But the Wolverine’s harsh sexual desire still raced through her body.
Scott resisted the urge to pull over and take her into his arms when Anna began to kiss his neck, rubbing up against him, her hand between his legs. She was intoxicating, her body so hot he could still feel its heat through their clothes.
Scott was done being the gentleman.
Tires squealing, he pulled into the academy’s driveway and jumped out of the car. He picked Anna up in his arms and carried her swiftly through the front door where he found Nanna waiting in the foyer.
“You leave that girl with me, Mr. Summers! You’ve done enough!” Kitty had made her aware of Scott’s actions the night before. Scott didn’t break his stride, brushing past the old woman and holding Anna against his chest as he took the stairs two at a time.
“No offense ma’am, but back off.”
He kicked his bedroom door closed behind him. Scott threw her on the bed, and captured her lips with his and she sat up, returning his kiss as deeply and as passionately as him. Anna pushed his jacket off his shoulders, and when he shifted to remove it himself, she tugged at his shirt instead, freeing it from the waistband of his pants. Their kiss grew feverish and hungry and as Scott began to unbutton his shirt, Anna impatiently tore the fine material apart, its buttons clattering to the floor beside the bed.
She fastened her mouth to his exposed throat, and bit him, causing him to hiss in pain. That only fueled her more and she licked the wound, the faint metallic taste of his blood fulfilling some deep need inside her. She sat up and kissed him deeply again, straddling herself on either side of him, pressing herself against him.
Moaning, Scott caught her face in his hands and plunged his tongue into her hot, moist mouth. She grabbed at his hair, letting the feral in her take over and she was on fire. She smiled in satisfaction as his hands pulled her gown down from her shoulders, baring her to his ravenous eyes.
Scott took her breasts into the palms of his hands, squeezing the firm but soft mounds, weighing them, relishing the creamy smoothness of the skin that he dreamed of touching for so long. With a groan, he took a pink nipple into his mouth, sucking lightly, catching the hardened peak between his teeth. Anna threw her head back, gasping his name in surprise at his bite and he swirled his tongue around the other nipple, sucking harder than the first. She writhed against him in retaliation and Scott broke his hold, shuddering in pleasure as her body rocked even more intimately on top of him.
Her hand reached down and squeezed him through the material of his pants, causing Scott to buck, his hips lifting her. Anna pushed him down onto the bed and continued to grind her pelvis against him, her breathing harsh and primal, her low purr turning into a growl. Scott stared at the beautiful woman on top of him, half dressed and glowing from the light that poured into the room from the windows, his for the taking. He grabbed her hips, powerfully thrusting upwards and she threw back her head, growling louder in pleasure.
Sliding his hands along her sides, her waist encircled by his hands, he whispered, “Marry me, Anna.”
She stopped moving, but just for a moment. She lay down on him and took his earlobe in her mouth. “Hush, Scott. Focus.” She traced the curve of his ear with the point of her tongue and blew softly, grinning when he shivered in response.
Scott ran his hands along her back, her breasts pressed against his chest playing havoc with his mind. “Then say yes, sweetheart. Say you’ll marry me.”
Anna ignored him, placing small kisses along his neck and across his muscled shoulder. She shifted to accommodate his growing hardness between her legs, scraping her nails along his arms. “I’m going to make you scream, Scott,” she snarled, biting his nipple lightly, and then blowing on it, taking in the rash of goose-bumps that appeared on his skin.
With a strangled sound escaping his throat, he sat up. “Say you’ll marry me, Anna,” he demanded, groaning again when she continued to rub against him.
She wouldn’t look into his eyes, knowing hers were diamonded by borrowed feral lust. Instead, she fastened them on his swollen lips, picturing what she was going to have him do with them. “Kiss me, Scott,” she instructed him, reaching down again between them and pulling down his zipper. Scott gasped at her touch, her hand sliding along his length through his boxers. He held her face tightly when she moved to kiss him again.
“Marry me.” He frowned when she refused to meet his searching gaze.
“Stop talking.” She stroked him again and he bit his lip. Her smile widened at his reaction. “Now, where were we?”
Scott didn’t move. Anna frowned in annoyance.
“God damn it, Scott, is this going to happen or not?” Her frustration was clear. He released his hold on her and supported himself by placing his arms straight out behind him, hands splayed on the bed.
“It depends, Anna,” he told her in a taut voice, “Are you going to marry me, or not?” She sat back and pulled her gown back over her shoulders. She lifted a leg to get off him but he clamped a strong hand on her thigh, preventing her.
“Anna, what’s going on here?”
She dipped her finger into her mouth, pulling it out slowly and trailing it across his chest, down to his waist where it disappeared under his boxers. “I’m trying to fuck you, Scott Summers.” She was pleased that her fingers weren’t able to ring completely around him.
Between the feel of her hand around him and her choice of words, Scott found it hard to speak with his suddenly dry mouth. Her eyes flared in victory and she bent down to kiss him. He moved his face just as she was about to.
Anna jumped off the bed quicker than he could reach for her. She shook off his attempts to hold her. “Just leave me alone!” she bit at him, storming across the room to leave. But Scott was much larger and simply blocked the door with his body.
“Anna, I want to marry you.”
She spun away from him. He stood by the door, watching her. He could hear her struggle to get her breathing under control, curling and uncurling her fingers as through releasing tension there.
“Why, Scott?” he heard her finally ask, turning to look back at him. “Why now?”
He began to walk towards her, but she stepped back, shaking her head. “Why?” she demanded more strongly, tears shimmering in her bright green eyes.
“Because I love you, Anna,” he answered her softly, arms by his sides.
She laughed, but the sound rang hollow. “You love me? Well, that’s a revelation. You told me that last night, but you didn’t ask me to marry you then. Try again.”
“I was wrong, Anna. The wrong decision was made because we failed to communicate with each other.”
Her face reflected her disbelief. “You’re the one who failed to communicate with me. I had no say in your decision to leave me. I didn’t stand a chance.”
She saw the muscles across his shoulders flex. “Anna, you’re upset. We need to talk about this rationally.” He sounded calm, and in control. Everything she knew him to be; and everything she knew she wasn’t. They stood there, only feet apart, but to her, it might as well have been worlds.
“You promised.” Her voice was hoarse, full of disappointment and betrayal.
His face showed his confusion. She spun away from him, rubbing her arms, suddenly very cold. A tear managed to escape her eye, but she wiped it away quickly. “You promised me, Scott,” she clarified. “You promised you would never hurt me. And I believed you.”
In one long stride, he swept her into his arms. “No, Anna,” he insisted desperately, “It’s not like that.”
Her body was unyielding, and she looked away. “Yes, it is Scott. You promised, and you lied.”
Scott tucked a finger under her chin and raised her face so he could catch her eyes with his. “There was unfinished business between you and Logan. You needed to deal with it.”
She blinked back her tears. “You’re the one who needed to deal with it, not me. I’ve done nothing to make you jealous. I’ve done everything in my power to convince you that I loved you.”
“Except make love to me.”
She had no response for that. It was true. She listened to the rapid beating of his heart for a few moments, before she asked him, “Why didn’t you tell me Remy was back?”
There it was. The shift in his scent, letting her know that not telling her was intentional. “Does it matter to you that he is, Anna?” His jealousy was thick, ugly. “Do I need to worry about every man that has ever loved you?”
“That’s not fair, Scott. I should have been the only person you needed to worry about. Nobody else was supposed to matter, it should have been just you, and me.”
“How can you expect me to pretend that I don’t see the way Logan looks at you?” he asked her, steel entering his voice.
She looked at him sharply, her eyes accusing. “You did with Jean.”
She felt the shock ripple through him at the sound of his dead fiancée’s name. Scott swallowed hard. “Jean made her choice.”
“Yes, she did. You let her make it,” she pointed out to him bitterly. She tried to pull away, but his arms were like a vise.
He looked intently at her, his heart pounding harder and faster now. “Jean chose me, Anna. Not him.”
“I chose you too, Scott.” Her eyes showed all the pain he caused her. “But unlike Jean, you didn’t trust me, even after I tried so hard to be like her.” She pulled away and he let her go, stunned by her words. “I wanted tonight to happen so badly, Scott. And you took that choice away from me as well.” She stepped around him and left the room, closing the door behind her.
The sound of a crystal decanter shattering against a wall followed her down the empty hallway.
It felt like forever before Logan could make out the outline of the academy dormitories in the distance. He ran steadily, taking an unbeaten path that led directly back to Willowbend, avoiding the road which was almost three times the distance with its bends and twists through the swampy bayou.
Logan went to her cottage first, but even before reaching it he knew she wasn’t there. Her scent was even fainter that it had been earlier in the day when she had remained in town after her dinner with Scott the night before. Sprinting through the back garden and courtyard, he was about to enter the back door when he caught Scott’s scent around front. Without pausing, he tore off in his direction.
Scott was loading the back of the vehicle that Logan had driven down in from New York. He was reaching for the last bag on the front porch when Logan appeared, his claws extended and glinting in the moonlight.
“Where is she?” Logan’s voice was barely more than a snarl.
Scott placed his hand threateningly on the side of his visor at the sight of the other man. “Don’t come any closer, Logan. I swear I will blast you in half.”
Wolverine grinned, his bared teeth white against the dark expression on his face. “Get to it pretty boy, because I’m gonna be more than just closer in a second.”
“Don’t you two dare!”
Both men turned to see the elderly black woman storm down the porch steps. “Ah won’t be having Anna Marie’s house torn apart by you two damn fools!” she declared, stepping in between them. Hands on hips, Nanna took turns glowering at them. “Ah don’t know what is going on between you two boys, and Ah don’t know if it has to do with my girl, but Ah’ve had enough. Anna Marie has been through enough heartache in her lifetime so y’all just stop this, right here, right now. You hear me?”
Tense moments passed. Both men glared at each other. There was so much history between them, so much each man could accuse the other of, but the silence stretched too long and nothing was said at all.
Scott dropped his hand. Threat gone, Logan followed suit and sheathed his claws. Satisfied, Nanna stormed up the stairs and disappeared back into the house.
“She’s inside,” Scott told him coldly. He grabbed the last bag and threw it in the trunk, slamming it shut forcefully. His face was a mask of barely controlled anger and pain. “You don’t deserve her.”
Logan kept his eyes steady on the taller man. “I know. But I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to.”
Scott uncurled his fists. He entered the vehicle and drove away, dust clouds rising up behind him into the night sky.