Feisty Read online

  Devon enjoyed this time of the evening the most. The sun had completed its journey, leaving a star-studded night and a full moon that usually led to an unforgettable night. The excitement of the day had died into a peaceful, almost serene atmosphere. Soon families would come together for stories or dancing. The older generation would be the first to depart. While the teenagers snuck away, their parents would take the younger children home, which left the rest of Whispering Cove to find pleasure in the night.

  The thought brought a certain redhead to mind. What the hell was wrong with him? He had never let a woman get under his skin before, especially one who was off limits. Maybe that was the fascination. He took one step and then another until he found himself at the water’s edge, waves licking at his ankles. As he stared blindly over the dark, rolling ocean, he placed the beer bottle to his lips and tipped it up only to choke when someone slapped him on the back. Drawing a forearm over his mouth to wipe up the spilled beer he’d spewed, he looked over his shoulder.

  “What’s up?” Reece asked.

  “Don’t know what you mean.” Devon knew he wasn’t fooling his best friend when the man raised a single brow.

  “Really? You’re going there?” Reece handed him one of two beers he held pinched between the fingers of one hand.

  Placing the empty bottle in the back pocket of his boardshorts, Devon popped the top on the cold beer now in his hand. “Dammit, Reece. She’s Leo sister.” When his friend flinched, he realized he’d struck a nerve. He started to apologize, but someone was approaching.

  When Leo came into view, the tendons in Devon’s neck tightened again. “Caan,” he said, because he didn’t know what else to say.

  Leo eyed him with an expression that set Devon’s nerves on edge. “You know she won’t stop until she gets what she wants.”

  Devon couldn’t have hid his surprise even if he’d tried. “Excuse me?”

  “Sahara has always been that way. When she sees something she wants she’s like a dog with a bone.”

  Reece chuckled, while Devon remained baffled at where this conversation was heading.

  Leo looked back to where his sister was encouraging Tabby to get to her feet. When the woman’s sensual body began to undulate, Tabby tried to follow. Her bulging belly made her dance moves seem awkward compared to Sahara’s sexy ones.

  “Of course, if you’re not interested—”

  “Caan.” Devon felt his eyes widen. “She’s your sister.”

  Leo released a harrumph. “And if she had any idea you’re holding back because of me there would be hell to pay. Trust me. I learned early if I interfered it just fired her up more.” He shrugged. “I’m saying…”

  Did Leo just give Devon a green light?

  Leo must have read his disbelief. “Believe me, she can take care of herself. She’s driven. A relationship—marriage isn’t in her current plans. When the wedding is over, she’ll be gone and she won’t be back.”

  Devon wasn’t prepared to be flat-ass told he would be nothing but a one-night stand. For some odd reason it didn’t sit well in his belly. An old insecurity raised its dark head from deep inside him. Was Leo warning Devon for his own good or was he saying he wasn’t good enough for his sister?

  “If you’ll excuse me.” Reece slapped Devon on the back again. “I think I need to dance with my wife.”

  “And I promised the first dance to my fiancée,” Leo added.

  As the two men walked away, Devon held back, not knowing exactly why. Instead, he watched Sahara. She raised her arms into the air, swaying back and forth as she dipped low, before slowly rising with a seductive swing to her hips. His sister Kat had joined the two women and they began to dance together. When Reece arrived and dragged his wife to him, Tabby melted into his arms. Leo found Sky and they joined the couple, leaving Sahara and Kat to dance together, which didn’t last long when a couple of men, strangers Devon had never met, held out their hands to the women. When they accepted, Devon’s breath caught in his throat. A heat wave rolled over him, putting his feet in motion. It was time for Kat to go home.

  When he reached his sister, she was snuggled close to the man whose hands rode past the small of her back. Devon tapped the man’s shoulder and the guy had the nerve to ignore him.

  “Kat,” he growled.

  Her eyes opened and she frowned.

  “Mom looks like she needs to leave.” He glanced toward where their mother sat with Annette Wilson, who cradled her sleeping granddaughter, Katherine, and Hannah McGrath, Reece and Brody’s mother. Hannah watched over her son’s demon boys, who looked more like angels as they slept on a blanket spread across the sand.

  “Heidi can take her home,” Kat retorted.

  “Heidi left a while ago.” Even preoccupied with Sahara, Devon always knew where his sisters and mother were. After the sun had set, Heidi headed toward the car he had purchased for her. If he knew his youngest sister, the introverted girl had headed back to the house. Unlike Tabby and Kat, crowds weren’t Heidi’s thing. She would rather be reading or painting. He had high hopes for her. She would be someone someday. She didn’t share her art with many people, but she was talented and smart. If she didn’t pursue her artistic ability she could easily be an engineer or ocean biologist.

  Unlike his sisters, he’d never had the opportunity to go to college. He worked for Reece and he probably always would.

  “You take her home,” Kat grumbled.

  “Are you ready to go?” The silky smooth voice came from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes meeting Sahara’s. When she had ended the dance with her partner he didn’t know, but he was glad she had.

  Through an unexpected smile, he stared at Sahara. “As you can see, I have plans.” The evening was looking better and better. He dropped his gaze and skimmed it down the line of exposed skin that Sahara’s light jacket didn’t hide.

  “Fine,” Kat huffed. “I’m afraid I have to go,” she mumbled to her dance partner. After saying her good-byes, she passed by Devon, bumping his shoulder with her own. “You owe me.”

  When it was only Sahara and him, she wadded her fingers in his jacket and pulled him to her. Her long eyelashes swept low. “Your place or mine?”

  As he stared at her full lips, his pulse took off. If he was caught leaving Sleepy Cove, the bed and breakfast owned by Lila and Jon Wilson, the entire town of Whispering Cove would know exactly what he’d be doing and with whom.

  His groin stirred with thoughts of stripping off those tight blue jeans she wore. The tip of her tongue slid seductively between her kissable lips and he swallowed hard. “Mine.”

  She released her hold on him. “I need to check on my nephew before we leave.”

  “No need.” He wanted to kiss her so badly his mouth began to water. “I saw him leave with Errol earlier this afternoon. He’s in good hands.”

  She gazed into his eyes as if she sought the truth.

  “Trust me,” he whispered.

  Silence stretched between them until he bent his head and captured her lips. For a brief moment, he was in control, drinking slowly from her mouth. Then he felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into the caress. Her soft lips made his head spin. The low moan she released made him forget where he was and who might be watching them. When her tongue touched his, his knees went weak. Heart rate speeding, he felt breathless when they parted. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she had drugged him. He felt high off a single kiss and it scared the living hell out of him.

  She placed her pillowy lips against his. “Let’s get out of here.”

  He didn’t respond—couldn’t.

  Still immersed in the moment, all he could think of was how soft her lips were, how sweet her kiss. When he finally came to his senses, he gathered her hand in his and led her to where his jacked-up truck was parked. He chucked the half-full beer he held in the back of his truck. Remembering the bottle in his back pocket, he heaved it after the first one. He opened the door and she crawled inside. He
slipped in beside her before he took her into his arms.

  Another kiss. Another moment of euphoria that didn’t last long when a set of headlights flashed on them. He blinked, struggling with the dark spots before his eyes. Or were they stars? The thought forced him to take a ragged breath. Maybe this wasn’t a good thing, but when she looked at him with desire burning in her eyes, he reached into his hoodie pocket, pulled out his keys and started the truck.

  He didn’t live far from the beach, but the drive seemed to take forever when her palm smoothed up his bare leg and along the inside of his thigh. His dick thickened and he swore he could still taste her on his lips. When her hand moved farther up his thigh, he stopped her with one of his.

  “I wouldn’t go there, baby, or we won’t make it to my cabin.”

  She released a sexy laugh that made his chest tighten, but she behaved herself. When Devon pulled in front of his two-bedroom house tucked deep within a wooded area, he wanted to touch her so badly his hands shook as he reached for his keys. He didn’t hesitate to climb out of the truck. When he helped her out, she fell into his arms.

  Devon liked his privacy. When he pinned her against his truck and trailed his lips down her neck, following the V of her jacket until he was nestled between her breasts, he had nothing to worry about. She threaded her fingers through his shoulder-length hair and held on as he nuzzled her jacket and bathing suit top aside to circle his tongue around a nipple. Her head fell back against the cab of his pickup, her lips parting on a sigh.

  Oh God. This was heaven.

  Moisture built between Sahara’s thighs as he nibbled, sucked and pulled on her nipple. When he skimmed his teeth across the sensitive skin, she hissed. Bittersweet pain set off a burst of tingles in her sex that made her squeeze her legs together.

  “Mmmm…” he hummed against her flesh, making it tickle. “You like that, don’t you, baby?”

  “Yes.” She held on to the “s”, gasping as he pinched her other nipple, sending her body up in flames. The coolness of the night did nothing for the warmth that spread across her face, singeing her ears and heating her blood. She felt flushed all over.

  Like a woman starving for the touch of a man, she pushed her hands beneath his hoodie, felt his damp skin, the hardness of his abdomen and his chest. She needed him naked and on top of her—in her. Her hands shook as she raised the hem of his jacket.

  “Too many clothes,” she breathed through the pulse beating in her throat.

  Devon chuckled, stilling her hands with his much larger ones. “It zips. Here let me do it.” He took a step back, reached for the zipper and began to drag it down.

  Back against the cold truck, she watched as he unveiled himself to her. The man was amazing. Tan skin stretched tight over bulging muscles carved to perfection. She even liked the light cover of dark hair on his chest that narrowed as it swirled around his bellybutton, disappearing into his boardshorts. Placing his hoodie across the side of the truck, he looked at her and smiled.

  Sahara hadn’t noticed until that moment he had a lopsided grin, his right side a little higher then the other. This non-perfection should have turned her off, but when his heated gaze swept across her, she realized it made him even sexier. His long, jet-black hair draped over one sapphire-blue eye gave him a bad-boy charm.

  “Now you.”

  Sahara didn’t need any more encouragement as she reached for the zipper of her jacket, but he shook his head.

  Leaning into her, he whispered, “Let me.” The words were breathed in a husky, sultry tone against her ear.

  Her nipples puckered, tingled, begging to be touched—caressed. When his fingertips grazed her cleavage, icy shivers prickled along her skin. Slowly he dragged the zipper to her jacket down and pushed it off her shoulders. The material held her arms trapped, and God if it didn’t turn her on.

  He smiled that lopsided grin as if he knew exactly how she felt. Gazing into her eyes, he reached for the strings of her bathing suit knotted behind her neck. With a single tug the top fell forward, revealing her breasts now heavy with need.

  His gaze dropped. “Beautiful.” He cupped her with both hands, his palms warm against her cooling skin. Running his thumbs over her nipples released another series of explosions deep inside her.

  “Don’t play with me,” she grumbled.

  “You don’t like to be played with?”

  “Yes. No. Can’t we just get to it?”

  Again with that damn grin, but this time his eyes sparkled in the moonlight with laughter. When the humor in his expression disappeared it was replaced with an intensity that made her nerve endings jump like a live wire. He swept a finger beneath her chin and raised her gaze until they were eye to eye once more.

  Devon moved so close she felt his warm breath caress her face. “Tell me your deepest, darkest fantasies.”

  The air in her lungs froze. No one had ever asked what her dreams were. Hell, no one she had ever dated had even cared to ask. Most men were into their fantasies and whatever their needs were. The one time she had asked for something off the beaten path it was met with shock and disgust. Yet the thought of providing this man with explicit details of her most intimate fantasies sent her pulse racing.

  Could she? Did she dare?

  No. She licked her lips nervously, remaining silent, but the forest was alive. In the distance she heard an owl screech. To the left a choir of crickets sang. Something stirred in the bushes, but her attention was plastered on the man before her.

  Devon smoothed a palm across her cheek. Snaking his fingers around the nape of her neck, he pulled her closer. “Do you dream of being taken tied to a bed or bent over a table? Maybe two men at once would make those baby-blue eyes of yours go wild. Or perhaps you want to be forced on your knees and made to take my cock past those soft, kissable lips.”

  The walls of her sex tightened and released, not once, not twice, but three times. Sahara bit back a moan, but somewhere she found her bravado. Now it was her turn to chuckle.

  “Why, Devon Taylor, I think you’re trying to shock me.” And he was doing a damn good job at it, because if she hadn’t been leaning against the truck she might have fallen.

  “You’re not a stranger to ropes, handcuffs and a little whip play?”

  She swallowed hard. Again she dampened her lips before she tilted her head at a cocked angle. She inched closer to him, whispering in his ear. “I can take anything you can dish out.”

  A gravelly growl raised from deep in his throat. He jerked her to him and covered her mouth with his. This time he didn’t coax her lips apart. No, he took what he wanted, probing and slipping past her teeth. He demanded entrance. At the same time, it was clear he expected her surrender, and she did, falling into his caress without any resistance.

  How he managed it, she had no idea, but before the kiss ended her jeans were around her ankles, her string bikini bottoms lying across them. When he ran his palm across her abdomen, across the landing strip that had been waxed, to her swollen clit, the breath she attempted to take caught. As his fingertips danced over her moist slit, she rocked against his hand. A tremor shook her from head to toe. She needed him and she needed him now.

  “Fuck me,” she pleaded, and then caught herself. She had never pleaded for any man to take her. Yet this man did things to her mind and body. He pierced her inner calm, the trait she dearly cherished. Tonight she was acting out of character and for once she didn’t care, because she wanted to scream the words.

  He dropped his boardshorts to his ankles and her eyes widened. Sahara didn’t get the opportunity to fully appreciate what she saw. He pushed her back against the truck, grabbed the back of her thighs, and lifted her.

  “Wrap your legs around me.”

  He didn’t have to ask twice as she locked her ankles together, her body meeting his. She felt his cock against the entrance of her body and anticipation pounded in her chest. When his hips thrust forward, the large head of his penis parting her slit, she went into meltdown. If
he hadn’t been holding her, she would have been a pool of lust at his feet.

  Then he paused, stopped. As if he were having second thoughts, he rested his forehead on her shoulder.

  “W-what?” she panted. Why the hell did he stop? He couldn’t stop. She was naked. In his arms. His cock breached her pussy.

  “Condoms are in the house.”

  Sahara eased the back of her head against the cab of the truck. She released the pent-up breath she held. Was that all?

  “I’m on the Depo shot. And I’m clean,” she added.

  “Me too. Is it okay?”

  Oh Lord. Did he really have to ask?

  Evidently not, because he plunged forward. With one thrust he buried himself deep inside her.

  “Ahhh,” he groaned. “You’re so tight.”

  Between ragged breaths, she thought, And you are perfection. He filled her completely.

  Devon slowly rocked into her, easing in and out until her body adjusted to his size. When he pressed his lips to hers, his tongue ravishing her mouth, the pace of their bodies coming together increased. Every other time he slid deep inside her he smoothed over an area that made her tense—tremble.

  One second she was bathed in ecstasy, the next she found herself on her feet. But the heat between them didn’t die as he cupped her face between his palms and kissed her wildly—passionately. He turned her toward the truck.

  “Spread your legs.”

  Stepping out of her jeans, she did as he asked.

  “Now lean toward the truck.”

  When she complied, he entered her from behind. The position drove him even farther between her thighs. Each time he drew back and then slammed into her, she released a soft cry. Her fingers curled, she grasped for something to hold on to, something to anchor her from losing herself. She couldn’t believe the intensity building inside her. It was like the winding of a clock. Twisting and turning, growing tighter and tighter. Adjusting his hips, he thrust, striking her sensitive spot, and she began to unravel.

  “Dev—”

  Her sudden climax stole his name from her lips. Sensations exploded throughout her body. She rode a lightning bolt of pleasure. Hot. Exciting. Wild and uncontrollable. She shook with the fiery currents ripping from her core and bursting from her nipples. She felt like he had found and released a tightly wound spring inside her. Before she could recover from what had to be the best release she had ever had, he eased her around and found her lips once more.