by Ruby Dixon
“Yeah.” I stroke my fingers across the soft beard. “You left me with some hair, which is good. You like it?” That’s what’s important. I’d be bald if that was what she wanted.
“Yeah, I like it.” She jerks her hand against the restraint as if she’d like to touch me. “Can’t you untie me? I want to pet the beard.”
“Later.” I feed her the last bit of sandwich and then hold the glass to her mouth. “Now you tell me what happened in California that got you all gun-shy about this mate bond, because I’m not the only one who was feeling unsure our first night.”
She gulps down the milk and then releases a long sigh. “The story makes me sound pathetic.”
“Nah. If it involves a shifter that didn’t want you, then he’s the dumbest thing on four feet.”
“It’s a short story. I was with a wolf in the Thorne pack. The alpha died in a freak lightning incident and my guy—” A growl builds in my throat at her using the possessive word in conjunction with another male. “The guy,” she corrects and then raises an eyebrow at me. I give her a nod to go ahead, and she rolls her eyes. “Anyway, the guy became alpha, found his mate, and then asked me to join the two of them.”
“He’s not your real mate then,” I declare. “He’s defective because true mates don’t want anyone but their mate. Mated threes exist, but it’s a mate bond that goes through all of them. He’s either not found his mate or can’t bond. And that’s on him, not you.”
She rubs her lips together thoughtfully. “You think we’re mates?”
“I know we are because only a true mate would be worth the pain of loss, and I know that not having you would be worse than living alone. You’re worth the risk to me, and I’ll spend the rest of my life convincing you that I’m worth the risk to you.”
She struggles harder against her bonds, not because she wants to get away but because she wants to be close. I know her now. The mate bond is hardening. I shuck off my clothes and brace myself over her body.
“You’re worth the risk to me,” she whispers.
I reach between her legs to find her soaked pussy ready for me. I position the head of my cock at her entrance. “I love Maddie Thorne, and I will for the rest of my days want only you.”
She gasps and arches toward me as I drive into her. “I want only you, Chance Eddington. My true mate. My true love.”
Her words seize me by the balls. I dip a hand between us to find her precious little clit and work that as I jack into her. She trembles and shudders beneath me, finding her release quicker than I could have hoped for, and I follow her over that cliff of ecstasy where it’s only her and me and a blanket of euphoria.
Yes, this is all worth the risk. She is worth the risk.
“I never wanted a mate until you, Maddie,” I mutter as I move down her body, worshipping every spot of flesh available. “I’ll never want another mate.”
And then I proceed to show her how much I want her, how much I need her, how much I love her.
YOU GOTTA BE SHIFTING ME
Chapter One
GRIFFIN
“Who the hell are you?” I bark out in irritation as the door to the construction trailer slams open.
“I’m your fucking partner,” the manicured, blow-dried man-boy growls.
The voice sounds familiar, but the face? The face looks like one of those playthings posing on the front of a health magazine that touts the six different ways to get abs.
You get abs by good genes and not eating fat. Who the fuck cares about abs anyway? Except for this douchenugget. “Yeah, well, get out and come back when you look like Chance Eddington,” I growl. This morning started out bad and is headed straight for the shitter. The supplies we needed to complete our client’s fucking A-frame vacation home haven’t come in, which means we’re going to be a day late on finishing this project.
A-frames. If houses were meant to be shaped like the alphabet, Sesame Street characters would be building them. Not bears.
“What crawled up your ass and died?”
I squint at the pretty boy again. Damn, that sounds like Chance. “You Eddington’s cousin?”
Did Eddington even have a cousin? Man was a loner through and through. He only tolerated people because they were part of the business. If he could do it all over again, he’d pick some other profession like…park ranger or deep-sea fisherman. As it was, he tried to shove all the client contact onto me. I didn’t love it, but you did what you could to get by.
Someone had to talk to the clients, and it couldn’t be Chance because the conversation I just had with the owners of said A-frame would have ended up with him turning bear and running his claws all over the fancy imported Italian marble sample that Mrs. King said she had to have on her kitchen floor, or the whole place was going to be ruined.
Who would even be looking at the goddamned floor? The house was situated on prime land overlooking the vast Boundary Waters. That’s all anyone is ever going to look at. But I bit my tongue nearly clear through and just nodded and smiled.
“I am Eddington, you fool,” the stranger replies with asperity. But then Not-Chance taps the top of his glossy dark head. “Is it that bad? My mate said I looked good. Hot, she said.” That last comment is said with a touch of wonder as if he can’t believe he heard something like that with his own ears.
I can barely believe what I’m hearing. Mate? Eddington?
I set down the coffee mug and take a deep whiff. Well, fuck me sideways. He does smell like Eddington and some kind of dog…no, wolf.
“You mated with a wolf? Over the fucking weekend?”
He nods. “Yup.”
“And she did all this to you?” I wave my hand in a circle around his face.
“Yup.”
I rub my eye with the back of my hand and look again. “Guess I didn’t know what you looked like under all that hair.”
“Guess not.”
The terse answers help to convince me that the pomaded stranger in front of me is my business partner. “You going to tell me the story, or do I have to beat it out of you?” I pour Eddington a cup of coffee and gesture for him to get started.
He takes a long, annoying sip before opening his maw. “Not much to the story. I smelled her. Wanted her. She didn’t have much else going on. Liked it when I did stuff to her, and now she’s my mate.”
The fucking end, I guess. “I’m happy for you, man.” And jealous as hell.
Although he knows that. “Maybe it’s time you try again with the librarian.”
Alexa Rawlings? I wish. I fucking wish. “And maybe Mrs. Everything in This North Woods Home Is Going to Be Italian will call me and tell me that regular ol’ Carrara marble is going to look great.”
He scowls. “She still on that? No one is going to be looking at the floor anyway.”
“Damn straight.”
“You think about apologizing?”
“What about? I told her we’d get that damned marble, but it was going to take six weeks.”
“Not the client, the Rawlings woman.”
“Sure as shit already have. Multiple times. How was I supposed to know that jam was supposed to be for some contest?” When Alexa Rawlings first came to town three years ago, she’d been eager to win her way into the hearts of the close-knit folk of Pine Falls. If she’d asked, I would have told her that the reserve was just a local thing and she’d be fine after a few months. Plus, everyone loved the librarian, even if they didn’t say more than two sentences to her.
But she’d baked up all this jam and was going to enter it into the county fair, thinking that would increase favor amongst the locals.
In my defense it was honey jam, and everyone knows you can’t leave honey sitting out around here. It’s the home of the most bear shifters in North America, what with the close proximity Pine Falls has to the Superior National Forest and the unsullied Boundary Waters.
I might have stuck my paw into the jars once or twice while she was checking to see if magazine I’d order
ed had come in. Maybe eaten six of them.
I’d apologized a million times and even offered to take her to the tavern and introduce her around. But she didn’t want jack to do with me. I tried for a month straight to apologize. That girl can hold a grudge.
And maybe I would’ve shrugged it off as nothing more inconsequential than a mosquito bite except for the fact that my dick stands straight as a pike and hard as steel if Alexa gets even twenty feet in front of me.
“Maybe the grudge-holding bit has more to do with the fact you accused her of jacking off in her office than eating her honey,” Eddington says in a fit of uncharacteristic wordiness.
I slam the near-empty mug on the battered wooden desk. “That was a compliment. A fucking invitation. It wasn’t an insult.” I remember the exact words I’d said when she came bustling out of her office, looking flushed as pretty as a spring flower just opening up her petals. If you taste as good as your jam, I’ll be in heaven.
“Who knows?” He shrugs. “So are we working today, or should I take the crew to Fallon?”
“Fallon,” I answer in disgust. “Without the tile, we can’t install the cabinets, counters, or any of the finishing work.”
Eddington is halfway out the door when the phone rings. He pauses as I pick it up.
“Griffin Love?”
“Yeah?” I say warily. It’s Mrs. A-frame, and I’m not in the mood for one more change.
“My husband and I discussed it. We’d rather have the home ready by the end of the month rather than wait for the gold Italian marble floor tiles.” She sounds disgusted.
“You sure?” I signal for him to hold on. “You want us to go ahead with the tile we’d originally ordered.”
“Yes.” She heaves a giant put-upon sigh. “But I swear if that tile looks hideous, you’ll be ripping it out, and my husband will just have to pay for that.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll get the tile installed today. The move-in date will be three weeks from now.”
“Fine. It better look spectacular.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I hang up the phone.
“I take it we’re staying here today.”
“You are.” I grab my keys.
“Where’re you going?” From the humor lurking in Eddington’s voice, he knows exactly where I’m headed. He just wants to hear me say it.
“It’s time to say I’m sorry again.” I brush by him. “Don’t forget to lock up.”
Through the office window, I can see the top of Alexa’s head bent over something on her desk. Her hair is caught up in a messy bun. Last time I saw her, she had pencils stuck back there. My fingers itch to pull out all those fastenings until her curly strawberry-blonde hair frames her head like a halo. After that, I’d untie the bows at her neck, unbutton her blouse, unzip her skirt, and peel back all those layers until all I can see are acres of bare flesh.
My mouth waters at the thought of her nude, in my bedroom, with her honey coating my tongue. The claws in my hands pop out before I can stop them. I take three deep breaths to force them to retract, but the damage is done. The leather covering of the steering wheel hangs in pieces.
Hope this isn’t a bad omen. I get out of the car anyhow.
As I climb the stairs of the library, a heady scent wafts by my nose. I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with Alexa’s scent. I want to roll in that smell, douse myself in it so everyone around here knows I’m hers.
But fuck, I can’t even get the woman to smile in my direction. That’s changing today. Right now. She’s going to accept my apology. We’re going to dinner together, and then I’m taking her home—hers or mine, don’t give a rat’s ass. Once I get her alone, I’ll show her exactly how sorry I am, with my fingers and tongue and whatever other part of my body she’ll let touch her.
The glass doors shiver at the force of my arrival. The little old lady at the counter, probably one of the Bells who live south of Pine Falls, adjusts her glasses.
“Can I help you, young man?”
“Yup. I’m here to see Ms. Rawlings.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
Had one for three years, I think sourly. “Yup.” I’m beginning to sound like Eddington. And Mrs. Bell doesn’t look convinced. “I’m here to talk about the library expansion.” I point to the sign on the counter that says the library building fund has all of three hundred dollars toward its ten-thousand-dollar goal.
“Is that right?” She’s a fierce gatekeeper.
I have to pull out the big guns. “Eddington and Love Construction is interested in making a contribution of labor and materials.”
Eddington’s going to shit kittens, but he’s got a mate to cozy up to at night. All I got is my hand and a cold beer.
“Well then.” Mrs. Bell nods approvingly. “That’s very good. I’ll tell her you’re here.”
Mrs. Bell disappears. I don’t hear much because bears were given extra olfactory gifts, not extra hearing gifts, but from the rise and fall of the muffled words, I get the gist. Alexa doesn’t want to see me, but when Mrs. Bell tells her about my generous contribution, Alexa doesn’t have any choice but to push her sweet ass from the chair and greet me.
“Mr. Love,” she says frostily. “I understand you are here to talk about the building fund.”
If her tone was any colder, my balls would climb up into my gut. “That’s right,” I drawl.
“You should show him what you’re thinking of, Alexa.” Mrs. Bell points toward the rear of the building. “She’s got some pictures up of what the expansion would look like.”
Alexa presses her pretty lips together, but in the face of Mrs. Bell’s expectant look, she’s got no choice.
Unhappily, she beckons me forward. “What kind of contribution are you thinking of, Mr. Love?”
“Call me Griff. And I’m offering any kind of discount that will get me a dinner with you tonight.”
“It’s the library that needs assistance, Mr. Love. Not me.” There’s an odd tone in her voice that I can’t quite make out.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you needed help, Alexa. It’s me who needs the work, and I’ve always wanted you to be the one to do it.”
Chapter Two
ALEXA
Clearly, this is a nightmare brought to life.
I stare at Griffin Love, here in the library, looking like he owns the place with his feet planted wide and his hands on his hips, as if daring me to push aside his generous offer. I’ve seen him in my library before, but it’s usually only in my filthy, filthy dreams.
Like the dream I had last night? The one where I go into my office and he’s there, naked, coating his cock with a jar of honey and inviting me to lick every inch clean? Where I wake up with my hand in my panties and desperate for more? I shift uncomfortably and tightly clutch the folder I’m holding to my breast.
Griffin makes me anxious in all kinds of ways. It’s like he can read my mind, and I don’t like that. I’m a very private person. My business is my business alone, and I don’t like anyone knowing my secrets. The fact that every time he opens his mouth and seems to blurt out another one of them? It just makes me want to avoid the man even more. Which is why I hate that he keeps showing up every time I think about him.
Granted, I think about him a lot, but who wouldn’t? He’s got dark, thick hair that is a little too long to be trendy but just long enough that it makes my fingers itch to brush it back off his face. He’s got bright blue eyes and a thick beard that fuels a lot of my dirtiest fantasies. He wears clothes that make it clear he’s not dressing up to impress anyone—the shirt he’s wearing today has a hole at the collar and another near the hem. In the summer, he wears T-shirts that have the arms cut open all the way down the side, and I’ve caught glimpses of taut, lean muscles and pectorals.
Those hard abs give me very dirty thoughts.
As if he can read my mind again, Griffin tilts his head and studies me. “Well?”
I blink, trying to remember what we were talking about. “What?”
“My wood?”
I can feel my face turn crimson. “Beg pardon?” The words come out strangled.
“I said, I’ll give you a discount on lumber and supplies and men to build your expansion if you go to dinner tonight and show me what you’ve got.”
Show him what I’ve got? Dear lord. Does the man ever say anything that doesn’t end in innuendo? I chew on my lip, thinking. When I look up, I notice he’s staring at my mouth. I’m pretty sure my panties flood right in that moment.
Good God, I need to get laid. “I’m busy today.”
Mrs. Bell steps on my foot. “You can make time in your schedule, Alexa.”
I look down at my assistant, frowning. “No, really. I have story hour coming up, and then I have a meeting with the school board—”
Mrs. Bell firmly steps on my foot again. “I’ll handle all of it. You go take this nice, handsome young man to dinner and show him your goodies.”
Horrified at her choice of words, I look over at Griffin. His lips twitch, and he arches an eyebrow at me. “How ’bout it, Alexa? I’m offering you all the wood you can handle in exchange for a bit of your time.”
If it gets me out of this innuendo-laden conversation, I’ll do anything. “I’ll get my plans.”
Even though Griffin tries to insist on driving me to Pine Falls’ most popular restaurant, I drive my own car. There’s no way I’m letting myself be dependent on that man, though I’m more worried about being in an enclosed, private space with him. I might not be able to keep my sex-starved hands off of his prime-looking body. Especially with him constantly telling me he wants to give me his wood. Goodness. I drive my Mini Cooper over to Hideaways Restaurant, a woodsy little tourist place in the center of the shopping-district portion of Pine Falls. The library’s off in one of the municipal buildings, so I don’t get to enjoy the street vibe that envelops the touristy part of town.
I deliberately park at the far end of the parking lot, and I’m irritated when Griffin Love—not Griff! Never Griff!—parks right next to me, even though there are a ton of spaces up front. The urge to put my hand under my skirt and test how wet my panties are dies the moment his big truck pulls up next to mine. I hustle out of my car, clutching the photocopies of the plans I have for the library, and sling my purse over my shoulder.
