by V. Vaughn
“Would you like some wine or a bottle of beer?” she called out. He’d driven over. Maybe he’d prefer water or juice.
“Wine is fine,” he said from close behind her, making her jump and nearly drop the bottle.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” she said as she spun, her hand coming up to cover her pounding heart.
“Sorry about that.” He stepped up to her and took the wine, setting it on the counter, then grabbed her hips and hoisted her up next to it, putting her at eye level with him. Dereck pressed closer, wedging himself between her knees. “I really messed up out there. I’m sorry.”
She hung her arms loosely around his neck. “You’ve already apologized. Twice. And you’ve done nothing wrong. I freaked out a little, but I’m good now.”
When she would have looked away, he caught her gaze and held it. “What happened? Why did you break up with your ex?” He asked the question as though he couldn’t fathom Kevin being the one doing the dumping, earning himself a few brownie points.
She shrugged. How did he expect her to think when he was so close? “I caught him doing the hokey pokey with my best friend—in our bed. I was supposed to be at work, but I wasn’t feeling well and came home at lunch.”
His frown deepened, but when he didn’t offer ridiculous pitying words, she could have kissed him. She didn’t need anyone to tell her it was Kevin’s loss or that she could do better. She knew those things. Hell, better was standing between her legs in her mother’s kitchen.
“Do you still love him?” he asked, his voice deeper and rougher than it had been. His shoulders tensed beneath her arms.
“Not in the way that matters. I think things would have ended between us eventually, regardless of his cheating. I think I’m more broken up about Paula’s betrayal than Kevin’s.”
He held her gaze for what seemed like forever. Then, as though he’d found whatever he’d been looking for in her eyes, he nodded, and some of the tightness eased from his body.
He leaned in a fraction. “It smells so good in here,” he said after taking a deep breath.
“It’s the cannelloni. It should be almost done.”
He came closer, his nose trailing up from her collarbone to her ear as he sniffed her skin. His fingers dug into her hips where he still held her on the counter. When he pulled away again, his lips quirked up at the corners. “It’s definitely not the cannelloni.”
“You don’t like pasta?” she asked breathlessly. The man was scrambling her brain with the lusty look in his eyes. Maybe they needed to forget about dinner.
“I love pasta, and it smells great, but nowhere near as good as you do. I could eat you up.”
Her breath hitched in her throat. “What’s stopping you?” She tightened her arms around his neck, drawing him nearer.
“We still haven’t talked about what happened outside,” Dereck said before he kissed the corner of her mouth, then pulled away again. She stifled her groan—barely.
“I overreacted. We can get to the kissing part now,” she insisted as she tried, and failed, to take what she wanted. He gently slipped her arms from around him and stepped back, leaving her sitting there with her legs dangling.
His chuckle shook his chest. “You’re too distracting.”
She pursed her lips in a pout she hoped would bring him back. Of course, it didn’t.
“If I stayed there, I’d never get the words out,” he said as he leaned a hip against the counter out of her reach. “And I need for you to understand what I was saying.”
He was right, but couldn’t they talk after they kissed? With one look at him and the determination on his face, she knew that wasn’t happening. “Okay. I’m all ears, but then you’re mine,” she agreed.
Dereck’s lips quirked up at her proclamation. “Deal. When I said that we don’t choose our mates, I wasn’t lying, and it wasn’t an exaggeration, either.”
Her heart fluttered faster, but she quelled the reaction.
“Our wolves know instinctively who our mates are. It’s like a soul bond. One that can’t be broken. So, no, we don’t choose in the way that humans choose to be with one another, but once we find our true mates, we never let them go.”
That all sounded great, but nothing in life was that easy. “What if you’re wrong? What if we’re not meant to be mates? Or what if you change your mind? You’ll end up hating me.”
Dereck ran his fingers through his hair. “I won’t lie and tell you that we’d never have disagreements and that things would be perfect all the time. No mating or marriage is ever that way. But there isn’t a shred of doubt in my mind that you are my true mate. I’ve known it for years. The bond we share would see us through the rough patches.”
“I’m not even a wolf shifter.”
“I could change that, but it’s not necessary. Even if you chose not to become like me, you’d still be my mate. We could still have a family.”
“And our children?”
“There would be a chance that they couldn’t shift, but I’m an Alpha, so I’d say the odds are tipped more heavily in the favor of them having a wolf inside them. There’s no guarantee, though.”
“You’re an Alpha?” Other than seeing him and his brothers shift that one time, she’d never been exposed to his world. If the romance novels she’d read were anything to go by, there would be expectations she’d need to meet. Duties she’d need to perform. Did she want that for herself, or her future kids?
“I lead the Parrish Pointe pack. If you decided you wanted me to change you, you’d lead the pack with me. If not, we’d still be mates, but I would be the sole head of the pack.”
“And the pack would accept me as your mate?”
“They wouldn’t have a choice.”
Wow. That was a lot to take in. How could she make those kinds of decisions without knowing what she was getting into? She couldn’t. “Can I meet some of them? Your pack, I mean?”
His eyes brightened with that amber color she was coming to associate with the wolf inside him. “Our annual children’s Christmas party is on Saturday. It’s loads of fun. The kids have a blast. I’d love for you to come,” Dereck said.
“Okay, we can do that. It’s not like I have any other plans until my parents get back in January.”
Dereck shuffled his feet a little and rubbed the back of his neck. “About that. My mom insists you join the family for Christmas dinner. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Jenna nibbled on her bottom lip to keep from smiling. How could a big, strong man like Dereck—an Alpha—look so unsure and uncomfortable inviting his supposed mate to dinner with his family? It was cute as hell. “I’d love to.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded and hopped off the counter. Surely, now was a good time for a kiss. But before she could get within two feet of him, her alarm rang out, startling them both.
9
“That was amazing,” Dereck said as he leaned against the couch cushions, rubbing his belly, looking up at her where she stood next to the fireplace.
Jenna giggled. He was full of crap and they both knew it. His crooked grin said as much. The pasta had smelled divine but had been mushy, and the sauce, bland, but the company, perfect, and the wine, delicious. Now, Jenna wasn’t sure if the little buzz she had going was due to Dereck’s presence or the second glass she’d enjoyed. Probably a bit of both. He looked so good sitting there that she was tempted to forget the boxes of ornaments at her feet waiting to be cracked open.
“Still up for some decorating?” she asked before she could change her mind and tackle him where he sat, which was looking more and more appealing by the second.
“Whatever you feel like doing is fine,” he said. His deep, silky voice curled around her, tempting her to forget her own suggestion.
“Anything?”
“Whatever you want,” he agreed, his hungry gaze locked on her as he rose in a smooth, fluid way that most men didn’t possess.
Her breath hitched in her
throat at the sight of him stalking closer. Gone was the guy who had asked her to dinner with his family. The man replacing him was confident and sure. He knew what he desired, and it was her.
“I thought you wanted to wait?” she asked. Not that she was complaining about the new turn of events, but it was what he’d said the day before.
With his hands on her hips, he pulled her against him. “You’re too damned tempting.”
“Is that right?”
He nodded and nuzzled her. “Your scent is driving me crazy.” A shiver of awareness rushed through her at the feel of his warm breath caressing her skin.
His lips feathered the base of her neck, and she tilted her head, giving him better access. Dereck moaned and scraped his teeth over the same spot.
“That feels nice,” she said on a soft exhale.
He stiffened, pulling his head back, but he didn’t release her. Thank God.
“Too tempting,” he warned, his voice a deep, gravelly sound tinged with a hint of desperation as he cupped her cheeks in both his palms, then took her mouth in a kiss that seeped all the way into her bones.
Jenna parted her lips, wanting more—needing whatever Dereck was willing to give. She melted against him, leaning on his strength as he continued his sensual assault. Her nipples hardened into tight buds, and a sweet ache throbbed between her thighs. His tongue delved between her lips, and she rocked against him, seeking more intimate contact. Sliding her fingers beneath his shirt, Jenna stroked her way up his broad back. She loved the way his muscles bunched…and the moan he didn’t bother trying to muffle.
When he left her mouth to kiss down the column of her neck again, she dug her fingers into his skin. She tipped her head further back and to the side. Once again, he scraped his teeth over her flesh, then gave her a little nip. She gasped at the mild sting. The throb between her legs deepened.
Dereck kissed the spot he’d bitten, then pulled back, leaving her breathless and a little confused.
“Let’s decorate your tree,” he said, his voice rough.
She swallowed and blinked a couple of times to focus her eyes and lift the lusty haze from her mind. “My tree?”
His gaze darted to the evergreen as he took a deep breath. “We have thirty minutes to get this done. Then I’m taking you to bed, and we’re not leaving there until morning,” he said before kissing the tip of her nose and stepping out of her reach. There was no mistaking the bulge straining the zipper of his jeans, or the tension radiating from him.
It took a second for the words to sink in. Thirty minutes. Bed. Yes, please.
She had strings of lights out of the box within seconds. “We can do this,” she said, ignoring his chuckle as she handed them over to him in a tangled heap.
It took a few minutes to get them unravelled, but between them, they managed well enough. Every stroke of his fingers against hers as she fed the lights to him to loop onto the tree’s branches sent jolts of erotic energy pulsing through her. The garland and ornaments went up in a blur of soft touches and not-so-accidental brushes against each other. Dereck reached high to put a glass ball near the top, resting his hand low on her hip to get there, and it was all she could do to keep from throwing the ornament she held and stripping him down right there.
As soon as the last one was placed, Derek pulled her closer, angling her so her back was to his chest. “I want a pic,” Dereck said, surprising her as he reached into his back pocket for his phone. He lifted his arm high to capture the tree in the background and draped his other around her waist. “This is our first Christmas. We need to memorialize this.”
The way he said it sounded an awful lot like forever, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t like the idea. Yeah, it was fast. And if it was anyone else, she wouldn’t have believed it possible, but she’d known Dereck her whole life.
Jenna smiled, and Dereck’s arm tightened around her waist. He snapped the pic but didn’t release her.
“One more,” he said as he pressed his lips to her cheek.
When he would have let her go, she spun around and wrapped her arms around his neck. “One more,” she told him as she planted a kiss on him. She waited a second before stepping back.
He grinned down at her. “Got it.”
“Can you send them to me? I think we’re already friends on social media.” There was no maybe about it. She had friended him ages ago but had never had the guts to message him. She’d checked him out plenty, though.
“Done,” Dereck said after a few quick taps on his phone. Apparently, he didn’t have a hard time finding her on there, either.
“So, how long before my half hour is up?” she asked, trailing her fingertips from his wrist to his elbow.
He grunted and tossed his phone onto the couch, ignoring the fact that it bounced off the cushion and onto the floor. “Forty minutes ago.” He hoisted her into his arms and strode to the stairs, nipping the skin along her jaw as he did.
“What big teeth you have,” she said, giggling at her own corny joke.
Dereck stroked the tip of his nose along her skin inhaling as he went, stopping at her earlobe. “The better to eat you with,” he said, the rumble in his voice going straight between her legs.
He toed the door to her bedroom open, then kicked it shut behind them. She didn’t have to wonder how he knew which room was hers—it was the same one she’d had as a child.
He hadn’t minded the cotton-candy-colored walls back then, and if he did now, he didn’t say. In fact, the way he looked at her, she doubted he saw them at all. Thank goodness the princess bed of her childhood had been replaced with a comfy double by the time she’d gone to high school.
“Are you sure about this, Jenna?” he asked as he crossed the room, his steps not faltering.
“Hell yes.” If he didn’t do something more than try to melt her with his gaze or scrape his teeth along her skin soon, she would take matters into her own hands. In fact, that sounded like a mighty fine idea.
Dereck had a thing for biting, and she’d bet everything she had on the fact that it had to do with his wolf. The second her lips touched his neck, Dereck stiffened. He came to a stop next to her bed, then didn’t move, not even to breathe.
She gave his warm, salty skin a quick lick, then bit him—hard.
The air whooshed out of his lungs, and a deep, gravelly moan ripped up his throat. A deep shudder rushed through him. His head tipped back, and he sucked in a harsh breath.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, Jenna. Don’t tempt me like that,” he finally said.
She smiled against his skin and gave his reddened flesh another lick.
The growl that came next had her nipples puckering tight and a fresh wave of heated pulses throbbing between her thighs. She’d tempted the beast, just as she’d intended. Now she had to figure out what to do with it.
10
Dereck clenched his jaw as well as he could with his lengthening canines and screwed his eyes tight. The goddess in his arms was playing with fire, and it was his job to protect her from herself, from him—from everything. His fingers dug into her hip, but he couldn’t help it. It took everything in him to keep his claws from poking out of his fingertips.
Taking a deep breath was out of the question, the intoxicating scent of her arousal had lured his wolf to the edge of his mind, and her sharp bite had yanked him the rest of the way.
Jenna’s tongue slid over the sensitive flesh she’d sunk her teeth into, driving his need to claim her higher. Had she bitten a tiny bit harder, all bets would have been off. Nothing he could have done would have kept the wolf from returning the bite and claiming her. A part of him wished she would have, but it wasn’t fair to put that on her. Dealing with the fallout afterward would have been tough. Willingly choosing to bind herself to him and become a wolf shifter was one thing. Making that kind of commitment by accident, another thing entirely.
“You can’t bite me like that, love. Not unless you mean it,” he warned once he had the
beast under control again and was able to breathe past the haze of lust exploding from within.
Jenna stilled. Her warm breath fanned his neck, sending more heat spearing into him with each soft exhale that slipped past her parted lips.
“And what if I did?” she asked, breathless.
Dereck squeezed her tighter before sighing, setting her on her feet, and putting an inch of space between them.
“Biting me drives my wolf wild—drives me wild—but it’s dangerous. You didn’t break my skin, but if you had, I wouldn’t have been able to hold the beast back. We would have been mated. That’s the forever I was talking about. And although that sounds like heaven to me, I don’t think you’re quite there yet.”
She sucked in a deep breath before dropping her gaze to his neck where the sweet burn of her bite still lingered. The feather light touch of her finger along the tender spot nearly took him to his knees.
Her soft smile had his heart beating triple time. “I may not be ready for all that, but I’m not running from it, either,” she admitted as she lowered her lips to the aching flesh.
Gripping her hip harder, Dereck leashed the wolf. Damned beast was going to ruin everything if he didn’t calm down. We need to relax. Give her more time.
The wolf’s snarl resounded in the depths of his soul, but he backed down—barely.
“There’s no rush. I’m not going anywhere.” They’d wait forever if that’s what it took. She was worth it.
“Good,” she whispered, stroking her finger over her bite mark again. “Can we get to the naked parts yet?” she asked when she met his gaze again, her eyes shining bright as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her body to his.
Dereck swallowed his groan at the feel of her softness against the rigid length straining at the inside of his zipper.
With her bottom lip caught between her teeth, Jenna looked up at him from under her lashes as she stroked her hand down his chest, easing it between them to his belly, then lower to the front of his jeans. Dereck couldn’t breathe. He held himself still, enjoying her exploration.
