Hidden Crimes (33 page)

NATE was lost in thought as they left
Christophe’s home. He stopped in front of his Goblinati, dropped
his head, and rubbed the back of his neck.

Evina took his other hand. However their
relationship turned out, she wanted him to know she was here for
him. Strictly speaking, not reaching out would have been difficult.
After what had just happened, the pull between them was strong. Her
energy wanted his next to it.

“We can leave the car where it is,” she told
him. “We’re close enough to walk to my place.”

“Right.” He must have felt what she did. He
wove their fingers more firmly together.

Darkness had fallen while they were with
Chris. Most of the development’s residents were inside watching TV
or fixing a late dinner. Evina led Nate the long way around to her
unit, across the best grassy stretches toward the little woods her
children liked to pretend was a deep jungle. Her family wasn’t
expecting her back just yet. She and Nate had time to talk. Much as
she enjoyed the silence between them, she knew they needed
that.

They walked close enough that their shoulders
brushed. Without working too hard at it, they found a compromise
between their stride lengths. Evina realized she wanted to do this
every night.

“I always suspected that might be true,” he
said, cutting through the crickets and muffled cooking sounds.

“That you really are an alpha?”

“Yes.” He rubbed his left eyebrow with a
fingertip. “Of course, I also thought I might be kidding myself.
Because I was resentful over not earning top spot in my pack.”

“Is it going to be harder to work with them
now that you know for sure?”

He thought. “No. I feel calmer. Maybe the
validation helps.
I
know, so I don’t have to keep pushing
for them to see it too. Or maybe the calmness is your effect on
me.”

He squeezed her fingers, causing a thrill to
run through her. They stopped walking and looked at each other. No
electric lights were nearby but, behind Nate’s head, the moon was
three-quarters full, glowing like a spotlight with its power dialed
to maximum. The moon was his people’s symbol, their emblem of
change and mystery. As well as she’d come to know him, his
mysteries weren’t all revealed. Evina’s stomach was so jumpy she
couldn’t tell whether that excited or frightened her.

Nate stroked her braided hair around her
head. “I believe what Christophe said. I believe you and I are
mates.”

Evina’s nerves fluttered more forcefully.
“You don’t think that’s crazy?”

“Only on the surface. Underneath it makes
perfect sense. We bring out more in each other.”

Evina bit her lip. Nate’s expression was so
serious she didn’t know how to interpret it. “What do you want to
do about it?”

He smiled gently. “I’m pretty sure that’s
your call.”

She didn’t want it to be hers, or—rather—she
knew her preference already and needed to hear his. “I’m not the
easiest woman to get along with.”

He surprised her by laughing. “Did Paul put
that idea into your head? You’re easy, Evina. Any smart man you
lived with would roll out of bed every day happy.”

Any smart man you lived with
. . . Was
that what he hoped would happen? That they’d live together? She
knew she shouldn’t want more than that. More than that wasn’t what
most tigers did. “You called me bossy,” she blurted.

“Do you think that scares me?”

“But now you know you’re alpha!”

“Evina.” He hugged her, quick and wonderful.
“Paul wasn’t secure enough in himself. You need a man who’s
stronger than him, not one who’s more subordinate. I think, maybe,
that’s me.”

There wasn’t any
maybe
about him being
stronger than Paul. Nate had confidence—and stubbornness—in spades.
When Nate sank his teeth into a project, he never let it go.

“The question is,” he said, his beautiful
hands moving around her hair again, “do you want me in your life?
Can you trust me after what I almost did?”

“You don’t even have to ask!”

“I do. If you’d done what I had, you’d feel
the same. Even if you’re right about me letting you stop me.”

When he put it that way . . .

Her arms were around his waist from his
earlier hug, his rangy body warm in the loose embrace. “Nate,” she
said as soberly as she could, “if anyone were going to eat me, I’d
want it to be you.”

He stared at her, stupefied. Evina gave up
the joke and broke into sniggers.

“Oh for crap’s sake,” he exclaimed. “That’s
not funny!”

“Apparently, it is,” she replied, because he
was laughing a bit himself. She wagged her brows at him. “You
caught the double entendre, right?”

Nate shook his head in exasperation. To her
delight, this was a prelude to kissing her. His lips settled over
hers as if their mouths had been custom designed to fit. That was
better. In fact, it was delicious. Nate’s hands slid down her back
to pull her as close as two bodies that still wore clothing could
get. From what she could tell, he was very happy to be kissing
her.

“Mm,” she said, squirming against his various
hard places. “Maybe I should eat
you
. You’re so tasty.”

“Jesus,” he said, helpless to fight a smile.
“Not. Funny.”

“Well, then.” Unable to resist, Evina ran her
hands around the muscles of his tight butt. “Maybe I shouldn’t eat
you. Maybe I should just lick you here and there.”

She rubbed her pelvis suggestively up his
crotch, where the ridge of his erection seemed to have turned to
stone. Since that drew a pleased gasp from him, she put more of her
kitty slinkiness into the motion.

Sometimes it was nice to be flexible.

“Evina,” he growled. Then he kissed her so
deeply she couldn’t speak for a few minutes.

It felt like he was pouring heat straight
into her sex, like he’d tipped a bottle of steamy syrup, and she
was filling up. Everything they’d been through hit her, everything
she longed for, all the hurdles they still faced. She had to get
him inside her, had to hold the two of them as tight as they would
go. If she didn’t, her heart
and
her lust might explode.

She broke free of his delectable tonguey
kiss, both their eyes blazing fire. Because they were shifters,
this sort of play cranked up their temperatures. She gripped Nate’s
hot hand in hers.

“Come with me,” she said, tugging him after
her.

They ran, laughing breathlessly, into the
community’s little stretch of woods. They didn’t stumble. With the
nimbleness of their beasts, they sought privacy among nature. The
exertion was a pleasure, the anticipation it helped to build. Nate
pushed her spine back into a tree trunk even as she yanked him
closer by the collar. She loved that he was taller and stronger,
loved too that he yielded to her pull. They were yin and yang
jumbled up together, tinder and spark and a thousand other
combustible metaphors.

Evina couldn’t come up with them right then.
She felt wilder and more wordless than she ever had before.

“I want you,” he growled, low and sexy,
ironing his crotch over hers. “I’m going to die if I have to
wait.”

She kissed him, clutched him. “Help me with
my clothes.”

He peeled off her upper garments in a single
smooth motion. Cool air hit the tightened peaks of her breasts.

“Hey,” she said. “Didn’t I have a bra under
there?”

Nate grinned and cupped her, thumbs reaching
for her sensitized nipples. “I’m all about efficiency tonight.”

He ducked his head and sucked. For a moment,
all she could do was wallow in sensation. Each pull of his mouth
licked nerves in her clit and pussy. Moaning, she drove her fingers
so deeply into his hair that she undid his ponytail. This wasn’t
bad, of course. She loved combing through that warm black silk.

“Evina.” He fell to his knees in front of
her. His hands got busy opening her trousers, then shifted to
unbuttoning his fitted business shirt. He must have kept extras at
the precinct. The garment was as sharp as everything he owned. Dark
oyster brown with pale cream stripes, the colors looked so yummy
against his skin it honestly made her mouth water.

“Don’t rip that,” she pleaded as he wrenched
his arms from the sleeves. “It looks really nice on you.”

She felt him grinning as he kissed her
navel.

“Lift your feet,” he murmured against her
stomach, his hands tugging at her sneakers.

A shiver of nervous excitement rolled up her
spine. Did he intend to strip every scrap from her? Out in the open
and everything?

She supposed he did. Once her shoes were
pried off, he shucked her trousers and panties as handily as the
rest. From his knees, he gazed up her body, the moon painting pale
magic over her dips and curves. His expression was awestruck, like
he hadn’t imagined a woman could look like her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed, his palms
and fingers smoothing around her thighs, urging them to part for
him. “You’re exactly what a woman should be.”

She couldn’t laugh at his exaggeration. He
sounded too earnest.

Plus, there was the distraction when he
nuzzled between her labia and sucked her clitoris.

Her neck arched against the bark of the tree.
Talk about being eaten. Nate was making a feast of her—licking,
suckling, sliding two long fingers into her sheath to rub it
coaxingly. Cream ran from her, coating those clever appendages.
Christ, he knew exactly how she liked this. Evina clutched his
head. Playing shy really was a waste with a man like him. With a
grunt of pleasure, Nate worked his strong right shoulder under her
spread left thigh.

Naked, forced to stand on one foot, Evina
rolled her sex at him. Her inner thigh pressed his ear, the
movement of his jaw intensely arousing. Sensing her urgency, he
worked his fingers more strongly in and out. He held her too
securely for her to fear losing her balance. This was good, because
when his fangs lengthened with arousal, she totally lost it.

“Nate,” she gasped, a sudden strong orgasm
squeezing her pussy tight.

He panted in response, the ragged sound
sharpening her pleasure. His fingers pumped faster, drawing out her
climax. Knowing him, it wasn’t an accident that one fang compressed
a nerve so sweet the ecstasy almost hurt.

He seemed to know when she’d had enough. He
eased his fingers from her, dropping one last kiss to her throbbing
clit. He let her thigh slide off his broad shoulder, but didn’t
rise right away. Instead, he dragged his face from side to side on
her belly. The gesture was indescribably vulnerable and sweet.

“I love you,” she said, petting his lovely
hair. “You’re the best man I’ve ever known.”

He tipped his face up, golden fires burning
behind his irises. She didn’t need the words back from him. Those
soulful eyes were abundantly expressive.

With her hips to serve as his brace, he
pulled himself to his feet. He didn’t move. He looked down at her
and breathed, the in and out of his ribs deep and exciting.
Titillated by the thought of what they’d do next, Evina smoothed
her hands over his bare chest.

“Open my trousers,” he said.

The instruction rasped from his throat,
inspiring a small shiver. Evina dragged her nails lightly down the
arrow of hair on his muscular abdomen. His diaphragm moved faster,
the large bulge behind his zipper drawing her scratches there.

“Fuck,” he gasped, eyelids growing heavy as
he widened his stance.

Evina knew an invitation when she saw one. Up
and down his erection she drew her kitty nails—ten again, thank the
Tiger Queen. She pushed them through his legs to where his balls
were pulsing. Every inch of the route she took was worth repeating,
a thoroughness he seemed grateful for. When she saw his canines
sink into his lip, she undid the clasp at his waist and pulled down
his zipper.

His swollen cock pushed out so heavily the
teeth nearly parted without help. Slowly, teasingly, she dug down
into his jockstrap.

“Ah,” he sighed as she grasped his thickness
and tugged upward. “Evina, that feels good.”

“To me too,” she whispered.

He was silk and steel, muscle and heat and
oil where his tip leaked beads of arousal perfect for rubbing
across his tip with her thumb. Sensualist that he was, he let her
play for quite a few minutes. His body undulated, rolling in slow
waves at the pleasure she stirred in him.

Then he caught her wrist with his hand.

“I need to show you something,” he said
throatily.

She rose on tiptoe to kiss him, their tongues
tangling deep and wet. When both their hearts were thumping harder,
she pulled away. His eyes glittered down at her as they opened.

“Show me what?” she asked.

“This.”

He wrapped his hand over hers where she held
his cock. She expected him to adjust her stroke, maybe show her how
he liked to masturbate. That possibility increased the ache of want
in her pussy. He surprised her by simply nudging her index finger
onto a new spot.

The place was near the base of his erect
penis, slightly hotter than the rest, and blatantly swollen. She
fanned her finger across it, causing him to shiver.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“It’s called a bulbus glandis. It activates
in werewolves when partners who could be mates have sex.”

“In werewolves.”

“Yes.” He pushed her finger across the gland
again, shuddering at the feel this time. Evina’s body creamed at
his reaction. The spot must have had a lot of nerves. “It’s been
swelling up for you. It gets bigger when I come, and that tightens
our fit when I ejaculate. Maybe you noticed I like to be really
deep inside you then. The ring of muscles at your gate presses on
me just right.”

She had noticed that—and enjoyed it. “You
didn’t say.”

“I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It’s only
happened a couple times and never with someone I felt so drawn to.
I didn’t like it so much before, but with you it’s incredibly
pleasurable. I guess my body knew we were meant for each other
before I was ready to admit it.”