Quarantine (2 page)

I gave him a grateful smile and tucked into the burger. He had been right; it was amazing. Of course, I was so hungry pretty much anything would have tasted good at that point. Juice ran down my hand, and I sucked my fingers clean without really thinking about it.

Looking up, I saw all three men watching me intently. I pulled my finger from my mouth and cleared my throat as I set down the burger and picked up one of the golden fries that decorated the plate.

Nate licked his lips before abruptly turning away to fuss with some bottles on the shelf behind him. Dean walked back toward the kitchen, but Jasen continued to watch me unabashedly.

“You’re really pretty,” Jasen said before taking a drink of his beer.

“Um, thank you,” I said around a mouthful of potato. I’m sure I looked insanely sexy after being in a car for two straight days and devouring a burger like a hobo.

“Jasen,” Nate snapped. “Let the woman eat in peace.”

“What?” Jasen asked defensively. “I was just telling her she’s hot. God, you’re such a buzz kill. What, you saw her first so you get dibs?”

“Please excuse him,” Nate said apologetically. “He’s drunk.”

“No, I’m not,” Jasen retorted hotly. “This is my first beer all day.”

“Jasen that’s enough.” Dean had come out of the kitchen and walked over to join us.

He smelled like grease and meat. Without really meaning to I found myself leaning closer to him, my nose inches from his large bicep. He turned to look at me, and my face was pressed into his chest.

My hands instinctively went up to push myself away from him, my fingers curled into his shirt and I leaned back, my heart hammering.

“I…I am
so
sorry,” I whispered, horrified by my own behavior.

I felt like a fool. An old fool. These young men had been flirting with me, and it had gone to my head. I was thirty-six years old for cripe’s sake. They weren’t really interested in me.

“No worries, love,” Dean said.

I looked up to see his chocolate brown eyes looking down at me. A sexy smile curved on his face. “I wasn’t complaining.”

“I should go,” I said quickly. I pulled some money out of my purse and dropped it on the bar then jumped to my feet. I turned to leave and ran straight into Nate who had come up behind me.

He grabbed my left hand and looked at the ring on it, a look I didn’t really understand darkened his gaze.

“Yeah, your husband is probably waiting for you.” For some reason his voice was thick with anger.

“My husband,” I said softly, staring directly into his eyes, “is dead.”

He flinched, and I wasn’t sorry to see it. I understood now that he’d thought I was looking to cheat on my spouse with Dean.

“I’m sorry,” he said, bringing the hand he was still holding up to his lips. “I shouldn’t have—”

“No,” I spat, snatching my hand back. “It’s fine. I really do have to be going.”

The men had pressed closer, and I was surrounded on all sides by hard, male flesh. My heart pounded in my chest, and my pussy flooded my panties. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so turned on.

“I’m afraid no one is going anywhere.”

Chapter Two

We all turned together to see a man in one of those bright yellow hazard suits standing just inside the door.

“This building has been put under a federally mandated quarantine,” the man continued.

“For what?” Nate asked, stalking toward the man.

“Under 42 Code of Federal Regulations parts 70 and 71 the CDC has decided that the four of you are to remain inside until we can confirm or deny the presence of anthrax.”

“Anthrax!” Dean yelled in surprise. “Why the hell would there be anthrax here?”

“We received an anonymous tip that someone had come here and contaminated the area with it. Due to health regulations, we cannot allow anyone who may have been exposed to leave this building. A tent is being erected over the bar and you must all remain here while we commence testing.”

“How long is that going to take?” I asked, panic welling up in my throat. The full moon was two days away, and I had to be far from this place before nightfall on Friday.

“We don’t know,” the man said apologetically. “It could take days, possibly even weeks.”

“Weeks!” we all cried together, varying levels of anger and worry in our tones.

“I have to get out of here,” I said, walking up to stand next to Nate.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. No one is going anywhere.” He smiled softly, his face blurry through the plastic helmet over his head. “I suggest you all just relax. It’s going to be a long couple of days. Tomorrow, we’ll come in to get blood samples from you. Have a nice night.”

He turned and walked out the door. Before it closed behind him, we saw men with rifles standing on the sidewalk outside.

My pulse was racing, and I fought to catch my breath. I could feel the beast inside me stirring and knew I needed to get myself under control. If I panicked too much, the animal would take over and I would shift, fighting and clawing my way to escape. I couldn’t risk hurting or infecting these men.

“Anthrax?” Dean said, shaking his head as he sat in a chair at a nearby table. “What a load of horse shit.”

“Who the hell would call in something like that?” Jasen asked, walking back to grab his beer from the bar.

“Well,” Nate said coldly. “If it’s a prank, I’m going to find the asshole who did it and beat his ass.”

“I can’t stay here.” I wrapped my arms around myself to try to keep them from shaking. “I have to get going.”

“I don’t think those guys are going to let you go anywhere.” Nate coiled his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. It was an intimate gesture, but it didn’t seem wrong. In fact, it felt very right.

I melted into him, resting my head on his chest as my heartbeat finally slowed back to a normal pace.

“There are a lot worse places we could have been stranded,” Dean said with a laugh. “At least here we have food and booze and bathrooms.”

He wasn’t wrong about that. We were probably lucky. In fact, if they weren’t stuck in a room with a ticking time bomb of a Were-Cougar, it might have been pretty fun for them. I would have to find a way to escape. I would stay for that night, but come the next morning, I had to get out.

“Well,” Nate said, his mouth moving to whisper in my ear. “Since it seems we’re stuck here, perhaps we could get back to our previous conversation.”

“The one about my dead husband?” I asked. I disentangled myself from him and walked back to the bar where my beer still sat. Taking a deep drink, I closed my eyes and wished it were a big glass of whiskey instead.

“The one about the three of us,” Dean said.

He had walked up behind me, and I hadn’t heard him. I turned around to find myself pinned against the bar, both of his hands on either side of me so that I was staring into his chest again. Almost against my will, I looked up to meet his chocolate gaze. His black hair was hanging in his eyes and his five o’clock shadow looked like it was about to hit seven p.m.

“I don’t remember us having that conversation,” I said, ducking under Dean’s arm and walking straight into Jasen.

“Well,” Jasen replied, his gaze like molten blue lava as he looked me up and down. “We were about to. We just hadn’t quite gotten there.”

“This is crazy.” I backed away from them. “You three couldn’t possibly be interested in an old woman like me.”

Nate chuckled, moving toward me again. “You’re hardly an old woman.”

“Compared to you three, I’m positively ancient.” I crossed my arms across my chest. My nipples had formed hard points in my bra, and I wanted to hide my arousal from them. “If this is some sort of joke, it’s not funny.”

“We’re not laughing, are we?” Jasen said, his blue eyes sparkling beneath his mop of blond hair.

“Look.” Dean sat on a stool and swiveled to look at me. “We’re all stuck here for a while. We have to do something to pass the time.”

“Is that what I am?” I asked hotly, my desire taken down a notch at the notion that I was just a way for them to kill a few hours.

“Of course not,” Dean said, pulling me into his arms, my chest crushed against his as my arms reached out uselessly to stop him. “We all wanted you the second you walked in here.”

“Really? Because before the CDC guy came in, I’m pretty sure Nate was about to tattoo a big red A on my chest.” I glared at the bartender, and he had the decency to look sheepish.

“I saw the wedding ring and freaked out. I don’t like cheaters.” He shrugged.

“What makes you think I like banging three guys at once?” I shot back, looking around at their young, beautiful faces.

“I don’t think you would know if you did.” Jasen walked over to where Dean and I were standing. “But you shouldn’t knock it until you try it.”

“Is this something the three of you do often?” I asked. I was losing this fight. Not with them, but with myself. My body ached to be touched by them, by all of them. Every time I blinked, I could see myself spread beneath them all, their hands and their mouths on me, their cocks…

“Not at all,” Nate said, joining us in the middle of the room. “But we all like you—”

“You don’t even know me,” I shot back at him. “I could be a, a…”

“A what?” Nate asked, a smile playing on his full lips. “A cougar?”

It was as if I’d been dunked in ice water. Any arousal that might have been coursing through my body had been doused with that one word.

“Why would you say that?” My body was stiff as I backed away from them. How could he possibly know about that?

“It was a joke.” Concern etched Nate’s face. “I just meant that none of us think you enjoy preying on younger men.”

Oh. That kind of cougar. As his meaning sunk in, I felt indignation rise up in me again.

“Do you think I’m old enough to be a cougar?”

“There’s just no pleasing you, is there?” Jasen asked, amusement in his tone.

“Oh, I’ll bet we could find a way,” Dean said, stepping forward daringly. He raised his hand to cup my jaw, tilting my face to look into his eyes. “I’ll bet we could find all kinds of ways to please you.”

My whimper was lost in his mouth as he kissed me. Desire crashed over my body again as Dean’s lips urged mine to part for him. Our tongues danced against each other, teeth clacking slightly together as the kiss deepened. I’d never been kissed like that. My knees threatened to give, but suddenly, there was a second set of hands wrapped around my waist holding me steady.

I didn’t want to break the kiss, but I had to know who else was touching me. Turning to my left, I found Jasen’s mouth waiting to pick up where Dean’s had left off. He claimed my mouth, his lips softer, his tongue thicker than the first man’s had been.

Lips pressed against my neck as Nate came to join the party. Before I could wrap my head around what was happening, my body was covered with hands and mouths, touching, kissing, grabbing, nipping at bits of my skin.

I felt as if I were on fire. For a moment, I worried that the beast inside of me would rear her head, but apparently, she liked the men who were staking their claim to me. She seemed to curl up inside me and purr. It felt so real that the guttural sound actually escaped my throat, a keening cry that made one of the men groan in response.

My mind screamed at me to stop this, but my body ached for release. Real release. Something I hadn’t been given in years, a feeling that I would never be able to give myself but that these men wanted to help me achieve.

What harm could really come of this? In the morning, I would find a way out of there anyway. They could think what they liked about me. I didn’t have to concern myself with town gossip. If three young, gorgeous men wanted to have their way with me and let me have my way with them, what harm was that doing to anyone else?

A hand slid between my legs, cupping my mound and rubbing firmly against my clit through my jeans. I ground against it, silently begging with my body for them to continue.

Jasen released my mouth, and Nate’s lips pressed against mine. His tongue raced around mine as if he were trying to taste where Jasen had just been. The hand that had been pressed between my legs had moved to unbutton my jeans.

“We need to find somewhere to lay down,” Dean said. The hand had withdrawn, and I assumed it had been his. “This isn’t going to work standing up.”

“I don’t think that cot in the back is going to hold everyone.” Nate stepped back from me. “I think there are some blankets back there though. We could spread them out on the floor.”

“I’ll go,” Jasen offered. He kissed me quickly on the lips then winked. “Don’t do anything while I’m gone. I don’t want to miss the fun.”

Dean lowered his face to mine again, sucking my lower lip into his mouth and nibbling it gently. I let my hands travel up his shoulders and around his neck, holding him as if he were saving me from drowning.

“Can I ask you something really personal?” he asked as he broke the kiss.