Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Wow. I, um, I really did underestimate you.” Her cheeks had flushed.
I wanted to put that pretty color on them for a different reason. I took our glasses, set them on the bedside table, then rolled her beneath me. I held my weight off her with one elbow.
She looked up at me with those blue eyes. So open. So gorgeous.
The suspicion was gone. The walls were down.
“So–” I nuzzled her neck, kissing down to her shoulder. “Are we good, Sparks? We on to our new deal?
A flash of vulnerability showed in her expression before she hid it. She swallowed and nodded.
“Yeah? You’re gonna give us a go?”
“Yeah.”
I grinned. My wolf fist pumped the air.
I lowered my head and kissed her, grinding my hips against her in case she had any doubt of my intentions. I wanted to please her in all ways, starting with more orgasms.
Now that I knew what had happened with JT’s dad–why she’d had walls up higher than a fortress–I knew how to break them down. She was afraid of getting hurt again. That wasn’t gonna happen.
I’d keep showing her she was mine until she believed it. My mark would do that, for sure, but she was nowhere near ready for that.
Mark her, mark her, mark her, my wolf chanted.
Not yet, I told him. She was barely past letting me spend the night in her bed.
Our talk, though, had gone well. I was one step closer to making her mine.
23
CLIO
* * *
I was hiking with a sore pussy and a happy heart.
After another crazy round of sex this morning, we’d driven across town to Wes and Joy’s house to pick up JT from his sleepover then continued on to a trail that Sam said was his favorite.
We headed up into the hills with a layer of sunscreen for our faces. JT jabbered about his night, regaling us with stories of popcorn and cereal with chocolate milk instead of plain milk for breakfast. We rounded a bend, and JT hopped over a boulder in the trail.
It had been his first sleepover, and to him, it had been a success.
I stopped to climb over the big rock with far less agility than my son, and Sam took my hand to help me up and over. I caught my breath at how beautiful he looked.
Sam, the wolf.
He had his shirt off again, which I may have teasingly suggested was necessary. His tanned skin was smooth over sculpted muscle. The light golden hairs made his chest seem to glow in the sunlight.
He was mine.
All my original thoughts of him as only a pretty face and a cocky player were gone.
Oh, he was a pretty face, and he had a gorgeous body and knew exactly what to do with it, but he was so much more. A little bit at a time, he was showing it to me.
Or, was I slowly letting him in enough for me to see it?
Either way, I liked what I saw.
How I felt when I was with him.
Knowing he was a wolf rearranged everything in my mind about him, too. He wasn’t just a young rodeo star. He was strong, capable. His confidence was justified. He had a pack. He knew things I didn’t.
Maybe on some biological level, the cave-woman part of my brain suddenly recalibrated to believe he’d be a good protector / provider.
The trail straightened out at an open meadow. JT took off running at lightning speed–way faster than a normal kid should be able to–then pulled up and spun around to face me. He gave me his “uh-oh” look when he realized he’d done something wrong.
I stopped and Sam stood beside me. “He’s not supposed to run that fast in front of others,” I murmured to Sam to explain.
“Ah. I see.”
“Sorry, Mommy.” He glanced up at Sam. “I forgot.”
“Boy, you sure are fast,” Sam probably noticed the opportunity to talk to JT. “Real fast.”
JT put one foot forward like he was at a starting line. He’d shucked his shirt when Sam had, mimicking him by tucking it in the back of his jeans, so it dangled out like a little tail. Unlike them, I was still in my sweatshirt. “Running is fun.”
Sam glanced at me. I could read his look. He wanted to offer to help here in a way I knew I couldn’t. I was tired of JT having to hide how amazing he was. If there was a time and place for a Wolf Lesson 101, it was out here in the wilderness. It seemed Sam agreed.
I nodded, and Sam grinned.
“I’m fast, too. Wanna see?” Sam asked JT.
JT nodded, his dark hair flopping over his forehead. Then his hands went to his hips.
Sam took off jogging, then once he got to the clearing, took off running. Then…. RUNNING. He was across the clearing so fast he’d been a blur.