Page 42 of Shadow Target

“Come on,” he urged her, pulling her chair back for her to stand.

Willow didn’t know who got undressed faster: her or Shep. Their clothes dropped to the bedroom floor. They stood naked before one another. The years apart had made him leaner, his muscles honed even more than she remembered from before. The look in his stormy blue eyes was the same: the consummate hunter on the prowl for his mate. And that’s exactly how she had always seen them: as two wolves bound to one another for a lifetime, just as real wolves lived and loved out in the wild. She had never shared that image with Shep. Maybe now, she could? There was so much she wanted to confide in him with and, as he moved toward her, she felt her whole body throb with need for this man.

She released her hair, its thick red strands falling around her pale shoulders. She saw the pleasure in Shep’s eyes as she allowed her hands to drop to her side. Unable to take her gaze from him, she saw how badly he wanted her, his erection thick. The sight enflamed her lower body, the ache for him rising to an almost painful level within her.

He walked over to her, cupping her jaw, tilting her chin slightly so their eyes met. “Are you protected?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I don’t have condoms on me,” and he gave her a slight shrug. “I honestly never thought that we’d be getting together like this.”

She moved her hand across the proud line of his shoulder. “I didn’t either. We never used condoms before, so no worries.” Her voice was wispy sounding. Shep had that kind of effect upon her.

“Tell me what you want,” he said, moving his thumbs lightly across her flushed cheeks. “What about your injured leg? Is there a position that might be better for you because of it?”

Willow studied his hungry-looking gaze. “I think we’ll just have to find out with my leg as we go along. Right now? I want you. All of you. Any way we want it. Just like before, Shep. Nothing’s changed.” She saw one corner of his mouth hook upward. They’d always had a good relationship in bed. Willow didn’t think it would be any different now.

“Come one,” he urged her thickly, pulling her onto the bed and beside him.

They lay facing one another, and her heart was pounding urgently. Without a word, Willow leaned up against him, the aggressor, sliding herself against the black hair sprinkled across his broad chest. Instantly, he returned her kiss, slipping his arm around her waist, drawing her firmly against his erection. A throbbing ache centered in her, and she moved sinuously against him, hearing him groan. Covering her lips with his own, he took her hungrily, and she opened to him, to his exploration of her. Their breathing changed, growing quickly ragged as she eagerly met his tongue.

All the heartbreak, the lonely nights without Shep, melted beneath his taking of her once again. She could feel him opening up to her, as he had before, that beautiful emotional vulnerability that she wanted from him all the time, not just in their shared bed. Right now, Willow was grateful that she even had this with him. His mouth slid commandingly across hers and she responded in kind, sliding her fingers through his thick, slightly curled hair. His roughened hands roved down her back, cupping her cheeks, lifting one of her legs over his, opening her to him. She gloried in his hunger. It matched her own. Making a soft sound as his fingers curved beneath her exposed thigh resting on his own, moving through the slick fluids at her entrance, she quivered with raw anticipation and let out a moan of utter expectation and need.

The moment his fingers began to slide into her fluids, exploring her folds, she moaned deeper. Breaking her kiss with him, she shifted, and he removed his hand, watching her, reading her. She smiled a little, lifting herself up and over him, pushing his back against the mattress. “I want to do it this way,” she said, her voice low and ragged. She saw him smile a little, that familiar glittering animal-like amusement in his eyes as he curved his hands around her waist, gliding her across his hips. As he settled her wet core over his erection, they both groaned in mutual appreciation of the heated, liquid moment.

Willow tipped her head back, her fingertips grazing his hard abs as she slid her thighs tight against his narrow hips. Oh! He felt so good against her aching entrance! Sliding back and forth, her fluid thickening, preparing for his entrance into her, she closed her eyes, making a humming sound of appreciation. Shep was well-endowed, no question. There had never been anything normal about this man of hers. Good or bad. Her mind dissolved as he brought his hands around her hips, anchoring her deeply against the length of his erection, engaging her swollen knot that throbbed and screamed for release. The smell of him: the lime soap he’d showered with, and that darker, sexual scent of his maleness combined with the euphoric fragrance unique and shared between them, entered her flared nostrils as he slid herself back and forth upon him.

An orgasm ripped through her, her fingers dug convulsively into his chest wall, a ragged cry tearing from her lips as she froze in absolute pleasure. But Shep knew to keep moving her even though she was paralyzed by the rushing, rippling heat blossoming swiftly within her lower body, rippling outward in larger and larger circles of heat. She couldn’t move, the intense pleasure so all-consuming. He knew to keep her sliding against him, keep engaging her hungry body, amping up as the release of her sweet, hot fluids flowed like a thick river down through her channel, coating him, making it an even more delicious sensation as he continued to milk her willing body.

The intensity of the orgasm was so deep that, for stolen seconds, Willow became semi-conscious, encircled in a white-hot universe of wonderful arcs racing swiftly throughout her. Heart ballooning with love for Shep because he wanted her to enjoy those moments fully, her love overwhelmed even her sexual response, drowning her in a brilliant golden light that surrounded her. If she had ever doubted his love for her, it was being expressed right now. Most men did not know how to prolong a woman’s orgasm. But he did. And he hurled her out into sparkling lights, dancing stars, and spiraling galaxies spinning around behind her tightly shut eyes. Willow heard from far away, as if become an astronaut out in actual space, her own cries of satiation and gratification tearing from her earthbound lips. She could feel Shep’s response, his care and love of her, as he made the orgasm last so long that she thought she would faint from the intense, ongoing pleasure it kept providing.

Finally, he stopped moving her upon him. She collapsed upon his long, lean body, head resting on his shoulder, perspiration sliding and mingling between them. Eyes closed, Willow absorbed his scent, his strength, and the tender way he now moved his hand slowly up and down her spine, taming the wildness with his tenderness. Her brow rested against his jaw. She could feel herself responding to every touch, every caress he gave her. He kissed her hair and she nuzzled against him, her hand sliding up across his tense chest, curving around his neck, holding him even closer, if that were possible. For untold moments, she felt herself melting into him, becoming a part of him until she couldn’t define where one of them began or ended with the other.

Slowly, over the minutes, she came out of that cradle of the magnificent universe where she loved to go whenever Shep triggered her orgasm. Somewhere in her fragmented, barely functioning mind, she realized that he had not come, that he’d held back for her sake. Turning her head slightly, she kissed the thick column of his neck. Shep had always, from the beginning, focused on her enjoyment first and foremost. He had the control to wait on his own release, more intent on pleasing her. Nothing had changed. Nothing. The love swirling and roiling through her right now was bright, powerful, hopeful and she nuzzled against him, fully satisfied. And he knew it, his hand stilling on her lower back, simply holding her in his arms, cradling her fully against him as the sacred being she was to him. She could feel him absorbing her on every level. It was times like this, after the initial orgasm and the further climaxes to come, that Willow swore her and Shep shared mental telepathy between them. She could feel his thoughts, feel his emotions and she savored them now like the treasures they had always been to her.

“That,” she whispered, sliding her fingers along his jaw, “was incredible, Shep. We’re so good together… we always were…”

Shep caressed her damp shoulder, moving some of her thick red hair aside, finding the nape of her neck, sliding his fingers across that sensitive area of hers. “We were always good together. Nothing’s changed then or now, Angel.”

Nodding, barely able to think, much less talk, all Willow wanted to do right now was keep this wonderful connection with Shep. And, as if reading her mind, and maybe her heart, he felt so content with that. Never mind that he was probably, just below her with his erection waiting, needing to come just as badly as she had. Willow didn’t want him to suffer, so she forced herself out of the ethers where she floated and languished.

Slowly, she sat up, flattening her palms against his chest, barely opening her eyes, drowning in the turbulent, narrowed blue of his gaze. “Your turn, big guy,” and she smiled, watching his expression turn primal. Sliding easily against him, she leaned forward, allowing the tip of his erection to press hotly against her entrance. His expression changed, became feral and dominant, his hands cupping her cheeks, testing the tip of himself slowly in and out of her gateway, sensing how tight it was. Closing her eyes, she leaned down, whispering against his thinned mouth, knowing he was feeling the incredible heat and pleasure that awaited him, “Take me… take me like you used to…”

Shep groaned as Willow drew him within her, fearless as always. He worried that it had been as a long time for her as it had been for him. No way was he going to hurt her. They’d gone through enough heartache without actual physical pain added on top. And she was tight. So tight that he knew she hadn’t had sex in a damn long time. The male pride part of himself gloried in that discovery. But it made him clamp down on his needs and focus his control as he continued to allow her to slide him in and out of her, a little at a time, slowly introducing himself to her, allowing her body time to respond and unfold more to him. The sensations were overwhelming; heat and lightning all woven together within him. More than anything he kept his hands gripped hard on her hips, guiding her, but not allowing her to plunge down upon him, stopping her from drawing him too sudden and deep within her out of fear of causing her discomfort. Shep controlled her movements with his strength. If she minded, she didn’t say anything. And he knew that Willow, if she didn’t like something, she’d let him know immediately. Relishing the soft, humming sounds coming out of her, he knew she was enjoying meeting him once more, appreciative of his slow reintroduction into her.

His heart flew open as he eased in a little more. He could feel her body stretching, accommodating and sometimes, like now, he’d hold Willow quiet, not allowing her to push down on him like she wanted to. Eyes closed, sweat running down his temples, his hands gripping her full, curved hips, his breathing was becoming ragged. Mouth tightening, he focused on control, not on his own pleasure. He guessed that Willow hadn’t had sex in over a year or more. Shep would never ask her about that, however. He felt that was for her to share with him if she wanted to. He could feel her frustration at being controlled by him and he smiled. Willow wasn’t one to wait too long, the impatient person that she was.

Allowing her to move, she immediately sucked him halfway up into her confines, gripped by her wet, hot corrugated walls. The sensations made him groan and he could feel his balls tightening up against his body, their explosiveness building to a point he knew he wouldn’t be able to control. And Willow felt it within herself, too. Some of his worry ebbed as he felt her body blooming like a flower to him, widening for his thick length, welcoming him deeper within, and he relaxed slightly. And then, she started to move back and forth, with each hip-thrust feeling his rock-hard shaft surging ever that little bit deeper into her, making him growl with satisfaction, with yearning. She was just as assertive as he was in bed, one of the many things Shep loved about Willow. Her fearlessness fed him and, as he loosened his hands more and more from her hips, giving her the freedom she wanted, his whole world exploded.

Just as she seated him as deeply as he could go within her fiery chamber, he felt an intense heat bolting down his spinal column, slamming through him, and the release into her made him groan. His hands gripped her hips harder, holding her against him, paralyzed by his explosive release into her welcoming confines. His mind melted. He heard her cry out, realizing she had just orgasmed once more, her fingertips digging deep into his chest. Helpless, caught and tumbling in the heat swirling through him, Shep couldn’t move. And she couldn’t either. In that delicious moment of culmination, they were fused into oneness, each experiencing a mind-blowing release. It was the most delicious experience that Shep had ever had with Willow. Maybe their three years apart had made their hearts grow fonder for one another. They’d sure as hell made loving her ten times better than before. And the ‘before’ had always been incredibly satisfying even back then. As he lay there beneath her, feeling her quiver, hearing those little cries of exultation tearing out of her, feeling her channel grip him over and over again as she orgasmed, all he could do was smile with gratitude.

His heart flew open as never before as he relaxed her hips from his tight grip. Swirling in heat, deep pleasure throbbing through him, Shep felt a love for Willow transcending even this incredible experience with her. He loved her with his life. He’d nearly given his life for her earlier today and would have willingly died to keep her alive. She was precious to him. Her fearless nature, her in-your-face personality, just heightened the love he held for this warrior woman of his. And Willow was truly his again. Shep knew that she was, in this magical moment, more so than he’d ever felt before, and that realization made joy soar through him, so keen and glorious. Somehow, someway, they would walk the minefields of each other’s pasts and find safe pathways through them together. Somehow…

CHAPTER 13

Sometime later, Shep drifted off to sleep, Willow at his side, pressed warmly against him. He remembered her nuzzling against his neck, kissing him, her arm draped across his damp torso. The tendrils of her hair were damp as well; a red carpet spread out across his chest. The scent of her hair, combined with her womanly fragrance, made him feel a peace that he’d never felt as deeply before. Being with Willow always allowed him to relax, but never to the depth he now slowly became aware of as the darkness of sleep quietly wrapped its wings around him.

It was dark when Shep slowly awakened much later. His first sensation was the warmth and womanly softness of Willow sleeping, still pressed against the length of his body. Even in sleep, they sought this closeness with one another. His arm was curved around her shoulders, holding her close to him. Marveling that they clung to one another, as if to life preservers, he slowly looked around the room. There was a nightlight out in the hall, spilling light in through the partially open bedroom door. She had left her iPod on out in the living room, and he could hear the quiet, instrumental music of a harp playing from its speakers. Shep knew she loved symphony music; loved harps, oboes and English horns. It wasn’t his kind of music. He liked bluegrass and New Orleans jazz, but this music suited his mood right now.

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