by Paige Tyler
Golden eyes held her captive. “What made you change your mind?” Gage asked.
Mac thought it would have been obvious why she was standing here in front of him pouring out her heart. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe Gage assumed it was because she had a guilty conscience.
She looked around the room. The other men were regarding her just as intently as before. Only now, the open hostility that had been on their faces had been replaced with curiosity.
Could she tell Gage what was in her heart in front of them? But if she didn’t, nothing she already said would mean anything.
Mac wiped away the tears on her face. Then she took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and told him the truth.
“I love you.”
She held her breath, waiting for him to say something. And waited…and waited…and waited.
But Gage just stood there still as a statue, his face unreadable.
“Um, Sarg. I’m not real familiar with this part, but I think you’re supposed to say something,” Cooper said softly.
Gage still didn’t say anything. Instead, he took her hand and led her across the room toward his office. Before she had time to think, they were in his office and he’d closed the door behind them. He was standing so close to her that it was almost hard to breathe.
“Just like that?” he asked hoarsely. “You’re going to just spring that on me in front of everyone?”
Was he angry? Her stomach lurched at the thought. But she’d said it, and there was no taking it back. “I wanted to talk to you privately, but you wanted to talk right there in front of your pack, so I said it in front of them.”
He slipped a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. “And were you telling the truth?”
Mac pulled away from his finger. He might be the injured party in this whole thing, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurting, too. And right now, his attitude was annoying. “Of course I was, but I doubt you’d believe me no matter what I said.”
He slipped his finger under her chin and very gently lifted her face up again. “Try me. Say it again—just to me.”
His eyes were glowing that deep gold-yellow they’d been back at the barn. It was hard to look into those eyes and not be drawn in. She licked her lips. It had almost been easier to say those words with a crowd around her. But it was impossible to be this close to him and not say what she felt.
“I love you,” she told him softly, not pulling away this time. “Is that so impossible to believe?”
“Impossible? No,” he murmured. “But surprising? Yes. Just a just a few hours ago, you were ready to expose my secret to the world. Now you’ve decided that you’re in love with me?”
Before dropping his finger, he let it trace down the line of her throat just a bit. She tried not to let herself shiver at his touch. She’d never expected to feel it again.
“Can I ask what brought on this epiphany?” he said.
“I’d like to claim that I figured it all out on my own, but to be honest, it was Zak.”
Gage frowned. “You told Zak about us?”
She took a step back so she could think straight. “That you and the rest of the SWAT team are werewolves? No. But I did tell him about you and me. It didn’t take him long to point out that I was destroying the best relationship I’ve ever had, with the only man I’ve ever loved.”
Gage smiled just a little, but it felt like the sun finally coming out after a really long rain. “Pretty perceptive…for a guy.”
“True,” she agreed. “He’s good at seeing the things I frequently miss, and he’s never afraid to tell me when I’m being stupid.”
Gage was the one to close the distance this time, and she sighed when she felt his big hands slide down her arms to pull her even closer. “So you love me, huh?”
She dropped her head. “I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, but it’s true.”
“I believe you.”
She looked up at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “I’d know if you were lying. When a person lies, their pulse races, their breath hitches, their muscles tense. They even release certain pheromones. You’re not doing any of that.”
She frowned. “You can smell if a person is lying?”
“Uh-huh. And hearing you say those words and knowing you aren’t lying…that means a lot.”
Her pulse kicked into high gear. “Does that mean you won’t be leaving?”
His mouth curved. “I suppose I don’t have a reason to leave now, do I?”
She shook her head, fresh tears forming in her eyes—the happy kind this time.
Gage searched her face, his yellow gaze bright. “Does it bother you when my eyes are like this?”
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak, afraid she’d say something wrong again and destroy everything.
“And is it hard for you to be this close to me—to have me touching you—knowing what I am?”
“No.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m just glad you’re still willing to touch me.”
He pushed her hair back, gently cupping her face in his hand. “I never wanted to stop.”
Mac caught her lip between her teeth. As much as she loved hearing him say that, it only reminded her that even though they were standing close together, and even after all that had been said—the apologies and declarations of love—there was still a tremendous yawning chasm between them. There was one more leap of faith she’d need to take before they could completely close that gap. If she didn’t make the first move, he might always think she feared what he was.
She went up on tiptoe and gave him the gentlest of kisses, hoping it would convey how much she loved him.
The glow in his eyes flared, then he bent his head and kissed her back. That kiss started out tenderly, too. But as her hands found their way to his chest and he pulled her against him, his mouth moved more urgently over hers, his fingers twisting into her hair.
And just like that, it was as if none of the idiocy had ever happened.
When he broke the kiss, Gage’s eyes were back to their normal deep, honeyed brown, and he stared at her with the hunger she yearned for. Mac pulled him down for another kiss, but he stopped her with a look.
“I love you, too,” he whispered.
Gage’s actions at the barn had proclaimed his feelings for her far better than any mere words, but still…the words were nice. Really nice.
Then he was kissing her again. Knowing she’d regained what she’d been so sure she’d lost made her so giddy she felt like screaming. But with Gage’s pack—she still couldn’t believe how easily that rolled off the tongue—right outside in the other room, a scream probably wasn’t a good idea.
So, she did the next best thing and started undoing the buttons on his shirt.
Gage lifted his head to look at her with an arched brow. “You know werewolves have really good hearing, right?”
Huh. No, she didn’t know that. She smiled up at him, working at his buttons until they were all undone and she had a view of his chest and abs all the way down to his belt. She slid her hands under the edges of his shirt and caressed those exquisite muscles.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to be quiet,” she said softly.
Mac leaned forward and nibbled at the lines of his pecs. A low rumbling growl slipped out of him.
She pulled away to give him a reproving look. “What part of quiet didn’t you understand?”
He slipped his fingers in her hair, urging her to go back to what she’d been doing. “Quiet, right. Got it.”
When she kissed, nibbled, and licked her way down his chest and stomach, Gage did a better job of holding his tongue—but just barely. Still, she had to smile a little as she unbuckled his belt. If he’d had a problem staying silent for the first part, this part was really going to be tough on him.
Once she had his belt undone, she struggled to work his jeans and underwear together down over his hips. He helped some, but let her work for it, which she appreciated. Anticipation always made things better.
When Mac had everything down around his thighs, she nudged him back so he was perched on the edge of his desk. She wanted him to be able to lean back and relax because she was going to make sure he never forgot what he meant to her.
His cock was already hard and jutting out eagerly before her. She ran her hands up his thighs until she reached the base of his cock. Then she carefully curled one hand around his shaft and tilted her head up to look at him.
“Quiet, remember?”
He gazed down at her with heated eyes. “I’ll try.”
That was good enough for Mac. She dipped her head and wrapped her lips around him. Gage didn’t exactly remain silent, but the groan he let out wasn’t much more than a deep sigh. She doubted even a werewolf would be able to hear it unless he was standing right outside the door.
She worked her mouth up and down his shaft, moving her hand in smooth counterpoint to the rhythm of her tongue. Gage tasted so damn good it was difficult not to cut loose with a few moans of her own. She could do this all night, letting him come in her mouth, then getting him hard so she could do it all over again. The thought alone made heat pool between her thighs.
Gage slipped his fingers into her hair, guiding her movement, urging her to go faster…deeper. But just when liftoff seemed imminent, he used that hand in her hair to bring her to a slow halt, then tug her mouth off his cock.
She started to complain, but he’d already tugged her to her feet and urged her back against his desk before she had the chance. He had her shoes off before she even found her voice.
“Um, I was still working down there.”
He gave her a sly look as he yanked open the buttons on her jeans and pulled them off. She had to grab hold of the edge of his desk to keep from being dragged off with them.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But it’s my turn now.”
Gage tossed her pants and panties over to the couch that lined one wall, leaving her leaning back on his desk wearing nothing but her top. He reached around her and shoved stuff aside, then urged her back. When he dropped to his knees between her spread legs, his eyes were once again gold. Was he flipping them back and forth to freak her out?
Maybe, but that wasn’t the effect it was having. In fact, it was just plain turning her on.
“Remember,” he said in that low, rumbling growl she was already coming to love. “No screaming.”
He lowered his head and nibbled his way down her inner thigh, and for one crazy moment, Mac wondered if Gage’s teeth were sharper when his eyes were gold like they were now. If he nipped her hard enough, would she turn into a werewolf, too?
But those thoughts disappeared the second his warm mouth came into contact with her pussy. If his teeth were any sharper or longer than normal, she didn’t notice it when his tongue slipped into her folds.
She tried hard to keep her head up so she could watch him go down on her, but as tantalizing as the view was, she couldn’t do it for very long. As Gage’s tongue glided up and down her folds over and over, then finally focusing on her clit, she got so dizzy she had no choice but to drop her head back and give herself over to the pleasure.
Right then, she was far beyond worrying about whether Gage’s pack heard her, but she bit down on her knuckle anyway, hoping it would muffle her moans.
Mac gripped the edge of the desk with her other hand and lifted her head. The sight of Gage lapping at her pussy—his glowing eyes locked with hers—was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen. She forced herself to keep watching him as he made love to her with his mouth, drawing her orgasm out longer and longer until she was sure she would scream.
Only when her whole body was shaking and spasming like she was holding a bolt of lightning did Gage finally let up and move his mouth off her clit. Even then, he continued to slowly lave his tongue across her folds, making little sparks dance in her vision.
She dropped her head back to the desk and gasped for air as Gage went back to nibbling on her inner thighs. At some point he stopped that, too, but she didn’t know what he was up to until she heard his jeans hit the floor.
She looked up to find him grinning at her.
“I love watching you come, did you know that?”
Mac returned his smile. “No, I didn’t.”
She licked her lips, waiting for him to climb up on the desk with her, but he simply stood there gazing at her.
“Thank you for coming back to me,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I don’t like to think what my life would have been like without you.”
The words made her heart squeeze in her chest. What did a woman say to something like that? You’re welcome just didn’t seem to cut it.
She beckoned him closer. “Care to show me your appreciation in a gratuitously physical manner?”
He hesitated. “Yeah, about that. I don’t have a condom. One of the other guys might, but…”
She grimaced. “Let’s not. Fortunately, one of us was planning ahead. I started taking birth control pills Wednesday morning.”
“Wednesday?” He frowned. “The morning after I took you to dinner at Chambre Francaise? How did you know we’d sleep together?”
“I didn’t,” she said softly. “But I’d hoped.”
Mac motioned him closer again, spreading her legs wider in open invitation. Gage stripped off the rest of his clothes and moved between her legs. He ran a hand up the outside of one thigh, making her quiver all over.
“And you’ve been taking the pill long enough for it to work, right?” he asked.
She nodded. “Most experts recommend seven days, but I think six days is okay. Unless you’re not planning to stay with me if I get pregnant? Now that we’re mentioning it, can you get me pregnant?”
Gage trailed his hand down her thigh and across her stomach. He left it there, caressing her lightly. “Yes, I could get you pregnant. And before you ask—no, the kid wouldn’t come out growling and howling at the moon. That’s not the way it works. And no, if I got you pregnant, I wouldn’t leave you.”
He leaned over and she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer and preparing herself for the rush that came whenever he slid inside her. He didn’t enter her, though. Instead he gazed down at her so intently she started to worry he wouldn’t make love to her without protection. But then he licked his lips and she knew he was trying to figure out how to say something…big.
“Mackenzie, there’s something you need to know. Something important.”
O-kay. “Is now the best time for this?”
“Now is the perfect time for this,” he said. “Werewolves have an urban legend that’s been around as long as there have been werewolves. Whether they’ll admit it or not, they all believe there’s one special person out there for them. As in The One—capital T, capital O. Unfortunately, while the legend is so common as to be cliché, I’ve never met a werewolf who found The One.”
Gage leaned closer, so his lips were only millimeters from hers. “But I’ve found mine. You can’t understand the significance of that until I tell you that none of the werewolves in my pack have ever been in a serious relationship—not one. Sure, they sleep with women, maybe even live with them for a while, but it never lasts. Hell, I’ve never been involved with a woman that I even wanted to be around for more than maybe two weeks at the longest, until I met you.”
His mouth traced along her jawline and settled next to her ear, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I knew from the moment you stepped into the operations vehicle that first day that there was something different about you. I didn’t know at first that you were The One—I never believed in that kind of stuff—but some of the guys knew. Cooper. Xander.”
“Xander?”
she repeated. “He didn’t even like me.”
“Regardless of what he tells people, Xander believes the legend more than any werewolf I’ve ever met. But he figured you’d use the irresistible attraction I felt for you against me to get your story.”
She winced. “Which is basically what I did. No wonder he looked like he wanted to bite my head off when I showed up tonight.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Gage whispered. “We’re together, and I’m never going anywhere. I never could have.”
She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him more tightly against her, burying her face in his neck. “But you were leaving when I got here.”
He lifted his head so he could gaze down at her. “I was, but only long enough to make sure my pack got out of town and someplace safe. I was coming back to make sure Hardy was no longer a threat to you. Then I intended to watch over you from a distance for the rest of my life.”
The look in his eyes told her he wasn’t kidding. She didn’t let herself dwell on the part about making sure Hardy was no longer a threat. She was just comforted by the thought that Gage would have willingly lived on the street outside her apartment just to be near her. It was insane, but romantic at the same time.
She threaded her fingers in his hair, pulling him down for a kiss. He growled, kissing her back with an urgency that left her gasping for breath by the time he lifted his head.
Straightening, he grabbed her ankles and spread her legs wide. Mac did her best to be quiet, but she couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped her lips when he pushed inside her. Right then she didn’t want to be quiet. She wanted to shout her pleasure to the world—and if his pack heard, oh well.
Gage took her slowly, sliding his thickness deep with steady, even strokes that made her whole body tremble. He moved in and out of her over and over, and the whole time, he gazed down at her with those vivid gold eyes.
She was so in love with him that it hurt, and right there in the middle of their lovemaking, she thanked God for helping her repair the damage she’d done and for making this moment possible.
Her orgasm built higher and higher, but it wouldn’t crest, even though Mac was sure she was about to explode at any minute.