Wild Invitation

you’d waited.”
    Kisses on his chest, up his throat, along his jaw. “Are you sorry?”
    “I just had an orgasm that almost killed me, and I have naked Grace for a blanket. Yeah, I’m real sorry.”
    Husky laughter, more kisses, eyes that shimmered with the wolf’s amusement. And he had the thought that his choice to share his deepest vulnerability had shifted something between them, given her what she needed to trust him on this level. It embarrassed him to think how he’d fallen apart, but he could deal with it if this was the result. Still—“It wasn’t a pity lay, was it?”
    Pushing up so she could look down at his face, Grace glared at him, then slapped his chest. “Yes. Absolutely. That’s me, a woman who goes around sharing skin privileges with anyone who looks sad. Did I tell you about the engineer who broke his favorite tool the other day? I had to strip right there and—”
    He shut up her rant by the expedient of a laughing kiss that had feminine claws pricking his chest. “Sorry,” he said when those claws dug a fraction deeper in warning. “I’m male. I had to ask.”
    A shake of her head but her lips curved…then she ducked her head. “I wanted to crawl all over you the first time we met.”
    His wolf preened. “I wouldn’t have stopped you.” He continued to pet her luscious body, his own very enthusiastic about the fact she was snuggled up so close. “God, it makes me feel good to have you here.” A pause. “Where you belong.”
    Her gaze lifted to his again, a little shy, but not afraid in any sense. “I guess…I just needed to know you needed me on some level.” It was a painfully honest statement. “You’re so strong—my wolf understands a submissive’s important role in the pack but couldn’t comprehend what I could give
you
, how I could be your partner.” A hand cupping his cheek. “Now I know it isn’t about power, but about heart, about loving.”
    His hand shook as he brushed her hair off her face. “I will always need you—you’re strong and brave and goddamn perfect, and you fucking
own
my heart.” And he needed her inside that heart, needed her to accept the mating bond, couldn’t understand why she hadn’t already.
    Especially when tears shimmered in her eyes, as she said, “I love you, Cooper.”
    His resistance broke. He tumbled them over, made love to her again, and this time, it was slow, full of whispered promises and caresses, a dance so beautiful it shattered his every remaining defense.
    Maybe that was why he fell asleep curled around her afterward.
    He’d never know what woke him, but he jerked into a sitting position to see it was just after four thirty a.m. Since Grace continued to sleep, he hadn’t screamed, and he didn’t have the foul aftertaste of nightmare in his mouth.
    Thank God. Thank God.
    Swallowing, he went to the door Grace had sleepily asked him to pull ajar as a safety precaution before they slept, and used the hallway light to check the portable air gauge, confirmed everything was fine on that point. Only then did he go into the tiny shower at the end of the corridor to wash and take a few deep breaths.
    Diego’s and Elizabeth’s doors were ajar, too, and he heard snores from one as he walked back, the deep breathing of sleep from the other. He checked on the wild wolves as well, heard their sleepy
whuff
s as they resettled their bodies.
    When he returned to the sleep cubicle, Grace had shifted to face the room rather than the wall, but her eyes remained closed. Moving with as much stealth as possible, he found his jeans, pulled them on, the material stiff but wearable. Though, he thought, he might as well run down in wolf form, since hewas planning to leave both his phone and his vehicle behind for Grace.
    “Cooper?” A drowsy question. “Is it morning?”
    “Shh, go to sleep, darling.” Taking a seat on the bed, he brushed tangled strands of hair off her face, then indulged himself in one last stroke of her curvy body, her skin marked from his caresses. Primitive as it was, the sight made him feel good. “Storm’s past and even the rain’s stopped. I better start my run down, help with the post-storm cleanup.”
    Instead of nodding and going back to sleep, Grace frowned and struggled up into a sitting position, pulling the sheet to her breasts. “You’re leaving me while it’s still dark? I thought you’d want to stay…a while longer, anyway.”
    Her hurt tone was an arrow to his heart. “The