Excerpt

Exhausted and almost numb with fear, Mel walked into the hospital, unsurprised to find Callum waiting for her.

Her breath caught at the sight of him. The handsome young man just growing into his skin had filled out in a way that left her mouth dry and her stomach doing strange little flutters.

Still handsome, but with a maturity and hardness to him that hadn’t been there in the past, he was all muscle. She knew how hard he worked at the ranch and suspected those muscles would be hard as iron.

She took a deep breath and made the mistake of looking into his eyes.

She didn’t know how such dark eyes could be warm. She only knew that the chill that had gone all the way to her bones seemed to ease somewhat. “Callum.”
He stepped closer, close enough for her stomach to knot, and opened his arms. “Come here, baby.”

Remembering that he had a girlfriend, who could be his fiancée by now, Mel shook her head and took a step back. “No. I’ll fall apart. How is she?”

Callum dropped his arms. “She’s still in ICU, but she’s stable. Just like the doctor told you, they’re going to keep her in the ICU for a couple of days. If everything goes okay, she should be able to go home in a week.”

“Home.” She didn’t relish going to her father’s house.

Callum took her hand in his. “Come on. Betty’s waiting for you.”

Her hand felt so small in his large rough one. It reminded her of another hand, a rougher one, a hand that hadn’t held hers since the accident. “Where’s my father?”

“He left about an hour ago.”

“He knew I was on my way?”

A muscle worked in his jaw. “He knew.”

When they turned another corner, Mel’s knees buckled at the sight of Betty, stretched out on a padded bench, her head on a hospital pillow and a hospital blanket tucked under her chin.

When Callum released her hand to walk over to Betty, Mel caught his arm and shook her head. “Let her sleep.” Setting her purse and coat on one of the chairs, she gestured toward the nurses’ station, barely visible in the distance. “I’m going to go see if they’ll let me see her.”

“They will. The doctor already approved it.”

Mel couldn’t help but smile at that. “Your doing?”

Callum shrugged. “He knew you were driving from Cheyenne in this weather. Go see your aunt so we can all go back to the ranch.”

Instead of taking the time to argue with him, Mel started toward the nurses’ station, anxious to see her aunt.

Callum stared after her, still trying to recover from the punch to the gut he’d felt when he first saw her.

Before, she’d been beautiful.

Now, she was absolutely stunning.

Even tired and scared, she took his breath away.

Her dark brown hair, secured at the back of her head, shone with good health and made his fingers itch to loosen it and run his fingers through it.

Her eyes, a brilliant green, had appeared darker under the harsh hospital lights and held a sadness and exhaustion that he vowed to himself to fix.

The sweater dress she wore clung to curves that made his mouth water.
Scraping a hand over his face, Callum sighed and turned at the rustle behind him. “We’re going to keep her here.”

“Yes.” Betty sat up and touched his arm. “This is where she belongs. She needs people around her who love her.”

“But we don’t know what kind of life she has in Cheyenne. I’m not taking her from a good life.”

Betty rose and folded the blanket. “She can have a better life here.”

Amused by Betty’s automatic defense, Callum smiled faintly. “That’ll be for her to decide. Right now we just have to worry about getting Jean better. They’ll both have to stay on the ranch. After hearing what her father’s done, there’s no way I can allow her to stay with him.”

Keeping one eye on the hallway in anticipation of Mel’s return, Callum clenched his jaw. “Has he been abusive to Jean?”

“No.” Betty pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No. She didn’t take her brother’s shit. After Mel left, he’s the one who asked Jean to come live with him. He needed someone to cook and clean, and she was tired of living alone. Plus, she thought she was safer with a man in the house and she appreciated having a man in the house, especially since her brother knows his way around tools. You know for yourself how often Jay has to fix things around the ranch house.”

“Hmm.” Hearing the truth in Betty’s tone, Callum turned his attention to Mel as she came toward him. As he slipped on his coat, he watched her, wondering if she was aware of the tears streaming down her face.

Without a word, he held out his arms again, but this time instead of stopping, she kept coming closer until she pressed her face against his chest and began to sob, her cries ripping his heart to shreds. “It’ll be okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

He lifted her high against his chest while Betty gathered her coat and placed it over her before slipping into her own and gathering their purses. “Everything’ll be all right.”

He pushed down his anger at her father.

Dealing with him would have to wait.

Right now, the precious bundle in his arms and soaking his shirt needed him.

This time, he would be there for her.

He took her coat from Betty and bundled her into it.

“Come on, baby. Let me take you home.”

Excerpt

Looking at the other items, his face hardened even more. “Bubble bath? Chocolate syrup? Have you been getting kinky with somebody else, darlin’?” His grip tightened, and he jerked her against him.

His erection pressed against her stomach, and she groaned as her body betrayed her. She remembered all too clearly the pleasure that long, thick cock could bring. Fighting the memories of loving in the dark, in the hay, in the shower—she fought the memories that threatened to consume her. She wouldn’t think about it. Jack’s tight features sent a shiver through her, and she shifted restlessly as a rush of fresh moisture dampened her panties even more.

“If I find out you’ve let another man in your bed, I’m gonna paddle your ass good.”

She jumped as a sharp slap landed on her bottom. “Damn you, Jack!”

Jack gripped her chin and lifted it. “You’re mine, and you’d better never forget it. You’ll remember when I have you over my lap and your tight ass is bright red. You liked that before, didn’t you, darlin’? I’ve spent the last three months remembering how hot you are in bed. I’ve jerked off many times thinking about that tight ass over my lap. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about how much you like your ass paddled while I’ve been away.”

Incredulous, Emily felt a fresh rush of moisture soak her panties. The heat from her bottom began to spread and awakened her arousal to a level it hadn’t been for the last three months. He was the only man who could make her feel this way.

Why did she have to fall for someone like him?

She’d never in her life met someone like Jack, a cowboy with a dark side that sent her to heights she’d never even imagined. Dominant and controlling, he brought those qualities to the bedroom and taught her things about herself she’d never known, things she wished like hell she could forget. As soon as they got between the sheets, he owned her, body, heart, and soul.

She couldn’t resist him, but her heart demanded that she try her best. She’d never survive it if she weakened and let him back in her bed, only to watch him leave again. “I’m not like that anymore.”

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Jack picked up the last item she’d purchased, raising a brow at her outburst. “You’re going to learn that everything you do is my business. Frozen waffles? I guess you’re planning to have company for breakfast. Well, darlin’, you will. I’ll still be here in the morning after spending tonight in your bed. I love waffles.”

Emily grabbed the waffles out of his hand and started to put the groceries away. “You are not getting back in my bed. I have no idea why you decided to come back here, but I wish you would leave.”

Startled, she jumped when his hot hands gripped her waist and turned her, lifting her onto the counter. He’d done it so fast, she hadn’t had time to react. He took advantage of her surprise, spreading her thighs and pushing his way between them before she could stop him.

He leaned in close and pulled her against him. When his denim-covered cock pressed against her slit, Emily swallowed the moan that began in her throat. When his hands came up to cup her breasts, the moan could no longer be held back.

“You’re wrong about that. I will be the one sharing your bed tonight. I’m not leaving. And don’t try to tell me you don’t want me to. I know you, Em, maybe better than you know yourself.”

“Jack, I—oh!”

He ripped her blouse open, sending buttons flying everywhere. A flick of his finger opened the front clasp of her bra. He placed his hot, heavily callused hands over her breasts, running his thumbs back and forth over her pebbled nipples. “Those little nipples are hard already, and I’d be willing to bet you’re soaking wet. You’re mine, Emily. You know damned well I can have you anytime I want you.”

“Damn you, Jack,” she whimpered. She couldn’t keep from crying out at the erotic pleasure of his rough hands on her sensitive breasts or the indescribable feel of his thumbs rasping over her aching nipples. Her hands tightened on his wide shoulders, holding on to him as her senses spun out of control.

“All mine, Em. Damn, I’ve missed you.”

“You left,” she moaned. Oh God. When he touched her, she couldn’t even think anymore, and she struggled to remember what she wanted to say. “I told you…ohh…told you if…if you left, not t-to…oh God. I’m not yours anymore.”

Leaning into his caress, Emily lifted her face, desperate to have his lips on hers. When his mouth covered hers, she didn’t even care that he chuckled. Arching, she pushed her breasts more firmly into his hands, moaning with pleasure when he gave her what she needed.

He always seemed to know her body even better than she did. She knew he could take her to heights she’d never even dreamed existed.

He scared the hell out of her.

But that didn’t keep her from craving him. She dropped her hands to his chest, fisting his soft shirt in her hands to pull him closer, loving the feel of hard muscle beneath them. His groan brought her to her senses, and she pushed against his chest again, wrenching her mouth from his. “No, damn you, Jack.”

She pushed his hands away from her breasts and used her tattered shirt to cover them, fumbling to tie the two ends together. “I’m not going to let you do this to me again. When you left, I told you never to come back.” Emily hated the tears that streamed down her face and hated that it warmed her when he smiled at her and wiped them away. “Oh, Jack. Why did you come back? What do you want from me?”

Jack took her face between his hands, wiping the tears that continued to fall. “When I left, I told you I’d be back. We had a fight. Big deal. I told you when I left that I would be back at the end of the circuit. How the hell could you have thought I left for good?”

Emily shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but feeling anything but. “I figured you’d realized that we both made a mistake. And if you think you’re going to breeze in and out of my life whenever you get the urge, you’d better think again.”

He lifted her left hand, touching the ring that he’d placed there three months ago. “Oh, I have the urge. You’re mine, darlin’. ’Til death do us part, remember?”

Excerpt

When she put out her hand, they both moved closer. She petted them both, amazed at how silky their coats felt. “Their tails are wagging. Does that mean they’re happy?”

Wes chuckled. “I would be happy, too, if you petted me like that.”

Both wolves moved even closer, putting their heads on her knees as she continued to stroke their soft fur. “I should be running out the door screaming my head off. As unbelievable as all of this is, I guess growing up with all Nana’s stories has made it a little easier to accept.”

She stopped petting them and sat back, looking down to where the two of them still rested their heads on her knees. “It’s still going to take some getting used to. And even though I’m starting to believe all this, I can’t be your mate. It’s not possible.. There has to be some kind of mistake.”

Wes leaned close, crowding her. “It’s not a mistake.” His mouth covered hers, his lips soft, but firm as they moved on hers, his tongue pushing past her lips to sweep inside. His hands warmed wherever they touched. When he covered her breasts, a whimper escaped as her nipples pressed into his palms.

When he lifted his head, her eyes fluttered opened. His hand caressed her jaw before settling there and running a thumb over her lips. “It’s definitely not a mistake.”

Lacey moaned when his mouth closed over her breast, and she hated that her shirt and bra kept her from feeling the moist heat on her bare skin. She gripped his shoulders, her eyes going wide to see Lars and Damien shift back, both very naked and very aroused.

Both men moved gracefully, their bodies leanly muscled, their chest lightly sprinkled with silky looking hair. Their cocks stood thick and long, rising toward their stomach, the large heads dark and menacing.

Damien’s smile was lethal as he watched what Wes did to her. He and Lars moved toward her, stroking their cocks as Seth turned her head and captured her lips with his.

“I’m not mating with her in a damned chair,” Lars muttered.

Seth nibbled at her lips, stroking them with his tongue. “Let’s go upstairs. We’re going to need the room.” He deepened the kiss just as Wes lifted her shirt, unfastened her bra and ran his thumbs lightly over her nipples.

“Look at how beautiful our mate’s breasts are. Small, firm and pretty pink nipples.” She felt his mouth on her bare breast, licking at her nipple teasingly and making her cry out.

Seth swallowed her cries, angling her head to his liking and sweeping her mouth again, tangling his tongue with hers as she whimpered.

Another mouth closed over her other breast, the sensation nearly overwhelming. It felt incredibly erotic to have three men’s mouths on her at once. While Seth kissed her with long, drugging kisses that made her limp with need, Wes teased a nipple. Running his tongue over it teasingly, he occasionally scraped it with his teeth, making her cry out each time.

Another mouth, she didn’t know whose, nibbled his way around her other breast, not touching her nipple at all. She arched, desperate to have him touch her there.

Her hands gripped Wes’s shoulder and Seth’s, fisting the material of their shirts in her hands as she struggled to get closer. The pleasure amazed her. Overwhelmed her.