My bear had to know. Right here. Right now. What the answer was. Would Sienna accept her role as my fated mate? Would she ask me to claim her? To make her mine forever? I’d throw the damn silver and family crystal to the floor and take her on this table if she asked. But she had to ask.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Her eyes darted back and forth. “What have you been trying to tell me all afternoon?” She paused. “Wait, there’s someone else? There is, isn’t there.” She stood to back away from the table.

I rose to match her frenzy. She was already out of the dining room and running down the hall.

“Sienna, wait. No, there’s no one else.” I caught her at the sitting room doors. The fire flickered from the hearth.

“Then what? What’s going on? You’re hot then cold. Then incredibly hot again. Almost too hot, like we’re going to burn the house down. What is it? What aren’t you saying?” she pleaded.

I wanted to erase every doubt. Absorb any pain. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the hell out of her. My mouth moved over hers, taking her breath and mine.

She stumbled out of my embrace. “Like that.” She pointed. “You kiss me until I’m dizzy. What is that?”

I took her hand and led her to the fire. The room glowed with red and orange flickers of light.

“Sienna, God, I can’t believe this has happened. I can’t believe any of this is happening.” I ran my hands through my hair. “I wanted tonight to be special. So fucking amazing, that you wouldn’t have a choice but to say yes. I wanted to impress you. And blow your mind.”

“Grayson, you don’t think you’ve done all those things? Yes, I want to sleep with you. I want that. I thought I made that clear during the movie. And at the dining room table, despite the fact that we were surrounded by your family’s portraits. I want you to make love to me. Yes, yes and yes. If that’s why you brought me to Promise Lake, it’s a yes.”

I closed my eyes. “You have no idea what those words do to me.”

She reached for her shoulder, threading her fingers under the tiny spaghetti strap of her top and pushed it over her skin. It fell, exposing her breast.

I groaned and her nipple hardened into a perfect pink bud. Slowly, she reached for the other side as the strap slid off her shoulder.

Her eyes met mine as she fisted her hands in my hair, tugging my lips to her nipple. I bowed obediently, eager to satisfy my mate. My tongue swirled and flicked, before I sucked her peak in my mouth. She pressed the back of my head, urging me to suck harder.

“Ohh,” she pleaded. “Yes.”

The restraints were coming off. My bear had heard the words he wanted. The sounds he wanted. Gotten a taste of what he wanted. I didn’t have much reason to keep him chained up any longer.

I squeezed and molded her other breast, pinching her nipple until she moaned. I moved to that side with my tongue, easing the tenderness with the heat from my tongue.

I heard the zipper on her skirt as she shimmied it off and then the camisole fell to the floor. My mate stood in front of the fire, in front of me in nothing but a lace thong.

I stood back.

“Damn it, I want you, Sienna.”

She licked her lips. “Then take me.” She hooked her thumbs against the G-string. She wiggled until the last shred of clothing she wore was on the floor.

There was no denying what was between us. What I felt for her. What it felt when our bodies touched. She was my mate. This woman belonged to me.

I slid the dinner jacket off my chest. She stepped forward and began to unbutton my shirt.

“Why did you put on all these layers?” she whined.

I breathed in her ear. “You wanted a challenge, remember?”

She giggled. “Right.”

My hands trailed over her back and gripped her ass.

“Ohh, God,” she moaned. “I-I want you all at once.”

“I know.” I helped her with the buckle on my Italian leather belt.

Her eyes flashed to mine. “You want this too, right?”

“I need it. Like air to breathe,” I growled, tearing the last bit of clothes off my body. I threw them on the floor. My chest vibrated with the happiness my bear felt. I couldn’t contain the sounds he made any longer.

There was nothing between us anymore. Nothing to keep us apart.

And then I saw it. The look of fear. The growl had reminded her.

“Grayson, what is that sound? How do you keep doing that?”

I spun her around so her back was pressed against my chest. I ran my hand over her breasts, squeezing and toying with her nipples while the other dipped over her navel and between her legs. She was soaking wet. She was so ready for me. So ready to be claimed.

“Grayson?”

I nipped at her ear. “We fit together. Our bodies.”

She nodded. “I noticed. Perfectly.”

“In so many ways.”

We swayed as I played between her velvet folds. Massaging and coating her entrance. Prying and pumping. She was quivering in my hands.

“Tell me,” she whispered. “Just tell me what it is. I want this. I want you.”

I twirled her in my arms to face me again.

“Sienna McKenzie, you are my fated mate.”

Her eyes widened. “Your what?”

“You are mine. Meant only for me. And I want you so badly it’s going to kill me. I want to bury myself inside you. I want to make you scream and cry and laugh. I want to fuck you until the sun comes up. I want to kiss you and hold you. I want you to come so hard you never remember another man. Do you hear me?” I tilted her chin toward me. My eyes locked on hers. “Do you understand all the things I want to do to you? All the things I have to do or I’ll die if I’m not inside you? I’ll die if you send me away or turn me down. I want you. Now. I need you. Now. Tell me you want to be claimed. Tell me you want all of me. All parts of me. The darkness and the beast I carry. Tell me all of me can have all of you. Right now. Right here.”