He grinned. “Thank you. I try. No, who am I kidding, I succeed. Every time.”
“Whoo. Should we step outside?” Taylor stifled a snicker. “I’m not sure there’s room in here for me, you, and your ego.” They headed for the door. “But where were you this morning?”
“I was meeting up with Truman and James to see if they’d found anything out about your turning. Unfortunately, so far, we’ve got nothing.”
“Well, that’s a bummer.” Taylor tried to keep her tone light.
“Yep. A bummer indeed.” They headed for his mansion, which was a ten-minute walk from the center of town. “I’m not giving up,” he said.
When they got back to his house, he led her to a large sitting room area, locked all the doors, and sat down with her on an overstuffed sofa.
“Swear to me that this isn’t taking time away from anything you need to do to prepare for the trials,” she said to him, settling in comfortably.
“I, Cliff Bronson, being of somewhat sound mind and better than sound body, do solemnly swear…”
“Jerk! Take it seriously!” She slapped him playfully. He captured her hand in his, and she felt a red-holt lightning bolt of arousal sizzle through her veins.
“Just so you know,” he said, his voice gone slightly husky, “whenever you touch me, the only thing I want to do is rip your clothes off and ravish you. So I’m going to move away from you a little bit, so I can concentrate on your very important training and you can stop distracting me, evil temptress. But don’t take it personally.”
He slid along the couch.
“Jeez, how could I possibly take that personally?” she said with a smile.
“Lean back and close your eyes.”
She obeyed.
His voice surrounded her like a warm caress. “I want you to imagine turning into a wolf. First, you feel it building in your body, like a sneeze…or an orgasm. Your fur tickles from the inside out, like reverse pins-and-needles.”
Taylor shivered as she imagined the sensation.
“We’ll be out in woods, and you’ll be aware of the sharp scent of pine and the cool hush of the wind.” His voice was quiet and lulling, almost hypnotic. “Let that sensation build, and when you’re ready…release it.”
She shuddered again.
“You’ll feel your teeth lengthening into fangs. Your wolf uncurling inside you and pushing to the surface. You’ll feel the dampness of the fallen leaves on the forest floor between your fingers and toes as your palms become paw pads…”
It was as if the room fell away from her and she was in the middle of a dense forest.
She could almost feel it, a sense of power filling her, the fur flowing over her skin, fangs thrusting forth from her gums. She knew her wolf would be snowy-white with ice-blue eyes.
There were a couple of minutes of silence as she mentally played the scene out in her head, and then he said, “Okay, open your eyes now.”
She shivered and jerked herself back to reality. Cliff was standing up now, unbuttoning his crisp white Oxford shirt.
“Oh, andI’mthe evil temptress?” Taylor said indignantly as he kicked off his Oxfords and shucked his pants and underwear.
She couldn’t keep her eyes off his body. Oh, who was she kidding? She didn’t try. She let her gaze linger on his broad shoulders and muscular chest. The smooth, tan skin between the flat copper coins of his nipples was dusted with curly black hair that tapered into a treasure tail leading down tantalizingly over his flat belly to his heavy, half-hard cock. Her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip as she imagined taking the head in her mouth and sucking him like a lollipop. It obviously didn’t take a mind-reader to know what she was thinking about.
“Calm down there, gorgeous. I’m going to show you how it’s done.”
“Sex? I’m pretty sure I know.”
He snorted. “Oh, I’m more than pretty sure. And you are damn amazing at it.”
“I am?” She hid a smile.
“Judging by my many orgasms, yes. But what I’m going to show you is how we shift. I know you’ve seen it before, but I want you to feel completely comfortable with it. I’m going to do it slowly. Watch me, and imagine yourself doing it with me. Shifting, not screwing!” he added, trying to look stern as she laughed.
