Authors: Milly Taiden
THREE
Scarlett knocked at Shani’s door with a smile. She’d been naughty in Knox’s office and he’d never know. Oh, he might find the dirty handkerchief in his drawer and assume it’d been used, but she’d know. After her little self-pleasure moment in his office, she’d ended up using his private shower.
“You look like the cat that ate the canary.” Shani laughed. “What did you do?”
Scarlett shrugged. “Nothing. I’m just happy it’s Friday.”
Shani raised a brow, bouncing little Max in her arms. “Do I look like I was born yesterday?”
She giggled and wiggled her fingers, ready to take baby Max for herself.
Her lioness purred the moment she had the little cub in her arms. Man, she wanted babies so badly. If only her damn cat wasn’t obsessed with Mr. Geek and would look at other shifter males. No way in hell was she mating him.
“So, how was work?” Shani asked in the living room.
“Hey, where are Taylor and Tiana?”
“The twins are asleep,” Shani said and raised a glass of wine filled with fruit punch in a toast. “The only one awake is alpha baby over here.”
She glanced at Max and fell in love with his big brown eyes. They reminded him of Knox’s sexy chocolate eyes. The baby gurgled and gave her a toothless grin. She hugged him and inhaled the scent of baby and lion cub. Both her human maternal instinct and her lioness sighed.
Her biological clock was hammering the need for kids over her head and she wasn’t even mated.
“Scarlett!” Shani exclaimed. “Are you listening to me? I asked how was work.”
“Same old.” She grinned, unable to suppress the memory of what she did in Knox’s office.
“Doesn’t look like it to me. You look guilty.” Shani sighed. “Remember that Knox is a good guy. Your brother had to talk to him to get you a job.”
She knew that. Knox had known Nick all through college and helped Nick learn to build his money, to make his wealth work for him. Heck, Nick, Shani, and the kids were set up for life thanks to Knox.
The man was a genius when it came to the stock market and finances. She bounced Max on her lap. “I know. I’m doing my job. I chose to stop working at Nick’s security business because I got tired of getting shot at by stupid humans. Hunting and capturing the bad guys was exciting, but my lioness wanted out of that kind of business.”
Shani nodded. “You lost your patience a lot.”
“Yeah, well, there were a lot of really dumb shifters that wanted to be protected and did the exact shit we told them not to do so they wouldn’t put themselves in danger. A person can only do so much before realizing these morons like the attention.”
She’d quit on Nick. He had been so understanding, telling her he understood. The truth was once she realized she would rather hurt some of those clients herself than protect them, she knew there was a problem.
“I do my job when it comes to Knox. He has no complaints.” She was the one having a hard time not riding him on his office chair. She wanted to yank down his pants, scratch his chest and watch his black-rimmed glasses fog up from the heat they’d create. But Knox was human. And she didn’t have it in her to go there with him.
Do it. Just one time. Just once.
“Are you excited?” Shani refilled her fruit punch and passed a glass to Scarlett, who raised a brow. “Don’t look at me like that. If I have to drink fruit punch, so do you.”
“What is it you think I should be excited about?” she said, rocking Max back and forth. He’d gone quiet and his eyes started drooping.
“Scarlett, really?” Shani shook her head. “The party Knox is having this weekend. He’s invited every employee and client.”
“Oh, that. Meh. I’m not sure if I’m going,” she said softly and lowered her face to Max’s and brushed a kiss on his dark head.
“You have to go!” Shani exclaimed.
She glanced up and met her sister-in-law’s serious gaze. “Why?”
Shani turned away and then gave her a guilty look. “We already said you would.”
“What? Why?”
“Knox looked so excited to have you there. It was hard saying we didn’t know, so we said yes for you.”
“Shani!”
Shani winced. “Sorry. But yes, now you have to go.”
“Well, at least I’ll have you guys as company.” Shani glanced down at her glass. “Oh, come on! You’re not going? What the hell will I do there if you guys aren’t coming?”
“Mingle? Maybe meet a single man? Heck, you never know, you might meet your mate.”
She growled and stood. “I’m putting this cutie pie to bed.”
Once she laid the baby down, she stood by his crib and watched him. Knox and his geeky glasses and bow tie came to her mind. Her lioness purred and whined, pushing at her skin.
Mine! Mine! Mine!
No! No! No! The damn feline was not getting the picture. Knox wasn’t her mate. He was a weak human she could mash in the throes of sex. All she had to do was scratch him and he’d be mortally wounded or end up in the hospital.
She couldn’t live with herself if she killed him.
So change him
. That wasn’t guaranteed to work. He could die. She wasn’t taking that chance.
FOUR
Scarlett got out of her car and sighed. No backing out now. Not when she’d spent all day looking for the perfect costume for this shindig. Only Knox would come up with a Halloween party weeks too early.
She’d finally decided on the slave girl Princess Leia from Star Wars. So what if she had a lot more in the curves department than the original Leia. She still pulled it off quite nicely if she went by the looks she got as she entered Knox’s haunted mansion.
She didn’t know how Knox rented the place, but they’d done a freaking amazing job with the décor. Her favorite part was the cavemen waiters walking around, handing out glasses of champagne.
Some guy dressed as a vampire tried to get her attention. She hissed at him. The face he made almost had her in stitches. This might be fun after all.
She looked all over but didn’t see anyone dressed as a lawyer or judge, which was what she’d overheard Knox saying he’d dress up as.
“Do you want to dance?” a guy in a police officer costume asked.
She sipped the drink she’d just gotten and whispered by his ear, “Do you want your balls up your ass?”
He lifted his hands and backed away slowly. The crowds got thicker and once the music started pumping, she knew she had to get out of there. She walked out a side door down a wraparound balcony toward the back of the mansion.
She stopped when she smelled Knox. Where was he? Glancing around in the darkness, she didn’t see him. The wind shifted and she hurried farther down the balcony. She stopped at a set of glass doors. He was in there.
She should leave. What if he wanted to be alone?
He doesn’t. He wants you
. Great. Her lioness was losing her fucking mind again. She’d go inside, casually say hi and then hit the road. Not like he’d notice her being gone while everyone partied in the grand salon.
The cool knob turned silently under her hand. She strolled inside quietly. The décor resembled what one would find in a five-star hotel suite. Must be a guest room.
It looked like a man was readying the room for someone. He pushed the vase of flowers to the center of the dresser. Her gaze ate him up from head to toe. Oh, wow. Oh, hell. Her lioness purred with need. It would be damn impossible to leave him alone now.
“Knox?”
He turned to face her and she gulped.
“You made it.”
Yeah. She’d made it all right. Her gaze took in his finger combed hair, the black-rimmed glasses, but that’s all he had of his usual Knox. He was naked from the waist up. A red Superman symbol was painted on his chest and navy pants dressed his legs. Form fitting pants. The kind that outlined his very large package.
She licked her lips while still staring at his cock and realized how that must look to him. Her gaze shot up to his. She’d never been into superheroes, but at that moment, she could totally see herself wanting to screw this Superman’s brains out. “Are you okay?”
He gave her a sinful smile she wanted to kiss off his lips. “Now that you’re here I am.”
Whoa! This was getting rocky. “Where’s Lisa? Did you talk to her father yet?”
“I haven’t. I know he’s here somewhere. I’ll get to him before the end of the party. The more I look into his accounts and where he’s getting capital to buy his business, the more I know something weird is going on.”
She nodded. “What, um…what about Lisa. Is she here?”
He took a step toward her. “I don’t know. I broke things off last night, but her father is my client so he and her were both invited to the party.”
Why did he have to tell her that? The knowledge he was in a relationship was the only thing keeping her on a leash of sorts. More steps. He got closer and the scent of his lust started to make her dizzy. He wanted her big time.
“I’m sure you’ll find someone else,” she mumbled, staggering back. She had to get away from him. Her self-control was at its limit.
“I already did.” He took his glasses off and tossed them on a chair near him.
Uh. Oh. He rushed forward, grabbed her by the forearms, and pushed her against the glass door.
“Knox, what are you doing?”
“What I should have done months ago,” he muttered. “Taking what I want.”
There wasn’t a chance to tell him to stop. To warn him he was a weak human and she could break him. He took her lips and did something no man had ever done. He owned them. He kissed her with a forceful dominance she hadn’t seen in any human in her life.
A blaze of fire lit her core. He raked his hands down her body, stroking and grasping her flesh. Power was behind his strong caresses. He cupped her breasts, sucking her tongue and grinding his cock into her.
She was glad she’d worn sky-high heels. It put them at the same height and allowed her to cushion his cock in the V of her crotch.
She curled a leg around his waist and ground her pussy on his erection. All that stood between them was the thin material of her bottom and his pants. Both easily disposed of.
Her lioness snarled, wanting to bite, but she held her back. This wasn’t her dance. Scarlett was letting him kiss her. She’d been dying to taste Knox. If this was the only way she’d get that, her lioness would be pissed but out of the way.
She glided her fingers over his muscled, thin shoulders, down his narrow arms, to his abs. Good lord, the man was tight. He had to work out like crazy. Who would’ve known he hid that under those suits?
He broke off their kiss, his mouth immediately attaching to her neck, licking and sucking. Heat triggered in her pussy. She ached to have him. Raking her nails over his shoulders, she kept reminding herself to not scratch him. To control her cat.
With a swift tug, her bra top was pulled down and he had one of her nipples in his mouth. Shudders raced down her back. Her breasts grew full and heavy. It wasn’t smart to let him touch her, to let him have her, but she wanted him, too.
Pushing both her breasts together, he licked and sucked one nipple and then the other, going back and forth. Her belly quivered as need increased to a desperate inferno.
“God, Scarlett. You’re so fucking beautiful.”
FIVE
Scarlett had never been one to get caught up with words, but hearing him say that, knowing he wasn’t lying, made her even wetter.
He slipped a hand into the waist of her golden panties, spread her pussy lips, and dipped in.
“Oh god, yes!” Her pussy throbbed, grasping at nothing.
He bit down on her nipple, the pain shooting shards of pleasure to her sex. “Baby, you’re drenched. So slick and hot.”
She gripped his hair and let him touch her everywhere. “Knox…”
He met her gaze, his face and lips so close. She wanted to push him to his knees and tell him to make a meal out of her. “Tell me what you want, Scarlett. I’ll give it to you.”
He would. She knew he would and wasn’t passing it up, but first, she’d make sure she wasn’t a danger to him.
“Who’s room is this?”
“I was hoping you’d stay here for the night.”
Oh, hell. She hadn’t come with that in mind, but now that he mentioned it, she really liked this idea. “Why were you here alone?”
He licked his lips while staring at her mouth. “I was trying to make the room perfect before I went looking for you.”
She glanced at the four-poster bed then back to him. “Tie me to the bed.”
He jerked back as if she’d slapped him. “What?”
“Tie me to the bed,” she repeated. “It’ll keep me from hurting you.”
He shook his head. “You won’t―”
“Do it or I leave.” She tugged on the scarves dangling from her see-through skirt. Two tore off easily. She handed them to him and nodded.
He pressed his lips into a thin line. She fully expected him to argue with her, but he didn’t. Instead, he led her to the bed and watched her lie in the center. The scarves were flimsy, but she wasn’t expecting them to act like chains. They were only there as a reminder that she needed to keep her animal in check.
One hand tied, he went around the massive bed and did the other. Then he ambled to the foot of the bed, his gaze on her body. Her lioness purred and she let the soft noise out, allowing him to hear it. She tugged on the binds. They held when she didn’t put too much pressure on them.
He crawled up the bed, lifting her high-heeled foot to his face. A soft kiss was placed by the edge of her shoe strap near her ankle. Moisture gathered at her pussy, need making it almost impossible to lie still. She breathed deeply, the sound of each inhale loud in her ears.
“Knox,” she whispered.
“Give me a second. I’ve been dying to touch every part of you.” He placed her foot on his shoulder and caressed both legs as he moved up the bed. The look on his face when he shoved the rest of her see-through skirt to the side made her squirm. “How do I get it off?”
Dangling chains and intricate metal links made her skirt and panty set look a lot harder to get off than they were. “Zipper on each side. Button unclips the skirt.” He quickly found both and unzipped, unclipped, and pulled the set off without needing to move her. She lifted her other leg and placed it over his shoulder.
He glanced away from her pussy folds and up to her face. “You’re so wet.”
She licked her lips. “I taste good, too. Try it.”
He stroked a finger up and down her pussy, coating it in her wetness. The same finger went up to his lips. She watched him curl his tongue around it. Breaths sounded harder in her ears.
“You’re right,” he murmured. “I want more.”
Her chest squeezed with every inch his head lowered until she couldn’t get air into her lungs. He blew on her clit and she had to clench her teeth to keep from growling.
“This is the one time I wish I was a shifter,” he said to her pussy. “So I can smell you deeper.” He swiped his tongue over her aching flesh. “So I can taste you better.”
“Fuck!” Men didn’t say shit like that to her. She tried to grab his hair to shove him into her crotch, but her arms stopped midway, pulled back by the bindings. “Lick my pussy, Knox.”
He raised his head and grinned. “I’m starting to like those scarves.”
She growled and let her arms drop, raising her hips off the bed to bring her pussy to his mouth. “Please.”
“Since you asked nicely.” He went back in, flicking his tongue over her heat, sucking hard at her clit, making her burn from the inside with pleasure.
She crossed her ankles over the back of his head, holding him hostage with her legs. He didn’t seem to mind, he groaned that she tasted so good. Her pussy creamed with every lick.
“God!”
The pressure at her clit became unbearable. Her lioness pushed so hard to get out, she worried for once, she might lose control. The animal rolled under her skin, making her hot, tight, and desperate.
He caressed up and down her pussy with his fingers. Two went into her channel, driving deeply and pulling back to press at her G-spot. Another finger pushed at the rim of her ass, coating it with her wetness before finally diving in.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Her voice turned deeper, rougher.
“You are so fucking sexy,” he whispered and lapped at her clit. He suckled hard, grazing his teeth on her stiff pleasure center at the same time he drove his fingers in and out of her pussy and ass.