Ash lifted the covers, inviting her back into the warmth of his bed…his embrace. She missed the feel of his skin on hers already. The scent of them together. There was no other way to describe what she’d just experienced with him other than pure bliss.

Her lips curved up and her wolf gave a little prance inside her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so happy. In fact she was quite sure she’d never been around anyone—any man, at least—who made her feel as special as Ash did.

“I bet you are a great belly dancer. One of these days you’re gonna need to do that for me.”

She wasn’t going to be around for days. Tomorrow night was the wolf moon. Then after that…the packs would leave. If Ash wanted to see her dance, she would dance for him tonight.

She fell into a Maya step, rotating one hip up and out and then back to center. Then the other. Steady and rhythmic, to the baseline beat of her heart.

Choreography of the last few dances she’d been learning flew through her head. Lists of moves in certain order at certain rhythms. Her whole life was lists. Belly dancing was no different. It was just the one thing she did away from the pack. Away from their rules and expectations and prejudices.

“I don’t usually dance for private audiences,” Helena said, breaking the hip movements with a couple of belly pops and then a reverse undulation. Moonlight flowed into the room through Ash’s cracked blinds, highlighting the surprise on his face and the swiftly returning desire. The same hungry desire she felt every time she looked at him.

Her arms rose from her sides, thumb and middle fingers pressed together like it was the most natural position in the world. The rest of her moved in pattern for a few more steps before stopping closer to the edge of the bed.

“Maybe you could make an exception, just this once.” His voice was raspy, hungry, and he looked at her the way she’d always wanted to be looked at. The way no other man, not even her previous boyfriends had ever looked at her. This thing between them was so different.

“I think I could,” she said, letting her hips drop. One. Two. Then popping her stomach again before reversing the undulation that would end with a chest thrust. Her breasts were swollen and nipples hard from his attention. She’d certainly never danced naked before. And probably never would again. This was for just for her and Ash to share. This would be her moment. Their moment. “Do you have your phone in here?”

He raised an eyebrow and then pointed at his pants in the center of the bedroom floor. “Pocket. Why?”

She crossed the room, picked them up and pulled his phone out before tossing the jeans to the side of the room so the floor would be clear for her to dance. “It’s much better with music,” she said.

“Naked woman. Dancing. I’m not sure I’ll even hear the music.”

A giggle slipped out, but she kept focused on her task. The music helped her. It was like a list all its own. Beats and bars and phrases that told her body where to go and when. She fumbled with his phone, looking for the YouTube app. Once she found it, she searched for her favorite music track and then set the phone on the nightstand to play.

The hollow sound of a doumbek drum started the Egyptian mix. She dropped her hips one at a time on each strike, sinking into the sound that mimicked a heartbeat. The reeds started next, followed by several Middle Eastern stringed instruments. She loved this arrangement. The ebb and flow allowed for fast and slow movements. She’d used it for her last showcase.

Helena continued the Maya step and turned until she faced Ash again. His eyes didn’t leave her for a second and his mouth was slightly parted. Thanks to her refined senses, she could literally hear his heart racing in his chest. His breath came in short pants…when he remembered to make himself breathe at all.

She smiled and raised her arms, twisting them with the music like they were snakes charmed by a flute. The music shifted and she changed with it, circling her shoulders one at a time, popping her breasts out, then doing a large circle with her hips. She bent at the waist, letting her small breasts swing gently before standing straight and letting her head do a quick snap from right to left and back again.

“Helena,” he breathed.

“Yes,” she whispered, moving into a back step, rotating each hip ever so slowly and then framing her body with her sliding arms.

“You are so beautiful. I never knew people actually danced like this.”

“Well, usually I have a costume.”

He chuckled. “I’m just putting it out there. But I think I’ll choose naked belly dancing next time, too.”

Next time. He kept making this sound like something it wasn’t…something it couldn’t be. Even if she wished for more, there was no getting around the fact that he was human.

“How did you get started dancing?” he asked, pulling her from her thoughts again, almost like he could tell he was losing focus.

“My mother, actually. It was something we did together in high school. After I moved to the ranch, she stopped dancing.”

“But you didn’t.”

Helena circled her hips in a figure eight and worked her way closer to the bed as the music rose and fell for the last time. “I always hoped she’d join me again. But I think she felt betrayed that I chose to live with Dad over her.” Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She didn’t want to cry right now. Not in this moment. It would spoil everything.

He held out his arms and she crawled onto the bed, sinking into him. “You do it for you, though, Helena. What I just witnessed was your joy, not the memory of something you used to do with your mother.”

She sniffed a little and slid her hand along his six-pack abs. Her core warmed as desire fired back up inside her. “I like—” she paused. No one had ever asked her why she danced. “The patterns and sets of movements are fascinating to me. They make me feel powerful and I don’t get to feel that way in my everyday life. I love the way they can be threaded together in different ways. A dance can be the same each time you do it, but there’s always the potential to make it unique. It’s completely up to you how you want to how you organize the sets.” She chuckled a little. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble on about dancing.” She slid her hand lower and gripped his dick. “I can make it up to you.”

He groaned and grabbed her hand. “I’m pretty sure I’m only human. I need a few more minutes before we can go for another round.”

Human. She’d been trying to forget that. Trying for just tonight to focus on how much she liked being with Ash. How safe he made her feel. How treasured.

Their night was almost over. And she wished it weren’t.

Then his hand slipped between her legs again and she gasped, every muscle in her body tightening like a strung wire. She hadn’t thought she was that close to coming again, but Ash had her teetering on the edge with one simple touch.

“Who are you, Helena? What did I do to deserve your attention tonight at the bar? Because I have to say, I’m the luckiest bastard alive.” His fingers slipped deeper, thrusting in and out slowly, pushing then pulling, drawing out every sensation. Every impractical hope.

“I’m Helena Quade, and I decided to have a one-night stand for the first time in my life because I needed to forget…because…Oh, Ash…you look at me like no one else in my life.” She panted, trying to get over the edge, but he was playing her perfectly, staying in control, not letting her escape just yet.

“And did I help you forget, Helena?” His hand worked her again, his fingers kneading that place inside where everything was coiling. Tighter and tighter. Then he changed the angle of his hand and pressed straight on her clit. “Did I?”

“Yes.” The word came out in a husky scream, long and low. “So much, yes.” She buried her face in his chest, trying not to bite, not trusting that her wolf wouldn’t break his skin in the heat of the moment. She dug her fingers into his arms and clung to Ash as everything came apart. Stars burst behind her tightly shut eyes. Her body sang and cried at the same time.

She came down slowly from her orgasm high, finding security in Ash’s arms as he wrapped them tightly around her body, nestling her in the crook of his shoulder. She breathed his scent in and out, wishing to the gods that her time with him wouldn’t end.

He knew she wasn’t staying. They’d agreed on their terms at the beginning.

One night.

One perfect, blissful night.

* * *

“There’s my girl,” Ash said, pulling her down, settling into the plush mattress with her. With this woman who came with such abandon, and who danced for him like he was a fucking sultan.

“Tonight was beyond amazing,” she murmured into the side of his neck. He rocked with her, not wanting any distance between their bodies.

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” He let her relax in his arms, and he pulled his phone off the bedside table. With one arm around Helena and the blanket pulled over them, Ash opened up a browser window. The dim blue light bathed Helena as she closed her eyes.

“Mmmmm.” She snuggled into him, an arm around his waist and one curled up behind her head. “What are you doing?”

He smiled, setting the phone back on the table. His make-Helena-have-multiple-orgasms research could wait. “Nothing, babe. Just go to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Ash was so jacked, he’d never be able to fall asleep, but that last orgasm had wrecked her. He could feel it—all her tension was gone. She was finally relaxed, and totally abandoned, and she would sleep. But he couldn’t.

It felt like something had changed for him. Like every single part of him was alive, and every sensation was new. This had to be it. Love at first sight. His life would never be the same again.

Ash had never been one for planning. He liked to live life by the seat of his pants. The girls he’d met had always known going in that he wasn’t the staying type. But he’d never wanted to stay before.

He was gonna fuckin’ Google how to give her an orgasm during sex without using his fingers. That was how much he wanted to stay. He was willing to research, like she had. If Google was that damn helpful, then he’d use it to figure out a dozen different ways to give her orgasms.

When they woke up the next morning, he’d take her to the Allnighter and get her some of those famous waffles, and then he’d take her out to Bluebonnet Lake, to the dock where his mom had taught him to swim. He’d never brought a girl there before.

His friends would come over at night, and there would be no douchebaggery or nudity this time. They would have a civilized backyard beerfest like the good Texans they were. And then…

Who knows.

He listened for the even rhythm of her breath, stroking her hair and rocking her in the dark. She made him feel like no one had ever made him feel before. He was going to keep this girl. He was going to keep her hard.