Page 24 of Wrong Number, Right Cougar

“Nope.” But he grazed his teeth over the nipple, and I shivered as that delicious sensation of pleasure and pain mingled. My cock engorged further, and I draped my arms around his neck.

“Harder and faster.”

Now he plowed into me, and I yelled, “Yes!”

Outside, the wind picked up, the tempo matching my cries, and brushed a branch over the roof as my pants transformed into whimpers and moans. The mattress joined in creaking and sighing as we were cocooned in our own world, while the scent of slick blended with that of sweat.

“You’re so tight. I love being inside you.”

“Same here.” Lifting my legs, I wrapped them around him, pulling him closer and deeper into me. “And I’m not letting you go. Not ever.”

Wilder lifted one of my legs higher, adjusting the angle of my body, and he plunged in deeper. I arched my back, welcoming him. He toppled forward so he was an inch from my face, and I kept my gaze on him as I squeezed my legs around him, and he pumped into me while I trailed my fingers over his face, memorizing his expression.

I bucked my hips as I met his thrusts, and Wilder shoved his tongue between my lips, in and out, mimicking his cock and leaving me gasping for breath.

Needing an outlet because I wasn’t ready to come, I bit his tongue, and he yelped, but his eyes grew dark again, a raging lust filling them. He slammed into me, sweat dripping off his jaw and spraying over me.

Shackled together, we clung to one another as his length filled me. My breath quickened as my chest heaved, wanting to stave off the climax but also craving it.

But the orgasm didn’t give me a choice, and I clung to Wilder as my body spasmed, and I shouted, “I’m going to come.”

“Come for me, baby.”

My orgasm gripped me, blurring my vision and taking control of my body. And that moment as I teetered, hovering between climaxing and not, was pure ecstasy, and I wished I could capture it before falling over the edge.

Wilder thrust into me again, and he reared his head, screaming to the goddess that I was his mate.

His knot expanded, and he held me tight as it filled me. It was a snug fit.

“I’m going to claw you. It’ll be quick, almost painless, and there’ll be a trickle of blood.”

“Do it, but I’m going to mark you at the same time.” I showed my teeth. “I’m going to bite you.”

His claws extended, and I studied the tips that would be embedded in my flesh. I needed it to hurt because mating was a never-going-back moment. We would remember this moment for the rest of our lives.

Wilder scraped his beast’s claw over the skin on my shoulder. There was a moment of intense pain that vanished almost as quickly, and I sank my teeth into his chest. He hissed as I broke the skin and then kissed the bite.

“Mate.”

14

WILDER

Today was painting day for the cabins. It was a ton of work, but subcontracting it out would’ve cost a whole lot more than we had. As it was, money on this project was getting tight—especially with my mate still having to pay for his place in the city. That would end soon, but not just yet. And until then, we had to be pretty cautious.

I invited my cousin Paul down to help. He agreed, and at first I thought it was because he wanted to meet Thorn. To my surprise, he showed up with a couple of his college friends who lived near him in the city—Peter and Frank. Unlike us, they weren’t cougars. Peter was a bear, and Frank was a koala.

The three of them had met and formed a bond freshman year that, many years later, was still going strong—strong enough that they were willing to come down and paint random cabins for crappy sandwiches. Or maybe they too were intrigued by my mate. I’d overheard Frank refer to me as “your grumpy cousin” more than once over the years, and it wouldn’t have shocked me if he was down for the gossip more than the labor.

Surprisingly, it was pretty quick work. The four of us started on the first cabin together while Thorn dealt with some phone calls and odds and ends. We managed to get it done before our first coffees of the morning were finished, and it looked wonderful.

“So what do you think?” Paul grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Do we go through all of these this way—with all of us in one cabin? Or should we split up? You know, divide and conquer, all that.”

“I don’t know. There are still some other items left on the list…” It was cutting close to inspection time, and every time we crossed something off that blasted list, another task was put on it.

“Why don’t we take the cabin painting and you steal your cousin and go work with your mate on the other stuff.” Frank had become the unofficial foreman of our painting early on. “We’ve got this. We spent one summer painting for our rent.”

That explained why they were so good at it.

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