Desert Moon (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 1) (9 page)

Ty leaned down for a kiss that she never wanted to end, then pulled away and stood. He yanked his shirt off in one determined sweep, exposing a rippled expanse of neatly stacked muscle. A thin trail of hair started around his navel and disappeared suggestively into his jeans.

She gulped. That trail, she would be happy to follow.

He lowered the shirt to her outstretched hand and watched her ball it under her head. A slow, sultry grin spread across his face. An actual smile that offered the slightest hint of the boy Aunt Jean had referred to.

She stretched her arms, reaching up toward the winking stars. A little farther and she’d grab the tail of Scorpio and slingshot into space.

“My legs are freezing,” she cooed, sliding her calf along his. “Covered in goosebumps.” Never mind that they had nothing to do with the cold. Lana held her next breath, watching Ty pop the button of his jeans, slide the zipper, and let his hand snake inside. She sucked in a long, aching breath. Now he was teasing her. The nerve!

Mine!
She tugged at the cuff of his jeans until he gave in, sliding both hands down to shuck his pants and boxers. His glowing eyes looked down on her from six feet above, forming a new constellation: the wolf. The very erect wolf. Even the chirping cicadas seemed to take note, singing a lusty chorus into the night.

His eyes raked her body as he stroked his own shaft to perfection, taking his time. Was he imagining her doing that to him? She watched, rapt. His cock twitched as she rolled the flannel off her shoulders and pushed it aside. The fiery glow in his eyes radiated power, but when his gaze reached her, all she felt was the soft touch of candlelight. She could swim in that feeling—that warm, safe place she wanted to stay in forever.

When Ty folded his magnificent body and came down to all fours over her aching frame, she came undone. Her arms stretched over her head, her back arched, and her knees fell to the sides—all before he’d even touched her. Then he intertwined his fingers with hers and squeezed a promise.
I will love you, woman,
his touch said,
like I’ve never loved anyone before.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ty stopped thinking and gave himself over to the sweet sensation enveloping him. Duty had fallen to desire; his restraint was shredded to tatters. But try as he might, he just couldn’t summon any guilt. Lana was his. Every fiery touch, every flutter of his heart said so.

Just lying on Lana’s stomach after tasting her gave him a high. The feel of her chest rising and falling let him sink comfortably toward whatever end fate had in store for them. He all but hummed at the gentle play of her fingers across his back, tracing the occasional scar. Thirty seconds, he’d given her. Truth be told, he needed it, too. Thirty seconds to absorb the rich taste of her and collect the scattered pieces of his mind.

He met her eyes and marveled at the way she held his gaze, telegraphing her need. He knew the danger in his eyes intensified when he was aroused—whether in anger or in passion. Every lover he’d ever taken had kept her eyes firmly shut, her soul locked away. But Lana’s sky blues were wide open and utterly at ease. More than that, they looked at him with wonder and promise. The promise of more than a single night, of more than just physical pleasure.

I told you so
, his wolf chided.
She can take it. She can withstand the fire in our eyes.

He hoped to hell it was true, because he couldn’t hold back any more.

He wanted to draw out this peaceful moment—for her and for himself—but Lana’s nipples were straining for his lips. He could almost taste them. When he finally took one in his mouth, she gasped, and his cock grew harder still. His lips curved into a satisfied smile even as they continued to tease her. When had he ever been so fascinated by a woman’s reaction to his touch? Never. But then again, he’d never known a woman like this.

Never
. He already knew that word would get a lot of use tonight.

With one hand intertwined with her fingers and the other beside her head, he felt long, light, and powerful. She had power, too, albeit a more subtle kind. Her abdomen was rippling seductively under him, her hips climbing, forcing contact. The heat building in him spiked again.

All too often, his packmates tiptoed around him, measuring their every word, every gesture. Lana was refreshingly direct, honest. Unintimidated.

And now, she was unraveling at his touch. A satisfied rumble built in his chest. His inner wolf was damned pleased with what he saw. He’d given her a climax to end all climaxes, and now he would deliver another, and another, setting a new standard each time.

One push of his hips, and his cock plunged in so swiftly, so easily, that he nearly lost his balance. Like they were made for each other. Her inner muscles drew wide to accommodate him, then clenched tight around him. She was all there, all his, just as he was all hers. Amazing how comfortably that idea sat on his shoulders.

He withdrew, teasing her entrance, then slid back in, thrilled as much by her moan as the pulsing sensation inside her. On his next withdrawal, she pressed up, rolling him over. He found himself on his back, blinking at the stars while Lana hovered over him with a wicked look.
Can you handle this, alpha? Can you handle me?

He was about to roll back and retort something about being able, but not willing when—
Whoa
. His train of thought was cut short as she flipped her hair back and balanced over the length of his cock.

Okay, he might just be willing to humor her, if only for a short time.

Lana shifted her hips and slowly, deliciously slid over his hard length. He let his eyes close and a low groan escape his throat. His hands shifted to her hips and ground them closer. She slid off and back on a second time, then a throbbing third. When his eyes cracked open, they found Lana’s half-closed in concentration. She mouthed his name, then cartwheeled her arms and leaned back in a graceful arc that lifted and stretched her breasts as she angled into him. The sight of her nipples, front and center, stirred a new chord in him. Small but supple, swollen with need, her breasts swayed as she continued to roll her hips. Her liquid core drew him deeper and deeper as she fought back throaty groans of delight. That alone did him in, stirring a new chord of desire.

He slid this thumb along the sinew of her hip until it nudged her clit, watching for her reaction. There. Her eyes widened as she let out a sharp cry and arched, ribs straining under her smooth flesh. Her blue eyes were slits, fixed on his hot gaze.
Look what you do to me, cowboy.

Look what you do to me, woman
, he almost replied.

He held on through another of Lana’s sweet cries, then tugged her close and coiled himself to roll. Enough unscheduled changes to his flight plan. He was ready for the main event. They maintained contact throughout the roll, and when they grounded out, his full weight hammered home, eliciting a cry of delight. He thought he might have acted too late, that she’d come too early, but Lana held on as he drove into her again and again. His heart leaped, wanting to give her everything at once. Hard and fast, that’s what she’d asked for, right? The way her breath caught between each curt inhale and exhale told him he was getting it just right.

Hard and fast
, his wolf howled in glee, as much for his own high as hers. The rumble inside him became a roar, and the roar built until he shattered inside her with a raspy groan. He rode the wave as long as he could, letting his voice underpin her high cries until both faded into whispers.

He heard the cicadas cheer their performance, the stars sing in approval. Slowly, their bodies descended from their shared climax. Heaving, panting, and sweating, they sank into each other as their mingled musk embraced the night.

He waited for the bubble to burst, for reality to set in. Waited some more, because satisfaction this rich, this peaceful, just couldn’t last. But the high refused to fade. Instead of evaporating into uncomfortable silence, it morphed into a new form: a soft, orange heat, like the glowing embers of a hearth. He pulled her closer and heard his wolf sigh inside.

Maybe it wasn’t the end. Maybe it was only the beginning.

# # #

Ty watched Lana stir from the nest she’d formed along his body to consider the stars. She was so close, face to face, that he felt like an extension of her.

“I think I might have to recalibrate my scale,” she said. Her mouth curved into an angle that pointed somewhere between shy and sultry. “The guys I gave eights and nines to before seem more like fives now. Maybe fours.”

He didn’t savor the thought of her having been with anyone else, but the compliment—well, that part, he had to like. And he had to agree.

“Or maybe forbidden fruit tastes the best,” she whispered, growing morose.

None of that, not now.
He squeezed her close and let his eyes travel up the sides of the truck. “You deserve better than this.”

Better than this?
Lana tucked her cheek against his neck.
No way.

He had to smile. “Yes, way. Just wait ‘til I get you to a bed.” What started as a chuckle ended in a whisper as it dawned on him. She’d only thought the words, not actually voiced them.

Lana’s head popped up, eyebrows bunched.
Dang, can you actually hear my thoughts?

Sometimes
, he said, watching her jaw go slack. Siblings and packmates could hear each other’s thoughts, but it shouldn’t be possible for two near-strangers. Yet he and Lana heard each other loud and clear.

Before he could dissect that impossibility, a noise tugged at the fringe of his senses. He looked out, past the soft flesh of her breasts, past the parallel lines of her abdomen, highlighted in shades of midnight gray.

“What?”

He shushed her, listening. Headlights sliced through the dark as a laboring truck came their way from a distance. “Cody,” he groaned, then jackknifed up. He offered Lana his hand and wrapped his flannel shirt around her naked frame for the second time that night.

“Is there somewhere we can go?” she asked, a millimeter from his lips.

He looked beyond her, into the hills. There was a place. His private hideaway. He’d never brought a woman there before. That rule was carved in stone.

But all it took was one look at Lana for bedrock to tremble and give way.

# # #

They were dressed and bumping down the road again before Cody could draw up beside them. Lust hummed in Ty’s veins as the truck rolled over the gravel road, patient in the knowledge that he’d have her again soon. Because he wasn’t going to let this woman go. Not tonight. Not for many nights, not if he could help it. Families be damned. Bloodline be damned. His father, her father—what would they really do?

He wasn’t about to hide her, either. That would be impossible now, anyway. His scent was all over her. So everyone would know. So what?

His eye twitched at the thought of his father’s impending return.
If ever a Dixon was to step foot here…

Lana rubbed her bare thigh with a palm and leaned back with a smile that said she was savoring a simmering memory. “You’re very thorough. Covered me well and good with your scent, alpha.”

Damn, that would take some getting used to. A woman reading
his
thoughts? He fought back the grin growing on his lips. The idea had its own crazy appeal.

He met her eyes, and the steady calm he found there was a salve to his troubled soul. His wolf was right. She could do it. He’d met the one woman who could temper him, stand beside him—

A snake slithered across the road and he jerked the wheel to swerve. He shook off the sense of unease it brought, determined not to let anything ruin this glorious night.

“So beautiful here,” Lana murmured as mesquite and pinyons slid past, waving to her like visiting royalty. She smiled back at them as if promising to come back soon and meet each one of them. His eyes roamed over the landscape, trying to imagine it from her perspective. What did she think of the yucca, sticking up like a scarecrow? Or the ragged-barked walnut standing sentry over there? To him, the desert had always been soothing despite its rugged edges. Home.

Lana’s next comment nearly gave him whiplash. “It hasn’t changed a bit.”

His teeth caught on his lips. It took two tries to get the words out. “What do you mean?”

“I figured it would have changed since the last time I was here, but it hasn’t. So peaceful.”

“You were here before? When?” His voice dropped an octave.

“It would have been…May. Twelve years ago? Thirteen?” Lana paused, checking her memory. “The year the pump house burned down. I remember everyone talking about it.” She looked at him closely, some private thought playing in those eyes. “How is it that we didn’t meet then?”

His mind whirled. Where had he been in May of that year? Some dim memory stirred, then clouded when Lana’s eyes jumped to left side of the road. “Hmpf,” she mumbled, suddenly distracted. “What do you keep up there?”

“Up where?”

She pointed up a gully.

“Just bush up there,” he assured her, still groping for the memory.

“I saw something. Trash maybe?”

He snorted. “Nothing out there.”

He felt her go tense at the blunt dismissal in his words. Crap. This was just as bad as whipping the luggage out of her hand. Why couldn’t he get this right?

Lana’s head swiveled as the truck rolled on, clearly reluctant to give up on whatever she’d spotted in the black streak in the landscape. Really, though, what would there be up there?

But what if? When Lana put a hand on his arm, he pulled the truck to a stop and turned to face her. Lana stubbornly held his gaze, and his wolf stirred again.
Look at her! Not even a blink!

The blue of her eyes was unperturbed. It was only the sideways tilt of her head that said she didn’t like what she’d seen up in the hills.