Werewolf Wedding(53)

“Bingo.”

“I gotta say, I never would have pegged you for the Gerald Ford type. You know, the reluctant leader? The whole alpha thing suits you really well.”

“Oh God,” he said, sighing. “Don’t bring up that statue of myself again, I—”

“No, no,” I said, taking a step closer. “That’s funny. If Dane did it, I’d think it was posturing, but with you it’s pretty obviously not. You don’t posture, you don’t pretend, that’s what I mean.”

Jake watched my face, looking a little confused.

“You’ve never heard this before?” I asked.

“We’re wolves, Dilly. We’re not exactly the most open and honest about our feelings.”

I took a step closer to him and grabbed both of his hands, holding them in mine. “Yeah, well, I’m a person and I’m not exactly super open either. There’s this... okay so you’ve been to a zoo before, right?”

He nodded, furrowing his eyebrows.

“So, you’ve seen the gorillas, yeah?” After he nodded again, I continued. “There’s always the male gorillas who play at being the alpha. They roar and bite and wrestle and act like idiots to try and prove that they’re the big badass.”

“Posturing.”

“Right. And then there’s always the one gorilla who sits off to the side, watching and waiting. And have you noticed which one the others go to for problems? Have you noticed which one of them is obviously in charge? Do I need to continue with this metaphor, or are you getting it by this point?”

Jake let out a soft laugh, the first I’d heard that sounded like a pure one. I could tell from the look on his face that he was sick with worry, but I think I got through.

“That might be the first time anyone in the world has complimented someone by calling them a gorilla.” That smile could have taken me to the stars if things weren’t so desperate and dangerous. “Delilah,” he said, twisting his hands around and grabbing mine. “We were meant for each other. Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or whatever you want to call it, I feel it deep in my soul. Every second you were gone, I ached to feel you next to me, to taste your kiss, to inhale your scent.”

“And that is where my knees go weak,” I said, smiling languidly and laying against him where he was on the desk. My body slid right against his, it fit perfectly. He was right, I knew, no matter how much I wanted to argue. Something about us was perfect. “I’m terrible at talking about my feelings, and I’m awful at not making jokes at totally inappropriate times.”

“I’m the leader of a pack of werewolves,” Jake said. “That must be at least as complicated as... five character flaws?”

“No,” I said, “it makes you perfect. You just said you were the leader. You’re not giving up on them.”

When I looked into his eyes next, his cheeks were a little flushed. “I can’t, Dilly,” he said. “I just can’t. I want to keep you safe, I want to make sure my brother pays for what he’s done, but the pack is my family. It’s my duty.”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I said. “So before Dane appears and makes a big show, would you care to figure out what the hell we’re going to do about him?”

“There’s always murder,” Jake said with another of those damned smiles that could have stripped the hair off a donkey’s ass. “But I think that’s probably not the best idea.”

“The best idea,” I said, “is you kissing me and then throwing me across that desk and having your way with me like this was some kind of secretary roleplay scene in one of those movies that comes on Cinemax really late at night.”

The heat of his chest against mine burned through my flimsy, torn up tee. He breathed, inhaling me through his nose and then shuddered as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. I kissed his neck, relishing the warmth of his skin and the leathery, musky scent he wore.

Next I knew, his hands were on either side of my face, thumbs running along my cheekbones. He kissed me so hard, so urgently and hungrily that my head tilted back with the force. He ran his tongue around my lips and then between them, making me groan as he drank me in.

“I have no idea,” Jake said, his tongue running along my jaw to my chin where he nipped me softly and kissed again. “I have no damn idea what I’m going to do about him.”

“He thinks I’m under his control,” I said in between gasped breaths. “He thinks he sent me here to show me off and brag about how he won your little bet.”

“Yeah?” Jake laughed, kissing my neck and then sucking at the hollow of my throat. “How does this look for winning?”

I moved in between him and the desk, and wrapped my legs around his waist. The hot bare skin tingled between my thighs. “I don’t know when he’s going to be here,” I whispered as I nibbled Jake’s ear. “I don’t know what he’s going to do.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jake growled. “We have each other.”

I felt his thickness against my sweetest place and yearned to let him have me. Everything in the world I wanted was right there, stripped down to the absolute naked necessity. That longing I felt in my soul was sated, the pain I felt when he was gone? Vanished. As long as we were together, everything felt right.