In Heat: Mating Call (In Heat Shapeshifter Romance Series #2) Page 16

  She just smiled and kept rubbing. His purr deepened, rumbling through both him and her, and turning her bones to jelly.

  Erik tried to push her hand away again, but she went rigid, making it impossible to do so without risking accidently hurting her.

  He ran his eyes down to her bathrobe. It was falling open slightly, revealing the curve of her breasts. His cock twitched as his heart began a steady thumping against his chest. He slipped his hand into her robe and cupped her breast. The motion of her fingers against his ear slowed as he palmed her, grazing the nipple with the heel of his hand.

  When her hand stopped completely, he pulled her closer with his one around her waist and kissed her slow and deep. She sighed and then moaned against his mouth.

  “We'll be late to work,” she said, trying to pull away from him.

  He tightened his hold. “You're sick. You can't possibly go to work today. I'm calling in for you. As for me, I own the place. I don't think anyone would ask why I'm late.”

  She shrugged and kissed him, as though that was all the reasoning she needed to take a day off work. He was glad that she wasn't going to fight him on this. He didn't want her going into work, not now that Kristian knew where her office was. He was bound to go back there today.

  Kim's fingers dragged him out of his thoughts as they trailed down his chest, nails scraping. He growled and kissed her harder, circling her nipple with his fingertip. It hardened and his cock ached at the thought of sucking it into his mouth.

  He pulled back and looked at Kim. She was smiling and there was dark desire in her eyes. It sent a silent message to his heart and stirred his own passion. He grabbed her waist and set her on the ground.

  She gasped when he swept his arm across the kitchen island and sent everything smashing to the floor.

  “Erik!”

  He laughed and grabbed her. “I've always wanted to do that.”

  She laughed along with him. “Me too.”

  Her laughter was cut off by a moan as he lifted her onto the kitchen island and nestled himself between her legs. He untied her robe, kissing her as his hands slid inside and forced it to fall open.

  He pulled her forwards until her backside was against the edge of the island and ran his hands down her body. He loved watching her face as she moaned each time his thumb circled her nipples or found a sensitive spot. She leaned back, splaying her hands out behind her for support, and he couldn't help stopping to look at her. Her eyes shone with passion and seduction as she sat there, robe open and her naked body exposed to him. Her hair was falling loose from her ponytail, wet strands of it cascading down over her shoulders and back.

  He reached across and pulled the band out of her hair. Now she looked beautifully wanton.

  Licking his lips, he trailed a lone fingertip down between her breasts, around her navel and slipped it between the folds of her pussy. Her nub was pert and when he dipped his finger lower, his cock twitched. She was so slick already, so aroused. He had to have her.

  He dropped his towel away and ran a hand down his cock, pulled the skin back. She groaned and he loved the sound of it. She wanted him too.

  Stepping closer to her, he teased her clit with his fingers, swirling them around it and squeezing it. She moaned again, her eyes closing and her head falling back. She looked so beautiful like that. He spread her knees further apart and took hold of his length, guiding to her. She sighed out her breath when he slid inside her tight sheath, burying himself as deep as he could go.

  His fingers gripped her hips and he held on tight as he began thrusting into her. He wouldn't last long, but she didn't feel as though she would either. He stared at her as he drew his cock out and then plunged it back in. He gave her long strokes and went as deep as he could. She moved forwards and his grip shifted to her backside to stop her from falling. He groaned when she lay back, stretching her arms out above her.

  Her breasts wobbled with each deep thrust he made into her pussy. He wanted to go deeper. He wanted to always stay inside her.

  “Harder,” she breathed.

  He obeyed, pulling her closer and picking up the pace until he was panting with each meeting of their hips. He curled his hips, pumping her as hard and fast as he could, and desperately trying to hold off when she clenched her muscles around him. She brought her feet up and hooked them over his arms.

  He moaned at the change in position and how much deeper he could go. Thrusting harder into her, he was mesmerised by her face as she screwed it up, groaning harshly with each plunge of his cock into her. He fucked her harder and harder until was moaning so loud he was sure the neighbours would hear. She arched her back, tensed around him, and jerked as she came. Her walls milked him, throbbing and pulsing as her thighs quivered against him. He thrust deeper, at a fast frantic pace as he pushed for his own orgasm. It came swift and hard, blinding him as he shot his seed into her depths and his hips thrust of their own accord.

  His breathing was harsh in his ears, a disjointed noise when combined with hers.

  He pulled out of her and rested his head on her stomach, listening to her heart pounding and feeling her whole body shaking. He was shaking too. He knew what this meant.

  “It's almost time,” he whispered against her belly as he kissed it.

  Her fingers toyed with his hair and then she stroked him. He smiled and looked up at her. She was smiling too.

  “Maybe tomorrow?” she said with an air of hope in her voice.

  He nodded.

  “Tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Kim gave a frustrated growl when her mobile phone rang for what seemed like the millionth time that day. She ignored it and continued to tidy the flat. Her and Erik had only been there a couple of days and they'd already turned the place into a bomb site. She dreaded to think what the country house would look like if Rose wasn't there to tidy up after them all the time.

  She looked at the window, at the sheet rain and the grey cityscape. She was glad Erik had convinced her to take the day off sick today. After everything that had happened at work yesterday, she really didn't feel like facing everyone and she didn't want to risk Kristian finding her.

  The phone stopped ringing.

  She breathed a sigh and tumbled the sheets into the washing machine. Once it was starting its cycle, she filled the kettle and decided that she needed a break. She made herself a cup of tea and leaned against the cupboards. She'd been flat out since Erik had left for work. Actually, it had been since the first phone call.

  She'd foolishly answered it then.

  She hadn't realised it was Kristian.

  How he'd gotten her number was obvious. Jilted by him, Laura had decided to get a little revenge and had given him her mobile phone number, something which definitely contravened the company privacy policy.

  She'd ended the call the second he'd said who it was, but he'd been ringing back every five minutes since then.

  He was definitely persistent.

  Very persistent.

  Cleaning the flat had seemed like the only task monumental enough to keep her distracted and stop her from answering the phone again. After ten phone calls though, she'd realised that she might miss calls from people she actually wanted to talk to and she'd begun checking the phone each time it rang.

  She sipped her tea and went back into the lounge.

  It was always Kristian though. His number was ingrained on her memory now.

  The phone started ringing.

  She was actually starting to consider changing the ringtone it was getting that repetitive and annoying.

  When the ringing stopped, she came up with a better plan. She put it on silent and vibrate and slung it on the couch. At least now it wasn't so irritating.

  She threw herself back into tidying up but soon she'd done everything she could think of. She'd cleaned the bathroom, polished everywhere, vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen and had done all the washing that she dared do without asking Erik which of his clothes needed to be dry cleaned. T
he last thing she wanted to do was ruin one of his fancy tailored shirts.

  They looked so good on him.

  She stared at the city outside the window. It was still raining heavily. She couldn't go shopping in weather like this and she didn't have any money in her bank account anyway. Sitting in a coffee shop was no good as she'd only annoy everyone with her constantly buzzing phone.

  It set off again, as though she'd given it a cue.

  She sighed and leaned over the back of the sofa to look at the display. Kristian again.

  Her eyes drifted to the Radio Times magazine on the coffee table. Nothing else to do now but watch Christmas television and wait for Erik to come home. It wasn't even that late. It was barely past two.

  She went into the kitchen and took down a big mug from the cupboard and then the jar of hot chocolate mixture. Spooning it into her mug, she made sure it was going to be extra chocolaty before going to the fridge to get the milk. She filled the mug with it and then put it in the microwave and set it going.

  A minute later she was sipping perfect hot chocolate and a few seconds after that she was flicking the television channels in the search for something good to watch. There were numerous old movies to choose from, but she settled on Star Wars and curled up on the sofa.

  And ignored her phone.

  She turned the volume up on the television so it drowned out the sound of it buzzing.

  Sipping her drink, she thought about what Erik had told her this morning. It would be time soon. Possibly tomorrow even. It was frightening in so many ways but exciting in others. She didn't quite know what to expect and wished that she'd asked Erik more about it.

  She knew that he was going to have to bite her to make her like him. It was something about blood. The voice at the back of her head said it was going to hurt like a bitch.

  And then she'd have to learn how to transform into her animal side. Whenever Erik did that, it always looked painful. She could easily see why. All his bones had to shift and change shape. It must be excruciating to go through that, to have something so solid shrink and become something else.

  Her phone started again, grating on her last nerve as she tried to focus on the movie. It was ruining her day.

  She picked it up.

  “What?” she said, grinding her teeth to emphasise how much he was annoying her.

  “Meet with me.” He was so hurried that it almost came out as one word.

  She stared at the television, watching Luke Skywalker almost drowning in a waste disposal unit.

  She wished Kristian would drown.

  Her patience snapped and she decided that she had to do something about him. She had to make him understand that she was never going to be his, that she didn't want him. She wanted Erik.

  She'd waited two years to be truly with him, and now that it was finally time, she wasn't going to let some prince ruin it all.

  “Meet you?” she said, leaning back into the sofa. “Why?”

  “I want to talk to you,” he said. “Please?”

  She supposed that it would be best to speak face to face with him, to get it all out in the open once and for all.

  “Funny, because I want to talk to you about a few things too.” She didn't hide the annoyance in her voice.

  “Come to my place.”

  She laughed. Did he honestly think she was stupid enough to fall for that one? She wasn't going anywhere near his place. No, it had to be somewhere public. It had to be somewhere that there would be too many people around for him to try anything. Somewhere they knew her.

  “The Ivy,” she said.

  He was quiet for a moment.

  “I'll pick you up.”

  She laughed again. “I don't think so.”

  “In that case, I will meet you there in one hour,” he said, sounding a little too happy for her liking.

  She'd never had to break up with a man before, and she'd definitely never had to break up with a man she wasn't even going out with.

  “Fine,” she said and hung up the phone.

  She stared at it. What was she doing? She couldn't go and meet Kristian at The Ivy. What if the paparazzi were there? Surely they'd recognise her? They were bound to recognise Kristian from last night. She really hadn't thought this through but it was too late now. She had to face him.

  She went into the bedroom and put on a pair of jeans, a black hooded top and her best sunglasses. It was a little over the top, but she couldn't risk being recognised.

  In an effort to make sure that Erik wouldn't worry where she was and that if her and Kristian were snapped together he wouldn't think she was cheating on him, she left him a short note.

  She read it back to herself.

  “I've realised I need to sort things out with Kristian. Sorry. Kim.”

  She nodded, pleased with herself and then left the apartment.

  The journey to The Ivy was long and dull. The tube was almost empty and there were only a few shoppers sharing the carriage with her on the one that brought her close to the restaurant. She walked the rest of the way, huddled under an umbrella and desperately trying not to get too wet. The bottom of her jeans were soaked by the time she arrived at The Ivy.

  Kristian was waiting.

  There was no sign of the paparazzi.

  He smiled at her and her stomach flipped, her heart rocketing as she told herself that she could do this. She just had to tell him that she loved Erik and that she wasn't at all interested in him. He was probably a nice man once you got to know him, but she really didn't want to know him.

  He opened the door for her and she wondered whether it was wise to go in. With no cameramen out on the street, she could just say everything she needed to right here and then leave. She was about to speak when he pressed his hand into the small of her back and she was walking into the restaurant.

  The maitre de gave her an odd look as she shook her umbrella out and she smiled sheepishly as she removed her glasses. She gave him a look that said that this really wasn't what he thought it was when he raised a brow and looked from her to Kristian and back again.

  She was really beginning to get the feeling that this was a terrible mistake.

  She was ushered into a seat by Kristian and tapped nervously on the table when he sat down opposite her. He smiled, so broadly that she could see his slightly extended canines and was left wondering how old he was. Erik had told her that traits such as teeth begin to show once you reached a certain age and that was why the bouncer at the club they sometimes went to had quite pointed teeth. Apparently he was well over one hundred.

  “You wanted to speak with me?” Kristian purred and poured her a glass of water.

  She stared at it rather than him, not trusting herself. He was handsome, and whenever she looked at him, he made her skin feel as though it was on fire, but it wasn't him that she wanted. This feeling he gave her was just because of the mating.

  “Clearly you cannot find your tongue, so allow me to begin. You have decided to leave that man and come with me.”

  She snorted. “No.”

  There was a low growl but still her eyes remained locked on the glass.

  “Kristian, I'm sorry, but I don't want you. I love Erik. I want to be with him.” She sighed and tried to find the right words to explain everything to him. She'd done a lot of thinking since Christmas Day and had drawn a few conclusions about what was happening. “Listen—”

  “No,” he interjected, voice dark and full of anger. “You listen. I love you, and only you. I want you as my mate, as my wife. Come back with me and leave this fool. I can give you so much more than he can.”

  He fell silent and she realised that someone was standing beside him.

  They poured two glasses of champagne. She continued to stare at her water. Something fizzed in the bottom of the champagne flute and her attention switched here, watching the bubbles dancing their way to the surface.

  She jumped when Kristian continued.

  “I need you, Kim. I'd give my cou
ntry to have you as my mate.”

  She didn't know what to say to that. Suddenly she felt terrible and all the lines she'd practiced over the past hour had disappeared. He really did sound as though he loved her, and she was beginning to believe that it was more than just an act to win her over. She had to break someone's heart, and she was afraid that it had to be his.

  Swallowing down her champagne to give her some false courage, she prepared what she was going to say in her head.

  She raised her eyes to meet his.

  He looked so forlorn.

  “Kristian... I...” The room swayed a little. The champagne must have gone to her head.

  She picked at a bread roll, eating it and hoping it would give the champagne something to absorb into as she tried to gather her words.

  “Kim, please, I honestly love you. I cannot return to Denmark without you.”

  She frowned. Denmark? But she hated flying, and boats made her queasy.

  He topped up her champagne and she drank it all again, hoping it would help the words come.

  “Kristian,” she started again but he wobbled out of focus. Her head spun and she felt as though the floor was moving. She furrowed her brows and looked into his eyes, searching them. “I don't feel so good.”

  He smiled, wavered and then everything went dark. Soft arms caught her and cradled her close to a firm chest. She curled up against it, drowsy and cold, seeking warmth and comfort as the world drifted into the distance.

  “It would seem that the wine has got to her.” She heard Kristian's voice coming from far away. He sounded as though he was down a well. Or was she down the well? “I'll take her home.”

  Home?

  To the apartment.

  Or to Denmark?

  CHAPTER 16

  Erik wearily pushed the door open and was surprised when silence greeted him. He'd expected Kim to be home, curled up in front of the television. He closed the door and moved further into the apartment. There was no sign of her in the lounge, or the bedroom. He checked the bathroom and then headed for the kitchen.

  Maybe she'd gone to see her sister.