Seducing Samantha (5 page)

Several months after they settled in, they received calls from mountain lion males, asking if there was room in their new pride for more.  They hadn’t hesitated to open their home to any and all mountain lion males.  First to come had been fraternal twins Ray and Wesley Fiero, followed closely by brothers Tristan and Micah Harrison.  Then came three cousins, Dylan, Chase, and Hunter Hall.  The new lions were all in their early to mid-twenties and full of hope at having a chance to find a mate of their own.  They fit right in, their new pride expanding easily to include them, and the young males found jobs around the area and contributed to the bills and household chores, and they even helped to look after the little ones.  Mountain lion males, unlike their female counterparts, were incredibly loving and giving, even under the worst of circumstances, but it took being set free from the shadow of the females in King to really bloom.

Aaron headed downstairs, finding all five of his and Grant’s kids squeezed onto one couch in front of the big screen TV, several of them playing a video game.  Two more couches across from each other formed a u-shape between the three, and one of them contained Henry, Ray, Tristan, and Hunter.  The others were all at work or out running errands.

Ray glanced up from the TV and grimaced at Aaron.  “Your kids are kicking my ass!”

Aaron’s son, Owen, laughed gleefully.  “You have to put a dollar in the swear jar, Ray!”

“Damn it!”  Ray growled.

Ben giggled and added.  “That’s two!”

Tristan elbowed Ray.  “You better zip your lips while you still have some of your paycheck.”

Ray handed the controller to Hunter and pulled his wallet from his back pocket.  He pulled two bills from inside and handed them to Ben and said, “Run these to the swear jar, would ya’ kiddo?”

Ben raced off into the kitchen, and Aaron heard the glass lid of the large jar that James had designated for swear money lift and then lower.  They hadn’t needed to worry about swearing in front of the kids until the younger lions showed up.  They were not used to living with young kids and had to be taught to curb their language, and so the swear jar came into existence.

“Grant said you have a date tonight?” Tristan asked, leaning back against the deep couch.

“Yeah,” Aaron said.

Ray opened his mouth, but Aaron could tell from the look on his face that he was going to say something that the kids didn’t need to hear, so he shook his head sharply.  Ray closed his mouth with a smirk, saying nothing.

Hunter rubbed his fingers across his stubble-covered jaw and looked at Aaron with intense green eyes.  “Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks, Hunter,” Aaron said and smiled at the young male.

Hunter held Aaron’s gaze for a moment longer and then glanced away to watch the TV.  “You guys give me — us — hope.”

Aaron knew what that felt like because he’d never held out any hope at all for a woman in his life until he’d watched his nephews Ethan and Eryx find their mate in Callie.

As Aaron watched his kids and the other lions playing a car racing game, he sat on the empty couch and settled back, smiling.  The boarding house had become a haven.  Not only for his own family, away from the cruelty of the females, but for other lions as well.  Ashland had seemed so strange when they first arrived, but now it felt like home.  They were accepted by the majority of the people in town, although just like in King there were always a few who had issues with weres in general.  Nothing ever came from those people, but they’d had to explain to their kids that sometimes people don’t like what they don’t understand.  They encouraged the kids to always be polite, no matter what.  He was glad that his kids were, by nature, sweet and caring.

The only thing missing from the house, missing from their lives, was a woman.  But not any woman, of course.  It had to be Sam.

Aaron hadn’t ever been on a date.  He’d had sex, yes, with a female lion named Niecy who was the biological mother of his three boys, but she hadn’t wanted anything to do with him romantically.  For some reason, female lions were completely void of any emotions outside of anger.  They would take a male lion to bed for casual sex or to create a cub, but there was no dating.  No kissing.  No lovemaking.  He’d never been with anyone besides Niecy, and being with her had always left him feeling cold and used.  He used to think that he was the one using her, so he could have a cub to love and share his life with, to be the sort of father like his own had been to him.  But it didn’t matter who used who in the scenario because once she became pregnant, she refused to see him except when he dropped off money to pay her bills.  When Owen, his oldest, was born, Niecy had sent him an email when she was back home from delivering him, and he’d had to race to the hospital to pick him up.  The hospital had thought she abandoned him and was calling the authorities right when Aaron arrived.  He still got chills thinking about what a debacle that could have been.  Not too long after Owen arrived, he felt the urge to have another child, and Nathan was born, and then Ben, who was now eight.  They were each only a year apart, and it had all happened so fast, but he never regretted anything about it.  Not the sleepless nights, the endless diapers, and the aching loneliness that hit him some nights when he would be rocking one of his sons back to sleep and then he would have to crawl into his cold and empty bed.

Grant had dated a little since they’d been in Ashland, but Aaron hadn’t found anyone worth asking out.  Until he saw Sam.  He’d taken a gamble and asked her out, and although a small part of him wished that he could have met her first and been with her last night, things just felt right.

Dressing in a light blue button down shirt and black slacks, he popped his wallet into his pocket and headed downstairs for his date.  He kissed his boys goodbye as they sat at the big dinner table, eating with almost everyone except Grant who was still asleep and James who was working second shift.  A chorus of “good lucks” and wolf whistles followed him out the front door as he pulled on his leather coat and were silenced when the door shut soundly behind him.

It took only a few minutes to drive to her apartment, and he flipped his keys back and forth around his finger as he walked up the steps to her second-floor apartment.  His heart felt like it would pound out of his chest as he lifted his hand to knock on the door, squeezing the single yellow rose with red tips he had purchased earlier.  Grant had shared that he had brought her a single rose, and Aaron had been tempted to buy her a whole dozen of them, but he didn’t want her to feel like she was being pulled between them or they were competing for her.  If she was meant for both of them to share, then he and Grant had to be willing to work together and get along in a way that they had never envisioned.

The door opened and all thought fled from Aaron’s mind.  Sam stood in the doorway wearing a short wine-colored skirt and a black sweater with a low neckline.

“Hi Aaron,” she said and smiled, stepping backwards so he could come inside.  “I hope you didn’t have trouble finding the place.”

“Not at all,” he said and handed her the rose, shutting the door when he stepped into the warmth of the apartment.

She touched the rose to her nose and inhaled, her eyes closing as she let out a little hum and smiled further.  “Thank you so much.  Yellow is my favorite color.”

Score!  “Well, I aim to please.”

He took off his coat and hung it up on a hook by the front door as she put the rose in a small vase on the kitchen counter, right next to the one that Grant had brought for her.  Next to the roses was a large pizza box.  She ran her fingertip down one side of the box and lifted her eyes, a sultry look in the beautiful, blue depths.

She walked towards him, her hips swaying seductively from side to side, and stopped in front of him.  Taking in a slow breath, she bit her lower lip and trailed her fingers up his arms and across his shoulders, before linking them behind his neck and pulling him towards her mouth.

At first, it was simply a press of her warm lips against his and she paused, pulling away just fractionally and waiting, as if she wanted him to make the next move. He’d only had one kiss in his life, a disastrous epic-fail when he was fourteen with a human girl in school.  He wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed, but he slid his hands around her waist, tugged her against him, and closed the distance between their mouths.

She moaned softly, happily, as their lips met again and hers parted, her tongue flicking across the seam of his mouth, asking for admittance.  He opened his mouth and she teased her tongue against his, retreating back into her own mouth before darting back to flick his again.  He followed her the next time, closing his eyes and losing himself in the warm depths of her mouth.  His body tightened and heated and all else outside of the beauty in his arms ceased to exist.

His hands flexed on her back as the kiss went on and on, until his lips were pleasantly numb and her hands fisted in his short hair.  She stepped backwards, dropping her hands down to his chest, where she flattened her palms and looked up at him.  “Let’s make love, Aaron, before I melt completely.”

He lifted her up against his chest with a growl.  She wound her legs around his waist, the skirt slipping up her thighs with the motion, and hugged her arms around his neck, nuzzling under his ear.  “You smell so good,” she purred, as he walked down the short hallway.

“So do you, sweetheart,” he said as he found the first open doorway and stepped through as she began to stroke her tongue under his ear.  He almost lost his grip from the sweet sensations that cascaded over him.  The flicker of candlelight made him look around, and he saw the amber glow of electric candles scattered around the room.

The large bed beckoned him, and he groped for it blindly with one hand as Sam covered his mouth with her own and sucked on his tongue.  His knees hit the edge of the bed, and he climbed up and laid her down.  Their hands were frantic as they tore at each other’s clothes.  He sat back on his heels to look down at her completely naked body as she lay panting for breath, eyes heavy with passion and lips swollen from kissing.  So beautiful.  His cat rumbled in his mind, eager to claim her, but Aaron held tight to his control.

He leaned forward and braced himself over her with one arm, cupping her flushed cheek with his other hand.  He kissed her as he trailed his fingertips down her jaw, stroking the length of her neck.  With the lightest of touches, he stroked between her breasts and then swept across the underside of one heavy globe. She shivered, and a small moan escaped her throat.  Leaving the sweet warmth of her mouth, he lowered his head and cupped her breast, swirling his tongue across her hardened nipple before sucking it gently into his mouth.  Her body tensed slightly as she moaned, her hands sliding into his short hair and moving down his neck to grip his shoulders.  He released her nipple and licked a path to the other one, licking and sucking it to hardened perfection as she writhed and moaned under him.

Kissing down the length of her belly, he settled on his side, pushing her legs apart to spread her body for him.  The light dusting of blonde curls covering her sex were damp with arousal, and the sweet scent of her passion drove all other thoughts from his mind.  Glancing up, he saw she bit her lower lip and fisted the bedding.

“Sam?  Look at me, love,” he said softly, stroking up her wet slit with one finger and delicately rubbing her clit.

Her head lifted slightly, and she met his gaze and held it, while he stroked her clit with his finger, drenched with her arousal.  She swallowed visibly, and her hands clenched tightly as he moved his finger across her clit faster.  Her body trembled and her belly clenched, silently urging him to move faster and bring her to climax.  He drove her forward, his finger whipping across her silky wet flesh until she arched up with a sharp cry and fell back against the bed, her hands jerking against the cover.

He licked her clit and pressed two fingers into her core, searching quickly for that soft-as-velvet place that would take her right over the edge again.  She moaned and shuddered under him as he searched, and he knew he found the right place when she let out a soft whine, as if words escaped her.

Deviling the spot with his fingers, he licked and sucked at her swollen nub until she jerked hard under him and cried out his name with more passion than he had ever thought possible.

He licked his lips, tasting the sweet essence of her arousal, and instinct hit him hard.  He moved from between her legs and flipped her over onto her stomach, lifting her to her knees.  Urging her legs apart with his knees, he took his place behind her and in one, hard thrust, he buried himself to the hilt in her body.

“Aaron!” she wailed, her hands slapping on the bed as he rode her body hard.  His hands dug into her hips, and she tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked back at him, their eyes meeting for just a bare moment until she closed them in ecstasy and bit her lower lip again.

He lost all control, slamming into her, ramming his cock into her hot depths until she screamed his name and her body clenched his in a final climax.  Her orgasm pushed him over the edge and he came, shouting her name and grinding his body against hers until there was nothing between them.

He snarled, lowering his body to cover hers and sinking his teeth into her shoulder.  She moaned and bucked under him.  He released her flesh and licked across the mark.  He didn’t taste blood, so he knew he hadn’t broken the skin, which he could have easily done, lost to his cat the way he felt at the end.