Page 20 of Scars of the Sun
Her shifter blood called to mine, made it hum, but where the specific note of Wolf usually just made me irritable, the hint of it on her was smoother. Twisting with the half-there human scent that was lighter. She was a mixture of soft and wild, sweet and sour, other and alike. I leaned into her ear, letting the strands of my hair be the only part that brushed her heated skin. “I like it when you say my name, rich girl.”
Ramona’s answering shiver was fucking delicious. So much so that I shoved my hands into my pockets to keep from pulling her close to me so that I could drag her somewhere dark and lick the sweat that was running down the sides of her face and neck.
She didn’t move to touch me either, but she also didn’t roll away. Desire was wafting off of her like thick trails of steam, and I fought to keep myself on the edge. So that I could stay trapped in it.
“Well, I don’t like it when you call me ‘rich girl’.” Her voice was steadier than I expected, and when I pulled back to see her face, her honey eyes were narrowed in defiance. My lips pulled up, and the corners of hers twitched in answer before she wiped her face flat.
Again, I leaned forward, but this time, Ramona gave the barest tilt with her expression still nonexistent. Our mouths were a quarter breath from touching. “But that’s what you are, Ramona. A pretty rich girl who looks even prettier on her knees.”
She sucked in a hitching breath, and my half-hard cock went fully stiff at the challenge I felt rumbling within her like the rearing of a wave before it crested and crashed into you. “And you’re an arrogant fuckboy. Isn’t it about time to go home and lick your own asshole? Or whatever cats do.”
I felt like I was going to punch out of my fucking jeans. Before I could catch myself, my hands were around her waist and pulling until there was absolutely no space between our fronts anymore. I gave into the urge that’d been tugging at me since I’d rolled over to her and dragged the flat of my tongue up the side of her face.
Ramona stopped breathing all together and clung to my bare shoulders, fingers scrambling in the same way she had when I’d made her come. The memory of it was engraved in my mind and my body. My chest rumbled with a purr that would’ve surprised me had I not already been all-in with this girl. It was like I was in quicksand or some shit. “I’d rather taste that little pussy of yours, Ramona.”
She stilled. For a split second. Tiny. But when she moved her hands with a forced smoothness, it was as if someone had shoved my head into a bucket of cold water. My body was slower to calm, but the coolness was closing in. My grip on her waist softened. I chastely kissed the edge of where I’d licked. “Or I could have you on the back of my bike again.”
A gust of tension left her body. “Uh. Sure.”
I smacked another kiss, barely there and gentle. “Can I give you my number, Ramona?”
“Um, yeah, that’s fine.” She paused, but when I didn’t release her, she just fumbled her hand into the back pocket of her shorts and produced her phone. After opening up her contacts, she held it out to me, silently asking me to put in my number.
Instead, I bent again to whisper in her ear. “Put it in for me, Princess.”
She shivered, even though I knew she was damn-near overheating in that sweatshirt. With shaky fingers, Ramona typed in the number I recited slowly for her. She spelled out my name into the contact last, and her thumb on the ‘save’ button felt final. A voice in the back of my mind, laced with warning,tried to stop me from what was already done. Because she was far from a piece of ass or some tasty souvenir to remember this town by.
Shit, shit, shit,“Text me,” I said with a finality that I knew I desperately needed.
I felt Ramona’s stumble when I turned to grab my board and march over to get my stuff. Out of the corner of my eye, I made sure she wasn’t going to fall, and when her body slowly began to bob and sway again, I focused my attention on shoving my shirt into my backpack and strapping my board to it. Tyler was over by the bowl, talking with whoever, which was good. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if he’d still been gawking at Ramona. Probably not something smart.
It was absolutely not fleeing when I shoved on my helmet, got on the back of my bike, and started her up. It totally wasn’t running away when I felt Ramona’s eyes on me but didn’t meet them. My body was still antsy, vibrating with the release of skating and wound right the fuck back up with my princess in front?—
No.She’s not ‘my’ anything,I growled into the air coursing past me as I rode home. This town and this life was just another stop. Temporary. Sure, I could use her to pass the time, go back and forth and explore both of our bodies together until time was up.
And watch those honey eyes darken and truly close off when I packed up my shit and moved on to the next place.
Maybe she wouldn’t care,I turned down my street and tried to reason with myself. Antler Pointe’s historic downtown was small compared to other cities I’d been to, but when I’d been passing through those weeks ago, it’d been unknown to me and those from my past, had a skatepark, and a large enough forest to get lost in when I needed it.
My apartment wasn’t anything fancy, but it had large windows and a loft so that I could sleep high up. After the less than ten-minute ride from the park—what with literally no traffic due to the small town streets being completely dead at this point—I was pulling up to the souvenir shop I lived above and went around the corner. There was a small parking lot for employees and those of us that lived in the units above this block’s shops, and I snagged one of two spots left.
I sucked in a deep breath that did nothing to calm the conflict in my head. Everything in me wanted to bolt back down the street to the park. To catch Ramona before she went home.
To that Pack Leader she lived with.
“Fuck,” I muttered and climbed off my bike. I’d forgotten aboutthatfucking detail. Packs were annoying, insular groups, and in my experience, their leaders were the worst of them all. Territorial on a whole, irritating level, baring their fangs and touting claim to land that should belong to everyone. Once I’d set my sights on this town and learned that there was a Wolf pack, I reasoned that I wouldn’t be here long enough to ruffle their fur. If I’d been a Wolf, that would’ve probably been a different story.
But I’d gotten a taste of the sister of the Pack Leader. When he’d stormed out of the house, I could immediately scent the familial bond between them.
The competitive part of me, the fuckboy, as Ramona had called me, wanted to pull her into a tree, right there on her brother’s land, and fuck her until she screamed. To give us both something to claim on Wolf land.
I was lost in the fantasy of that as I started toward the little alleyway where the door leading upstairs was. What it’d be like to sink into Ramona and drag my claws across her side as I held us pinned and steady, way up high. She’d make that groaningand screeching noise of hers, wrapping her legs around me with terrified pleasure.
“Ayo, cousin.” As soon as I rounded the corner, the familiar voice echoed softly in the darkness, and I stopped in my tracks.
Benny pushed off of the brick wall he’d been leaning against, and a mixture of fear and brain-splitting rage crashed inside of me. This couldn’t be fucking happening. Not today, not here, not now.
He walked closer toward me, bringing himself and his black, perfectly tailored suit into the light. I never understood why my father insisted his employees dress the way they did, other than the fact that he was infuriatingly old fashioned. About a lot of things.