STORY EXCERPT

Thirty minutes and two arguments with Harry later—why does he have to disagree about everything?—Bonnie and Harry each carried a bag out of the market and loaded them into the trunk of the car.

She was back behind the wheel when movement to her left caught her eye. She pivoted, expecting to find yet another resident staring at her. And she was right. But it was different this time. This time she couldn’t help but stare back.

Two very handsome, super sexy men watched her. They were tall, even taller than Dirk’s six feet. Although dressed in casual clothes of jeans, boots, and long-sleeved shirts, they projected an air of control and power. Their physiques couldn’t be hidden by their clothes. Their broad shoulders made her itch to run her palms along their wide shoulders and down the front of their shirts to feel what had to be six-pack abs. The cowboy hats they wore couldn’t shade the sparkle of their eyes as they leaned against an older red pickup. They were, as people said, easy in their own skins.

But that wasn’t the most unusual part. They stared at her like the rest of the town had, but their stares held another element to them.

It’s like I already know them and they know me.

The idea was ridiculous, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake that impression. She gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Oh, shit. They’re headed this way.

Her emotions collided. Part of her wanted to meet them, to throw her body at them and scream for them to take her. Another part of her, however, the part that had made her wary at the diner, went into overdrive and shouted for her to leave before they reached the car. She stalled, unable to act either way.

“Mom, are we going or not? Mom?”

She blinked and forced herself to look at her son. “What?”

“Let’s go.”

His words tore her out of the fog she’d gone into. She turned on the ignition, threw the car into reverse, then slammed the pedal to the floor. The car’s rear wheels spit up dirt and gravel behind them.

“Whoa! Way to lay down some tracks, Mom.”

Her gaze jerked to the rearview mirror. The two cowboys stood in the middle of the street, still watching her as her car sped down the road.

Her stomach clenched, and she couldn’t push away the thought that kept running through her head. Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life?

* * * *

“Who the hell was that?” Joe Colter felt like he could breathe again. When he’d seen the beautiful dark-haired woman get into the car with the boy, he would’ve sworn he’d gotten struck by lightning. The world had seemed to light up, and his entire being had focused on her.

“I don’t know, but I want to find out.” His brother, Casey, ran a hand through his long, dark-blond hair. “Nothing and nobody has ever hit me like that. It’s like when she looked at me, she somehow reached into my chest and yanked out my heart. In a good way, you know? It doesn’t make sense, but there it is.”

“Makes sense to me.”

They’d come into town to pick up supplies for their home on Full Moon Ranch. It was located several miles out of town, farther out than most of the ranches that surrounded Forever, but they liked it that way. It gave them a sense of serenity and peace that they relished. Yet even living the life they loved, wrangling horses and running cattle, they’d known a hole still existed. A hole that could only be filled once they found their mate.

They stood in the middle of the street staring after her although they could no longer see her car. Although fall was heading fast into Texas, the sun still beat down on them, warming their backs.

“Well, what for pity’s sake is wrong with you two? Or do I already know? Did you see her?”

Why was he still looking anyway? Did he expect her to turn around and come back? Although it was a foolish thought, the way the gorgeous woman had stared at him gave Joe hope that the fantasy would actually happen. He forced his gaze away from the road.

“Hey, Miss Clara. How are you doing?”

She dismissed his question with a sour look. “Cut the chatter, boy, and answer the question.”

“What question was that?”

Casey answered for Miss Clara. “She asked if we saw her.”

“Oh. Yeah, Miss Clara, we did.” Joe let out a breath only now feeling like he could breathe in a steady rhythm again. “We sure did.”

“So?” She arched a graying eyebrow at them.

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Miss Clara.” He did, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

“Oh, horse hockey.” Miss Clara jerked her thumb in the direction the woman had gone. “Tell me you saw her and felt nothing.”

He didn’t like lying, but lying to Miss Clara was even worse. She was a pillar in the small community, a woman to be reckoned with, and not even the biggest, baddest werewolf among them wanted to tangle with her.

“I saw her all right.” Casey answered before he could. He had a habit of doing that. “And I felt it, too.”

Then I didn’t imagine it.

ADULT EXCERPT

Her lips parted as she waited for whatever he wanted to do. She didn’t have long to wait. Lifting her shirt higher, he brought his mouth to her nipple and sucked it into his mouth.

She mewled and dug her fingers into his arms. “Please.” Had she spoken the word out loud this time?

His hands found the front of her jeans and had them unbuttoned and sliding to the ground. The night air coaxed goose bumps over her skin. But it was his hand going under her panties and between her legs that sent a shiver through her.

I can’t do this. I can’t. I need to look for—

She gasped as he swept two fingers between her pussy lips. Vaguely, she wondered if she’d drawn blood, but still dug in her fingernails even more. If she didn’t hold on to him, she’d collapse to the ground.

His tongue lavished her nipple, alternating it with a quick nip or tug. His fingers found her warm wetness, and his thumb pushed against her throbbing clit.

Her mind whirled, unable to fix onto one coherent thought. Another storm brewed inside her, rolling outward from her pussy to weaken the other parts of her body. He rubbed her, driving her closer and closer to the ultimate release.

When he took his mouth away from her breast, she cried out in protest. But removing his hand from between her legs was the greatest form of punishment.

He took her face between his hands. “Open your eyes and look at me.”

She did, then failed to blink back the tears. Why was she crying?

“Shh. Don’t cry. I understand. You’ve waited for this your whole life.”

“I–I’m not a virgin.”

He chuckled. “I’m not talking about sex.”

He kissed her, quick yet with passion, then he grinned. Dropping to his knees in front of her, he took her hands and put them on his shoulders again. “Hold on, baby.”

He reached his hands around to grip her butt cheeks and pushed his face to her pussy. She heard him inhale, drawing her smell in. His mouth pressed against her pussy. She cried out, digging her hands into his shoulders again, then watched his head move up and down as he raked his tongue between her folds. Holding her to him, he drank from her, the sound of his need echoing in the quiet night.

The heat she’d experience before was like the flame of a match compared to the inferno he gave her. Fire seared outward from her pussy, clenching it with lust as he sucked on her clit then swept his tongue inside to draw even more of her juices from her. She shuddered and held on, amazed that she was still on her feet. But he would’ve held her up even if her body had given out.

He sucked, then nipped, then added a slap against her butt cheek. It startled her, yet enlivened her. Because of her jeans, she couldn’t spread her legs as she wanted, but it didn’t seem to hinder him. He flattened his tongue against her clit and circled it, driving her body to its conclusion.

She moaned as the orgasm tore through her. He was eating her alive in his consumption of every drop of her sex. She groaned as he took her, lapping up her juices, and pushing her farther into her body-wracking release. And still he drank from her.

When she had no more strength to stand, he pulled away, and keeping hold of her, stood to take her into his arms. She lay against him, weak and vulnerable, yet somehow empowered.

“That’s it, baby. Let it go.”

Her body trembled through the last of her climax. He caressed her buttocks, then her breast, and finally took her face in his hands again.

“You’re mine. Remember that.”