Love and Deception

Chapter Seven

Noah

He waited not so patiently while his mate studied him. “Please tell me he’s still alive.” Noah considered that. If someone was living their life no differently than they had been but the clock had started to run out on their ass, was that still alive? Philosophical was not what he wanted this conversation to be however so he just went with angry.

“Can you give me a compelling reason for him to stay that way?” She frowned thoughtfully. He was still far, far from being okay with all of the information he’d learned today but he was a little better than he had been. Probably because his mate was standing there, within touching distance, all he had to do was reach out. And that was something he hadn’t had for years.

“I owe him money.” He frowned.

“How much?” He was already taking out his phone when she took the step that put her next to him instead of holding up the wall. He felt her sink onto the crappy mattress since he was busy scrolling his contacts for his bank.

“Noah.”

“I’ll transfer the balance to your account right now.” She sighed and put her hand over his. Not the best of plans. His wolf was already awake but now his focus was switching tracks. Instead of concentrating on his perfectly righteous fury he was zeroed in on the skin that was touching hers. Yup he was angry. He was.

“Don’t you even want to know what it’s for?” Yes. Yes he did. He started to nod and got trapped in her eyes. Ah hell. “He doesn’t deserve to die.” She said quietly. He and his wolf growled as loudly as they could to explain the level of their disagreement. Her eyes widened but then she quirked her lips up. “He helped me when I had nowhere else to go.”

“Is this Lucius person the one who met you at the hospital?” She shook her head and he studiously ignored the way she chewed on her bottom lip. Damnit she needed to take her hand off his but he could not find the words to make her. This was a serious conversation. One they needed to have. Stupid libido.

“The doctor at the hospital got me in touch with Lucius who had work and knowledge of what was happening to me.” The growl returned.

“Work as a bodyguard?” She nodded again but he could taste the lie in the air. Whatever, he could get back to that later. He went to put her hand back in her lap only to find his traitorous fingers curling possessively around hers. “So, let me make sure I’ve got this right and hey, feel free to jump in and tweak it if I don’t.” Please just distract him from her body that was sitting dangerously close. “So, you come out here to Lucius because he has work and he knows what’s going on with you and offers to help. You end up borrowing money and then work as his bodyguard to pay him back?” She shifted a little out of discomfort no doubt but her thigh brushed his sending waves of heat inward. He stifled the groan but closed his eyes. Control. He had it. He really did.

“That is an incredibly condensed version but yes.”

“So I will pay him back the money and you and I will leave.” He felt the hesitation and then the weight of her head was resting on his shoulder. He tensed. Instinct screamed for him to get her underneath him. Logic dictated getting up and standing far far out of reach. He compromised and locked his muscles down with a ruthless grip. Well he did until their clasped hands dropped onto his leg and her other arm wound around his thus pressing her entire body or as much of it as she could get against him. Was she trying to kill him? Indecision wavered for a moment before he leaned his face down to her hair, nose first. He could smell her hair and not lose control after all. That wasn’t too much to ask.

“And then what? I mean you and I, we never really talked about what we wanted to be.” Was she serious? The long silence indicated yes.

“You’re my mate.” God he felt that scent all the way to his bones. He missed that scent but now it was his again. Slightly different with the werewolf base note but still. He took another deep whiff. Carlie. He grinned like the sap he was and made a very bad mistake. He turned his body so he could wrap both arms possessively around her.

“Yes I know that. Doesn’t change the question.” He froze in place realizing there might be another reason for the question. One he hadn’t considered.

“Are you in love with Lucius?” The choking gasp that greeted that question was most satisfying.

“No. God no.”

“Were you sleeping with him?” That would not only sign his death warrant but quite possibly prolong the process. Actually definitely prolong the process.

“No. Not that you have a right to be angry if I was.”

“Excuse me?” He pulled back and glared down at her. She glared right back. Damn him but aggression was a turn on. Always had been.

“You were dead.”

“So were you. But I wasn’t out fooling around on you.”

“You really expect me to believe that you haven’t had any extracurriculars for five years?” Yes reminding him how long it had been, also not a good plan. Meh, he could kiss her. Just once. Just to prove his point. He could totally handle that. He shot forward and claimed her lips with his own before she could avoid it, not that she did. No, no she did something far worse. She sank into him, wrapped her arms up around his neck and slowly moved so she was in his lap straddling his legs. Bad, bad, bad. And yet…he reached up, framed her face, and then tilted it back to deepen the kiss. The happy sigh that fell against his lips was one hell of a compliment.

“No one but you for as long as I breathe. That’s how it works.” She blinked a couple of times at him disoriented from the kiss or the simple power behind his vow.

“Is there like a werewolf mating book somewhere I might be able to read?” He chuckled and leaned back closer to her to kiss her again. They had years to make up for didn’t they? Time was a wasting. If she insisted he wouldn’t kill the stupid witch boy himself. He’d let Wade do it. That after all was nothing to do with him. He wanted his mate and oh look at that he had her. He grinned against her lips and slipped his fingertips up under her t-shirt. She moaned softly and let her hands drop to his shoulders.

“Noah.” Higher. He needed more. More of her skin pressed against his. f**k it he needed all of it. On that thought he pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it somewhere.

“Mmm.” He nuzzled his face into her neck after allowing himself a moment to just appreciate her again. The black bra was a total knockout. If he’d had any willpower left that one simple article of clothing would’ve been his undoing. As it was, he had none so it was just a pleasant surprise. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

“We need to talk.” She said it but her heart wasn’t in it. He would’ve been more than a little offended if it had. He kissed to one side of the strap and then the other before grabbing a hold of the back and tearing it. “Hey.” She snapped.

“Not my fault you buy cheap clothes. That just fell right off.” She was about to get angrier but she just smiled and took the rest of it off tossing it into the darkened abyss with her shirt. If he had to rate this moment on a one to bliss scale he was somewhere near completely disinterested in everything else in life. Didn’t know exactly where that fell. Didn’t really give a s**t either. He heard a tear and came back to the reality where his shirt had just met the same end as her bra. He raised an eyebrow at her but got a shrug before the shredded halves were pushed down his shoulders. Her hands clamped on and pulled him closer so she could reclaim his lips.

Her tongue slid between his lips with a familiarity that was strange. They had done this before. He remembered it, no longer as achingly clear as he had but still. It was different. This was a new first for them. Their first time as wolves together. He didn’t have to be as careful with her and she didn’t have to be careful at all with him. A fact she seemed pretty keenly aware of. Well, they could always talk later. The smile he had this time was all mental as he gently turned and pressed her back into the mattress.

Carlie

Goddamn she really needed to stop him but this was even better than she remembered. Every touch, every feeling was doubled. She felt her own reaction and then his. Then hers as she processed his and vice versa. It was overwhelming and intoxicating. The kind of connection that let them both know exactly how to touch, when to kiss, what to move just slightly to cause the other to shudder and sigh. She reached one hand up to tangle in all of that lovely black hair and keep him pressed against her mouth, bare chest to bare chest. Still…they needed to talk there were things….Carlie’s body arched into his as his hand closed around one breast and a finger traced the circle of her n****e. Screw it they could talk after. “I’ll pay him back.” What? What was he saying? His fingers gently kneaded what they were so tantalizing causing her brain to miss circuits. “Well I’ll pay you and you’ll pay him.” A scalding kiss was placed below her ear and then another just under her jaw.

“What?” Her voice was sluggish and dazed just like her mind but if he noticed he said nothing. His mouth traced her pulse down to the hollow of her throat then down the line of her sternum.

“We’ll pack whatever you can’t bear to live without and go wherever you want.” She could feel his hair tickling her left breast which meant…yup. Her breath left on a hiss and her fingers dug into the skin of his shoulder as his mouth closed around the right breast. There was a low rumble from Noah’s chest as she writhed underneath him. He turned and paid the other breast equal attention giving her heart a workout it wasn’t used to and she was momentarily sure it couldn’t handle. But just as she felt like combustion or death was the only option he released her and returned to planting a line of kisses down her stomach. “We’ll get mated, formally, and married too if that’s what you want. Start a life, a family. Whatever you want.” That caught her attention. Her eyes opened drowsily and she wrapped her fingers around his just as he released the snap on her jeans.

“Noah.” He turned golden eyes up to her and slipped those long fingers under the lip of her jeans. He leaned down and planted another kiss onto her lower abdomen as he eased the pants off her hips. His eyes never left hers and she felt her breathing pick up even more. Talking. Talking was needed. Her jeans disappeared into darkness along with the rest of their clothing leaving nothing but his pants and her panties. This was fast approaching moment of no return. She had something important to tell him. Something that he had to know. If only he would stop putting those devilish lips against her flesh. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t focus. A hot kiss touched her inner thigh just below the hem of her panties and she gritted her teeth. Damn fool tease.

“Yes dear?” She growled sharply and got another chuckle. “Why I do believe I like these. I shouldn’t have been so hasty with the matching bra.” She opened one eye and stared down her own body at the mischievous golden orbs gazing at her lovingly from between her own legs. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“I’m asking you to marry me Carlie.” His voice sounded angry but his eyes were all but laughing at her.

“Yes this is absolutely the most appropriate way to propose Noah. Great story to tell those who ask how you did so.” She frowned at him, or at least she hoped it was a frown. He c****d his I’m-the-man smile.

“Good point. I’ll ask again later. But you could still answer.” She sighed heavily and started to sit up when two large hands clamped down and held her just as she was. “I like looking at you this way. It’s been too long.”

“You’re mine. Just going to have to live with it.” He smiled devilishly before leaning down to put his mouth against her core through the panties. She moaned and kicked her head back.

“I think I can learn to live with that.” That was the last of the conversation. She could tell because he got down to business, relieving her of her panties and then going right back to what he had been doing. Hot kisses and even hotter breath soon had her temperature somewhere up near supernova and then that sinful man gave one slow lick that sent her right up to the edge. She breathed his name and clenched her sheets in her fists. She wasn’t going anywhere until he let her up not that she really would’ve moved. Her crack dealing neighbors could’ve lit the house on fire and she wouldn’t have cared. Hell World War III could’ve started outside her window and she wouldn’t have cared. This was heaven no doubt about it.

Noah drove her right towards ultimate bliss with his relentless kisses and tongue. She was so far beyond coherent she was pretty sure that her brain would never regain the ability to function properly when she finally hit that golden moment and flew apart. Her body was a distant memory as her mind floated in blissful unawareness of anything but sublime pleasure. Which of course faded after a few moments and her eyes slowly opened to be met with Noah’s eyes hovering back over her. He’d ditched his own clothes and had both of her wrists anchored into the mattress. Not that moving was really a possibility when her bones felt liquefied but he was making sure that she wasn’t going anywhere. Hell she wanted to make sure she wasn’t going anywhere. Nothing in the world was worth missing this.

She heard her breath leave in a slow unhurried sigh as he slowly entered and then filled her. Once they were joined as completely as possible she felt her body clench around him as it fought to get readjusted. Noah seemed more well-endowed than she remembered and she watched as his jaw clenched while she made room for him. It was a curious sensation, feeling full again. Her body had gotten so used to not having this kind of fulfillment it had stopped feeling empty in the first place. She released her death grip on his arms and started to apologize for leaving little bloody half-moons on them. But then he moved his hips, withdrew completely only to come back slowly and powerful. All thoughts other than concentration on the sensation fled against the onslaught.

Noah set the pace. A maddeningly slow pace that kept her heart and pulse racing though not high enough to push her back to carnal bliss. A fine sheen of sweat covered all of those hard scarred muscles that were straining to love her body as completely as was possible. Moaning his name was the only way she had to explain how far past that goal he had succeeded already. She tilted her head up for a kiss which he leisurely gave, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Like she was turning into a ball of flames beneath him and that repetitive rhythm that was driving her hotter and yet crazy all at once. She danced her tongue against his and lifted her legs to wrap around his hips. She felt the response in their bond seconds before she felt it in her body. A few deep strokes and she broke apart again, this time crying out as she did so. She felt him follow and then she felt nothing but satiated bliss again.

She regained her wits first although the jelly muscles were still fighting against being used. But like the animal she was her first coherent thought had been of food. She started to rise when a heavy arm draped over her stomach pinning her in place. “Where do you think you’re going?” A deep rumbly growl she had no problem remembering spoke from the dark. She smiled and turned to plant a feathery soft kiss against his cheek.

“The kitchen.” When the imprisoning arm didn’t lift she sighed loudly. “I left food on the counter.” He still didn’t reply so she opened her mouth to say something else.

“Don’t walk around the house naked. You have windows.” She started to glare but just shook her head with a smile. Bossy and worried at the same time. It was a hard combo to resist. With an aggrieved grumble which was all a show she tossed on an oversized t shirt she sometimes slept in and padded out to the kitchen. The food wasn’t that bad though it had definitely cooled while they had played mattress twister. She poked her head inside sniffing for her favorites when she heard Noah’s footsteps in the bedroom and then the hall.

“Food actually sounds really…” His voice trailed off as his footsteps stopped in the hallway. She finished pulling out Chinese cartons but he didn’t continue to walk towards her so she took one and decided to bring it to him. She found him standing in the hall staring at a deep blue door way with block red letters. She was a terrible mother. She had literally forgotten about telling him about his own son after a good tussle in the sheets. She couldn’t believe how stupid she… “Who’s Luca?”