STORY EXCERPT

Will Hartley was doing his best to forget about his brothers. God knows, he’d given them enough thought and worry over the years. Why should he still care after they’d left him alone on the ranch to eke out a living? Why should he care that they’d taken off after their parents had died?

He sipped the last bit of coffee in his mug and scanned the rest of the patrons in the Eat You Up Diner located on Main Street in Lonesome, Texas. The diner wouldn’t win any awards for ambiance. It was a typical diner, the kind that could be found in almost every small town. Metal tables with metal chairs. Cracked red leather bar stools along a counter where orders were taken and then attached to hooks in the pass-through to the kitchen. The food was good, albeit greasier than most humans liked, and it was filling. He figured the filling part was the most important thing since almost all of the customers were shifters who had ravenous appetites.

A few regulars had come in during the lunch run, including the Rogen brothers, along with their new mate, Tracy Jo. She was a pretty thing and, from others’ reports, a good gal. They’d been lucky when she’d shown up for the annual Shifter Days Festival.

If only I could get so lucky.

He was still waiting to meet a mate. Or was he waiting on his brothers to come home first? After all, he’d never considered the possibility that he and his two brothers wouldn’t share the same mate. What would he do if his mate showed up in the meantime? As much as it hurt to think so, he’d take a woman without his brothers. He’d have to go ahead and claim her. He wouldn’t want to lose her. Besides, his brothers might never come home, so why wait for something that might never happen?

“Would you like a refill?”

The voice was sweet, musical even, and had him jerking around to find the woman standing just behind his shoulder. In doing so, however, his arm connected with the coffee pot she held.

“Shit!” He stood up, scraping his chair backward, as he pulled his soaked jeans away from his already far too hot crotch.

“Oh, hell, I’m so sorry.”

He was still trying to air out his nether regions when the sight of long black hair streaming over his leg made him forget all about the burn. The young woman tossed her hair back and looked up at him, worry creasing her brow as she continued to wipe his leg with a cloth.

She’s magical.

That was his first thought—not a thought he imagined he’d ever have—but it was the truth. Maybe she didn’t possess real magic but she was magical in her beauty. Her porcelain skin highlighted the sweet oval of her face. Her dark eyes, the deep chocolate color of his favorite treat—fudge—met his and somehow grabbed a part of him no one had ever found. And the long black hair? He’d had fantasies of a woman with raven hair caring for his crotch.

But when she started to rub the cloth over his crotch, he grabbed her hand, stopping her. Unless he wanted everyone in the diner to see his boner tent his jeans, he had to stop her. “It’s okay.”

She stood up, proving his quick assumption that she was a tiny thing. Probably no more than a few inches over five feet in height. But what she may have lacked in stature, she more than made up for with her luscious body. He had to glance away and steel himself or the already developing boner would never go down.

“No, it’s not. It’s really not. Again, I’m so sorry.”

“You need to watch what you’re doing, girl.”

Will took the cloth away from the woman and brought his attention to the owner of the diner, Brisco Walker. As werewolves went, Brisco was one of the better ones. As a werewolf, he was smaller than most of the werelions in town, but he didn’t seem to notice it. He was gruff with almost everyone, but Will had heard the man could be a softie at heart whenever he came across someone who needed help. Most of the time, Will liked the older man. Now was not one of those times.

“She didn’t do it on purpose, Brisco, so back the hell off.”

Brisco’s bushy eyebrows shot skyward. “On purpose or not, she should’ve been paying more attention.” His dark gaze shifted to the woman. “First of all, Liz, never sneak up from behind. People can get downright jumpy when that happens. You’re not getting off to a good start. Maybe this job isn’t the right one for you.”

The alarm in Liz’s eyes was enough to bring Will to her rescue. After all, he was at least partly to blame for the accident. How had he missed seeing her before? Unless, of course, she’d been in the kitchen behind the counter. “Aw, come on, man. Don’t jump on her ass. I shouldn’t have turned around so fast.”

“Like I told her. She shouldn’t sneak up on people.” Yet Brisco’s snarl had lost some of its intensity.

Will couldn’t resist looking at her. For a moment, he studied her so intently that she had to look away. “I take it you’re new here?”

Brisco snorted. “You figure that out all by your lonesome, huh, Will?” He tapped his temple. “Yep. Real smart. Fucking scholar is what you are.”

The old wolf was razzing him. Any other time, he would’ve razzed him right back. But not when the hot honey of a woman was staring him down. He felt his cock twitch again and silently ordered it to calm the hell down. “Don’t let him get to you. His bark is definitely worse than his bite.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Mira spun around and gave him a funny look. “It doesn’t take much for you to love a girl, does it?” She laughed, turned back around, and kept pulling him toward his truck.

By the time they’d gotten into the pickup, his jeans were digging into his cock. Somehow, he managed to back the truck up and put it on the road toward the ranch.

“What’s the name of your ranch?”

He forced himself to keep his eyes on the road. If he didn’t, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. “We call it the Blowing Wind Ranch.”

“Because the wind blows a lot in Texas, right?”

He gripped the wheel harder, determined not to give in to his libido or his lion clawing to be set free. “True enough. But there’s a spot on our land where the wind whips through two rows of trees like crazy. It’s like a natural wind tunnel.”

“Really? Do you think you could show me that spot sometime?”

He couldn’t hold back any longer. He had to look at her.

Looking was his downfall.

She was the perfect amount of curves and long legs. Although she was fairly short, her legs made up a good part of her body.

“Will?”

Her voice broke through the last of his defenses. He abruptly turned off the road, the truck skidding and kicking up a wall of dirt behind it.

“Will?” This time her voice held alarm.

When he unhooked his seatbelt and twisted toward her, he saw her eyes widen. But had they widened from seeing the lust on his face? Or because amber was filling his eyes?

Not now. Not yet. Stay down.

His lion bellowed its displeasure.

“I want you.” His voice was guttural from need.

Her delectable lips parted. Then she unhooked her seatbelt. “I want you, too.”

He had no reason to hold back any longer. Neither did she. They came together in a rush, tugging each other’s clothes off as fast as they could.

The moment he kissed her, the second he felt his hands touch her soft flesh, he was all in. No one, nothing could have kept him from her. Her jeans flew to the back seat only a moment before he rid her of her shirt. The restraint he used in not tearing her bra and panties from her and, instead, taking precious time to remove them carefully nearly tore him apart. Their lips never parted.

He pulled her on top of him. All his fantasies of going slowly were gone. Instead, he rammed his cock inside her warm, wet pussy and moaned with pleasure.

She thrust her breasts toward him, urging him to torture her nipples. He did, using his thumb to rub back and forth over one taut bud while his teeth grabbed hold of the other.

His lion roared again, but he was lost in her.

His lion snarled and scratched to be set free, but he was lost in her.

She moved like a graceful dancer on top of him, in and out, driving him insane from the ecstasy of her. He couldn’t get enough of her, stroking her smooth skin, licking her soft flesh. Her moans, ones he’d dreamed of, were even better, sexier in reality.

“Will.”

The way she said his name made his cock impossibly harder. He slammed into her, hearing the wetness of their union making sounds. Keeping his mouth to her breast, he fondled her ample butt and felt another piece of his future fall into place.

She’s the one.

If he’d had any doubt before, he didn’t now.

She rode him, her glossy hair flowing over her shoulders and teasing his face. Her movements were perfect, going up and down then in circles, giving him different sensations to delight and thrill him.

She was so tight, so sweet smelling, so perfect. As though she’d been made for him.

When she tensed then exploded, he smiled, experiencing complete satisfaction that he’d brought her to a climax. But he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. Not because he wanted to hold his own release back, but because he yearned to hear her guttural moan with yet another orgasm.

He gripped her hair, tugging her head back. She opened her mouth, her eyes closed, and began undulating against him again. He thrust into her again, watching her face, ready for the next explosion.

He was in pain. But it was a wonderful pain that he’d never experienced before. His climax was rising, but he held it back just as surely as he kept his lion in check.

When she sucked in a hard breath, he knew it was coming. Her scream, an “oh” that morphed into a groan, came as her body erupted again. Her wetness flowed over his cock and his balls, and he wanted to roar in happiness.

At last, he could let go.

His orgasm ripped him apart. He would’ve sworn his balls would break, and then his cock split apart as his cum shot out of him—and into her.

Shudders racked her body as she collapsed against him. He brushed her hair away from her face, the perspiration wetting his fingers. And then he simply held her.

I found her. I finally found her.