Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(92)

“That’s because our animal senses help us to find the right mate the first time around. And our loyalty is inborn,” he said, watching the way she curled her tongue around a dollop of whipped cream before it melted into the chocolate. He took a swig of his drink. “We don’t go through a phase where we feel we’re missing out if we don’t ditch the old way of life and try out someone new.”

She took another wondrous sip of the chocolate and whipped cream and sighed. She licked her lips, and his gaze switched to her mouth.

“We renew our love for each other in special ways to spark the old flame. It’s important to our kind to stay together throughout our lives. Although if we lose a mate, we’re free to find a new one. Some do. Some don’t. Besides, Alicia, the men you ended up with were real jerks. I already told you so,” Jake said, adamant about it.

But then he smiled at her with a speculative gleam in his eye. “I can’t believe anyone would prefer to watch ice hockey to watching you dance on ice like you do.” He shook his head and took another sip of his hot chocolate.

She studied the chocolate and a speck of whipped cream on his lips, tilted her chin up and licked both off his lips.

He set his half-finished cocoa down on the coffee table and took her free hand in his. She hastily finished her cocoa, not wanting to give up a drop, and set her mug down with his, knowing he had other business in mind, and she was all for it.

His hands combed through her thick curls as he pressed her back against the couch with his body and kissed her hungrily. But then he took a deep breath, rose from the couch, and lifted her into his arms. “Although the men are watching the house to protect you, I don’t want to distract them from their business. No drapes on the windows,” he added.

“I noticed.”

“Tom and I took the old ones down. They were worn and badly needed to be replaced. I actually had it in mind to leave the windows bare to show off the view. Living alone or with Tom, it wouldn’t have mattered. But with you, that’s another story.”

“Hmm,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt as he strode down the hall to the only furnished bedroom, carrying her tightly in his arms. “I didn’t think any of your pack members would look.”

He chuckled. “They’re only human, Alicia. And a lot wolf.”

He carried her into the bedroom, and before she even sank into her soft, comforting mattress, she thought of how wonderful it would be to make love again to Jake in her bed. Not in some unfamiliar motel room or in the forest, although anything would do, but still, she felt a certain possessiveness in knowing they weren’t in a strange bed, but hers. And he was hers. In her bed. And not just for a one-night stand.

The concept that anyone might want her forever still seemed foreign, but for this night and for as long as they would have each other, she knew her dream had come true. The home was quiet, too, unlike the noisy apartment she was used to. With her enhanced hearing, it would have been worse. But here…

She sighed as Jake sat her on the bed.

Here it was quiet and peaceful, the only sounds the faint rustle of tree branches fluttering in the breeze, the trickle of running water in a stream nearby, and Jake’s heartbeat ratchetting up several notches. Comforting, pleasing sounds.

Jake was unbuttoning his shirt, watching her expression. “What are you thinking, Alicia? You have kind of a lost look on your face. Like you’re a million miles away.”

“I was thinking,” she said, unbuttoning her blouse, “how I would have you in my bed again, and how wonderful that notion is.”

He smiled and lifted an arrogant brow at hearing her words. “Were you now?” He tugged off his shirt and tossed it on a chair. Then like a wolf on the prowl, he put his hands on the bed on either side of her hips, caging her in as his mouth sought hers, melded with hers, and caressed hers. His body pressed against her knees, forcing her to part her legs for him. Yet he kept his weight off her, all except his mouth kissing and loving hers, and now her thighs caressed his as he leaned between them.

All at once she didn’t feel as in control or that she had him in her bed, but that he claimed her and her bed for his own. The notion both excited and thrilled her.

Her hands went around his bare waist, loving his silky skin and hard muscles. Her bare thighs pressed against his soft stonewashed jeans, his thighs tensed beneath the fabric.

“You’re so hard,” she whispered, moving her hands down his waist to his lean hips, circling around to his buttocks, and then sweeping around to his crotch.

As soon as she caressed him, she felt him lose his measured control of the situation. He groaned and fumbled to remove her blouse, and she knew then that she had him right where she wanted him. He finally managed to pull off her blouse and toss it aside. Then he was searching blindly for the zipper on her skirt while he kept kissing her lips, maintaining the intimacy between them. She tugged to unfasten his belt, wanting to touch him skin to skin. But he clearly wanted her naked first. And she was still struggling with his belt when she heard her skirt zipper yield.

He was trying to tug her skirt down her hips while she was sitting, and he finally placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to lie on her back so he could slip the silky skirt off her. Then his belt gave! And she slid his zipper down, her fingers pressing the fastener against his arousal all the way down.

“Alicia,” he groaned, half-dying in agony, half-pleading in ecstasy.