Force of Nature (15 page)

“There’s an airport, Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, that’s just a few miles from the Love’s I’m going to be staying at to—”

“No. Don’t send me back. I’ve been…I can’t leave you, CJ. Not when you’re this close to getting this finished. What if something happens?” He took a deep breath before he spoke again.

“Even if you didn’t let me ride with you, I’ll rent a car and follow you.”

He could see tears forming in her eyes. He was honest with her. She could drop him off at the airport, but she couldn’t make him leave. And he wouldn’t. Not now…not ever. He saw her nod and he felt like she’d given him permission to take a deep breath. Since this morning when she’d told him she couldn’t do this any longer, he’d been afraid…terrified really, that she’d turn him away.

Austin watched her as they drove on. Another three hours, she told him, and she’d pull into the Love’s to rest. Then another ten hours on Tuesday and she’d be only about six hours or less to Los Angeles. Before he could comment, her cell phone rang. She looked over at him before she reached above her head and turned the phone on.

“Hello, Miss Webber. You must be getting close to Oklahoma City, don’t you know. Some of the other drivers are going to help you bring the load in. They’re names are—”

“I’m already past Oklahoma City. I didn’t stop there.” When CJ looked over at him, Austin could see the slight anger in her eyes. Before she could continue, Solomon did.

“I see. So where exactly are you and your rider, Miss Webber?” The coldness in his voice was tangible, even through the phone. “I mean, are you even bringing me my load?”

She didn’t answer, though Austin could tell that she wanted to. But she did something that surprised him. She reached above her head where the cell was clipped and put her finger over it.

“No one has ever questioned my honesty before and neither will you.” She cut Solomon off in mid sputter and pushed the end button.

When the large rig started making its way to the side of the road, Austin held his breath. She was watching what she was doing, but that didn’t make it any less scary when horns blared and tires screamed.

“I need to…I’m pissed and I can’t drive.” He simply nodded, too afraid to say anything to distract her. When she turned off the key, he looked at her.

She was shaking. He’d never seen her this…well, emotional, he thought. When he started to reach for her shoulder, she turned and started toward him. When her hand was on the handle to get out of the door, she slipped and fell against him.

Need, coiled up in him since this morning, leapt out at her and he groaned at the contact.

Before he could think whether or not it was a smart move, he cupped the back of her neck and brought her mouth to his.

Her mouth opened under his assault. Then he wasn’t sure who was taking whom. Hands grabbed at his shoulders as she settled herself over his lap. His cock lengthened beneath her and he surged up into her heat.

“CJ, I want you. Now. I want…no, I need to bury my cock deep into you.” She rocked into him as her answer. “Christ.”

He shifted her legs so that they were on either side of his hips. Cupping her ass, he brought her to his cock as she rocked on her knees onto him. Austin felt his beast swirl under his skin, the need to mate with her overwhelming.

Her hands pulled and tugged at his shirt as he devoured her mouth. He could smell her need and it smelled like manna to him. Lifting her shirt, he took her nipple into his mouth along with her lacy bra and sucked hard. Her body bowed back, a moan spilling from her lips.

He tore at her pants, pulling them down over her ass and cupping the globes of hot flesh that he found himself wanting to sink his teeth into. Lifting her off his lap, she whimpered. Pushing her back against the console, Austin tore at his own snap and zipper and freed his cock.

“Take them off. Take them off before I shred them from you.” His voice was deep with need, the beast making him growl more than speak. But she seemed to understand and was soon standing before him in only her shirt he’d pulled up over her breasts and her ravaged bra.

Jerking her forward, he impaled her over him, bringing her down hard on his cock even as he surged up into her. Austin felt her channel ripple and tighten around him. Her body primed for him, she came screaming his name as she dug her nails deep into his shoulder.

He wanted to fuck her. He wanted to roll her to her back and pound into her pussy until he spilled his seed deep. But there was no room, the seat and the small cab making it impossible for them to do more than what they were doing. Austin braced his feet on the floor and holding her hips to him, surged up again and again.

When he felt her body tightening again, he reached between them and thumbed her clit. He could feel her juices as it creamed on his balls.

“Come,” he demanded. “Come again. Now, CJ, come now.”

Her body, already tight, detonated. She screamed out her release in a long shudder. He was so mesmerized by her face, the way her sheath milked and pulled at his cock, that when his own climax hit him, he roared, his wolf snarled for release, and he couldn’t stop him.

The wolf bit her. Austin felt the warm rush of blood as it slid down his throat and he drank greedily from her. CJ whimpered as she fell limply over him. With a final swipe of his tongue, he sealed the wounds, a scar already forming there of his long snout teeth marks. She was his.

The mark on her neck would remain. And unlike the one he’d given her earlier, this one would be visible to everyone. This was a mark of possession, the one the wolf, his wolf, had given her. Austin could no more leave her now than cut off his own leg. She was his as surely as if they had been united by a divine entity. Austin shifted her in his lap and looked down at her face.

Her eyes were closed, but he knew she wasn’t asleep. He gently ran his finger down her cheek and watched as her eyes fluttered open. She flushed, her skin heated until it was a dusky rose, and she started to pull away.

“Don’t,” he said as he held her to his body. “Not yet. I know we’ll have to move soon, but not yet.”

“I’m sorry. You must think…I have no idea what you think of me for this.” She flushed darker as she turned her head into his neck.

Austin pulled her chin up to see into her eyes. “I think you’re a very passionate woman who used sex instead of violence to relieve the pressure. And anytime you need to let off any more steam, please don’t hesitate to use me.”

She laughed as he had hoped she would.

~Chapter Fifteen~

She started driving the rest of the way to the truck stop. Love’s, a national chain, was only another one hundred and fifty miles from where she’d pulled over. Her body, lax and sated, seemed to hum now. She glanced over at Austin who was looking at her as she drove.

“What?” She shifted in her seat, suddenly uncomfortable with what she’d done to him. “You could have said ‘no,’ you know.”

“Not that I wanted to, but I doubt you would have listened. I find myself wondering what else is behind that cool façade.” He reached over and ran his fingers down her arm resting on the shifter. “You are the most responsive woman I know. I want to take you to the sleeper and rip your clothes from your delicious body and lick you until you come. I want to taste your pussy again, feast on it until I get enough.”

CJ shifted again on her seat this time to try and relieve some of the ache her body had because of what he was telling her. Before she could respond, her phone rang again. She looked up to see that it was unknown again. With a groan, she opened the connection with a quick

“hello.”

“My dear, I must apologize,” Solomon said in way of greeting. “I can’t tell you how badly I feel, don’t you know. I’ve just been…well, I’ve been so stressed about this weather and this load along with two others. I cannot tell you enough how sorry I am. You have my deepest and most profound apologies.”

“I’m not a thief. I told you I’d be there on Wednesday night and I will be. I’m a woman of my word.” CJ glanced over at Austin who tapped her on the shoulder.

He leaned so close to her that she could feel his heat. Even as he whispered in her ear, she could hardly concentrate on the words as her body reacted to his. Christ, she was a walking nymphomaniac and she only wanted this man. When what he said registered after he pulled back, she nodded. She realized she missed whatever Solomon was saying.

“…to me I can have someone help you the rest of the way in. I feel just horrible that you’ve put yourself and your rider in by driving nearly non-stop.”

“I’m fine. We’re both fine.” She looked over at Austin and he nodded before she continued.

“If we get in late to the warehouse, who will meet us there? I mean I don’t know you from Adam, so I’d like to know a name or two.”

She heard papers move around much like the sound that Phil made when he was stalling.

She smiled when she realized she’d made this man off balance. When he started speaking again, she knew that he’d gotten a hold of himself now, but he’d be more careful in the future with her.

“I’ll be there, of course. Also a few other men to unload. I’ll give you my personal number to call me when you are close. That way I can meet you there and tell you in person what a wonderful job you’ve done for me.”

“That won’t be necessary. I just want to be able to sleep for a few hours before I head back.

You just be there and I’ll call you when I’m an hour out.”

He assured her he would and then after a few more apologies and another thank you, they disconnected. CJ drove for another twenty minutes before she spoke again. When she did, Austin burst out laughing.

“I don’t see why you think that’s a funny question. I think it’s important to know if the man is a big dog or not.”

“Its alpha, love, not big dog. I’m a wolf, not a pup.” She glanced over at him and felt her body flush with need. Nope, Austin wasn’t a pup.

“I don’t even know what that means other than what I’ve read in smut books. The alpha male runs the pack and everyone obeys his every whim. If you think I’m going to be doing that, then you’re nuttier than a fruit cake.”

He laughed again. “No, I’m beyond thinking you’ll listen to me. As for my every whim…that does have its merits, but also not true. I guide my pack.”

She snorted. “Sure you do. Like you tried to guide me, no doubt. I’m not saying that I’m going to go along with whatever you say, but I do have some questions.”

He moved his leg up in the seat and looked at her. She couldn’t help but think about the way he’d taken her in that very seat not twenty minutes ago and she shifted again. Christ, if this kept up she was going to be pregnant for sure.

“Babies. Holy shit, I forgot to take my pill yesterday and today. I knew it was a mistake to have you…you know, come in me. Now…will I have puppies or babies?”

“Whelp. And no, children are born as human, and if you were primed to get pregnant with me, the birth control pill wouldn’t work. As my mate, it is your duty to…don’t get all pissy, let me finish.” She opened her mouth to snarl at him about the duty word and closed it again when he held up his hand. “By duty I mean to continue the line of our race. The sperm of a wolf is stronger than that of any man made deterrent. It’s like that because of my race, not because I deem it so.”

She stared out the window, wondering how to ask this next question. “I don’t know a great deal about sex. I wondered…is it always so, you know, passionate?”

That seemed a tame word for what they did. When she was with him, it was if she was another person, one that was so uninhibited that she didn’t know her. She wondered if it would be like that with any other man and decided that she’d never ask him that even if she wanted to aggravate him. He just seemed to be really possessive around her.

“Passionate. I would say what we’ve been doing borders on the near violent. But no, it’s not like that between humans. A least not from what I’ve experienced.” She glanced over at him when he didn’t finish.

“But you’ve had sex with other…humans, right? I mean, do you bite them? Do you…you know, come like that?” She hated that even after what they had shared, what she’d done to him, that she could be embarrassed about asking him questions.

“I’ve bit women to hold them still, but not like I have you. The mark I made on you tonight is my brand. You belong to me. My mate.” He touched her arm again. “Do you feel it when I touch you? Feel the way the mark burns? It’s to remind you that you belong to me. When I’m near you, when I touch you, it will let you know that you belong to me.”

That didn’t bother her as much as it had even yesterday, him telling her that she belonged to him. Nor did the fact that his brand marred her skin. She shivered again when she thought of his teeth sinking into her skin. The way it had felt to have him bite her so hard. She glanced over at him when he growled.

“I can smell your arousal. It’s like your body is calling to mine. If you don’t want to pull over again and let me take you to the sleeper, I suggest you find a less intense subject.” She knew he adjusted his cock in his pants and she wished it was that easy for her. “Tell me about this project you and Phil have set up.”

She didn’t even wonder how he knew. She figured that he had someone watching over her, probably Dallas. She didn’t want to tell him about the shelter, but she figured he more than likely knew about as much as she did but was trying to distract her. She started telling him about the property first.

“It’s right outside of town. I saw it a while back, but the property had been in foreclosure for so long I’d just about given up on it. It’s just over five thousand acres of prime land that has a pond and several out buildings on it. It had been used as a retreat for a religious organization several years ago, but they couldn’t keep the taxes up. Or so the preacher had said. He was skimming off the top almost all the way to the bottom.”

“That’s a big piece of property. What is it you’re going to do with it, besides the shelter, I mean?”

She had expected him to tell her she was stupid, but when he seemed genuinely interested, she smiled. “I have several other things in the works as well. I figured that I’d build on the other end, far enough away so that I could hide when I wanted to. There’s a house there, big and full of bedrooms that would be easy to lose myself in it. An apple and peach orchard are on one side and there is a plum and pear orchard on the other. There was once a garden. I think that at one time there was a place where the owner sold their crops to the town, though no one seems to be sure.” She could almost see it as she told him. “The house and the surrounding fifty acres aren’t a part of the five thousand, but it does bump up against it. I’ve had it for several years. I’ve been having it worked on, sort of bringing some of it up to code while I tried to think what I wanted to do with it.”