Romance: Wanted by the Alpha Lion (A BBW Paranormal Suspense Romance) (Heroes of Shifter Creek Book 2) (3 page)

Hunter smiled. “Not the way I should have, probably, but yeah.” He squeezed Peony’s shoulders. “If you let me, I’ll ask you again later.”

“You know this child is not going to look like you,” Peony said. She rubbed her hands over her stomach. “Not at all. Not even a little bit.”

“Tell me this,” Hunter said. They’d reached the ranch house; he put the truck in park and shut it off. “Do I look like my father? At all? Even a little bit?”

Peony studied his visage intently. He could feel her studying gaze, taking in the curves of his forehead and the way his eyebrows angled over his eyes. She studied his nose and the way that he smiled and for a very long while, his chin. “No, “she finally pronounced. “You look like your mother.”

“So will our little one,” Hunter said. “That’s how these things go.”

“People will talk,” Peony said. She rolled her eyes. “Poppy will be impossible.”

Hunter opened the truck door, slid out and held up his hand to help Peony down. “So what?” he asked. “I don’t care what anyone says. I know what’s true.”

Peony slid down into Hunter’s waiting arms. “Tell me what’s true, Cowboy?”

He kissed her first, slow and sexy. “It’s true that you’re beautiful.” He let his hands slide down over her curves, a slow journey that stopped at Peony’s generous hips. “Every inch of you.”

She kissed him back and smiled. “What else is true?”

Hunter grew serious. The energy between them changed as they stood, arm in arm, face to face, and Hunter looked Peony right in the eye. “It’s true I’ll do my best for you. In every way I can, I’m going to treat you right.”

Peony flung her arms around Hunter’s neck and pulled him to her for another kiss. This one was demanding, intense and joyous. “Yes,” she said, after. “I will be your wife. We will be your family.”

They moved slowly this time, savoring every minute. Peony smiled as she undid Hunter’s bolo tie, shaking her head at the silver and turquoise slide. “Nobody wears these in Virginia.”

“We’re not in Virginia,” Hunter said, carefully undoing the zipper on the back of Peony’s dress. “Everything can be different here.”

“I’d like that,” The last of Hunter’s shirt buttons came open, and she pushed the garment from his shoulders. “I’d like that very much.”

Words gave way to kisses as they shed the rest of their clothes. Hunter smiled at the way Peony’s soft round breasts fell against the curves of her stomach once they were free from her bra. “Those are just gorgeous, darling.”

Peony pressed her hands against the outside of her bosom, hugging her massive tits together. “You’re welcome to take a closer look.”

Hunter didn’t need to be told twice. He started kissing every inch of Peony’s chest, letting his pink tongue trace swirling curlicues over her ebony slopes. He loved how dark her skin was; not black like night, but black like the thing you look for in the night; impossible to find, the object of desire can only be discovered by good fortune.

She groaned at his attentions, swaying on her feet. “That feels good, baby,” she said, sliding her dark fingers into his ashy-blonde hair. “Don’t you stop.”

“I’ve got no intention of stopping.” Hunter said. He nuzzled her bosom, letting his cheeks rest against the soft, rounded tops. “This is perfect.”

He maneuvered Peony through the house, into the bedroom. There he pulled back the blankets and laid her on the snowy white sheets. “Absolutely perfect.”

Hunter covered the curvy, lush swell of Peony’s stomach with gentle kisses. Then he reached the parting of her thighs. “Is this okay?” he asked.

“More than okay,” Peony replied. She let her legs splay wide, revealing her most tender folds. Hunter, who’d thought himself fully aroused by this point, groaned aloud as his need grew greater.

Peony, thus arrayed, resembled her namesake. Set between dark thighs, her pussy was a blossom. At the edges, her flesh was almost iridescent, a glimmering shade between black and purple. Closer to her core, the colors shifted; first amethyst, then lavender, then, almost hidden from view, a thin ribbon of pink.

Hunter’s first kiss there was enough to bring Peony right up off the bed. “Damn, Cowboy!” she yelped. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Should I stop?” he asked.

“I didn’t say that,” she replied, pressing his head back down. “I didn’t say that at all.” After that, each one of Hunter’s kisses was met by an increasingly loud chorus of sighs, groans and moans. Gradually, Peony’s legs came up and up, until Hunter’s head was almost sandwiched between her thighs. He could feel her entire body shaking. She’d pulled the sheets so hard, they’d come up off the bed.

“Oh, yeah, Cowboy,” she panted. “I’m going to come.”

Hunter pulled his head back long enough to growl, “Say my name.”

“Hun-ter,” Peony replied, stretching his name over two syllables as she arched her back. “Hunter, now!”

He wrapped his arms around her thighs and held on as Peony shook through a glorious orgasm. She stiffened when she came, long legs and arms growing rigid and strong with her passion. If Hunter hadn’t of been holding on, she would have bucked him off.

After, Peony looked down and smiled. “Wow, Cowboy.” Hunter was on top of her in a flash, his need already pressing into the very end of her juicy folds. “Please, Peony,” he said. “I need to be inside you.”

She gave him the nod and he began to move forward, slowly and gently. “God,” he groaned. “You’re like coming home.”

Penny raised her legs, hooking her ankles around Hunter’s back. “That’s because you are home.” They started rocking back and forth, smiling at each other as the moment built between the two of them. “We’re both home.”

Hunter closed his eyes and groaned. Then he was all the way in here. His blue eyes popped open, in surprise and delight. “Oh, God, Peony. I’m truly home.”

She wrapped her arms around Hunter’s neck and pulled him close as he came. “Home.”

The morning of Seth and Petunia’s wedding was bright and beautiful. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue as far as the eye could see. Hunter was finishing buttoning himself into the crisp white shirt that would go beneath his tuxedo jacket when there was a knock on his door.

“Yes?” he said.

“Can I come in?” It was Peony. She looked radiant in the sunny yellow bridesmaid gown her sister had picked.

“Of course,” Hunter said. He went to the door and took her in his arms, kissing her after carefully glancing down the corridor to make sure no one was watching.

She laughed. “You don’t have to worry about that. Mama read me the riot act this morning. The cat is out of the bag.”

“She’s mad we’re together?”

“She’s worried we’re moving too fast,” Peony said. She ran her hands over her stomach. “Mama’s no fool. She knows that it’s too soon for this to be your baby and for you to know about it.” She laughed. “Considering I’ve known you for all of two weeks.”

Hunter’s heart sank. He’d been on cloud nine, thinking at last he’d found the woman of his dreams. Now it looked like everything was going to slip out of his grasp, leaving him disappointed and alone.

“So this means?”

Peony leaned forward and kissed Hunter on the nose. “It means you’re going to have to get used to Mama giving you the side-eye for quite a while.” She shook her head. “You don’t even know. It took her some time to wrap her head around the idea of having one white boy in the family. Now we’re going to have two? And they’re brothers?”

“If it makes her feel better, tell her Jerry and Mark are both very married,” Hunter said. “The rest of her daughters are safe from the Shipman boys.”

“Nobody’s happy about how the news came out, but that’s Poppy for you,” Peony continued. “You did good by standing up when you did. Mama appreciated you putting the spotlight back on Petunia.”

“Well, it’s really her day.” Hunter slipped into his tux jacket, a sight that made Peony smile. “And that day should be starting shortly. Are you ready?”

She slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow. “As ready as I’m ever going to be.”

The ranch’s yard had been transformed into a beautiful wedding venue, with a white gazebo on one end and rows upon rows of chairs set up facing it. The flowers were purple and yellow. All the bridesmaids, including Peony, wore yellow, while Mama Rose, Hunter’s mother, and the flower girl and ring bearer wore purple.

“It’s beautiful,” Peony said, “but what a lot of work.”

“If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get,” Hunter said, pulling her tight for a quick squeeze. The pianist, playing a piano brought at great expense and with tremendous difficulty from the local church, began the processional.

“Hey,” Hunter smiled. “This is the first time we get to walk down the aisle together.” They lined up behind the best man and maid of honor – both college friends of Seth and Petunia – and waited their turn to begin the careful slow stroll.

“Not every couple gets to do that twice,” Peony laughed. She was so beautiful, in her sunshine yellow dress, with her hair pulled back and up in a twist and her smile wide, that Hunter almost melted.

“I can’t believe this is real,” he said, and leaned in for a quick kiss.

“Be careful,” she said, fussing at him a little. “If you mess up my makeup for the pictures, Petunia is never going to forgive me.”

“Come on, you two,” Poppy urged from behind them. “It’s your turn!”

Hunter and Peony straightened up, stifled their guilty grins, and strolled carefully down the aisle. Hunter’s mother was crying, as he knew she would be, but she managed to smile at the two of them walking arm in arm.

Mama Rose had no tears, but she wasn’t smiling either. Hunter didn’t worry. Peony had told him her mother was so nervous that she was holding her breath. Peony didn’t expect her to exhale until after the cake was cut.

They took their places on either side of the altar. Hunter couldn’t keep his gaze from straying to Peony’s face. As the minister recited the wedding ceremony and led Seth and Petunia through their vows, his mind was racing. It wouldn’t be too long before he would be standing in his brother’s place, pledging his life to the beautiful woman he’d fallen in love with.

Everything had happened so fast, but with that speed came a certainty unlike anything Hunter had ever felt before. He knew he was supposed to care for Peony, to protect her against the world’s harshest elements and to support her in making her dreams come true. When the baby came, he’d be there to help her raise it – and with any luck, in another year or two, they’d be welcoming another child into the family.

The thought of raising a family with this beautiful talented woman made him smile. Hearing his brother proudly proclaim “I do!” made him smile even wider. And later, when they were at the reception, swirling around the dance floor with Peony in his arms while the band played, “The Best Is Yet To Come” made him smile even more than that.

“What’s got you so happy?” Peony asked.

“You,” he said, smiling down at her. “I know it’s Seth’s day, but I feel like I’m the one who won a prize.” He kissed her once, slowly, and then again more deeply. The band started playing another song, this one with a faster beat designed to get people onto the dance floor. It worked, but not on Peony and Hunter. They just stood there, kissing, as the crowd danced around them.

“I think I’m the lucky one,” she murmured against his lips. “There’s a million girls in the world who’d love to be with you, and you pick me.”

“There’s not a million girls in the world,” Hunter replied. “You’re it. The only one. All the other ones disappeared when I saw you.”

She smiled. “Are you going to sweet talk me like this all the time?”

“Every day,” he said, pulling her closer, “and every night.”

“Ah, yes,” she said, quoting his words back to him. “The cowboy ready, willing and able to meet my every need.”

“I’ll do my best,” he promised.

“And I’ll do mine,” she promised back. They kissed again, spinning in each other’s arms, dancing to their own music that no one in the crowd could hear. People smiled kindly as them as they whirled by, a pair of newlyweds in training.

“Then we’re going to be fine,” Hunter said. “Just fine.”

THE END

INFORMATION

I have included a bonus collection just for you. Those stories are more traditional romance stories and are at the beginning of the book and therefore if you want to jump straight ahead to the main story of this book, click the link.

Click Here to jump to “Wanted by the Alpha Lion”