Sugarplum: Canine Christmas Read online

  To the left was the dining room and beyond the kitchen, a tiled counter separated the two rooms. A bouquet of lavender roses adorned the dining room table. Straight ahead was a hallway and in the corner near the hallway was a tree. Joy gasped. Instead of a traditional Christmas tree, the noble fir was decorated with bulbs and bows in various shades of purple. At the foot of the tree was a package wrapped in silver paper and a big purple ribbon.

  She walked over to the tree and saw a purple card dangling from a silver bow. Joy opened the card and read the message written with a silver-colored pen, Make yourself at home. How had Karin and Michelle managed to arrange all this? They were truly the best.

  Joy walked through the house, visited the bathroom, checked her makeup and lipstick, then returned to the living room. She gasped and took a step back. Standing before the tree was a man with his back turned toward her, a naked man with short dark hair and wearing a purple band around his neck.

  Happy Birthday to me!

  His arm was raised as if to shield his face from her view, but the rest of him was exceptional. Joy swallowed hard. Except for his taut butt, he had a golden tan. His shoulders were wide, his arms, back and legs defined with muscles. His back tapered to a narrow waist and hips.

  He was gorgeous. Perfect.

  Then his arm dropped and he turned around.

  Joy’s knees nearly buckled. Jake!

  Shocked and tongue-tied, Joy just stared at the purple bowtie around his neck. Jake’s my wild encounter.

  “Happy Birthday, Joy.”

  Her gaze locked with his. His amber-brown eyes were bright with excitement. In a flash, her brain absorbed his broad shoulders, solid chest, flat belly and his penis.

  Ohmigod! She had no idea what Jake had been hiding beneath his uniform.

  “Say something.”

  Her gaze was locked onto his package. Joy didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. “Ohmigod.”

  Jake closed the distance between them in two strides. “Look at me.”

  His eyes were burning with heat.

  Ohmigod. He’s into this.

  He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.

  His lips were firm and warm, his mouth hot. Joy’s insides melted as the kiss deepened and lingered until she had no sense of time or place. All she knew was the delicious heat of his mouth and feel of his tongue sliding against hers.

  Wow!

  “Joy.”

  She blinked, opened her eyes. His eyes were intense, feral. “I need to know you’re okay with this arrangement, you, me, alone, together.”

  Alone. Together. Yum. “I’m okay.”

  “Then take off your coat. You must be burning up.”

  She was, but it wasn’t the room temperature making her senses sizzle and her blood burn. Joy started to unbutton the coat, but then she remembered what she wasn’t wearing. Was she ready to bare all? “I can’t believe you’re here,” she said.

  “I can’t believe we’re here, together. I’ve been waiting since Michelle’s wedding day for that kiss.”

  Joy recalled the kiss they’d shared at the reception. It was the best kiss of her life. Joy had wondered what would have happened if Phil hadn’t interrupted. “Jake, is Karin okay with this?”

  “I’m not your brother and I’m not a kid anymore.”

  Joy glanced down at him. The image of little brother was forever dispelled. She wanted that. She wanted Jake, had for a couple of years, but just as it had the night of Michelle’s reception, her loyalty to Karin restrained her. “I can’t hurt Karin.”

  “She knows I’m here. She and Michelle helped me put this together for you. I promised her I’d take care of you and your special request.”

  Joy’s cheeks burned. “She told you I wanted…”

  Jake gave her a sexy-as-sin grin. “Wild, untamed sex?”

  “Ohmigod.”

  “That’s what I hope you’ll be saying come morning,” he said, popping open the top button of her coat.

  Joy licked her lips. “Is it different?”

  His fingers hesitated. “You’re worried about werewolf sex?”

  Joy nodded.

  He undid another button. “There’s human style and wolf style. We’ll stick with human style.”

  Relief washed over her as he reached for the next button.

  Joy watched his face, studying his reaction as he worked his way through the remaining buttons. He pushed the coat off her shoulders. His eyes glazed over as it fell to the floor. “Bless the Moon.”

  Joy’s heart pounded. Touch me.

  A shiver of anticipation slid down her spine as Jake’s fingertips skated over her breasts, brushed her nipples before moving down to her hips. His hands were shaking. “You’re so damn beautiful.”

  Joy hummed, every muscle quivering.

  Jake slid his arms around her waist. His gaze raked her face, her chest, sweeping down to her silver high heels. Then he yanked her against him, crushing her breasts to his chest. Fire licked through Joy, hot flames long suppressed.

  “I wanted to make this romantic, perfect,” he said.

  His thick erection poking her belly burned away all thought. She wanted him now. “I don’t need perfect. I need you.”

  Jake grabbed her ass and lifted her up. Joy slid her arms around his neck, holding on as he carried her down the hallway. Two strides down the hall, he turned and put her back against the wall. Oh yeah.

  He grabbed her thighs and yanked them around his waist. “I can’t wait.”

  Joy anchored her arms around his neck as his erection slid between her legs. He probed her center, once, twice, then went home. Searing hot, impossibly deep, spearing her.

  Joy locked her ankles and lifted her hips to meet his bold thrusts. A deep moan sounded in his throat as he drove into her again and again. Powerful need moved like a wave in her middle. This moment, this intensity, a new experience. This was what she’d wanted, what she’d been missing.

  Jake was what she needed.

  She tightened around him, clamping down on his cock, finding her pleasure and taking it. Jake groaned. A shudder moved down his spine. Then his hips stilled and the weight of his chest pressed hers. Still trembling, Joy clung to him.

  He kissed her long and sweet, taking his time, making the moment romantic and meaningful. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”

  “Since Michelle’s reception?”

  “Long before that.”

  Joy’s feelings toward Jake had changed one winter weekend. She, Karin and Michelle had rented a cabin in Lake Tahoe for a ski holiday. Karin and Michelle had come down with the flu and Karin had suggested Joy take Jake on the ski weekend. They hadn’t kissed or touched intimately, but they spent the day on the slopes and the evenings talking and laughing. To Joy’s surprise, she hadn’t missed her best friends.

  “The weekend we spent in Lake Tahoe?”

  “I had such a great time. After that weekend I wondered what it would be like to be with you, just the two of us. Why did it take us so long to be alone again?”

  “Karin said your destiny was to mate with one of your kind.”

  “My father’s plans. Not mine. You’re the woman I want.” He kissed her again, then stepped back. Joy’s legs slid down his thighs, her heels finding purchase on the hardwood floor. He rubbed his hands along her hips. “Right now, I want to take you upstairs and make love again.”

  “Hmmmm. What’s stopping you?”

  “We haven’t toasted your birthday. And once I get you in that king-sized bed odds are we won’t make it back downstairs.”

  “You grab the champagne. I’ll get the glasses. We’ll toast in bed.”

  “Works for me.”

  Joy followed Jake into the living room and picked up the flutes.

  Jake pulled the bottle out of the ice and popped the cork. He filled the flutes, then touched his glass to hers. “Happy Birthday, Joy. To the first of many we’ll spend together.”

  Chapter Four
r />   Jake sipped the champagne, wondering what Joy’s response to his toast would be.

  Joy took a sip, then raised her glass. “To the first of many nights of wild sex.”

  His heart thumping wildly, Jake tapped his flute against hers. “Let’s go upstairs.”

  Joy turned and walked toward the stairs, her hips moving with that natural sway that had driven him crazy for years. Joy’s magnificent ass had fueled many a wet-dream, but naked it was nothing less than glorious.

  Jake pinched his arm. She was here, beautiful and naked, walking up the stairs to the bedroom, her long brown hair swinging with each step she took.

  Jake shuddered, the desire to shift burning in his loins. He tamped down the urge, understanding his natural instinct to take Joy in the primitive way. He’d remain in human form, but his feral urges were strong. With Joy it wasn’t just sex, he wanted to mate, to claim her beneath the moon.

  The sweeping staircase was circular, with banks of long rectangular windows leading to the second story. Midway was a landing which begged one to pause and take in the spectacular views of the mountains. A polished wooden railing ran along the outside wall.

  When she reached the landing, she turned. The passion he saw in her blue eyes speared right through his middle. His heart skipped a beat and his cock jerked to attention.

  “I’m turning off the lights, wait for me.” Jake flipped the switch, plunging the stairwell into darkness. He joined her on the landing. Standing at her side, he slid his arm around her waist and turned her to face the long windows that reached the ceiling. Moonlight glistened on the snow-covered trees. “The moonlight is amazing.”

  “It’s beautiful. The moon, the snow, it’s breathtaking.”

  Jake looked at her reflection in the glass. “You’re breathtaking.”

  Her hand brushed his cock. “So are you.”

  “Watch out -- moonlight brings out the wolf in me.”

  “I requested untamed.”

  Between sips of champagne, they kissed. Jake loved Joy’s scent and the feel of her taut nipples scraping his chest. On fire, he set their empty glasses in the corner of a step. “There’s something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. Look at me.”

  Joy turned around to face him, her back to the window. He cupped her breasts and his breath hitched. Leaning down, he drew a nipple into his mouth, suckling gently. Joy’s soft moan urged him to draw deep and firm. He suckled each breast in turn, loving her sighs of pleasure.

  He ran his tongue from the valley between her breasts to her belly button. Sinking to his knees, he kissed her belly and ran his fingers through her tight curls. She gasped when he slid his hand between her thighs to touch her pussy. Slick and wet, his finger slipped inside her. He moved his fingers in and out, felt her pussy quiver.

  “More.”

  Jake increased the tempo and felt the tightening of her pussy around his fingers.

  “Good, so good. I can’t take it.”

  He removed his fingers and grasped her butt cheeks.

  “Don’t stop.”

  Jake had no intention of stopping. He rubbed her ass, then buried his face between her legs. She grabbed the rail for support, her rings clacking against the smooth wood.

  He plunged his tongue inside her heat, licking her lush walls. His cock strained, painfully, but Jake needed to bring her to climax, now, with his mouth, lips and tongue. He suckled her clit, drawing deeply. Her legs trembled, and her cries of pleasure were music to Jake’s ears. Then she shuddered and her knees buckled.

  Jake rose and turned her around. “Hold onto the rail.”

  Grasping his cock, Jake pushed the head between her thighs and into her wet lushness. He nearly came at the contact. The urge to mate was so overwhelming his breath froze in his lungs.

  The shift hovered, every nerve buzzing and every muscle shuddering. His vision narrowed and he threw back his head. A soft, strangled howl escaped his throat, but Jake controlled the primitive instincts, his mind overpowering his wolven urges.

  He took a deep breath. He wanted to give Joy the fuck of her life, right here on the stairs with the moon visible through the window. The moment, the position as close to wolf sex as possible.

  Jake grasped her hips with both hands and thrust deep.

  “Ohmigod.”

  All the need, the desire he’d been holding inside for years boiled to the surface. His cock ached, the pleasure so intense his brain couldn’t process it. Their bodies moved in sync, each stroke, each push-and-drag more erotic than the last.

  Wet and hot, her pussy quivered, each nuance of her response fueling his desire, heating his blood. He thrust deep inside her slick folds. Her flesh held him, a tight sheath squeezing and releasing, driving him to the erotic edge.

  Jake’s heart pounded and sweat beaded his forehead, ran down his temples. The need to climax thrummed in his balls.

  He stroked her hips. Hold on. Not yet.

  Jake wanted Joy to peak with him. He wanted them to experience the intensity together, to share the ecstasy. Nothing mattered more in his life than this woman.

  He opened his eyes and looked at the full moon. His wolven urges rose, his feral need to mate racing through his blood.

  * * *

  Joy struggled to draw air into her lungs. A delicious fire flashed through blood, bone and muscle, and flames licked the walls of her pussy. She sucked in a deep breath, then opened her eyes to see Jake’s reflection in the window.

  She gasped at the shadowed image, familiar, yet different. His eyes were open and in their depths she saw the moon. His skin shimmered, silvery in the moonlight. His image seemed to waver as if a veil had fallen over him. Then the image cleared and all Joy saw was Jake looking at her.

  Their gazes locked and his hips began to pump, faster and faster. Her hands gripped the rail as he drove into her again and again, pushing her to the pinnacle. Heat swirled around her and her heart raced. On the sharp edge, Joy cried out as her pussy quaked, followed by delicious tremors.

  Jake’s throaty groan joined her cries. Jake’s body jerked. In the glass, Joy saw Jake throw back his head, his howls echoing in the narrow stairwell.

  Her hands tightened on the railing as if it were a lifeline. Werewolf sex.

  Reality exploded in her brain. In a fraction of a second, Jake was capable of changing. Joy had accepted who and what Jake was long ago, but tonight she’d experienced his wild side firsthand. Those wonderful ripples of sexual energy that had ebbed and flowed were amazing, yet strange. Jake wasn’t like her other lovers. He was a man, but also a wolf. Would she ever fully understand him?

  Relationships were usually rosy in the beginning, until day-to-day contact became the norm. Would she satisfy the wolf in him?

  “Are you okay?”

  Her heart pounded furiously. She didn’t want to have doubts. She loved Jake, but until now she hadn’t truly come to grips with Jake the werewolf, the shapeshifter. “I’m fine.”

  “Then let go of the rail before you break your fingers.” Jake stepped back, withdrawing as Joy released her death grip. He grasped her upper arms and drew her against him, her back to his chest. “Talk to me.”

  Her gaze met his in the shadowy glass. His eyes still glittered but she no longer saw the reflection of the moon. “I felt the werewolf.”

  “The intensity had me on the edge. I wanted to shift. It’s a natural desire during mating.”

  “It’s always like that?”

  He placed his hand over her left breast. “Your heart is racing. I frightened you.”

  “I’ve never heard you howl before.”

  “I’ve never felt the urge to mate before, except with you.” He turned her around and cupped her face in his hands. “The last thing I want is for you to fear me and what I am.”

  “I’m not afraid of you. I just never really thought about the wolf part. I saw the moon in your eyes. It wasn’t scary. It was…”

  He placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. “E
erie?”

  “A little. I felt like we were flowing together. I felt these ripples moving between us. Maybe it was the moonlight. I read that the full moon affects a werewolf’s libido.”

  “It does and having sex during the full moon is intense. If you were curious, why didn’t you ask me?”

  “I wanted to. I thought about it, but we were never alone. I asked your dad a few questions over dinner once, but I couldn’t ask him about sex.”

  “Ask me, Joy. Ask me anything.”

  “I want to understand the wolf part of you.”

  He brushed her lips with his. “First let me tell you this. Making love with you in the moonlight was extraordinary. Let’s go sit down by the fire.”

  Joy picked up the fur coat off the living room floor and settled into the corner of the sofa, but Jake remained standing.

  “Do you like the coat?”

  Joy slid her hand over the faux fur. “I love it. Karin and Michelle went way overboard with the coat, the weekend, the driver.”

  Jake’s expression told Joy she was dead wrong. “You did it? The coat, everything? Ohmigod, you were the driver, but how?”

  “The message was delivered by a friend of mine. When I picked you up it was dark and I kept my hat pulled low. You were too excited to notice me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Jake raked his fingers through his hair. “You had me worried. You didn’t know who you were meeting, but you were ready to meet your mystery man.”

  “When I climbed into the car, I thought about you and I wished you were the man I was meeting. But I knew I wasn’t the mate your father wants for you. No matter how I felt, I wasn’t a she-wolf. So I got into the car.”

  “I never knew how you felt. I thought you were in love with Phil.”

  Joy shook her head. “No, it wasn’t love. Phil would have never bought me this coat and he never would have asked me to wear nothing beneath it.”

  “You have no idea how worried I was that you would be disappointed when you found out I was your mystery date. Standing naked in front of that tree was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.”