Lucy’s breasts were so soft. Softer than he’d imagined. This close, he let his senses be filled by her. By her warm, comforting scent, edged with her increasing arousal. By the softness of her skin. By her voice, which was low and lovely. Her heart was pounding, and so was his, now. His cock was throbbing with every heartbeat. Wanting her. Needing her.
He reached up and touched her cheek. “Jason?” she said, breaking the spell.
Yes, he thought, and kissed her.
She gasped, just a little, as he did, but then her arms went tighter around him, pulling him even closer, and she started kissing back with as much passion as she felt. She filled his senses. She was a Queen all right, and every inch of his being yearned to protect her, love her, stay near her. Pull her close and never let her go.
She broke the kiss with a little gasp that made him yearn to make her gasp more, shiver under his hands. “I can’t,” she said, even though her hands were still tight on his body, her arousal still sharp in his nostrils. “I—I just met you.”
He couldn’t let her go now. Not with her so close. So warm. So soft. He wanted inside her more than he could stand. “You feel it too, don’t you? It’s not like we’ve just met. It’s like we’ve known each other for years.”
She stepped back, and his whole body began aching for touch, to have her close again. “No,” she said, though she didn’t sound like she believed it. “We haven’t. We just met tonight, and you’re—you’re working for my father.”
I don’t have to. I can quit tonight, he thought, but stopped before he could make a fool of himself. He had already upset her enough. Making an offer like that would really make him look like some kind of stalker. “I won’t be forever,” he said. “We’re going to find out what’s going on. And then—”
“I go back to work,” she said. “And you go back to work. You’re not even from the East Coast.”
He was losing her. Dammit, he was losing her. “No,” he said. “But we’re supposed to be expanding, remember? And it’s nice here. Boston’s a good place for an office. Not too far away. But not right on top of you if it doesn’t work out.” But it’ll work out. I know it.
“You’re awfully confident,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said. “I hope you don’t expect me to apologize for it.”
She smiled like he’d said something funny. “No,” she said. “I don’t think you’re really the apologizing type.”
“I apologize when I’ve made a mistake,” he said. “Hurt someone. But I don’t think I’ve done that. And I don’t think this is a mistake at all.” He wanted to kiss her again, wanted to feel those soft, warm breasts against his chest. Wanted to slip his hands under her t-shirt and feel every inch of her skin. The wolf was urging him on, telling him to take what was his. An Alpha and his Queen. The clan alliance they’d planned all along. Everything about it was perfect, was right—
Except she didn’t even know she was a Queen. He was almost sure of it now. If she did, this togetherness, this closeness wouldn’t come as such as surprise. How was he even going to begin?
“Can’t you trust me?” he said. “Just for another kiss?”
“Do you say that to all the girls?” she said, and the twist of her mouth made him want to kiss her again and again.
“I’ve never had to,” he said. “And I’ve never wanted to this much.”
She stepped back from him again. The wolf wanted to howl in frustration. He was losing her. He couldn’t! His whole life had been leading up to this. To her. How could he possibly let her go?
“I’m not a stalker. I’m just…you feel it. I know you feel it. There’s something between us. And I can’t pretend there isn’t.”
She just shook her head. Her heart was still racing, and Jason could smell arousal and fear. His whole body was burning now. He wanted. needed. More than he could possibly begin to explain to her, even if she knew the truth. It was something deep in his bones, something no words could express. Can’t you feel it? It’s destiny.
“Come here,” he said. “Just come closer.”
She shook her head again.
He took her hand in his. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” he said. “Can’t we have another dance?”
“You’re unbelievable,” she said.
“I have heard that once or twice,” he said.
Her laugh was like listening to water running over the hills, like music.
“Look,” he said. “Maybe…I could just take you out? Dinner? Maybe dancing if I’m good?”
“Maybe,” she said, softening, stepping closer. “You’re…you’re charming. I’ll give you that.”
“Come on,” he said. “One more dance.” He held out his arms.
Oh, what a relief he felt when she stepped into his embrace. “All right,” she said. “But you sing this time.”
“I can’t really sing.”
“You can hum,” she said.
He hummed, and she came still closer, so close. Her scent filled him. This. This was what he’d lived his whole life for. A Queen, his Queen, in his arms, so close, so perfect. And not just beautiful. Intelligent. Interesting. Everything he could have hoped for. More than he had hoped for. He leaned in, and she didn’t resist. He kissed her again, and felt arousal overcome her fear, heard her heartbeat spike again. His own heart was pounding, the wolf inside him clawing desperately for her. A Queen, and what a Queen she was; and she didn’t even know her own power. He lost himself in her, in the warm swell of her breasts against his chest, the sweetness of her scent.
He slid his hand under her t-shirt, touching her warm, soft skin, and the current between them grew stronger. He could feel it growing between them.
That wasn’t the only thing growing.
He could slide her up, onto the table, and—
Footsteps. Someone on the stairs.
He broke the kiss. “Lucy,” he said. “We should—”
It shouldn’t be like this. It should be something special, romantic. And more importantly, somewhere they wouldn’t be interrupted.
She stepped back from him, her eyes darting toward the stairs. “O?” she called. “That you?”
“What’s up?” Ophelia called.
“Just grabbing some milk before bed,” she said.
This would probably be a good time to crush Ophelia’s hopes. “Ophelia,” he said. “Nice to see you again.” He was still standing close to Lucy. Maybe it would give her a hint.
“You’re still here?”
“We had to adjust the cameras,” he said. “I was marking it on the floor plan. And then Lucy came down, so we were talking.” Was that enough, he wondered? His wolf was no help here. It only knew about claiming what was his. Being kind to people was beyond its ability.
Lucy was watching his face. Her heart was still pounding, but she looked calm.
“Oh,” Ophelia said. “You didn’t come down for a snack?”
No wonder Lucy worried people were going to attack her over her weight. What the hell. “We had plenty to eat at the reception, I think,” he said.
Ophelia walked over to the table. “So where’s the new camera?”
Oh, no, he wasn’t about to play that ‘come show me what’s on the table’ game. He might be a wolf, but he knew how to flirt. He pointed. “See where the flag is?”
“Oh,” she said. “So…why did you do that?”
“We had a blind spot. Can’t have that—we need to keep you all safe. And see what’s going on. If it’s an animal, we want to get the animal on camera. If it’s not…we need to know that too.”
“That’s pretty smart,” she said.
Ophelia, let it go, Jason thought. What was the best way to scare her off? Should he just be honest with her? Tact wasn’t his strong suit either. Maybe just growling at her would be the best choice. But he didn’t want to do that in front of Lucy. Not yet.
If only it wasn’t so late, if they hadn’t met this way. He’d thought helping the family with security was the best way to get to know them; now he felt like he’d lost everything to lies. How could he begin to explain it all?
Ophelia looked down at the table. “Where’s this one, outside?”
Lucy walked closer to the map. “It’s near the front, can’t you tell?”
“Well,” Jason said, grateful that Lucy had saved him. “I’d better get out there before Ian starts complaining. Have a good night, ladies.” If he was lucky, he’d have the chance to apologize to Lucy later.
“You sure you can’t—” Ophelia asked.
“Good night,” Lucy said. The arousal and fear were gone under a flood of irritation. If only his wolf could tell him who, exactly, she was most irritated with.
“Take care,” he said, hoping she would know who he was really talking to. “Sleep well.” Me, I’m going to see how well I can work with the worst case of blue balls I’ve had since high school.
“He blew me off,” he could hear Ophelia say from behind the closed front door.
“Maybe a little,” Lucy conceded.
He made himself stop listening after that.
Ian was waiting in the SUV. “I got new fake audio equipment, did I tell you?”
“You didn’t,” he said, pulling the door closed behind them. Unless they needed to record something for legal purposes, wolf ears picked up a lot more than any fancy system. They worked hard to keep up appearances, but appearances were a lot cheaper than the real thing.
“This is all digital,” he said, waving a cable that probably connected to nothing. “State of the art. The upgrade we really needed.”
Jason laughed. “I appreciate your dedication to this work.”
“Hey,” he said. “It’s what we do. So what happened in there? You smell…you smell like things went pretty well.”
He put his hand over his face and sighed. “Sort of,” he confessed. “But then, I don’t know. Her sister came down, I couldn’t tell her the truth….”
“You fucked it up?”
“I hope not,” he said. “She’s amazing, Ian. I’ve never met anyone like her. I don’t think I ever will. I can’t fuck this up. I can’t.”
“We’ll bring out Remus tomorrow,” Ian said. “Test the waters. She sees your real face, she’ll fall for you. Every girl does.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said.
***