With Everything I Am (The Three #2)(163)

God, she loved his chest.

On that thought, her fingers curled and she dragged her nails through the hair there as she whispered, “Agreed.”

She went back to toying with his chest hair and decided at that moment he needed to know something very, very important.

“Cal?”

“Yes, baby doll.”

God, she loved it when he called her “baby doll”.

She took in a breath and asked, “You remember when you asked me if I loved you?”

His body grew still under hers and he answered, “Yes.”

Quietly, she said, “That time, I didn’t lie.” She felt his still body grow tight and she finished, “Not about any of it.” Both of his arms came around her but she pushed up, pressing her body to his and she whispered her story in his ear, “The first time I met you, my first dream, I felt you slide in bed behind me. You held me in your arms and I told you I was glad you were home. You kissed my neck and I lay in your arms thinking, ‘This is the man I love.’ It was short, just that before I woke up but I felt strangely happy.” She lifted her head and stared in his now tawny eyes and concluded, “In that first dream, I never even saw your face.”

Both his hands came to her head, sliding into her hair, pushing it back.

Then he stated throatily, “You love me.”

Sonia rested her lips against his but with her eyes open and, staring in his, she whispered, “With everything I am, wolf, and everything I’m meant to be.”

Callum’s fingers tightened in her hair and he rolled Sonia yet again.

He was kissing her by the time her back hit the bed.

It took a while before they fell back to sleep.

And when they did, they were connected.

In more ways than one.

Chapter Twenty-One

Understanding

Callum was sitting in his study, going through a report on some of his investments when he sensed Sonia’s approach.

She was wearing another pair of her thick socks so her footfalls were soft.

But that morning before he left her, he’d made love to her and she hadn’t showered. He could smell the essence of them getting stronger as she got closer.

And he f**king loved that smell.

It had been a month since she’d finally unburdened her mind.

It was also only days before their official Mating.

And Callum couldn’t f**king wait.

The hills were again filling with tents and the town was again bursting. Everyone wanted to be there, not because the king was formally binding his queen to him but because Callum was formally binding Sonia.

He’d been to many a Mating and he’d enjoyed them.

But he knew he’d like this one best for their last month together was better than the months before that.

Infinitely better.

It was beyond perfect.

It was a dream.

However, with Regan’s assistance and Leah’s long distance advice, he was planning a surprise to happen during their Mating. A surprise for his wife.

He was looking toward the door when Sonia rounded it and came into the room smiling.

The vision of her pretty, smiling, happy face settled pleasantly somewhere in his gut, he dropped his report, sat back in his chair and returned her smile.

She made short work of the distance, her cashmere robe parting and exposing her shapely legs as she walked. He noticed, yet again, that she’d put on weight in the last month. As he suspected it would, it had hit all the right places and he was pleased with the result. But he was more pleased that she’d given up her obsession with calories and was simply, as she should, enjoying her food.

“I told Mara and Callista my claiming story,” she announced when she came around the desk and he turned his chair to face her.

His brows went up when she seated herself in his lap and then curled up, her knees bent, feet close to her ass, torso twisted to face him.

“You did?” he asked, his arms wrapping about her small body, surprised at this news.

She shrugged as if it was all the same to her and she hadn’t been guarding this secret for months.

Then her mouth quirked in a smile (something she did a great deal the past month) and explained, “They were relentless.” Then her body started shaking before she went on while laughing, “I think they didn’t believe me though. Apparently, wolves are pretty excited during a claiming and they don’t have the wherewithal to do it in multiple positions the first time.” Her hand cupped his jaw and she brushed her thumb along his lower lip before finishing softly, “I think I’ve made you a legend, wolf.”

He’d been smiling at her as she told her story but at her endearment, he growled before he bent his head and took her mouth in a hard, rough kiss that she returned instantly.

When he lifted his head, she emitted a fluttering sigh, tucked her face in the crook of his shoulder, placed her hand in the center of his chest and rested it there, something else she’d done a great deal in the past month.

His queen, he’d learned through a variety of delightful ways, was fond of his chest.

“I like how you kiss,” she whispered.

“I know,” he whispered back.

She shook her head in his neck and muttered, “So arrogant.”

His arms gave her a squeeze.

She snuggled closer.

He loved these times when she’d come to him after breakfast.