A pleasant shiver rippled through her when he said that word in that tone. “What if I don’t want to? Or can’t?”
“Okay, quick experiment, then.” He let go of her hands and it took every ounce of her being not to snatch at his hands, to maintain the contact with him.
Then he stepped back. “If you really think this is going to be a problem, then walk away from me now.”
She stared at him, shocked, speechless. “What?”
“Go ahead. Humor me.”
She tried to turn away from him and found she couldn’t. Not for lack of trying, either. It was like a physical pain, as if someone was trying to rip her heart out of her chest, when she tried to walk away from him.
Instead, she flung herself back into his arms. “What’s happened?”
He held her tightly, reassuring her. “I feel the same way. I can’t walk away from you. It’s our mate bond. If you tell me no baby, ever, then that’s it. But nothing short of death will keep me away from you now.”
“You said if I told you to leave me alone that you would.”
“Before we were mated. Before you were officially mine.”
There was that word again. It had burrowed into her nervous system now, giving her clit a delicious tweak of interest every time he said it.
At this point, she strongly suspected if he whispered it enough times in a row that she’d likely orgasm just from that.
“I can’t explain it,” he continued. “And I don’t need to explain it to know it’s real. The Universe decided we were perfect for each other, as we are right now. If we decide we want kids later, great. If not, then great. Because as we are right now, we are perfect in the Universe’s eyes. You are perfection, I am perfection, and together, we are perfection.”
“I’m probably never going to be skinny.”
He made her look up at him. “I don’t care. I fell in love with you the way you are now, not because of your looks, but because you’re mine.”
She let out a little whimper, making him frown. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, perhaps a little too fast, because the left side of his mouth quirked in a delicious smile. “Mine,” he whispered.
Her fingers dug into his arms to keep herself upright.
His smile turned into a full-on grin. He pulled her close, his mouth next to her ear. Anyone looking at them would think they were just hugging.
“Mine,” he whispered.
Nami closed her eyes, lips pressed tightly together to lock the sounds in her throat. Her pussy clenched, clit throbbing. Her panties were going to be soaked.
His arms tightened around her, the tone of his whisper dropping lower, deeper, growling. “Mine.”
Burying her face against his chest, she struggled to hold back her moans. Now Beck was holding her, keeping her upright.
“My mate,” he murmured. “Mine.”
Coherent thought escaped her as he whispered in her ear, over and over again, until, finally, he chuckled. “Come for me, my sweet, gorgeous mate.”
As if he’d had his finger on her clit, her orgasm exploded inside her. Barely managing to stifle her moans, she depended on him to keep her standing, because her knees gave out. Finally, she managed to support her own weight again as she gasped for breath.
When she stared up at him, he wore a deliciously evil grin. Leaning in, he rubbed noses with her. “Oh, my sweet mate, you are in sooo much trouble now.”
Somehow, she knew she wouldn’t mind it.
Not in the least.
* * * *
Making a woman come in the middle of the condom aisle at a Walmart late at night without even touching her wasn’t the weirdest sexual thing Beck had ever done in his life, but it certainly rounded out the top five.
As far as satisfying?
It left all other sexual experiences, except for their initial mating, in the dust.
Beck grabbed several large boxes of condoms, then added a bottle of lube after thinking on it for a moment, before leading her to one of the checkout lanes.
The satisfied smile wouldn’t leave his face.
Oh, she was definitely in trouble. Now that he knew he could do that to her, there would be plenty of lunch hour phone sex in her future. Maybe he could even convince her to quit her job and go back to college to finish her degree. He could easily afford it, and afford to pay for Da’von’s, too, without putting a dent in his savings.
Back in the privacy of his car, he leaned over, grabbed her, and kissed her hard and deep. “That was so damn sexy,” he rumbled. “Be prepared to be doing stuff like that a lot.”
A nervous whimper escaped her. “Don’t you make me do that while I’m driving. I’ll wreck the dang bus.”
“No, sweetheart. Not that.” He nuzzled her neck, behind her ear. “But be prepared for me to make you come in other places like that. You can’t expect me to realize I can do something like that to you and then not do it, can you?”
“That’s not fair,” she whispered, but there wasn’t much protest in her tone.
“Oh, you’re so cute. I’m sure you’ll discover things you can do to me, too.”
He got them back to the house without further incident or sexual ravishing.
That took an epic amount of self-control on his part. They hurried back upstairs to the bedroom, locked the door behind them, and then Beck pounced.
He grabbed her, hands clasping her ass as he ground his hips against her. “Time for me to make it up to you for earlier today.”
She draped her arms over his shoulders. “I have news for you, you already have.”
“Oh, no. You know what I mean.” He backed her toward the bathroom. “I owe you a long, slow, sweet, sexy seduction.”
“Actually, as worn out as I am, I’d prefer another quickie before we collapse. You can slowly seduce me tomorrow morning after I’ve had my coffee, if you want.”
“Then how about a sexy shower, a quickie, and sleep?”
She smiled. “That sounds wonderful.”
He slowly stripped her in the bathroom, covering her flesh with kisses as he bared it.
She tapped him on the top of the head. “I need to know something,” Nami asked.
“Of course.”
“That Prime stuff Dewi and Badger were talking about. What she did to Jarome at the house. That’s what she used on Da’von that night at dinner, isn’t it? To make him stop talking to Jarome?”
Beck straightened from where he’d been kissing her belly. “Yeah. Do you really want to talk about this right now?”
“Not now, but later.”
In the shower, he soaped her up, head to toe, enjoying the feel of her hands on his flesh, his roaming her body, exploring, wishing the world would just go away and leave them alone for about a year so he could explore her without interruption.
When they finally made it back to bed, she didn’t want to delay. She grabbed his cock, stroking it. “Suit up, wolfman,” she joked. “I’m ready.”
After rolling the condom on, he easily slid inside her, bracing his arms on the bed on either side of her head as he slowly stroked his cock inside her. She stared up at him, her arms around him, her short nails raking along his back, but he wouldn’t be rushed.
Smiling, he said, “You think you’re ready to put up with me for the rest of our lives?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
He gave her a little bump and grind at the bottom of every thrust, drawing soft moans from her. “You haven’t seen me at my best.”
“You haven’t seen me at my worst,” she shot back, gasping again as he found exactly the right angle to hit her clit with every stroke.
Persistent, he slowly made love to her, waiting, holding his own release back, drawing her closer to the edge. When he finally heard her gasp, saw a sweet, glazed look fill her eyes, he picked up the pace until she was moaning, her muscles clenching around his cock as she came.
Only then did he allow himself to come, moaning with her, feeling her l
ove for him filling her soul. Then he rolled onto his side with her in his arms, kissing her.
“Forever, baby,” he whispered, nuzzling her nose. “You’re mine forever, and I love you.”
“I love you, too. Forever’s an awful long time.”
“I hope so.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Saturday morning, Dewi rolled over to find the sun up and the house filled with the delicious aroma of something cooking for breakfast.
And coffee.
Mmm, coooofffeee.
Then the events from the day before came back to her.
Malyah.
She sat up and looked at the alarm clock. It wasn’t quite eight o’clock yet, but Dewi nudged Ken as she climbed out of bed. “Time for me to get up, babe,” she said.
He rolled over, groaning. “I want to sleep late. Come on. It’s Saturday.”
“I can’t. I need to check on Malyah and see if I need to reinforce anything.”
“Ah.” He let out a sigh. “I’m getting up.”
“You don’t have to get up, yet. I said I needed to.”
He was already moving. “Yep, I do. United front and all of that. Besides, whoever is cooking, that smells good.”
“Yeah, doesn’t smell like Badger’s usual meat-heavy breakfast fare.”
They got downstairs to find Nami busy at work in the kitchen, Badger trying to stay out of her way, while Beck sat on one of the barstools at the counter and watched with a look of unadulterated puppy love on his face.
Ah, the Universe returns to some semblance of normal.
Dewi stepped in close to talk to Nami. “Is Malyah down yet?”
“No, not yet.” She stopped what she was doing, which looked like making French toast, and met Dewi’s gaze head-on. “I mean it, Dewi,” she said, her voice choked. “I love you. I cannot thank you enough for what you did for us.”
“Just one of the many services we offer,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. “You’re family now. We take care of our family, and extended family. They might not be able to know about the shifter stuff, but they’re under our protection now.”
Nami nodded, smiling, a little sniffle escaping her.
“So, when’s your wedding?” Dewi asked.
Ken let out a snort from where he was pouring himself a mug of coffee.
Nami turned. “What was that for?”
“Because she’s the Procrastination Queen in terms of wedding plans, and—”
Malyah emerged from around the corner, looking sleepy, her bruised cheek standing out in stark relief against her mocha skin.
“Hey, sugar,” Nami said, rinsing her hands off and going over to her. “How you feeling this morning?” She engulfed her in a hug.
“Tired. Sore. Guess I did a number on myself yesterday, huh? My head still hurts a little.”
Dewi breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently the suggestions had firmly taken hold. “Did you sleep all right?”
“Between the medicine the doctor gave me, and that nice bed, I slept like a rock.” She smiled. “Hope I didn’t crimp anyone’s style last night.”
“No, you were fine. We’re happy to have you. Today, your job is to relax, lounge by the pool, watch TV, or whatever. We’ll cook out again tonight.”
“Sounds good to me.”
When Nami turned, Dewi spotted that the older woman looked near tears. Gratitude, if Dewi had to guess.
“Anything I can do to help?” Dewi asked Nami more to distract her than anything.
“Nope. I have it.”
“Don’t bother,” Malyah said as she went to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Sis is a control freak in her kitchen. She tries to do everything herself.”
* * * *
Dewi kept close tabs on Malyah throughout the day, finally relaxing later when the doctor returned to check on her and declared her “better.”
And the girl still wanted to beat herself up for her clumsiness.
At one point when Malyah was napping on a lounge out by the pool, Nami sought Dewi out in the office where she was checking her e-mail.
Dewi looked up from her laptop. “Everything all right?”
Nami closed the office door and walked over to the desk. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“What you did, with Malyah? That’s what you did with Da’von, right?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“So it’s gonna hold with him, too, right?”
“Yeah. That whole spiel of having you bring him back if it didn’t was bullshit. Once I gave him the order to tell Jarome he was through with him, that was it.”
“Okay.” Nami wrung her hands together. “I want to say this and get it out there. I was real jealous of you and Beck at first when I found out about you being exes. But I get it now. I mean, I’m human. I might still feel a little jealous about it from time to time, but that’s on me, not you.”
Dewi sat back and cocked her head at Nami. “You understand how the mating connection feels. How you feel about Beck is how I feel about Ken.”
“I know. I get it. That’s what I mean. I trust you. I know you and Beck won’t ever have anything again. But forgive me in advance if I get mouthy about the past and toss it back at me, okay?”
Dewi smiled as she held out her hand. “Okay. Deal.” They shook.
Nami started to turn, then hesitated. “Did I hear you say Martin is single?”
Dewi laughed. “Yeah, but like I said, wolves feel a mating connection. He would have said something to me or Beck or Badger if he’d felt it for Malyah.”
“How’d you know where I was going with that?”
“Because you love your sister. And what better man for her than a guy who you know could protect her with a whole pack to back him up?”
* * * *
Nami and Malyah stayed at Dewi’s on Saturday night, too. After helping to clean up the Sunday brunch dishes, they stood around talking in the kitchen after Malyah had gone back upstairs to take a shower. Ken really liked Nami and hoped that she and Dewi could become friends even after Nami’s initial gratitude wore off over the recent events. He knew the older woman’s influence would be good for his otherwise tomboyish mate.
“Okay,” Nami said. “You’ve put me off long enough on this topic. Ken mentioned something about wedding plans. Do you have a dress picked out yet?”
Dewi’s face impossibly reddened. “No,” she mumbled.
“No?” She drew her head back, hands on her hips in disbelief. “How can you not have a dress picked out yet?”
“I’ve been busy,” she said.
“Do you even know what kind of dress you want?”
“Froufrou,” Ken, Badger, and Beck all said in unison.
“Traitors,” Dewi muttered.
“What about your maid of honor and bridesmaids? You don’t even have their dresses picked out, do you?” Nami asked.
Dewi’s face reddened even more, which Ken knew was a rare phenomenon indeed. “I don’t have any,” she muttered.
“What?” Nami’s eyes widened in disbelief. “No one?”
“She doesn’t have many friends,” Beck drawled.
Nami backhanded his shoulder. “Hush, you.” Her voice gentled as she stepped in close to Dewi and grabbed her hands. “You don’t have any girlfriends?”
Dewi shook her head. “Our line of work and way of life haven’t been conducive to a social life. The people in this area know me first as the pack’s Head Enforcer, and now as a council member. They’ve never exactly been ‘friends’ with me.”
“Then will you let me be your maid of honor?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I thought you didn’t like me?”
Nami engulfed her in a hug. “I know I wasn’t exactly fond of you at first when I found out you were Beck’s ex. Like I said before, you’re family, and I love you.”
“You barely know me,” Dewi said, sounding squished against Nami’s am
ple bosom.
“I know enough about you. And if it wasn’t for you, I’d never have met Beck. And you saved Da’von and Malyah. Honey, I couldn’t love you more than if you were my own child, or sister.”
Ken turned to Beck. “Which reminds me. Would you mind being my best man?”
Beck smiled and stuck his hand out to shake with him. “I’d consider it an honor.”
Ken shook with him. “Looks like happy endings all the way around. When are we having your wedding?”
Dewi finally managed to extricate herself from Nami’s embrace. “Yeah, when are we doing this for you two?”
“I did fancy once already,” Nami said. “Let’s just hit the county courthouse before we go to Idaho. Us, and Badger, and my family. That’s all I want.”
Dewi grinned. “Yeaaahhh, no. That’s not going to happen. You get a pack wedding, too.”
“What about worrying about my brother and sisters finding out about the wolf stuff?”
“Oh, that’s not a worry. Everyone will be warned ahead of time, and I’ll make sure we use a little Prime mojo on them in case anything slips out.”
“I’m not sure they can afford the—”
“Stop,” Dewi said. “It’s on our dime. No excuses. If you all are going to force me to wear a fancy-schmancy dress, then I get to do this for you.” She smiled. “Besides, I want to see the disappointed look on a certain bitch’s face when she realizes Beck’s off the market for good.”
“What?” Ken and Nami asked.
Dewi turned to Beck with a wolfish grin. “Would you like to tell the story, or may I?”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, sounds like you want to.”
Dewi launched into the tale without preamble. “There’s this beta female, Marcy Stafford, who’s had her eye on Beck for a while. Since I was a kid. She never wanted to take no for an answer from him.”
“Wait a minute,” Ken interrupted. “What about the mate bond?”
“Some wolves never feel that,” Dewi said. “Doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love with someone. The wolves who’ve never felt it, they know about it, but they tend to discount it, or believe it’s not like what people say it is. That it’s not strong like we claim. I’ll admit I thought it was a bunch of bullshit, too, and I’d seen my brothers get hit by it. Alphas tend to feel it harder than the average wolf.”
Geek Chic Page 21