Bad Moon Rising (6 page)

Leaning her head back against the rest, she curled up in the seat and stared out the window. She had the strangest feeling there was something very important going on that she didn’t know about.

Something to do with Trey and wolves and shooters and his sudden, total concentration on her. The problem was she’d learned
not
to trust her instincts. They were wrong about half the time.

She sighed. Meg and Summer both knew at least a little about what was going on, but it was useless to try to get information out of them if they weren’t willing to talk. She snuck a glance at Trey. He’d clammed up the minute they walked out of the house. There’d be nothing from him, either.

He reached for her hand, firmly lacing his fingers through hers.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“For which part exactly?”

“For not being there when you needed me.” He turned on his 40

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blinker to exit town. “The rest of it may not have come out right, but I’m not sorry about it being said.”

She nodded sagely. “Right. You’d just prefer to have me naked and available all the time.”

“Yes. No. God.” He clenched his jaw. “This is not just sex. But no, I’d rather not have to share you with anyone. Or anything,” he added.

“Mmm hmm. Like my business?”

He shrugged. “You’re good at it. I won’t ask you to give it up.”

She laughed, but it was a weary sound. “You won’t, huh? Good thing, because I wouldn’t. That’s not even on the table.”

He smiled. “Believe it or not, I know that.” He shrugged again.

“But until I figure out what’s going on, someone will have to cover for you. I can protect you better at the house.”

She wanted to argue, but wasn’t in a real hurry to face the nameless shooter or mysterious wolf again. Right now she just wanted to sleep for the next twenty‐four hours. Who knew getting your window shot out was so draining? She leaned back again and closed her eyes.
Just for a minute.

He gently shook her awake when they arrived, and she blinked at the house in shock. Her grandmother’s house. She got out of the car and slowly walked to the front flowerbeds. They were a mess. She expected to wake up any minute, and actually pinched herself just in case.

Trey got her bag and walked up the porch steps, giving her a concerned look. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and followed him in, stopping inside the door to look around. She vaguely registered that a cleaning crew had been in.

“This is the house you just bought?”

“Yes. Do you like it?” he asked, looking nervous. “I thought you would like it. Why don’t you look around?”

She nodded and walked through the familiar rooms. The only downstairs room with furniture was the library. She paused long enough to see a massive desk and piles of boxes before turning to the stairs. She wondered if she’d find her old room empty.

Upstairs she averted her eyes from the room she was most curious about and hurried past. First she wanted a look at Tinnie’s room on the 41

Bad Moon Rising: Lunar Mates Book 2

back corner. It was huge and the obvious choice for a master bedroom, but it stood stark and empty. She wondered what happened to the old iron bed or the lacy coverlet that topped it. Summer would know.

She smiled and walked back to her room. There was a time when she was an overly dramatic teenager that she’d thought their lives so tragic. Her parents and Summer’s were killed in a car crash the year they turned ten, and they’d come to live with Tinnie. Then Tinnie had died when they were sixteen and Meg and her parent’s had moved in. But it wasn’t tragedy. It was just life.

She paused outside the door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open. Sunlight streamed in the un‐curtained bay window, making the big brass bed taking up center stage gleam. Her eyes widened in amusement.

It was a far cry, and a vast improvement, over the frameless twin that used to sit there.

Delighted, she stepped in and ran her fingers lightly over the old quilt covering it. She recognized it as a tie quilt. Maybe it was a family heirloom, as hers were. Tinnie’s were stored back at her house.

There was no other furniture in the room, but the closet was full of Trey’s clothes, and she spotted her bag in the corner. He must have brought it up when she was looking downstairs.

Why had he bought the house that used to mean so much to her?

Did he know it had belonged to the Duveau cousins? She realized with a start that he couldn’t have, since he hadn’t known they were cousins when he bought it, and Summer was the sole owner when it sold. And she’d arranged to miss the closing. Just an odd coincidence.

She found him in the library unloading books onto shelves and joined him. They worked in companionable silence for a couple of hours, the boxes piling up in the hall, when her growling stomach finally claimed her attention.

“Is your kitchen stocked?” she asked.

He pushed another handful of books onto a top shelf. “It is, but I didn’t do it, so I’m not sure what’s there. Let’s go look.” He grinned down at her, dusting hands on his jeans. “Maybe I’ll cook you dinner.”

She followed him to the kitchen, a little surprised to find herself 42

Loribelle Hunt

staring at his butt on the way.
Well, why not? It’s such a fine specimen.
As the afternoon wore on, her anger faded and curiosity rose.

He pulled two marinating steaks out of the refrigerator and she arched an eyebrow. Expecting company, was he?He grinned. “What can I say? I’m an optimist.”

She laughed.

“There’s a bottle of wine in there. Why don’t you pour us a glass?”

“Sure,” she answered, pouring wine into the two glasses he handed her, while he turned on the stove.

He picked up a glass. “What should we toast to?” he asked.

She looked around the kitchen and slowly smiled for the first time at the prospect of the house having new owners. “To your new house, of course.”

The only item of Tinnie’s still there was the old, scarred kitchen table. No one could figure how to get it out. Too wide for the doorways it could have been taken apart, but none of them had had the heart to do it.

It still sat in the room surrounded by six chairs. She pulled one out and sat, lovingly tracing old grooves and smiling a little.

He looked over his shoulder at her. “I can’t find a way to get that out of here other than taking an axe to it.”

She sucked in a breath. “Don’t you dare,” she said softly. She looked up and met his gaze. “I grew up in the house, you know.”

His pose didn’t change, but she was aware she had his full attention.

“I didn’t know.”

She nodded. “When my grandmother Tinnie died, she left it to me, Meg, and Summer. We left it empty for years. When I needed money to start the bakery, they bought me out. Then Meg needed money to buy her house, and Summer bought her out. And finally, Summer decided she didn’t want to ever live here, and we decided it would be best to sell it.”

She took a sip of her wine. “Why did you buy it?”

“Why?” He shook his head and smiled, as if amused at himself. She wondered what the joke was. “I couldn’t figure that out myself when I did. I had to have it, and I knew you would like it.”

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Bad Moon Rising: Lunar Mates Book 2

She froze, confused and maybe a little alarmed. “The house sold weeks ago. I only knew you in passing then.”

“I knew you,” he said so softly she almost didn’t catch it. He turned the steaks over. “Do you believe in love at first sight?”

She snorted. “Are you saying you saw me and fell in love? And bought a house before you even really met me?”

“Sometimes it happens that way, don’t you think? I saw you. I knew.” He shrugged. “I can’t explain it.”

Butterflies launched in her stomach and her fingers itched to reach over and caress his face. Instead, she started on the steak he set in front of her. It wasn’t cooked as well as she liked, but the flavor burst in her mouth. She’d always liked steak, but frowned when she realized she hadn’t had anything but red meat since the first night Trey came home with her.

“Remind me not to invite Summer to dinner,” she said.

“Why?”

“Because she’s a vegetarian and this,” she said waving the fork in the air “is apparently all you eat.”

He grinned. “Not true. I eat your chocolate éclairs.”

She laughed. “Everyone eats my chocolate éclairs.”

He smiled, but then turned serious. “So, your grandmother raised you?”

“Summer and I, from the time we were ten. Our parents died in a car accident,” she said softly.

She didn’t feel the usual pang of sorrow, and again reminded herself not to get too attached to Trey. She hadn’t realized how lonely her life had become. Sighing, she gathered the dirty dishes and hurried to wash them. If she’d thought about it, she would have lingered. The night stretched out long before her, and with a house empty of almost all furniture, that brass bed was uppermost in her mind.

“Let’s go finish the books,” she said.

“Sure.” He nodded from where he watched her, long legs stretched in repose. “After you.”

There were eight boxes left, and by the third she was repressing a 44

Loribelle Hunt

yawn, the roller coaster day finally catching up with her. He caught her when she swayed.

“You need to go to bed,” he whispered close to her ear.

“I’m okay,” she said.

“No,” he answered, swinging her up in his arms. “You aren’t.”

He took the stairs quickly and after lowering her on the mattress, began removing her clothes. She reached to help, and he stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets. Shoes and shirt off, she stood and reached for the snap of her jeans. Watching intently, he pulled the quilt back to reveal cotton T‐shirt sheets. Her favorite. She smiled, wondering if that was something else he’d bought for her.

Standing before him in bra and underwear, she expecting him to reach for her or order her to finish stripping. Instead, he settled her in the bed and pulled the covers up.

What the hell?
She wasn’t
that
tired. He couldn’t have changed his mind about them. He’d bought a house for her, for God’s sake!

He shifted from foot‐to‐foot, looking at her intently, and said, ”I’ll let you get some sleep.”

Suddenly she couldn’t bear the thought of being alone.

“Lay down with me for a while,” she said, and added when he hesitated, “please. Stay with me until I fall asleep at least.”

After a minute he nodded. He toed off his shoes and removed his shirt before climbing into the bed next to her. He gathered her to him, his front to her back, and she snuggled in, marveling at the sense of security.

But the jeans had to go. They chafed against her hyper sensitive skin.

“The jeans,” she whispered. “They itch. Take them off please.”

He sighed. “You know what will happen then.”

She smiled, knowing he couldn’t see her face, and rubbed against his chest. “Yeah.”

“You need sleep.”

“I can sleep later.”

With a surge of anticipation, she heard the slide of his zipper and felt the dip in the mattress as he lifted his hips to tug them down. He spooned back against her and she recalled with satisfaction that he didn’t 45

Bad Moon Rising: Lunar Mates Book 2

wear underwear. Just all that smooth skin.

Turning, she waited for the usual urgency to overtake him, but he had a firmer grip on the situation than ever before. She didn’t stop to examine why, as she ran her fingers over his nipples, and sought his mouth with hers. She couldn’t hurry him up. After the day she’d had, she wanted fast and hard and furious, and wanted to howl with frustration when he didn’t give it to her.

Instead, he pinned her wrists above her head and leisurely explored her face and neck with his mouth, dropping light kisses here, gentle swipes of his tongue there. It set her on fire, his tender assault on her senses. She felt fine tremors roll through him, and knew the restraint cost him.

When he finally reached her breasts, she strained against him, trying to thrust a hardened nipple into his mouth, but still he remained in control and avoided it until she thought she’d die from the strength of her need.

He trailed kisses down her body, pausing to swirl his tongue around her navel. She thrust her hips up in silent demand. She wondered, half‐seriously, if she would die if she didn’t come soon. Desire rode her hard and she continued to grind against him until he nipped her hard in punishment.

He growled. “Still.”

Love at first sight. He couldn’t believe the words had come out of his mouth. He needed her. He wanted her. But did he love her? All he knew for sure was that he could no longer live without her and he had to convince her she couldn’t live without him before something happened to change her mind. Like finding out about the wolf.

He meant to hold her, sooth her into sleep. Then the jeans came off and he was a goner. He wasn’t sure what he felt, but he could show her at least. Let her put the words to it.

He was lost in the sensation of her as he edged his way down her belly, determined to taste her, and then to drive her new heights. Settling between her thighs, he drew the scent of her desire deep into his lungs. He swirled a finger around her wet opening, delighted by her moan of 46

Loribelle Hunt

pleasure.

With a light bite on the inside of her thigh, he nibbled his way to the crease of her leg. When the urge to break skin, to permanently bind them by mixing the enzyme in his blood with hers, began to override his logic, he ruthlessly grabbed control and slid his tongue in her slit. She gasped and attempted again to move against him, but he held her hips down with a firm arm.

His tongue thrust in and out of her, and her sighs of enjoyment washed over him. The sighs became groans when his finger found her clitoris, and she came in seconds. He lapped at her cream until the shudders subsided, and then his thumb found the hardened nub. Again and again he brought her to orgasm. Again and again she begged him to fuck her. Despite his slipping control, Trey wanted her completely desperate for him, unable to determine where her desire began and where his ended, unable to view pleasure as something that didn’t include him.