Chapter 6
Tuesday followed him to one of the big-box home improvement stores on the way home, because he told her he needed to pick up a few things.
But then he loaded up a huge lumber cart with two-by-fours, nails, sheet rock, joint compound, and plywood.
And he didn’t answer her questions about what he was building. He didn’t refuse to answer, he just changed the subject and talked about something else.
It wasn’t until she was helping him move everything from the cart to the truck that he told her he was building her a closet.
“I have a schematic from Matty to show you when we get home, and a website with professional-grade stuff. He showed me the three styles I should show you on the website, and said to let you decide which style you want. We’ll do it once we’re home. ”
“And you waited until you’d bought the lumber to tell me this, to keep from telling you to hold off on doing this, right?”
He grinned. “It’s nice to be understood.”
She followed him home, through the gate, and wondered how she’d get into it if she needed to come home when he wasn’t there.
He backed his truck up to the door while she parked where she usually did, and when she tried to help him carry things upstairs, he told her, “I’m just going to carry one load up for now, while we’re headed up anyway.
Just bring your suitcase and the small bag, since I’ll need the chalk when we get up there. ”
Once upstairs, he marked lines on the hardwood floor, measuring as he went, drawing the two walls he’d build to close in some of the space beside the bathroom.
And then he handed her four sheets of paper and told her, “Matty said you might want less shoe storage and more hanging bars, or less bars and more shelves, maybe more drawers and less shelves.”
“Yeah,” she said, after looking through the pages. “Less shoe storage, more drawers.”
He nodded, motioned for her to sit on the sofa with him, opened his laptop, and went to the site Matty had given him.
She chose the style she wanted, and then she took the laptop from him and used the site planner to create the walls the way she wanted them. When she got to the shopping cart, he took it back from her, and she said, “No, you can’t pay for all of that.”
It was thousands of dollars because it was truly good stuff, and she hadn’t picked the cheapest design because she thought she’d be paying for it.
But the look he gave her told her she wasn’t paying for it.
She was opening her mouth to argue when she realized she was going to have to let him pay for it.
He was still reeling from her leaving the pack for him, still angry, still working through it.
She was going to have to let him win a few rounds until he worked through it. Not forever, but for a little while.
But then five minutes later, she argued when he refused to let her help carry the lumber upstairs.
But he ended the argument by telling her, “If you want to help, get a fire going in the firepit, so we can do hot dogs and then s’mores.”
She stared at him, trying to figure out whether she wanted to keep arguing, and she figured she could either build the fire or watch him build it later.
So she built it and then banked it, so it was mostly glowing coals with small flickering flames, and she’d gathered everything needed for hot dogs first and s’mores later by the time he came outside, shirtless and in jeans, which did all kinds of things for her libido.
They built their hot dogs with cheese, relish, mayo, and ketchup — and Knife seemed to enjoy using ketchup in as many sentences as possible. Somehow, they went from roasting marshmallows to turning them into flaming torches for fun.
Eventually, they ended up with her curled in his lap in a large Adirondack chair while he talked about how things work when the club goes on a long bike ride. The rules for how to act in public, all the safety precautions to take.
Darkness fell slowly, then all at once. Their kissing grew deeper and hungrier, until it was about to be more, and he pulled back enough to look at her, eyes dark with intent.
Without a word, he settled her in another chair, dumped water on the fire, spread the coals to make sure it was truly out, scooped her back into his arms, and carried her inside, straight to the huge chaise lounge in the living room.
He laid her down gently before stripping off her jeans and underwear all at once. Her shirt. Her bra. He only took an impatient second to drop his own jeans and underwear, and then he settled over her, his warm, solid weight settled over her, pressing her into the chaise cushions.
His mouth found hers again in a slow, deep kiss that melted her from the inside out.
There was no rush, no demand — none of the fury of the night before.
Just the quiet, devastating way his lips controlled hers while his tongue stroked tenderly, like he was savoring every second of having her back where she belonged.
His hand cupped her face, thumb brushing her cheekbone with surprising gentleness, and then both hands roamed her body with reverence, tracing the welts and bruises he’d left earlier.
When he finally pressed inside her, it was slow and easy, filling her inch by inch until they were completely joined.
His gaze never left hers, and she felt him everywhere — not just his cock stretching her, not just the friction, but more.
Their auras danced together and tried to merge, like two flames coming together.
The connection was electric and tender at the same time, wrapping around her heart and soul.
For long, perfect minutes he moved inside her with deep, fluid strokes, every thrust a promise, every kiss a vow she felt in her soul.
She clung to him, legs wrapped around his waist, fingers buried in his hair, lost in the slow-building pleasure and the overwhelming feeling of being completely, safely loved.
Pleasure built slowly, steadily, until it crested in a long, rolling orgasm that seemed to go on forever.
She gasped his name as wave after wave washed through her, her body trembling, her heart wide open.
He followed her over moments later with a low, guttural groan, pulsing deep inside her while he held her, and then stroked her.
They lay like that for a long time — joined, breathing together, hands gently stroking skin, neither wanting to move. She fell asleep wrapped in his arms, her legs wrapped around him with his cock still inside her, safe and loved and completely his.
When she woke the next morning, she was in his bed, tucked under the covers with his warm body curled around her from behind. Sunlight filtered softly through the windows. His hand rested possessively over her right breast, and his slow, even breathing told her he was still sound asleep.
She wanted to stay right there forever, but her bladder had other ideas. The second she tried to ease away from him, his arm clamped down around her waist, pulling her back against his chest with a low, sleepy growl.
“I need to pee,” she told him, and he pulled her closer a second before letting her go. He was sitting on the side of the bed when she came out of the bathroom, and he told her, “I’m hoping to get the walls built today, and a good bit of the sheetrock work complete.”
“I can help,” she told him, but he shook his head. “I work better alone for this kind of thing. Do you have some work you need to do? I can give you an account on my laptop if you need it.”
“I brought my laptop, just need access to your Wi-Fi. I’m close to doing another big filming day, so I can finalize the opening scripts and my grocery list.”
She noted he was putting pants on with lots of pockets, and a loop for maybe a hammer.
“I’ll get a quick shower,” she said, “and then I’ll run down and cook some steak and eggs. Maybe some biscuits. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”
She heard him moving things around upstairs while she cooked, but he came right down when she called up that it was ready.
He moved to clean up after they ate, but she shooed him off to build her closet, and she put the kitchen to rights before she sat down at her laptop.
First things first, she needed to know how long she’d have her own kitchen to film in. She’d have it for this next session, but with seven months left on her lease, a lot depended on the complex’s management.
She pulled up the lease agreement and read the early termination clause, did the math twice, and decided it was worth a phone call to see if she could negotiate something better.
She asked for the manager when the first person wasn’t interested in softening the penalties to break it early, but the woman’s boss gave the same answer, so she thanked him nicely and ended the call.
She knew damned well they’d rent her apartment out within two months, so she was fine with paying an extra two months, maybe even three, but they wanted way more than that.
But she wasn’t desperate, and this just meant she could keep her channel consistent without having to tell her viewers she’d moved for that much longer.
She switched from coffee to lemon water and got down to business finalizing her opening scripts, the bullet points to hit during each video, and which of her other videos to point to at the end of each.
When she finished, she looked through Knife’s cabinets and freezer, found some mason jars marked ‘Tomatoes’, and they looked like a home canning job.
She found ground beef in the fridge, along with mushrooms, and plenty of garlic and onions stored with his other root vegetables.
She checked his spice cabinet and then headed upstairs.
“You mind if I use two of your mason jars of tomatoes to make spaghetti? You have everything I need.”
Two-by-fours were up where the walls would be, and he was attaching sheet rock to them.
“Yeah, that’d be great. Use whatever you need, and if you can’t find something, ask.”
Her phone was in her pocket, and it rang. She pulled it out and saw her dad’s picture, and answered.
“Dad! Is everything okay? I figured you’d be at training camp?”
“You had to know we’d find out. What were you thinking? It isn’t safe out there for a lone wolf.”
“And finding out after the fact!” her mother said. “You should’ve at least talked to us about it before you just…” her voice broke on a sob. Her mother was crying, which was why her father had called.
“I didn’t think it was an option for a long time,” she told them.
“And then when I realized it was, that I could go to Cora instead of Kenny…” She knew Knife could hear them from across the room, but put it on speakerphone anyway, just to be clear she wasn’t hiding anything from him, and she continued.
“There was no point in arguing with you about it, once I’d decided. ”
It was the cold, hard truth, and her dad would appreciate that even if her mother would not.
“This is—” Her mother’s voice caught on another sob. “Tuesday, this isn’t something you do for a man, turning your back on who you are. You can’t take it back. You know that, right? Once those bonds are severed—”
“I know.” She kept her voice steady. “I know exactly what I did. I’m not confused about it.”
“He asked you to do this?” Her father’s voice had dropped into the register she recognized as full of danger. He might be human, but he could be more formidable than most wolves.
“Not only did he not ask me to do it, but he was furious when he found out what I’d done.
” She paused and met Knife’s gaze. “He’d decided to give it three months, and then he was going to leave his club so we could be together.
I didn’t know that, but I didn’t tell him my plans, either.
We’re going to do better at communicating in the future. ”
Silence on the other end, and then her mother sobbed out, “A biker! Tuesday!”
“Yes.” She didn’t offer anything else.
“Your grandmother says he works in the club’s butcher shop,” her dad said.
Her dad seemed to be trying to understand who this man she’d fallen in love with is, at least, so Tuesday told him, “I look forward to introducing you to him. I love him. I know exactly who and what he is, and I’m…
he’s my mate. My wolf chose him long before I realized how hopelessly in love with him I am.
I tried to walk away, but it didn’t work, and now we’re together.
” She took a breath. “I hope, when you meet him, you’ll see how perfect we are for each other. ”
A pause, and then, “I’ll figure out how to come with your mom when she goes for the next moon run.”
And that was a big deal, leaving town this time of year, but she only said, “Thank you, Dad. I love you both. I didn’t go into this with my eyes closed. Sometimes, every option sucks, and you just have to do the hard, impossible thing in order to get the life you want.”
When she disconnected the call, Knife kept working, lining up the drywall and checking the edges while he said, “I’d still do just about anything to switch things around, but you acted first, and clearly, you aren’t going to let me talk you out of it.”
“No. I don’t want to change you. I love who you are.”
He turned to face her, still holding the drywall sheet against the studs. “I loved who you were and still love who you are.”
She glared at him while trying to figure out how to explain the difference, but thankfully, he changed the subject. “I know your dad’s human since he played in the NFL, and because you told me he is, but he sounded a lot more like a wolf than a human.”
She grinned. “Yeah. He’s a badass. Even Kenny and Boone treat him with respect.”
He glanced at her and then looked back to his task. “We’ll invite them here for dinner when they come to town.”
She breathed out in relief. “Thank you. I want them to see where I’m living, but Dad will want to pay for dinner, and I find it’s best to let him, so the first meeting will need to be in the restaurant.”
“Totally up to you. Tell me where and when, and I’ll be there.
” He held a screw against the drywall while pulling an electric screwdriver from a pocket.
“I’ll move my bikes forward, so you can park your car in the garage,” he said while using the screwdriver, which was surprisingly quiet.
“Unless you stop and have it washed on your way here, I figure you have a garage for it at your apartment.”
His garage was big enough for four cars, but it was two wide and two deep, so the first two cars would be trapped inside by the second two. And he had what looked like a woodworking workshop in one of the trapped bays, so there was only room for two cars and his bikes.
“I do have a garage, and thank you. The SUV is used to living outside.”
“One thing at a time, but I’ll add a carport to the side of the garage, and my truck can go under the carport.”
He really was going to have to let her help pay for some of the additions, but they’d have that discussion later.