Then he returned, easing over her, and she parted her thighs eagerly. The hot, thick tip of his erection stretched her and she moaned, welcoming his penetration. Driving into her in one, hard thrust, he forced her to accept him, seating himself to the balls. She stiffened at the intrusion, breathing with care as she got used to the fullness. If she hadn’t been ready, she wouldn’t have been able to take him.

He buried his face in her neck, panting, his body taut and controlled above her.

“Please, kitten, hold still, or this’ll be f**king quick,” he said, his shaky voice strained.

Her heart went out to him. “Aaron?”

“What?”

“It’s cool. Now shut the hell up and screw me, okay?” Tightening her vag**al muscles around him, she rocked her h*ps to seal the deal. Heat and darkness flooded his eyes, and deep inside her his c*ck jerked.

A heavy shudder racked his body and the floodgates opened. Pulling back, he surged into her again, setting up a hard, fast rhythm. Fucked her as she’d asked with long, fast strokes. He didn’t let up, wrapping a big hand around her thigh and yanking it over his hip.

She moaned at the new angle and tightness. She wouldn’t last long, not surrounded by him, loving her with everything he had. Pleasure rose like a tsunami, sweeping away everything in its path. She clung to him, matching him thrust for thrust until….

He pulled out and paused, dropped a kiss on her lips then drove in again. The rock of his h*ps at the end of the thrust sent her hurtling over the edge with a scream. Ecstasy crashed, ripping through every cell, shattering her. Her cunt spasmed around his c*ck in waves, and he swore, slamming into her over and over. His movements became jerky, uncoordinated until he drove into her a final time.

Every muscle locked and he howled, the sound triumphant and very male as he came. She moaned, his cli**x continuing her own until his c*ck stopped jerking. He collapsed, his arms bracketing her shoulders. The fact they were locked together didn’t bother her. Wrapping her arms around him, she smiled and her eyes fluttered closed. She’d happily stay there for days…months. Perhaps even forever, her heart whispered, if he wanted her to.

Epilogue

Morning dawned bright and early, but Mel missed it. When she finally cracked her eyes open, the clock showed half past ten. Way later than she usually woke. On a normal day she woke by five, ready and raring to get out to whatever dig she currently worked on.

Bolting upright, she blinked, registering the room…. How in hell have I slept so long? It wasn’t her room. Someone had placed her clothes in a neat pile on a boudoir chair and her cheeks burned. The heat rose a little more as she recognised the black shirt next to them. A man’s shirt.

A smile spread across her face and with a stretch, she fell back into the comfortable soft mattress. Aaron had been…fantastic. Her memory treated her to an instant replay of the night before, all his sexy moves burned into her mind forever. He’d woken her three times in the night, each time to take her to greater heights before letting her fall back to sleep a little before dawn. With a pleasant soreness in some very intimate places, she was tired but happy. She poked at the emotion and the smile broadened. She’d have to remember to thank Barr for his intervention. The night had been wonderful.

Music filtered in from the main room. Frowning, she recognized the song as a recent release from one of the big rock bands on the radio all the time. Lyric Dogs or something…she didn’t know, didn’t much follow them. Only recognised it because one of the volunteers on the dig liked the radio on.

But…it sounded odd. Just the singer and one guitar, rather than the heavy metal backing sound she usually heard. Perhaps they’d done an acoustic version? If so, she needed to get the album. There was something hypnotic and familiar about the singer’s voice, the husky note one she knew but couldn’t quite place.

Sliding from the bed, she slipped Aaron’s shirt on and headed in search of him and the music. Her partial nak*dness not bothering her in the slightest. After the things they’d done the night before, that he’d done to her and had her to do him, she’d never be embarrassed around him again.

Finding the main room empty, she padded through it, confusion filling her before she spotted the balcony door ajar. They’d entered the bedroom the night before through the other balcony entrance. Smiling, she stepped out into the early morning sun. Aaron was into rock music, perhaps he’d know if that band had done an acoustic version of the song—

She stopped dead. No radio played—instead, Aaron sat on the couch, a guitar cradled in his arms. His long, strong fingers moved over the instrument with the same ease that they’d played her. The warm breeze lifted the loose strands of his hair and his voice swelled in the air around her. In a trance, she took a few steps forward. He drew out the last note, softer than the howl she recalled it ending on and his gaze locked on her.

“Y-you’re one of the Lyric Dogs,” she spluttered.

Setting the guitar aside, he stood and approached her with a male grace that had her heart pounding.

“Hounds. Lyric Hounds.” Reaching her, he stared down with heat in his eyes. “And yes, I am. Does that bother you?”

She wrinkled her nose. How the hell did he look so good that early in the morning? Wasn’t there some kind of rule that said rock stars didn’t get up until after noon?

Taking her hand, he studied her smaller fingers entwined in his. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Everything within her stilled at the gravity in his words, written into the set of his shoulders.

“You’re really a hairdresser, aren’t you?” she teased. “Or a party clown? All this…” She motioned to the leather and the guitar. “It’s a front.”

It started slowly. A twitch at the corner of his mouth, then a curve and a smile until he threw back his head and laughed. A sound of joy she’d be happy to listen to all day, all night…for the rest of her life.

She frowned. Yeah…she wanted more. More than one night. More than a few nights.

He pulled her close and hope curled in her breast. “Kitten…Melody…I’m a werewolf. Which means that I rely on my senses a lot. Particularly my sense of smell.”

“Oh, my God. You’re gonna tell me I stink or something.” She clasped her other hand dramatically to her heart, the beat rivalling any heavy metal track as he dropped to one knee in front of her.

He chuckled. “No. Quite the opposite, you smell fantastic. Unique. Perfect. To me that is…. Every wolf goes through life searching for the perfect, irresistible scent on that one person. The one they’re drawn to, who they can’t stay away from. It’s how we know our soul mate…the person who completes us utterly.”

Instead of the normal, smart comment, she held her breath, waiting.

“As soon you walked out onto the balcony last night, I knew.” He shook his head and met her eyes, hope and something else she couldn’t identify in his own. “I know this is quick, and you’re human, but…you’re my soul mate. I’ll only want you, as long as I have breath left in my body.”

Soul mate.

The words resounded in her head then wrapped around her heart. Something deep inside moved like the barrels of a lock, sliding it into place.

“Until death us do part…like marriage?”

He nodded. Warmth rushed through her. Standing, he pulled her into his arms and the beginnings of what she knew was a sappy smile spread across her face.

“Our version, yeah. We’ll take it slow, but please…this can’t end here. If you don’t want to travel, we’re about at the end of this tour. Which means we’ll be in the studio for the next couple of months. In one place, and I pick the place…we can pick the place. If you’ll have me?”

She nestled against his chest, every cell in her body in tune with him. Safety and security rolled through her. I’ve come home. “Just you try and stop me. Someone has to keep you bad boy rock stars in check. Stop you corrupting the local populace.”

He smiled. The hard bulge of his arousal pressed into her belly and her heartbeat kicked up a notch. “And I suppose you’re the woman for the job?”

“Damn right, I am. Now, Mr. Lyric Dog, take me to bed and corrupt me all over again.”

He laughed, the sound carefree and happy, and scooped her up, heading toward the bedroom. “Yes, ma’am. One lifelong corruption, coming right up.”