Layla Nash - A Valentine's Chase (City Shifters: the Pride)

by Unknown

  I did, staring at his eyes as they flashed gold. I loved him. I needed him. And he was there. Rafe was there, holding me. I ached for him.

  He exhaled. "You're mine. And I'm yours. Always."

  "Always," I breathed, and sank down on him.

  He split me open, filled me until I ached and moaned. I couldn't stay still but moved against him, rocking as gently as I could as the warm friction of his body drove me to madness. I needed him so badly. I eased over his chest until I could kiss him and his arms wrapped around my chest to keep me close, until my breasts crushed between us. He sucked on my neck, behind my ear, as his hips lifted to meet me in slow, easy thrusts. We moved together with rising urgency until I shivered and froze over him, clenching and tightening against him, and Rafe grunted. The monitors wailed as he jerked under me and I laughed, breathless, and kissed him.

  My forehead rested against his shoulder as I struggled to breathe, little aftershocks rippling through me as Rafe's hands drifted to my ass to hold me close. I tried to sit up. "I'm crushing you, it's —"

  "Don't move," he said, mostly a groan. He didn't even open his eyes. "Just stay here."

  I adjusted how I sprawled over him and his body twitched. I flushed, closing my eyes as I hid my face against his neck. "I'm sorry. I really missed you."

  "Don't ever be sorry for that," he said. Rafe stroked my back and managed to drag the sheets back up and over us. At least I still had my shirt on. He exhaled and the monitors started to slow, returning to something close to normal. "I missed you, too. God, I was so worried about you, Meadow, I almost lost my mind. I thought it might kill me."

  I closed my eyes as the sweat cooled on my back and my heart thumped in time with his. I felt safe for the first time in a very long time. "I was so scared."

  He stilled, but his hand returned to a long, soothing stroke from my shoulders down almost to my butt. Rafe waited, patient, and his easy strength gave me the courage to keep talking.

  I still hid my face against his throat and took a wobbly breath. "They told me I had dreamed you up. I really thought I lost you, that you'd never existed, that we'd never be together. It hurt more than anything else I ever told myself, anything I ever doubted. It hurt too much to breathe, when I thought I lost you. And it all felt so real I knew it had to be true, but I didn't... I couldn't trust myself enough to see through it. I spent so much time convincing myself I was crazy that I almost believed them."

  Tears burned my cheeks and dripped to his shoulder, and his arms tightened around me. Rafe made shushing noises, gentle and kind, as he held me close. The tears kept coming, though, until I almost couldn't breathe. And still he murmured nonsense words and waited, tracing shapes on my back until the grief retreated enough that the tears dried up. The self-doubt didn't go away. It didn't disappear just because he made love to me and told me everything would be okay. The minuscule voice in the back of my head that said it could be made up still whispered in my ear, but it was easier to brush aside with Rafe making that growly-grumbly noise.

  And it gave me the courage to whisper, "I don't like feeling crazy. But I still feel crazy."

  "You're not crazy." He took a deep breath, so I rose for what felt like forever, and turned his face to kiss me. "You're not. You're you. You're perfect. You're the other half of my soul and I've been searching for you my entire life."

  I mumbled a curse as the tears started again and I tried to put my arms around him, too.

  Rafe chuckled as his fingers traced down to my butt and gently teased down the inside of my thigh so I jumped. And he took my lip in his teeth with a gentle tug. "Besides. If you're crazy, you're exactly my type of crazy. So buckle up."

  I laughed and squirmed, going up on my elbows to stare down at him. He gazed up at me, still stroking my thighs, and I tried to give him the fiercest look possible even though I wanted to grind against where his body hardened and pressed between my legs. "Don't call me crazy."

  "Never," he murmured, hands a little bolder. He drew his knees up until my hips settled closer against him and I sighed, starting to move again as everything grew close and hot. "You're my muse, Meadow. You inspire me."

  I inhaled a sharp breath as he entered me again, another smooth slide until he filled me completely, and I closed my eyes as ecstasy flooded through me. At this rate, neither of us would ever leave the hospital.

  Chapter 25

  The doctors didn't let Rafe leave the hospital for another week, regardless of how much he snapped and snarled. Owen, the medic and bear who he trusted, only said mildly that if Rafe stopped fooling around with his mate and let his chest heal, then maybe he could have left sooner. But Rafe wouldn't have traded those moments with Meadow for anything. It would have been nicer to have her in his bed at home, but being at the hospital added a degree of excitement that seemed to work for them both.

  Meadow stayed with Smith while she looked for an apartment with Ruby, but Rafe didn't tell her he'd already signed the lease on the one she liked the best. Ruby and Carter and the pack furnished the place while he was still recuperating, and as Valentine's Day rolled around, he finally felt like everything fell into place. Rafe winced as he got out of his car outside the apartment building Meadow liked, though he struggled to hide it as he spoke to her on the phone. "I know it's Valentine's Day, but would you mind if we stayed in? I'll cook you dinner at my place."

  "We don't have to do anything." Meadow sounded worried. "If you don't feel well, Rafe, just rest and we can have dinner later this week."

  "I want to see you," he said, and meant it more than she would ever know. "I already bought you chocolates."

  She laughed, and it was music that lifted his heart. Meadow said, "Well, when you put it that way, how can I resist? Ruby and I have a few more errands to run, but she says she can drop me off around seven. Does that work?"

  "Perfect." And all by design. He'd called in some favors with Ruby, and she agreed to take Meadow out for a spa day and shopping and all the other girly shit he wanted Meadow to enjoy. Rafe nodded to the concierge as he limped through the lobby, waiting until he'd almost reached the elevators to say, "I'll see you at seven, baby. Love you."

  "Love you," she said, and hung up. For a moment he hesitated, staring at the elevator buttons, then pushed the penthouse level. He had a lot of work yet before seven.

  By the time Ruby called to say they were on their way up, Rafe still had a list of things to accomplish. He was only half dressed, the candles were only half lit, and he still hadn't started dinner. Plus, his chest ached and he couldn't breathe really well, which made everything more difficult. He knew Meadow wouldn't care if things weren't perfect, but he wanted them perfect for her.

  So he managed to shrug into his favorite black sweater and pick up a bouquet of wild daisies and stand in front of the door just as it swung in. Meadow walked through, looking totally confused, and Ruby winked at him from the hall before she quietly closed the door behind Meadow. Meadow stared around the enormous apartment, filled with wildflowers and candles and chocolates, with her mouth hanging open, and stammered something that he could almost understand.

  Rafe held out the flowers and a box of caramels. "Hey there. Happy Valentine's Day."

  She stumbled forward, still limping with a smaller cast, and leaned against him, staring around the apartment as she hugged him. "What the hell, Rafe?"

  He laughed and set the bouquet and candy aside so he could squeeze her close. "Surprise. This is our apartment. I'm shit for decorating, so I went with overkill."

  "No kidding." She hobbled farther into the apartment, turning in a circle to try to take it all in. "What on earth did you do?"

  "We needed a place to stay. Well, I needed a place to stay. I would love for you to live here with me." He cleared his throat and wandered after her, picking up the two glasses of wine he'd poured, and offered her one. "And since you and Ruby were looking at places, she said this was your favorite. I signed the lease, they moved everything in here, and here we are.
Happy Valentine's."

  He worried for a moment that he'd over-stepped and she would flee, would shove him away, but Meadow faced him and grinned. "It's perfect."

  Rafe bent to kiss her, lingering as she yielded and he wanted to just carry her to the bed right away. But he pulled back and handed her the wine, starting to limp towards the kitchen. "But I'm supposed to make you dinner, and it's not even half way done yet."

  She followed him, sipping the wine, but continued to take in the apartment as if she didn't quite believe it was theirs. Like she thought it was a hallucination. He tried to be sensitive to any tricks that might make her doubt herself, but Meadow only looked mesmerized, pleased. Excited. She picked up one of the vases of wildflowers to inhale from the blooms. "Where on earth did you get all these flowers?"

  "I have very important friends," he said, and winked. "Well, I've got friends with greenhouses. The wildflowers remind me of you."

  "Oh?" Meadow snorted and pulled a daisy from the vase, twirling it around her finger and eventually tucking it behind her ear. "You know daisies are weeds, right?"

  "Misunderstood," he said, unable to hide his smile. He placed the steaks on the grill and checked the roasting vegetables before he wandered over to her. He gripped her waist and pulled her in for a more passionate kiss, tasting the wine on her lips, distracted by the gentle brush of flower petals against his forehead. He squeezed her ass. "And all of these wildflowers are strong. Hardy. They grow where they want, where there's nourishment, and they survive environments that would have killed lesser flowers."

  Her hazel eyes sparkled with a hint of tears but more with joy, and he kissed her again. He could have spent hours kissing her. The casual jeans and sweater she wore hugged her curves and tempted him to skip dinner entirely. He tugged on the end of a few of her curls, bending to kiss her neck as he went on. "And these flowers are beautiful. Adaptable. They smell amazing, just like you."

  She laughed and put her arms around his neck. "Flatterer."

  "I only tell the truth," he said, a rough grumble. He wanted to press her up against the island, lift her up until she would wrap her legs around him and he could pull her jeans down and... He put aside the thought for a moment and turned the steaks. When he turned back, she'd retreated to the other side of the island, a wicked look on her face as she picked through one of the piles of chocolate.

  She tasted it, biting into it slowly until he would have given anything to be that chocolate. Meadow made a yummy groaning noise that turned him on so much he actually got three steps towards her before he realized what he did. And then he had to adjust his jeans as his cock pressed painfully against the zipper. She smiled, eyeing him like a piece of beef, and spun on her heel to wander through the apartment.

  Rafe gripped the counter to get control of himself, and focused on the food. He needed to feed her first. Meadow needed her strength, too. It took all his self-control to finish prepping the plates and carry them to the table, set romantically for two with candles and rose petals and more wine. By then she'd completed the tour and sauntered up to him and held out a piece of chocolate. His heart thumped an uneven rhythm at the look in her eyes.

  His lips parted and hers followed, the smile growing along with the teasing light, and she placed the chocolate against his mouth. Rafe closed his lips around it but her fingers trailed behind. He ate the chocolate and kissed her fingers, then kissed her until she sighed and tugged on his hair. Rafe had to hold his side as his chest ached, and when Meadow retreated, the teasing replaced by worry, he laughed. "I'm not dead yet but I might need some protein before you get any naughty ideas in your head."

  She grinned and flipped the dark hair over her shoulder. "You're the one who tried to get me drunk and tempted me with chocolate."

  He could hardly concentrate enough to cut his steak, but distracted them both by asking about her day with Ruby. As Meadow recounted their adventures, including a small disaster at the nail salon, Rafe watched her expressions and counted himself the luckiest bastard in the city.

  Meadow smiled into her wine glass after they'd finished eating and a comfortable silence stretched. "What are you thinking?"

  "That I'd like to read your palm."

  Her eyebrows rose and she almost laughed. "I told you not to make fun."

  "I'm not, I'm totally serious." He reached for her hand and stroked his fingers across her wrist. "I want to read your future, Meadow."

  The smile played across her lips but a hint of hesitation had her pull away. Her expression grew a little guarded, as if she'd read her own future and feared he might do the same. He waited, willing to be patient, and eventually she scooted her chair closer so he could hold her hand in his and stare down at her palm, exactly like she'd done in the bookstore only a week or so ago. He concentrated on breathing as his heart tried to break through his ribs and his mouth went dry, and he was suddenly lost for words. He swallowed hard and felt the delicacy of her small wrist, the dainty fingers with pretty polish, and tried to get his shit together.

  Chapter 26

  All the romance made me nervous. Made butterflies swirl in my stomach until I could barely hold onto my wine glass. I even had to wander through the apartment I'd dreamed of in order to gather my courage to eat dinner with him. The flowers, the chocolate, the look he gave me when I walked in... I shivered. It felt like too much. A movie kind of romance.

  And then he asked to read my palm and I almost melted right through the chair. I didn't trust myself with him. Didn't trust my memory enough to entrust it with his words and the amazing gesture. But I let him take my hand and felt my fingers get lost in his capable, strong hands. He made a thoughtful growling noise that set my heart fluttering, and tapped the center of my palm. "Well. I see that you're very lucky in love."

  I laughed, covering my mouth with my free hand when he peered up at me with a jaundiced look, and I inclined my head as I struggled to form a thought. "That's what I'm told."

  His eyes laughed at me even as his expression stayed serious. "There is a strong life line, and one of those fork things that mean you've got a strong personality."

  "A trident," I said, leaning my chin on my fist as I watched him.

  "A fork is even better than a trident." Rafe frowned as he stretched my fingers back. "It says you're strong, and intelligent, and funny. You care about everyone around you, and you're willing to fight to protect others."

  My breath caught.

  He watched me, his eyes slowly turning the color of dark honey, and he didn't look back at my palm. "You are the bravest person I've ever met, Meadow. You stood up to those sons of bitches, and you stood up to your own past. To everyone who lied to you. You're so strong."

  "I don't feel very strong," I said, barely a breath of sound. It felt too vulnerable to even admit it. I could pretend to be confident and self-assured all day long, but to really admit it was all a charade... I gulped for air and shook my head. "I don't feel brave."

  "That's what makes you brave," he murmured, and squeezed my hand, his fingers drifting down my wrist to my forearm. "Baby, that's all that bravery is. Doing what you have to even when you're scared. You saved yourself, and then you helped save me. You're amazing. And wonderful. And more magic than I ever hoped to find in the world."

  I wasn't the type of girl who fainted, but that almost pushed me over the edge. I closed my eyes and smiled, shaking my head at him, and took a deep breath. "Do you —"

  I cut off when he placed something small in my palm and curled my fingers around it, and I opened my eyes. Breathless. Rafe didn't blink, just watched me, and I slowly opened my hand. A small ring rested there, innocuous. I couldn't speak.

  Rafe cleared his throat, his voice all husky, and touched my knee. "It's a promise, Meadow. One day soon I want to buy you a diamond, but this ring — this is my promise to you that I will always be there. When you're weak, I'll be strong for you. When you're afraid, I'll be brave. If you forget, I'll be your memory. I'll be your truth. Always. You will
never have to walk alone."

  The ring blurred as tears filled my eyes, and my fingers shook as I picked it up. A small silver thing, with two hands holding a crowned heart.

  "It's a claddagh ring," he said, taking it and sliding it onto the ring finger of my right hand. "Now. If you wear it this way, it means you're in a relationship. The heart points toward you. If you wear it the other way, it means you're single and looking. So I hope not to see it that way," and he slid me sideways look. "And when we're engaged, you wear it on your left hand."

  "I don't remember you asking me to marry you," I managed to whisper, though I clutched his hands with as much strength as I could muster.

  "Just wait." He winked. "This Valentine's Day shindig was just a practice round. There'll be so much damn romance when I propose that you won't know which way to turn."

  I laughed, even though it came out a little more like a hiccup, and touched his cheek. "Just warn me, will you? I'm not used to all this."

  "I'll make a note." He held my hands in his and met my gaze with a serious, determined look. "Meadow, you're the other half of my soul. Please. Live here with me. Be my mate."

  "Of course," I said. As if there were any other answer. "You showed me that there's magic in the world."

  He smiled, then abruptly straightened and caught at my hand. "And one more thing."

  I jumped. "What?"

  Rafe studied my palm, frowning and grumbling under his breath, then tapped just beneath my thumb. "Well. This series of lines right here tells me there's a lot of yelling in your future."

  "Yelling?" I looked at him, puzzled, then squealed as he lurched up, caught me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder. "Be careful! Your chest. Be careful."

  "All I'm interested in is your chest," he said, striding into the bedroom with a beautiful king size bed and more flowers and more candles. Rafe swatted my butt and dropped me onto the sheets, staring down at me with such hunger and determination that all of me shivered.