Surrounded by Temptation (13 page)

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Authors: Mandy Harbin

BOOK: Surrounded by Temptation
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“Come for me, angel. Let me feel it.”

Her body went taut when her pussy started to spasm around his fingers. She let out the cry that had his dick so hard it was already leaking on her leg. He thrust, trying to easy the ache, but knew his cock wouldn’t be happy getting off anywhere but in her welcoming heat. Rob crawled up her body and took her mouth as he grabbed his dick and rubbed the ruddy head against her slit.

“Oh God, Rob, I’ve missed you. Missed you so much.”

Unable to stop his body’s reaction to her confession, so close to the promise land, he pushed inside her, her pussy squeezing him like a vise as he penetrated her fully.

“Fuck, you feel good,” he gritted as he took her with long, slow strokes, knowing he wouldn’t be able to keep the pace for long. It was evident she had no intentions of him doing that either because she grabbed his ass and forced him to knife into her harder, faster. “Yeah, baby, like that.”

She clawed at his back and sank her little teeth into his shoulder as he fucked her like she wanted, like he needed, like they both demanded. His fangs descended and he had the urge to take her. Claim her. Right fucking now.

He roared instead, fighting the urge the complete their mating, and just relished in the feel of her, of her temptation surrounding him. She’d always be his little temptress, pushing his buttons and testing his boundaries. And that was okay too.

More than okay. It would be perfect, because it was perfect for them. What was normal for another couple didn’t suit what they needed, but nothing in Rob’s life was normal. He had no desire to force Ariel into some relationship because his brothers had followed that path. Rob and Ariel would forge their own. And when she was ready, he’d make her his mate in every sense of the word. Not a moment sooner.

When she screamed his name and clamped her legs around him as her pussy pulsed around his cock, he followed her into that erotic nirvana. He continued to hold her for long moments afterward. Just feeling her light spasms and hot breath on his neck.

Rob lifted his head and looked down at her. Her kiss-swollen lips shook as a small smile formed on her face. She reached up and gently stroked his cheek, and he couldn’t help but purr and lean into her comforting touch.

“I-I feel for you. So much,” she whispered, and Rob’s insides burned. She didn’t have to say the words that society thought was right. He knew exactly what his little waif was declaring.

I love you too, my precious angel
. And when she was ready, he’d say the words aloud again.

They had all the time in the world.

Epilogue

 

“What do you mean you won’t take no for an answer? I just fucking told you no!” Jack yelled at his computer screen during his Skype session with Lillian Caldwell. She was nuts if she thought he was letting her work here.

“We’ve been working together for over a month now, Jackson. I’ve been giving your company our contractors’ information and contacting them on your behalf. You’ll just be paying me a salary now.”

“We already pay you! We’ve hired you as a contractor. Once we have everything we need, then you can move on to something else.” He took a deep breath, trying to find his fucking patience and realizing said patience must be out enjoying happy hour somewhere. “Your family made a lot of money selling us your land. You have the freedom now to do whatever you want.”

“You strong-armed us into selling it! And what the hell else am I going to do out in the middle of nowhere?”

“Bullshit!”
Patience? Where the fuck are you?
“You were going under and we were more than generous with our offer. We didn’t have to hire you afterward either. That was my father’s brilliant idea.”

“I talked to Mikaela Woods and she seems to think something could be worked out on a more permanent basis. She is your family’s attorney after all.”

Damn Mikaela. If she weren’t suffering from morning sickness this morning, he’d give her a piece of his mind. No way would Josh allow him near her anyway. Jack was the black sheep right now. And with good reason. Yeah, things had settled down after Ariel came back and she and Rob seemed to be working things out. Their dad had provided Ariel with a dedicated lab to work in and was putting her on the payroll so she wouldn’t have to continue working in Missouri. From what Jack had heard, she’d inquired with some colleges in Texas about getting her Ph.D.

So things were looking up, but Jack would never forgive himself for what he’d tried to do to Ariel. She’d said he wasn’t completely in control, but that didn’t help his guilt. He was the strong one around here, so the fact that he lost control so quickly didn’t set well with him. And even though apologies had been exchanged and everyone ate dinner together, Josh didn’t want Mikaela upset about anything, so he kept everyone away from her. Rob was super protective of Ariel since they weren’t officially mated, which meant Jack was to stay away from her at all times. It wasn’t said, but it was definitely understood. And because of what had happened with her sister, Krista didn’t have Jack on any BFF list either, which meant that Toby was always watching him, making sure he wasn’t about to board the crazy train again. Yeah, all might be well on the surface around here, but Jack was still treated like a pariah.

“I’ll have a talk with Mikaela and my father about this.”

“You’re putting me off. I know you’re just going to ignore me. Again.”

How the hell could he ignore her? She had the blondest hair he’d ever seen on a woman. It was almost white and her pale skin belied her years of working outside. Whenever he’d seen her on these conference calls both before and after the purchase of the Caldwell property, he’d always itched to ask how she was able to keep her skin a luminous alabaster. His had been darkened by the sun years ago.

“I’m not putting you off. See?” He reached into his father’s desk to pull out a notepad so he could write the message down. Not that he needed to. He just felt like it would get his damn point across that he intended to talk to his family about this mess. He tuned out Lillian’s beautiful eyes shooting daggers at him as he rummaged around, opening drawers, but then suddenly, a photo slipped out from a folded piece of paper. He stopped, grazing his fingers over it before picking it up.

It was of his mother. And she looked beautiful, young, and in the prime of her life before her illness took it away. He smiled sadly at the picture, remembering her in this state, which felt like a lifetime ago. She had always been the glue that held his family together and after she’d died, it had taken his father a long time to pick up the pieces and move on. But he’d eventually done so. He hadn’t any other choice.

Jack started to place the photo back where he’d found it, opening the old piece of paper to slip it back in. He glanced at the words and froze. It was his mother’s handwriting.

He read the first few sentences and felt the blood draining from his face, his fingers going numb. All his life, he’d wanted to understand the reason of his existence. Why he and his family were able to shift into mountain lions. It was something he and his brothers believed would never be understood because his father’s parents had died when he was young. They’d just have to live with it as best they could. But the assumption they’d made, the assumption his father hadn’t corrected, was wrong. It wasn’t his father’s doing after all.

It was Mom’s.

 

The End

About the Author

 

After reading Danielle Steel’s
Summer’s End
, Mandy became hooked on reading romance. Of course she was probably too young to be reading books like that at the time, which made it that much better! She dabbled in writing throughout adolescence and justified studying it in college under that wonderful umbrella of liberal arts. Living in Arkansas, she figured writing was a dream and not a career, so when she went back to get her master’s degree, she studied business. It wasn’t until she was staying up late to write—after working full-time, spending time with the family, and studying mind-numbing business nonsense—when she realized something had to give. The love of writing prevailed. She still lives in Arkansas with a few classes shy of an MBA but is now a multi-published author living her dream. She can be found online at www.mandyharbin.com.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

About the Author

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