Chapter 15

Sam

Sean doesn’t speak for a second, just blinks at me, stunned. Like he doesn’t really believe it’s me.

I should have called, but I thought a bold statement was the way to go. What if he turns me away? I’ve no job, no apartment, and nowhere else to go. If he turns me away, I’ll take Cooper up on the offer of his cabin until I can get myself somewhere of my own.

“Okay. Never mind. I thought…” I trail off, realising how dumb that sounds. Twice I’ve walked out on this man, why would he ever let me back into his life? I’m reaching down for my bag when his deep voice stops me in my tracks.

“Sam. If you so much as touch that bag, I’ll tie you to my bed so you can never leave me ever again.”

He crossed the room in three long strides before he scoops me up and slams his mouth down on mine.

“John. Bag. Office,” he barks as he walks us straight out of the bar and around the corner toward his small house, my legs still wrapped tightly around his waist.

“I mean it, Sam. You never leave me again. I won’t be able to take it.” I hear the pain in his voice. It’s unmistakable.

“Quit my job. My apartment is up for sale. No loose ends, a fresh start,” I mumble in between kisses, trying desperately to get my hands under his shirt and touch his skin. “Just needed to sort my shit out.”

“Fuck Sam, you should have called me. I've been freaking out. I would have helped you.” And he would have. He would have done it all for me if I asked. Which is exactly why I didn't. I needed him to know he didn't convince me to do it, that I did it all by myself. For him.

“I know, but I needed to do it myself. And I needed some time to make sure I was choosing you for the right reasons. That I am moving toward something instead of just running away.”

I don’t know how, but suddenly we’re inside. Barely. Sean kicks the door closed and stares down at me. There’s primal hunger in his eyes.

“Never running away again.” His lips find my nipples through my sheer bra as he pushes my top up over my head. His wet tongue and hot breath against the sensitive skin leave me gasping. Arching into his hand as he roughly palms my breasts, I squirm.

“I missed you,” I whisper. “Please Sean. Show me I’m still yours.”

“You’re mine forever, Sam. Forever. You know what that means?”

I nod fervently. Speaking to Hayley has helped prepare me. I understand now what being a mate means to Sean. Together, always. And I long for it with every fiber of my being.

“Fuck!”

He kneels and yanks down my jeans roughly. Pressing his nose to my panties, he sighs contently before reaching up and slicing them in two with an extended claw. Holy shit. Why was that so hot? Wetness floods between my legs and I cry out as he leans forward and laps it up with his tongue. Pulling my clit between his lips, he eats me like a man possessed. When my legs shake, he holds me up, never giving up his assault until I buck against him, a savage orgasm racing through me.

“Sean!” I scream as my legs crumple. He catches me and lifts me to his chest. We barely made it through the door.

“Sam.” His voice is a whisper as he kisses my face and my lips, all the while making his way down the hall to his bedroom. I giggle when he bashes my feet off the door as he carries me inside, setting me down gently on the bed. Reaching for him, I groan in frustration as he stands just out of my reach and calmly unbuttons his jeans. He pulls off his t-shirt and tosses it aside, never taking his eyes off mine. When Sean’s jeans hit the floor and he steps out of them, he still hasn’t said another word. The anticipation is driving me crazy. I tingle from head to toe as I admire him in all his glory, his hard cock standing thick and ready between his legs.

Kneeling on the edge of the bed, he runs a rough hand up the front of my leg from my ankle to my hip. When he gets to my naked pussy, my panties shredded somewhere on the wooden hall floor, he skims past it, continuing his way up my body. I unhook my bra and whip it and my top off over my head in one go, exposing myself completely to him.

He kisses from my hip bone across my belly and up to my breasts, which are smaller now than they once were, but he doesn’t seem to mind as he sucks and nips enthusiastically.

“Lions are a little different from wolves. I’m not sure what Hayley told you about her mating with Cooper…” Between his words, he’s licking and kissing me, fire scorching across my skin in his wake. My head spins. I can’t concentrate on what he’s saying when his thick cock is brushing against my thigh. Shifting slightly sideways, I try to line him up where I want him, aching to have him inside me.

“Sam?” Blinking hard, I refocus on his ruggedly handsome face as he grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I don’t need to bite you, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about that. Lions will fight to the death to protect their females and their pride. And you’re mine. I don’t need a mark to tell me that.”

“I love you, Sean. I’m sorry I ruined everything,” I blurt out. His features soften as he smiles down at me and traces his knuckle along my jaw before gripping my hip. Maintaining eye contact, he drives home in one long, hard thrust, filling me to the hilt. Crying out, I grip his shoulders tight, digging my nails into his soft flesh. I’m still gasping when his mouth clamps down on mine and his tongue strokes mine softly, teasing and tantalizing me.

“Does it feel as though you ruined anything?” Sean grins at me as he swivels his hips, touching a magic place deep inside that has me arching up off the bed and panting.

“I mean it, Sean. I needed to be certain, and I am. I love you. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let my hands roam over his firm muscles and taut ass, pulling him tighter against me to encourage him to move. Rocking my own hips against him, taking the pleasure that he’s withholding from me.

Feather-light kisses dances across my eyelids. They flutter open and I look up at him finally. Now that he has my attention back, he looks at me with smug satisfaction and tortures me with a long, leisurely stroke. Stretched tight around him, he drags across every sensitive nerve inside me, and I whimper. Sean does it again and again. In and out, languidly sending me to heaven with his unhurried thrusts.

“Sean!” One hand grips the sheets and the other the pillow under my head. All the time, his eyes never leave mine, looking straight into my soul. It’s overwhelmingly intimate, like nothing I’ve experienced before. Warmth spreads through me and wraps me up like a blanket at the same time as my toes curl and sparks dance through my body. I’m close, my orgasm racing towards me like a freight train while Sean pushes me steadily higher and higher. It’s the opposite of frantic and wild, it’s loving and tender.

“I’m going to… Sean, I…” I pant and moan, struggling to keep my eyes open. He kisses me hard until we’re both breathless and finally picks up the pace slightly.

“I love you, Sam. Give yourself to me, Sam. Let me see you,” his tone is demanding and his thrusts harder as he wrings ever last drops of pleasure he can from my overwrought body. Hitching up slightly higher, he lines himself up to increase the pressure on my clit with each roll of his hips. My nails dig into his ass as I push back onto him, slamming our bodies together until his balls are against my backside. His fingers find my clit and he strums and strokes, harder and harder until I scream with the power of the climax that washes over me. Sean powers into me once, twice, three more times until he roars his release and collapses on top of me, wrapping me up in his enormous arms and burying his face in my neck.

“That was… incredible,” I whisper, running my hand over the back of his head and scraping my nails down his neck lightly. He goes to roll away, but I lock him in place with my legs around his waist and he chuckles.

“You know, when a lioness goes into heat, the lion takes her every half hour for an entire day to encourage her body to release an egg. Stamina isn’t going to be a problem here.”

Holy fuck. Hayley never mentioned that. I definitely would have remembered that.

“No bite?”

“Not with these teeth, Sam.” He shakes his head ruefully and I can’t help but be slightly relieved. That was the only part I was nervous about. No matter how much Hayley tried to convince me I’d crave it.

Sean manages to roll us onto our sides with him still inside me, and I smile at his indulgence. He presses a kiss to the tip of my nose as he continues to just gaze at me, adoration in his eyes.

“So, you’re unemployed and homeless?” he jokes, and I can’t help but laugh. For the first time in my life, I am. I haven’t got a master plan or a list of ambitious goals to achieve. And I feel good about it.

“I worked in a bar while I was in college?” I offer and Sean grimace, pretending to look utterly unconvinced by my credentials. Clearly, I need to sweeten the deal. “I’ll work in lieu of paying rent? Or you can pay me with orgasms?”

Sean tips back his head and laughs. When he looks back at me, his eyes are bright, and I can’t help grinning back like an idiot. At last, I feel safe and happy again, back where I should have been all this time.

“I better give you an advance since you’re in such dire straits,” he mutters, rolling onto his back and pulling me up over his so my needy pussy is near his chin.

The fire showed me what’s really important in life, and that you can’t count on having a tomorrow. So I’m going to spend every day of it with this amazing man.