Page 22 of Wolf's Forbidden Curse

“I can’t, really. I’m busy.”

She wouldn’t even look me in the eye when she spoke, and I knew I was seconds away from striking out again. I drank nearly half my beer in one sip and tried to come up with a new approach. All of a sudden, the door to the bar slammed shut, and she jumped and looked over with a scared expression.

“Woah, it’s okay,” I said. “That was just Jackson. Sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength. He slams doors at work all the time.”

Only the woman didn’t say anything to me. She was clutching her chest and breathing in and out deeply.

“Are you okay?” I stood up and leaned over the bar.

“Yeah, I just—I need some air.”

She walked out from behind the counter and practically ran to the back door. I left my beer behind and chased after her. Outside in the alley behind the building, I found her leaning against the brick wall and bracing herself on her knees.

“Hey, it’s alright,” I said in a soft voice. “Everything’s okay. Really, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid,” she spat bitterly.

“You could’ve fooled me.” I went to her side and put a tentative hand on her back. She flinched but didn’t shrug me off. “Look, I realize you don’t like me. That’s fine. But I know a panic attack when I see one, and I think it’s best that I stay out here until you can regulate your breathing a little better. If you start hyperventilating for real, things can go south very quick.”

She said nothing at first. Just continued to draw air in and let it out in heavy gasps. After a while, however, everything calmed down, and she breathed more normally.

“How are you feeling? Better?”

She nodded.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” I asked. “Whatever it is, I swear I won’t judge. I know I probably don’t seem like the type, but I actually know a lot about PTSD. Two of the guys I work with at the fishery were in the military and have talked to me about it. Plus, my friend Cornelius, he—well, let’s just say he’s someone I’ve had to talk down off a ledge once or twice.”

“I haven’t—” She cleared her throat. “I haven’t had a panic attack like that in a long time.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

“I’m not ashamed.” She stood up straight and rested her head back on the wall behind us. “I just don’t know what triggered it. That loud sound shouldn’t have been enough to spook me.”

“Have you been particularly stressed lately?” I asked. “Have you been sleeping well?”

She stared at me for a few seconds, saying nothing, but I knew the answer to my question just from the look in her eye.

“I see. Those things can have a pretty strong effect on someone who already suffers from anxiety. So let me ask again, do you feel like talking about it?”

“No,” she said, suddenly reaching out and grabbing a fistful of my shirt and pulling me in close. “Now that you mention it, I don’t want to talk about anything. I just want to do this.”

She put her lips against mine, and just like that, the fire was lit.

Everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to think. Not that it would have mattered anyway since all the blood left my brain within seconds and settled in another part of my body. I was alert and growing with passion from the moment I breathed in the smell of her.

She pushed me against the cold brick wall and kissed me with a ferocity that ignited something deep within me. A kind of desire I’d never felt before. I wrapped my hands around her waist and lifted her off the ground, moving to the other side of the alley so that she was the one pinned instead of me. She weighed practically nothing, and I pushed her against the wall as she moaned with delight and bit my bottom lip playfully.

I held her carefully as she tore the shirt from her own back, exposing her breasts, which were barely covered by the thin fabric of a bralette. Her chest heaved as I began to run my tongue down the length of her collarbone. I sucked on her nipple through the fabric, and her sounds became louder, more desperate. She grabbed a fistful of my hair and cried out.

“More! More!”

I happily obliged, putting her back down on her feet and undoing her pants. They were tight, but I managed to reach my hand into the waistband and explore more of her body. I found the little bead of pleasure at her apex and began to work my magic, pressing the pads of my fingers against her with a steady rhythm. Our lips met, and she stole my breath. Her soft skin was moist when I pushed my fingers inside of her. Her body stiffened, and she wrapped her tongue around mine before throwing her head back, gasping as I increased the pressure, speeding up.

The straps of her bra slid down her shoulders, and her breasts began to spill out. Sweat dripped down her neck and settled in the little crevice between them, and I lapped it up like it was the only water in a dry, desolate desert.

She pulled me closer, forcing my fingers even deeper inside of her, and then she pushed back frantically and started struggling with my belt. I helped her, and soon enough, my throbbing cock was out, and she was running her soft palm up and down its length. I grabbed the side of her face and kissed her again, and she gently stroked me until my desire was so fiery hot that I worried it would burn through the orgasm too quickly—before I even got a chance to experience what it was like to be inside her.

I reached down and grabbed her hands, then brought them up over her head and pinned her wrists against the brick. She gasped and followed my lead. She left her hands where they were even after I removed mine. I ripped her pants down the rest of the way and took a moment to breathe in the intoxicating scent that came from where I so desperately wanted to be. The wolf inside me growled with anticipation, but luckily, the sound that I made was more human than anything else. She kicked her bottom layers off to the side, and as I stood back up, I brought one of her legs with me.

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