Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Wolf is pretty easy to read most of the time. His expressions include utter determination, chain-snapping anger, shocked disbelief, smug humor, grim satisfaction, and unabashed sexual hunger.
The look on his face right now fits zero of these categories.
But his body is vibrating. His breathing is a little too fast. And every bit of whatever is going on inside that powerful brain of his is pointed at me.
A sound in the kitchen draws my eyes for a second, and when I turn back, Wolf has advanced on me. Silent. Lethal. Knee-buckling handsome in his black t-shirt and tactical cargo pants.
The man is a sight for my eyes. He’s only been gone thirty hours but the relief at seeing him makes me dizzy. Even if I have no idea what might happen.
Stepping right in front of me, he blocks all the light, casting me in his wide shadow. Heat swirls off his powerful body and surrounds me. And the look on his face makes things short-circuit from my head to my toes.
Reaching for me, he loops a tendril of my hair around his finger. The third finger on his left hand. The one with the wedding ring on it.
In a gruff, low voice, he says, “It takes a lot to truly rattle me, Kate.” His eyes slide down the hair and fixate on where it’s looped around the antique gold band. “But this marriage thing has managed to do it.”
With my heart pounding in my ears, I’m frozen. Caught in the tidal pool of the energy washing over me. I know he’s rattled. Because I am too. And determined. I’ll fix this thing. I won’t let his life be ruined because of ancient ideals from Isla Rosa.
Those blue eyes of his darken as they study my face. I’m not sure what he’s looking for exactly, but the intensity is rattling.
It’s as if he’s savoring something. His voice is barely more than a whisper when he speaks. “Marriages are supposed to be built on love.” His throat works hard when he swallows.
“Kate, do you have enough of that for the both of us? Because I’m all out.”
My heart catapults out the window in my chest and lands on a storm cloud. I’m so stunned by his mention of the L-word that my throat locks up. It takes all my effort to make my vocal cords work as I clench my hands. “I’ve never been in love.”
When he leans forward and brushes his scruff against my cheek, the skin on my arms stands up with gooseflesh instantly. “Love hurts, Katalina.”
My lungs lock up at hearing him use my given name for the first time. The way it rolls off his tongue with his rough British accent makes a name I’d grown bitter with almost beautiful again.
It takes me a minute to catch my breath before I can speak. “But it can also heal.”
Wolf falls perfectly still. For an agonizing long minute, we’re in a vacuum.
Then he presses his nose into my hair. A low groan rattles his whole body. “Damnit, I’m not ready for this.”
I unclench my fists and reach for him. I press my hands flat against his warm, strong chest. “I’m not either.” Pressing my face into the hollow of his shoulder, I squeeze my eyes closed.
Wolf’s breath leaves on a long exhale against my neck, stirring my hair, sending chills running wild. “Fuck if I don’t want you. Even if I have no idea how to do this. Even if you deserve more. You should be with a man who’s your equal.”
When I open my mouth to speak, he presses the hot pad of his fingertip to my lips. “Shhh. I’m not done.”
Looking up and seeing his pain so visible, my heart splits open. I wish I could take away all of his past hurt.
“You shouldn’t be stuck with a man like me. Scarred. With nothing but brittle carnage where his heart should be. But I’m a greedy man. And you see? Even though I can’t understand or even dream of how this could work, I’m not willing to let you go.”
My fingers slowly curl into his shirt, hanging onto him. I’m a disaster. My heart’s leaking out of my eyes as drops of saltwater. And I’m afraid to take a breath, afraid I’ll say the wrong thing. Make the wrong move.
I don’t know how to love someone. I don’t know how to heal him. Or how to make what’s been done right.
Slowly, he smooths his thumb over my brow, pushing away the crease of my worry. “I just need one thing from you, Katalina.”
“Wolf, I don’t know if I can do this—”
He nods once, his eyes darkening more. “You already are, luv. You’re already proving how wrong I was to want to be alone forever.”
His sigh is heavy. “I just need this one thing from you, first.”
“Anything,” I say in a rushed whisper.
As his fingers slide into my hair, caressing my scalp, I lean into his touch. A moan escapes on my exhale. A flicker of emotion passes over his face. This time, I see anger in his quickly shuttered gaze. With an edge to his voice, he says, “Two things, actually.”
“Anything, Wolf. Tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
“Promise me that you’ve told me the truth about you and Mikail.”
A tear spills off of my lashes as my body fills with empathy for his pain. “I promise. All of it. Everything I told you. We’ve never been intimate, and I’ve never wanted that with him. He’s a friend and nothing more.”
His fingers tighten against my scalp as his eyes move slowly over my face.
“The second thing I need from you is this promise. If you ever need to find your happiness in the arms of another man, you will come to me and tell me. I won’t keep any secrets from you.
And I expect nothing but complete honesty from you. ”
Nodding, I whisper, “I promise, Wolf. I’d never hurt you that way.”
He crushes his mouth against mine in a brutally fast strike. I’d topple over backward if he didn’t have one hand shoved into my hair and the other locked around the nape of my neck.
We devour each other. A clash of teeth, and lips, and greedy hands. I’m soaring, gasping, crying tears all at once. He tumbles me onto the couch, pressing his big body on top of mine and I lash my legs around his thighs, desperate to get him closer.
He suddenly pulls back, and grins down at me. What’s happening?
In the background, I hear clapping.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I mutter. “Oh god.”
Catcalls. Whistles. Clapping. The house is filled with noises that amplify my mortification by a thousand degrees.
When I peek over Wolf’s arm Scotch is leaning against the kitchen door frame with an appreciative smile on his face. Simona’s bouncing up and down clapping. “I knew the welcome home would be lit!”
Wolf stands swiftly and jerks me to my feet. My head spins, and I’m pretty certain that I’ve just landed in a fairytale where the princess gets her Knight.