by Vivian Arend
All the guys in the room involuntarily squeezed their legs together.
There was a soft cough from the edge of the gathering, and Gem stepped forward. “While I have no idea what a lot of that was about, can I make a suggestion, honey? You’ve done a fine job of telling them all to go take a hike. But what do you want? If you don’t want the pack, or your sister, running your life, you’re going to have to let us know what you do want.” She smiled and held out a hand. “I have no objection to chatting about it for as long as you want. And the rest of them can go sit in the corner because they are rude, nasty beasts.”
Shelley laughed. “That was a bit of a production, wasn’t it?”
Gem shrugged. “You didn’t throw stuff or break out into bad, off-key song. Those are the only two things I vote that should get anyone thrown out of the pack house.”
Shelley took a big breath and faced Evan. “You said I was welcome to join the pack. Does that offer still stand?”
Evan nodded, seeming a little distracted.
“I have to think about it more. Is that okay?”
“Take all the time you need.” He peered around her to face Caroline. “You were using me? Really?”
Silence hung over the room before Caroline spoke sheepishly. “Well, not using using. I told you us being together would make things run smoother around the hotel, and that was true. Things are great, right?”
“Oh, totally. You just failed to mention there were two reasons for us to hook up. The hotel, and that in your opinion your sister, who would be returning to the north shortly, would be a lot safer if you were in a position of power. Was that part of your reasoning?”
Caroline sniffed, eying the pack around them warily, but keeping her chin high. “Kind of.”
Evan burst out laughing before he zipped across the dividing space to sweep Caroline up and swing her in circles. “Cool.”
Chase exchanged confused glances with the rest of them.
Evan put the woman back on her feet and tweaked her nose. “You are so wolf-like it’s freaky. Good for you.”
“You’re not mad?”
Evan considered for a minute then shook his head. “Nope. You didn’t really lie. Besides, you’re good in the sack—why should I be unhappy? And if I’m not pissed, no one else should be, right?”
He glared around the room, making his point clear. The gathered shifters trickled away until just their core group and the two wolves who started the mess remained.
One of them peeled his gaze off the floor for a fraction of a second. “Shelley? Sorry.”
“Yeah,” echoed the other. “Sorry.”
Shelley stepped forward, close enough she could have taken a slap or socked them in the gut. Or worse things, as Chase noticed her knife handle sticking out from her back pocket.
Hmm, it was never a good idea to piss off a woman with a knife and dissection training.
She jerked her head toward the common area. “Go on, get out of here.”
The two scurried away, and a moment’s calm settled. Frank squeezed Shelley then willingly toddled back to the table escorted by Shaun and Gem.
Chase waited to see what Shelley wanted to do.
She faced her sister. “I’m sorry for yelling at you in public.”
Caroline shrugged. “You didn’t say anything that shouldn’t have been said a long time ago. And I had told you I was going to stop trying to run your life, remember? Only this thing with Evan I’d already put into motion. It was hard to turn it off.”
“Plus, you get a thrill bossing people around, admit it.”
“Guilty.”
“I can’t believe…” Shelley peeked at Evan. “I mean, he’s good looking and all, but…really, Caroline? Really?”
A snort escaped Caroline. “Oh, girl, you should see him naked. It’s not as if I’ve been suffering for you.”
Evan laughed and grabbed Caroline by the hand. “Come on, troublemaker. Let’s go terrorize the rest of the pack. Shelley, you let me know what your decision is whenever you’re ready. You’re welcome here, and welcome to call me for help without officially joining, okay?”
And then, they were finally alone.
Shelley looked up almost shyly, and Chase hesitated. There were all kinds of ways this could go.
She lifted her keys. “You want to go for a drive?”
He slipped his fingers between hers, and they snuck toward the door only to discover Jones blocking their path, tail thumping the ground like a stick on a snare drum.
Chase groaned in frustration. “You never did explain this bit. Jones? Why don’t you shift and stay a while? There’s food. And games.”
The tail stopped moving. Jones’s shoulders drooped, and damn if the boy couldn’t pull off puppy-dog eyes. Even Chase who had far more important things on his agenda for the rest of the day than babysitting a feral lupine was ready to crack.
Fortunately, Shelley didn’t fall for it. She shook her head. “No, this time you can’t come with me. Go stay with Frank.”
Jones sniffed sadly then paced away, obviously pissed.
Right now? Chase didn’t care. He was going to get time alone with Shelley.
If he could only figure out what he wanted to say.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Shelley took him to her apartment. Maybe it was a bad idea, but this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have in a public place while watching for eavesdroppers.
She wasn’t even sure where to start. So she used her usual coping method and got her hands busy. The cupboard opened on a massive supply of cans and she smiled. While she’d been out of town, Caroline had seen fit to stock her kitchen. She grabbed a couple different soups and turned to face Chase.
“Did you get enough to eat? We kind of left before I made sure you were full.”
Chase slid onto the high stool on the other side of the breakfast bar. “Soup would be good.”
She got everything on the stove before working up the courage to face him.
He wasn’t sitting far away anymore. He was standing right behind her so when she turned, she slammed into his body.
The grunt that escaped her lips was oh-so-sexy, she rolled her eyes in despair. Elegant to the very end, that was her.
Chase caught her tight and didn’t let her go, and suddenly they were kissing. Her fingers found a way under his shirt so she could dig in and enjoy that chest she was addicted to. He nipped his way down her chin and neckline, sucking on the pulse point in her neck. Her instant response was to shake like a leaf in a strong breeze.
“Chase?”
He straightened, and their lips were together again, his tongue exploring her mouth. The kiss sucked the air from her lungs until she was gasping for oxygen.
“Hungry.” The word escaped him with a growl.
She didn’t think he was talking about the soup. “I want you too.”
Chase stepped back, his eyes wild. “Turn off the stove.”
Shelley hurried to obey, slipping the pot to the back burner then spinning around ready to resume the kissing and whatever else it led to.
“Oh—” Damn the man. He’d nabbed her before she could move more than a couple feet. “Will you stop picking me up all the time?”
Chase ignored her protests and deposited her on the top of the island. “You might not follow directions, and I have an agenda.”
Oh boy.
He batted her legs apart and stepped between them. He settled close against her, lifting her chin until their eyes met. His grin was back, that almost-not-there one that made her legs shake, and suddenly she was very grateful to be sitting down.
“I want to make love to you.” He broke eye contact and traced her body with his gaze. “I’ve been longing for more since we finished the last time, right before we hit the trail. It’s like you got into my system, and I’m addicted.”
The words slipped over her like a dose of oral foreplay, and a tingle began deep inside. “I want to touch you as well. To be…”
/> Together. The word wouldn’t come.
She couldn’t say it because it wasn’t fair. Because it was what she thought she wanted, but it was too soon to say. Too much to ask. Other than the physical attraction they felt, how could she want to be together forever after only two weeks, and him unconscious for most of the days?
They were two people who had fallen into each other’s paths. The fact they were good in bed didn’t mean anything other than they were good in bed.
Chase stroked her cheek. “You’re thinking way too much about something.”
“I don’t want to spoil the mood.”
No, wait. She was brave. Determined. Like Gem had told her at the pack house, it was one thing to share what she didn’t want, but it was more important to share what she did.
Chase lifted her hand to his lips and nibbled on her fingers. “Hmm. You want to have sex?”
She dragged for courage and nodded.
He drew the tip of her finger into his mouth and sucked lightly before pulling off with a pop. “That’s not going to spoil the mood. So it’s got to be something else. You want to talk first?”
Shelley hesitated, then nodded. “I think we need to.”
“Agreed.”
He stepped back, and Shelley whimpered her disappointment. She whimpered again when he stripped off his shirt and returned to his close position.
Oh Lordy, that chest needed to be outlawed. “What are you doing?”
He played with her buttons. “Talking. Every five minutes we lose another piece of clothing. I figure we should be done talking about the time we’re both naked.”
Shelley stared at him. “You’re not wearing anything anymore but your jeans and underwear.”
“Only jeans.”
Shelley nearly swallowed her tongue. “Ahhh…”
“Because I agree, we need to talk, but unless I’m totally wrong, we’ve got one big thing to talk about. The ton of little stuff can wait until after the sex.”
She discovered her fingers rubbing up and down his body without her consciously trying.
“Did you have to say sex?” she complained. “It’s hard enough to concentrate.”
Chase leaned their heads together. “We talked a lot when we were in the bush. I don’t remember it being uncomfortable or awkward. You?”
She shook her head. “You made me feel welcome.”
“Ha. I didn’t make you feel anything. You were welcome, you fit in. And you made it clear at the pack house you have some ideas about the future.”
Oh boy, here it came. “I do.”
Chase breathed out slowly. “The only thing I want to know… Does that future you’ve planned out? Does it include me?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer. “It’s not that simple, Chase.”
His expression was unreadable. “No, it is that simple. I’m not asking you to figure out the details because that’s not the first thing. Let me say it this way. I want to have you in my life. When I thought you’d left without even saying goodbye, there was this massive empty spot inside that made me feel truly alone for the first time in my life. I’ve been lonely, but never enough to want to just give the hell up. I don’t want to head into a future without you. How that can happen when I live in the north and you’re getting established here in Whitehorse? That’s a down-the-road problem, because the first and most important thing I want to know, no, that I need to know—do you want me around?”
It was seriously the longest speech she’d ever heard from him. That alone was enough to floor her.
When he started undoing her buttons she shook her head in happy confusion.
“Chase.”
His grin was back. “So what’s it going to be? You going to admit that you like this old grump?”
He tugged off her top and discarded it behind him. He stared into her face, waiting patiently.
“You know I like you. I…” All the complications rushed back in, and she growled in frustration. “How could it work? I mean, I don’t want just a casual thing, Chase. I really care about you. I think.”
He laughed. “You know how to keep a man’s ego in check. It’s like being the man of the hour for ten seconds at a time.”
“We’ve only known each other a few days.”
“And we’re shifters.”
There was another issue. “And we’re not mates. And I can’t shift. And you’re—”
“Ready to remove another bit of your clothing. Say it, Shelley. Say you like me.”
She nodded. “I like you. I admire you. I think…I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Sheer relief flashed across his face before delight took its place. “Then we’re even. Because I’ve liked you since I spotted you in the park and you were adamant I leave you alone because we weren’t mates. I’ve admired you since you insisted you were coming north.”
Hope quivered inside. “Really?”
He kissed her briefly then spoke against her lips. “And I’m already in love with you. Because when I thought you left, I didn’t want to live without you.”
She punched him in the gut before she could stop herself.
He gasped and doubled over.
Shit. “Oh Lordy, I’m sorry, but that’s for freaking me out and being an idiot. Do you know how horrible it was to have to stand there and watch you act like a berserker? To think you might die and there was nothing I could do? Bastard. That’s not how you act when you love someone. You fight to be with them. You fight for what you want.”
Chase drew an unsteady breath and straightened up, his grin back. “Interesting reaction to hearing a guy say he loves you.”
She balled up her fist again and he trapped it in his palm. “No dying on me. No giving up.”
“No sneaking out windows with juvenile feral wolves and making me crazy with worry.”
“Sorry.”
She relaxed into his arms, and they held each other. Just stayed close until their heartbeats synchronized and she was in danger of overheating from how hot he made her.
Mysteriously, her bra hooks loosened, and the fabric was tugged from between their bodies.
She smiled, her cheek resting against his chest. “You managed that very well.”
“If you’ve got to cover them pretty things up, I’m glad you at least use the easy access kind of bra. Like a twist-top beer.”
How romantic. “You smooth talker.”
He nibbled his way down her neck, over the sensitive curve of her breast and kissed her nipple once as if saying hello. “We okay moving to the next stage of the discussion?”
“To the talking-with-our-hands part? Oh yes…” The word trailed off into a hiss of bliss because he’d begun to suckle, and there really wasn’t any way to stay quiet as he worked her over.
Talented, determined. Creative. They were both naked, and he had her in the bedroom, and she was ready to tip over the edge, his tongue and teeth and lips never leaving her body. Another brush with his fingers, another stroke twisting deep inside, and she moaned in pleasure as her body obeyed his call.
She was still shaking from her orgasm when he slipped into her.
It was the first time they’d made love face to face. They had romped and played and rioted around the cabin the previous times, but now as he stared down and took her again and again—that expression in his eyes?
If it wasn’t love, she wasn’t sure what love was.
Happiness and gratitude sprang up. Inside, her wolf was still hiding. It didn’t matter right now. Maybe that part of her needed more time, maybe she’d never be able to change, but there was no doubt she was loved in spite of that by the man taking her higher and higher. Tightness grew in her core, shots of desire flashing from everywhere his lips brushed her skin.
“Say it again,” Chase whispered. “Say we’re a couple.”
She could do that. “I’m yours.”
“You’re mine.”
She laughed.
She clung to him as they came together. His
eyes closed for a second as he emptied, her body accepting him, her mind choosing him.
Her heart filled with caring for him.
They lay tangled together while their breathing slowed. Shelley stared contentedly at the blue outside the window, her body relaxed and sated, her mind buzzing with possibilities. “We’re really going to do this. We’re going to work on falling in love.”
Chase leaned on an elbow and kissed her cheeks, one at a time, before staring into her eyes. “We’re going to work on falling more in love.”
A shiver of delight raced over her. “For a guy who doesn’t talk a lot, you sure do have a pretty way with words, you silver-tongued fellow.”
He brushed their lips together, and that was the end of any kind of talking for a good long time.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The cabin came into sight so fast Chase barely had time to think through his to-do list.
“Damn. That’s freaky how quick we got here.”
Shelley stared at him in confusion before he remembered he had to push the button on the walkie-talkie headset for her to hear him. He’d been pretty quiet the two-hour helicopter trip. All of them had, actually. A nice companionable silence after they managed to make Shaun stop rambling about bears and cancan girls and all kinds of unrelated shit.
At least he hoped it was unrelated. Bears doing the cancan wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
He repeated his comment, and she nodded.
“It’s incredibly fast and horrifyingly slow. You try it when you’ve got an unconscious man draped over the seat next to you, and you’re hoping he doesn’t go into cardiac arrest and need medical attention in the middle of the flight.”
Yeah, he could see how that would put a damper on things. He squeezed her fingers. “Thanks for taking care of me.”
She nodded then turned to stare out the window as they approached the landing spot to the side of the clearing. There were no signs of the random campers he’d had crashed on his lawn, and the sections where they’d trampled the grass were already slightly overgrown as the land returned to its wild state.