Outfoxed (10 page)

“True.” Joy buffed her nails on her shirt. “Women don’t like being lied to for sex.”

Gabby saw red. The bastard!

“It wasn’t just for sex, damn it.” Grady’s anger took her aback. “I love her, have loved her. But she wouldn’t take me seriously.”

Dean nodded. “And again I say, where’s the thanks?”

“Look, fuckwad, you lied to her. Then I lied to her. She’s going to be madder than a…fuck. She’ll be madder than Burke when you crashed his car in high school.”

“That was your bad influence and you know it,” Dean protested.

“So what, Grady?” Joy sounded exasperated. “You want me and Dean to pretend to be into each other in front of the others? She’ll never have to know we weren’t in desperate, romantic, passionate love.”

Dean scoffed. “Christ, Joy. That’s a mouthful.”

“Shut up, Dean. Maybe if you had those deep feelings for a female, you’d be more than a man-whore. You’d be a romantic like Grady.”

“I prefer man-slut, thank you very much.” The two bickered like siblings while Gabby tried to gather her wits.

Grady had lied. She’d made love to him thinking him a poor, cheated-on lover while in truth, he’d been scheming to get into her pants.

Yet he said he loved her, and he sounded miserable and guilty about fibbing.

Part of her wanted to claw his eyes out. The other part wanted to hug him tight and never let him go. The cat didn’t like being played for a fool, but she’d gotten sexual satisfaction—and then some—from the handsome feline. The fox loved this game, pleased at finding a mate that could best her. But then, the fox had loved his pranks and conniving ways from the beginning.

She needed time to think things through. At best, she had another half an hour before he returned to her house. What could she do? Slinking away from the fighting and hissing in the cabin, she returned home and made her own plans.

Trick her into loving him, would he? Well, two could play at that game.

Once at home, she dialed a number off the business card she’d received last week. “Miles? Hi. This is Gabby Easton, from the pride. Oh sure. Of course you know who I am.” She cleared her throat, full of nerves. “I need a favor…”

When Grady arrived forty minutes later, he could feel his palms sweat. He’d dressed in his best jeans and button-down shirt. He’d brushed his hair until it gleamed and held a bouquet of Rachel’s freshly picked daisies, wishing he’d had time to buy a ring. But he couldn’t wait. Especially not after dealing with his idiot brother and ditzy Joy. If Gabby thought he’d played her for sex, he’d lose her for sure. And that didn’t bear thinking about.

He knocked and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

“Gabby?”

She answered wearing ratty shorts and a cute top that enhanced her curves. No problem. He didn’t need her in a fancy dress to tell her what was in his heart. Then again, he did his best work on paper. Maybe he should have written her a note.

“Hey Grady.” Her smile was wide and toothy, and made him pause.

He suddenly felt like a wild hare trapped between a cat and a fox with nowhere to run. “Gabby?”

“Oh are those for me?” She drew him inside and put the flowers in a vase.

Her warm thanks relieved him. He must have been imagining things.

She returned to the living room and crossed to kiss him. The moment their lips met, he lost what he’d wanted to say. They broke the kiss, both panting with need.

“I want you, Grady. Right now.”

He had things to tell her, but his protest died under the warm hand curled around his cock. She had an uncanny way of getting around his clothing in no time.

“Oh baby. Whatever you want.”

“I want you to go down on me. I want to watch you lick me.” The dark mischief in her gaze entranced him, as did the sultry vixen looking out at him. He hadn’t seen this side of her before, and he wanted more.

“Good, because I love eating you out.”
As much as I love you
, he felt with all he had inside him.

She blinked at him and smiled, and there was a softening around her eyes. “Let’s go to my bedroom.”

He hefted her over his shoulder and fireman-carried her into the bedroom in a rush, ignoring her shriek of surprise. He tossed her on the bed and stripped her bare. Then he parted her thighs and settled in for a meal.

She was sweet, so ripe under his tongue. The slick glide through her pussy told him without words how much she wanted him, and he reveled in it, in the possession and awe of having such a strong, sexy woman to call his own.

“Grady, please.” She writhed under his tongue, pushing for more while he intentionally held back, determined to make it last.

While he worked her clit with his tongue and teeth, he used his thumbs to stroke the sensitive inner flesh of her thighs. He rubbed circles in her skin, moving his thumbs closer to her folds, over them, then between them. He parted her and inched a finger inside her, captivated by the musky heat he’d brought out of her. Pushing his finger deeper inside, he soon added another and stretched her, loving her with his hands while he kissed the sensitive bud firming under his mouth.

He was so fucking hard, turned on by her scent and her response. Had he been naked, he’d have mounted her and come by now. The thought of taking his sweet vixen
everywhere
prodded him to push her to the extreme. Grady used his thumb to rub a good bit of her cream along the seam of her ass toward her hole.

She tensed and shivered. Her clit was taut, her nipples stiff, her pussy wet with need. And then he rimmed her anus with his thumb before edging just the tip inside her as he sucked her clit.

She cried out and clamped around his fingers, her body hungry for his. Her fingers latched onto his hair and held tight as she ground into his face, no shy kitten but a hungry lioness out for what she deserved.

So it was no small shock when she pushed him off and rolled him underneath her on the bed. She dragged his pants down his legs in seconds and engulfed his cock with a skill that made him love her all the more.

“Oh Gabby. Gabby, I love you so much,” he babbled. Not sure of anything but the wicked tongue snaking along his glans, the fingers rubbing his balls as she sucked away his will to do anything but lie there and accept whatever she gave him, he said whatever came to mind—the truth itching to be set free.

He wanted to see her naked, to watch her mouth surround him. But he couldn’t function past the need to jet down her throat. Tension burned at the base of his spine. His balls drew tight, and his cock throbbed as she grazed that tender part of his shaft, under the head of his cock. Prickly nails ran over his bared upper thighs, the tiny bites of pain making it hard to breathe beyond the pleasure.

“I’m coming. Oh Gabby. Yes, yes,
now
,” he shouted as he arched off the bed and surrendered to the redheaded seductress, climaxing into an ecstasy that made him see stars.

He felt every touch of her tongue, every puff of her hot breath against his body as she sucked him dry. That such a tender female could make him lose control astounded him. That she could turn him into so much of nothing without her scared the hell out of him.

While he tried to catch his breath, she scooted off him and winked. After disappearing into the bathroom, she returned moments later wearing different clothes. Jeans and a pretty pink blouse, one of his personal favorites. A pair of leather sandals covered her feet, exposing sexy toes sporting red nails.

Gabby fluffed her hair and smiled that toothy grin that should have made him nervous. But he could barely function past breathing. “You are so sexy. And hung. I don’t know if I told you, but you are one seriously hot cat.”

Her tone alerted him that something was off. The shy smiles she’d given him all weekend no longer existed. Now he looked at the predator under those long eyelashes and feminine charm.

“Uh, Gabby?”

“Shoot. I wanted to spend more time with you, but I have to run. A client needs a favor.” She shrugged, then walked to his side and stroked his chest. “Thanks, Grady. You’re the absolute best. The weekend rocked. I’ve been needing this for far too long.”

Wait. What? This? What the hell was
this
?

“I mean, last week was great, but I kept expecting us to knock boots a lot sooner. Took a bit of persuading to get you to finally come to me,” she teased. “But it makes sense, you not wanting to piss off Burke and Ty. Don’t worry. I won’t say anything if you don’t. And heck, we can even do it again, you were so good.” She pecked him on the cheek in approval. “I might have next weekend free. But now I’ve gotta scoot. Business won’t run itself, you know.”

She left the room and called over her shoulder, “Let yourself out when you leave, okay?”

He didn’t believe she’d actually leave him with his dick hanging out until he heard a car pull away. He didn’t know how to feel. So she hadn’t commented on his admission of love. She might have thought he’d meant it in the heat of the moment. But to just leave him there like that? Wham bam, thank you…man? And what the hell had she meant by persuading him? Maybe next weekend? The pieces of this puzzle settled into a surprisingly painful picture.

To his mortification, he had the odd sense the last few days had just been a much-needed booty call. But that couldn’t be right. After their week together? The way their gazes had met, the subtle touches, the bedroom eyes? Their mingled scents?

He stared at the ceiling, confused, angry and too boneless to think straight.

“
This?
What the fuck is
this
?” he hissed and resolved to find out where the hell he’d gone wrong.

Chapter Seven

The next day, Gabby made sure to get Grady’s schedule by hinting to Rachel she might need his help fixing up her place. Since she knew Grady and his sister-in-law were thick as thieves, it figured Rachel would do whatever she could to help Grady win her over. Yet she didn’t get the sense Rachel knew about Dean and Joy.

Doused in a chemical compound to dull her scent—one she’d found, ironically, from a source her mother used when she’d go to visit her father—Gabby didn’t worry about being outted as Grady’s mate. Not only had the bastard lied to her, he’d mated her without asking. Okay, so she’d wanted him. Still, he should have asked before scent-marking her.

She completely ignored the fact she’d claimed him first.

She sat with Miles at the table in the dining room of the main house. Everyone else had already eaten and gone out, though she thought she heard a few of Miles’s sisters in the kitchen. Grady had yet to return from Whitefish, which made it difficult to rub his nose in her new relationship. Gabby turned to Miles and murmured, “Don’t overdo it.”

“Darling, I’m as good out of bed as I am in it, don’t you worry.” His green eyes sparkled with amusement. He draped an arm around her chair and blew into her ear. “He’s at the door right now. And I guarantee he wants to shove this arm I have around your shoulders somewhere very inappropriate up my person.”

She chuckled, as he’d no doubt meant her to, and turned at the roar that followed.

Accompanied by surprised shouts, a struggle and several men to hold Grady back, Grady’s shout of fury satisfied her inner bitch. Good. Let him feel an inkling of what she’d been through. Sheer, unadulterated rage, and a crap load of hurt, because thinking he hadn’t loved her had nearly brought her to her knees.

Apparently not even a silver fox, a cat and a gray wolf could bring Grady to
his
knees. His rage was a thing of beauty. Not because she took immense gratification from his show of emotions—though she did—but because Grady Chastell did angry better than anyone she’d ever seen. His eyes gleamed like gold, his muscles strained and bulged, and his scent made the entire room smell like heaven covered in chocolate and drizzled in caramel sauce. Positively yummy.

“Fuck it all, cat. Settle down. What the hell crawled up your ass to pitch a fit?” Monty ducked a fist and growled at her brother-in-law. “Ty, man up and hold him down.”

“Shut up, Monty,” Ty growled back. “Dean, his legs. He kicks my nuts, I’m kicking yours. Grady, what the hell?”

“Problem, Grady?” Miles asked cheerily and rubbed her shoulder. “We saved you some dinner. Don’t get all hissy about it.”

Grady nearly tore free before Burke darted from the study and intervened. It took four of them to drag Grady outside.

“Holy crap. What’d I miss?” Amy asked. She, Joy and Melissa stood stock-still just inside the dining room, glued to the byplay outside the front door.

“Just like I was telling you,” Miles said to them, disdain clear in his frosty tone. “Grady Chastell is as lowborn as they come.” He raised his voice to amend, “No offense Burke.”

“None taken,” Burke yelled back before lowering his voice. “Stubborn bastard, quit swinging.”

Gabby could hear the muffled swearing and grunting outside. A pinprick of guilt pierced her heart before she recalled how sweet Grady had been to her that night she’d tried to protect him from Joy and Dean. How she’d given him her sympathy…and an orgasm. The sexy liar.

She hardened her resolve to teach the tomcat a lesson and swung her gaze to another guilty party. Joy. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said gently, then blinked, wide-eyed, feigning innocence. “I mean, I’m sorry
all
of you had to see that. Grady’s usually very nice.”