Overcome (10 page)

Shaking now, she pushed the doorbell, hoping beyond hope they just hadn’t heard her, and then pressed her ear to the wood, hoping to hear movement behind it. Nada. It seemed no one was home. And why would they be? Marc would still be at the school and Colton was probably out solving a murder or something. She was stuck. In a thunderstorm of epic proportions it seemed, when another bolt lit up the gray early afternoon, followed a split second later by its thunderous clap.

Her shoes made a sucking noise as she plodded over to the porch swing she’d hung there the first summer.

Exhaustion hit her the second her butt hit the wooden slats of the swing, and she did her best to ignore the way water squished out of her jeans, and set the swing in motion with her toe. She fished her phone from her purse and laid it next to her. It literally dripped with water, and with her current luck, the damn thing would be ruined. That would well and truly suck squirming dog maggots since she really didn’t have the funds to replace it right now.

Seriously. She was losing her ever-loving mind. First the news of the house, then getting pulled over and semi-arrested—to her mind anyway—having her car impounded, losing her apartment, being unable to find anything close to her price range anywhere near the school, the flat tire, rainstorm, and finding out she may be the mate of two shape-shifting werewolves had Anna’s patience hanging by a teenie, weenie thread. One with the capacity to break at any second.

“This sucks.” Her bawl got sucked into the wind and drowned out by another clap of thunder that threatened to make her deaf.

The only thing left to do was curl into a ball and try to stave off the cold permeating her skin. Good thing she liked thunderstorms, although being out in the open in one didn’t sit too well with her. Nothing left to do but wait.

•●•

Colton pushed the limits on his way home. He’d had a sinking feeling in his stomach for the last hour, and the closer he got to home, the worse it got. Something was wrong with his mate. He followed the ache, letting it grow stronger and wondering why. The feeling was alien to him because he’d never had a mate. And they hadn’t even bonded with her yet. The thought scared the shit out of him. What would the bond be like after they came together and marked her?

He turned onto the gravel drive, made a mess by the storm, and decided they really needed to pave it so Anna wouldn’t have to drive on it when it got like this. Or snowed. Not that she’d be driving in the slushy shit, but just in case, he’d make it safer for her.

The house came into view, and the queasiness in his belly threatened to force its way out of his mouth. There on the porch swing lay his mate, curled tight into herself.

“What the fuck?” He stomped on the brake, causing the car to slide, yanked the key out, and had the door open before the engine had a chance to quit purring. He reached her in a few long strides, evading the steps altogether with a leap.

She was soaked to the bone and shivering.

“Anna.” Jesus. He brushed a clump of hair that had fallen over one cheek and drew his thumb across the pale skin. “Baby. Wake up.”

“Hmm?” Her lashes fluttered open and those big beautiful blue eyes tried to focus on him. “Colton?”

“Yeah, it’s me, Anna.” Confusion clouded her features. How the fuck long had she been there?

“Hey.” She blinked at him, and he could tell things were falling into place once more. With a groan, she pushed up to a sitting position. The slump of her shoulders made him ache to wrap her in his arms and take away whatever ate at her, although he had a pretty good idea what the problem was. Her next words confirmed it.

“I have no place to live.”

She sounded so forlorn, he almost smiled. He wasn’t a bastard, though. “You do,” he said instead and tucked her hair behind her ear and tilted her face upward with a knuckle under her chin.

She nodded, tears pooling in her eyes before she glanced back down. “I came to beg. And then my car got a flat, and I thought I could fix it—what a joke—so I started walking, and then it started raining, and I knocked and you weren’t here to tell me I told you so, and I’m wet and tired and I had nothing else to do and no way to get there, so I just laid down to wait for you to gloat and please, please, I’m begging to borrow a couch because I have to be out of my apartment tomorrow and my only other option is Mr. Masterson—”

He cut her off with a finger on her lips while a red haze began swimming in his vision. Mr. Masterson? Bud Masterson? When the fuck had she gone to see him? And why? If that slimy bastard had even laid one finger on her…

“Anna. Look at me.” He waited for her to do so, patient because he knew she was close to the shattering point. It must be killing her to be there, begging—not that she understood there would be no begging on her part—for a place to stay when she’d thought it was hers to begin with.

“You’re freezing.” Literally. Her whole body shook with a fine tremor.

She nodded again.

“Come on. Let’s get you warmed up.” His first order of business. She probably wouldn’t like what he was about to do, but no way in hell would he leave her alone in such a fragile state. If she didn’t like it, tough.

“I have to get my things. And I need you to fix my tire because I wasn’t strong enough.”

“We’ll deal with it later, baby. Hot shower now, then some food. I can hear your stomach growling.”

“Totally not polite to let a girl know that.”

He pushed her forward, keeping his hand at the small of her back as she shuffled to the door, and had her inside a minute later. She stopped right beyond the threshold and gasped. No doubt at the difference in her home from the way she remembered it.

“You can change anything you want, Anna.” Hell, he’d gut the whole thing and let her start completely over if it made her happy.

“No. I…like it. Trust me,” she turned to him, her cheeks a shade warmer than they’d been outside, “I would have had to bleach the whole house to get rid of Candy Apple.”

He had no idea who the hell Candy Apple was, but now wasn’t the time to delve into those issues. He had to get her warm first and foremost.

Colton ushered her through the living room and down the hall to the master bedroom. His room. Marc’s was across the hall. At least, it had been. Now, with Anna in the picture, he had a feeling at some point they’d be sharing a room. And a bed.

He forced himself not to look at said bed lest he lay her down and have his way with her. Inside the bathroom, Anna sort of collapsed on the toilet seat, a sopping wet mess of gorgeous female, hair a matted mess, dark bruise on the forehead, mascara running, and clothes sagging off her skin.

“I’m going to help you get out of those wet clothes, okay, Anna?”

“I can do it.” She stared at her lap but didn’t move. Her hands were clenched tight, either with nerves or sheer exhaustion.

Colton changed his mind. He spun around and twisted the faucets of the tub on, making sure the water turned warm before kneeling at Anna’s feet. He’d wrestle her if he had to, but she was going in, clothes or not.

He yanked his tie off and started unbuttoning his shirt.

This got her attention. “What are you doing?”

“Getting into the tub with you.”

Her eyes widened. “Pardon?”

“You heard me, Anna. I’ll leave my boxers on if you want me to, but I’m getting in there with you. You’re freezing and shaking and so tired you can barely keep your eyes open. No way in hell I’m leaving you in there alone to slip beneath the water and drown. Besides they say skin to skin is the best way to transfer body heat. Raise your hands, baby.”

She balked at him but her hands loosened from their fists, her tongue poked out to lick her lips, and her nostrils flared. One hard swallow later, she did what he’d asked and raised her hands in the air. It was almost as if she’d waged a battle inside her head and giving in had won.

Colton swept in and divested her of her shirt before she changed her mind. It took everything in him not to run his fingers down between her still-covered breasts and over her belly.

“Taking the bra off next, okay?”

She sighed and bit her lip at the same second those eyes peered directly into his. And into his soul. As if to say, please don’t hurt me.

He’d cut off his own fucking nuts before he ever hurt her.

She shocked the hell out of him when she reached for his hands and guided his fingers to the front closure of her bra.

He fumbled with the clasp, she’d made him so nervous, and slowly peeled the material back to reveal the tender globes beneath. It was like opening a Christmas present, and he wanted to savor the moment with everything he had.

On the other hand, he didn’t want to be a jerk.

Get her warm, asshole.
He berated himself and stood, taking the silk with him, and then offered his hand to help her stand. Her legs wobbled as she did, whether with anticipation or fear. He could only pray it was the former making her unsteady.

“I will never hurt you, Anna.” He took her face in his hands, making sure she could see his face and recognize the truth, and then softly kissed her forehead. She leaned into him, melted into him really, reminding him of the need to get her in the tub quickly.

Without another word, he unsnapped her jeans, and with his thumbs in both the waistband of the denim and her underwear beneath, proceeded to push them over her hips. It took some doing since they were drenched and stuck to her skin, but he finally wrestled them off and stepped in the crotch to help her step out of the soggy material.

His pants and boxers came off much easier. By the time he got them both undressed, the tub had filled a good deal. Anymore and it would overflow when they got in. Colton didn’t want her to think too much. He turned off the faucets, ushered her to the edge, stepped in himself, and then pulled her in to follow him. They sank into the steamy depths together, his legs bracketing hers, skin to fucking glorious skin, and when he had them settled, he wrapped his arms around her belly and held her close. The chill on her skin sank into his as he took her coldness and returned his heat.

“Oh my God…”

Colton smiled. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and moaned. He’d have to be dead for the sound and their positions not to affect him. His cock jerked in the small space separating their bodies. Either she didn’t notice or pretended not to because she never moved. He’d count it as a little victory.

She may not have noticed, but he did. Her rounded breasts, their rosy nipples perky still from her fight with the elements outside, practically pleaded to be plucked and sucked. Colton palmed Anna’s stomach to avoid the temptation.

Sainthood would find him soon.

Her eyes were closed, her body relaxed against his, and he couldn’t take it one more second. He grazed her long neck with his lips and nipped the skin with his teeth right where her neck met her shoulder. Right where he’d mark her someday. Her head lolled to the side, affording him more space.

With his thumb, he traced the underneath of one breast, delighting at the sight of her chest turning a pretty pink. The heat of the water played a small part in the change of her skin color, but based on the way her right leg grew restless and her knee fell to the side, opening her core and granting him access to her pussy, he’d have to say he definitely had some kind of effect on her.

Marc would kill him if Colton so much as touched her without them all being together their first time. And he would never do that to his brother, the man he’d share Anna with forever.

He sucked in a long, hard breath.

“So tell me what’s going on.”

Anna slowly came out of the hazy stupor she’d been in and realized exactly the position she’d put them both in. Sheesh. She’d gone to the house to beg for a couch to sleep on, and here she was, nekked in a tub with a very obvious erection pressed against her back.

What in the Sam holy Hill is wrong with you?

Furthermore, why did it feel so right and yet so wrong at the same time? She was tired of feeling these conflicted emotions. She only knew she sure as shit had never taken a bath with Peter—it would have been beneath him—and that she liked the feeling of sharing a tub full of hot swirling water with a man.