Dakota's Claim (8 page)

“Touch
me, Dakota. God,
please
touch me.”

“Oh,
fuck, baby girl.” He started licking her neck, and had used that
endearment,
one that shouldn’t have made her so damn
aroused, but did on every level. He shoved his hand down her pants, underneath
her panties, and that first touch of his fingers to her slick pussy had her
slamming her head back against the wall hard enough that pain lanced in her
skull. But the pleasure of his fingers stroking her, moving up and down through
her slit, had that pain morphing into ecstasy.

“Hell,
Tawny, you are so damn wet for me.” He took her mouth in a hard kiss, sucked on
her tongue, and mouth-fucked her. He rubbed her clit with his thumb and then
started to tease the opening of her pussy with his finger. He didn’t penetrate
her, and although she was desperate to feel a part of him inside of her, she
also wanted him to know that this was a first for her. She had been touched
before obviously, but never had she allowed a man to be with her in any way
that penetrated her body. There had always been a part of her that screamed
that it wasn’t right, that it was abhorrent. Maybe she had known all along,
deep inside of
her, that
she wanted her first time to
be with Dakota?

“Wait
a second,” she said.

He
stopped right away, his fingers still on her pussy, his mouth on her neck, but
he didn’t stroke her, didn’t kiss her further.

“You’re
killing me, baby,” he said and licked a path up her throat to her ear. He
breathed out, seeming like he had just run a marathon, and then slowly pulled
back to look at her face. He still had his finger against her slit, and
although she wanted to yell out for him to finally fuck her, to just take her
virginity and they’d worry about the rest later, she wanted to be truthful with
him, too.

“I
don’t want to stop—”

He
groaned out and went to kiss her, but she placed a finger on his lips, stopping
him.

“But
I also want you to know that I have never been with a man before.”

That
had him stopping completely, growing tense against her, and pulling his head
back
an inch. “You’re a virgin?” he asked softly.

She
nodded, licked her lips and waited for him to freak out because sometimes guys
got like that when a bomb like this was dropped. But in what seemed like her
hundredth time of being shocked today, Dakota leaned in and placed his lips
lightly on hers.

“God,
Tawny. You have no idea what it does to hear you say that.” He kissed her once
more, pulled back, and slipped his fingers out of her pants. He held the digits
up, all glossy from her arousal, and brought them to his mouth. She felt her
eye widen as she watched him suck those digits clean while never breaking eye
contact. When the fingers were clean he grabbed her chin, the smell of her
musky arousal and his natural scent on his hand, so close to her mouth and
nose,
and for some reason making her even more aroused. He
leaned in, kissed her, slid his tongue between her lips, and made her taste
herself on him. He groaned out, dug his fingers into her chin hard enough that
she knew she’d have bruises, and this thrill of pleasure filled her. Those
marks would mean a possession, an ownership to her, and she had a feeling that
with Dakota it would mean that as well.

    
“Dakota, you’re not freaking out.” She had
no clue why those words fell from her lips, but he swallowed them, moaned out
his approval, and then finally pulled back slowly. She felt his cock throb
against her, and she pressed down, heard him hiss out, and then leaned forward.
She connected her mouth with his again and licked his lips. It turned her on.
He
turned her on.

“Why
would I freak at the knowledge that this virgin pussy hasn’t been touched by
anyone else?” he murmured against her mouth.
“Knowing that I
almost had this cherry right here and now, that you’re so damn receptive to me,
and want me as badly as I want you, makes this possessive side consume me,
Tawny.”
He kissed her harder this time, and she breathed out, tightened
her legs and arms around his waist and neck, and pressed her pussy harder on
his erection. He was still so stiff, so ready for her.

“I
want you to be my first, Dakota.” She pulled back slightly. “I think I’ve
always wanted it to be you.”

He
groaned out, tilted her chin up with his fingers and stared at her mouth for a
suspended moment. He went to kiss her again, but then the sound of the back
door opening had them both stilling.

“Tawny, where the hell are you?”
Steve, the old as fuck bouncer
that had been working the same nights as she did—probably because of her father
demanding it—called out loudly.

“Shit,”
she said softly, and Dakota let her go to the ground. As soon as her feet
touched the floor she straightened her clothes, smoothed her fingers through
her hair, and looked up at Dakota. He watched her intently, and her heart
started beating a little faster at his expression.

“I’ll
be right out, Steve.” She hollered out, not taking her eyes off Dakota.

He
lifted his thumb, smoothed it along her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth,
sucked his thumb inside, and moved her tongue along the digit.

“Where
the hell are you?” Steven called out, and she heard him moving back toward
where they were standing.

“Unless
you want to see me fixing my tampon you better not come back here.” Her face
heated at the words that tumbled out of her mouth. God, had she really just
said that?

“Uh,”
Steve said, and then she heard him retreating. “You’re okay though?”

“Yeah.”
Her voice wavered a little, and
she cleared her throat. “I’m just straightening up since that bathroom is nasty
as hell.” She shrugged at Dakota when he cocked the corner of his mouth at her.
“I’ll be out in a minute.”

Steven
left, and when the sound of the door closing sounded, Dakota grabbed her around
the waist again, hauled her close to his body, and buried his face in the crook
of her neck.

“Fixing
your tampon, baby?” he chuckled softly. “I didn’t know they needed fixing.”

She
smacked him playfully on his bulging bicep, and then melted against him when
she heard him inhale, and then run his nose up the length of her throat. “Yeah,
not sure why I said that, because I’m not sure what fixing a tampon means
either, but it worked in getting Steve out of here.”

Dakota
pulled back slightly. “He would have told your dad.”

She
licked her lips and nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t care. I’m twenty-one, Dakota. My
dad doesn’t run my life, and he knows I can handle myself. We’ve talked about
this, actually.”

That
had him lifting his eyebrow.
“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”
She smiled.

Dakota
grunted in response, but then his expression changed to something softer the
longer he stared at her. “I meant everything I said, Tawny.” He searched her
face with his gaze. He was so big, so powerful, that even at her thick size sixteen
frame, one that she had gotten courtesy of her genetics from her mother, Dakota
still made her feel small and petite. He held her like she was fragile one
minute, and like he couldn’t get enough of her the next. At over six feet in
height he was taller and more muscular than most human males, even rivaling his
father Malice’s physique. Hell, he was just as big as a Grizzly.

He
cupped her cheek, smoothed his finger along her flesh, and the intimate, soft
way he stroked her had her smiling. She was happy,
he
made her happy, and all it took was this one moment shared
between them. Years had passed from when she had realized that she wanted
Dakota, and ended at this one encounter where she proclaimed his desire for
her. Would it last? She didn’t know, but she hoped it did, because for her this
wasn’t a passing moment or a fling. She truly did love him, and she didn’t care
what anyone said, her father included. She would find her own happily ever
after.

Chapter
Seven

“It’s
just dinner, Tawny.” She whispered to herself as she stared at her reflection
in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door. The sweater and leggings she
wore were not fancy, and made her feel comfortable. She wondered what Dakota
thought about how she looked, if he liked that she wasn’t a skinny female, but
a thick and round size sixteen. Although he seemed to like how she looked just
fine as he was all but taking her up against the backroom wall. He had kissed
her hard and forcefully, mouth-fucking her like he owned every part of her body.
God, there was no other way to describe what he had been doing,
how
he had been kissing her.

She
lifted her hand and smoothed it over her braid. It hung over one shoulder.
Tonight she was going to sit down with Dakota and actually talk to him about
all of this. Even after what they had done at the bar the other night they
hadn’t actually spoken about what had happened or what the hell the next step
was. Tonight was very casual, very easygoing, because that was what she needed
to get through this. Telling Dakota how she had felt all these years, in
public, without the sexual heat consuming them both, was stressful enough
without having to worry about it being labeled a “date”.

A
knock on her door had her focusing on the wood instead of the glass, and then it
was being pushed open and her mother was coming inside.

“Hi,”
Tawny said and moved over to her bed to take a seat on the edge of it.

“You’re
going out tonight?” her mother asked, coming fully in the room and shutting the
door behind her.

“I
am … with Dakota,” Tawny added on a last breath. She hadn’t told her parents
about Dakota, what happened at the bar, or that he was the one she was seeing
tonight. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed or feared what their reaction would
be. It was just because she was so on edge and confused right now, more
optimistic than she had been because of the bar incident, but still not knowing
what would happen. Why tell them that Dakota was the man she loved, that she
had loved him for so long that it all blended together now when she didn’t know
if he truly loved her? Yeah, she knew what he had said, but love was different
from lust. But now it seemed like it was pointless to keep any of that a
secret. He had professed his feelings for her, and a part of her liked that she
was feeling the truth in his words.

Her
mother sat down beside her, turned her body so she faced Tawny, and smiled.
Even in her forties Hope Stoker was a beautiful woman. She didn’t look her age,
kept in shape by running in the woods behind their home, and had always been
there for Tawny and her sister, even if she was just as protective of them as
their father was.

“So
then I guess Gabriel is out of the picture, or are you…” Her mother lifted a
brow and smiled.

“God,
Mom, I’m not a slut,” Tawny said and smiled.

“I
know you’re not, sweetheart. You like to act like you’re this wild child, but I
can see who you really are.” Her mom cupped her cheek. “You get that from your
dad. He was always reckless, didn’t care about much after the deaths, but I saw
in his heart that he was very vulnerable, even if he would never admit it.” She
looked a little sad. “Still doesn’t to this day in fact.”

Tawny
looked down at her hands, thought about how strong her father was on the inside
and out, and wondered if she really did take after him in that regard. “Gabriel
and I are nothing more than friends, or at least that’s how I feel. But
Dakota—” She looked at her mom again.

Hope
placed a hand on hers. “You care about him,” she said without question.

Tawny
nodded. “Yeah, I do, have for a while, too.”

“Why
didn’t you tell us? You know your father and I would support you all the way.”

Tawny
gave her mother an “are you serious” look.

Hope
started laughing. “Well, your dad would have put up a fight, but that’s only
because he loves you. He’ll always be like that with the ones he loves, you
know that.”

Tawny
nodded. “Yeah, I know, but I didn’t tell you, or anyone else for that matter,
because I just didn’t think Dakota felt anything for me, not like how I care
about him.”

“But
he does.”

Tawny
nodded again and swallowed. “Yeah, he does, and so tonight we are going to meet
up and talk about it all.”

“And
you’re waiting to tell your father until you know that everything is stable
with you and Dakota?”

“Yeah,
because despite what Dad says I really am not out trying to give him a heart
attack by the guys I date.”

Her
mom chuckled harder this time and patted her hand. “He knows. He’s just a
grumpy ol’ bear that tries to keep his girls safe from the world. Your father
will never understand that letting you live your lives because you’ve grown
into competent and strong women is the natural way of things.” She lifted her
hand, cupped Tawny’s cheek, and smiled in that motherly way. “But he’ll learn
to deal with it, because you have to do what makes you happy, no matter what
anyone else says.” Hope leaned in and kissed her forehead. “And if it doesn’t
work out with Dakota, that doesn’t mean the man you’re supposed to be with
isn’t out there, just waiting for your spunky and wild personality to knock him
on his ass.”