A Tiger's Bounty (4 page)

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Amber said apologetically, referring to the lack of parents.

“It’s okay. Honestly, it beats having parents as shitty as yours were,” he replied honestly. In one day, he’d heard enough horror stories to be grateful for the first time in his life that he didn’t know his real parents.

“So will I ever get to meet your brothers?” she asked.

“Believe me. Meeting one of us is enough,” Jace replied, feeling oddly jealous about her asking about his brothers. He wanted her all for his own. Wanted to take her home. The longer he was with her, the more he wanted to own her, to please her so much she passed out, make her come so hard she forgot her own name.

Dammit, this woman was getting to him.

Just then, the beat-up bell at the door dinged weakly, and a man wearing a cap and a well-worn jacket strolled into the bar, walking past them and all the way to the back corner.

That was Jace’s cue.

“You eat up when the food gets here. I’ll be right back in a minute,” Jace said, standing. “Don’t go anywhere,” he finished with a quick wink and walked casually over to his contact.

He’d be back for her soon.

And then he’d take her home.

A
s Jace got
up and walked over to the darkened corner of the bar, Amber tried not to take another look at the shape of his perfect ass in his dark, fitted jeans that had been teasing her all day. But her eyes wouldn’t cooperate.

When he finally sat down after greeting the mysterious person he was meeting, the food he’d ordered arrived, giving her enough of a distraction to stop thinking about his frustratingly perfect body.

All day they’d hung out together, and nothing had happened. At least nothing like he’d done this morning. Just thinking about that flaming-hot kiss made her melt all over again and wet in places that begged for his attention. But ever since this morning, instead of being the overbearing jerk she would have initially pegged him for since the moment she met him, the kind of guy that would never even acknowledge the existence of a girl like her, Jace had continued to astound her with how sharply intelligent and protective he was.

Wherever they went, he knew something about the city, and whenever they were in public, he didn’t tolerate anyone so much as giving her a sidelong glance without giving them a death glare that showed he meant business.

Of course, the mystery of what the heck this guy did for a living was still in the unsolved case files of her mind, but she could put it aside for the time being.

She picked up one of the highly praised chicken wings Jace had ordered and took a bite. The flavor was perfect, nice and sweet with just the right amount of spicy to go with it. She immediately finished it and picked up another, suddenly cognizant of how hungry she was from all the walking around they’d done.

The critical little voice in her head that was always telling her she was never good enough warned that she shouldn’t overdo it and if she didn’t lose weight, then she’d never be able to “get a man” like her mother had berated her about when she was young. But no matter what she’d done or tried to change that while growing up, nothing had worked. So she’d simply learned to live with it and accept herself more and more.

Amber was taking her time enjoying the food and wondering what Jace and his colleague were talking about when the door dinged again. She turned toward the door and saw three young men walk in, all wearing thick coats and hoodies and looking like ruffians on the prowl for something interesting to do.

Perhaps Amber stared a little too long, because the one in the front, a man with medium-length blond hair that was cut very short on the sides, pegged her with a predatory glance. She quickly ducked back into the booth but felt a feeling of dread quickly settle over her as she could hear the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to where she was seated.

“Hey, mind if my bros and I sit here with you?” she heard a cocky voice say above her. Amber didn’t acknowledge him by looking, but instead just folded her arms and looked across the booth where Jace had been seated earlier.

“I’m here with someone,” she replied coolly, hoping to blow them off.

“Doesn’t look like it to me,” the same man replied, sounding self-assured.

“Pretty sad she has to make up having a boyfriend, don’t you think?” another man added.

The three of them chuckled amongst themselves, and Amber looked up to see three men crowding around her booth, blocking her view and eyeing her with smug glances.

“Don’t worry. We’ll keep you company,” said the blond one as he sat next to her, forcing her into the corner of the booth before she could speak up. The other two joined and sat across from them. All of them reeked slightly of beer. Amber guessed they’d probably had a few drinks before coming in here.

“I’m sorry, guys. But really, I
am
here with someone, and I’d like you to leave,” she said.

“Look at all this food. Just for one person. Pity to think it should go to waste,” one of the men across from her said as he helped himself to some of the fries in the center of the table.

Amber tried to see past the border of the booth to where Jace was seated far in the back, but she couldn’t see anything from the corner she was in. And she didn’t know how long Jace was going to be, so she’d have to take care of this mess herself.

“Don’t worry. We’ll keep you company. After dinner, you can come over to my place and we can watch a movie. In bed,” he said, trying to sound suave as he brought an arm around her shoulders and got closer, assaulting her with his alcohol breath.

As he did, Amber fumbled around in her purse for the small bottle of pepper spray she kept on her at all times, specifically for encounters like this. She clicked it to the on position and readied herself to pull it out and close her eyes while she sprayed the bastard’s face.

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll get lucky,” he said, getting even closer.

Just then, as Amber was about to draw out the small bottle in her hand, the blond man let out a
constricted gasp as a huge hand grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out of the booth. Amber looked up to see Jace, orange-yellow eyes burning like hellfire as he pulled the drunken hoodlum off the bench and lifted him into the air, letting him dangle like someone being hung from a gallows. The man struggled, but Jace’s arm was like a steel girder against a light breeze.

“The only people getting lucky tonight will be you three,” Jace said with a furious growl. “Lucky I don’t break your fucking necks.”

Just as the man’s face was starting to turn from red to a deep purple, Jace threw him with one hand like a sack of flour in the direction of the back door. The man rolled a couple times and slammed into a pair of stools, then coughed profusely as he tried to catch his breath.

Jace turned on the other two seated in the booth, and they backed out quickly, raising their hands and muttering contritely about, “We get it,” and, “We don’t want any trouble,” with heads bowed. Jace’s gaze didn’t leave them until they and their friend had limped out of the bar, tails between their legs.

“Sorry for the disturbance, Harv,” Jace said unapologetically, pulling a bill wearing Benjamin Franklin’s visage out of his wallet and putting it on the table. “Let’s get out of here and get you home,” he said, turning to Amber, sounding a little calmer.

“I had everything under control,” Amber said, standing as Jace motioned for the exit. She didn’t want to admit it had been a pretty compromising situation from the start and that she probably did need his help.

“Yes, I’m sure you did,” he said sarcastically. It was a fairly wide swing in direction for the usually even-keeled man. What about what had just happened bothered him so much?

He opened the door to the bar for her and they walked out the back toward the parking lot. It was pitch-black night now, punctuated only by a few dim streetlamps. As they approached the car, Jace clicked a button, and the car started remotely, probably so it could warm up since the night was pretty chilly.

“Really, Jace, I was fine. They would have left sooner or later. They were just a little drunk.” She’d dealt with many drunk men before. They hadn’t been the first by a long shot.

“It’s not that. It’s just…” He trailed off, sounding at odds with himself about something as he opened the passenger door so she could get in and then got into the driver’s seat.

“I’ll be honest, Jace. This whole thing is confusing for me too,” she said. “You’re trying to do the right thing, watch out for me, give me a place to stay. And I’m grateful. I really am. But I still have a life of my own, even if all my belongings were thrashed by some guys I’ve never even met.”

Jace didn’t speak, just gripped the wheel tightly as he listened, as if processing what she was saying.

“I guess what it all comes down to is, ever since this morning, we haven’t spoken about what happened between us. Am I crazy for thinking there’s something here that isn’t?” she asked, waving a hand between them.

Amber hated sounding like an adolescent girl trying to find out if the cute boy at school liked her, but her heart had been given one too many breaks for her to just wait it out and see what happened. She wanted the truth now, no matter how brutal it was going to be.

There was a prolonged pause as Jace let out a long breath in the warm car. Already, Amber could feel a blush creeping up again at the memory of their kiss this morning and at the sight of the huge man that looked like he barely fit inside the large muscle car.

Finally, Jace turned to her, his gaze unflinching as his eyes studied hers. In the low light, his eyes seemed to pick up the slightest hint of streetlight, giving them a warm, subtle orange glow, almost like a cat’s.

Amber readied herself for the impending rejection. This morning had just been payment, a pity kiss since he felt bad for her. She should have known better than to get ideas.

To her complete and utter surprise, Jace leaned over to her side of the car, still gripping the wheel with his hand, and kissed her. Hard.

Her entire body heated past boiling instantly. She closed her eyes and took in the strength of it all, completely awash with emotion and arousal. Her mouth opened without thought, wanting more, and he came in immediately, stroking more deftly than she’d remembered.

By the time he broke the kiss, Amber felt dazed and craving more. Wanting more
now
.

“Does that answer your question?” Jace said, his voice deep and husky.

Amber brought her hand around his neck and pulled him in for another delicious kiss.

H
e was crazy
. Totally and certifiably insane. Jace did
not
mix business and pleasure. And even though Amber wasn’t exactly a job, he’d promised to protect her and make sure nothing happened until she was free from danger, since she was in all of this trouble because of him.

Getting involved with a bounty hunter that chased murderers and criminals with superhuman abilities wasn’t in this woman’s best interest, whether she knew it yet or not.

But as Amber tugged him closer, bridging the few centimeters between their lips for another kiss, Jace couldn’t resist tasting her once more. Her scent filled the car around them. And even though as a human, she had no clue what it was like, he could make out every part of it, like an expensive perfume, with all its complexities and subtleties.

As Jace thrust into her mouth, she gave out a soft moan that made him unbelievably hard. No matter how much his mind disagreed with his decisions and how illogical they were, something about all of this felt so right, so perfect it was almost too good to be true.

Everything about Amber, from her lips to her curves, was so soft. Begging for his touch like a siren’s call distracting seafarers from their charted course. For so long, he’d sailed a straight line and kept the idea of ever letting anyone in like this out of his mind. How bad could a slight detour be?

When he finally pulled away from her lips the second time, it was clear what they were both thinking.

“So your place, then?” Amber said, her voice husky and breathless.

Jace didn’t say anything, just nodded and settled back into his seat and put the car in gear.

He’d never driven home so quickly while still staying relatively within the range of the legal speed limit. When he finally pulled into the alley, he didn’t bother to cover his car. It would be fine for one night. Instead, he came over to Amber’s door, opened it, and plucked her into his arms, feeling the warmth between them growing hotter and hotter every second they touched.

He got them inside, did all the locks, set the alarm, and brought her down the stairs into his place. For a moment, he remembered last night, bringing her down here asleep and unconscious and putting her to bed and how he’d imagined bringing her to his place for a different reason altogether. But at the time, it had seemed a stupid and foolhardy fantasy.

But now they were here, and he could see the arousal in Amber’s eyes that said she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her.

Who was he to deny them that?

By the time he reached the second door and the bottom landing leading into his house, they were all over each other. Jace’s lips were firmly sealed over Amber’s as he used a free hand to open the door, then kick it closed behind him. The more he kissed her, the more he couldn’t get enough. And it seemed to be the same for her as well.

As he walked through the kitchen, he considered putting her on the table and doing it right there, his adrenaline running so fast his desire for her was so strong, but he waited and walked the extra twenty steps into the bedroom and set her on the bed.

For a minute, they became a flurry of clothes, Amber pulling off his jacket and tugging at his shirt while he pulled off her own coat and T-shirt, revealing the soft rise of her deliciously large breasts behind a pink bra. With a single flick, he undid the clasp and slid it off, giving him an even better view than before.

Jace swore to himself at her beauty and took one breast in his hand and sucked on the beckoning nipple. Amber let out a soft gasp of sensation, then ran her hands along his shoulders and through his hair as he swirled his tongue around the outer edge of it, then pressed on the hardened tip with his tongue.

As he came to the other nipple, enjoying the taste of her skin and the sounds she made as he pleasured her, his hand felt along the rounded curve of her hips and her belly, exploring her irresistible body as her breath hitched with each stroke of his tongue over her breasts.

Jace had never felt like this before toward another woman. So animalistic, so inexplicably attracted that he could make love to her forever but still not feel satisfied. Like he could never pleasure her enough. Sure, he’d certainly been with other women, but it was usually a one-time thing. But everything about Amber was different, special somehow.

In the back of his mind, he could hear a warning bell going off. He could endanger her, and he wasn’t the kind who should settle down or get in too deep. But being around Amber made him get ideas. Made him think about getting deeper than he ever had before.

Jace kissed a line up from her breasts to her neck as both his hands massaged the perfect, soft flesh of her breasts, then came back down to run his tongue between them and down her stomach to her belly button. As he kissed even lower, his hands undid her pants and slid them off, leaving her in nothing but her pink panties that teased him the with shape of her tantalizing femininity beneath.

First he played with the hem of her panties as his hands savored the feel of her soft thighs, running along the surface until they came agonizingly close to her center. And as he got closer and closer, Amber’s eyes shut and she let out little mewls of pleasure as her hands held on to the bedframe behind her, riding out the pleasure he gave as fast as she was able to receive.

Unable to wait any longer, Jace slid off Amber’s underwear, baring her completely to him. For a moment longer, he took in the beautiful sight, her body tensed and wanting.

Since the moment he’d first met her, he’d wanted to know if her body really was as beautiful naked as he’d imagined.

He was wrong. She was even more beautiful and sexy than he could have ever believed.

He brought his hand down to her center and gently rubbed along the soft point of her clit, and she moaned long and loud for him, calling his name. It was perhaps the sweetest sound he’d ever heard, and the cat in him purred with satisfaction at her arousal.

Jace would do anything and everything in the world to hear his name drift off her lips like that again.

And he knew where to start.

He slowly spread her legs, and as she realized what he was going to do, Amber’s eyes widened slightly and she gripped the iron bedframe a little tighter. Then, bringing his head down to the soft mound between her legs, he stroked his long tongue along her clit with feline dexterity. She arched her back in response and her hips bucked at the sensation, and he put his hands on her hips to hold her in place so she could better experience the pleasure.

At this point, Jace’s body and senses were completely attuned to her. With his hands on her, he could feel her pulse racing, could feel even the slightest twitch of her muscles. He could detect even the smallest change in her body temperature or her breathing. He was aware of
everything
.

And oh, her scent. It was delicious just to be near her, but being together like this, it became something else. Feminine and heady, completely overwhelming and intoxicating, especially to the shifter part of him.

Holding her down this time, he licked again along the small nub that was the center of her desire, and her body rocked with pleasure, making him so hard for her it ached. How did this woman have such an effect on him?

If he got too close, too involved, he might not be able to go back. But the tiger inside him roared with satisfaction and approval whenever he even entertained the idea of a future with her. A future like this. It was a feeling unlike any he’d ever come across before, and he tended to be very in touch with his tiger.

Everything about her screamed “mate.”

He licked once more, and she came.

A
mber’s mind
exploded with pleasure from the combination of the heated foreplay and the intense sensation of having the hottest man alive giving her oral.

She was grateful that the bed had something to hold on to as her body shook with satisfying release. Even though it made her feel self-conscious, she couldn’t help but cry out Jace’s name into the quiet, insulated apartment as he held her body and watched with dark, heated eyes as she came.

No one had ever made love to her like this. It was like this man couldn’t stop getting more perfect, and of all the ways he was ideal, he was the
most
ideal in bed.

Granted, she wasn’t the most experienced in bed, and all the times she’d gotten this far in a relationship with a guy, it turned out to be a huge disappointment. But Jace, he was cut from a different cloth. It was like her pleasure was all that mattered to him in everything, and he literally couldn’t get enough of giving it to her.

And the only thing she could do was hold on for the ride.

Before her body was even fully relaxed again, she felt Jace’s hands on her nipples, pressing the hardened, wanting tips with his thumbs, making her ache inside for him. Part of her enjoyed being lavished with such luxurious pleasure, but another part of her just wanted to experience the main event now.

Ever since he’d put her on the bed, she’d been eyeing the large bulge in his pants and wanting to feel what it was like to have him inside.

Just then, Jace went back to making love to her clit with his mouth again, this time making slow, luxurious circles around her center that intermingled with her wetness and drove her crazy. How could a man be so damn good with his tongue like that?

And as he did, she could feel his huge, slightly rough hands caressing her body, making her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world at the moment. She still wondered how a guy like him could actually feel that way about a girl like her, but she could suspend disbelief so long as he did such wonderful things for her pleasure.

Jace’s stroking with his tongue got faster, and Amber bit down on her lip to try and hold back a little longer, loving the feel of pleasure that was so intense it bordered on pain. Her body was coiled so tightly inside that she almost feared what was on the other side.

But Jace gave no quarter. As his tongue ran up her center, his fingers dipped deep inside her, exploring and giving her different sensations that both enticed her and promised her more in the very near future that was all too much to handle at once.

With a flick of his tongue and a stroke of his finger across a sensitive spot inside her that she didn’t even know existed, Amber felt everything go white with heat. Her body felt like a box full of sparklers going off at the same time, her nerves bursting with sensation and coming with incredible power.

From the edge of her senses, as if a world apart from the euphoria she was experiencing, she could see Jace’s dark-sunset eyes watching her with lust and satisfaction, a wry smile on his face. She didn’t care what he did so long as this all wasn’t a dream.

When she finally came down from the incredible high, she was done with being the only one receiving pleasure for the time being. She wanted to see this muscular, protective, mysterious man with model looks lose it for once. Wanted to see him feel the kind of pleasure he’d been giving her.

She reached for the large, scuffed metallic loop of his belt and undid it with surprising speed. Jace didn’t stop her, just watched with that smug smile that seemed to imply he knew who was still in control of the whole situation.

But that didn’t deter Amber. She was on a mission.

After releasing the belt, she unbuttoned his pants and pulled down the zipper, revealing dark-gray boxer briefs. Beneath them, she had an even better view of the size of his package, and she wondered how it was even going to fit.

“Here, let me help,” Jace finally said with a chuckle, coming off the bed and pulling everything off, since Amber couldn’t do much more than stare wide-eyed at this point.

He stood before her, body long and muscled and majestic in its own way. Rippled abs that she could count individually, huge pecs that were hard and bulging, long, tight arms, perfect thighs and toned calves, a slim waist, and a tight butt.

So. Much. Manhood.

Jace just laughed to himself at her shock while he pulled a condom out from his nightstand, tore it open, and slid it on. The latex was so stretched on him it was a wonder he got it on in the first place. Then he came over her on the bed, muscles surrounding her as she felt her sex ache for him more each second.

“You sure you’re ready,” he asked with one eyebrow raised.

“Hell yes, I am,” Amber replied. She could feel his tip teasing at her entrance, so close she could almost taste him.

“I’ll ruin other men for you,” he said unapologetically.

“I think you’ve already done that.” She glanced down at his perfect physique. That coupled with his selfless lovemaking made her wonder if she’d ever be able to enjoy sex with anyone else.

Even if this were just one night, a memory years from now, the recollection of it would be so strong she wouldn’t care.

“Perfect,” he purred, sliding in slowly with one impossibly long motion that filled Amber to the brim, just the perfect size. For a moment, her breath caught as she felt her body adjust. Then, as she relaxed, it left her feeling pleasantly stretched and already building toward a new orgasm, the sensation of him just being inside was so amazing.

Jace leaned down to kiss the sensitive tip of her earlobe as he began moving. But she could barely even feel the kiss the pleasure was so intense as his cock stroked every millimeter of space in her and made her body throb with need.

As if responding to that need innately, Jace began to move quick, creating more friction that slid over her most sensitive areas and made her digits tingle with tension.

Instinctively, or perhaps because she was unable to help herself, Amber dug her nails into Jace’s back, which only made him smile with satisfaction as he thrust into her with a delicious rhythm.

“Jace… oh, Jace,” she said as his thickness filled her over and over again. Dammit, if this man didn’t drive her crazy and make her come harder than she ever had before.

Amber’s entire body was taut like a wire, one step away from complete release. But she held on harder as she thrust her hips in time with him, their bodies slapping together with heat and moisture and intensity.