Sleeping With the Wolf (12 page)

“Just a few songs. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. That will fit with my plans just fine.”

Carla stroked a hand over his arm. “I was thinking. Everyone seems to like my music. I’m really looking forward to playing on Sunday. I’d like to do that for other people too. You know, do some concerts like I did back ho—I mean, in the Times Before.”

Taye didn’t even stop to think about it. “No.”

Carla took a step back. His autocratic tone made her bristle. “No? That’s it?”

“My mate doesn’t expose herself to strange men.”

“What? Taye, this is what I do. This is who I am. I have to have something to do.”

Taye looked down at her with stern eyes. “You’re my mate. The den is your responsibility. And we’ll have children soon.”

Carla folded her arms over her chest. “Even if we have sex morning, noon, and night there will be no babies for a while. I had my contraceptive shot a week before I got on the plane.”

The look of revulsion in his eyes hurt her. “In the Times Before people tried to prevent babies? I had heard of it, and read about it in books. But I can’t believe it. Why would you do that?”

“Because … Never mind that now. My music is important to me. I need to perform.

Not national tours. I get that. But maybe in some of the nearby towns and settlements.”

“It’s too dangerous to let you go to strange places.”

“It wouldn’t have to be strange places, and I would never go by myself,” Carla argued. She could see that she wasn’t budging him. “You remember the sex you wanted to have tonight?”

“Carla.” He sighed. “You promised me you would stay away from other men.”

“I will.” The type of concerts she was imagining were nothing like the concerts she had given in the past. She wouldn’t be wearing short skirts or pulling a guy from the audience to dance with. She let her arms drop. “Taye, my music is as important to me as being a wolf is to you. Don’t take that away from me.”

He curled a hand over her wrist. “Would you really refuse me sex?”

Carla blew out air. “No.”

His hand began smoothing up and down her arm. “I’ll think about it. Maybe when my wolf has settled we can arrange something for you.”

It was better than the flat-out refusal he had first given her. She slid an arm around his waist. “Let’s go eat.”

Chapter Seven

They ate supper sitting side by side at the head table facing the pack, and while they ate Carla wondered about those steps of his that he had planned out. He spent quite a bit of the time laughing with the other pack members and telling stories about some hunt he had been on last year. Since he wasn’t focusing on her she was able to relax. Supper was—surprise, surprise!—steak. She really would have to introduce them to some other foods. She didn’t expect wolves to be vegetarians, but there were ways to prepare meat besides grilling slabs of it until it was just barely warm. She thought Taye was ignoring her, but every now and then his large, warm hand would settle on her thigh and rub circles over the denim of her jeans, and she would jerk in an unsteady breath. How long before they could go to their room?

The three teenagers who apparently had kitchen duty all day hurried the diners so they could get the kitchen cleaned up before Carla began playing. It was flattering to have such an eager audience. While she waited for her audience to gather, she mentally ran through all the songs she knew about wolves, which were very few. Werewolves of London was about it, and she didn’t even know all the lyrics. Right about now the internet would come in handy.

Taye sat beside her near the fireplace in the rec room and held the end of her braid in his hand while she strummed and decided on a few songs. Instead of wolf songs, she would sing love songs. With her audience hanging on the words, she sang “I Swear” and

“It’s Your Love,” and finished with “Love Me Tender.” Then she put the guitar away and whispered to Taye to give her fifteen or twenty minutes by herself in their room before he came.

The wolves all howled raucously when she left, and she waved at them. They didn’t clap so this must be their version of applause. Carla wasn’t sure what they were applauding, her music or her wedding night. In their room the lamps were lit, but the wicks were low so the light was only a soft golden glow. The stove was putting out a comforting warmth. The sheets on the bed must have been changed, because the edge that was folded over the top of the quilt was embroidered with red poppies. Taye must have prepared the room for them. For tonight. He was a werewolf who had killed a vicious opponent only a few days ago, but to her he was very sweet. And utterly gorgeous. She hurried to the bathroom and washed and brushed her teeth. She dithered over getting undressed and putting on Taye’s T-shirt, but in the end decided not to. Then she dithered over taking her braid out and leaving her hair down. And that was when Taye came in.

She turned to face him, clutching the comb like a weapon. He was magnificent in only a pair of cut-off sweatpants that rode low on his hips. The muscles of his bare chest gleamed in the lamplight. She was definitely overdressed.

“Now you’re frightened,” he said sadly.

“No, just a little nervous,” she insisted. “Do you want me to … uh, get undressed?”

“No, that comes later in the plan. Come here, sweetheart. Let me just hold you.”

She went to him and put her arms around his waist, still holding the comb. His bare shoulder was warm against her cheek, and his scent aroused her. “Is this Step One?”

“Step One is to make sure you are not frightened.” He ran his hands up and down her spine. “Step Two is to make sure you are relaxed.”

“Got any beer?” she asked, half joking.

“No, no beer. Here, sit down and give me the comb. I’ll comb your hair for you.”

Carla sat on the couch, half facing away from him behind her. She had never had anyone comb her hair except the beautician. She gave him the comb and felt his fingers loosening her braid. He was amazingly gentle when he separated the strands that had knotted at the nape of her neck. After carefully working out the few tangles, the comb slid through her hair in long lazy sweeps. It felt amazing.

“I’ve wanted to touch your hair like this since the night I saw you at Ray’s,” Taye murmured.

“Well,” she sighed. “You can comb my hair anytime. That feels so nice.”

The comb continued to glide through her hair, followed by a caressing hand. His fingers moved under her hair to smooth over her neck and shoulder under her blouse.

After a minute he swept her hair to one side to press a kiss to her nape. A row of featherlight kisses went from behind her ear, down the side of her neck, to her collarbone.

She turned on the seat so she could see him. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and she lifted a hand to test the heat of his face. He caught it before she could touch him.

“It’s not time for that step yet.”

“What step?” Carla blinked.

“You don’t get to touch me until after I’ve satisfied you.” He lowered her hand to her knee. “I’ve studied those romance books from the Times Before, and in every one of them the lady was pleasured first. Then the man. Now hush so I can continue with my plan.”

Carla had to work to suppress her chuckle. She found her hand moving subtly on her knee, wishing it were his hand. “You know, Taye, those are only stories. In real life it doesn’t work like that.”

“Hush,” he said sternly. “It’s my plan. Your job is to relax and enjoy.”

“Relax and enjoy. I can handle that. I think. What’s the next step?”

“Next—” His finger slipped inside her blouse and ran under the top edge of her bra over one breast. “—I get to see what your pantie look like when they are on you.”

Her hands went obediently to the top button on her blouse.

“No,” he growled. “I get to do that.”

He waited until she replaced her hands in her lap and then unbuttoned each button with slow, deliberate fingers. Those fingers trembled ever so slightly when they brushed the tops of her breasts above the pink satin bra while spreading her blouse wide. Carla shuddered a little from the cool air and his eyes on her hot, exposed skin. “Are you cold?” he whispered.

“With you looking at me like that? I wouldn’t be cold if we were sitting outside in January.”

“I like looking at you. Are you as soft as you look?”

Carla had to force herself to not squirm. “I guess you’ll have to touch to find out.”

The feel of his fingers trailing down along the shoulder strap of her bra and curling to brush his knuckles over the curve of her breast made excitement flood through her. He brushed his knuckles back and forth over her puckered nipple until she was quivering.

“Taye, that’s my bra. You can’t tell if I’m soft by touching that.”

He hooked a thumb under the shoulder strap beside her armpit. “How does it come off?”

“There’s a fastener right in the front.” Carla was surprised how hoarse her voice was.

“See that round button there? Just—”

Her bra opened, and Taye pulled the front edges apart, releasing her breasts. His eyes seemed to hold awe as he studied her curves and nipples. He pulled the edge of her pink bra back to one of her nipples. “It’s almost the same color,” he remarked, and she was glad that his voice sounded a little hoarse too.

“I’m sort of small,” she apologized.

“Too thin,” he agreed, stroking both hands over her ribs and rubbing her breasts with his thumbs. “No more missed lunches for you, sweetheart.”

“No, I mean … Never mind.”

She loved the feel of his face rubbing over her chest. He would drag one cheek over her chest, then turn his head and drag the other over her, taking deep breaths all the while.

“You smell like love, sweetheart.”

He smelled fantastic too. His mouth opened and passed over her breast, and on the return pass he paused to taste her nipple with just his tongue. She shook and that seemed to encourage him to suck and nibble at her breast. She pressed her thighs together as heat shot through her. His teeth scraped over her taut nipple, and she grabbed his shoulders to keep from falling when a lightning bolt of sensation zinged through her.

He abandoned her breast to take her hands from his shoulders and put them back in her lap. “It’s not time for that step yet, sweetheart.”

“Taye! I have to hold onto something or I’ll fall over!”

“Nope. Let me…” He slid her blouse and bra down her arms and tossed them aside before lowering her so she was lying on the couch and he was kneeling on the floor beside her. Then he went back to feasting on her breasts.

“Taye,” she complained breathlessly. “Can’t we move along a little? You’re torturing me.”

“Step by step,” he murmured to her nipple.

His mouth on her skin was like being thrown into a volcano. Carla gasped and lifted one knee to ease an ache that made her want to drag him down on top of her.

“Taye, lay on top of me.”

He was breathing fast against her neck. “No, we’re definitely not at that step yet.

We’re still in one of the foreplay steps.”

“
One
of the foreplay steps? Taye,
please
.”

“Uh-uh.”

When his mouth returned to hers his hand rubbed up and down the inside seam of her jeans along her bent leg from calf to knee and slipped to the inside of her thigh. She squirmed to force his hand where she wanted it, and he let her. His hand opened and cupped her between her legs, and even through her jeans it felt good.

“Taye,” she groaned. “Take my jeans off.”

“I suppose we can skip a few steps,” he said with reluctance warring with eagerness in his eyes.

Carla barely managed to choke back a giggle. There had been a time she had expected him to tear her clothes off and get right to the main event. Never in a million years had she expected her wolf to drag it out like this. He pulled her boots and her socks off, and she wiggled her toes playfully. She quit wiggling, though, when his big hands hooked into the waistband of her jeans and dragged them slowly down. She lifted her hips to help him and soon they were gone, leaving her pink panties halfway down her thighs. Long moments passed with no sound from Taye, and no touch either. She lifted her head to see what he was doing. He was staring hard at her private place. She wondered why she didn’t feel shy. Maybe because he was looking so reverent. She lifted her hips and wiggled to move the panties further down so she could kick them off. She didn’t see where they landed, and he wasn’t even watching. He caught her legs with a hand under each knee and opened her up to study her more thoroughly. Now she felt shy.

“Taye?”

“Hush. Let me look at you. This is so beautiful. I’ve never seen a woman’s … What did they call it in those books? Pussy?”

Carla choked. “What kind of books have you been reading? Never mind,” she said hastily. “Quit staring at me and let me go. Kiss me some more.”

He held her legs further apart and pulled her closer to kiss her, but not on her mouth.

His teeth grazed her and closed gently over an ultra-sensitive place. “Oh, my God! What are you doing?”

“Getting to know you,” he answered innocently, but a devilish gleam lit his dark eyes. “See, I’ve read about this, but I’ve never seen one or touched one, so I need to familiarize myself with this marvelous body. Here—” He flicked a forefinger back and forth over her. “—is your clit. Your tender pearl of delight. This is supposed to feel good to a woman. Does it feel good?”

Carla’s half-choked giggle turned into a groan. “Oh, yeah.”

“I’ll come back to that in a minute. First I want to explore a little more.” She felt his fingers part her and cool air touch hot flesh that usually didn’t get exposed to air. “And this is your labia. Or is that plural? These are your labia? They are like the castle walls guarding your prize. They are on the outside, but here, between them, is your vagina. One book I read called it the woman’s hot tunnel of joy. I didn’t understand that, but—” One of his fingers slid into her slowly. “—it is like a tunnel, isn’t it? And you are warm inside.”

Intense pleasure overwhelmed the amusement she had felt at the ridiculous descriptions of her body parts. Her head fell back. “Taye, I love the way you touch me.