Claimed by the Mate, Volume 1 Page 5

  Ronan was watching the trail. A moment later he grinned. “It appears Wils decided to escort Steph inside.” He started walking again.

  “I thought we were more isolated, a lot farther from each other.” Cherry turned to Ronan.

  “You’re really quite close to one another,” he said. “You can thank Brad for the sense of privacy. The design is all his baby. He’s an architect who plans his structures to blend with the landscaping. He’s pretty well-known, actually, but he has a personal interest in this place. Brad wanted guests to be more aware of the forest around them than of the other cabins, so the six cabins form a half circle behind the lodge, but each is hidden from the others, and the lodge.”

  They’d only walked a few more steps before Ronan stopped and pointed to a small trail leading into the woods. “Cherry, I’m going to walk your sister to her cabin. I’ll be right back.”

  Except Cherry had a feeling Ronan would much prefer to linger, and just as strong a sense that Christa hoped he would. “Take your time,” she said. “The trail’s easy to follow and I think I know where I am. Thank you, Ronan. Today couldn’t have been more fun.”

  He really did have a beautiful smile. “You’re welcome,” he said. “You’re sure you’ll be okay on you own?”

  “Not a problem. Now if it was Christa…” She grinned at her sister.

  Christa groaned. “She’s referring to my nonexistent sense of direction. I can get lost in the parking lot at Walmart.”

  Ronan merely shook his head. “Then I’m definitely walking you to your door. Thanks, Cherry.”

  Cherry gave Christa a hug and whispered, “Enjoy yourself.”

  Ronan grabbed Christa’s hand; she waved and followed him down the trail. Cherry took the wider trail that would take her directly to the lodge. Giving Christa time with Ronan was the least she could do for a sister who cared enough to trick her into coming along on this most amazing adventure.

  Chapter 6

  Cherry’d only taken a few steps before she saw the back side of the lodge through the trees. She decided to go that way first—just in case Brad or Cain was there. Brad was behind the bar making margaritas for Fred and Suni, but there was no sign of Cain.

  “Hey, Cherry. You’re back!”

  “Hi, Brad. The margaritas look so good.” She slowly parked her butt on one of the stools at the bar. Her legs were really sore from all the hiking.

  “Trust me, they are,” Suni said. “Did you have fun on the hike?”

  “It was terrific, though my muscles might disagree. You’ll have to ask Darnell about the day’s activities. Ronan and Wils are better than any cruise directors for making things fun.”

  Brad set the drinks on the counter for Suni and Fred. After they each took theirs and left, Brad smiled at Cherry. “Would you like one?”

  Regretfully, Cherry shook her head. “I’d love one, but I need to go and get a shower. I stopped by on the way to my cabin because I wondered if Cain had checked on the pups today, if they were doing okay.”

  “He’s there now. I’m sure we’ll get an update later this evening.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you at dinner, then.”

  Before she could step down from the stool, Brad said, “Hang on a minute,” and turned back to the blender. In mere seconds he was pouring a fresh margarita into a broad glass with salt coating the rim. “It’s plastic,” he said, tapping the side of the glass. “Shower proof. Can you think of anything more decadent than a cold margarita and a hot shower?”

  She laughed as she took the drink, then took a sip and stared at him over the salted rim of the glass. “Delicious. And yes, Brad, I can. It would be a lot more decadent if you were sharing the shower and the margarita with me.” The second the words left her mouth, she knew she had to be fire-engine red. She never talked like that, flirted that openly.

  But Brad didn’t seem to mind at all. His eyes lit up and the look he gave Cherry curled her toes. “I have to agree with you on that one,” he said. Then he leaned close, tipped her chin up with his fingertips, and gave her a kiss that included the sweep of his tongue against hers.

  “Go, Cherry. Leave the door unlocked. If I can get away, I’ll come join you.”

  * * *

  She left the door unlocked, but she didn’t really expect him. It didn’t matter. Not really. She had her fantasies and her margarita, but she’d set the drink aside and was rinsing conditioner out of her hair when she heard the shower door click.

  “Don’t be frightened. It’s just me.” Warm hands caressed her shoulders, warmer lips found the side of her neck, and she shivered, though she couldn’t blame it on the air temperature—that had to be rising from the heat coming off Brad’s body.

  She kept her eyes closed as Brad caressed her and the water beat against her neck and back. He cupped her full breasts and she moaned when he teased the tips of each one with his tongue and teeth. Then he pulled her close and hugged her, resting his cheek against her wet hair.

  She sucked in a quick breath at the heat of his erection pressing against her belly. He was huge and so hot it felt as if he branded her.

  “I’ll wait for you in the other room”

  She hadn’t opened her eyes, hadn’t said a word, but he was gone.

  She finished rinsing herself and then turned off the water with shaking hands. She hadn’t brought her nightgown into the bathroom, so she wrapped a big towel around herself and walked out into the main room.

  Brad lay on her bed, all sprawled out and relaxed, with a big smile on his face and very little else. The workout shorts he wore didn’t hide much at all. His chest was all hard planes and ridges, and she wanted nothing more than to run her hand across his flat stomach. But it was the blatant arousal tenting his shorts that took Cherry’s breath. She sucked in a sharp gasp.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I hope I didn’t frighten you.”

  When Cherry didn’t say anything—catching her breath took all her concentration—he curled easily into a sitting position and patted the bed beside him. “Sit down, Cherry. Talk to me. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want or aren’t comfortable with. I will never do anything without your full consent. Are we clear on that?”

  She nodded and took a big swallow of her margarita. The ice was mostly melted, the salt all gone, but thank goodness there was still enough tequila in the glass to burn all the way down.

  It reminded her she was way too sober for this. Whatever this was.

  But she liked Brad. A lot. He wasn’t just a really nice guy—he was totally hot, his muscles rippling under satiny skin, the shadow of his beard this late in the day so sexy she wanted to stroke his cheek and nibble along his jawline. Instead, she sat.

  On the edge of the mattress, as far from him as she could get.

  He reached over and took her empty glass out of her hand and set it on the table beside the bed. Then he patted the covers beside him. “Move closer?”

  She really couldn’t find her voice, but she nodded. Closer was okay. She could do closer.

  She scooted over, careful to keep the towel wrapped tightly around her breasts, covering her belly and her hips and thighs. Thank goodness it was a big towel.

  “You did invite me here, remember?”

  She nodded. Felt her skin flush, knew she was beet red. She didn’t trust herself to talk.

  “Do you have any idea how much I’ve been thinking of you since you crawled out of that car yesterday, all sweet and sexy and rumpled from your long trip?”

  This time she shook her head. How could anyone think she looked sexy when they’d gotten here? She’d been dirty and sweaty, her hair in tangles from driving with the window open, her clothes all wrinkled.

  He laughed. “I know what you’re thinking, that you were travel worn and I must have a screw loose, but you were—you are—the sexiest woman I’ve seen in so long. That’s mainly why I’m here, so I could tell you that. Well, plus I wanted to see that luscious body of yours. I can’t stay long—I have to g
o get some things ready for dinner to feed all of you starving women and your voracious appetites.”

  She smiled at that, at the thought that there were only men seeing to their every need. Brad merely traced the line of her jaw with one finger.

  “I hope you realize I’m living proof that, yes, men can cook.”

  She bit her lips to keep from laughing. He made her feel so good, all warm and tingly, and it wasn’t all about sex. It was about being happy as much as anything.

  She hadn’t really thought of that. Brad made her happy, mainly because he was. She turned to him and ran her fingers through his thick hair. “I think you’re living proof that men can do a lot of things.”

  He shot her a sexy grin. “That’s good to know. Does that mean you’ll let me kiss you?”

  Shrugging, she smiled and said, “I haven’t stopped you before, have I?”

  “No,” he said. “You certainly haven’t.”

  She bit her lips to keep from laughing, but Brad grabbed her around the waist and lifted her onto his lap, moving so quickly she didn’t have time to come up with a reason for him not to pick her up as if she weighed nothing at all.

  And wasn’t that a nice surprise … he was definitely strong, and he made her feel so—well, not small. She would never think of herself as small, but he made her feel feminine. Desirable.

  His big arms came around her, large, warm hands stroking her bare back above the damp towel. Her breasts, while covered in the towel, were pressed against his broad chest, while his lips covered hers in the sweetest of kisses. He nibbled at her mouth and ran his tongue along the seam of her lips until she parted for him.

  He deepened the kiss until “sweet” wasn’t the word that came to mind at all. His tongue tangled with hers, his lips moved over her lips, but his hands … his hands had somehow slipped beneath the towel to stroke her naked back, and it was all so amazing, the pressure of his mouth, the sensual delight of his big hands roaming the length of her spine, stroking the flare of her hips.

  Her breathing grew labored and so did Brad’s. She felt the thick length of his erection against her hip and didn’t complain at all when he lifted her once again, turning her so that she straddled his lap and that thick length rode between her legs, the soft fabric of his shorts hiding nothing as they connected beneath the rumpled towel.

  He growled—that was the only sound she could compare it to—and tugged the thick towel from between them, freeing her breasts, her whole body, to his gaze. When she was entirely bare, he groaned, lifting her breasts, one in each hand, palming the fullness of them, pinching her tender nipples until Cherry was the one moaning.

  Not from the pain—this was the sweetest pain she’d ever known. She felt each pinch like a bolt of lightning streaking from her nipples to her clit. Brad dipped his head and took one nipple in his mouth, sucking hard, using his tongue and teeth, while he continued pinching and kneading her other breast, driving her higher, further, than any man had taken her before.

  She wasn’t a virgin, but she wasn’t experienced, either. Even so, what Brad was doing, what he made her feel, was so incredible she didn’t want him to stop.

  He lifted her again and she thought he might push his shorts down and enter her, but they weren’t using any protection and she had a moment of regret that they’d have to stop.

  Except he laid her on the bed with her legs over the edge, and then he knelt on that small braided rug, gently pried her legs apart, and merely gazed at her for what felt like a very long time.

  She pushed herself to a sitting position and he glanced up and grinned at her.

  “Dinner might be a few minutes late tonight,” he said. “I’m starting with my appetizer.”

  She was trembling when he leaned close and kissed her with lips already damp from their kisses. Trembling so hard her arms wouldn’t hold her like this, she lay down on the bed with a soft whimper of absolute pleasure and complete surrender.

  He slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her closer to his mouth.

  Used his tongue and teeth the way he had when he’d kissed her mouth, except now he was licking between those nether lips, using his tongue to circle her clit in a steady swirl that took her so close to the edge that she bucked her hips. His fingers tightened on her butt and she wanted him inside her, wanted to feel the full, hard thrust of him, his solid weight over her.

  Instead, he used his tongue and then his fingers, slipping his hands from her bottom, pinching her nipple with one set of fingers, while thrusting two fingers deep inside her.

  The sensations rocked her from her breasts to her crotch, spread to her fingers and toes. She cried out and arched against his mouth, flying apart in a most spectacular explosion of sensations. Totally caught in her climax yet so aware of Brad, of his strength, of his flawless touch as he laved between her legs with the flat of his tongue, licking the fluids of her release.

  She heard his deep groan, felt the tight clasp of his fingers on her as her body finally began to relax from the taut spasm of her climax. She should have been embarrassed—she’d never before put on a show like that for any man, but then, no other man had ever done this to her before. She lay there gasping for breath while Brad eased her down. Then he crawled up over her naked body until she felt the damp press of his erection between her legs.

  She opened her eyes and he was right there, smiling at her, those dark brown eyes twinkling.

  “I have to go,” he said. Then he blushed.

  “I wish you could stay. I mean, that was just … but you didn’t—”

  His blush went even deeper. “Actually,” he said. “I did.”

  Cherry frowned. He still had his shorts on. She was the only one who had climaxed.

  Wasn’t she?

  “I need to go back to my cabin and get a quick shower so I can go to the lodge and take care of the last minute details for dinner.” He kissed her and then pushed himself away from the bed. Away from Cherry. And when he stood, there was a decidedly dark stain on the front of his shorts.

  He was still red in the face when he turned and walked into the bathroom. Cherry sat up and wrapped the towel around herself and then finger-combed her damp hair. She heard the water running, and a few minutes later Brad walked back into the room. He’d rinsed his shorts off and now, at least, the wet cotton was all the same color.

  He walked up to Cherry, put his arms around her, and kissed her. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “that was a first for me. I have never, not once, come all over myself while making a woman orgasm.” He kissed her again. “Now, when I tell you that you’re hot and you turn me on, will you stop arguing with me?”

  She had no words, not one, so she dumbly nodded as Brad kissed her once again and opened the door.

  He paused there for a moment. “I almost forgot. I have a surprise for you tonight. Don’t make plans, okay?”

  She stared at him, still shaken from her climax. From the knowledge of his. “Okay.”

  He shut the door and just like that he was gone. Cherry stood there for a full minute, staring at the closed door, thinking of how he’d made her feel. Smiling over what she’d made him feel. It might have been a first for him, but it was definitely a first for her.

  A truly handsome guy, the sexiest guy she’d ever met, lost control because of her. Oh. My. She sat down on the edge of the bed and laughed.

  It was a long time before she stopped laughing.

  And then she wondered what kind of surprise he had for her tonight.

  Chapter 7

  Cherry watched the small group sitting together at one end of the long table and wondered if she’d ever wipe the smile off her face. Steph was next to Wils, Christa had latched on to Ronan, and Brad hadn’t left Cherry’s side all evening. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any better, Cain walked in, grabbed a couple of plates at the buffet, loaded them with enough food for at least four people, and sat on Cherry’s opposite side.

  The moment he sat, she turned, practically b
ouncing in her seat, and asked, “How are the pups? Are they okay? Is the mother okay?”

  Cain paused, his fork filled with grilled salmon almost to his mouth. “Great, yes, and yes, and I’m starving. Give me a minute!”

  Cherry sat back, laughing, as he neatly shoveled in salmon and rice, roast beef and potatoes, a couple of pieces of French bread, and an entire plate of Caesar salad. Conversation went on around them as before, though Cherry was fascinated that a man as trim and slim as Cain could polish off so much food in such a hurry—and still manage to do it with impeccable manners.

  Finally, he pushed his plates away and sat back. “Okay, Cherry. Barring any unseemly belching, I can now give you an update.” He glanced toward Brad and both of them burst out laughing. “Hey,” Cain said, giving Brad and Cherry a look that said he was being terribly misunderstood and mistreated. “While you, Cherry, were out hiking through the woods with Wils and Ronan, with bounteous lunches, I’m sure, and Brad was here cooking and nibbling as he worked, I was watching over mama wolf and her pups. I haven’t eaten since around six this morning.”

  Brad held up both hands. “Did I say anything?”

  Cherry shook her head and looked at Brad. “No, you didn’t, but in defense of poor, mistreated Cain, here, I bet you were thinking of something horrible.” Then she turned toward Cain. “Okay, Cain. I defended you. Now I want to hear everything.”

  “Well…” He grinned and then carefully wiped his mouth with his napkin, making Cherry wait even after she’d so graciously defended him. She was ready to throttle him.

  “The pups are really healthy and strong in spite of the fact that they were born so late in the year. Generally, the mothers give birth in early spring, and it’s almost June. The pack is healthy, so I imagine these little guys will do fine. The male brought Mama a couple of rabbits today, and she appears to have plenty of milk. The deer herd looks healthy, so there should be more than enough game for the pack next winter.”