Charred Heart (#1, Heart of Fire) Read online

  Chace pulled away. Like her, he was breathing hard.

  “Are we gonna talk or …” he trailed off then spread kisses down the side of her jaw.

  Any minute now, guys. Skylar found herself starting not to care if Dillon showed up or not.

  She pushed Chace’s leather jacket off. Flinging off the coat, he kissed her again, this time more demanding, deep and hungry. The thought of being rescued began to melt away, and she slid her hands up his shirt, across the supple skin covering his hard chest and abs.

  How long had it been since she felt such need for anyone?

  Had she ever? It was melting her reasoning and the instincts that told her she came her to find the most elusive shifter in history. Now that they were alone, she sensed a trickle of magic from the man before her, not enough for her to figure out if he was the one she sought or not.

  She found herself too infatuated with his scent, like honey and a bonfire, and the sensation of his soft skin beneath her hands.

  He whipped off the shirt to reveal a body that had been molded to perfection, with a layer of honey-golden skin poured over taut muscle. From the wide shoulders, thick biceps and chiseled chest to the ridges of his abdomen and the lean width of his hips, he was built to excite and thrill.

  Over his heart was the simple, black dragon tattoo. Stunned, she stiffened.

  What the hell do I do now?

  “Nice tat,” she said. With morbid curiosity, she placed her hand over his heart to see if what the others said was true: that shifters didn’t have hearts.

  There was no heartbeat, but the flame she’d felt in the parking lot sparked even higher inside her. It was affected by the proximity of his magic, and she grew even more distracted by the unfolding of a new instinct, one that compelled her to him.

  “We really gonna do this?” he whispered, warm hands sliding beneath her shirt. He paused when she hesitated, his cheek pressed against hers and their bodies supported by one another’s.

  Chace raised his head to meet her gaze. There was genuine warmth in his eyes, something she didn’t expect to see from a one-night-stand or from a heartless shifter.

  Her body was screaming yes, her instincts humming with burning insistence that left her baffled. She didn’t just need his body. She needed him and to make him hers.

  He’s my dragon. The sense filled her with a strange peace, one that told her she was supposed to be here, now with this shifter. It also confused her, the impulse to wrangle him down and take him to the rehabilitation center strong but rapidly melting beneath the heat of his kisses and the idea he was somehow hers already.

  I can lasso him in the morning, she decided, torn between the two warring instincts.

  His touch made the newfound instinct stronger, even if her logical mind told her to walk back into the bar and wait for backup.

  With Chace’s wide hands on her abdomen and the thick ridge of his arousal against her lower belly, she found herself unusually intrigued in him and not at all interested in waiting for her team.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “You’re right. I’m no girl scout.”

  “Thank god.” His hands skimmed up her body.

  She laughed, raising her arms as he lifted her shirt off.

  Chapter Three

  He unsnapped her bra next, his hands roaming her body as if to memorize every contour. He cupped her breasts in his palms and flicked his thumbs across her nipples, sending tiny sensations of pleasure through her. Skylar let her hands explore his body, unable to understand why this moment seemed more real to her than any other moment with her former lovers. She couldn’t breathe in enough of his scent and marveled at the tight skin covering thick muscles that were firm beneath her touch. He was so strong and so gentle, a combination that awed her.

  She shivered while he played with her breasts and leaned into him, relishing the smoked honey scent of his skin.

  He started a trail of hot kisses down her neck and collarbone, paused to suckle her breasts until she groaned, then continued downward, his hands resting on her abdomen. He slid her pants down, over her hips and thighs then carefully worked each foot free until she stood naked.

  She closed her eyes, absorbed in the moment, enthralled by the heat of his wide palms and how delicate he made her feel, just by touching her.

  “I want to taste you.” His voice was thick with need, his hands roaming her legs.

  “I won’t talk you out of it,” she replied with a small laugh.

  Steadying her with one hand, he lifted one leg over his shoulder and gripped her ass. He shifted closer until his nose tickled the sensitive skin of one inner thigh. His tongue flickered into her, lighting at first, and then more quickly, tasting her.

  Skylar wound her fingers through his long hair, her breath quickening at the sensation of his mouth. His tongue left her core and traveled between her nether lips before he paused to flick the aching clit.

  Skylar groaned at the flutters of pleasure, willing him to linger.

  He did for a moment, sucking and circling the swollen button before he planted kisses on her lower belly. He stood, kissing his way up her body. Her leg fell away from his shoulder, and she waited impatiently for him to finish his journey and for his mouth to find hers again.

  When it did, she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him with hunger that demanded satisfaction. The feel of his bare chest against hers drove her wilder, made her want him more, to explore his body until she was certain she had tasted every inch of him.

  Skylar rubbed his erection through his jeans then unsnapped his pants and pushed them down. She let him work his own feet free, more interested in taking his large dick into her hands. Touching him gently, she slid her mouth over the soft, bulbous head and then down over the shaft as far as she could. He pulsed in her mouth, growing harder, longer. She squeezed him hard between her lips.

  “Thank god you have no gag reflex,” Chace said somewhat breathlessly. “You know how rare that is nowadays?”

  It was a struggle not to laugh until she’d freed his erection from her mouth. Skylar chuckled and stood, leaving one hand between them to stroke him while she renewed their intense kissing.

  Chace maneuvered into a wall, pressing her against it. She released his dick and wrapped her arms around his neck once more, enjoying his body pressed fully against hers.

  His mouth left hers, nipping and licking his way down her jawline and side of her neck while one of his hands slid between their bodies and into her core.

  She wriggled against him suggestively, and he nipped her earlobe in response.

  “You ready?” he whispered.

  “Oh, yeah,” she replied.

  “I’ve always wanted to do it standing up. You game?”

  She laughed. “Sure!”

  His hands slid to her hips, and he turned her to face the wall and pressed her against it once more. At the feel of his hard dick against her ass, she spread her legs instinctively, needing him inside her.

  One of Chace’s arms went around her torso to steady her. He dipped the fingers on his other hand inside her once more before they were replaced at the opening of her core by his erection.

  Skylar pressed her backside to him to hurry him, and he chuckled, kissing her neck and down her shoulder. He made his way back and kissed the back of her neck.

  His bite there was much harder than she expected, and her breath caught.

  Skylar’s eyes opened enough for her to see the hand he had pressed to the wall beside her head had black fingernails that had lengthened, resembling small talons.

  “Chace …” she murmured, unsettled by the display and the pain in her neck.

  Any concern she felt disappeared when he entered her, and she gasped at the friction and sensation.

  “Yeah?” he asked in response. The hand on the wall went back to her body, the nails tracing down her side in a strange mix of pleasure and pain that baffled her. It paused when it reached her lower abdomen to brace her for his movements.

&nb
sp; He moved in and out her, a slow rhythm that erased any conscious thought she had about sleeping with a shifter. The pain in her neck faded and disappeared, and she settled her hands against the wall.

  Chace’s hand slid lower. A flutter of alarm went through her at the thought of his long nails in her most sensitive region. But his touch was light, the nails eliciting exquisite bursts of pleasure-pain before he slid a finger against her clit and held it, letting the movement of their bodies guide where it went.

  “Chace,” she complained. “I need to touch you, too.”

  He withdrew at her words and spun her, claiming her mouth and lifting her onto his hips. With his hands on her ass, he lowered her onto his erection once more, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. She ground against him, wanting to mold their bodies together as close as possible so she could feel him from the inside out.

  He pressed her to the wall once more, bracing his hands on either side of her and moving in and out of her faster this time, the intensity of his kisses making the world slide away, until all she knew was his body and hers.

  He gripped her bottom again and moved them away from the wall towards the bed and dropped with her into it, his body covering hers and hips working fast. The full length of him pressed against her was almost her undoing, and she kissed him with the desperation and yearning that coursed through her system. A hot new sensation was forming at the base of her belly, one that promised to be explosive once released.

  “God you feel so real,” he murmured, burying his head in the nape of her neck.

  “I am real,” she said with a husky laugh.

  “I know. I mean …” he drifted off.

  She wanted to tell him she felt the same, except her body was growing taut, her ability to speak and reason gone. She communicated with her body instead and arched beneath him, clinging to him in an effort to keep their bodies together.

  “Ahh, yeah. You’re getting even tighter,” he whispered against her ear. “I want to hear my name when you come.”

  Her eyes closed. He pressed her to the bed while her body strained against his. For a moment, Skylar had the sense that time stood still. Her body was too tense for her to breathe, and she was drowning in the smoky-honey scent and flavor of his skin.

  The tense moment cracked, and her body bucked.

  “Chace!” she cried hoarsely before sharp pulses of pleasure rolled through her like the waves of a hurricane pounding the shore.

  Soon breathless, she relished the feel of him quickening his pace, his breathing fast and his kisses harder. He relinquished her mouth, and she was able to see his eyes and the flames burning where his pupils should’ve been.

  I shouldn’t be sleeping with a shifter. The instinct caught no traction, and she traced her nails down his back then gripped his hard ass.

  “You like doggy style?” she asked with a wicked grin.

  One minute she was on her back, the next, he’d flipped her onto her belly. She gave a breathless laugh, her body still shuddering from the intensity of her orgasm. His hands were all over her.

  Skylar shifted onto her knees then hugged one of his pillows to balance herself and lifted her ass in the air.

  “I don’t even know you and I love you!” Chace breathed. “Sorry, hon, this is gonna be quick and rough.”

  His words sent a thrill through her. He gripped her hips then penetrated her fast, pushing himself fully into her with a groan before he eased out and began to thrust. The new position sent tremors of intense pleasure through her, nearly driving her again to climax.

  He leaned over her, his thrusts steady. One of his hands rested against the headboard while the other slid down her stomach and to her clit.

  “Think you got one more in ya this round,” he whispered.

  Skylar shivered, not yet recovered from her first orgasm. He touched her gently despite the mini-talons, the flick of his nail against her clit making her gasp. The meat of his finger replaced it, but he continued alternating between the two, the distinct pleasure of his nail and the hard pressure of his finger sending her barreling again towards ecstasy.

  Her body shook at the combination of his touch and the friction of his quick, deep thrusts. Skylar buried her face in the pillow as her body grew taut once more, her need to be sated overwhelming everything else.

  He began to pump harder, faster, ratcheting up the intensity of the sensations shooting through her.

  This climax was hard, slamming into her with such force that tunnel vision formed. She cried out again, a sound that didn’t sound human to her ears, but which was soon drowned out by the sound of Chace’s release.

  Unable to support herself, she collapsed, her body trembling and bucking from the orgasm. Chace’s body went with her, and he lay on top of her, panting hard, with his dick still clenched tightly in her seizing sheathe.

  She struggled to catch her breath and not pass out, overwhelmed by the senses that were intoxicated by him and the intensity of her climax.

  Chace pushed her hair from the side of her face and kissed her tenderly. His hands ran down her sides.

  “I think we need to do that … again,” he breathed. “And again and again.”

  Her laugh was more of a gasp as she tried to catch her breath.

  “We can see how many times you come tonight,” he offered. “Make a game of it.”

  She twisted beneath him. He lifted himself enough to give her room to turn over then lowered his body back on top of hers. She took his face in her hands, admiring the masculine planes and shadowed dips of his chiseled features. He rested his forearms near her head and ran his fingers through her hair.

  Had she ever met anyone this stunning let alone dreamt she’d sleep with someone who looked like him?

  Skylar gazed up into the dark blue depths of his eyes, unable to recall a time when she’d felt more comfortable and at peace with someone else. His erection was pressed to one thigh, already growing hard again while her body calmed from the double-climaxes.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he said, almost absently. “Your eyes are like the sky, and you taste like Christmas.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” she laughed, tracing her thumb over his soft, sculpted lips. “You’re very sweet for someone I think can get any girl he wants.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “You feel different. I don’t know why.”

  “It’s the extra ten pounds I put on last year.”

  He laughed, the flames at his pupils dancing. She stared into them, mesmerized by them the same way she was by a normal fire. He nuzzled his cheek to hers, and she closed her eyes, listening to him breath. She draped her arms around him loosely, the thrill of his skin and hers preventing her blood from settling completely.

  “Round two?” he whispered, tracing a nail down the side of her face.

  The black talons were longer, but this time, she regarded them with intrigue and anticipation.

  Her body responded with a surge of hot desire.

  “Oh, hell, yeah,” she murmured.

  Chapter Four

  Early the next morning, Chace sat on the edge of his bed, wearing his jeans and nothing else. He glanced at the woman sleeping soundly beside him. He never expected to feel satisfied, rested and fully sated for once, maybe even for the first time in a thousand years, since he fell under the worst curse in the universe.

  She was sprawled out on her belly, body covered by a sheet as she slumbered like someone who had been kept up for hours making love. With long, curly, auburn hair and amazing blue eyes, she’d snagged his attention the moment she walked into the shifters’ bar, clearly out of place but unafraid. Her skin was touched with olive coloring, her body a few inches below six feet and toned with rounded hips, a tight ass and shapely legs. Even now, he found himself wanting to push the sheet down so he could feel the soft skin of her round ass and slide his fingers into her hot core again.

  His only deterrent: he had no idea who she was.

  The woman he was expecting and
the woman who showed up weren’t the same, which meant he was going to be late for the appointment he was supposed to be at.

  His eyes strayed to the contents in his hands, the two belongings she’d carried with her that he’d dug out of her pockets. He was expecting to find a familiar appointment card. Mr. Nothing always sent beautiful human women like this one to the bar to deliver the cards with locations and times of where they were going to meet. It was a dead giveaway that she was there with a message, and to leave her alone.

  There was no card. No identification, nothing to tell him who this chick was or why she just happened to wander into a shifters’ bar. The way she surveyed the room was too purposeful for her to be there for a drink, and she’d been wired. She’d clearly been looking for someone, though who, he wasn’t sure. He’d drawn the short end of the straw to rescue her from Max, the huge, bearded shifter who acted as the guard dog for the shifter bar. A bouncer with a temper, he usually snapped people’s heads off rather than tossing them to the curb.

  After a night of fantastic sex, Chace was glad he had rescued her, until this morning.

  Figures the first girl I meet who makes me feel human again is probably here to make me disappear, like the rest of the shifters.

  The silky, woven gold cord in her pocket was one of the two belongings. He had no idea what it was, except he wished he’d found it in time to tie her up last night. Setting it aside, he focused on the small, round GPS tracker. It was flat enough not to make a bulge in her pocket, but he knew it on sight. He’d found one in the saddlebag of his bike last week.

  Whoever placed it there, placed her at the bar last night, too.

  There was a light tap at his door.

  Chace rose, dissatisfied with finding no answers to the questions he had about the girl and why she was in his bar. He pulled on his heavy boots and crushed the tracking bug beneath a heel before going to the door and opening it.

  “Long night?” Gunner, asked. The panther shifter with golden skin was dressed as if for a ride, his dark hair captured beneath a do-rag. He was clad in a faded, worn t-shirt that outlined his muscular upper body and featured the gang’s logo – the dragon tattoo that was over Chace’s heart.