The Fairy Tales Collection (29 page)

“Yes,” she replied immediately.

“Only me.”

“Yes,” she repeated.  “Only you, Rafe.”

He continued to stare at her and she stood
on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against his ear.  “I’m yours, Rafe.  I
won’t let anyone else touch me but you.”

He shuddered with pleasure at the feel of
her warm breath and she placed a quick kiss below his earlobe before stepping
back.

“Let go of him, guys,” she said.

“Not a good idea,” Duncan said.

“It’s fine,” she replied.  “Rafe isn’t
going to do anything.”

Duncan glanced at Bennett who shrugged and
released Rafe’s arm.  Duncan let go as well and gave Rafe a cautious look as he
stared at Rowan.

“Rafe?  How are you feeling?” Bennett said
in a low voice. 

Rafe blinked rapidly as his eye colour
faded to hazel, and looked around the bar.  Every person in the bar was staring
at him and he closed his eyes.  Jesus, he had been about thirty seconds from
shifting.  If Rowan hadn’t touched him when she did…

He blew his breath out in a shuddering
rush.  “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. 

“It’s fine,” Rowan said.  “Why don’t you
sit down and – “

“No,” he broke in.  “It was a mistake for
me to come here tonight.”

He turned and walked out of the bar,
ignoring the looks of the other bar patrons, as Duncan and Bennett visibly
relaxed.

“I’m fucking suing you, Rowan,” Bruno said
petulantly as Gaston, the owner of the bar, came striding out of the back
office.

“Like fuck you are,” he snapped as he
grabbed Bruno’s arm and hauled him to his feet.  “Get the fuck out of here, ya
little asshole, and don’t come back.”

He shoved Bruno toward the door and with
blood dripping down his face, Bruno slunk from the bar.

“You okay?”  Gaston grunted to Rowan.

“Yes, thanks,” Rowan replied.

Gaston scowled at the tall blond man
standing silently with everyone else.  “Jesus Christ, Mickey, I hired you to be
a goddamn bouncer.  The next time a customer grabs one of the waitresses,
fucking do something about it.”

“Yes, boss,” Mickey said.  “Sorry, Rowan.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mickey,” Rowan said.

She was acutely aware of the way the people
in the bar were staring at her and she touched Gaston’s arm.  “Can I take a
ten-minute break?”

He nodded and she smiled gratefully at him
before heading toward the back door.  She stepped out into the cool night air
and pulled the worn and battered pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lit one.

The door opened behind her and she gave
Belle and Ella a guilty look before waving away the cigarette smoke.  “I need
this.”

Belle frowned but didn’t scold her as Rowan
took another puff.  They stood silently for a moment before Ella said, “I
thought Duncan was over the top with his ‘this is my woman, don’t touch her’
attitude but Rafe Taggert takes it to a whole other level.”

“I’ll say,” Belle said.  “Hey, is it just
me or did you find it hot as hell when Rafe tried to kill Bruno?”

Ella laughed loudly.  “Homicide isn’t
exactly sexy, Belle.”

“I suppose not but holy shit, the way Rafe
was eye-fucking Rowan all night was almost enough to make
my
panties
catch on fire.  That guy has it bad for you, Ro.”

Rowan didn’t reply and Ella took her hand. 
“Did you hurt your hand when you punched Bruno, honey?”

“No,” Rowan said.

“What’s wrong?”  Belle asked.

“Nothing,” Rowan sighed.  “It’s just –
every time Rafe and I are in the same room it always ends with him saying it
was a mistake.”

“He said you belonged to him,” Ella said. 
“Everyone heard it.”

“Yeah, but I guarantee you the next time I
see him – if he even comes near me again - he’ll tell me he didn’t mean to say
it and that we can’t be together.”

She took an angry drag of her cigarette. 
“Fucking Bruno.  He called Rafe an old man and I just know that’s going to fuck
with Rafe’s head.  I’m going to have to listen to him tell me all over again
that he’s too old for me.”

“So the next time you see him, don’t let
him talk,” Ella said.  “Just fuck him into admitting he wants to be with you.”

Belle blinked at her.  “Shit, Ella.  Being
with Duncan has turned you into a sex maniac.”

“Yep, probably,” Ella said cheerfully. 
“Rafe might be insisting that he’s too old for you but I have faith you can
change his mind, honey.”

“I just want to get to know him better, you
know?”  Rowan said.  “I mean, the sex between us is incredible but for the
first time in my life, I want…”

She trailed off and Belle smiled at her. 
“You want the boyfriend experience.”

“Yeah, I guess I do,” Rowan said.  “How
ironic is it that for the first time in my life I want something more than just
sex with a guy and he’s totally not interested.”

“He’s interested,” Ella said firmly.  “He
tried to beat the crap out of Bruno for touching you.  He wants more than sex,
even if he won’t admit it.  You just need to get him to realize that he wants
more.”

“Super,” Rowan sighed before dropping her
cigarette and crushing it under her shoe.  “That shouldn’t be too horrifyingly
difficult.”

Ella grinned.  “If anyone can do it, you
can, Ro.”

* * *

Rafe leaned against the large oak tree and
stared at Rowan’s window.  He stiffened when there was a noise behind him and
scanned the darkness.  A cat, its grey tail twitching, hissed softly before
strutting past him.  He took a deep breath as the light in Rowan’s apartment
switched on.  She hadn’t seen him when she’d parked and walked into her
apartment building, he was sure of it, but there was a part of him that wished
she had caught him.  It would have given him an excuse to talk to her again, to
stand next to her and inhale her sweet scent.  It was covered heavily by his at
the moment but he could sniff out his mate’s scent no matter what.

You know how pathetic you are, right? 
Standing outside staring at a woman’s apartment like a love-sick fool?  Or
better yet – a love-sick stalker?

Yeah, he knew.  He had berated himself
fiercely the entire time he was parking his truck on the street next to hers,
the entire time he was slinking through the dark to stand under this goddamn
tree and wait for Rowan to come home.  He shouldn’t be with her but just
standing here calmed his wolf a little.  In a little while he’d go home and –

His wolf made a low snarl of anger at the
thought of leaving and he closed his eyes briefly.  Jesus, if he had to listen
to his wolf snarl and whine and plead for Rowan for the rest of his life, he
really would go insane.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, making him
jump like a startled deer, and he fished it out of his pocket.  Who the hell
was calling him at one-thirty in the morning?

“Hello?”

“Hello, Rafe.”

His wolf whined happily and he quickly
checked her apartment window.  “Uh, hi, Rowan.  How did you get my number?”

“It’s your business number,” she said with
a soft laugh.  “You have it on your website, remember?”

“Right,” he said as his cheeks heated.

“What are you doing?” She asked

“Just heading to bed,” he said quickly.

“Whose bed?”

“I – what?”

“You’re standing outside of my apartment so
I’m just wondering if it’s my bed you’re planning on heading to.”

“I’m not outside your apartment,” he said.

She laughed again and the sound of her low
laughter made his dick harden in his jeans.  “Liar, liar, pants on fire, Mr.
Taggert.”

He cleared his throat and decided to make
the best of the situation.  “I came by because I wanted to apologize for what
happened earlier.  Rowan, I – “

“Yes, I know what you’re going to say,” she
said with a touch of impatience.  “What’s happening between us is a mistake,
you’re too old for me, we really can’t do this, blah, blah, blah.  No offense,
Rafe, but you’re starting to sound like a broken record.”

“Actually I was about to say that I was
sorry for making you, uh, say that you belonged to me in front of everyone in
your place of employment.”

“That’s kind of a weak-ass apology,” she
said.

His hand clenched around his phone when she
appeared in her apartment window.  She shimmied out of her skirt, leaving her
in just her shirt and a pair of red panties, and he made a low growl.

“Put your skirt on, Rowan.”

“I’m going to bed.”

“Stop undressing in front of the window.”

“You don’t like the show?”  She said
sweetly as switched her phone to her other hand and unbuttoned the first two
buttons of her shirt.

“I don’t want anyone else seeing the show,”
he said heatedly.

Her hand lingered on the third button and
he made another low growl.  “I’m leaving.  I’m sorry that I – “

“I don’t accept your apology,” she said as
she unbuttoned the third button.

“What?”

“It’s not good enough,” she said with a
wicked little grin.  She rested her hand on the window and traced slow circles
with her fingertips.  “You’ve seriously limited my dating options,” she ignored
his angry snarl, “by making me say I belonged to you in front of a bar full of
people, and it’s going to take more than a verbal apology to make up for it.”

“What did you have in mind?”  He said
hoarsely.

This was wrong - so very fucking wrong -
but he was dying to touch her again.

“Did you like eating my pussy, Rafe?”

“Yes.”

“I liked it too.  Eat my pussy again and
I’ll accept your apology.”

“Rowan – “

“The building code is 1162 and my
apartment’s unlocked,” she said.  She dropped her shirt and he stared hungrily
at her in her matching red bra and panties.

“See you soon,” she said softly and hung up
the phone.  She walked away and his wolf howled longingly at him.

He pocketed his phone and started toward
her apartment building.

* * *

She was sitting naked on her bed, her back
resting against the headboard and her red hair curling around her shoulders,
when he entered her bedroom.

“Hello, Mr. Taggert,” she said and spread
her legs.

He groaned and stripped off his clothes
before climbing onto the bed and wedging his big body between her legs.  She
stroked his hair and smiled sweetly at him as he nuzzled the patch of red flame
between her legs.  He slid his hands underneath her and cupped her ass, pulling
her up against his mouth as he licked a slow path across the wet lips of her
pussy.  She moaned happily and her hands tightened in his hair when he let his
fangs descend and brushed them across her wet skin.

“Oh God,” she muttered as her hips arched
into his mouth.

He lapped at her clit, flicking it with his
tongue before sucking on it and she pulled on his hair and made a low cry of
pleasure.  He took his time, concentrating solely on her clit as she moaned and
pressed her pelvis into his face.  Moisture was soaking into his face and he
licked her clean before sucking on her clit again.  After nearly ten minutes,
he slid one finger deep into her hot core, groaning when her pussy tightened
around his finger.  He wanted to fuck her so badly it hurt, but he continued to
tug firmly on her clit with his lips.  He traced his tongue across it and she
shrieked with pleasure before her body arched and she came against his mouth. 
Her body shuddered and he pulled his finger free and rubbed her firm thighs as
she moaned loudly.  He gave her clit one last slow lick and she jerked against
his mouth before pulling roughly on his hair.  He sat up and she reached
eagerly for him as she slid her body down until she was lying on her back.

“Fuck me, Rafe,” she demanded.

Helpless to deny her, his cock throbbing
with lust, he positioned himself between her legs and thrust into her tight
pussy.  She clamped her thighs around his hips and he gave her a look of
disapproval as he propped himself up on his hands above her. 

“Rowan.”

She flushed and let her legs fall open
before whispering, “Always open for you.”

“That’s right.  Always,” he replied.

She clutched at his arms as he thrust in a
rough and hurried rhythm.  He didn’t want to rush but Rowan’s small cries of
pleasure, her tight pussy, and the feel of her under him, destroyed his
self-control.  He plunged in and out, his fangs descending and a hoarse and
continuous growl erupting from his throat.

Her eyes were squeezed shut and she pushed
her hand between their bodies and rubbed at her clit as she rocked her hips
against his.  Her cries of pleasure became more frantic, needier, and he bent
his head and sucked on one hard nipple.  She arched her back and her pussy
tightened around him as she climaxed wildly.  He growled his approval and moved
his mouth to the soft curve of her shoulder.  As his balls tightened and his
own orgasm began, he held her arms down and thrust deeply, pinning her to the
bed as he filled her smooth pussy with his seed.  He wanted to bite her, hell,
he needed to bite her, and he pressed the tips of his fangs against her smooth
flesh.