her hand, picked up the plate with the quiche and offered it to Xandi. “Please. Help yourself. Don’t let the meal grow cold.”
“You did this to yourself?” She took the quiche without even looking, loaded her plate with bacon and sausage, even grabbed one of the warm sweet rolls.
“Unfortunately, I have only myself to blame.” He filled his plate as well, then took another swallow of coffee. “It was not a pleasant experience, especially at first, when I was limited to life on four legs and an appetite for uncooked, very fresh meat. Really pissed off some of the local farmers and just about got me shot on more than one occasion. I’ve tried reversing the spell, but obviously my success has been limited. At least I regained a mostly human body. Thank goodness I got my hands back. It was damnably hard to zip trousers with paws. Not to mention brush my teeth.”
Xandi almost spewed her coffee. She grabbed the linen napkin and jammed it over her mouth. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.”
He chuckled, sighed, then took a bite of sausage. “Actually, it feels good. To laugh. I haven’t had much to laugh about for the past five years.”
“Five years? It’s been that long? Ya know, I think I remember an announcement that you’d decided to retire. I thought you were moving to Europe—Liechtenstein or some other little country where rich people like to go.”
“That’s the announcement I had Oliver put out. Then I came home to lick my wounds, literally. Oliver has been with me since I was very young, just starting out in the business, in fact. Thank goodness he stays, as I’m not quite fit for public viewing. For a long time I actually worried that if I were captured, I’d end up in a zoo. I had trouble speaking at first. It wasn’t easy until I was able to shift some of the more wolfen parts through a number of spells.
“You’re the first person who’s been in my home since my…mishap. You are the only person besides Oliver who has seen me.” He stared at her, long and hard. Xandi felt her nipples tighten, knew they raised the soft fabric of her gown.
She lowered her head, unwilling to let him see the unbridled lust that must be quite visible on her face. Once again, she wondered if he sensed her arousal, if his animal instincts were finely honed enough to scent the liquid even now pooling between her legs.
Quietly, she finished her meal. Stefan did the same. She wondered what he was thinking, if he felt the same rush of desire as she did, experienced the deep, gut-churning need that thrummed through her veins.
She hoped so. She wanted him. Wanted him in the light of day, face to face, filling her. Loving her. She wanted domination by the beast as much as by the man. Again…and again. And again.
He snarled, a wolfen sound, a low growl that started deep in his throat and leaked slowly, menacingly, to his lips. Xandi immediately jerked upright, looked into his amber eyes.
Saw the need she felt reflected in their depths. She carefully wiped her mouth, folded her napkin and placed it beside her knife. Then she stood up and held her hand out to him.
Without a word, Stefan rose as well. He took her hand and led her down the long, sun-bright hallway.
Her fingers were slim yet very strong, clasping his hand tightly even as he led her. He heard the blood rushing in his veins, smelled the rich, lush scent of her desire, knew her vagina was beginning to pulse, the lips at its gate to swell. His cock stretched, grew in girth and length, until he was aware of its restricted position down the left leg of his pants. The fabric brushed against his erection with every step he took. His heightened senses felt each thread, each tiny imperfection in the material, almost as pain.
His room was only at the end of the hallway, a mere fifty feet from the kitchen. He almost didn’t make it, so strong was his need. When he finally opened the door and led her into his bedroom—his den—his sanctuary, she was trembling, reassuring him with her physical reaction that her need was every bit as strong as his.
He started to tilt the blinds, to darken the room, but she stopped him. “No. I want to see you. I want to know who takes me so high, who loves me so well.”
He almost cried. He’d wondered if any woman would ever want him, would ever desire him. He’d been celibate since the change, unwilling to risk discovery—or rejection. To think that he’d found a woman who embraced him, who found this beast attractive. It was more than he could have ever dreamed.
She turned in his arms and placed her hands on his waist, slipping her long fingers beneath his sweater. He shivered when she raised the hem along his chest, revealing the soft gray fur that covered him. He’d thought it ugly, animalistic, but there was no denying the fascinated light in her eyes when she saw him.
He raised his arms and bent at the waist, allowed her to tug the sweater over his head before he straightened once more. He felt naked, standing there with his furred body in plain view, but she leaned close and nuzzled her cheek against his chest, then found his nipple with her tongue.
“Ahhh.” The cry escaped without warning. He choked it off as she licked his taut nipple, circled it with her tongue. He felt the sensation in his nuts, felt the shock of her touch like a coiling flash of lightning. She nipped at him, and he almost cried out again, but he found some semblance of control, just in time.
She touched him all over, running her hands over his torso, across his back. She seemed to be fascinated by him, turned on by his bestial appearance…by him.
Suddenly her fingers were fumbling with the snap at his waist, trembling, tugging at the zipper. He grabbed her shoulders, needing something solid to hang onto, something to keep him from falling to his knees.
Last night had been a fantasy, a wonderful interlude with an unknown woman.
Today was a miracle.
After a moment’s struggle, she found the zipper, tugged it slowly down, released the pressure holding his damned cock in place. It practically jumped out of the opening, all glistening animal cock that it was. He might have changed his hands, but the penis still looked like something a dog would sport…a very large dog. He wondered if he’d ever get used to the sheathlike foreskin, the strange shape, the extra-sensitive surface of this organ.
He glanced at Xandi. She was staring at him as if mesmerized. Her tongue slipped out between her lips, licked both top and bottom, and retreated back into her mouth. He was trying to come up with some way to get that tongue to touch his cock when she suddenly dropped to her knees and pulled his slacks down over his hips.
Completely free now, his cock bobbed just in front of her face, the foreskin pulled back close to his body. She leaned over without any hesitation at all and licked the length of him. His knees almost buckled. He tightened his grip on her shoulders, and she looked up at him and smiled.
He was still trying to figure out the meaning of that grin when she leaned closer and took him in her mouth.
Mother of God! Only her sturdy grasp on his hips held him upright.
Her fingers dug into his butt cheeks, her mouth encompassed his cock, and her damned tongue danced the length of him, licking and tickling until he wanted to cry.
He moaned instead. More of a whimper, actually. Not very manly, but all he was capable of at the moment.
Her fingers squeezed and stroked his butt, her mouth did amazing things to his cock, and he thought his balls might explode from the
