Chapter Eight
Gia was alive. Alive and beautiful and warm and in his arms. She was kissing him and stroking his arms and shoulders. Murmuring that she’d “missed him, dammit” and to “not ever do stupid shit again” as their mouths met and released in wild kisses.
Part of him feared that this was a dream.
Another vision to drive him mad. But even if it was just a vision, Oliver wasn’t going to let her go.
He was taking her because he’d longed for her so many days and nights.
When the change would sweep over him and his bones would break and the beast would howl, she’d been the only thing that got him through that hell.
He would think of her. Imagine her. And he could have peace.
“I shouldn’t do this,” Gia said as her head pulled back. Her lips were swollen from his desperate kisses. Her dark eyes gleaming with a need to match his own. “But I’ve missed you so much. What could once hurt? For old time’s sake?”
“Not just once.” He wanted forever. He’d get it. But if she wanted to take things one day—or one fuck—at a time, they’d do it. They would do whatever she wanted. “I love you,” he told her. She needed to understand exactly how he felt.
She kissed him again.
He should take her to her bedroom, wherever that was. Carry her and be amazing. Sweep her off her feet. Caress her and give her a dozen orgasms with his hands and his mouth.
And he’d do that…
After I get control back.
Because his control was broken. Shattered.
The memory of her dying in his arms, of the wrenching pain that had nearly destroyed him beat at his mind.
Oliver had to be sure Gia was safe. Alive.
He had to feel her all around him. Needed to hear her moans and see her pleasure. Needed to feel all of her.
So he stripped her right there. Beneath the lights of her Christmas tree. The scent of pine filled the air. Soft Christmas music drifted from her speakers—he’d noticed the light music when he first followed her into the apartment. Her clothes hit the floor, and he realized…
“Sorry,” Oliver gasped because his claws had just cut through the straps of her bra.
She looked at the bra on the floor. Then back up at him. “You didn’t cut me.”
“I would never.”
“Glad you finally realize that.” She kicked away her shoes and jeans and underwear and— “Thought this would save me from getting my clothes slashed.”
Gia was naked. Her body gleamed like the best present in the world beneath those lights.
Her breasts were full, her nipples tight and hard, and he needed them in his mouth.
His hands—tipped with claws—curled around her waist, and he lifted her up against him.
Lifted her high and didn’t feel her weight at all because his enhanced strength was back.
He took a nipple into his mouth and licked her and sucked her and had her squirming against him.
Then he gave the second nipple the same sensual attention. Her nails sank into his shoulders as she moaned and demanded more.
He’d give her more. More and more always.
His cock shoved at the front of his jeans. Gia had pushed away his coat, but he still had on his shirt and jeans. They needed to go, ASAP.
He pushed her against the nearest wall. Caged her there with one hand on her hip as his other dipped between her legs. She was wet and hot. “There…hasn’t been anyone else for me,” he told her roughly. Oliver wanted her to understand. “There will always…only be you.”
Her long lashes lifted. “No one else for me. Even when I was pissed and considered going out to find a revenge fuck.”
A growl tore from him. His touch became harder, more possessive.
“Like I could do that,” she whispered. “Not who I am. And I only wanted you.”
He would die wanting her. But for now, he’d be fucking her.
Her hands slid between them. Jerked open the button and zipper on his jeans. His cock sprang into her hot hands, and she stroked him. Pumped him and squeezed. His teeth snapped together. “Gia…”
“We’ll go slow on the second round. Maybe the third,” she amended breathlessly. “But for now, it’s been a long time, and I really need you.” She did a shimmy, angled her hips, and the head of his cock pushed at the tender opening of her body. “Oliver?”
He looked into her eyes. Saw his world. She stared back at him with faith. Trust. He knew his own eyes would be glowing with the power of the beast. The wolf wanted her—because he was the beast. Cael had been right on that. In the form of man or wolf, Oliver was the same.
And she was his.
He sank into her. Sank as deep as he could go and they both shuddered because it had been too long and the sex between them had always been too good.
There was no more talking. There was only the thud of flesh.
Pounding and need. Kisses that took and lust that ignited hotter and hotter with every moment.
Her breath panted out. His cock drove relentlessly into her and when she came, he felt the sudden contraction of her core as she squeezed his dick.
Her mouth parted, and Gia choked out his name as the pleasure lashed across her face and tightened her body.
He kept thrusting, wanting to make the orgasm even stronger for her. Wanting to give her everything. Just as she gave him everything. His orgasm exploded through his body, the powerful release rippling through every nerve and cell, and Oliver roared her name.
Her neighbors probably freaking hated them, but at that moment, he couldn’t care. All he could do was hold onto her as tightly as he could…
And since he was a werewolf, that was pretty damn tight.
***
Gia opened her eyes. She was in bed. Darkness was all around her. Her body ached in an ever-so-wonderful way, but for just a moment, she was afraid.
Fear wasn’t new. For the past few months, she’d often woken afraid. Afraid that he’d do something else. Afraid that an attack would come.
But this fear was different. This time, Gia feared…Was it a dream?
The door squeaked open. She jerked upright even as a frightened cry rose to her lips—
“Baby?” Oliver’s voice. His warm, rich, wonderful voice. The voice she’d missed over the last year. “I was just making sure all of the doors and windows were locked. I was coming right back.”
No dream.
Light trickled into the room from the open door.
Part of her—a very, very big part—wanted to just lift her hand to Oliver in invitation and pull him into the bed with her.
She remembered now that he’d carried her into the bed after the amazing sex in the den.
Carried her in there and tucked her under the covers as if she was something precious to him.
She’d drifted off to sleep moments later because she’d felt safe for the first time in a while. But…
She didn’t offer her hand to him because while that was a temptation, Gia knew that they needed to talk.
One of those big, life-changing talks. So she sat up.
Tucked the sheet beneath her arms and made sure it covered her naked breasts.
Once she was satisfied that she wouldn’t go flashing Oliver, she reached over to turn on the lamp.
He wore jeans as he stood in her bedroom doorway. Jeans and nothing else. His chest was even more muscled than she remembered. Lickable, killer abs. A body made for sin. And danger.
Do not drool. “We need to talk.” Yes, she’d jumped onto him in the den. A Christmas Eve sex weakness? Or a just weakness for the one man she loved? Didn’t matter. There were bigger issues at play… “How do you know I’m in danger? You haven’t been in my life. You shouldn’t know.”
His head dipped down.
She held her breath as she waited for his answer.
The silence and tension in the room ticked past. “Gia…” He finally raised his head and looked at her. “Do you believe in angels?”
She considered the question. “Of course.” No hesitation.
He blinked in surprise.
Gia had to laugh. “My lover is a werewolf. Did you seriously think I wouldn’t believe in angels?”
“Cael would freaking love you,” Oliver said as he took several quick steps toward the bed.
She tensed. “Who is Cael?”
“My guardian angel. Or, rather, my wannabe guardian angel. Maybe he was an angel intern, never did get the full title for the guy. If things work out with me, he’s supposed to get his wings.
” Oliver raked a hand over his face. “He’s the reason I know you’re in danger. He gave me a glimpse earlier tonight.”
“A glimpse of what?” Gia was trying to follow along, but he’d lost her.
“A glimpse of what could happen if I got my wish. See, I wandered into his bar, and he was there.”
“Okay. You went into a bar and met an angel.” Her nostrils flared. “This had better not be a joke because it feels like a joke, and I am not in the mood.”
He sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped. “We both know I can’t tell jokes for shit. The only person in the world who can ever make me really laugh and smile—it’s you.”
That was sweet.
His hand rose. Curled under her chin. Held her so carefully. “He asked me to make a wish. I wished that I hadn’t been a werewolf.”
“Guessing that wish didn’t come true,” she managed to say. “Because I did catch sight of the claws earlier.” The claws. The sharper teeth. The glowing eyes. She’d even felt his muscles stretching and hardening all over. The wolf had been present when they made love, but she hadn’t been scared.
She’d never been scared of him.
“I had a glimpse,” he said again. “In that glimpse, you were there.”
She waited for more.
But he was just staring into her eyes. “You’re the most beautiful thing in my world. Always have been.”
She smiled. “Focus, Oliver.”
His gaze slid to her cheek. “I missed that dimple.”
“The dimple missed you, too, but focus.”
His smile slipped out. It made her heart do a funny flutter because he had always seemed to smile so easily with her. She hadn’t even realized he was different with other people, not until later in their relationship.
A jerky nod from him. “Focus. I’m trying. I just missed you so damn much.”
And I missed you. “You were saying I was ‘there’—but where is that? I don’t understand.”
“You were in the glimpse. I thought if I could be just a human, I could go back to you. I wouldn’t be a freak, and you’d want me again.”
Her hands lifted quickly, and the sheet almost dropped. She pressed her palms to his stubble-covered cheeks. “Listen carefully. I never thought you were a freak, and I have always wanted you.”
She felt the sheet inching down, so she let him go. Adjusted things.
Oliver exhaled. “I was shown what would happen if I lost the wolf. In the glimpse, you were here, in Mistletoe Falls.”
“Well, I did recently move here so…”
“I met you at the Christmas tree lot down the road earlier tonight. You were picking out your tree.”
A shiver slid over her. “I was at the tree lot earlier tonight. It’s where I got Clark W. Griswold.” Her tradition. Kind of weird and off-kilter, but it was what it was. She always named her Christmas trees after favorite characters from holiday movies. “I was there, but you weren’t.”
His jaw firmed. “I met you there.” A slight pause. “I terrified you there.”
She laughed.
He didn’t. “You pepper sprayed me. You didn’t know me. Because I wasn’t a werewolf, we’d never met.”
“Uh, yeah…” Now she was starting to worry. “Did you hit your head tonight? Because we met long before you became a werewolf.”
“Turns out, the whole life I had was because I was a werewolf, whether latent or not. You take the wolf away, and everything changed. There was never an us, and I was a tax attorney. Apparently, I had quite a collection of suits, and I loved audits.”
A laugh exploded from her.
“That shit is not funny,” he groused. “Know what else isn’t funny? You ran from me. I found you later so I could explain, or try to explain the craziness but…” His voice trailed away.
“Don’t leave me hanging on the good part.”
“We were on the sidewalk outside of your building. You’d gone to the hot chocolate shop right down the road and were coming home. I stopped you and we were talking, but then I saw fear on your face.”
“I was scared of you?”
“You were scared of the man behind me,” Oliver told her flatly. “The man with the gun. The man who shot and killed you while I was right there.”