Wild Invitation

“Hey.” Finally alone with her, her scent caressing his skin, he felt a fraction more in control.
    Grace tucked the damp curls of her hair behind her ear, her smile shy. “Hey.”
    Pulling off his backpack, he unzipped it to retrieve the box. “I got this for you.” He’d never courted anyone before, didn’t know if he was supposed to work up to this, but he wanted to give her a present and didn’t see the point in pretending otherwise.
    A startled look out of chocolate brown eyes before her lashes shaded her expression again. He couldn’t wait until she held his gaze anytime she felt like it, though he knew it would take staggering trust on her part—an acceptance that he’d
never
see any such eye contact as a challenge on the pack level, even were they in the midst of a blazing fight. It was a significant accommodation, but one his wolf was more than willing to make. Neither part of him wanted his woman to feel at any kind of a disadvantage in a relationship.
    Of course, he thought as she accepted the gift with a husky “thank you,” if she felt the urge to challenge him on the private male/female level, he’d pick up the gauntlet in a heartbeat. Thethought of Grace trusting him enough to play with him on such an intimate level made his entire body tighten in need.
    “Here.” He held out his hand for the ribbon she’d untied.
    When she handed it over with a deeper smile, he dared step an inch closer, his wolf brushing against his skin. She proved as impatient with presents as he was—the paper tore, and a few seconds later, she held the box in her hands.
    Taking the paper, he watched as she removed the lid of the box. Nestled against the white satin within, the blue glass of the bracelet almost glowed, the tiny daisies captured in each of the square links appearing to have been picked but a moment ago.
    “Oh!”
A captivated gasp. “How did you know?”
    He grinned, smug, and shoving the used paper and ribbon into his backpack, let it drop to the floor. “I have my ways.” He’d seen daisies in the vase she kept in her office, had noticed she sometimes wore a dress patterned with the same flower—a floaty, summery thing that made him want to tumble her into his lap and demand a hundred laughing kisses. “You want me to do it up for you?”
    “Thank you, Cooper.”
    He could listen to her lips shape his name forever. Muscles taut against the urge to cuddle her close, his own personal bundle of warm, trusting woman, he went to do up the clasp. His fingers appeared too big, too clumsy for the task—as they appeared too rough to touch Grace. He knew differently, knew he’d never hurt her. “There.” Keeping hold of her hand, he brushed his thumb over her skin.
    She shivered, but didn’t pull away. “I shouldn’t keep it. It’s too much.”
    Her skin was so soft, so appealing to stroke that he did it again. “It’s normal to give flowers during courtship.”
    “I can’t lie,” she admitted with a delighted smile that hit him straight in the heart, “I love it already. I’ll wear it all the time.”
    God, but he wanted to cover that luscious mouth with his own, taste her long and deep.
Slow goddamnit, slow.
“Will you come for a walk with me?” he asked, keeping his eyes scrupulously off the bed he could glimpse behind a shoji screen patterned with shoots of green bamboo. “We can sneak out throughthe access tunnel to the back entrance.” Though he wanted everyone, particularly the unmated males, to know she was off-limits, Grace wasn’t the hard-ass he was, would find the attention difficult to deal with.
    Smile turning a little shy, she said, “Let me tie back my hair and change.”
    The thought of her silky-skinned and naked beyond the thin barrier of a single doorway annihilated his attempt at good behavior. “I think you look edible.” Since he’d already blown it, he surrendered to need and took a deep breath, barely resisting the urge to nuzzle at her throat. “Peaches. You smell like lush, ripe peaches. Can I take just a little bite?”
    Grace’s skin glowed with color, but instead of shying or backing off in fear, she pointed to the door. Grinning because his submissive wolf had just proven she could handle him fine even when he was bad, he went. “I’ll be waiting.”
    •   •   •
    GRACE leaned against the door after Cooper exited, taking jerky breath after jerky breath. God, he was dangerous—even more so when he turned on that rough