat on the floor, huddled against the far wall. He whimpered, cradling his left arm, broken bone protruding through skin and splattered with blood. Durak stood over him, daring him to move.
“That’s enough!” Kelsey cried out.
Durak nodded. “I know.” He squatted beside Brady and lifted a cell phone from where it was clipped to his belt.
“Kelsey, would you please get my clothes while I call some friends of mine to get this piece of shit out of here?”
In the bedroom, Kelsey dressed quickly in jeans, sweatshirt, and sneakers, then brought out Durak’s borrowed clothing. Durak was looking out the front door, the phone to his ear.
“Yeah, there’s enough room. I’ll leave the SUV lights on so you can find it. That’s right, the south side of the lake. Probably the only cabin occupied this time of year. Well, hell, Andy, half the time you can’t find your ass with both hands.” Durak laughed. “All right, see you in ten.”
The clothes fell from Kelsey’s suddenly nerveless fingers. She didn’t recognize the name “Andy” as one of Charles’ employees, but Durak was too familiar with the person on the other end of the line for it to be the police. Besides, he was a werewolf and Sam Brady knew it. How could he call the police without revealing his secret?
“You called Charles?” Panicking, her voice rose in pitch.
“No, of course not.” Durak shut the door and came toward her.
“It didn’t sound like you were talking to the police.” She took a step backward, feeling betrayed. “I never wanted Charles to find out about this cabin.”
“You never have to worry about Charles Leland again.” Durak put his arms around her, and she let him. She desperately wanted to believe him.
“Then who did you call?”
“The people I really work for, the DEA.”
“What?” Thoroughly confused, she looked up into his dark eyes. “The Drug Enforcement Agency?”
“Administration,” he corrected. “I’ve been working undercover. I’ll explain everything, but I have to turn on the SUV lights right now so they can find us.”
Needing a few moments to take in this newest turn of events, Kelsey volunteered. “I’ll do it since I’m already dressed.”
Kelsey’s mind whirled with what Durak had told her as she dashed out into the fine layer of snow. If Durak worked for the DEA, then he was one of the Good Guys, even if he was a werewolf. A weight she didn’t even know she carried lifted from her shoulders. Werewolf didn’t necessarily equate with evil as it did in folklore.
When she returned, Durak rose from where he’d been squatting beside Brady.
“I am so confused,” she admitted. “Why have you been investigating Charles?”
Durak finished tucking in his shirttail. “I’ve been undercover for six months working for Charles Leland. He’s been using his landscaping business as a cover for his real business, drugs. But you knew that, didn’t you, Brady?”
Brady scowled, then winced in pain. Purple smudges were already forming on his face and arms where Durak’s blows had landed.
Durak frowned. “Leland ships in drugs along with his landscaping supplies and distributes the drugs to the counties in this area. Brady knows all about it, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to give the boys all the details. Because if he doesn’t spill his guts and tell them all about Leland, then they’ll have to assume Brady is behind it all.”
Kelsey nodded then looked at Durak. “Do they know about…you know?”
Durak shook his head and drew her to the other side of the room.
“But Brady knows you’re a werewolf.” Kelsey whispered even though she didn’t know why. Brady had seen Durak shift into a wolf, had followed him, shot him, and then had seen him shift back into human with a lethal wound that had miraculously healed within hours.
“Shhh.” Durak glanced back at Brady, but he was nursing his arm and not paying any attention to them.
“Not that anybody would believe him, but it’s a werewolf trick. A little like hypnosis and he doesn’t remember a thing. Mostly it works because humans don’t want to remember.” Durak looked at her thoughtfully. “Most humans would rather not know about werewolves.”
“You could do this to me?”
“I could. Do you want me to?”
Kelsey shook her head. “I’ve never known a werewolf before. I think it’s neat.”
Durak grinned. “Neat. I’ve never heard it called that before.”
“Besides,” Kelsey said and slipped her arms around his waist, “if I chose to have you wipe my memory, then I suspect we’d never see each other again. I can live with you being a werewolf better than I can live without you in my life.”
“Can you?” Durak wrapped his arms around her.
“I want to see you, Durak, and be with you. I’ve fallen in love with you and that means I accept everything about you.” Kelsey closed her eyes as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “As long as you can accept that I write erotic romance.”
His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t have a problem with that. Why would I?”
Kelsey shrugged. “Some men might be scared off, thinking they couldn’t live up to the prowess of my fictional heroes.”
“Hmmm, I never thought about that. How do I measure up?”
Kelsey laughed. “Oh, no, I’m not going there. You’ll either be insulted or get a big head. Either way, you might not feel the need to keep your technique up to standard.”
Durak laughed with her and kissed her soundly, his tongue probing deep. She pressed closer to him, rubbing against the hard bulge in his jeans. She’d forgotten about Brady, the expected DEA team, and everything else except Durak and his cock and how she wanted him right then and there.
Her hands had slipped between their bodies, fumbling with his belt buckle, when a strange sound penetrated through the haze of her desire—the whoop whoop whoop of giant wings beating the air.
Durak’s head snapped up. “Chopper. The boys are here.”

Chapter 5
 
An hour later, as dawn turned the eastern sky to glorious shades of pink and gold, Kelsey stood with Durak on the snow-covered lawn in front of the cabin and watched the helicopter lift off the ground. Bits of snow and ice sifted over them as the rotors whipped the air, stripping the nearby trees of their winter frosting.
Durak waved a final time. They watched until the aircraft had gone above the tops of the trees and started moving laterally, disappearing in the distance.
“I was close to having enough evidence on Leland, but I expected to have to work for him another month,” Durak said as they walked back into the cabin. “Now, with Brady’s unexpected cooperation, I won’t have to go back at all.”
“That’s good news.” Kelsey stood in front of the dying embers in the fireplace, trying to get warm.
“It’s been a long night, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Durak knelt on the large shaggy rug in front of the fireplace and put on more kindling, waiting until the embers turned into flames before laying on larger logs.
Kelsey sat down beside him. “Wouldn’t you trade it for a job where you wouldn’t get shot?”
“I’ve been shot before, and it’ll probably happen again.” Durak prodded the logs a few times, then set the poker back in the stand with the other fireplace tools. “I have a dangerous job. And I’m a werewolf. Both are high risk. But I didn’t mean the job. I meant spending the time with you.”
Kelsey’s heart thundered in her chest. To her, it sounded as if he considered what had happened between them as special as she did. She reached over and unfastened the top button of his shirt. She had found the man of her dreams, but did he feel the same? “Have you ever thought of going into another line of work?”
Durak sat back on his heels, his eyes riveted on her fingers undoing each button in turn. “I’ve thought about it, but I like my job.”
“Even the risks?” Kelsey pushed aside the shirt and laid her hands on his chest. Her fingertips found the small, hard points of his nipples and rubbed them lightly.
Durak shrugged the shirt off his broad shoulders. “It’s always been about the risk.”
“Do you think you could live without that risk?” Kelsey sat up straighter and pulled the sweatshirt over her head.
She hadn’t taken the time to put on a bra earlier, so her breasts were bare, the nipples tight and peaked. She gasped as Durak fondled them greedily, thumbs brushing the tips.
He lay back on the rug. “What would I do?”
“Security.” Kelsey unfastened his belt buckle, then undid the button and zipper of his jeans. “It’s what you were doing for Charles. I really didn’t get to know Charles, but I do know you must be good or he wouldn’t have kept you on. And he was grooming you to take Brady’s place, wasn’t he? That’s why Brady was determined to find something on you, to show Charles you weren’t as trustworthy as he thought.”
“That’s true.” Durak pushed the jeans off his long legs while toeing off his boots.
Kelsey kicked off her shoes and shimmied out of her jeans. “You could develop and maintain security systems for businesses, couldn’t you?”
“Yeah, but what are you getting at?”
Kelsey had him right where she wanted him, flat on his back and listening to what she had to say. She straddled him, preparing to settle down on his large, hot cock, her hands resting on his chest. Then she trailed a finger to the unblemished skin at his side. He was completely healed now with no trace of the gunshot wound.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Durak,” she whispered as she positioned herself so that the head of his cock was right at the opening of her sex. She rocked her hips back and forth, rubbing the engorged head.
Durak’s hands tightened at her hips and pushed down, but she resisted.
“I know you enjoy the risk, but I don’t think it’s fair to ask me to take the risk, too. Or our children.”
Durak stopped the pressure and looked at her. “Our children?”
“Of course. We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together, aren’t we? Don’t you want children?”
“Some day, yes, but—” His hands left her hips and he raised up, propping his weight on his elbows. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
Kelsey nodded, suddenly frightened that she’d misread him. What if he didn’t feel the incredible connection with her that she felt with him? What if he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with her? What if he didn’t want to get married? What if he—? “You aren’t already married, are you?”
“No, of course not. It’s just that—this is a little sudden, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” Kelsey once again rubbed against his cock. She wanted him inside of her, needed him like nothing she’d ever needed before, but she was determined to have her say. He moaned and put an arm around her, rolling them over until he was on top and kneeling between her legs.
“We’ve only really known each other for one night,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, but it’s been a very long night.” Kelsey wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed her hips upward. Another moan sounded deep in his chest, but he didn’t take the plunge. She quivered, ready for him. “And we know each other’s secret. I know you’re a werewolf. How many women would accept that about you?”
“There aren’t many I’ve entrusted with the secret,” he admitted. His hips surged forward, but he only teased her by going in partway. This time Kelsey made a sound, a whimper in the back of her throat. “It’s not just my secret, but my family’s, too.”
“And…and you know my secret,” Kelsey murmured. His cock beginning to fill the aching void of her sex distracted her. She had to make a conscious effort to actually remember her secret of being erotic romance author Cherie L’Amour. She pressed her legs against his hips, to let him know she wanted him fully inside. Suddenly, Durak’s hips drove down, nudging her clit and sending a thrill along every nerve in her body. Kelsey closed her eyes and gave in to the rhythm of moving with him. “Will you?” she remembered to ask.
“Will…I…what?” he asked between hard, deep strokes.
“Will you marry me?” Kelsey gasped as she felt herself nearing the edge. And then she forgot she had asked a question as their hips pumped wildly together and they moved as one.
A low moan started in the back of her throat as her fingers and toes started to tingle. Her back arched and Durak drove deeper, sending her into the abyss of pleasure. As she cried out, she felt Durak’s body stiffen, grinding hard into her. Her inner muscles spasmed with the last burst of pleasure just as his face distorted with his release. Then he collapsed across her, taking most of his weight with his hands.
As their bodies settled, Kelsey’s fingers played along his sweat-slick skin, following the ridges and contours of taut muscles. She didn’t want to move, and she never wanted to let go of this man. She hoped he felt the same about her.
He raised his head and smiled, then his cock slithered out of her as he lay beside her, taking her into his arms.
“You never told me,” Durak said after his breathing returned to normal. “How do I measure up to your heroes?”
Kelsey looked up into his handsome face. Firelight played in his dark eyes and softened the hard planes of his countenance.
“I told you I don’t think it would be good for your ego for you to know either way. But I think I’m the one who’s always been afraid that I’d never find a man to measure up.” Kelsey snuggled closer to him, placing a kiss on his jaw. “And now that I’ve found you, I don’t ever want to lose you. Would you consider another kind of job? One not as dangerous.”
“I’m still a werewolf, Kelsey. There are dangers connected to the circumstances of my birth that I can’t run from. I stopped trying a long time ago.”
He was quiet for a time, and Kelsey was sure she had frightened him off by pressuring him to get a new job and proposing marriage. Maybe he wasn’t ready for the commitment, no matter what he felt for her. She opened her mouth to take it all back when he started speaking again.
“You know, I like my job, but I’m not in love with it.” His hand roamed her body, caressing a breast, her belly, the curve of her hip. “I’m in love with you.”
“You are?” She was surprised he felt the same way about her and was even more surprised that he admitted to it so quickly. Most men didn’t readily admit to love. Because he was being so compliant, she felt a stab of guilt that she had asked so much of him. She didn’t have the right to demand that he change his entire way of life just for her. “I love you, Durak, but you don’t have to—”
He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “I learned a long time ago to grab what I want when I have the chance because the opportunity might not come around again. I’ve been feeling restless, so a career change will be good for me. And I think spending a lifetime with you is a fine idea. Yes, I’ll marry you, Kelsey.”
“You will?” she asked from behind his finger.
He laughed. “Weren’t you serious?”
“Oh, yes, I was serious, but I didn’t think you’d go for it.”
“Why not?” Durak’s hand slid up into her hair and brought her closer to him, her lips almost touching his. “I don’t have anything else planned for the next fifty or sixty years.”
Kelsey kissed him, igniting the fire of their passion once again, and murmured, “My hero.”