Jake made her sit on the couch and watch the orange flames shoot up toward the chimney as he heated cups of hot chocolate. She could envision a winter-filled landscape out the big picture windows when the first snowfall began and how beautiful the woods would be. Just like her favorite poem by Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

“A penny for your thoughts,” Jake said, stalking back into the living room with two cups of steaming hot chocolate for them to drink.

“Did I tell you how much I love you? You’ve rescued me more times than I can count. Been my knight, my protector, never condemned me for having so many husbands when your kind never divorce.” She took a deep breath, then sipped her hot chocolate, the rich velvety flavor tantalizing her tongue and the aroma making her take another deep breath of it.

“That’s because our animal senses help us to find the right mate the first time around. And our loyalty is inborn,” he said, watching the way she curled her tongue around a dollop of whipped cream before it melted into the chocolate. He took a swig of his drink. “We don’t go through a phase where we feel we’re missing out if we don’t ditch the old way of life and try out someone new.”

She took another wondrous sip of the chocolate and whipped cream and sighed. She licked her lips, and his gaze switched to her mouth.

“We renew our love for each other in special ways to spark the old flame. It’s important to our kind to stay together throughout our lives. Although if we lose a mate, we’re free to find a new one. Some do. Some don’t. Besides, Alicia, the men you ended up with were real jerks. I already told you so,” Jake said, adamant about it.

But then he smiled at her with a speculative gleam in his eye. “I can’t believe anyone would prefer to watch ice hockey to watching you dance on ice like you do.” He shook his head and took another sip of his hot chocolate.

She studied the chocolate and a speck of whipped cream on his lips, tilted her chin up and licked both off his lips.

He set his half-finished cocoa down on the coffee table and took her free hand in his. She hastily finished her cocoa, not wanting to give up a drop, and set her mug down with his, knowing he had other business in mind, and she was all for it.

His hands combed through her thick curls as he pressed her back against the couch with his body and kissed her hungrily. But then he took a deep breath, rose from the couch, and lifted her into his arms. “Although the men are watching the house to protect you, I don’t want to distract them from their business. No drapes on the windows,” he added.

“I noticed.”

“Tom and I took the old ones down. They were worn and badly needed to be replaced. I actually had it in mind to leave the windows bare to show off the view. Living alone or with Tom, it wouldn’t have mattered. But with you, that’s another story.”

“Hmm,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt as he strode down the hall to the only furnished bedroom, carrying her tightly in his arms. “I didn’t think any of your pack members would look.”

He chuckled. “They’re only human, Alicia. And a lot wolf.”

He carried her into the bedroom, and before she even sank into her soft, comforting mattress, she thought of how wonderful it would be to make love again to Jake in her bed. Not in some unfamiliar motel room or in the forest, although anything would do, but still, she felt a certain possessiveness in knowing they weren’t in a strange bed, but hers. And he was hers. In her bed. And not just for a one-night stand.

The concept that anyone might want her forever still seemed foreign, but for this night and for as long as they would have each other, she knew her dream had come true. The home was quiet, too, unlike the noisy apartment she was used to. With her enhanced hearing, it would have been worse. But here…

She sighed as Jake sat her on the bed.

Here it was quiet and peaceful, the only sounds the faint rustle of tree branches fluttering in the breeze, the trickle of running water in a stream nearby, and Jake’s heartbeat ratchetting up several notches. Comforting, pleasing sounds.

Jake was unbuttoning his shirt, watching her expression. “What are you thinking, Alicia? You have kind of a lost look on your face. Like you’re a million miles away.”

“I was thinking,” she said, unbuttoning her blouse, “how I would have you in my bed again, and how wonderful that notion is.”

He smiled and lifted an arrogant brow at hearing her words. “Were you now?” He tugged off his shirt and tossed it on a chair. Then like a wolf on the prowl, he put his hands on the bed on either side of her hips, caging her in as his mouth sought hers, melded with hers, and caressed hers. His body pressed against her knees, forcing her to part her legs for him. Yet he kept his weight off her, all except his mouth kissing and loving hers, and now her thighs caressed his as he leaned between them.

All at once she didn’t feel as in control or that she had him in her bed, but that he claimed her and her bed for his own. The notion both excited and thrilled her.

Her hands went around his bare waist, loving his silky skin and hard muscles. Her bare thighs pressed against his soft stonewashed jeans, his thighs tensed beneath the fabric.

“You’re so hard,” she whispered, moving her hands down his waist to his lean hips, circling around to his buttocks, and then sweeping around to his crotch.

As soon as she caressed him, she felt him lose his measured control of the situation. He groaned and fumbled to remove her blouse, and she knew then that she had him right where she wanted him. He finally managed to pull off her blouse and toss it aside. Then he was searching blindly for the zipper on her skirt while he kept kissing her lips, maintaining the intimacy between them. She tugged to unfasten his belt, wanting to touch him skin to skin. But he clearly wanted her naked first. And she was still struggling with his belt when she heard her skirt zipper yield.

He was trying to tug her skirt down her hips while she was sitting, and he finally placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to lie on her back so he could slip the silky skirt off her. Then his belt gave! And she slid his zipper down, her fingers pressing the fastener against his arousal all the way down.

“Alicia,” he groaned, half-dying in agony, half-pleading in ecstasy.

“Hmm?” she said, with an uplifted tilt to her voice as she wiggled to help him remove her skirt.

She peeled his jeans down, but before she could slip her hand inside his boxers, he pulled off his jeans the rest of the way, then pressed his body against hers on the mattress, thwarting her, taking handfuls of her hair, and kissing her mouth again. She had the distinct impression he wanted to last, and if she kept touching him, he wasn’t going to.

He rubbed his hardness against her skimpy red thong—the one he’d bought her at the boutique in town—and she slid her hands up his boxers and caressed his bare buttocks. She thought she heard him curse under his breath as he plunged his hand into the front of her nearly nothing panties, found her sweet spot, and began to stroke her into a world of heightened pleasure she’d only been able to feel when he was touching her.

And now she was losing control, the tide of swelling pleasure rising up in her as he took her higher and higher, her hands stilled on his buttocks, his tongue plunging deeply, erotically into her mouth.

He tasted of chocolate and whipped cream delight, his masculine scent and arousal arousing her, every sense heightened because of the wolf in her, every sensation more profound then she’d ever experienced. Before she could cling to the peak, the wave of ecstasy crashed over her.

Hot, wet, sexy Alicia, Jake thought as he stroked her into climax. He swore if she had stroked him like she was about to do, he would never have lasted. She was a godsend, and he wanted to pleasure her like she should have always been loved. Like he’d always love her. With her body still shuddering with completion, he meant to strip out of his boxers, but she was already yanking them down.

He smiled as he nuzzled her cheek, then when he was free of his boxers, he eased into her and pressed homeward. The bond between them would never be broken. Her hands roamed over his back and butt, caressing and stirring him into action, as he deepened his thrusts and claimed her again as if the ritual needed to be repeated to show her he meant to be here for her forever.

Her eyes were filled with wonderment as he gazed into them, her lips full, wet, and well-kissed, her breath light and barely audible, and then her eyes closed as she arched her pelvis against him, matching his thrusts, her fingers clenching tighter on his buttocks. She cried out, “Jake, oh, Jake,” and moaned as she sank against the mattress, his seed filling her after that, and he collapsed on top of her in satiated bliss. He wrapped his arms around her, his whole posture stating she was his, and he blanketed her in his protective cocoon to ensure that.

She lay very still for several minutes while their hearts beat rapidly in unison and he continued to hold her close. Then she whispered, “They had to have heard me.”

He kissed her cheek, rolled off her, pulled her against his chest, and covered them with the sheet and comforter.

“Hmm.” He couldn’t tell her no, when he knew they had to have, and she’d probably figure they had. He couldn’t tell her yes and confirm what she had to suspect. So he’d just said hmm.

She let out her breath and toyed with his nipple. “Next time, if we have a bodyguard detail outside our windows, don’t let me make a sound. All right?” She looked up at him with her brows creased.

He chuckled and ran his hand over her silky hair. “They already know what we’re doing in here.”

“I know that. But… at least they would have to guess when it came to the um… end.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her.

That’s when they heard the sound of pops in the woods surrounding the house. Jake was out of the bed in a flash. For a second, he wasn’t sure what to do—dress and grab his gun, or shift.

“Jake,” Alicia said, sounding scared, her eyes huge.

“Stay here. I’ve got to see what’s happening.” Then he shifted and bumped Alicia’s hand with his nose. After she ran her hand over his head, he turned and dashed out of the bedroom, intent on getting to his men and taking care of whomever was causing trouble.