The serious tone in Finn’s voice sent bolts of energy through her limbs. The crackle and heat of attraction pooled between her thighs. No man had ever said words like that to her. Mack was the kind of girl most men overlooked. Men didn’t claim girls like her. They played with their hearts and minds and they played with their bodies.

Was that what Finn was doing? Was he playing with her emotions to get into her pants?

She pressed her palm to his chest and the heat pulsing from his body surged through hers. She had this urge to rip his clothes off, ride his cock, and bite him. Where the hell did that thought come from?

“What is this?” She looked into his eyes and saw the same desire she knew was in hers. “What’s happening between us?”

“Don’t question it, Mackenzie. Just let it happen.” He worked at the button on her pants while her shaky fingers undid the buttons on his shirt. What she wanted to do was grip both sides and tear. Something urgent and needy was welling up inside her, and if she didn’t get as close to him as possible soon, she thought she might die. That of course was not going to happen, but the thousands of hormones inside her were screaming the lie.

“Hurry up, Finn. I feel like my body might explode.”

Laughter rolled through him. “You will explode, Mackenzie. I will take your body. I’ll earn your heart. I’ll make you shatter into a thousand glorious pieces beneath me.”

Oh, the words and his voice and his hands. They all came together like a magic elixir. She was drunk on her need for him. She wanted what he offered even if it was only for the moment. “I need you.”

He was naked. She was naked. Heat swirled around their bodies as if flames licked at their skin. He moved her to the center of the bed and spread her legs with his knees. His thick cock jutted forward seeking her.

“So damn beautiful.” He pulled a foil packet from his pants and ripped it open with his teeth. “This will be the only time I’ll protect you.”

She didn’t know what he meant. Was his statement literal or figurative? Was it about the condom? Her heart? Her life?

She watched as he rolled it up his length. His jaw tightened and she swore his brown eyes darkened. There was something feral just under the surface of his skin. It was like an animal begging to be released. She should have been frightened, but she wasn’t. She was intrigued, and she wanted to watch this man, who always seemed so in control, lose it.

He nipped at her neck and rubbed the scruff of his whiskers over her jawline. She ran her hands over his body. Her fingers slid up and over every groove of muscle on his chest. The hair of his legs prickled against her inner thighs as he nudged at her entrance.

A tiny tremor in the deepest part of her body started to pulse. It was an ember of heat that was quickly becoming a flame. The heat threatened to devour her, and he wasn’t even inside her yet.

She lifted her hips until the broad tip pushed inside. Her head fell back and her body quivered. God, if this was what an inch of him did to her, could she survive the whole of him?

“Mine.” He growled and pressed forward.

Her body opened and invited him in. Inch by inch he claimed her. Each stroke he reminded her that she was his until he pressed completely inside her and stilled.

Her body hummed with satisfaction. Her insides swirled with delicious tension. Her heart nearly exploded with love.

“This changes everything, Mackenzie. It means you’re mine.” His jaw twitched as if he was holding on by a thread. He pulled out and pressed deep inside her again and again. Each time he said, “mine” like it was a promise.

Her body trembled. Her skin was on fire and it felt like it was too tight to contain her.

“This is just the first of many times. Each time will get better.” He buried his face into the crook of her neck. His teeth skimmed her collarbone.

The touch sent a shot of hot desire straight to her core. She turned her neck on instinct, offering him the most vulnerable part of her. There was a prick of pain as he plunged faster and deeper inside her. Finn’s upper body stiffened, but his hips continued to piston inside of her. Each stroke pulling her closer to the edge of a massive drop off. Heat and tension coiled within her. She held her breath. He buried his face into the mattress next to her and he roared.

The sound he made spoke to her in a way she’d never known. Light flashed behind her eyes. Her body shattered around him and her heart leapt from her chest to his and back again.

“Mine,” she shouted back, taking him over the edge with her. Their bodies pulsed together until they lay sated in each other’s arms.

Where she ended and he began, she didn’t know. It was as if this one encounter had melded them together.

“Oh my God, what just happened?” She rolled to her side and curled against his body. Next to where her head had rested, a hole was torn in the mattress. She touched the frayed edges of the fabric and looked up at Finn.

“We just happened.” His arms wrapped around her like he’d never let her go, and she hoped that was the truth. She’d give up everything for another minute with him.

He rose from the bed, and the minute his heat was gone, she missed it. She watched his glorious body walk to the trashcan to dispose of the condom. His muscles flexed as he reached the top shelf for two bottles of water and a couple of protein bars. Then he was back at her side, only this time he pulled her between his legs and rested her head on his chest.

Cradled against his body, she felt complete. This little shack wasn’t much, but it was everything she could imagine wanting as long as Finn was here.

“Tell me about your day.” His voice vibrated through his chest to her body. It warmed Mack from tip to toe.

“I tagged this amazing wolf.” He stiffened behind her.

“How amazing?” He opened a bottle of water and handed it to her. “As amazing as the bear?”

“Oh, no. The only thing amazing about the wolf was his size and stupidity. He stared at me, and I figured if he was going to wait there, I’d tag him.”

A full belly laugh came from Finn. “I’m going to have to tell Reid that story.”

“Who’s Reid?”

“A not so amazing guy.” There was a hint of humor in his voice. “Did you tag anything else?”

“Oh yes, I got two smaller wolves. They seemed rather common compared to the big one.” She drank the water bottle dry. “That was about it. I fear I’m failing at my assignment.”

“You’re not failing, love. In my book you’re a damn success.”

“But I’m not tagging much of anything.” She leaned to the side and looked up into his eyes.

“You tagged me in more ways than you can imagine.” His nostrils flared and his breath grew rapid and shallow. His cock nudged against her back. He stirred heat in her that whirled around her insides. It flared from her womb to her limbs.

“Round two?” It was supposed to be a question, but it sounded more like she was pleading a case.

His hands rubbed down her arms and slid under her heavy breasts to curl around her stomach.

“There is nothing I’d like better than to spend my life buried inside your body, but I barely controlled myself with you this time.” He looked down at the hole torn into the mattress. “I don’t want to risk it.”

“God, if that was you holding back, I can’t wait until you totally let loose.” She clenched her legs together trying to capture the quiver that ran through her body thinking about sex with this man. She wasn’t even sure she needed him inside of her to orgasm. There was something primal in her that made her cells come alive when he was near.

“Soon, Mackenzie. Very soon you will have all of me, and I will claim all of you.”

What the hell did that mean? She didn’t care. Whatever he was offering, she wanted it all.

For a big man, he moved fast. He stood and pulled on his pants before she realized his body was no longer around hers.

“Get dressed. I’ll take you to the local bar. It’s an interesting place to watch people.”

“You’d rather watch people than be with me?” Mack wasn’t generally a pouty girl, but being in a crowded bar wasn’t nearly as appealing as being naked with Finn.

“No, but I think it’s important for you to get to know the locals.”

She pulled on her pants and buttoned up her shirt. “Are they more interesting than you?”

He stood in front of her and cupped her cheek with his palm. “Let’s just say that they aren’t exactly boring. You’ll be surprised at how interesting some of them will be.” He lowered to his haunches and helped her tie her boots. “They have BE’s brews too, which should get you all excited.”

Mack thought of a lot of things that got her excited. Finn’s hands, Finn’s tongue, Finn’s cock. But if she had to forego those, then a glass of honey mead was an adequate substitute.

Always the gentleman, Finn walked her to the passenger side of the truck and helped her inside. She placed her bag of darts and tags between them. It seemed a fitting place. The damn things had come between them several times. If it hadn’t been for this connection she had with Finn, the entire trip would be a waste. Meeting Finn had made her failure less painful.

All the way down the mountain, they talked about forest ranger stuff.

“Would you consider coming to Grayslake on a more permanent assignment?”

She took in a long breath and held it. Did he just ask her to stay? “Is there a position for me here?”

Finn chuckled. “I can see you in a lot of positions. On your back beneath me. On my cock riding me. Bent over my couch with me—”

“Finn, oh my God.”

“Tell me the truth. Does that sound appealing?” He reached over and covered her hand with his. The heat of his touch coursed through her.

Once again, her insides were too small for her body. Mack was bursting at the seams with passion. “It sounds more appealing than honey mead in a bar of strangers.”

Finn came to a stop in front of the bed and breakfast. “I’m holding my control by a thread, love. There are things you don’t know yet and things you’re not ready to know yet but soon. Soon you will be mine forever. Does that frighten you?”

A shiver raced up her spine, but it wasn’t from fear. It was in anticipation of what being Finn’s really meant. “Finn, I’m not asking you for forever, I’m asking you for a moment right now.” Her scalp itched and she was certain her hair grew an inch with the way it tingled.

“Mackenzie, I can’t give you what you want now because I want to give you forever.” He turned off the engine and pulled a bag of clothes from behind his seat. “Let’s get changed.”

Finn was talking forever as in all time and eternity. She’d heard about love at first sight. Never experienced it herself until she met the grumpy forest ranger opening her door.

“Do you always carry a change of clothes in your car?” She grabbed her equipment and hopped out of the truck.

“I usually carry two, but I loaned a pair of pants to an angry friend today.”

“You had an angry friend walking around without pants? What kind of people do you hang out with?” Mack led him into the bed and breakfast and up one flight of stairs to her room.

“You’ll see. Like I said, they’re an interesting bunch.”

She walked to the closet and pulled out the only dress she brought with her. She didn’t know if there would be a need for anything beyond her uniform or jeans and T-shirts, but this was like a date, and she was glad she packed it. “Meeting your friends terrifies me. What if they don’t like me?”

He rushed to her and brushed his lips across hers. “They’ll love you like I do.”

Finn said he loved her. Could that be true? She searched her heart for her own feelings, and the only word that could describe the heat in her chest was love—a crazy, soul-deep love. It was as if she’d been waiting for him all her life.

“This whole thing is so confusing to me.” She rested her head on his broad chest and breathed in his scent. It had a way of floating through her body like a calming drug. He was a human form of Xanax.

“Just go with it, love. It will all make sense soon.”

He gently pushed her away and gave her a look that said, ‘trust me’ and for some reason she did.

“Do I have time to take a quick shower?”

“You want some help washing your back?”

“Not if all you want to do is wash my back.” What the hell was happening to me? She was turning into an animal in heat.