Courted by her Cougar (Cougar Creek Mates Shifter Romance Series Book 3) Read online

  Her heart rate jacked up as she spotted Flint’s cabin.

  The light was on upstairs.

  Was he still awake?

  Gods, she shouldn’t be doing this, not after witnessing what had happened to Deacon.

  She couldn’t stop herself though.

  The way Flint had touched her had fired her up, had shattered her inhibitions and destroyed her will to resist, and she needed more from him now.

  Needed everything.

  She eased onto his deck and hesitated for a heartbeat before taking hold of the door knob and twisting it.

  The door opened with a faint creak.

  Either Flint didn’t care about anyone walking in on him in the dead of night or he had been hoping she would find her way back to him.

  She carefully closed the door behind her and removed her boots so she wouldn’t make a noise as she crossed his cabin to the stairs at the far end, beyond the couch. She crept up them, pulse accelerating until it was hammering at her throat, ears twitching as she caught the sound of his breathing.

  She expected him to be sitting on the end of his bed, giving her a chastising and teasing look.

  Yasmin rounded the bend in the stairs.

  Flint was out cold, sprawled out on his back on top of the dark covers on his double bed.

  Utterly naked.

  She had seen him naked before, but damn, the sight of him stretched out before her made her stomach flip and heat.

  Yasmin tiptoed forwards and held her breath as she reached for the switch that dangled beside the bulb and turned off the light.

  He didn’t move.

  During her stealthy journey from Deacon to Flint’s cabin, she had convinced herself that she would simply thank him for not participating in hurting the other man, that she would deny the need that burned inside her.

  That plan went out of the window as she stared down at Flint, savouring every delicious inch of him.

  She touched her side and her chest as she looked at his wounds there. She didn’t have to worry. They had healed now.

  She hesitated though, gazing down at him, watching him sleep, unaware of her.

  She didn’t want to get him hurt, couldn’t bear the thought of him being beaten by Mason let alone actually witnessing it.

  But gods, she couldn’t make herself leave.

  She couldn’t stop herself from moving forwards through the darkness and pressing a knee into the mattress. She held her breath but Flint still didn’t stir. The exertion of climbing the mountain with his injuries must have caught up with him, knocking him out cold.

  Was it wrong of her to like that he wasn’t aware of her, that he was going to get the most delicious wake up call?

  She had to thank him after all.

  What better way than with her mouth?

  She pressed her right hand into the mattress near his hip and gathered her courage as she raked her eyes over him, the thought of what she was about to do driving out all of her fear, replacing it with only desire. Passion. Need.

  Yasmin lowered her head.

  Towards his hips.

  Liquid heat flooded her as she took his soft cock between her lips, tasting him for the first time, the thought of him waking to find her sucking on him stirring her desire to startling new heights. She had never done anything this wicked before, this forward.

  He pulsed in her mouth as she teased him with her tongue and grasped him with her left hand to keep him upright as he started to harden.

  He moaned and stretched, aware but not awake yet.

  Yasmin sucked softly, bit back a moan as he hardened further, growing in her mouth. She stroked her hand down his shaft, revealing the crown as he shot harder still, becoming rigid in her grip, and swirled her tongue around the blunt head.

  “Sweet gods,” he murmured and wriggled, restless beneath her.

  She lifted her eyes to him, wanting to see his face as she stroked him with her tongue, as she dipped it into the slit to tease him and took him back into her mouth to suck him.

  “Don’t stop,” he uttered and his head dropped back onto the pillows. He clutched them, squeezing them around his head. “Don’t fucking stop.”

  He rocked his hips, thrusting his cock into her mouth, a pained look on his face as his breathing quickened, his chest straining with each pant.

  Yasmin moved her hand on him in time with her mouth.

  “Oh gods.” His right hand shot down to grab her hair, fisted it and held her on him as she took him back into her mouth. He rocked faster, harder, driving between her lips, his soft grunts filling the silence before he went deathly still. “Wait… wait… wait.”

  He pulled her head up, breathing hard and fast, his grey eyes passion glazed.

  For a moment, she thought he was going to make her stop, was going to spout something about the rules.

  But then he pulled her up to him and kissed her, grunted only a little as he rolled onto his left side to wedge his right leg between her thighs. She moaned as he pressed it to her core and tangled her fingers in his dark hair as he kissed down her throat, devouring it with licks and nips that sent shivers arcing through her and had that liquid heat pooling lower.

  He tugged at her sweater and she didn’t resist him this time, let him pull the garment from her and her t-shirt too. He grunted again, grimacing as he tried to reach her bra.

  Yasmin pushed him onto his back. He tried to move but she held him firm, her palm pressing against his chest, keeping his back pinned to the mattress.

  “Stop hurting yourself.” She rose onto her knees and undid her bra for him, tossed it away and savoured the feel of his eyes burning into her breasts.

  He stared at them, eyes dark with need, and she leaned over him, bringing them to his lips, because he wasn’t the only one who wanted to feel them in his hands, in his mouth.

  She moaned as he palmed her left breast and pulled her right nipple into his mouth, suckling on the bud and sending more sparks skittering over her flesh. The heat between her thighs grew hotter, wetter still. She wriggled, rubbing her thighs together to make the most of it, needing a hit of pleasure to ease her desire before it came too much and stole control of her.

  His hands slipped to her waist and lower, drifting over her jeans. She moaned again as he undid them, as he pushed them down her hips and gathered her shorts with them, exposing her to the cool air of his cabin. His own low groan joined hers as he reached around her and stroked her, running his fingers up and down her damp folds.

  She was the one who wriggled now, unable to keep still as he teased her, stroking her nub as he suckled her nipple.

  She reached for his cock, fisted and pumped it as she moaned and writhed, ached for something more than this.

  It seemed Flint was on the same wavelength as her.

  He was out from under her in a flash and her front hit the bed as he pulled on her jeans, tugging them down her legs. She kicked at them, need mounting as anticipation swirled inside her. He pulled them off over her feet and before she could roll over to look at him, his front was plastered to her back. She moaned as his weight settled on her, as his hot length pressed between her buttocks and he ground against her, driving her into the mattress.

  Yasmin turned to look over her shoulder at him as he caught her jaw. She groaned as he kissed her and rocked against her, the tightness in her growing with each stroke. She needed more.

  She had thought it would go down differently, a little more missionary, but now he was behind her, his weight pinning her, body covering her, she wanted him like this. She wanted it wild and wicked.

  “Flint,” she uttered and raised her hips, rubbed and teased him.

  He groaned and eased back, and she moaned and shuddered as he stroked the blunt head of his cock down her slick folds, torturing her with the feel of it before he slid it back up and it nudged inside her. Her moan became a low sigh as he eased into her sheath, stretching and filling her.

  He caught her hip with his left hand and held it aga
inst the bed, keeping her pinned as he sank deeper, as deep as he could go in the position.

  “Fuck, Yasmin,” he murmured against her ear and slowly withdrew, shuddering as he drove back into her.

  Yasmin muttered something. Not coherent. The feel of him inside her, sliding in and out, filling her, was too good, stole all reasonable thought and shut down every process until only feeling remained.

  She moaned as he caught her jaw again and kissed her as he began to thrust harder, deeper, his entire body sliding along hers with each one. She spread her legs a little further and angled her hips upwards, and he grunted as he went deeper still, tearing another moan from her throat.

  He kissed her harder, possessing her mouth as he possessed her body, holding her immobile in his grip as he sent her soaring higher. Her heart pounded in time with his, her breaths coming in sharp bursts every time he drove into her. She pushed up on her elbows so she could kiss him more easily, breaking contact with his front. He moaned and deepened the kiss, clutched her hip and thrust harder.

  Gods.

  She groaned as he lowered his hand from her throat to her breasts, shivered as he toyed with her nipples as he plunged into her, each long stroke sending her rocking forwards into his kiss.

  The tightness that had been growing in her belly spread outwards, filling every inch of her, and she closed her eyes, breathed harder as it built, her focus narrowing to her body and the way Flint felt inside her, how perfect he fit her and how her entire being lit up whenever he brought them together.

  So good.

  So right.

  She cried out as stars detonated inside her and heat swept through her, her body locking up for a split second before it broke apart, quivering as release blasted along her every nerve ending, leaving her shattered.

  Flint grunted and rode her climax, drove harder into her as he gripped her hip and fondled her breast, and kissed what little breath she had from her.

  She moaned and shook, lost in the hazy warmth rolling through her as it collided with the feel of him still hard inside her, pushing towards his own release. She mustered the strength to clench him, and he grunted, growled and thrust harder, hips pistoning as she tightened around him.

  “Fuck, Yasmin,” he muttered and then grunted as he followed her, his entire body tensing as he drove into her and held himself there as his cock throbbed, hot seed filling her.

  The feel of him pulsing sent aftershocks through her, had her moaning with each one.

  He held her for long seconds, frozen above her. As his shudders subsided, he sank against her and then rolled off her, onto his right side.

  She moaned as he pulled her into his arms, not quite ready to move just yet. She wasn’t sure she would be ready to move for hours.

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to move at all as he plastered his front to her back and held her.

  Just held her.

  As if she was the most precious thing in the world.

  He pressed a kiss to her nape, sending a hot thrill through her, and nuzzled it.

  “I’m going to win tomorrow,” he murmured sleepily. “And then I’m going to win your heart.”

  Yasmin covered his hand on her waist with hers.

  He couldn’t win her heart.

  Because it was already his.

  CHAPTER 17

  Flint had made her leave before first light, and Yasmin had crept back to Rath’s cabin in the still darkness, warmed by the way Flint had held her in his arms for almost an hour as they had talked, by the way he had feathered his fingers over her cheek from time to time, his touch light and tender, a softness in his grey eyes that had lured her deeper under his spell, making her fall even harder for him.

  He had been gentle with her as she had told him more about her parents, and had opened to her too, telling her about his past, sharing things with her she now felt sure he had never shared with anyone.

  Not even his brothers.

  His oldest brother, Rath, had been waiting for her when she had eased his cabin door open, an unimpressed look on his face as he had stood by the couch with his arms folded across his bare chest. Rather than the talk she had felt coming, he had simply sighed and told her to bathe.

  Because apparently he could smell his brother on her.

  And that meant Mason would smell Flint all over her too.

  She had blushed at that, cheeks blazing hot, and had hurried away to hide in the bathroom until the flames had died down and Rath had gone back to bed.

  After bathing, she hadn’t been able to sleep. Thoughts of Flint and the next stage in the courting had driven her onto the deck to watch the stars, a blanket wrapped around her and a hot mug of tea in her hand to keep her warm. She wished it had been Flint wrapped around her still, keeping her toasty. She had thought they had talked enough, but she wasn’t sure she would ever tire of talking to him.

  It lifted the weight off her shoulders whenever she risked opening up to him and letting him into her heart, telling him things she had kept to herself her entire life.

  Including her age.

  The corners of her lips lifted.

  He had looked a little horrified when she had revealed she had a good seventy years on his tender one hundred and twenty one.

  The bastard had said that made her the cougar, not him.

  Yasmin had boxed his ears for that one.

  He had grinned like an idiot as he fended her off, his smile lighting up her world.

  And then he had kissed her.

  Gods, he had kissed her.

  It had been forceful, but sweet, filled with affection that had lightened her insides and left her floating in his arms as he had broken away from her to gather her into his arms and hold her again. She wasn’t sure she had ever felt so comfortable around a man, so safe and secure.

  Or loved.

  He had her feeling the whole spectrum of emotions, and she felt them keenly.

  Worried like hell as she paced the deck of Rath’s cabin, the sunlight beating down on her as she wore a trench in the planks.

  Ivy smiled at her whenever Yasmin glanced at her where she stood beside Rath on the other side of the railing that ran around the deck, offering her comfort she badly needed.

  Because Flint had gone out to hunt.

  It was the final challenge, a test of skill and strength done solely in his cougar form and one that would prove his ability to provide for her.

  She wasn’t worried that he would end up hurt or pick a fight with something bigger than he could handle since he had sworn he wasn’t going bear hunting.

  She was worried that Mason might see it as an opportunity to return with Flint as his prize for her. Gods, the image of her cougar in the jaws of that man turned her stomach, had her heart thundering against her ribs and hands shaking.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Rath drawled without looking at her, his focus never leaving the path that cut into the woods beyond the crowd that had gathered to wait for the two men to return. “It’s off limits. Taboo. It won’t happen.”

  Yasmin tried to take solace from that as she rubbed trembling hands over the long sleeves of her cream t-shirt, but she couldn’t convince her mind to let go of the image.

  Flint and Mason had been gone since sunrise, and it had to be close to noon now. What was taking him so long?

  She needed him back with her, needed to see he was safe, because she could feel he was hurt. She couldn’t tell whether it was his old injuries causing the pain because he had been required to shift or whether he had picked up new wounds.

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Ivy offered with another tender smile, her dark eyebrows furrowed above her hazel eyes. Her chestnut ponytail blew in the warm breeze, caressing the shoulders of her green t-shirt, and she swept rogue strands of hair back, keeping them out of her face. “Rath won’t let anything happen to Flint.”

  Rath wasn’t the one out there though. There was only Flint and Mason. No one would know if Mason chose to attack Flint, not until it
was too late to do anything.

  Even Cobalt looked worried as he perched at the end of the deck, his back against the corner post and his arms folded across his chest, causing his black t-shirt to stretch tight over his muscles. His grey-gold eyes had been locked on the path into the pines from the moment his brother had headed that way and he hadn’t spoken since then, not even when Rath had tried to reassure him that their brother would be fine.

  A pretty black-haired woman stood at the end of the crowd closer to the woods, an older woman beside her, glanced at Cobalt, a flicker of concern in her blue-grey eyes. Did she know him? He didn’t look at her whenever she risked glancing at him, kept his eyes fixed on the woods, body perfectly motionless as he waited.

  He suddenly tensed and her nerves shot into overdrive.

  “What is it?” Yasmin rushed to him, sure he had sensed something she couldn’t, convinced he had felt pain in his brother that she had missed and Flint was in danger.

  Cobalt pushed away from the post, his arms dropping to his sides.

  Her pulse jacked up.

  “Is something wrong?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked from him to Rath and found he was tense too, alert now.

  A low growl sounded, a noise that was a strange mix of effort and frustration.

  She whipped her head around, her eyes darting to the woods.

  A beautiful golden cougar backed out of it, his long tail twitching back and forth, speaking of his irritation as the darker tip cut violently through the air.

  Flint.

  His front half was lowered and his body coiled whenever he jerked backwards, another growl peeling from him.

  Her eyes widened as he reached the clearing and she got a better look at what he was dragging.

  It was enormous.

  Huge horns curled from the tawny sheep’s head and the animal was almost as big as Flint, had to weigh close to the same with those thick dusky horns. No wonder it had taken him so long to return with the kill.

  “Must have gone a long way to catch that one,” Cobalt muttered, a hint of relief in his voice.