Chapter Seven #3
The door closes behind us, and I break. Not dramatically. No sobbing collapse. Just one hand over my mouth, one pressed against my stomach, trying to hold in the sound that wants out.
Daniel stands in front of me, fists clenched at his sides. “Can I touch you?”
That undoes me more than anything Cole said, and I nod.
Daniel pulls me into his arms, and I go willingly.
His body wraps around mine, warm and solid, and I bury my face in his chest as the first sob tears free.
It hurts. Goddess, it hurts. Not because I want Rowan.
Not because Cole’s right. Because some wounds don’t care how healed you are.
They still ache when someone presses hard enough.
Daniel holds me through it without saying a word. No promises of murder. No growled claims. No trying to turn my pain into his rage.
Just his presence.
After a while, I manage to pull back. “I hate crying.”
“I noticed.”
“It’s wet and undignified.”
“Very inefficient.” A broken laugh slips out of me.
His thumb wipes under my eye. “There she is.”
My chest squeezes, and I look up at him. “You stopped.”
His brows pull together. “When?”
“When I held up my hand. You stopped.”
Understanding dawns. His expression goes soft in the way that makes my heart stupid. “You asked me to.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t need to.”
A fresh tear slips down my cheek.
Daniel smiles faintly. “That one looked angry.”
“It is.”
He kisses it from my skin, and the tiny touch sends warmth through me. I inhale shakily. “Cole was right about one thing.”
Daniel goes still, and I place my hand over his chest. “You don’t know all of me.”
“I want to.”
“I’m messy.”
“I frosted a cupcake that looked like a medical event. I don’t judge messy.”
My laugh is softer this time. More real. “I’m scared,” I whisper. “Still. Even after last night. Even after everything.”
His hand slides to my waist, grounding. “I know.”
“I don’t want Rowan. I need you to know that.”
“I know.” He winks, and I shake my head.
“I don’t want my old pack. I don’t want that life. I don’t want any of it.”
“I know that too.”
“But when Cole said maybe the bond wasn’t fully severed...” My throat tightens. “For a second, I felt like I was back there. Like fate could still take this away from me. Like maybe I don’t get to choose after all.”
Daniel’s jaw flexes before he leans down until his forehead rests against mine.
“Listen to me,” he says, voice low and rough.
“No one gets to take me from you unless you send me away.” My breath catches, but he continues.
“Not Rowan. Not your old pack. Not some half-dead bond he wants to resurrect because his pride is bruised.” His hand tightens on my waist. “I’m here because I want to be here.
I want you because you’re Holly. Because you fight with ovens and threaten customers and laugh when I embarrass myself.
Because you chose to let me in last night.
Because you looked at me like I was something you wanted, not something useful. ”
My heart cracks open another inch. “I do want you,” I whisper.
His eyes darken. “Good.”
“Not only because of the bond.”
“I would hope not.”
“And not only because of last night.”
“I’m sure it didn’t hurt my chances.”
“And maybe...” I swallow hard. “Maybe I want the claim soon.”
Everything in him changes. His wolf rises fast, hot, and bright. His pupils widen, his breath catches, and his fingers flex on my waist before he stills them. But he does not pounce.
Daniel just looks at me like I have handed him something sacred.
“Soon?” he asks.
I nod, cheeks burning. “Not today.”
“Okay.”
“Maybe after one more run.”
His smile is slow, reverent, and damn near devastating. “Then we run.”
My wolf presses against my skin, eager and certain. I should be terrified, and I am. But beneath the fear, there’s something stronger now. Want.
Daniel kisses me gently, and it should stay gentle, but it does not.
Maybe because I’m raw. Maybe because he’s warm. Maybe because Cole walked into my bakery and tried to turn me into a ghost, and Daniel stood beside me until I remembered I’m alive.
I deepen the kiss, fingers curling into his shirt, and Daniel groans but holds back.
“Touch me,” I whisper against his mouth.
His breath shudders. “Here?”
“We are in a storage closet with a desk. It’s practically romantic.”
He laughs, the sound rough and helpless. “You’re unbelievable.”
“And yet?”
“And yet I want you more than I can think.” The words heat my blood.
He lifts me onto the desk, scattering invoices, a pen cup, and one unpaid bill I fully intend to blame him for later. His mouth finds mine again, deeper now, hungrier, while his hands slide over my thighs beneath my skirt.
I gasp when his fingers brush the edge of my panties.
He pauses instantly. “Still with me?”
“Yes.” I pull him closer. “Don’t stop unless I say.”
His eyes burn. “Words like that are going to kill me.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Barely.”
His hand slips into my panties, fingers finding me wet and aching for him. The first touch makes my head fall back against the wall.
“Fuck, sweetheart,” he groans. “You’re soaked.”
My cheeks flame.
He kisses my jaw, my throat, the corner of my mouth. “Don’t be embarrassed. Never be embarrassed with me. This is perfect. You’re perfect. I love knowing you want me like this.”
The praise rolls through me, loosening something tight and wounded.
I grip his shoulders. “Daniel.”
“I’ve got you.” His fingers move slowly, circling, teasing, learning me all over again. “That’s it. Open for me. Let me make you feel good.”
The office is too small. Too warm. Too cluttered with receipts and fear and him. Daniel’s scent wraps around me, grounding and somehow still wild. His mouth stays near my ear, his words rough and constant.
“You’re so damn strong, Holly. So beautiful when you let yourself have this. Let go for me, sweetheart. I’m right here.”
Pleasure builds fast, sharpened by emotion, by the fight still buzzing under my skin, by the knowledge that this is my choice. My body.
I rock against his hand, chasing the feeling.
Daniel growls softly. “Good girl. Take what you need.”
That breaks me wide open. My orgasm crashes through me, sudden and bright. I bury my face against his neck to muffle the cry, my body shaking as his fingers work me through every wave. He holds me steady with his other arm wrapped tight around my waist.
When I finally sag against him, breathless and trembling, he kisses my temple. “There you are,” he murmurs.
I laugh weakly. “You say very dangerous things.”
“I think you like them.”
“I do. That’s the problem.”
He smiles against my hair, and I notice the hard length of him pressed against my thigh. My hand moves to his belt, but he catches my wrist.
I frown. “Excuse you.”
He kisses my knuckles. “Not here.”
“But...”
“If I get inside you in this closet after that bastard rattled you, I will lose what little sense I have left, and I’m not risking rushing you because my dick has feelings.”
I stare at him. Then I burst out laughing.
His mouth twitches. “It’s a very emotional dick.”
“I noticed.”
“Also, deeply attached.”
“To me?” I ask sweetly.
His gaze softens. “Every part of me is attached to you.”
The laughter dies in my throat. I slide my arms around his neck and hold him. Not because I’m falling apart this time, but because I can, and because he lets me. Because he holds me back like he understands the difference.
Outside the office, Maisie knocks once. “I hate to interrupt whatever health violation is happening in there, but Mrs. Bell is threatening to organize a protective mob, and Mr. Phelps says he has a shovel.”
Daniel sighs. I press my forehead to his chest. “My customers are feral.”
“I like them.”
“You would.”
Maisie knocks again. “Also, I’m pretending I didn’t hear the desk move, but only because I want a raise.”
“I’m firing everyone,” I yell.
“Sure, babe,” she sasses before I hear her walk away.
Daniel laughs into my hair. And despite Cole, despite Rowan, despite the old pain clawing at the edges of my morning, I smile. Because the past came into my bakery today.
And for the first time, I did not let it take anything from me.