Moonlight (10 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Adam

Bruce and Lana hit it off instantly. He nickered and shook his head every time I started to pull Lana away to meet the other horses. She laughed, holding out her empty palm while the stallion’s upper lip twitched back and forth against her skin.

“That tickles!”

“Bruce is definitely a ladies’ man.” I grinned.

Lana looked over at me with a playful sparkle in her dark brown eyes. “Just like his trainer, huh?”

“Me?” I pointed at my chest, doing my best to look shocked by her accusation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “You have ladies’ man written all over you. I knew it from the second you walked in that café. You were hot, and you knew it.”

I laughed. “Is that what you thought?” She walked toward me, and I stared down at her with a crooked smile. “Because I thought I was hunting.”

“For dates or jaguars?” She grinned.

I raised a brow slightly. “Maybe both.”

She tipped her chin up. “No wonder you were so pushy.”

“I was not pushy.” I gave her a little wink. “Just tenacious.”

“Oh, is that what you call it?”

She walked farther down the barn aisle, and my gaze slid along her back, taking in all her curves. Deep inside I could feel the wolf in me growling, needing to claim her in a very primal sense. My voice was low when I replied. “When I know what I want, I go after it.”

I watched her in front of Bubbles’s stall, her slender fingers sliding down the mare’s satin coat, and my heart twisted in my chest. Seeing her with the horses—my horses—only made the bindings of the inexplicable connection between us that much stronger. She reached up under Bubbles’s forelock to stroke her forehead and leaned in close to the bay mare, whispering to her.

My keen wolf senses could pick up every word as she told the mare that she was lucky to have such a cute trainer, although she also mentioned he could be stubborn and cocky.

I started to respond when Lana looked over at me and grinned. “You could hear every word, couldn’t you?”

I shrugged with a smile.

“Good. That last little bit was just a test.” She turned back to Bubbles, kissing her soft muzzle. “No telling secrets around Adam. He hears everything.”

The bay nickered in answer, and Lana strode back over to my side. Something about the way she looked up at me, how her full lips parted as she smiled, made the animal inside of me howl with desire. I wanted her, but more than that, I needed her. The wolf had never reacted to a woman like this before. Just like Malcolm had described. It was unsettling and damned distracting.

“Thanks for introducing me to everyone.”

I nodded and took her hand, my fingers twining with hers as we started up toward the house. “I’m pretty sure the pleasure was all theirs.”

When I opened the door for her, the smell of fresh spaghetti sauce wafted out to greet us.

“Wow! It smells great. I didn’t know you could cook.”

I chuckled. “I brought you here for dinner, remember?”

“I know, but I figured you’d just grab pizza or something.”

“I don’t mind cooking.” I passed by her to enter the kitchen and lifted the cover of the Crock-Pot. Grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the bubbling sauce, I smiled over at her. “Just need to boil some spaghetti, and we’ll be ready.”

Chapter Seventeen

Lana

While Adam cooked the pasta, I wandered around his living room. One entire wall was full of championship ribbons, photos of winning rides, and plaques. I guess it was like a resume for a horse trainer. When I took a closer look, I could feel the corners of my lips start to curl. Adam looked really good in a cowboy hat and chaps. Who knew?

I glanced back over my shoulder at him. He was busy putting Italian bread in the oven. How did I manage to run into a hot guy who could cook
and
ride a horse? Was there nothing wrong with him?

I turned back toward the photos and sighed. Well, during a full moon he did shift into a wolf, not to mention the fact that his family would kill me if they knew I was anywhere near him.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t so perfect.

I kept moving around the room, enjoying the peek at the real Adam, the one tucked under all the bravado that I met that first night at the café. His coffee table was home to five different remote controls, which made me smile. Even werewolf guys were freaks for technology.

He had a big flat-screen television and surround sound, a Blu-Ray player and a few other gadgets I couldn’t identify. Beside the TV was a shelf stuffed with CDs, DVDs, and pictures. I couldn’t stop myself from looking at them. Mostly of horses, and one picture of Adam with shorter hair in a college cap and gown. Strange. You didn’t need a college degree to run a horse ranch, did you? Then I noticed a younger Adam, grinning with a missing front tooth. He held up a string of fish beside an older version of himself. The resemblance was uncanny.

“Is this your Dad?” I called pointing to the photo.

He looked over and then came out of the kitchen. “Yeah, that’s him. His name is Malcolm. He’s our Alpha, the leader of our Pack, and also runs an investment company in the city.”

“You look a lot like him.”

He stared at the photo and then smiled at me. “I’ve heard that before. We do have the same color eyes.”

I’d never meet his father. Or anyone else he knew.

I moved away from the pictures. “Is dinner ready yet? I’m starving.”

He met my eyes. His expression made it clear he knew I was changing the subject. “Yeah, just about.”

“Perfect.”

I walked over to the dining room table and smiled. He had it set for two, complete with placemats and cloth napkins. Adam stood behind me, reaching over to light the candles. I closed my eyes, feeling his body pressed against my back. He smelled good, too, I realized. Not like cologne but clean, with a slight musky scent that was just pure Adam. Maybe all werewolves had it. Gabe had been too covered in blood for me to really pick up his scent.

Gabe.

I opened my eyes again, hoping to avoid seeing his mauled body flash through my mind. Gabe would still be alive if I had never stopped in Reno. Sebastian was tracking
me
. I’d brought him here. Not on purpose, but that didn’t change the outcome.

“Are you all right?”

The sound of Adam’s voice broke through my thoughts. I nodded. “I’m fine.”

He rested his hands on my shoulders gently and turned me toward him. His fingers slid across my skin, along my collarbone and up the curve of my neck until he lifted my chin. I stared into his eyes, and for a rare moment, I felt complete, accepted. I didn’t need to pretend to fit in or be someone else. He knew my parents abandoned me, that I had no family. All the secrets I usually did my best to hide from the world. But none of that was reflected in his eyes. All I could see was acceptance.

And, God, I never realized it could feel so good.

But I wasn’t worthy of it.

“You look sad.” His voice was low and intimate like his touch.

“I just realized it’s my fault Sebastian came to Reno.” My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes. “Your friend Gabe is dead because of me.”

I fought to blink them back, but a single tear escaped down my cheek anyway. Adam caught it with his thumb and brushed it away. His lips pressed against mine, hard. I skimmed my arms up his chiseled chest and around his neck, and he pulled me in closer until my body molded against his.

His hands roamed over me, one moving up between my shoulder blades while the other gripped the curve of my buttocks. Our tongues wrestled, tangling together with a passion I never knew I had inside of me. I couldn’t get close enough to him. Adam caught the back of my leg, pulling my knee up along his hip. I could feel him, rock hard against me, rubbing until my body was on fire.

I lifted his shirt, moaning when my fingers touched his bare chest. He growled into the kiss, his hips thrusting harder against me. If I could have made our pants vanish, I would have. I’d never wanted a man so urgently in my life.

His other hand roamed up underneath my shirt until he cupped my breast, kneading it in his large palm until my knees went weak with desire. My back arched into his touch, and I gasped as he kissed and nipped at my neck.

“Lana, I need you,” he whispered as my fingers tangled in the back of his hair.

“Yes,” was the only word I could find to reply.

He lifted me off the ground in an instant, and our lips were fused together once again. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me through his house. He laid me down on his large bed, and I moaned into his kiss when I felt his weight resting over me. My skin tingled, hot, eager, and aching for his attention. When he finally pulled back from the kiss, his hungry eyes met mine with an unspoken question.

“I want you,” I said, and the corner of his mouth curved up.

God, he was too sexy.

I smiled back at him, my lips pleasantly sore from the urgent kisses. He sat up and pulled his shirt over his head. His stomach rippled with chiseled muscles that dared me to touch them. I reached up to run my fingertips down his skin, tracing the fine trail of hair leading down past the button of his jeans.

He caught my fingers.

“Not yet,” he whispered, pinning my hands over my head as his lips claimed mine over and over, slowly lingering, tasting. Hot kisses melted along my neck, sending electricity all the way down to my toes. He slid his hands down my arms, my sides, and under my shirt again, pushing it up until he finally removed it. His eyes moved over me, and instead of feeling awkward or exposed, I felt sexy. Wanted.

Without a word, his arms moved around me, unclasping my bra as our lips brushed. He pulled back from the kiss, eased my bra free, and dropped it off the side of the bed. His chest felt hot against my mine, sending flares of desire licking through my entire body. My back arched as his hands moved to knead my breasts, his fingers sliding over my taut nipples. His mouth devoured my skin, moving along my neck and collarbone until I gasped his name.

Adam looked up at me from beneath his thick lashes, his eyes heavy with desire as he slowly licked across my nipple. My heart raced, my fingers tightening in his hair.

He nibbled his way across my skin, taking my other breast into his mouth while his free hand moved lower, unfastening my jeans. He wiggled his fingers inside my pants, gliding underneath the lace, until his fingertips were exploring past my curls to the heat of my core. My hips writhed, and I pulled him back up to my lips, kissing him with all the urgency my body demanded, my teeth nipping at his lower lip until he growled against my mouth.

Adam brought his other hand down and pushed my jeans and underwear lower, sliding them free of my legs until I was naked on the bed. He stood up, his eyes feeding on me while he got rid of his pants. I stared up at him, drinking in every inch of his naked flesh.

His legs were tanned and muscular, matching his chiseled torso, and now that he was naked, there was no hiding how badly he wanted me. My gaze moved farther up and my lips parted slightly as our eyes met. I couldn’t look away. His hungry stare possessed me. I’d been with other men before, but this intense desire and palpable need was completely new.

He positioned his body over me, and my legs parted instinctively, my hips tilting up toward him as I felt his body sink even closer. I could feel the tip of him, teasing me, pulsing against me. I’d never ached for someone like this.

I moaned and my fingers moved up his torso. “Take me, Adam.”

He growled against my lips and plunged into me, sliding so deep that I cried out, my nails digging into his back. Breaking the kiss, his lips brushed my cheek until they were right against my ear. “Put your legs around me.”

I wrapped my legs around his waist as he rose up from the bed, our bodies never separating. His hands gripped my buttocks as he turned and pressed my back against the wall.

The coolness of the drywall surprised me, and I gasped as his hips slammed into me harder. Adam bent his head to take my hardened nipple into his mouth. My back arched, offering myself to the heat of his mouth while I tangled my fingers in the back of his hair. Our bodies were slick with sweat when he finally held me tight and turned so we were back on the bed. His hand slid down between us and found a perfect spot inside my wet folds.

“Oh, yes, right there,” I gasped.

His hips thrust deeper and faster, as his fingertips massaged until I was writhing underneath him. My fingernails scratched down his back, gripping him harder as my muscles started to clench.

He growled against my ear. “Give me what I want, Lana.”

And in that instant my body gave him everything. Every muscle tightened, and my inner core spasmed around him so tightly that I felt him explode inside of me. Adam’s hips kept grinding against mine as he moaned my name until our aftershocks quieted, and we finally lay tangled up in an exhausted heap.

My fingers stroked though his hair slowly. Blood flow gradually returned to my brain, and with it, rational thought.

Oh, shit. No condom
. My brain had disengaged the moment his hand slid under my shirt. “Adam?”

“Yeah?” His voice was soft and deep, warming my blood all over again.

“We forgot a condom.”

I expected him to leap back like I might have the pregnancy plague or something, but instead he tightened his hold on me, his head still resting over my heart. “We’re safe. I haven’t bitten you, so we can’t have a baby, remember?” He lifted his head to meet my eyes. “I’m also clean. I get tested every six months. Jason insists on it.”

Now I remembered. No conversion, no werewolf, no baby. “I’m clean too.” I breathed out my concern and stared at the ceiling.

This didn’t have to change anything. I wanted him, but it didn’t make the situation any different. Passions ran high during life and death situations. We were struggling for someone to hold onto, to remind ourselves we were still alive. Acting on the attraction between us didn’t mean the situation had changed.

So why did everything feel different?

Adam lifted his head and leaned up on his elbow. A tender smile curved his lips as his thumb brushed my hair back at my temple. “I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he whispered, “but I’m not sorry about any of this.”

I searched his eyes. “I’m not sorry either. Just not sure what happens next.”

Adam smiled. “Spaghetti.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. And inside of me somewhere, I felt a very dangerous part of the wall around my heart started to crumble.

I had to keep my distance. Everyone walked out eventually, and it was going to hurt like hell when Adam was gone. He’d warned me himself the first night I met him.

But when he bent to kiss me one more time, I ignored my inner voice and wrapped my arms around him instead.

We ate our candlelight dinner in our underwear. I moaned when I tasted the homemade meat sauce Adam had in the Crock-Pot for a few hours. The cheesy garlic bread was pretty amazing, too.

“I had no idea wolves could cook.” He threw a piece of the bread at me. “Hey! I was giving you a compliment.” I grinned.

He raised a brow with a, for lack of a better word, wolfish grin. “Wolves can do all sorts of things.”

He lifted his frosty beer mug to his lips slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, and my body reacted. Just a look. Damn him. I was in so much trouble.

“So are you going to let me ride a horse?”

“Do you want to ride sometime?”

“I’d love to.” I smiled. “But I’ll need a horse who understands I’ve never ridden before.”

Adam laughed. “I think that could be arranged.”

I didn’t ask him when. We both knew it would be tricky to actually make happen. He could only have me over when no one else was around, or even coming over soon so my scent could fade. He was probably thinking the same thing. It was hard not to feel sorry for myself. It wasn’t my fault I was a jaguar. I hadn’t done anything wrong, and yet, I needed to be a secret.

We ate the rest of our food in silence.

When I set down my fork and looked up, Adam was staring at me. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he said. “For once, everything’s right.”

My brow furrowed a little. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean, I want my life to be like this. I want to laugh and eat dinner together and not be worried about the Pack finding out, or the Organization finding you.” He paused, his lips pressing together for a second. “But I know this isn’t real. I know that I need to take you back to the hotel tonight and open all my windows so your scent will be gone by morning. I know we still need to find out who the Nero Organization is and what they want with you.” He reached across the table and took my hand. “And I already know I don’t want you to go.”

More of the wall protecting my heart cracked. “I don’t want to go either, Adam, but we’ve known from the first night that I can’t stay here. And that was before we knew Sebastian was tracking me. I care about you, but if I stayed I would only be hurting you and your family. I don’t know who I really am or where I come from, but you do. Your family is right here. You need to hang on to that.”

He let go of my hand and stood up, raking his fingers back through his hair. “There’s gotta be a way to make this work. We’re just not seeing it.”

I looked up at him, watching him pace back and forth. After all my worry that he would leave me, all I could see now was how much it was going to hurt when I had to be the one to walk away.