Chapter 11
Wreck
“Was everything okay?” the waitress asked as she dropped the check onto the table.
“Yes, it was great,” Gia replied with a bright smile that damn near floored me.
I stared at her for half a second too long.
Again.
Everything about her kept hitting me like a fucking truck.
The soft flush in her cheeks from laughing earlier.
The way her dark hair curled around her shoulders.
The scent of her wrapping around me, sweeter now than it had been at the start of the night.
Honey and wildflowers and earth.
The Bear rumbled heavily beneath my skin.
Mine.
Fuck me, I was in trouble.
Because somewhere between the salad she ordered and the way she’d looked at me while sipping iced tea, I’d stopped being scared of wanting her and started being terrified of not having her.
I nodded roughly at the waitress and dropped enough cash on the table to cover the meal plus tip.
Then I stood and offered Gia my hand.
Honestly?
I couldn’t tell you if the food had been good or terrible because everything tasted like sawdust compared to the female sitting across from me.
The second her soft fingers slid into mine, the Bear calmed slightly.
Not enough.
Never enough.
But enough that I could breathe again.
“Oh,” Gia said softly, “I have to use the ladies’ room.”
I nodded immediately and walked her down the narrow hallway toward the back of The Joint where the bathrooms were tucked beside the kitchen.
The place had gotten louder over the course of the evening.
Music hummed low through the speakers now while locals crowded around the bar drinking beer and shouting over one another.
Smoke from the BBQ pit clung to the air alongside whiskey, sweat, and fried food.
Normal.
Usually comforting.
Tonight, every male in the room smelled like a potential threat.
Gia stopped outside the restroom door and looked up at me.
“You, uh, aren’t going in?” she asked carefully.
I blinked once before realizing I’d followed her all the way to the damn entrance.
Jesus Christ.
The Bear wanted to stay close.
Needed to.
“I’ll wait out here,” I muttered.
Her lips parted slightly.
“Um… okay.”
Then she bit her lower lip nervously.
My cock kicked hard against my jeans instantly.
Fuck.
The female was going to kill me.
She disappeared inside the restroom while I stayed planted outside the door like some psycho guard dog pretending I belonged there.
I dragged one hand through my hair and exhaled slowly.
Control.
Get your shit together.
This was just dinner.
Not mating.
Not claiming.
Not forever.
The Bear snarled immediately.
Liar.
I ignored it.
Barely.
The hallway suddenly filled with a scent I recognized.
Cheap perfume.
Artificial strawberry.
Bad decisions.
I looked up just as Stephanie sauntered around the corner.
Fuck.
Of course.
The bottle blonde grinned the second she spotted me.
“Well, well,” she purred loudly, “you looking for a little action tonight, Wreck?”
My entire body tightened immediately.
“No, Stephanie, I’m not.”
The female ignored that completely and stepped closer, anyway.
Stephanie was pretty in the overly polished way some women tried to be around Ember Hollow.
Tight jeans. Bleached hair. Heavy makeup.
We’d hooked up a handful of times over the last year when the Bear got too restless and I needed release badly enough to stop caring.
It never meant anything.
Never even came close.
And standing here now with Gia not ten feet away in the ladies’ room?
Stephanie’s scent suddenly smelled cloying and wrong.
The Bear recoiled in disgust.
Not mate.
Not ours.
Her hands flattened against my chest before I could step back.
Instantly the Bear surged.
Violent.
Territorial.
Get her off.
My lip curled slightly before I caught myself.
“Steph—”
A soft gasp cut through the hallway.
I turned immediately, shaking the female off, but not quick enough.
Gia stood outside the restroom entrance, just frozen in place.
And fuck.
The look on her face hit like a knife between the ribs.
Not rage.
Not jealousy.
Hurt.
Something inside me cracked violently.
“Oh,” Stephanie drawled loudly, following my gaze. “Is this why you’re turning me down?”
The female looked Gia up and down slowly.
Disdainfully.
“I guess we all like an extra-calorie snack once in a while.”
Her trashy little friend Barb barked out a laugh from behind her.
The world went dead silent inside my head.
The Bear snarled loudly.
Mine.
Threat.
Destroy.
Real fucking violence flashed through me so hard my vision blurred gold around the edges.
Gia flinched slightly.
Not from Stephanie.
From me.
The realization snapped me back just enough to stop myself from putting my fist through the wall.
Before I could speak, Gia stepped forward.
Calm.
Graceful.
Dangerously composed.
“Hi,” she said softly. “My name is Gia.”
Stephanie blinked.
“Oh. Um. I’m Stephanie.”
“Barb,” the other woman muttered.
“Nice to meet you both, I’m sure. If you’ll excuse us, dinner was a lot and I am beat.”
Gia looked up at me then, and the polite distance in her eyes nearly stopped my heart.
“Wreck, will you drive me home now, please?”
I couldn’t fucking move for a second.
Because her scent changed.
Sharp.
Citrus-bright.
She was hurt.
The Bear lost its mind.
No.
No no no.
Not her.
Not hurting.
I nodded immediately.
“Of course.”
Gia turned and walked away without another word.
I followed instantly.
Didn’t even look at Stephanie again.
Didn’t trust myself to.
Because if I stayed another second, I was going to do something ugly.
The ride back to her cabin was torture.
Gia sat angled toward the window, arms folded loosely across herself while silence swallowed the truck whole.
Her scent filled the cab.
Tangy.
Wounded.
My chest physically ached from it.
The Bear paced violently beneath my skin.
Fix it.
Protect her.
Mine.
I gripped the steering wheel harder.
“Gia—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
The words came quietly.
Too quietly.
“It’s not what you think.”
She laughed softly, without humor.
“Oh good. Because from where I was standing, it looked exactly like what I think.”
“It was before I met you, and it never meant anything. I swear to you, Gia—”
“Don’t. Just don’t. Look, tonight was just…”
She swallowed hard while staring out the window.
After a minute, she cleared her throat and clasped her hands in her lap.
“You know what? Let’s just chalk it up to a mistake, okay?”
Ice slid straight through my chest.
Mistake.
Fuck. Me.
“No,” I snapped instantly. “Gia, no.”
“I can’t do this. Goodbye, Wreck.”
But she was already reaching for the door before I’d fully parked outside her cabin.
Panic hit me so fast, my pulse roared.
The Bear surged violently.
Don’t let her leave.
Mine.
“Gia!”
She ignored me and hurried toward the porch.
Fuck this.
I killed the engine and bolted after her.
The mountain air hit cold against my skin while instinct drove every step faster.
She’d almost reached the door when I caught her wrist gently.
Too gently for how desperately the Bear wanted to drag her against my chest and scent her until she understood.
“Gia.”
She froze with her back to me, and when she finally turned and looked at me?
There were tears in her eyes.
Fuck.
No.
Pain ripped through my chest so hard I actually staggered slightly.
“I’m sorry, I have to go,” she whispered before I could speak. “I shouldn’t have assumed—”
“What?” I barked, horrified. “No. No, Honey. I’m sorry. Please, don’t go.”
The endearment slipped out naturally.
My Bear rumbled in approval.
I stepped closer carefully.
“I swear to you, I don’t give a fuck about Stephanie.”
Gia turned away immediately, shoulders stiffening. She tugged on my hold and I released her wrist, exchanging it for her hips.
My hands gripped her tightly, and I pulled her back into my body, needing the contact to ground me.
“Well, she seemed to think otherwise, Wreck and I just—I refuse to compete for your attention.”
“What? You’re not! There is no competition, Gia. I haven’t touched her in months.”
Truth.
“I didn’t call her over. I didn’t want her touching me tonight.”
Also truth.
The Bear snarled at the memory.
“You are the only woman I want.”
Mine.
Gia’s breathing hitched slightly.
“Then why were you acting like you didn’t want to be near me all night?”
The question gutted me.
Because how the fuck could I explain this without sounding insane?
My fingers tightened on her hips. I groaned at how good she felt.
Her soft body against my hard one was driving me wild.
Her scent.
Her heat.
Her magic nipping at me like little love bites every time we breathed and moved against one another.
I moved closer, flexing my hips and rubbing my harder than steel cock against her sweet ass.
It was impossible not to.
“Because being near you makes me crazy.”
She gasped, looking over her shoulder to see me, eyes widening slightly.
I swallowed hard.
“You think I didn’t notice every male in that restaurant staring at you?” I growled quietly. “You think I didn’t spend the entire night trying not to drag you into my lap every time you smiled at me?”
Heat flushed across her cheeks instantly.
The scent of her changed again.
Warmer now.
Sweeter.
The Bear surged desperately toward it.
Need.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I admitted roughly. “But the second I scented you in that fire everything changed.”
Gia stared up at me silently.
The porch light cast soft gold across her skin while mountain wind lifted strands of dark hair around her face.
Beautiful.
Mine.
She pulled against my hold, and I didn’t want to, but I allowed it.
I loosened my grip, and she turned to face me fully.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said hoarsely.
Something fragile shifted in her expression then.
“I know.”
Relief crashed through me so hard my knees nearly weakened.
The Bear pushed harder immediately.
Closer.
Touch her.
I reached up slowly.
Gave her time to pull away.
She didn’t.
My rough fingers brushed one tear from beneath her eye.
The second I touched her skin, the world tilted sideways.
The bond slammed through me.
Hard.
Violent.
Need exploded low in my gut so fast I actually growled.
Gia gasped softly.
Her scent flooded the air instantly.
Need.
Want.
Female.
Mine.
The Bear lost every remaining ounce of control.
Before I could think better of it, I had her pressed gently against the cabin door with my mouth crashing down onto hers.
And the second she kissed me back?
I knew I was completely, utterly fucked.