Carol’s Mate: Chapter Eight

Carol stared at the open textbook in front of her and sighed. Unfortunately she couldn’t concentrate worth a damn. Not since The Kiss. It had happened over a week ago—ten days, three hours, and twenty-two minutes, not that she was counting—and she still hadn’t been able to put it out of her mind.

Once again she went through her litany of reasons why a relationship between them wouldn’t work. They were two completely different species. Her kind were known for their rough sexual play. She might do serious damage to his fragile human body, and he didn’t have a shape-shifter’s ability to change and heal. Already she’d had to stop herself from clawing his back and sinking her fangs into his neck. And then there was the fact he didn’t—couldn’t—know what she was. Sex brought out the beast. In orgasm, it was impossible to control the shift. Glowing eyes, fangs, and nails turned to claws were a little difficult to explain.

Strong sexual attraction aside, this guy really got to her on an emotional level. Getting more deeply involved with Mark would only lead to heartache. Once these last two semesters were finished, she was returning to Refuge and her pack to complete her internship and, later, to work. She’d settle down with one of her pack mates, push out some pups, and life would continue on.

She couldn’t see a city boy like Mark being willing to settle in some small, one-traffic-light town way up in the mountains, surrounded by a bunch of shape-shifters and humans with extrasensory perception. Even if he was, there was still the fact they were genetically incompatible. She’d like to have children one day—at least two. Maybe more. That wouldn’t be possible with a human as a mate.

Resolve once more firm in her mind, she focused her attention on the text, only to have a determined knock at the door interrupt her. Carol groaned. She had end-of-semester exams coming. She needed to study.

She rose, went to the town-house door, and looked out the peephole. It was Mark. She was too stunned to question how he’d discovered where she lived. She’d certainly never told him. Not that it was a big secret or anything.

She leaned her forehead against the wood, breathing hard as the arousal that had never completely dissipated since their kiss coursed through her body, gaining strength. This close, she could smell him. His lust hit her like a tidal wave.

Carol took a step backward as he pounded on the door again.

“Carol, open up. I know you’re in there.”

With her car in the driveway, there was no way she could pretend the house was empty. She had to deal with him, with this. “Go home, Mark.”

“I’m not leaving. Open the door.” When she didn’t respond, he continued banging, causing the whole frame to shudder. “Carol!”

“Go away. I’m studying.” She couldn’t open the door to him. If she did, all the reasons in the world wouldn’t matter. She’d be on him in a heartbeat.

“Carol, please.” He sounded like he was pressed right against the wood. “I know I promised to leave you alone but…”

She came forward and placed her hand on the door. “Mark,” she sighed.

“Baby, let me in.”

She could fight his demand, but his pleas? Her hand moved and slid back the chain, almost with a mind of its own, then flipped the dead bolt. When she reached the doorknob, she hesitated, her conscience warring with her instincts.

“Baby, please don’t send me away,” he begged.

It was the nudge she needed to let him in. “This is a bad idea,” she stated as she slowly opened the door.

“Then we’ll just have to make it good,” he pronounced as he strode inside and kicked the door closed. He stripped off his jacket and let it fall to the floor as he reached for her. “Woman, you’re driving me crazy. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. All I can think about is you.”

“This is nothing more than an intense physical attraction. We’ll get over it,” she said a bit desperately, hands braced on his chest in a weak attempt to hold him off, fighting what she knew to be a losing battle. Already her wolf was stirring, adding heat to the lust coursing through her system.

“Too late,” he muttered before his mouth claimed hers in a kiss that blasted apart the last of her remaining barriers.

Carol raised her arms to circle his neck and clung to him, plastering her body against his. Mark’s head twisted from side to side, searching for the perfect angle, his tongue deep in her mouth, tangling with and stroking hers until her senses were overwhelmed with the taste and scent of this forbidden human.

They fell against the wall in a tangle of groping hands and fevered kisses. Carol heard herself growl and tried to stop.

“Shit, that’s sexy. Do it again,” he ordered, gasping for air.

The growl morphed to a moan as his mouth latched on to her T-shirt-covered breast. She clutched his shoulders and had to make a conscious effort to keep her claws from sprouting.

“You make me crazy the way you go around braless. I see these tits, and I want to taste them, tease them. See how much of it I can fit into my mouth.” He stripped her T-shirt over her head, tossed it to the side, and gazed at her breasts with what appeared to be reverence. “They’re even prettier than I imagined.”

Mark flicked one of her nipples with his thumb, and it instantly hardened, while her hips jerked forward. His gaze flew to hers. “How sensitive are they?”

She hissed. “Very.”

The grin he gave her was savagely sexy. “This is going to be fun.”

He dipped his head, mouth opened wide, and latched onto her breast. He consumed the whole thing. Carol had never been happier her breasts were small.

Mark drew so strongly on it, her nipple was flattened against the top of his mouth. She let out a keening cry, and grabbed his head, holding him to her.

He switched sides. She went a little crazy, clawing at his shirt, trying to get to skin. He stopped long enough to help her remove it before his mouth was right back at her breasts, his hands cupping her ass.

Carol ground herself on his cock. The feel of his hard flesh pressed to her soft contours was exquisite. Mark inserted a leg between hers and rubbed his sex against her. Back to the wall, she arched into him and rode the ridge of his erection, the flimsy material of her gray jersey shorts and cotton panties no barrier.

“Need…to…be…in…you…now,” he panted as he ripped open the zipper and shoved down his pants.