Seduced by the Moon. Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

excitement he felt had to be measured. Nothing was to be taken for granted or rushed.

      He didn’t kiss her. Not yet. One step forward and his knees bumped the mattress. Gavin loosened his grip on the sleek body he wanted to tear into. She was covered in faded jeans and a fitted shirt—a lot of layers to peel back while testing himself.

      She felt so damn good, and smelled even better. Her body was slim, taut, pliant. Through the shirt, her ribs were ridges beneath his fingers. In place of curves, she was composed of lovely muted angles.

      Gavin liked all of this.

      He knew exactly what to do and how to do it, if he dared to press this further and face the consequences of accepting the woman’s gracious invitation so close to the full moon.

      Not long now and he would become the beast, at least in part. Thank God his mind remained his own and in the driver’s seat when that happened. The same couldn’t be said for the monster that had savaged him not far from here.

      Not far from this cabin.

      The woman’s hands moved, and Gavin sucked in a breath. Warm fingers slid beneath his collar in a meeting of overheated flesh.

       God. Help. Him.

      He had to be cautious, careful, diligent. He had to keep sharp and pay attention when all he wanted to do was lose himself in the woman’s succulent body and bury himself inside her, where he’d forget the rest of the world for a brief time.

      He wanted that very much.

      He set her on the bed. Her arms came away from him, limbs falling, muscles wired. She continued to look at him as if she knew him already, as though this wasn’t the first time they faced each other in this way. That should have bothered him, Gavin supposed, but it wasn’t the time for reasoning. His hunger was growing, and so far he was okay.

       All right.

      He sat down beside her on a lavender-scented bed not intended for two. The woman watched him with her eyes wide-open and her lips quivering ever so slightly.

       I can do this.

       This is what I need.

      When she blinked slowly, he felt the loss of her gaze, as if part of him had been torn away. In her eyes he was a man, not a freak.

      “Look,” he whispered to her. “Look at me.”

      She did, letting out a breath.

      With careful hands, in quick movements, he pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. The sight of her creamy ivory bareness made him pause to take stock. She was splendid, flawless, made for him. The back of Gavin’s neck prickled with appreciation.

      Small, rounded breasts rose from a smooth chest beneath a graceful slope of shoulders. The delicate lace of skimpy blue lingerie covered those breasts, held in place by thin ribbons that ran up and over her shoulders to disappear beneath a tangle of tawny golden hair.

      Pressure rose in Gavin’s chest and groin as he waited out a moment of incomparable agony. Then he eased those ribbons down, leaving them to cross her fair skin like slender slashes of watercolor shadow.

      He closed his eyes, aware of the irony.

      He was that shadow.

      When she touched him, he jumped. She’d tucked a hand inside his shirt, between the buttons, so that once again their fiery skin met. Gavin fought back a sound he was sure would have fallen somewhere between a groan and a growl.

      Her touch spurred him on.

      Captivating scents, rich and floral, saturated her skin, the see-through lace covering her and the pillows behind her. He had smelled this fragrance before, from afar, and it was what had brought him here, to her.

      Her skin was dewy, soft. A flat stomach stretched to the button on her low-slung jeans. Sharp-edged hip bones raised the denim, highlighting the concavity between them that, wolf willing, he’d get to settle himself into. But that was wishful thinking, and he was getting way ahead of himself.

      Lowering his mouth to her breasts, Gavin placed a kiss between them, feeling relatively safe if he stayed away from her mouth. With a spike in his pulse, he absorbed the ungodly pleasurable sensation of the delicate lace against his lips.

      He placed a second kiss on the exposed edge of one rounded breast, knowing this might be pushing things and that he was about to become undone.

      Taking his time wasn’t going to work. Climbing into bed with her wasn’t, either. He was starting to sweat, burning up from the inside out, and his hands were quaking. Maybe she was the wrong woman to try his luck with. He’d never ached for a woman this badly, and he didn’t want to lose the connection.

      Damn it, how would he explain stopping this now?

      She was too exquisite to be a test run for his current predicament. He was rock hard, his body begging to be inside her. That kind of inner turmoil tended to spark the wolf to life.

      He felt the wolf rising now in direct proportion to the stiffening of his cock. His throat was no longer his own. He didn’t dare make a sound with this pressure building.

      In hindsight, he should have known better than to come here, this close to a full moon, for any reason. Being drawn to this woman only made matters worse.

      Wildness coated the underside of his skin. Although fur wouldn’t burst from his pores tonight, the wolf’s drive was what Gavin feared. He couldn’t be entirely sure which needs were ruling his desires, his or the wolf’s. Surely the wolf’s hunger had become his own.

      Gavin brushed a stray tendril of gold from the woman’s forehead, fighting to remain sane when the wolf desired powerful thrusts and the slapping sounds of bodies fiercely merging. The wolf wanted to bite and bruise and voted for ruined beds, broken furniture and swollen mouths.

      Fast. Hard. Take it now. That was the way of the wolf. And maybe also the thoughts of a man who had long gone without.

       Be careful.

       Keep control.

      Gavin’s teeth slammed shut when she whispered in his ear.

      “Now,” she said. “You and me, here, now.”

      To get a grip on a restraint that was rapidly slipping away, Gavin shut his eyes.

       If I do as you ask, I’ll never be able to see you again. I’ll never look into your eyes again or feel the softness of your skin. You’d know me for what I am, what I’ve become. My secret would be out.

      Those were words he could never say out loud. But the truth was that she didn’t want him to stop this. She was trembling and ready to take him on. The look in her eyes explained it all.

      She reached for his shoulders, dug her fingernails into his shirt as if to tear away barriers and accept everything he had to give.

       Forgive me...

      He could try to be a man, and only a man, one more time.

       For you.

      Pulling her from the pillows, Gavin released the clasp keeping her lacy bra between them. As she fell back, he covered one of her breasts with his hot, breathless mouth.

      The wolf swam in his bloodstream, causing his heart to thunder as Gavin drew her in, circling the pink raised tip with his tongue. A lick and a draw and then he bit down lightly, teasingly, sweating with the effort of holding passion back. None of this was enough by far, yet it was clear that he wouldn’t get much further if he hoped to maintain some control.

      More thunder hammered his skull and beat at him from behind his ribs. Beneath his belt, his body was demanding this union, though shadows lengthened in the room, darkening the floor. Night was near, and inside of that darkness roamed a monster this woman needed protection from.