by Jodi Redford
That’s why the sneaky bastard changed our position, so he could enjoy the view.
Not that she was complaining. It was deliciously naughty getting to watch their lovemaking in Technicolor detail. The contrast of her fair skin next to Dante’s tanned ruggedness only made her feel ripe with femininity. No doubt this moment was what fueled plenty of women’s fantasies of being ravished by the Big Bad Wolf. Normally she’d balk at the very idea, but her body seemed determined to scream more, more, more.
Dante’s eyes glowed with a feral, carnal gleam as he snatched the cat toy and draped it over her shoulder, positioning it so that the bundle of feathers tickled her clit with his every thrust. She trembled, straining for that blissful orgasm hovering on the nearby horizon.
Close. So unbelievably—
Dante’s teeth sank into the tender flesh just behind her ear. Jagged-edged ecstasy shot right to her core, throbbing through her clit and radiating outward in unending spasms. She screamed until her throat was left a raw mess.
Several minutes later, she came to. If not for the fact she was now lying curled on her side on the bed, she might not have even realized she’d passed out. Dante’s big body cuddled her from behind, adding to the heat cocooning her like a comfortable blanket. His lips nuzzled the spot on her neck where he’d marked her, soothing the tiny sting that was already beginning to fade.
As she began to drift off to sleep again, she was struck by the enormity of what had just happened.
She’d allowed a werewolf to claim and mate her. Furthermore, she’d enjoyed it. A lot. Even the tender aftercare Dante was providing was wonderful and perfect. Which only unsettled her more. Because if she wasn’t careful, she might actually believe this was the real thing.
Chapter Twelve
Shuffling after Dante as he carried her bags to the front door of her cabin, Lilly resisted the temptation to bite her fingernails to the quick. “Is it really necessary we break the news to Kinsey now?”
Dante offered her a wry look over his shoulder. “When would you rather do it? Five years after we’re married?”
“More or less.”
“Darlin’, you survived the Morgan inquisition. Shouldn’t this be a cakewalk in comparison?”
“Obviously you don’t know my sister.”
Dante’s unhelpful response was a brief peck on her cheek. Ignoring her scowl, he turned and carried her luggage to his waiting truck. Grumbling, she fished her keys from her coat pocket and locked up the cabin before joining him. Since Shane was watching Chevy for the weekend, it would only be her and Dante making the trip downstate. While the big dog did have a tendency to intimidate her, she almost wished Chevy would be tagging along. Then at least she’d have something to distract her from Dante.
Or more to the point—the primitive claiming they’d initiated yesterday.
They hadn’t spoken about what happened. She didn’t know if Dante’s silence on the subject was out of awkwardness, or if he simply hadn’t been as affected by it as her. It probably made her a huge chickenshit that she didn’t want to be the one to broach the topic, but her pride likely wouldn’t survive finding out the act of mating her had been no more eventful to him than trimming his goatee.
Shoving her pathetic musings to the back of her mind, she let Dante help her into the passenger seat. She fastened her seat belt and sent him a narrow look. “Just so we’re clear, I’m only letting you drive because it’s more economical than taking two vehicles. Plus I don’t need your dog food samples stinking up my car.”
Rather than take her bait, Dante only smiled serenely. “Pussycat, you made that clear the first dozen times you pointed it out.”
“I wanted to make sure you were listening.” Her feminist card was getting worn thin thanks to the past couple of days. Abdicating her place behind the wheel wasn’t exactly helping matters.
Dante crossed to his side, and after buckling up, pulled out of the drive. The first fat flakes of the feared snowstorm were already beginning to fall. He set the wiper blades to intermittent and headed toward the county road that eventually led to the freeway. “You ever plannin’ to tell me why it’s so hard to let me do things for you?”
“I told you why.”
“No, you only said you didn’t like relying on others. There’s a big section missing beyond that.”
“It’s not important.”
He flicked a glance in her direction. “Yeah, you said that before too.”
“And I still mean it.”
“Lilly, we’re mates now. It’s okay to share this stuff with me.”
Finally he’d brought up the damn mate thing. Too bad it had to be during a conversation she’d rather not indulge in. She decided to make the most of the situation and use it to her advantage. “Speaking of that whole mate thing, don’t you think we should talk about it?”
Dante removed his attention from the road long enough to shoot her a blank look. “About what?”
She tossed up her arms. “Were you not listening to the beginning of my sentence?”
“Wait. You mean us being mates now?” He relaxed his grip on the steering wheel and returned to gazing out the windshield. “Didn’t realize there was anything to talk about.”
“God, you’re such a man.”
Snorting, he shifted his broad shoulders against the seat. “Yeah, guess that’s why I’ve got a dick.”
“You know what I mean. It’s always like a guy to have sex, fall asleep immediately afterwards and then not want to discuss any of it.”
“For your information, you fell asleep before me.”
“No, I didn’t. I passed out. Big difference.” She grimaced at the smug grin ghosting across his mouth. “You don’t have to look so satisfied. Sometimes that happens to me in the heat of the moment.”
“Sure.”
Great. Now his arrogance would truly know no bounds. Grumping beneath her breath, she scuffed her boot heels on the floor mat.
“What about the mating do you want to talk about?”
“Noth—”
“Lilly,” Dante prodded warningly.
“You know, most males prefer not getting into these types of conversations.”
“I’d rather we get everything out in the open now, versus you springing it on me when I’m least expecting it.”
She drummed her nails on the armrest, waiting for him to return his focus to the road. Once he did, she expelled her breath in a rush. “I’m curious if you feel weird about it. That’s all.”
“Why would I feel weird?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you bit my freaking neck and got all growly and possessive.”
His eyebrows formed a low V. “I told you what was going to happen.”
“You did not mention those last two things.”
“Lilly, I’m a werewolf. Growly and possessive is what we’re all about.”
She remained quiet for a moment while she digested his words. “Does that mean you’d be that way with anyone you mated?” From the corner of her eye, she noticed the wariness settling on his gorgeous face.
“Why do I get the feeling that anything I say might be used against me twenty years from now?”
“Fine. Forget it.” She went to adjust the volume on the radio, but Dante gripped her hand, stalling her. It was her turn to give him an uncertain look.
“No, I wouldn’t have been the same with someone else.” The heat in his eyes backed up his words.
Dante’s admission stirred a mix of happiness and trepidation in her belly. This was getting way more serious than she’d signed on for. A business arrangement was one thing. She knew how to deal with that. Anything else was terrifying territory.
The remainder of the trip passed by in an agonizingly slow drag. By the time they reached the outskirts of Rochester, Lilly’s nerves were stretched tighter than a wire.
“Which exit did you say again?”
She glanced at the dashboard clock. “I’ve changed my mind. We’ll go to Kinsey�
��s place first, then swing by my house.”
If Dante was surprised by her snap decision to take the bull by the horns, he didn’t let on. “Which way?”
She gave him the directions and fidgeted with the seam on the side of the seat as he took the correct off-ramp. By going to Kinsey’s now, she was in essence killing two birds with one stone. She’d be getting the dreaded speech done with. And her sister’s no-nonsense approach to things would be the perfect reminder about the reason for this entire charade.
Yes, charade. Because that was what this was, after all. Right? Hell, even the fact that Dante was here with her now was merely out of convenience. If not for the meeting with his distributors tomorrow morning, there’d be no reason for him to spend this time with her. He certainly wasn’t doing it because their relationship was real.
Less than twenty minutes later they pulled in front of Kinsey’s modest ranch house. A groan floated from Lilly when she spied her mom’s Lincoln Continental already parked in the drive.
“Something wrong?”
“I wasn’t expecting my mom to be here.”
“Look on the bright side. Now you won’t have to break the news twice.”
“Believe me, my mother won’t be the difficult one to convince. All you’ll have to do is lay on that werewolf charm, and she’ll be putty in your hands.” Unfortunately, that’d always been the case for Chloe Prescott—a detrimental weakness for hunky heartbreakers.
Lilly gave Dante a covert glance. He certainly fit hunky to a tee, but what about the heartbreaker part?
She had no intention of finding out the answer to that, if she could help it. With a determined shove, she wrenched the door open before Dante had an opportunity to dash to her side of the vehicle. Ignoring his wry look when she met him at the front end of the truck, she led the way to the porch and rang the bell.
A few seconds later Kinsey opened the door, her greeting petering into the ether when she spotted Dante. Her gaze panned between him and Lilly. A groan sprang to Kinsey’s lips. “Oh crap. What did Lilly do this time?”
Lilly scowled at her sister. “Must you always jump to that conclusion?”
“Yes, I’ve seen you in action, remember?”
Chuckling, Dante swung his arm around Lilly’s waist. “Don’t worry. She’s been behaving. Mostly.”
Kinsey’s eyebrows threatened to get lost in her hairline. Lilly wasn’t sure if that was due to Dante’s affectionate, albeit territorial hug or the possibility of Lilly actually behaving.
“Okay,” Kinsey said slowly, as if she were waiting for the punch line.
“Is it all right if we come in?” Lilly asked pointedly.
A flush crept across Kinsey’s cheeks. “Sorry, yes. Of course. Mom and I were just about to have dinner. Why don’t you join us?”
“That’s not necessary. This won’t take long.”
Dante rubbed the back of Lilly’s neck, his thumb caressing the mating mark that was concealed beneath her hair. “Actually, dinner sounds good.”
She debated stomping on his foot, both for thwarting her plan to enact a fast getaway after spilling the beans, and drawing her attention to the incriminating bite. But those steel-toed boots of his would only make the gesture useless. Not that it stopped her from shooting him a hard glare when Kinsey wasn’t looking. Ducking his head, he banished Lilly’s surliness with a kiss containing enough tongue action to be quick yet suitably hot. Unfortunately, the kiss also managed to rekindle her hormones, which had up till then been on their best behavior all day, damn it.
She broke away from Dante and licked her lips. “Well played, wolfman. But I’m still pissed at you.” She pasted on a smile just as Kinsey stepped inside the entry and turned to face them.
While Kinsey held the door aloft, Lilly and Dante trooped inside and shrugged from their coats. After storing everything on the nearby bench that acted as a catchall, Lilly took Dante’s hand and strode toward the kitchen, where the unmistakable and mouthwatering scent of Chloe’s world-famous chicken cacciatore emanated from. They stepped into the spacious room, and Lilly gazed at her mother’s profile. Garbed in her bright pink apron and humming some vaguely familiar tune, Chloe Prescott looked the picture of the domestic goddess. She was everything that Lilly wasn’t.
Lilly had worked hard the majority of her life to make sure of that. Not that she didn’t love her mom, because she did—with her whole being. Which only made her ache inside that much more every time she’d witnessed the pain and depression her mom had undergone living all those years with Rob Prescott’s tomcatting ways.
Unfortunately, Chloe had always been the exception to the typical female lynchat. She’d never been in possession of a backbone and believed that a woman stuck by her man no matter what. It’d finally taken Rob doing the right thing for the first time in his life—initiating the divorce proceedings—to make Chloe see the light. For the most part, anyway. Lilly knew Chloe still pined for her husband, despite everything he’d put her through during the rocky twenty-eight years of their marriage.
Chloe dragged in an audible breath before slapping her oven mitts on the kitchen counter and turning. She gave a startled jump when she spotted everyone clustered in the archway. “Lilly!” A beaming smile lighting up her perfect, porcelain features, Chloe clapped her hands in delight and rushed forward to offer a warm hug.
Lilly’s eyes misted as she returned her mom’s embrace. As always, Chloe’s familiar cinnamon scent brought a tidal wave of childhood memories rushing back. Most of them revolved around Chloe engaged in one of her manic baking sessions while waiting for Rob to come to his senses and leave his current mistress’s bed. To this day, Lilly couldn’t look at a chocolate-chip cookie without feeling queasy.
Chloe released Lilly and glanced at Dante expectantly. Lilly quickly made the introductions. A sly look entered Chloe’s eyes, and she playfully swatted Lilly’s arm. “You didn’t tell me you have a boyfriend.”
Kinsey cleared her throat as she stepped next to Lilly. “Mom, they’re not dating. You know who Dante is. Lilly’s mentioned him before.”
Dante slid Lilly an ironic look. She returned it with a sheepish grin. “I kept the profanity to a minimum.”
“Oh, you’re Foster’s boy,” Chloe exclaimed with another clap of her hands.
Dante winced, apparently preparing for the deluge of disparaging remarks that’d follow the associated connection to his father. Chloe—being her typical sweet self—instead veered the topic to Dante’s grandmother, who had raised him after his mother died in childbirth. Dante visibly relaxed, his mouth softening into a smile as he and Chloe shared some fond remembrances of Sara Morgan. Lilly attempted to ignore the strange little flutter that erupted in her belly while she watched the animated pleasure that brightened Dante’s face.
So she was attracted to him? What female in her right mind and possessing full vision wouldn’t be? It didn’t mean she was falling in love with him.
Because that would be just plain stupid and pathetic.
Turning her head, she caught Kinsey’s perplexed frown. Her sister’s gaze veered to Dante before shooting back to her. Giving another delicate cough, she grabbed Lilly’s arm. “Mom, Dante? Could you excuse us for a moment?”
Chloe waved her hand. “Go ahead, dear.”
Lilly shot Dante a panicked look as Kinsey dragged her through the archway. He made no move to rush to her rescue, the rat bastard. Kinsey beelined for the hallway that led toward the den. Once they were out of earshot, she slammed to a halt and stared at Lilly. “What in the hell is going on with you and Dante?”
“Nothing,” Lilly responded automatically. She grimaced. Aw cripes. Wrong answer. “Actually, if you want to know the truth, we’re having a torrid love affair and getting married on Sunday.”
Kinsey gaped at her before she burst into hysterical laughter. She wiped her eyes. “Good one.”
“I’m not joking. I love Dante and want to spend the rest of my life with him.” It was scary how ea
sily that slipped from her tongue.
Kinsey’s smile faltered. “Lilly, please. It’s not funny to make up stuff in the hopes of making me feel stupid for falling for it.”
“That’s not what I’m doing, Kin. I really do love him.” God, I need to stop saying that so convincingly.
Kinsey gaped at her. “I figured you were sleeping with Dante, judging from the googly eyes you were giving him in the kitchen. But I had no idea it was this serious.”
Googly eyes? Really? That was disgusting and no way her style. Obviously Kinsey needed to get her vision checked. “What can I say? He’s my hunka burning love. I could stare at him all day.” Okay, that held more than a kernel of truth.
“How in the world did this miraculous feat happen?”
She blinked at Kinsey’s demand. Not because of the question—it’d been expected—but rather because there’d been a significant lack of suspicion on Kinsey’s part.
What had happened to Kinsey’s probing inquiries? The doubts and inevitable accusations?
Damn it, what did it mean that her sister had fallen for the lie so effortlessly?
Nothing. It meant nothing.
Kinsey tapped her foot. “I’m still waiting for some details. Preferably dirty ones.”
“Oh, it was the usual. You know, Dante came to the realization that I was the most awesome woman in the world, and therefore he would be only a mere shell of a man without me.”
Kinsey did her patented Spock eyebrow raise, and Lilly sighed. “I might have embellished a bit. Except for the awesome part, because I totally am.”
“Of course you are. You’re my sister, right?”
Not entirely certain if that hadn’t been some kind of backhanded compliment, Lilly gave Kinsey a narrow-eyed look. Any further discussion was ground to a screaming halt as Chloe called out that dinner was ready. They both turned in the direction of the kitchen. At the end of the hallway, Kinsey offered Lilly a telling look. “To be honest, I’d always sort of suspected you and Dante might be great together.”