Call of the Wolf (14 page)

She discovered she'd
completely
underestimated Jerico. The man had unsuspected talents. With his first kiss, he knocked her completely for a loop. By the time he'd gotten to the third, she was contemplating climbing over the counter. By the fifth—actually, she thought she came. She was inclined to discount it once she'd managed to figure out where she was again—she'd never come just from a kiss—but there was no getting around the fact that she hardly knew where she was and she was so weak she had to sit down and fan herself for a few moments before she could face the next man who stepped up to her side of the booth.

She recognized him when her vision cleared enough for her to actually look at him. She wasn't certain where she recognized him from, but she thought he must be one of her neighbor's guests.

She'd lost track of the time of day, the day of the month—the year, before she'd worked her way through the next three men.

"It's almost six,” Elaine announced loudly enough to penetrate the heated fog of Abby's mind. “The booth closes at six. It'll reopen at seven."

She pulled away from the man who'd been tongue fucking her mouth and stared at Elaine with a glazed expression, discovering Elaine wasn't looking at her at all, but at the two lines formed up in front of their booth.

She was smiling at the men in line with promise. “You'll have come back tomorrow to buy kisses from me or Abby, though. We're off for the day."

Smiling apologetically at the man behind the one she'd been kissing, Abby leaned toward her customer one last time for one last kiss and then, with a tremendous sense of relief, headed to the back of the booth to collect her things and another bottle of water. She and Elaine ducked out the back instead of exiting by way of the hinged segment of counter. Plopping down on the ground as soon as she'd secured the banner ties, Abby glanced at Elaine, who was counting their haul.

"How'd we do?” she asked a little dazedly.

Elaine grinned at her. “Seth's something else! After he'd started things rolling with a hundred, nobody wanted to look cheap next to his generosity. Aside from a couple hundred in fifties, the rest are hundreds—guess we'll be getting some new computers for the school!"

"No wonder my jaw's tired,” Abby muttered, to say nothing of the numbness of her lips and tongue.

"You ok?"

"I think I'll just rest here in the shade for a few minutes and cool down,” Abby responded, smiling with an effort.

"If you think you'll be alright by yourself, I think I'll go find Mrs. Caruthers. I don't like carrying so much cash around."

Abby waved her away. The line of booths faced the woods and there was no one in sight, but then she wasn't more than a few feet away from plenty of people if she should happen to find herself in trouble—which she didn't really expect—and she needed a few minutes to collect herself. After two hours of kissing some of the most gorgeous men she'd ever set eyes on, she was so jittery with unrequited desire she felt like clawing something. She
definitely
wasn't up to facing people at the moment.

Closing her eyes when Elaine left, she rolled the chilled bottle of water over her feverish forehead and cheeks. A deeper shadow fell over her while she was debating whether to drink the cold water or splash it on her face and breasts. Startled since she hadn't heard anyone approach, had thought all of the footsteps she could hear were on the opposite side of the booth from her, she popped her eyes open and looked up sharply.

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Chapter Ten

Seth dropped to a crouch in front of her, his head tilted a little questioningly.

"Just thought I'd cool down a little,” Abby muttered in answer to his unasked question, feeling a blush flush her cheeks with heat again when she'd just managed to take some of the fire out of her face.

He lifted a hand, stroking her cheek lightly, and a shiver went through her. She swallowed with an effort. “I don't think I'm up to any more kisses right now,” she said a little plaintively, although she'd intended to say it teasingly. “I need ... a few minutes, if you don't mind."

His gaze flicked over her face almost caressingly, but his expression went taut. “I know what you need, Baby,” he murmured huskily, grasping her arms and hauling her to her feet as he stood up.

Abby glanced back a little uneasily at her purse and her folder, abandoned on the ground by where she'd been sitting, as he dragged her into the cooler shade of the woods, but she didn't protest. Truthfully, she was too surprised and confused even to think of objecting.

When Seth led her several yards into the woods, he pushed her back against the rough surface of a thick oak tree and pressed against her. “I think I'll collect that kiss right now,” he murmured, dipping his head and covering her mouth almost before he'd uttered the last word.

His hard mouth sent a fiery jolt through Abby as it melded with hers. Unconsciously, she whimpered at the pressure of his chest against her aching beasts, but she had no will to deny his kiss. She felt as insubstantial as vapor as desire clouded her mind—heavy, weak, and weightless all at the same time as he filled her senses with the scent and taste of himself. She moved restlessly against him, so hot, she wondered for a handful of seconds if she would pass out, thirsty, desperately needy.

Without breaking the kiss, he shifted his hold to her buttocks after a moment, lifting her slightly and pushing his knee between her thighs. The pressure of his hard knee against her achingly full nether lips sent twin shafts of both pleasure and pain through her, but she welcomed the throbbing pain/pleasure, moving against him. He groaned into her mouth, dragging her further up his leg until she felt his erection digging into her belly.

Instantly diverted, oblivious to everything except the desperate need that had been scouring her since he'd first kissed her, she lifted her legs and coiled them tightly around his waist. A hard shudder when through him as she arched against him, rubbing her aching clit against his erection. He broke the kiss. His arms tightened around her as he scattered a burning trail of kisses along her neck, holding her lower body tightly against his own as he countered her rhythmic thrusts.

It was almost as frustrating to feel his thick flesh so close, and yet to be prevented from feeling his hot, slick flesh by their clothing, as it was gratifying. She moaned at the jolts of electrifying pleasure traveling through her clit and into her womb with each thrust, moaning his name hoarsely. “Please, Seth,” she whispered desperately. “I need ... I need."

He silenced her with a brief kiss and then transferred his attention lower, hoisting her a little higher and nuzzling her breasts until he found the hard button of one nipple poking against the fabric that confined it. A minor climax rippled through her when he caught it beneath his mouth, teasing the painfully sensitive bud with his tongue.

She shuddered as it fluttered through her, feeling more desperate, not less, when her sex only quaked briefly and stopped. The groan she uttered when he switched breasts was more of frustration than pleasure. “Seth, please! I need you inside me,” she gasped more frantically.

He lifted his head, matching his forehead to hers for a moment. “Not here,” he murmured, titling his head and sucking at her lips, his voice hoarse, his words punctuated by brief kisses that punched the breath from her lungs. “I can't ... not yet. Let it go, Baby. Come for me."

She groaned into his mouth despairingly as he shifted one hand beneath her, burrowed his fingers under her thong and thrust inside of her. As badly as she wanted to hold on to her control, though, her vaginal walls began to quake with release almost the moment he thrust inside of her.

He swallowed her cries of release, thrusting into her with his finger and grinding against her clit until she ceased to shudder and slumped weakly against him. For many minutes afterward, he merely held her, waiting until she stirred before he allowed her to slip slowly to the ground, steadying her in his embrace until she pushed away from him.

Beyond a vague sense of satisfaction at having come, Abby wasn't certain how she felt—not happy, a little embarrassed. Actually, more than a little embarrassed. She'd just climbed all over the man, begged him to fuck her, and masturbated on him.

Horrified might more nearly describe how she felt at that moment.

"Don't!” he said harshly, cupping her cheek and forcing her to look at him. “It's not what you think, Baby."

Abby swallowed with an effort. “How do you know what I think?” she said uncomfortably, refusing to meet his gaze even when he'd tilted her face up.

"Look at me, Abby,” he ground out.

When she still refused, he grasped her hand and curled her fingers around his swollen cock. She flicked a startled look up at him. “I want you,” he growled. “But we have to talk."

Confusion wafted through her, but some of her embarrassment dissipated. “I don't understand."

"I know you don't, Baby. But I need for you to understand before anything else happens between us...."

It seemed as if he'd intended to say more, but he broke off abruptly and turned away from her in a sharp movement, shoving her behind him. It happened so quickly, Abby could barely assess it, but the sudden tension in him set her heart to racing. A few moments later, she heard the crackle of leaves.

"If this is your idea of keeping an eye on her, I'm not sure my faith was well placed,” Milner said dryly.

Hearing the agent's voice, Abby peered from behind Seth.

"And you are?” Seth growled.

"Agent Milner,” he responded, jolting to a halt in the act of pulling out his identification when he discovered Seth had his revolver pointed at his chest. Abby hadn't even seen him draw it. Evidently, Agent Milner hadn't either. “Whoa! I'm just getting my identification out."

Having studied the agent's ID, Seth relaxed fractionally, shoving his pistol back into its holster and fastening the leather flap over it. “I expected you several days ago,” Seth said tightly.

Milner shrugged, glancing around the woods. “I was tied up with something else. This was the soonest I could get loose, but since you'd assured me you could handle security and your credentials seemed to suggest you could ... I can't say that I think dragging her into the woods is the best of ideas, though."

"She's under surveillance—she has been since we spoke."

"I guess they do things a little differently here, but you seemed a little too preoccupied with her to be paying much attention to possible threats. I could've shot you and you would never have known what hit you,” Milner said tightly.

"I don't think so,” Seth growled. “If you'd pulled that gun in your shoulder holster, you would've been dead before you got it out. That's Cameron Fontaine right behind you. The man standing about three yards to your left is Adrian Paulson, the one four yards to your left is Jerico Collins. We served together in special forces—

Shadow Company. The three men that followed you from the fair grounds are locals, but I'm guessing they're pretty good since you obviously didn't notice them."

Milner sent a startled look left, then right, and then turned to look behind him. Equally startled, Abby glanced around when Seth pointed out the men herself. Feeling acute embarrassment flood her the moment she realized they must have been there all along, she hid her face against Seth's back, wishing she had a deep, dark hole to crawl in to.

Seth's eyes were gleaming with amusement when he turned to look at her, but his expression was both sympathetic and apologetic, as well. He shook his head faintly. “It's alright, Baby,” he murmured. “Trust me."

Still feeling more than a little self-conscious, Abby stared up at him in dismay for a moment, but she felt much of her discomfort evaporate. She did trust him, she realized in surprise, completely, utterly.

Swallowing around the sudden tightness she felt in her throat, she nodded. “I do."

He brushed his knuckles lightly along her cheek and turned back to look at Milner. “We should go back to Abby's place to talk."

* * * *

As reluctant as Abby was to allow the men to exclude her from the conversation, she was still shaken enough from everything that had happened, and uncomfortable enough—though far less than she'd been at first—that she didn't argue when Seth suggested she grab a shower and change while they talked. The truth was, she wasn't comfortable at all. She felt sticky both from the heat and humidity, and from the little interlude in the woods, and she felt like she smelled like sex, whether she did or not. Beyond that, she realized that she was a lot more discomfited by the fact that Milner seemed to have been watching her and Seth than she was that the others might have seen them together.

She didn't know why that was, why she felt almost as aroused by the possibility that Cameron and Adrian and Jerico might have watched as she was repulsed that Milner might have, but she couldn't deny it.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she liked the hunger she saw in their gazes and the look in Milner's eyes made her feel unclean?

She'd never liked the bastard, though, and it really revolted her to think of him crouched in the bushes watching her and Seth together.

The shower refreshed her. Although she generally discarded her bra as soon as she got home, she put one on beneath her knit shirt and made certain she put on a pair of her newer jeans sans comfortable wear holes or tears before the joined the men in her living room again.