A Stranger’s Touch (2 page)

Roxi couldn’t hide her triumphant grin when one of the women let out a startled squeak.

Donovan made a striking impression on anyone lucky enough to cross his path. He stood at least six-foot-five, and she figured God must have taken inspiration from a brick wall when building him. His broad shoulders stretched the material of the black suit serving as his uniform, until she sometimes thought it might rip at the seams. He looked to be built of solid muscle, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes…not that she’d ever seen his toes. But she’d imagined them, and in her fantasies they were massive…just like all his other luscious parts.

Someone traced a path along Roxi’s left leg, fingers starting at her ankle and drifting upward, over her knee, pausing only when they reached the dip connecting her thigh to her groin. She heard a man’s swift intake of breath and schooled her features into their usual mask.

She knew what came next. A gentle touch would be followed by—
Ah yes, there it is
…
A more insistent squeeze, this one with an entire palm cupped over her mound. The heel of the man’s palm rubbed her clit but her reaction remained neutral, just as she’d been instructed.

She knew the rules and found them simple to follow, especially since no one ever took the time to try to pleasure her. Strangers groped her like schoolboys under the bleachers, but very few appeared to even know her clit existed, much less showed any interest in it.

A hand tickled her brow then dove into her hair. Someone else squeezed her right nipple. The touch on her breast was tentative at first, as though the person couldn’t believe this was allowed. But it didn’t take long before the hand grew bolder, tweaking the tiny bud and pulling on it until tears stung Roxi’s eyes.

“That’s enough.” At another of Donovan’s trademark growls, the person backed off. He even murmured an apology, which Roxi was inclined to accept.

The man who’d been cupping her sex now used two fingers on each side of her labia to part her nether lips. Her entrance spread, and he must have gotten right down there to take a good look, because she could feel his warm breath on her cunt.

Something smooth and cold nudged her opening. She sucked in a breath, preparing herself for the inevitable intrusion.

“You need lube if you’re going to use that.”

Donovan again. Looking out for her, though he didn’t know the sound of his voice was the only lubricant she needed. Her pussy quivered, her folds growing slick even before the stranger brought the object to her entrance again. She recognized the glass tip of a dildo, one of the standard ones Brad provided for visitor use. It was now slick with lube.

The guy grunted as he slid the device inside. Her inner walls stretched to accommodate it, and Roxi did her best to fight the urge to thrust forward and sink the toy deep herself.

Someone grabbed her ass. Not the same guy…the fingers felt different. She thought perhaps this could be a woman. Not many female hands touched her, but she’d learned to appreciate the much gentler caresses when she could get them.

A sudden prod against her anus had her gasping. She clenched her teeth as the sound echoed through the otherwise quiet gallery. Whatever the woman had tried to thrust into her ass was huge, and hadn’t been properly prepared.

“No.” Luckily, Donovan noticed too. “One device at a time.”

“What’s the use of providing toys if we can’t play with them?” The woman sounded haughty, downright offended at having been interrupted while fondling the display piece.

“Use your common sense, woman.” The rumbling growl in Donovan’s voice turned deeper still. “Lacking that, there’s a brochure out front that lists the guidelines for what you may and may not do while you’re in here. It clearly states you may use only one toy at a time.”

The visitor scoffed. “That’s not enough for me.”

“Then the door’s right where you left it on your way in.”

Roxi blew out a breath as the woman relinquished her hold on her buttocks. A clatter reached Roxi’s ears, no doubt from the woman tossing the toy none too gently into the disposal bin.

A pair of large palms cupped her breasts. Two others slid along her rib cage. Yet Roxi relaxed, knowing that as long as Donovan was watching out for her, she was always in good hands.

* * * * *

Somehow, Donovan managed to last the entire day without blowing his load. It was a hell of an accomplishment, considering the way Roxi’s scent wrapped around his balls and squeezed every time he came within ten feet of her. When he’d learned the reason the last guard had quit, Donovan had laughed. He wasn’t laughing anymore.

Spending six long hours watching Roxi’s voluptuous body being used in the kinkiest ways would test anyone’s self-control. He was surprised the former bodyguard made it as long as he did. Donovan had been here two weeks, and it already felt like he’d spent two years guarding this woman.

When around her, his senses seemed to expand, functioning on constant overload. He’d become intimately attuned to her scent. One whiff the moment she walked into a room and his surroundings narrowed so she became the center of his world. Good thing for a bodyguard, he supposed, being so damn aware of his charge. Fucking awful thing for a wolf searching for a shifter mate.

Roxi’s scent masked all other odors, making it impossible for him to casually continue his search for a suitable mate while at work. Dozens of women strolled by him while he was on duty, but with Roxi around, a stink bomb could detonate right in front of his wolfish nose and he’d have no clue. Just yesterday he’d been standing right beside a stag shifter and would have missed the scent of prey altogether if the guy hadn’t been in heat.
That
, he’d been able to scent…the musky aroma of need that mingled with Roxi’s sweet essence and drove Donovan’s inner wolf into a howling frenzy. He’d been able to stop the sudden urge to shift from overtaking him, but just barely.

He’d thought this job would be easy. He’d been dead wrong.

Gritting his teeth, Donovan slammed the gallery door closed behind the last visitor of the night. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and braced himself for his final duty. Releasing Roxi from her restraints. The task he most looked forward to and dreaded.

Donovan pushed away from the door and took his time strolling through the front two rooms, giving wide berth to the pigeons and the monster baby. He made sure not to look at the giant tit at all. The thing freaked him out, and he was secure enough in his masculinity to admit it.

“Are they gone?”

God, he loved her heavy accent. European, with a sultry timbre that held a honeyed edge of pure sex. Too bad Brad had forbidden her from speaking while on duty. He could have charged double at the door for that voice alone.

“Every last one,” Donovan said. Brad usually stayed behind in case someone wanted to purchase one of the art pieces that were for sale, but he’d left early tonight. That meant Donovan was in charge of closing up. And he and Roxi were completely alone in the gallery.

“Thank God.” She wriggled her wrists in the leather restraints. “My arms are killing me today.”

He circled her, assessing the harness for the millionth time, and shook his head. Getting strung up and played with at the whim of strangers was a hell of a way to make a living. Why did she do it? Why put herself on display like this for all of New York and its tourists to have a feel?

None of my business
, he reminded himself, just like he’d been doing since his first day on the job. He’d figured his curiosity would fade, and that the more time he spent around Roxi, the more his infatuation would dim.

Just one more thing to add to the never-ending list of shit he’d been wrong about.

Gritting his teeth, Donovan told himself he didn’t give a damn about this sexy little human or her kinky bent. He had only to do his job in her presence. The rest of the time, he needed to focus on his goal—find a wolf-shifter mate and return home to Thompson Falls with her in tow.

It sounded so damn simple. So why was it taking so long?

A growl slipped from his throat.

“Donovan?” Roxi started. “Everything okay?”

“Fine,” he snapped. She shrank away from him, and he instantly regretted his harsh tone. “Sorry. Long day.”

“Tell me about it.” She sighed, wiggled her right foot. “Untie me?”

His hand closed around her ankle. He meant to do as she asked, he really did. But her skin felt soft, like satin, and her scent intensified the moment his fingers made contact with her flesh. From where he stood, he could see all the way up between her legs, into the pink softness at the apex of her thighs.

She was clean shaven, giving him a glimpse of the bounty that should have been hidden from everyone else, but wasn’t. Other men had gotten an eyeful of her intimate places. Other men had touched her there.

His lip curled. The thought made his wolf’s blood boil. Donovan tried to ignore the beast. He didn’t care what the wolf felt. Not one damn bit. But instead of yanking his hand back to Roxi’s restraints, he slid both palms up the length of her calf.

“What…” She sucked in a breath. “What are you doing?”

“What everyone else does. Enjoying interactive art.”

She shivered at his touch. “I am, as you Americans say, off the clock. Remember?”

“Not until I say you are.”

Her mouth parted in obvious surprise, revealing a bruise in the center of her lower lip. She must have bitten that spot often, perhaps while holding back her cries of pleasure as other men touched her. When jealousy slammed into Donovan this time, it wasn’t coming from his wolf alone.

His muscles quivered with anticipation. Her scent clogged his senses until he could think of nothing but her. Claiming her. Having her. Marking her as his.

Her face fell suddenly, and her lower lip trembled. “You think I am a whore.”

The blunt statement, delivered in her sexy accent, yanked him out of the haze of lust. He eyed her carefully, taking in the story her body was so clearly telling. Goose bumps had broken out where he’d touched her, running up the length of her pale skin all the way to her areolas. Her small nipples were puckered into hard nubs.

“So what, then? You just like your job?”

“You know nothing about me.” Roxi released a deep breath and her chest heaved. God, but she was so damn beautiful. “You assume, like all men do, that because of what I do I am yours for the taking.” She tilted her chin up and somehow managed to look regal while doing it, even all tied and blindfolded. “I am not here for the sex.”

She was lying. He could see it in the pucker of those perfect nipples, smell it in the way her scent wrapped around him, feel it in the goose bumps raised across her silky skin. The corner of Donovan’s lips twitched. He’d always loved a challenge, and it sure sounded to him like Roxi was issuing one. “No? So sex doesn’t interest you one bit?”

“W-with you?”

A grin crossed his lips. He’d made her stammer. Twin red blossoms colored her cheekbones. Despite having seen her naked countless times, he’d never actually seen her blush before. He found he liked it. A lot.

He’d been alone too long. Ever since Samantha left, he’d been determined to remain celibate until he found his shifter mate. He just hadn’t expected his search to take this long.

His mouth watered. He imagined flicking one of her tempting nipples with the tip of his tongue, feeling the puckered edges, nibbling and sucking until he had her panting beneath him. But it wouldn’t be enough, for either of them. If he started down that path, he wouldn’t stop until she begged him to fuck her. And she
would
beg. He had no doubt he could drive her to the brink of insanity, until only his cock thrusting deep into her sweet pussy would bring her back from the edge of madness.

Donovan slid his fingers up Roxi’s leg, loving the way her muscles tensed beneath his touch. She trembled slightly, and the tremor ran straight through his blood, fueling his predator instinct. All tied up like this, she was the perfect prey.

A bead of moisture gathered at the edge of Roxi’s folds. It formed a tiny drop, and this time, he couldn’t resist the urge to taste.

He quickly knelt between her parted thighs and gripped her hips with both hands, steadying her in the harness, making sure he had her exactly where he wanted her.

Then he claimed her sex with his mouth.

An explosion of sensation careened through Roxi’s body. A cry tore from her throat and echoed off the walls. The muscles in her legs and buttocks clenched as she struggled to make sense of what was happening.

Donovan’s lips molded to her cunt. His tongue cleaved through her slit, homing in on her entrance and gently slipping inside.

She fisted her hands, dug her fingernails into her palms. The harness swayed, rattling the chains. Her breathing became ragged and she struggled to form a single word. “Donovan!”

He lifted his head. “Say my name again.” His voice was thick, rough, guttural. She almost didn’t recognize it.

She gasped as his warm breath caressed her folds. Her pussy throbbed, the need he’d awakened demanding more of what he’d been offering. “DDonovan.” She stumbled over the first syllable but managed to get his name out on a sigh. “What—” A gasp drowned out the rest of her words as he slipped a finger right where his tongue had been. Or a thumb, she guessed by the thickness of the single digit.