hidden talents (6 page)

“Whew,” she said after a few seconds. She sat up, panted, and hopped off the table to pull up her cotton panties and black jeans. Her mouthwatering little breasts were no longer situated where they belonged in her tank top"s bra. She rearranged both with a lack of self-consciousness that startled him. Werewolves weren"t known for their modesty, but that was mostly the males. Only long-time lovers had acted this way with him. She stepped between his sprawled knees as if they were old friends.

“That was good,” she said, giving his shoulders a comradely pat. “You"re hot stuff for a guy who lives in Faerie.”

Adam"s jaw was hanging, so he closed it. Was this sort of hook-up usual for her, and if it were, why did that bother him?

His expression must have betrayed his thoughts. She gave one of his biceps a joshing punch. “Don"t look so serious. Even cops must be allowed to have fun.”

Fun. His stupid subconscious was trying to tell him she was The One, and she thought this was fun. He shook himself, throwing off the annoying twinge of hurt.

Probably he"d just imagined the voice in his head.
Biology
, he reminded himself.

His hormones were playing tricks on him. Any second, he"d snap out of it.

“You think I could use your shower?” she asked. “I"m kind of -” She

gestured toward her front with her still cuffed hands.

Adam couldn"t keep from swallowing. He"d really cut loose on her, the

pearly stain of his semen starting to soak into her thin T-shirt. He liked how big the mark was. Liked the way their strongest scents had mingled. Cream that hadn"t dried darkened the crotch of her jeans.

“Adam?”

“Sure,” he said, his brain stuttering back from its side trip. “Just let me get clean towels and ... and the key to those things.”

She smiled brilliantly.

“You shouldn"t use that as an excuse to run,” he warned her, not convinced she"d given up the idea. “I know you"re worried about your friends, but my team and I want to help you. It"s in our interest, as well as being our job. You don"t know what sort of trouble you could get into here alone.”

Her smile sobered. She considered him for a moment with big blue eyes he wouldn"t have guessed could look that sharp. “Okay,” she said. “No more running until you give me a reason to.”

Her choice of words gave him pause.
Until
she"d said. Not even
unless
.

Clearly, their accidental tourist had a few trust issues.

∞

He knew he"d smell her in the shower when he used it after her. Even though he"d waited an hour. Even though he ran the hot water first.

Her scent was in every moist molecule of air.

A growl rumbled in his belly as his cock increased in weight and lifted. He tried ignoring it, but by the time he"d finished soaping the rest of him, the thing was sticking up like a red flagpole.

He didn"t think he"d been this hard since his mid twenties.

Giving in, he soaped his ball sac, using a slow firm pressure. Stretching his testicles felt good enough to rest the back of his head against the tile enclosure.

He"d rub one off. Maybe two. Then he"d be relaxed enough to sleep. He wouldn"t think about how Ari had halfway screamed when she came, how her clit had felt and tasted against his tongue ...

When he moved one hand to his shaft, when he tightened the grip and pulled, his canines ran out full length. Unable to restrain the urge, he rubbed his spine against the wall like it was itching. Fuck, this was what he needed. He fought a groan as his pleasure rose. The wall to this shared bathroom adjoined his guest room. He didn"t need Ari hearing him jerk off. For all he knew, she"d offer to join him.

He didn"t think he was ready to take whatever this was further. Even thinking about rushing into it with her excited him. He moved his right hand faster, slick and snug on his throbbing shaft. Werewolf body temps could get sultry. His dick was hot enough to burn, but - holy hell - jerking off tonight was intense. He tugged faster, giving the sensitive inch underneath the flare a more emphatic share of friction. His knob wanted in on the action, but he was saving that for later. He planted his feet wider on the tile, thigh muscles bunching, hot needles of spray hitting his chest and balls.

Gasping, he turned his back to the water and re-soaped as fast as he could. He liked his masturbation slippery. Liked it hot and wet and as tight as a woman"s cunt. He saw Ari"s breasts in his imagination, half-bared by her disarranged Tshirt, nipples peaked and red from her orgasm. A moan backed up in his throat.

He couldn"t wait. He switched hands: the left now fisting the shaft, the right thumb and fingers circling quick and hard on the glans.

Would you like me to suck you off?
came her sweet sinner"s voice in his mind.

His spunk exploded, shooting out and splattering the tile. Eyes squeezed shut with bliss, he worked both hands at top speed and let the giant orgasm roll. Jesus, it wouldn"t stop. It was like before with her on the kitchen table and the handcuffs. The long hot wave of pleasure gripped every nerve and twisted.

“Fuck,” he breathed, the curse having to come out.

He was panting - shaking, to be truthful - his locked knees and the wall of the shower holding him upright. His shoulders blocked the water. The results of his lengthy ejaculation hadn"t washed away yet. He saw he"d sprayed the width of the enclosure, from waist level to the floor. Did he always come this much? Were Ari and his alleged baby hunger doing something new to him?

His keen were hearing picked up a muffled sound. His dick recognized it before his brain. The noise was Ari"s orgasmic cry, likely stifled in her pillow.

Ari"s quick little fingers were moving rhythmically on wet flesh. Shit. She was masturbating. His dick shot up and got rigid in two heartbeats.

You"d have thought it hadn"t just shot its insides out.

For a couple seconds, all Adam could do was watch it stick out and shudder in front of him. When that got old, he gripped himself to stroke off again.

The sounds in the guest room had stopped, which was probably for the best.

If he heard the Talent do that again, he might not make it out of this shower with his dick still attached to him.

Ari wasn"t a huge fan of masturbation. She did it, of course. Everybody did.

There had simply been too many instances in her life when it was inconvenient to need to. She"d been happy to let her hormones sleep for weeks at a time. On the rare occasions when she"d had sex, it was more of a friendly thing than a production.

Meeting Adam Santini seemed to be changing that.

The need to get off had seized her last night. He"d given her a superior climax on the kitchen table, better than she was comfortable admitting. She should have slept like a baby, but then she"d heard the shower go on. She"d been lying in the nice clean bed, idly picturing Adam naked under the spray. Any woman would have done the same, but her clit had suddenly gone crazy and she"d absolutely had to shove her hand into her panties.

She was glad the shower had been so noisy. The climax had been intense.

She hadn"t been able to hold in a cry as it broke.

But no reason Really Hot Cop had to know what he"d done to her.

After that, she"d lain awake for awhile, staring out the window beside her bed. Adam"s snug little guest room overlooked a small fenced yard and faced the back of another line of rowhomes. Brimming pots of mums decorated the fire escapes, lights glowing here and there behind window shades. The neighborhood looked normal. Blue collar. Clean but not spotless. A shadow swept across the three-quarter moon, making her shiver.

Maybe the gargoyle had flown over.

She wondered if Maxwell was okay in the hospital. She"d been able to heal his hands after Henry"s goons broke them that first time. It had taken her a couple days, and she"d had two fall-down fits from pulling so much power. The second time they"d come after him, the damage was too extensive. Max had refused to even let her try, claiming he was afraid she"d stroke out. It occurred to her that if he"d been here in Resurrection, she might have had sufficient juice to succeed. Or someone else would be able to. Adam had implied lots of people had gifts here.

She wriggled lower in the covers, wondering why Henry Blackwater had

bothered to collect her. If Resurrection had so many Talents, why didn"t he recruit them? It was a puzzle she wasn"t going to solve snuggled up warm and safe in Hot Cop"s soft guest bed. She also wasn"t going to figure out where Sarah had disappeared to. Her female BFF had her issues, but she adored Maxwell. If she"d known Maxwell was laid up in that hospital, she have chained herself to his bed.

“Keep them safe,” she whispered to the deity her parents had tried to claim as their personal bully boy. “You know they rely on You more than most people.”

Maybe it was because the air in Resurrection held more magic. Warmth

washed through Ari"s limbs after she said the prayer, relaxing some of her tension. She slid into sleep with a rare sense of personal safety.

“I can wiggle my teef,” piped a voice behind her.

Ari"s eyes flew open. It was morning. Sun flooded through the dry rain spots on the window, practically blinding her. Something tugged the blanket that covered her.

“Wanna see?”

Ari turned warily. A boy about three years old stood beside her bed. His hair was black and shiny, his happy eyes the same soft green as Adam"s. When he saw he had her attention, he used his fingers to pull back his upper lip. Sure enough, his little canines went up and down.

“Wow,” Ari said, because some response seemed to be expected. “That"s

awesome.”

The boy giggled. “You have a fwog in your fwoat.”

“That"s because you woke me up.” Facing the boy on her side, she pulled the blanket higher on her neck. Were little boys supposed to see grown up women in tank tops and panties?

“Are you naked under there?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“No,” Ari said. “I"m just shy.”

The boy absorbed this, obviously feeling no obligation to leave on that account. “My Unca Tony is gay,” he announced. “My mommy is his sister. She cwied, but Daddy said at weast she wouldn"t have to worry about him chasing squirrels all the time.”

“Skirts,” Ari corrected without thinking.

“What?” said the boy, his rosy mouth open.

“Your dad probably meant - Oh never mind. Chasing squirrels all the time would be bad.”

“They"re fast,” the boy agreed. “But it"s fun when you get "em up a tree.”

The door to her room opened, allowing a dark male head to poke in. “Shit,”

said Unca Tony. “Sorry. Babysitting duty this morning. The pup got away from me.”

“Not apposed to say the „S" word,” his nephew scolded as Tony scooped him up by the waist. “The lady didn"t mind, Unca Tony. She was talking to me.”

Tony rolled his eyes over the boy"s head. “Sorry,” he said again. “We"ve got breakfast going if you"re hungry.”

The boy squirmed in his arms and started barking as Tony carried him out.

The yipping sounds were so convincing they made her laugh. Of course,

considering the boy
might
turn into a puppy, the realism wasn"t surprising. Out in the hall, Tony let out a growl, at which his nephew whined and fell silent.

Ari"s eyes went round. She realized she"d just eavesdropped on an actual wolfish discussion.

Pretty sure the door would stay closed, she tugged down the window shade, then swung out of bed and dressed. Someone - Adam, she imagined - had stacked a clean sweatshirt and jeans on the granny chair. They were women"s garments, slightly big for her but wearable. He must have slipped in while she was sleeping.

That made her feel both unnerved and touched.

Some men wouldn"t have cared if she had fresh stuff to wear.

With very little concentration and the help of the bathroom mirror, she got her hair to stick up the way she liked, so Maxwell"s custom red design was displayed just right. That done, she was ready to go out.

She felt as shy as she"d claimed to the boy when she stepped into the

crowded kitchen. Rick and Tony were there, plus an older couple she suspected were their parents. Both the couple were cooking, with the boy plunked nearby on the counter, swinging his feet and gnawing on a strip of jerky. Adam sat at the kitchen table, stirring pancake batter inside a bowl.

He looked straight up at her.

God, she wished she weren"t remembering what they"d done on that table

mere hours before. Her face went hot, his turned pink, and then, “Hey, lady!”

squealed the boy.

She should have looked away from Adam, but it seemed she
had
to hold his gaze a few seconds more.

“Her name is Ari,” Tony murmured.

“Hey, Awi!” the boy called just as loud as before. “I"m Efan!”

Ari laughed, and the spell was broken, her eyes freed from the enticement of Adam"s gorgeous green orbs. Mr. and Mrs. Lupone introduced themselves, and they ate a noisy chaotic breakfast together. There didn"t seem to be a special occasion. Apart from Ethan, no one made a fuss about her being there. Ari sat and watched them, struck dumb by their camaraderie. At its best, her family hadn"t been anything like this. At its worst, eating with her parents had been like trying to walk on ice barefoot - a series of “godly” pronouncements interspersed with prim silence. When Ethan finished eating, he crawled around barking on the floor butting people"s calves. None of his relatives objected. Indeed, his grandfather leaned over periodically to scratch him behind his ears.

“Can Ethan change?” she leaned close to Adam to ask.

“He won"t until he"s five or six,” he said, leaning in as well. “Until then, he likes to pretend.”

“He showed me he can wiggle his teeth.”

Adam grinned. “That"s the werewolf version of flirting. He probably thought you were pretty.”

His soft green eyes gleamed mere inches away from hers. As she stared back at them, mesmerized, their green began shading into blue. The faintest, most delicious scent rose from him, like a cedar grove warming in the sun. She wanted to roll in the smell until it was all over her. Under the table, one of Adam"s knees pressed harder against hers. His lips parted a second before he jerked back from her, blinking.