Seven Years (34 page)

My stomach knotted and I felt a stabbing pain in my chest.

“You were a stubborn and odd little girl who liked to catch butterflies and release them in your house. You seem to have forgotten you used to call me Elastic Man when I hit a growth spurt at age nine.” His breath was on my face and I froze as he continued. “You also had a knack for dating every guy who didn’t pass my test, and if it were my decision, you wouldn’t have gone out with any of them. No, Lexi, I’m not going to tell you I’ve loved you since I was five, because it’s not true. I can’t lie to you.”

My heart sank, and he let go of my wrists and stroked his fingers through my hair.

“In fact, I remember the exact moment I fell in love with you. It was June seventeenth, the summer before your senior year in high school. We went camping with a bunch of friends and I sat next to you by the lake while you hummed a Fleetwood Mac song, watching the moonlight shine on the water and wearing a silly pair of pajamas. We didn’t talk, but that’s the first time I really saw you as the woman you would someday become. You probably don’t even remember it, but I do. I always will.”

Somehow, all the air in the room managed to disappear and I could scarcely breathe.

Austin bit his lip and turned his head away, his pale blue eyes glittering beneath inky lashes. It was the look of regret—one that inevitably came with something you wished you hadn’t revealed.

An avalanche of emotion took over, and tears welled in my eyes, rolling quietly across my ears and into my hair.

He slanted his eyes toward me and saw me crying. “Shit,” he breathed. “I’m sorry, Lexi.” His fingers wiped my tears and I shook my head. He just didn’t understand.

“I’ve waited my entire life for you to say that to me, Austin.”

His lips twitched and his voice softened to the growly, bedroom one I liked. “Then why are you crying?”

“Because I don’t know if you still do. Did I blow it?”

All humor in his face evaporated. Austin tilted his head down and brushed his lips against mine. I’d never been kissed in the slow and reverent way that Austin delivered. Each kiss barely pressed against my lips. Sometimes they stuck together a little, and small wet sounds filled the quiet room. But beneath such a simple gesture, sparks ignited between us, and all my doubts melted away. I could taste him, smell him, and feel his warmth on my mouth and body.

I used to watch shows about unsolved mysteries and spontaneous human combustion. I had an idea what the cause could have been because I felt like a box of explosives.

His rough hands cupped my cheeks, and his lips moved their way around my face, kissing the curve of my jaw, my eyelids, and the tip of my nose, before returning to my mouth.

The tension multiplied between us when I caught his bottom lip between my teeth and gave it a tug. He slid his body up just a fraction and I felt the weight of him everywhere. I bent my knee and he fit against me like a piece of a puzzle locking into place.

Being in heat had nothing on a kiss delivered by Austin Cole. It was intricate and reckless all at once.

“Don’t be so gentle,” I encouraged.

A spark flickered in his eyes and his mouth came down on mine, tongue pushing in as his hips did a swivel. I moaned and ran my hand along his jaw, scraping my fingers just a little bit so I could hear the scratchy hiss of his stubble. He lifted his head and awareness burned in those crystalline depths. I loved his eyes—the way the black rims made it seem like they framed an ocean in his gaze.

Austin stared into the depth of me as he pulled the ends of my shirt over my head. When he dragged his gaze down to my chest, he froze.

“What’s wrong?”

When he didn’t answer, I got irritated. “B-cup not enough for you?”

His left hand firmly covered my mouth. “Will you be quiet for a moment while I drink you in? I’ve fantasized about this moment for the last seven years, so give me a minute. I’m not going to rush the first time I get to see your body beneath mine. That okay?”

I stitched my lips together and let him make love to me with his salacious eyes while my fingers memorized his broad, inked shoulders and firm biceps. His skin was sticky and taut beneath my hands and I wanted to taste him as he slid down the length of my body.

Austin’s lips skimmed across the flat of my stomach and I sucked in, stretching my arms up. Then it occurred to me I’d waited too long to just lie around while he took his time exploring territory he had recently vacationed to. I grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked him up, kissing him hard on the mouth.

He ran his hand over the lace of my white bra and dragged his mouth to the soft curve of my neck. My heart thundered like the hooves of a hundred stallions.

“Seven years,” I whispered. “We’re almost strangers.”

Austin quit fumbling with my bra, grabbed both cups, and pulled it apart. With a snap, it gave way. His mouth sucked ravenously on my nipple while his left hand curved around and squeezed, sending a bolt of pleasure all through my body. “Then let’s get to know each other. Favorite band?” he murmured.

“Mumford & Sons. You?”

His mouth journeyed lower until his tongue leisurely circled around my belly button. I whimpered a soft moan and loosened my grip on his hair.

“Kings of Leon,” he said, pinching my nipples with his warm fingers.

“They have like two songs I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, but they’re good songs.” Then he swung his eyes up to mine and slowly sang the opening verse of “Sex on Fire.”

Oh God, I melted listening to his lush, raspy voice. Austin had a singing voice he rarely used, but when he did, it was a force of nature on my body.

“How many girls have you dated?”

He took his sweet time sliding my shorts down, kissing the soft skin surrounding my panties. “Five,” he murmured.

“Five?” I almost shouted. “Jeez, you make me feel like a slut.”

“How many?” he asked, pulling my shorts away from my ankles. He knelt at my feet, staring up the length of my body.

I bit my lip. “Nine. But only two were serious.”

Austin cracked a smile. “Not serious enough. None of them matter.”

Then he fell over me and the clash of our heated bodies intensified the tension building between us. I was swimming in a pool of desire and close to drowning in the deep end.

“You still own those brown cowboy boots?” he asked, kissing my neck roughly. Then his hips took on a life of their own as he rocked them against me.

I moaned some kind of desperate sound, struggling to pay attention as his tongue moved in slow circles between the sucking. “No, the heel broke.”

“Good. I hated those damn boots.”

Well, that was just insulting
. “Hey, what about your ‘I’m so badass’ fringed leather gloves?”

He pinched my nipple and put me in my place as his hips thrust against mine.

“Still got ’em, and I’m still badass.”

I nipped his jaw and licked at his ear, making him shudder. “If I see you in them, I’m cutting off those fringes.”

A grin stretched across his face. “Don’t even try it.”

Then his mouth was on mine.

“Pudding,” I said in a quick breath.

“What?” He didn’t stop kissing me.

I turned my head to the side, allowing him to taste my neck and shoulder. My fingers weaved through his hair slowly. “You wanted to know what I craved when I shifted from wolf form. It’s pudding.”

He lifted my leg, grinding against me, and I moaned. “Chocolate or vanilla?”

I was tired of talking and my breath sounded as if I had run a marathon. Austin cupped between my legs and massaged as he spoke against my lips. “Answer the question.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to if this was the punishment. He stroked his finger deep.

“Chocolate!”

I made a complaining sound as he shifted on top of me again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, lifting his head to look at me.

“The floor hurts my back.”

The next thing I knew, Austin stood up and pulled me into his arms. My legs were wrapped around his waist like pythons and he pushed me up against the wall. A painting crashed to the floor and the frame split. We were too busy trying to determine how far we could get our tongues into each other’s mouths.

I was trembling all over; never had I felt so aroused by a man.

Then I started working my hips and he turned around, trying to figure out what to do with me as we backed up against the window. I ripped the drapes down and the rod knocked over a picture frame on the TV stand.

“Oh God!” I cried out, so completely taken by his mouth all over me, the feel of his chest against mine, the smell of him.

“Shit, where?” he grumbled out.

“The chair,” I said, staring at the hideous recliner.

When Austin sat down with me in his lap, we almost went flying forward again. He pulled the lever and reclined back as I unbuckled his belt and pulled down the zipper on his pants.

This wasn’t the romantic scene I’d envisioned because let’s face it, I’d never envisioned anything romantic with Austin. It was always unadulterated, feral sex.

His fingers worked diligently removing my panties, and I wiggled my body so I could at least get them off one leg.

Then his mouth was all over me—sucking and rolling his tongue in rhythmic circles. While he tasted my breast, his hands were trying to shuck off his jeans. In the process, he knocked over the glass lamp and it broke into pieces. A strangled moan escaped from my lips as his hand slid between my legs.

Austin’s words came out in a heavy breath. “God, you’re so fucking wet.”

Somehow, stating the obvious was never sexier.

There was a moment between us when everything ceased. Our eyes met, our bodies calmed, our breathing fell in sync. As he kept his pale eyes locked on mine, Austin slid himself deep inside me, grabbing my hips and pushing me down to the hilt. Our eyes simultaneously hooded, struggling to maintain eye contact without closing and completely losing ourselves.

That moment would live in my mind for the rest of my life, because it was the first time I’d felt Austin look into my soul. That secret part of me I revealed to no one and saved only for him.

He shook his head. “You were my single biggest regret, Alexia Knight. I’ll never get that time back. I’m not letting you go.”

I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him warmly with soft lips and a gentle touch. “It wasn’t the right time. Maybe it took all those years apart for us to be right for each other. But you have me now, Austin. Love me
now
,” I said, my voice falling to a whisper.

And then he couldn’t get enough of me. His arms hooked over my back, gripping my shoulders from behind as I rode up and down. He felt thick and delicious and oh God, I couldn’t stop. His fingers gripped my ass so hard I actually cried out his name.

“Harder!” he demanded in his alpha voice.

I reached for the back of the chair and in a split second, the room tilted as the recliner fell back and bucked me off. Austin’s legs went over and he roared in laughter as he fell on top of me.

Afraid the chair was going to topple over, I turned over and crawled toward the carpet on my hands and knees.

“Christ, Lexi, you’re killing me with that view!”

The next thing I knew, Austin came up from behind and stroked my hips sensually with his rough hands, and my fingers gripped the long fibers of the carpet. He slid his shaft in slowly… all the way to the hilt. Never had I felt so connected with another man. It felt so right that I curved my back and pressed against him, taking him even deeper.

Austin released a strangled moan.

I fell to my elbows as he drove into me, stroking my back and thighs with his wandering hands. He was getting close judging by his chaotic rhythm, and right before he reached climax, I shouted, “Stop!”

Austin immediately pulled out, rolled me over, and stared me dead in the eye. “What’s wrong?”

My heart was a banging drum. His cheeks were flushed and damn if his bottom lip didn’t look swollen from my sucking on it.