Chapter Two
“The answer is yes.” Gia walked slowly into the den. He heard every soft rustle of her steps.
Oliver stood at the fireplace, his forearm propped on the mantel, and his gaze resting on the fire that twisted and danced.
As she approached him, he stiffened slightly, his powerful shoulders tensing as her light, vanilla scent swept around him.
A flare of hunger, white-hot lust, burned in him, but he choked it down.
Then, slowly, making sure he’d schooled his expression, Oliver glanced back at her. “I don’t remember asking a question.”
“You asked a question two nights ago.” Her dark hair slid over her shoulders. God, she was gorgeous. All smooth, honey skin, deep, dark eyes, and plump, red lips. She looked good enough to gobble up.
Yeah, you are not doing that shit. Slowly, he turned to fully face her.
Gia opened her hand to show the ring that nestled in her palm. “My answer is yes.”
A muscle flexed along his jaw as he looked at the ring. He’d thought it had been lost in the snow, but Gia must have found it. Kept it. The silence stretched between them. A silence that was way, way too long and uncomfortable.
His gaze lifted to her face. Her delicate jaw hardened as she took the ring and shoved it on her finger.
“Gia…”
She rushed toward him. Put her hands on his chest. Her touch scorched him. “Nothing has changed. I love you. You love me.” Her gaze searched his. “Let’s go forward. Everything can be—”
“We both know I’m not fine.” He cut through her words because the last thing he wanted to hear from her was a lie. Everything cannot be fine. We can’t go forward. There is no going forward from this hell.
Her lips pressed together. He caught the flash of pain on her face before she whispered, “It was one night.”
One horrible, terrifying night.
“Only one night, Oliver. It doesn’t have to be the end!”
Yes, it did. “I fucking became a wolf, Gia.” A damn werewolf. He hadn’t told that story to the cops. If he had, they would have thought he was insane. They would have locked him away. Hell, he thought it was crazy. Utter madness.
Except…
Except he remembered his bones popping and reshaping.
He remembered fur exploding over his body.
He remembered running over the snow and being able to hear every single sound in those woods.
He’d easily evaded the cops—and Gia—because he’d known exactly where they were even when he’d been miles away from their location.
He’d stayed as a wolf until the sun rose, and then the transformation back into the form of a man had been just as brutal as the first shift.
But, when it had ended, his wounds from the initial attack had been gone. There hadn’t even been a scratch on him.
Now, her hands were on him. She was pressing hard to his chest, and he could only shake his head. “How can you even touch me?”
“Stop it!” An angry reprimand from her. “I can touch you because it’s you. So you got furry, so what?”
Got furry?
“And you had claws—yes, I saw those by the way. I also caught a glimpse of your paws when you hit down on all fours, right before you rushed into the woods. I saw it all, and I do not care.” Her dark gaze didn’t waver. “It’s still you.”
But it wasn’t. He wasn’t the same man he’d been before the attack. The wolf had bitten him, and Oliver had changed.
He’d seen some scary shit in his time. While he’d been a Navy SEAL, he’d gone into some dark places—physically and mentally. He knew the world was full of danger, but he’d never, ever expected to find out that monsters—actual monsters, not just shitty humans—were real.
Yet now, he was one of those monsters. “It’s not safe for you to be around me.”
Her eyes widened. Then she laughed. As if Oliver had just told her the funniest joke ever. Since she’d often teased him about being too serious—she was the more light-hearted one—he knew he hadn’t said a damn funny thing.
But she laughed until tears filled her eyes. “No way.” She swiped a hand over her cheek. “You would never hurt me.”
He wouldn’t. But… “The wolf might.”
She swallowed and stepped back. Gia wasn’t touching him at all any longer, and he missed her touch.
He’d fallen hard and fast for her the first day they’d met.
They’d been at a Christmas tree lot. He’d gone reluctantly because he’d figured he should do something to brighten up his place.
When he’d walked past the festively decorated entrance, he’d collided with a seven-foot fir…
a fir that had been precariously clutched by Gia.
The tree had toppled, so had she—and so had Oliver. So, yes, he’d literally fallen hard and fast for her.
Then he’d offered her hot chocolate, and she’d given him her slow, gorgeous grin. The grin that made her single dimple—in her left cheek—wink.
The dimple wasn’t winking now. A little furrow was between her brows. Her “thinking” face. Whenever she slipped into her deep concentration mode, the furrow would appear. She’d once told him that she’d nicknamed her furrow Frank. She liked to name various things. Her little secret. His, too.
The furrow soothed away. “One night.”
Were they back to that? Wearily, Oliver raked a hand through his already tousled hair. “Yes, one night changed everything. I got it.”
“No.” Her hand fluttered in the air. The diamond ring sparkled.
“Look, you changed into a wolf. I get it—life altering. But, what if you only change during a full moon? It was a full moon the night you were attacked, and maybe that’s why you instantly shifted.
” Gia started to pace. “We both know nothing about werewolves.”
“Most people know nothing,” he growled because werewolves aren’t supposed to be real.
“I swear, though, I feel like I watched a movie once and the shift only occurred during a full moon.” She spun back to him. “If you only shift when the moon is full—that one night of the month—don’t you see that we have this?”
They did not have this.
Her breath heaved out. “We’ll get you locked up on that night.
Find some secure place for you. Then you don’t have to worry about hurting me—which, by the way, I don’t think you would do either as man or wolf, but until we can prove that point, we’ll play it safe.
” Her smile stretched. The dimple winked.
“The rest of the month, you’ll be completely normal!
You can go about your life just like before!
You can run the outdoor adventure business that you opened.
I can keep operating my event planning business.
We can move in together. We can get married—”
She still wanted to marry him? How the hell had he gotten so lucky and found her?
“We can do it all!” Gia proclaimed.
A faint tendril of what could have been hope stirred inside of him. “I haven’t changed since that night.” He’d only shifted one time.
A quick nod. “So maybe you won’t change again until the next full moon.” She did a little hop as her excitement seemed to build. “Or maybe you won’t change at all, not ever again. Maybe it was a one and done event.”
If only.
Gia dashed back to him. She stopped when their bodies were less than an inch apart. “I know why you came here tonight.”
He’d been avoiding her since the attack. Not answering her calls. Not going to the door when she knocked at his home. A total douche move, yes, but…
I wanted her safe. It was what he always wanted. The world was dark and twisted and dangerous. Gia was a breath of sunshine. He wanted her safe above all else, and if he was the most dangerous thing she faced…Then I can’t be near her.
“You came to break up with me.”
Yes, he had. To break up with her and to leave town. He would start a new outdoor business somewhere else. Somewhere very remote, provided, of course, that he didn’t wolf out and eat his customers.
Jeez, I hope that shit doesn’t happen. It would be terrible for business.
“You’re shutting me out because you’re scared.
But don’t you see, Oliver? That’s why you shouldn’t shut me out.
We’re supposed to be partners. Us against the world, you know?
So let me help you. Let’s figure this thing out together.
” Her voice held such passionate intensity.
“You aren’t the only one this has happened to in the history of time—you can’t be. We’ll find the wolf that bit you.”
She meant the werewolf that had bitten him. Because Oliver knew that had been no ordinary wolf.
“We’ll find experts who know what’s happening. We didn’t know the supernatural score before your attack. Fine. I think we should give ourselves a pass on that one. But now that we are aware, we can find people who do know more. They can help us.”
It wasn’t us that needed help. It was him. She was perfect.
“One night a month—what if that’s all it is? Or what if you never change again? You don’t need to leave. Stay with me.” She rose to her toes. Curled her hands behind his neck. Tugged him toward her. “Stay.” Her lips brushed against his. Her mouth opened.
Her vanilla scent wrapped around him, and her taste?
The sweetness was enough to make him go mad.
The kiss started slowly, tenderly, but as was always the case when he kissed her, desire surged in Oliver.
His hands curled around her, and he pulled her tightly against him.
Her full breasts pressed to his chest, and a low moan built in her throat.
Taste.
Take.
His heart pounded faster as he kissed her deeper. Harder. He wanted to strip off her clothes and drive into Gia. He’d come to her house thinking that this was his last time to ever see her, but she was offering herself to him. Offering him hope.
He was going to take it—take her.