“Ah, hell,” Rafe whispered, rubbing his fingers against his jaw.
“It reminds me that no matter what I’m going through, it will never be as bad as that day.”
“Grace.” He dropped his arm across her shoulders and tucked her against him.
“I’m okay,” she said without making any effort to move. “Just a little confused. I didn’t realize you were involved with someone.”
His chest heaved with a deep sigh. “The thing with Loretta—”
“I know,” Grace interrupted. She inched away from him. “It’s complicated.”
“Actually, it’s pretty straightforward.” He leaned back, stretching out his legs and folding his hands over his waist. “Loretta lost her husband a few months before my wife died. We were both grieving.” His voice trailed.
“You’ve been together all this time?”
“Not actually together. We’d meet briefly once a month, that’s it.”
“Is it that time of the month?”
Rafe gave her a puzzled look.
“All the kissing and groping I interrupted. Was it because today is your monthly meet-up?”
“No.” He scratched the back of his head. “She’s ready for a relationship with a real commitment. She was hoping to convince me of the same.”
“Did she?”
“Considering I’m sitting here with you,” he gently elbowed Grace, “I’d say no.”
“To be clear, it’s over between you and Loretta.”
“There’s nothing to get over. Like I said, it was a very brief once-a-month thing. It’s not like we ate supper together, or fell asleep on the couch watching TV.” He hmmphed. “She never texted me in the middle of the night for ice cream.”
Rafe looked sidelong at Grace, a crooked smile hitching up the corner of his mouth.
“I liked doing those things with you. I was wrong when I said I didn’t want to be your friend. Now that we are, I can’t imagine not doing more of those things with you.”
There was no guile in his eyes, no flicker from her gaze, no hesitation in his voice, and Grace knew in her heart he spoke the truth.
“Well, that’s because I’m a fun person to be with,” She grinned as a certain restlessness within her lifted. “With or without the extra benefits.”
Rafe laughed. “Yes, you are.”
“But you’d prefer with benefits, right?”
“Hell, yeah.”
“Me, too.” Grace wouldn’t have imagined him to be the type who could maintain a no-strings relationship for an extended period. Now she knew that he was, she wouldn’t worry about things getting too serious.
“Come on.” She stood. “I’ll race you to the garage.”
Grace didn’t give Rafe time to react, she simply started running.
It took about ten seconds before she heard him gaining.
“Hey, Goldilocks.” Rafe spun her around, tossed her over his shoulder and started walking. “The only way you’ll get to the finish line ahead of me is if I carry you.”
“I’m not a sack of potatoes.”
“I can tell by your weight.”
“Hey!” She balled her fist and playfully punched him above the kidney. He didn’t seem to notice.
“It’ll serve you right if I throw up,” she said, jostling upside down.
“Won’t be the first time I’ve seen you puke.” He squeezed her leg. “Be still before I drop you.”
He crossed the street and strolled into the R&L.
Rafe’s fingers danced over her hips and gripped her waist. Her feet finally touched solid ground inside the repair shop. She stood with her eyes closed until the dizzy sensation subsided.
“Here.” Rafe handed her a half-empty bottle of water he snatched off the top of a large upright tool cabinet. “Drink sips, not gulps.”
He sauntered across the garage and punched a panel of buttons next to the door leading inside the customer service area. The front bay doors creaked and screeched, sliding slowly down to cut off the view of the park.
Grace swallowed a tiny splash of cool water and propped herself against the back end of the car behind her.
Brow creased in concern, Rafe joined her. “Feeling better?” He cradled her jaw, his thumb lightly stroking her cheek.
“Peachy,” she said.
Rafe frowned.
“When I say ‘peachy,’ I mean it. I’m not being sarcastic like you are.”
“You think I’m sarcastic?” he whispered against her ear, then he nipped and licked the lobe.
“Sometimes.” Her voice sounded breathy. “Maybe a little. You should work on that.”
She loved the rough feel of his palms kneading the curves of her hips.
“I’d rather work on this.” Rafe nibbled a trail down the column of her throat.
Her entire body tingled.
Beneath her shirt, his hand trailed down her abdomen. Her stomach quivered the lower he went. He unzipped her shorts, his palm cupping her mound, his fingers moving aside a thin piece of lace to glide between her folds.
“Oh, God.” Her eyes closed.
Each long, luxurious stroke was as reverent as a prayer and brought her closer and closer and closer to heaven.
And then it stopped.
“What’s wrong?” She panted, hovering on the cusp of ecstasy.
“Time to pick up Alex.” A twisted, mischievous tease glinted in his eyes.
“Are you seriously gonna leave? Now?”
As soon as she said it, he chuckled.
“Turnabout is fair play, sweetheart.” He zipped her shorts and kissed her on the nose, then waved behind him as he strolled out of the building.
Chapter 23
Passing the crooked tree beside a stump that looked like a knotty troll, Rafe slowed down for the hidden turn. Alex and Grace’s easy banter filled the tow truck’s double cab. An improvement over the frustrated tension he’d sensed from Grace earlier, when he’d left her to pick up Alex.
He’d argued with himself as to whether or not the empathic sensation was real or imagined. After all, she’d put him in the same predicament this morning, so of course he knew how she felt.
What he hadn’t expected on the drive alone to the school was the sensory bombardment of Grace’s orgasm when she finished what Rafe had started with her at the R&L. The disruption in his perception had been sudden, intense, and damn near made him drive off the road.
The only explanation for the phenomenon was that a mate-bond was forming and had linked their emotions.
He didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, hurl curses at the moon or blow kisses. Although he leaned more toward hurling curses. He didn’t like irony or complications of being linked body and mind, heart and soul to Grace. It could make it harder to resist the urge to claim her, but not impossible.
He eased into the pebbled driveway, came to a full stop and jammed the gearshift into Park.
“Cute place,” Grace said, leaning close to the windshield, her gaze seeming to take in every nuance of the little homestead.
Ronni stepped outside, arms crossed over her chest, but she offered a small finger wave and a smile.
Alex bailed out of the backseat and shuffled to his mother. She wrapped him in a hug before sending him inside.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to come to supper?” Grace unbuckled her seat belt.
“Ronni invited you.” Rafe’s voice sounded hollow and distant in his ears.
“What’s wrong?” Grace’s fingers curled around his arm. Warm, calming, kind, her essence ebbed into him.
“I used to live here. I haven’t been inside the house since my wife died.”
“Oh.” She squeezed his biceps. “We don’t have to stay.”
Damn good idea, he almost told her.
“Do you
want me to tell Ronni we’ll need a rain check?”
In his heart, Rafe knew if he didn’t do this now, he never would.
“No.” He scrubbed his hands over his whiskered jaw and climbed out of the truck.
Grace met him in front of the vehicle with a smile, wordlessly took his hand and walked beside him.
“Y’all come in.” Ronni stepped back into the house.
Hand on the small of her back, Rafe ushered Grace over the threshold and followed closely, holding his breath.
“Hope you don’t mind how I redecorated,” Ronni said, watching him with uneasy eyes.
“It’s fine, Ronni.” Rafe wanted to reassure her, but his words came out clipped and tight.
“I love the drapes.” Grace walked to the front room windows. “Where did you get them?”
“Made ’em myself.” Ronni smiled. The first authentic smile he’d seen from her since they met.
“Wow.” The dimples Rafe loved to see framed Grace’s mouth. “What else can you sew?”
“Clothes, quilts. I even made the tablecloth on the dining room table. Come look.”
Grace cast him a questioning look. He nodded for her to follow Ronni.
Rafe sat on the couch, freshly cleaned and decorated with a pale yellow afghan. Looking around, he saw his former home stripped of his former life and stamped with Ronni’s personal style.
He appreciated her waiting to ask him in until she’d sanitized the house of his memories. It would be easier to see the house as hers now.
Laughing, Ronni and Grace returned to the living room.
Rafe liked how Grace never seemed to meet a stranger, how she had a gift for making people comfortable and how simply adorable her dimples were when she was happy.
His heart kicked an extra beat as she walked toward him, all smiles and twinkles.
“Your cousin has mad sewing skills, Rafe. She could do it professionally.”
“It’s sweet of you to say so, Grace. But I don’t have any formal training. I make up stuff as I go along.”
“A true artist.” Grace beamed and so did Ronni.
“Mom!” Alex galloped down the stairs leading up to a bedroom loft. “When is supper?”
“Right now. Wash up and set the table for four,” Ronni told him.
“Four?” Alex stared at Grace. “You’re eatin’ with us?”
“I am.” Grace’s genuine smile lit the room.
Alex’s eyes went glassy and his tongue nearly lolled out of his mouth.
Rafe needed to plan a day to take him fishing and explain wolfan puberty. Ronni probably did a fine job with the basics, but some things were passed down male to male.
“Go on.” Ronni pushed Alex toward the kitchen. “Set the table proper.”
Alex tackled his task with gusto.
Grace sat beside Rafe, her leg a fraction of an inch from his.
“Thanks for helping Alex with his homework.” Ronni sat in a straight-back rocker. “His attitude toward school is better.”
“No problem at all. He’s a fast learner.”
“Did he really talk to someone at NASA?”
“He did.” Grace relaxed into the couch, but with her shoulders angled slightly so that she leaned against him.
Rafe cozied into the couch, as well.
“Raj,” Grace continued, “is a mathematician on one of their projects.”
Rafe wondered what, if any, benefits Raj had shared with Grace.
A silent growl rolled through Rafe’s mind.
This is what Tristan had warned him about, and it had only been a few days.
“Alex told me his birthday is tomorrow. His sweet sixteen, right?”
“He’ll be sixteen, all right. Don’t know how sweet it will be.” Ronni snickered.
“I’d like to make him cupcakes.”
“He’d love them as long as they don’t have chocolate.”
“Is he allergic, too?”
“We all are. Didn’t Rafe tell you?”
“No, it never came up.” Grace glanced at Rafe.
“Well, strawberry is Alex’s favorite,” Ronni said. “He’ll be in hog’s heaven if you make those. He wanted a party, but the Co-op’s spring festival is this weekend, so most people will be out there.”
“The festival is this weekend?” Rafe had completely forgotten about the pack’s annual event. Gavin would string him up if he didn’t show up with Grace.
“Yeah. We were looking forward to it, but Alex said you were working.”
“I’m going.” Grace smiled. “I’ll ask Gavin if you and Alex can come with me.”
Ah, hell. Gavin knew he’d screwed up. But, he cared less about the Alpha’s displeasure and more about Grace being paraded around to the pack’s single males—which is exactly what Gavin would do if she showed up without Rafe.
“Not necessary,” he said. “I’ll take the weekend off. Ronni, you and Alex can be my guests.” He looked at Grace, his heart racing unexpectantly. “I know you’ve already been invited, but I wouldn’t mind if you came as my guest, too.”
“I’d love to. But first we need to give Alex a birthday party.” Grace looked at him with those big, beautiful green eyes. Full of hope and expectation.
A man would be fool a to disappoint her. Rafe was many things, but a fool was not one them.
Chapter 24
“Are you going to pick one or stand there all night?”
Rafe tore his attention from the variety of condom boxes lined on the shelves to glare at Tristan, dressed in the dark standard uniform of the Maico Sheriff’s Department.
“Maybe you need a little help.” Tristan’s arrogant smile deepened Rafe’s bad mood, frustrated by the simple task of buying a box of condoms. He had no idea of the multitude of brands or types. Or colors. Neon? Really?
As an adolescent he’d listened to Doc’s lessons about sex and the use of condoms, and Rafe had understood the importance. Humans were conditioned to utilize condoms to protect them from disease and unwanted pregnancies. Wahyas had no worries for either.
The decaying scent of sickness and disease curbed their instinct to couple. As for unwanted pregnancies, Wahya males could only impregnate the females they claimed with a bite.
Male wolfans used condoms because human females expected it, and it sent a message to Wahyan females that the male wasn’t interested in a mateship.
“Are you listening?” Tristan waggled a box stamped Fire and Ice in front of Rafe’s face.
He definitely didn’t want his cock sheathed in anything that would light it on fire or freeze it off.
He knocked aside Tristan’s hand.
“Trying to help out a brother.”
“You’re not helping.”
Tristan laughed and put the box on the shelf. “Who’s the lucky woman?”
Rafe answered with a stare.
“Loretta?” Tristan leaned forward, nearly nose to nose with Rafe.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Checking for a twinkle.”
“Back off. My eyes don’t have a damn twinkle.”
Tristan’s grin took up most of his face. He uttered one word. “Grace.”
Awareness rushed Rafe’s senses. Her fragrance filled his nose, the softness of her mouth tingled his lips, her laughter rang in his ears and the deep jade pools of her eyes looking up at him, warm and trusting, made his heart sputter.
“We have a winner.” Tristan’s deep-bellied laughter broke the spell. “Grace not only puts a twinkle in your eyes, she can damn near make you drool. Wipe your mouth, bro.”
“I’m not your bro.” Rafe swiped his sleeve across his face. Not one wet spot.
Tristan laughed again. “If you were, I would’ve taught you which condoms to buy.” He picked up a tame-looking box and
handed it to him. His expression turned serious. “My advice—unless you’re playing for keeps, keep your cock in your pants around Grace. Fuck Loretta, instead.” He slapped Rafe’s shoulder. “See ya later at the rendezvous point.”
Tristan strolled toward the front of the store dangling a box of deli chicken from his fingers while Rafe silently cursed.
He didn’t want to play anything with Loretta. But neither Rafe nor Grace were ready to play for keeps, either.
* * *
Rafe raced through the woods. Most nights he wolf-ran for the exercise, because he couldn’t sleep or he wanted a drink. Tonight he ran because he had a mission.
He zigged past a tree and leaped a fallen log. His paws barely touched the ground before he zagged around another.
The barbs on the electrified fence around the Walker’s Run wolf sanctuary glittered in the moonlight. Normally he checked in with the sentinels. Tonight he couldn’t.
Rafe’s muscles bunched and stretched beneath his fur as he launched over the six-foot barrier into the sanctuary. The best jumper in the pack, he hadn’t lost that skill. The sentinel recruits barked orders for him to halt and identify himself.
With lightning speed, he shot past them. Howls of an intruder alert broke the quiet evening. Every one of the greenhorns charged after him.
Idiots!
Blossom-laden branches snagged bits of Rafe’s fur as he barreled through the wild berry bushes. The sweet smell of budding fruit wasn’t nearly as tantalizing as Grace’s feminine musk.
God, how his heart, his mind, his body constricted with need just thinking about her. The need to be soothed and comforted, the need to be wanted, the need to be fulfilled. Most of all, the need to be held, lost in her embrace.
Damn, damn, damn!
Rafe charged into the creek. The cold rush of water stung despite his thick fur. He paddled hard against the current.
There had been times when he wanted the river to overcome him. Not tonight, though. Tonight he fought his way to the other side.
Smooth pebbles pressed into his pads as he slunk out of the water. He turned back to his pursuers.
“Rafe, you ass! What the hell?” Hanson’s irritated voice pinged Rafe’s mind.
He shook the water from his fur. “Who’s protecting the perimeter?”
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