STORY EXCERPT

“You’re beautiful,” he said softly. Turning to her, he took her hands.

They’d reached the bottom of the hill by now. Jess blinked, forgetting her abundant black hair that frizzed at the first touch of humidity, her eyes that turned up at the corners, the full lips and coffee-colored skin, too pale for African-American, not pale enough for whites.

In his eyes she saw nothing but admiration. Her immediate response was to reject his claim, but how could she do that when he looked at her that way? Like he wanted to eat her up? “I fall between two stools. Three, more. I don’t belong to any community.” She had taken her own path for most of her life. Not always by choice.

“You belong to you.” He pulled her closer. “Tonight I want you to belong to me.”

Without giving her a chance to protest, he kissed her.

Not gentle, not one bit. Her first, panicked thought was that people would see them, and then she realized they’d just turned the corner at the bottom of the hill that put them out of sight. The bus was parked on the other side of the hill, so they were completely alone.

That part didn’t panic her at all.

Curving her hands around his shoulders, she responded eagerly, her lips parting under the pressure of his. He wrapped his arms around her waist, sliding one hand up to between her shoulder blades, holding her steady, the other just below, spread over the area above her butt. He enclosed her in heat.

With Roman’s hard body pressed against hers, Jess felt oddly safe. He was fierce, and he would protect her against the terrors of the night. And yet, she wasn’t safe. Not from him. The dichotomy confused her, but not as much as the emotions rioting through her body.

She’d been kissed before, plenty of times, but not like this. Not with an abandon that threatened to kick down all her barriers, inviting her to melt into him, to let him make her his.

He tasted of wine and lemons and something that was entirely Roman Blackfur, unlike anything she’d known before or was likely to know.

A faint roar reminded her she was in shape-shifter country, but that seemed natural. It was, for this part of the world. Someone was running in their shifted form.

He separated their lips, but not their bodies. “Stay with me tonight,” he murmured, his breath hot against her lips.

“Yes.”

How could she do anything else? Roman overwhelmed her with his presence. In her late night giggling chats with Connie, Jess had never even considered that her secret longings would come true. Both women had wondered what it would be like to fuck a shape-shifter. For all Jess knew he wasn’t her first, but Roman would be the first shape-shifter she had slept with since her rebirth.

She couldn’t think of a better person to break her dry spell with.

Roman released her, only to take her hand and lead her on. But they didn’t go toward the line of cabins where the seasonal staff stayed. Instead, he took her to the path leading to the permanent residences, a group of houses built along the main road, set back. A central house, the historical center of what had been the farm, was used as offices these days.

They had plenty of room.

Jess had never been inside any of these houses before. They were individually designed, presumably to the taste of the original occupant. Some were two generations old, and some even older. Although the winery was barely forty years old, there had been a farm here for a couple of hundred years, and before that, the shifters had owned the wilderness. Only they knew when they’d first arrived in California.

Crickets chirped as Roman hurried her up the driveway of a large, sprawling house and through the front door. She hardly had time to take in the expansive space inside as he quickened his stride, taking her up a wide staircase and into a room at the back of the house.

Jess held her breath. The room was open to the sky.

On second look, she realized half the ceiling was glass. If she lay on the huge bed in the center of the room, she could stare straight up into the sky.

His voice brought her back down to earth. “Let’s do the stargazing later,” he growled. “Look at me, Jess. I’ve waited for months for you, and I don’t want to wait a minute longer.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Roman pulled the rest of her clothes off so she was naked between them while the two men remained fully dressed. Feeling strangely liberated by that fact, she lifted her arm, hooked it around Roman’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

She adored the way Roman kissed. It was perfect for her. His tongue thrust into her mouth, tasting and claiming as she returned the favor. He let her in, taking her in return. Without hesitation, when she felt him touch her mind, she dropped her barriers and let him in. The men entered, their heat sweeping through, and Jess felt wanted, desired. Needed.

Her hunger soared past anxiety, sense, and everything else. If she didn’t have these men soon, she’d die. Their desires fed on each other, increasing and feeding until they became one soaring, consuming flame.

Hunter pulled away, and she heard the sound of a drawer opening, but she was too busy kissing Roman to check. Then a wet dollop fell on her ass, and a streak of anxiety pierced her need for the men. But this was Hunter. He soothed her, murmuring to her as he worked the lube around and in before slipping the tip of a finger inside.

It felt unexpectedly stimulating. She had expected pain, but she felt none. He slid more in, and she found herself pushing her ass out so he could work on her, give her more of those exciting sensations. He twirled his finger then, and she felt another being introduced.

Roman finished the kiss and gazed down at her, studying her expression. “That feels good, doesn’t it?”

Moving away from her, he sat on the bed, his eyes on the same level as her tits. He leaned forward and sucked a pointed nipple into his mouth, increasing the level of her arousal. “So good, sweetness. Keep that thought because this is going to be so wonderful. We are going to fuck you, and then we’ll fuck you some more.”

He said each word between a kiss, a lick, or a suck, dotting caresses over her breasts, taking them in his hands and holding them up so he could get at them better.

She hadn’t thought it was possible to heighten her arousal, but here she was, longing for one or both to do whatever they wanted to her.

Roman never took his eyes from hers as he lay on his back on the bed. His arousal, hard, damp, and huge, stood proudly from his body, the heavy balls resting on his thighs. She wanted it all.

On impulse she bent over him, a movement that gave Hunter better access to her ass. And oh, did that feel fantastic! He pushed two fingers in and did a kind of twirl, something that reached a part of her nobody had touched before. And gave her knee-trembling sensations she’d never had. He kissed her spine.

“Imagine how great that’s going to feel when I’m inside you.”

She couldn’t answer, but her shudder and the spike of excitement in her mind must have told him all he wanted to know.

Roman beckoned to her. “Come here. I want you.”

While Hunter had distracted her, he’d sheathed himself. It seemed irrelevant now. Surely one of them could come inside her? Having experienced it, Jess wanted it again, but she had enough sense left to understand he was doing the right thing. Leaving their options as open as possible.

Still, that small act felt like a betrayal. Strange that it did, and she couldn’t begin to explain why.

Hunter followed her as she slowly climbed onto the bed and mounted Roman. She gazed into Roman’s eyes, filled with heat and want, as hers must be. “I need this.”

“I need it too.” He palmed her hips, reached up to kiss her nipples, then lay back. “Take me.”

Carefully Jess aligned her pussy over his stiffly erect cock. A drop of her precum moistened the tip as she came down on to him. Even in her state of drenched arousal, she had to bear down on him to get all that lovely meat inside.

He held himself rigid, gripping his cock to hold it steady as she slowly took him inside her. She relished every moment as his dick widened her inner passage, the tight walls easing open to receive him.

“I can feel that,” Hunter murmured. “You’re ready, Jess. Hold still.”

She heard the rustle of a foil packet as he sheathed himself, and then a finger, wet with lube, briefly circled her ass. “You look amazing, with Roman already in you.”

“Hurry the fuck up,” Roman told him through gritted teeth. “I can’t hold myself like this much longer. She feels so hot and wet. So fucking beautiful.”

A thick, rounded shape pushed up against her ass. “Bear back, sweetheart,” Hunter murmured.

She did, going down to rest on her forearms, bringing her close to Roman. But she didn’t kiss him. They stared at one another, the connection as powerful as anything she’d ever known. It was like looking into his soul.

She winced when Hunter’s cock entered her, but she held firm. It felt strange, but it didn’t hurt. Even if it had, she wouldn’t have given up. She wanted this. Both men inside her at the same time, working her, taking her and doing their best to make her come.

He drove inside in a series of short nudges, resting after each one to allow her body a chance to take him. But he didn’t stop, didn’t give her a chance to panic or change her mind. Roman held her steady. When Hunter was deep inside her, Roman levered her up, urging her to move so only the tip of his cock was inside her. He spoke one word. “Go.”

Like some great automaton, they worked her, starting slowly, one entering while the other withdrew and then back again. Jess could do nothing except hold still and let them fuck her. That forced her to concentrate on her reaction, the way the two separate sensations joined into one incredibly powerful reaction.

On the third thrust she cried out.