Already Freakn' Mated (16 page)

All clear. Tension eased out of her, but puzzlement took its place. She stormed in to their home office and found her brother sitting at the desk, the laptop screen swirling the screen saver pattern. If he was fine then why did he act so strange?

“What the heck is wrong with you?”

Sheng whirled in chair and there was the scowl she loved. “Me? What makes you think anything is?”

“You didn’t meet me at the door.”

“You’re a big girl. I’m pretty sure you know how to lock it after yourself.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me how my evening went?” She readied herself for the barrage of questions and the safety speech.

“I trust you said nothing I should worry about?”

She deflated. “Just our cover story.”

“Good.”

Good?
Who was this alien and where was her brother? She stared at him.

“Did you need something?” His terse query raised her hackles.

“No. I’m going to bed.”

“Sleep tight,
jiâ z
ǐ
.”

She turned to go, yet stopped. “Is everything all right yet?”

“Fine. Never better.”

“Are you sure?” Because despite his assurance, she didn’t quite believe him. But if they were in danger, she knew they wouldn’t be talking. Sheng would have her packing. So if it wasn’t danger bothering Sheng, what had him so perturbed? Had something happened at work? “You don’t seem yourself. Are you hiding something from me?”

“Why the suspicion? Is someone feeling guilty?”

“Totally. I ignored my diet and totally pigged out on two bite brownies.”

A ghostly reminder of the boy she once knew flitted across his face, a genuine smile there and gone in a blink. “Don’t let yourself get fat now. The gym is almost here.”

Ah yes the gym, and its handsome creator. “I can’t wait.”
Can’t wait until I see Chris again.
Given Sheng’s oddly mellow mood, should she tell him about Chris? About the fact she’d met her mate and wanted to tell him the truth so they could be together?

And ruin the first smile I’ve seen in ages?

Her needs could wait another day. She’d tackle her brother tomorrow after his meeting with Patricia. A hopefully positive meeting.

Fingers and toes crossed, Jiao wished with all her might that Patricia would have good news. In her fantasy, Sheng would come back and tell her they had nothing to fear. Jiao would admit Chris was her mate and that they needed to end the charade. Sheng would of course get mad, dig his heels in for a bit because of his lingering fear, but in the end he’d cave. They’d hug and everyone would live happily ever after.

Or, that was her fanciful plan. She should have known better than to expect easy where her life was concerned.

It started the following day with Sheng’s decision to visit Patricia late in the day, real late which meant Jill couldn’t spend any alone time with Chris, a fact he surely hated. Not that she saw him. Sheng kept a close eye on her and the basement. Drove her to her yoga class and waited for her. Watched her all afternoon making it impossible for her to sneak away under his scrutiny.

She’d actually given up hope of seeing Chris at all given she couldn’t tell him of Sheng’s change of plans. Chris left just before five, and with a satisfied smirk, that Jiao suspected had to do with the fact Sheng knew he’d foiled her plans, her brother left to meet with Patricia.

Grumbling about meddling brothers, Jiao locked the front door and stomped back to the kitchen. She made herself a dinner of leftovers, wondering if she dared dig up Chris’s number and call him. Even if he couldn’t come over, maybe they could talk. Or she could suck up her disappointment, wait until tomorrow and finally give him the answer he hoped for.

Tomorrow just seemed so darned far away, though.

Since her meal tasted like cardboard with her appetite hungry for something other than food, she dumped the remains and tossed the plate in the sink to join the other dirty kitchenware. Water running, the scent of dish soap heavy as suds floated, her mind churned angrily at her missed opportunity to spend time with Chris.
Stupid overprotective brother.
He treated her like a maiden in the middle ages. For that fact alone she needed to end the fake marriage. She couldn’t stand him stifling her anymore. Not when they didn’t have any evidence of a reason to hide other than his delusional theories.

Slamming dishes, and sneezing as a fluff of bubbles tickled her nose, she didn’t hear or smell a thing amiss and thus screamed when a pair of arms wrapped around her middle. Her panic immediately calmed as Chris’s tingling touch penetrated and his unique smell wrapped around her.

“You came back!”

“I never actually left,” he admitted as he turned her in his arms. “I parked a few streets over and kind of hung out waiting. When I saw Jack get in his SUV, I followed and saw him get on the highway before coming back.”

“Stalker.”

“I prefer the term dedicated.”

She gave a small giggle. “I’m glad, and sorry. He usually has this meeting in the city during the day. I don’t know what happened to change his plans.” However, she suspected.
He didn’t trust me to stay alone with Chris.
How astute of her brother. But too late.

“As long as I get to spend time with you, who cares?”

A warmth spread through her at the sincerity in his words. Who cared indeed? She had her wolf for at least an hour or two. She might as well enjoy it.

“Can I make you something to eat?”

“How about I just take what I hunger for?”

His words sent a shiver down her spine and her breath caught at the intensity of his gaze. With a finger, he tilted her chin, then ran the digit along the edge of her jaw to her ear. Her cat meowed anxiously in her head, begging for a scratch. As if sensing her feline’s demand, he did rub the soft skin behind Jiao’s ear.

Mmmm. Yeah, that merited a rumble of enjoyment. A short laugh left him.

“What’s so funny?” she asked opening her eyes.

“You are so freakn’ cute. I cannot wait to make you purr.”

“Then you’ll need to do more than scratch my ear,” she replied with a saucy smile.

“I intend to.” Hands spanning her waist, he lifted her with ease and sat her on the counter. Pushing his body against her knees, they spread and he settled between them. Slowly, ever so slowly while he kept his eyes locked to hers, he lowered his head until their lips almost touched. Their breath mingled. Her heart pounded so hard, she feared it would escape her chest.

He slanted his mouth over hers, dragging his lips across her own, sensually sliding over them, but not actually capturing them. She made a noise, more of a mewl really, and he chuckled low, the masculine sound teasing her already sensitized nerves.

With light kisses, he marked her skin – forehead, cheeks, the corner of her mouth, the tip of her chin, the soft spot under her ear. His fluttery embraces left her panting, her body aching and her fingers clutching as she tried to draw him nearer. She wanted to stop his erotic teasing and claim his mouth. Feel the heady passion his kisses ignited.

He tugged her lower lip with his teeth and growled, “What do you want, baby?”

“Kiss me.”

“I don’t know if I can stop at just a kiss.”

She didn’t think she could halt either. And no longer really cared. “Kiss me anyway.”

“If you insist.” He crushed his mouth to hers, and the humming arousal in her body burst into flames. Clinging to him, she wrapped her legs around his waist drawing his hardness against her. Even through their clothing, she felt him. Wanted him. She dug her fingers into his shoulders as she devoured his mouth, letting his tongue slide sinuously into her mouth to tangle with hers.

His hands, big, strong capable ones, caressed her, skimming initially over her t-shirt, but as the frantic pants and soft sounds of her pleasure escalated, he pushed up the fabric and touched her skin. Oh sweet heaven. He dragged his calloused digits up her back, then down her sides, skimming her rib cage. With one deft flick, he undid her bra, and a moment later his hands cupped her small breasts. When his thumbs thrummed over her aching peaks, she tore her mouth from his as her back arched and a cry escaped her.

Before she could straighten and claim his mouth again, he’d ducked his head and claimed one of her buds, his hands making quick work of her t-shirt leaving her bare for his touch. Not that she cared she sat half naked on her kitchen counter, not when he did such wonderful things to her body.

Hot, wet, and oh so decadent, he sucked on her nipples, pulling them with his lips. Pinching them with his teeth. Swirling his tongue around the tips as she cried out, her hips bumping and grinding against his lower body, caught in a mindless sexual fever.

The raging storm of arousal should have frightened her. But she couldn’t stop it. She didn’t want to. This was Chris who touched her. The man who haunted her every thought. The man who would claim her if she just said the word.
My mate.

When his mouth trailed from her pulsing nipples down her stomach to the part of her that ached most, she didn’t protest or ask him to slow down. Danger? Who cared. She would die if he didn’t do something to cure the throb between her legs.

He cupped her through her pants and she moaned, her whole body trembling. But then he shocked her and managed to draw a short scream as his mouth pressed against the crotch of her pants. Oh, that felt good, but when he blew his warm breath?

No words could describe it. She lifted her hips when his hands tugged at the waistband of her pants. He tore the material away, baring her to his view, and utter silence reigned except for their ragged breaths. He didn’t touch her, and she opened her eyes to see him staring at her, reverence clear in his gaze. He lifted his glance and she shivered at how his eyes smoldered with passion. A lust and admiration for her.

“So pretty and perfect,” he murmured.

“Too small,” she amended, lamenting aloud about her less than busty upper body. And possibly too hairy? She’d never had reason to shave her mound, but now that it was on display, she wondered if she should have. She’d read enough books and knew enough about today’s culture to know trimming was expected.

“Perfect,” he reiterated. “And mine.” He growled the possessive word a moment before lowering his face and at the first swipe of his tongue across her sex, she couldn’t care less what she looked like.

He lapped her, long wet strokes across her cleft, and she moaned. Trembled. Scrabbled at the smooth counter for purchase. Not that she was going anywhere with Chris holding her thighs apart so he could better taste her.

Need coiled inside her. Her body tightened. Something approached. She panted, feeling it just out of reach. Just a little bit…

Her orgasm hit, much stronger than expected. Her climax tightened her body into a bowed arc, her toes pointing, her mouth open in a silent wail. Her entire channel quivered. And still he licked her, stroked her, kept her quivering until she sobbed “Enough”. Then he gathered her in his arms while she fought to regain her wits.

Basking in the glory would have to wait, though. The phone rang, insistent and distracting. But she lacked the strength to move, or care. Chris placed light kisses on her skin, working his way along her jaw to her mouth. Lightly he embraced her, not that her sensitized body cared as it shuddered and quaked with aftershocks of pleasure.

“Why does it feel like every time I touch you, it’s the first time?” he murmured.

If he only knew. “I’m not very experienced,” she admitted.

“But your marriage –”

“Is unconventional.”

He leaned away from her and she lamented the loss of his sultry face, replaced by a suspicious expression replete with creased brow and tight lips. It made her feel guilty that she still kept a secret.

“What are you hiding?” He spoke aloud, but she didn’t get the impression he truly asked her, more that he mused rhetorically.

“I’m going to tell you everything. Soon. Or as much as I’m allowed. In the meantime, I need you to trust me.”

He scrubbed a hand through his hair and moved away from her. “Trust? You’re making it hard. I’ve been open and honest with you since we met. I never hid my intentions except from your husband at your request. I’ve not done anything to make you doubt I am a man of my word.”

“I know you’re honorable.”

“I hear a but?”

“But, parts of my life are complicated. Now that I’ve met you, I’m hoping that some of that will go away, but at the same time, I have to be careful. What I want isn’t always what’s best. And I don’t want to see you hurt.”

A sudden revelation hit her.
This is how Sheng feels!
She’d spent years with Sheng as her protector, but it was only now, face to face with Chris and the realization that her past could hurt him that she truly understood how her brother felt. How helpless to know that the person she loved, cared for so deeply, might get hurt because of her actions, or in her case, the past.

I can’t let anything happen to him.
How she’d keep that vow, she didn’t know, but she’d do her damnedest to keep him and his family safe.

“The only thing that hurts me is not having you permanently in my life.”

“There are worst things. Believe me,” she muttered.

*

Excuse me?
Chris’s mind tangled into a great big knot as he tried to follow her hints covered in subterfuge. How exactly had a moment of ecstasy – and yes it counted as such even if he’d not yet spilled – turned into a discussion of trust? And secrets.

“We’re mates.” He declared it as a proven fact. In his eyes, she was in every way except for the bite, the exchange of blood and fluid that would link them on a level higher than that of marriage or spoken words of affection.

“We are. But, because you’re my mate, I must do everything I can to make sure I don’t bring harm upon you.”

“You think Jack might hurt me?” His lip curled at the suggestion.

“Jack is the least of your worries. He might shout and yell, but ultimately, he’ll abide by my choice.”

“Then what danger are you talking about? I don’t understand and I’m tired of your allusions. I want you to trust me, dammit.”

“I –”

Whatever she might have said next got lost in the ring of the phone. His eyes told her in no uncertain terms to leave it alone. Lips pursed, she answered it anyway. When she proceeded to engage in a rapid fire conversation that he couldn’t follow, he resisted the urge to punch something.

Jack. Jack. Jack. Every time he turned around it seemed she chose her husband over him.
I am her mate.
She should cater to him, not the dude who treated her like chattel.

But the real problem? Knowing he was her mate, and actually
being
her mate were two different things. A true mate, one who’d gone through the actual marking process and created that esoteric link had rights that superseded all others – including that of a husband who wasn’t a true mate. But until he took that final step and claimed her, he was just the guy relegated to furtive kisses and meetings.

So perhaps it was time he took the next step. She already planned to break things off with Jack so what if Chris made sure it happened sooner rather than later?

She hung up the phone looking puzzled.

“What’s wrong?”

“Jack won’t be home for a while.”

“Business?”

“I guess. He didn’t really say.”

“Do you want me to stay?” He would no matter her answer, but he wanted to hear her choice.

“Please. I’d like that very much. We’ve got at least another hour or two apparently. He told me not to bother waiting up.”

Perfect. Just enough time to do what he should have done from day one. Time to meet the pussy behind the woman, and then mark her for the world to see. Make her his in every sense of the word.

And hope she didn’t kill him afterwards.