He launched himself out of his chair to glare down at her. “Not that good, Miss Penny? First of all, that ‘scene’ in the alley, as you put it, was not staged. Second, that was anything but a real fuck. We had all our clothes on, for Christ’s sake. And third.” He paused to close what little distance remained between them. Staring directly into her eyes, nose to nose, he growled his last words. “The orgasm we shared was more than good, it was explosive. Lie to yourself if you want to, but you came hard, like a shot.” He licked his lips, unable to help how turned on she made him in her anger. “And I can still smell your come creaming your panties. Hell, right now you want nothing more than a hard fuck right on Gerald’s desk, isn’t that right?”
Her pupils dilated with lust, and her scent filled the room. Pure, unadulterated sex.
“Fuck. You.”
“Sure thing, honey. You just name the time and place.”
He watched in amazement as her pupils began to elongate. He could smell the familiar scent of feline musk flooding the room and waited, his breath held, as Rachel amazingly began to turn.
Her hair began to rise as her body was covered in a field of static energy, and her teeth grew sharp as she hissed at him in anger. God, she made him burn. The mixture of mountain lion and woman was almost more than he could take. Glancing at Gerald’s desk, Burke figured he could have it cleared in one swipe of his arm. He’d bend her over the solid oak on her belly and yank those jeans and panties off her legs. Within seconds he’d lower his own clothes, just enough to spring his cock free before he’d shove it hard and deep into that honeyed, wet pussy.
Rachel’s hands fisted into paws as she raised one arm as if to strike.
Do it. Please, touch me and I swear I’ll mark you as one of mine in a heartbeat. The choice, even unknowingly made, had to be hers.
Gerald, damn his ass, chose that minute to knock at the door. “Hey, is everything all right in there?”
Son of a bitch. Burke knew Gerald could smell the passion raging in the room, the scent of a female in heat overpowering enough to easily reach the lawyer outside the office.
Rachel blinked, and that suddenly her shift vanished as if it had never been. She swayed and righted herself, still miffed enough not to want Burke’s touch. “Come near me again and I’ll geld you.” Sniffing, she turned on her heel and stalked out the door, nearly knocking over Gerald, who waited impatiently on the other side.
Gerald watched Rachel go with amusement, his lips quirked in an aggravating smirk.
“Not one word.” Burke stormed through the door, knocking Gerald into the wall as he passed, heading for the bathroom to finally clean up. “Not one fucking word.”
Rachel was so mad she wanted to cry. Frustrated anger that had no outlet, not to mention the absurd hurt, lingered in her battered heart. When would she learn? Jesse, apparently, hadn’t been enough of a fiasco to teach her abject lessons about the male of the species. Men weren’t loyal, they weren’t honest, and they certainly weren’t worth a single tear.
Wiping her cheeks with a rough jerk, she stalked outside to the only car in the lot and waited. Why couldn’t she have seen this earlier? Men like Burke Chastell had one thing on their minds and one thing only: screwing over women to get whatever they wanted.
Hadn’t she caught him verbally abusing that poor waitress this morning? And the entire diner had overheard Rachel state her name as Rachel Penny, not to mention her connection to Charlotte. Why then hadn’t he mentioned he wanted her land? That he and her aunt were neighbors, at least?
No. It was so much easier, and probably more fun, to fuck with Rachel’s body and mind. The dishonesty of it all made her want to puke. It was so…so Jesse all over again.
And then to stir her to horny madness in Gerald’s office? What was wrong with him?
Shit. What was wrong with her?
Because as much as she’d hated him at that moment, her body had been readying for his penetration. Her clit ached at his nearness, moisture pooling between her thighs as if he’d had his large hand rubbing her, prepping her for his thick, juicy cock. She’d felt an almost animal hunger and a hazy sense of desire, both foreign feelings that scared her and aroused her all over again.
She groaned, clenching the hair by her temples. She swore she could smell him, even here. That caramel, sticky-sweet scent drenched in sex that made her want to spread her thighs and beg for him. Beg? The only dumbass who should be begging is the jerk in that office. Creaming for him. Ha.
Lie, lie, lie, her inner self urged her. At least preserve your self-respect.
Inhaling deeply, Rachel strove to work her temper under control. She refused to surrender to her body’s foolish demands. Head over heart, mind over matter, and reason over orgasm should have been her steadfast mantra. Instead, she battled her desires as she waited for Burke the Jerk and Gerald to join her. But surprisingly, after just a few minutes, her raging need settled as if it had never been, making her more confused than ever.
When Gerald arrived a few moments later, he smiled and opened the passenger door of his Range Rover, waiting for her to enter. It felt strange to have a man behave like such a gentleman after Burke’s aggressiveness and her ex-husband’s perfidy.
Gerald, however, behaved with a gentle assertiveness she found comforting. He drove slowly through the town, commenting here and there on Cougar Falls’ history. And she breathed easily, relaxed around him. Though attractive and with that same, earthy scent all the men around this town seemed to possess, he didn’t make her crazed with lust. She had no urges to strip him naked or nuzzle his neck to inhale his scent. Thank God.
“And there’s Millie’s ice cream parlor.” Gerald pointed her toward an attractive little shop. “The woman’s nearing seventy-four and still opens the shop every morning and closes it every evening. That’s what I love about this place. The sense of pride in ownership and the family traditions.”
Rachel nodded, taken with the charming town. The brick-and-log buildings showed their age and their character, all of them carefully preserved and well tended. She didn’t see a speck of litter anywhere, just clusters of bright multicolored flowers in window boxes and barrels. As they neared the center of town, she saw groups of smiling and laughing couples with children dancing near what appeared to be an open park. In the park’s center stood a large white gazebo peopled with musicians and surrounded by food booths.
“The Totem Festival’s today. That’s what has all those people out here so early on a Saturday.”
“Totem Festival?”
Gerald smiled and kept his eyes on the paved road that gradually turned into a dirt road a mile outside of town. “A long time ago this used to be Salish land, though a lot of the history books show the Salish Indians farther west, thanks to our unscrupulous Uncle Sam.” He grimaced and continued. “Well, a few Salish ran into a mysterious, small group of people inhabiting the region we now live in.”
Rachel listened, curious and caught by Gerald’s rhythmic words. She had a feeling the story was important, but couldn’t have said why. When he’d mentioned the Totem Festival, her entire body tensed on alert. Like everything else that had happened to her since stepping foot in Cougar Falls, this made no sense either.
Instead of dwelling on it, she said to hell with worry and latched onto his story. “So the root of this festival isn’t the Salish, but the people they ran into.”
“Right, the Shifters.” Gerald flashed her a smile and turned down another dirt road, taking them deeper into the mountains. “The Salish called them Ac-taw, which in the Shifters’ language meant animal souls. According to legend, the Ac-taw could transform into the beasts that dwelt within their souls.”