Temptation (4 page)

Meryl’s mind went blank. What on earth had she said she wanted as a fantasy anyway?

“Deserted island, champagne, good book,” Marloth said as he weaved the big leaves into a canopy. “Peace and quiet.”

“Will you stop doing that?” Meryl said in indignation. “It’s my mind; you shouldn’t go into it without an invitation.”

He grinned and showed his impressive teeth. With a twinkle in his eyes, that flashed amber and gold, he looked every inch the majestic big cat. Meryl swallowed and rolled with the tingles of heat and excitement that spun around her and stung her skin with tiny darts of pleasure.
Damned if the bugger isn’t purring. And that ‘come to me and let me ravish you’ look is way too enticing for my liking. No, no, and no. Not here, not now, and maybe not ever.
She waited to see if Marloth had a witty—or cutting—comeback, but he didn’t say a word. She could hear him humming under his breath as he worked. If ever a man looked at peace in his world, it was him.

“I’m not you know.” Marloth had stopped weaving and looked at her, unblinking. The way he did that, as if every inner vision and sense was focused only on her was unnerving. She wriggled on the log.

“Not what? Reading my mind? You so are, and it’s got to stop. Or well, if you carry on, there’s no need for us to talk, you can just dredge through the myriad of random thoughts and find out what you need to know.”

Marloth sighed. It was impressive. His whole body shuddered and resettled. Meryl bit her lip. When he did that, even though he was a man, it was so very
tigerish.

“Honey, we might not have spent long together, but I did think you understood my integrity. I only look when I’m called to. You call to me a lot, you know. So, I can’t go delving through your mind just because. Stop pushing me. That expression ‘grab a tiger by its tail’ is so very true. You do it at your peril. Now, do I finish this and disappear for the rest of the afternoon, or finish it and share it with you whilst we act as civilized humans—okay, human and shifter—and talk over what we need to?”

Meryl stood up and turned her back on him. She needed to block the vision of his maleness out. It only confused her—and made her wet and tingling.

“That won’t make any difference.” His voice was full of laughter tinged with, she decided, a hint of sadness. “But I’m not looking—at you or in your mind.”

Bugger him.
“We’ll talk.” Meryl turned back to see him once more making the sunshade. “Is it safe for me to walk around?”

“Along the beach, sure. I wouldn’t go through the trees or mangroves by yourself. You might get lost.”

As she reckoned the atoll was smaller than the size of her local supermarket car park, Meryl couldn’t fathom his rationale, but she nodded. There was no point in antagonizing him for no reason. She only needed to get away from his overwhelming charisma for a short while. “Thanks.” She picked up her flip-flops and plonked her sun hat on her head. It was still damp from being unceremoniously thrown onto the jetty, and a dripping wet Marloth having picked it up for her. However, it was needed. So was the damp shirt, because Meryl was under no illusions how hot the sun was. “I’ll go thataway.” She pointed to her right. “Clockwise.”

* * * * *

It was pleasant walking along in the shallows. Meryl splashed with her feet and enjoyed the cool droplets as they landed on her heated skin. If only she could cool her feelings down as easily. This meeting with Marloth was proving to be harder than she thought. It had all seemed so simple in the abstract, but in the actuality? Oh no, not at all. What could either of them say that hadn’t been said? Had anything changed? Meryl thought it probably hadn’t, apart from them both being a year older. She shook her head in a conscious effort to get rid of her negative thoughts. This was a day in paradise, and she was going to enjoy it. Even if, like every paradise, it had its worm—or in her case, a pesky, won’t take no for an answer unless absolutely pushed, tiger shifter.

As she turned a corner, Meryl looked back. Marloth still worked on his shelter, but he must have sensed her gaze because he straightened up and turned to look at her. Meryl waved, and after a long moment he waved back. At that distance, he seemed more feline than ever. As she didn’t think he’d shifted just for the sake of it, Meryl grinned at her fanciful notions and carried on splashing. A ray swam past and she marveled at the subtle hues on its back. The natural world had so much beauty, and so often you simply didn’t notice it.

In front of her, what looked like a natural formation of rocks ran into the sea and provided a breakwater. As she got closer, she discovered it was man made. Meryl ran her hand over one of the semi smooth rocks and wondered why it was needed on a so-called deserted atoll. The slight breeze flicked the rim of her hat and she held onto it as she looked around. The breakwater also ran inland and created a gap in the mangroves, too enticing to ignore. She left the water and thrust her feet into her flip-flops before the sand burned said feet. If she just walked along the rocks until they stopped, she’d be able to turn around and head back to the beach. There would be no way she could get lost then.

There was a steady hum of something, as Meryl turned inland and picked her way over the uneven surface. To either side, the mangroves and trees closed in and cocooned her. The sweet-sour smell of vegetation became stronger the further she walked, and blocked out any other scents. A shrill shriek of a bird made her jump and almost lose her footing. That would be the easiest way to annoy Marloth, injuring herself doing something he’d advised against. At least with his shifter senses he’d be able to find her.
If he chose to.

Once she left the beach, the air became warmer, with no breeze to create an illusion of coolth. Meryl wiped her hand over her forehead and then onto her shirt. It was humid and heavy.
As if the air is waiting for something.
She walked on slowly. Even the noise of the waves lapping on the sand and rocks had disappeared. It was like a new world. No sea, no surf on the coral, and no sand. Just Meryl, the sky, and the trees. A gentle hum of some insect or another increased and then fell away, to leave the air silent again.

The top of the rock formation became steadily narrower the further inland she walked. By the time she realized, it had curved and there was no view of the beach. It was not much more than the width of her foot.

Time to turn back?
It looked as if the rocks once more curved and maybe petered out a few yards ahead. Meryl decided to go as far as the bend, just to see. It was the age-old interest of what was around the corner.

What
was
around the corner stopped her in her tracks. The rocks did end, but in their place was a crushed coral path that lead to a long low house. It called to her in some basic ‘this is home’ way. The pain of that thought made her double up, even as the beauty of the building took her breath away. It sparkled in the sun. Pristine white walls created a sense of serenity, and clear glass windows reflected the beauty all around. The roof, thatched in palm leaves, fell low around the building, creating a perfect haven of shade and shadows. To one side, the sparkle of water showed a pool, its deep blue reflecting the sky. She fell in love. It truly was paradise. Why on earth hadn’t Marloth told her someone lived here? Meryl felt more than an interloper as she took one last glance and turned around to bump into—

“Argh.” She teetered on the narrow ledge, and her foot slipped. Before she fell and did any damage, Marloth grabbed her in a none-too-gentle grip, and leaped with her to stand on the coral pieces.

“Which bit of don’t leave the beach didn’t you understand?” he demanded. “Are you totally lacking in honesty and respect? Apart from common sense. What if you’d fallen and hurt yourself, eh? What then?” He shook her and her hat fell off. With a muttered oath Meryl thought she’d be best not hearing, he bent, picked the hat up and shoved it on her head again. The force with which he jammed it over her ears was some indication of his annoyance.

“Seriously, woman, what if, eh?”

“You’d have found me? Tuned into my mind and heard the cussing?”
Damn, I sound flippant.
Marloth must have agreed because his snarl had none of the man in it and all of a very snarky tiger.

“Bloody, stupid, idiotic, infuriating . . . argh.” He stopped speaking and crushed her mouth under his in a ferocious kiss. Somewhere in the back of her mind, before it stopped functioning, Meryl saw it as his way of metaphorically not murdering her. She hoped it was symbolic anyway. She opened her lips and welcomed his tongue as it thrust inside and meshed with her own. The tug and pull was so reminiscent of the joy of his cock in her channel that Meryl shook. Her spine tingled and those well-loved stings of arousal bombarded her skin. There was an inferno raging through her, and even with her mind clouded, she knew that the only way to put it out was to be sated by Marloth.

She scrabbled at the waistband of his shorts, impatient to touch and stroke. To feel his silk covered hardness in her hands. His groan reverberated around her mouth, and sounded like music to her. Even as she managed to get a grip on the material and tug, the hairs on his body teased her fingers, and the tingle that rocketed through her grew harder and more demanding.

Her mind hardly registered the tearing noise as Marloth responded to her actions by tugging hard at her top. The tiny decorative buttons ripped off the thin material, as he tugged it over her head. Then his hands were stroking her and tugging her nipples. A whirlwind of sensations spiraled in her, and she was flying. Even as she finally got his shorts down and his cock snug in her hand, Marloth took things one-step further. He tore his mouth away from hers.

“Not here, quick, come on.” He kicked his shorts away from his body. The words came out in staccato bursts as he pulled her along the coral path. “I need you, oh my gods how I need you. Please be the same, please need me. Let me show you; let us be us.”

Meryl couldn’t reply. Her mind screamed “more” even as her body mourned the loss of his mouth on hers. She panted as she struggled to keep up with him. He might be a man, but his speed was that of a tiger. Marloth turned his head and grinned. It showed him almost in every way as a male in charge. Except in his eyes. There, she could see more than a hint of vulnerability.

“Yes, oh yes.” She managed to gasp. And with a muted roar, he lifted her off her feet and moved her into a fireman’s lift. The view of his bare ass more than enticed. Meryl ached to touch, but even as she moved her hands, her body shifted over his shoulder as he walked faster. His brisk pace became a lope and she clutched his waist for safety. Her channel clenched and she bet her clit played peek-a-boo. The last thing she wanted was to slip off his shoulder and loose the chance of something else, something much better slipping—into her. She concentrated on not disturbing his balance, and watched as his feet sped over the ground.

In a matter of seconds, the brilliant sunshine became muted, and Marloth stopped moving. He let Meryl’s body slide down his, and each slow sensuous movement sent shards of arousal to coat her skin and fill her body. At last, he stood her in front of him, chest-to-chest, cunt to cock, and with a slowness she ached to rush, turned her around to face the house.

“Welcome to my home.”

“Don’t look like that.” Marloth ran his hands down her arms.

Meryl shrugged them off. Had she really heard him correctly? “Say that again.”

She clenched her hands by her sides, mainly to stop herself thumping him. If he
had
said those four words, he had a hell of a lot of explaining to do.

“What?” he said, in a wary voice. “Don’t look like that?”

She saw red, and didn’t even think before she swung her arm back. She hit him square in the stomach, and he bent over as his breath left him with a whoosh.

“Shit, woman.” Marloth coughed and wheezed. “What was that for? And where’d you learn to swing such a mean punch?”

“Asshole, stop trying to be clever. You know fine well what I mean. How come my fantasy of a deserted island got hijacked and changed to be on an inhabited island? Your island.” She kicked at the patio with her feet. The shells were hard and compact and she stubbed her little toe. It was the last straw. Either she cried like a baby or screwed him senseless and
then
asked for answers. With a ruthlessness she didn’t know she possessed, Meryl sank to her knees, ignoring how hard the shells were on them, and curled her mouth around his prick. She could cope with hard shells if they meant she could taste his hard cock.

His body tensed and he gave a low growl of triumph. Meryl found her hat was gone, and his hands were fisted tight into her hair as he held her head close to him. If she hadn’t got a mouth full of cock she would have told him there was no need, she wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, she tightened her lips and felt his skin roll between them. The salty male taste alone was enough for her juices to gather, and she felt them coat her clit. Meryl breathed deeply and his unique male essence assailed her senses. Rich, musky, earthy, but fresh and clean. Everything she wanted and needed. He smelt of promises and things to come.

“I will come if you carry on, no doubt about it. But for our reconciliation, I’d prefer to come inside you.” Marloth tugged on her hair and she let him pull her backward. Her lips dragged over his cock, and at last, she let the head free with a tiny pop.

“Yeah. Oh fuck, you’re listening in again.”

“Of course.” He didn’t sound at all repentant. “Though there wasn’t much listening to be done. It’s a wonder they didn’t hear you back on Sogni.”

“What? I was talking out loud? How on earth with a mouthful of c . . . er, well how?” She was aghast, and heat ran though her for all the wrong reasons. If anyone on the Island had heard her, she’d never live it down.

Marloth laughed. Deep, sexy, and with the ever present hint of a snarl. It turned her insides to mush, and her clit throbbed with a persistent need for attention.

“I wasn’t speaking literally, hon. It was all in your mind. But boy did it speed into mine. Hold on.” He swung her into his arms and walked to the door.

It opened as they approached. “Yeah, it’s set to know me. Don’t ask; I’m not telling.” He pre-empted her question. “Damn it, I need you.” Without stopping he continued across a beautiful, cool, and minimally decorated room. Meryl hardly had time to admire the collection of tiny glass animals on a side table before they’d left the room. “Almost there.”

Meryl gave a shaky laugh. “Thank god for that, because I feel the same about you. Ah shit.” She had a horrible thought. “Do you have protection?” She was on the pill, but Meryl wasn’t going to rely on that. Not this time. She knew just how potent a certain tiger shifter could be. He’d told her about the many slips others had made and she wasn’t going to have the same thing happen to her. Not yet anyway.

“Don’t fuss. I do. Not because I thought I’d need them, but because I remembered, well, you know.”

She did. To her disgust, Meryl felt tears forming and she blinked. The one night they’d had to be inventive had gone down in her mind as the best night ever. Except for the ending when he’d had to leave. She swallowed hard. This was supposed to be something good, not something to make them miserable. She bent her head and nipped his throat. His growl was all she could hope for.

“Woman, take care, I’m holding on by a thread here.”

Marloth swung through a door and into a large airy bedroom, and kicked the door shut behind him. The room spun and then she bounced as Marloth dropped her onto the bed.

“Woo hoo.” Meryl spread her arms. “Blimey, all these rooms are so big. Beautiful, but big.”

“Well, if I shift, I need space.” He bounced onto the bed next to her. “Nothing worse than getting half-shifted and finding your legs are in one room and your head in another, so to speak. Or squished against a wall.” He tugged on her bikini bottoms. “Lift up, please. I need you naked and under me.”

The speed at which he moved, both in body and mind, shouldn’t have surprised her. On the few occasions she’d been privileged to watch him shift, Meryl had been awed at the speed her lover changed from golden-haired, macho male to tawny striped all male predator.

She lifted her butt, and watched from under lowered lids as he peeled the stripy pants slowly down her legs. Each stroke of his thumb on her skin as he inched them lower and lower, made her juices gather. He’d only need to look up to see the evidence on her pussy.

He didn’t look. Instead he followed the track of his hands with his mouth, and gave her little tiny nips all along her thighs.

“Take . . . your . . . top . . . off.” Marloth interspersed his words with those erotic nibbles. “Touch yourself. Show me how you like to be felt, play with your nipples, and show me what you want.” He returned to his biting progress toward her feet. How she was supposed to be able to concentrate on undoing her halter neck bikini top when he was sending her body into spasms, Meryl had no idea. She fumbled at the bow between her breasts with fingers that shook. At least it was front fastening.

“I, ah . . . .” Marloth lifted her leg and sucked at the back of her knee. How on earth did something so strange make her body convulse?

“Damn it, if you don’t come inside me now, it’ll be too late.” She managed to undo the bow and open her top. He stared at her and nodded. Before she had time to say shift and serve, her bottoms were off, her butt lifted, and his prick was at the entrance to her channel. Meryl pushed in encouragement, and Marloth obliged. He used one long finger to stroke her clit, before he slipped it inside her.

“Ah, so ready.” He all but purred the words.

Before Meryl had a chance to answer he moved his finger, replaced it with his cock, and thrust deep inside her. Sparks shot across her skin, and darts of fire licked her nerve ends. Her nipples tightened and sent a primeval thread of desire to her clit and back. She threw her head back onto the coverlet and twisted her fingers into the material. She had the strangest feeling she’d fly away if she didn’t. Her inner muscles tightened around Marloth’s prick and he groaned.

“Witch, yes, do it. More, give me more. Let me feel you take me.” He pinched her clit and bent his head to bite one turgid nipple. The combination of bite, sting, and thrusts sent Meryl spinning over the edge. Her world spiraled into a whirlwind of color, a kaleidoscope that engulfed her with pleasure, and left her breathless. She held onto his shoulders, because if she wasn’t anchored, she thought she’d fly away.

She sobbed with pleasure as Marloth tightened inside her. His big body shuddered, and as she used what little strength she had left to look up at him. His eyes glazed over and his breath came in tiny pants. He threw his head back and shouted as his climax overwhelmed him.

As his body slumped onto her, Meryl welcomed its weight. It saved her having to pinch herself. Or call herself names.
Stupid, idiotic, moronic, bloody daft thing to do. But ah
. . . . She sighed in satisfaction.
It was so worth it.

Marloth lifted his head from her chest. “So worth it,” he agreed. “Knackering, mind-blowing, body-stretching, amazing.”

Meryl grinned as Marloth rolled his eyes and then nuzzled her neck.

“Hmm-hmm.” She turned her head to one side to give him better access. He gave her one last stroke of his tongue and the roughness reminded her of his other self.

“Hold on, I’m moving, I don’t want to leave you, but needs must.” Marloth came out of her body, and rolled them over until Meryl rested on top of him. Even then, sated as she thought he must be, his cock did its damnedest to react to her, and perk up. She giggled.

“Oh, bless. Is this a case of the spirit is willing, but the flesh is not quite up to it?”

Marloth pinched her butt. “I guess so. Now just rest, and cuddle in for a minute or ten. I need to re-gather my whatever. And attack.” He stroked her back and nipped her ass again before he jumped off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Within a minute he was back again with a cloth and a towel. “I’m sure we’ve missed a lot of body to play with.” The soft stroke of the damp cloth over her body was soothing and arousing. Something Meryl had never thought could be possible.

“Attack?” Meryl thought back to his last statement. Even in her sated state, she wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.

He chuckled. “I’m a strategist. I work out when and how I need to attack.” He threw the cloth down, paused and ran a finger from her shoulder down her arm. “Wherever you’re most vulnerable.” He pounced on her tickle zone without warning, and with each sweep of his hands under her arms, Meryl giggled like a child.

It proved fatal; one touch and she was a gonner. The more she wriggled, the more he tickled. By the time he stopped, Meryl was a heap of jelly, and said so.

Marloth lifted himself up on his elbows and stared down at her. “Mine.”

She bit her lip. Whatever she might try to think to the contrary, she knew that she needed Marloth, as much as she needed air. However, telling him and agreeing to what he wanted was a different thing.

“I love you.”
Damn and blast, where did those words come from?
Before she had a chance to retract them or add anything, he blinked and took her mouth in a mind-numbing kiss.

“I love you too. But I need to know.” He paused. The look on his face was somber, and his eyes were cloudy. The abrupt change from a laughing lover to a serious, unsmiling person sent a shiver of worry skittering over her skin. “I need to know, what happened to our child?”