Chapter 29 #2
“That’s not why I’m sorry.” He shifted position, drawing closer. “I’ve been a motherloving idiot, Honey. I’m sorry I ever asked you to pretend. I should have made this real, right from the start.”
His dark gaze held her hypnotized. She’d seen that look before.
When they’d kissed under the moon, and later, in a dozen fleeting moments.
She’d thought he’d been faking, but he hadn’t.
She knew that now, at a bone-deep level.
The look in his eyes sparked an answer in her own body that couldn’t be faked.
She’d just been too hurt, too afraid to trust her own feelings, to let herself see what had been there all along.
“Honey.” There was nothing sweet about the way he said her name. It was harsh with need, raw and primal. He was close now, so close. “Tell me what you want, Honey.”
“I want to make this real,” she whispered. “If you do.”
“I want you.” He cupped her face, fingers sliding through her hair. “I have always wanted you. And from this moment on, you will fake absolutely nothing .”
A shard of sense sliced through her fog of lust. Because of course there was one thing that she would still have to fake, no matter what he said. And that made her remember—
“Wait!” Her palms slammed against his bare chest. He froze, mouth a fraction of an inch from hers. “Buck, what about your mate?”
He drew back, sudden wariness flashing across his face. “What?”
“You’re a shifter.” She saw his mouth twist, and hurriedly rushed on, “You must have a true mate somewhere out there.”
His expression was rapidly sliding toward a much more familiar exasperation. “Honey, you are half naked in my bed. Believe me, I do not care about any other woman right now. Or at any other time, for that matter.”
“You say that now, but that’s only because you haven’t met her.
” She braced her arms, holding him off as he tried to lean in again.
“What if you do, one day? No matter how we feel about each other, I can’t be your perfect match.
You said shifters never make a mistake with their mates. And your animal knows I’m not yours.”
Buck let out a long, aggrieved sigh. He sat back, and for a moment she thought she’d won the argument.
Then, in a blur of movement, Buck was on her, hands pinning her wrists on either side of her head. The rough denim of his jeans rasped against her bare skin. He looked down at her, face inches from her own, with eyes gone black and feral.
“Honey,” he growled. “When have you ever known me to give a flying fuck what my animal thinks?”
His mouth claimed hers. All her uncertainty vanished, burned away by the fire of that kiss. Nothing—no fated mate, no mystic connection—could be more right than this.
She arced up to him, kissing him back with equal urgency. His hands loosened on her wrists, moving to frame her face. She linked her hands behind his neck, pulling him down as his fingers tangled in her hair.
Buck broke off abruptly, pulling away a little. He stared down at her, chest heaving for breath.
“Hold that thought,” he said, voice gone ragged and rough. He pushed himself off her, standing up. “Be right back.”
“Buck?” Honey struggled to her elbows, head still spinning from the intensity of that kiss. “What—?”
He was already gone, striding bare-chested out into the night. True to his word, he returned a minute later, while she was still blinking after him in muzzy bafflement. He shut the door, locking it, then looked around.
“Perimeter seems secure.” Buck raked a hand through his hair. “Better search the area too. Give me a second.”
“Uh…” Honey said as he jerked his closet open. “Buck, what are you doing?”
He subjected his clothes to deep, suspicious scrutiny. “Checking for kids.”
“In your closet?”
“Can’t be too careful.” Apparently satisfied that one of the campers had not inexplicably teleported into his t-shirts, Buck shut the closet again. He bent to peer under the bed. “You see anyone in the bathroom earlier?”
“Buck, there was barely room for me in there. I think I would have noticed a wombat.”
He grunted, and went to check the bathroom anyway.
“I told you so,” she said when he re-emerged, wombatless. “Are you done?”
He grabbed the edge of his desk, muscles flexing. “Almost.”
Honey watched in increasing disbelief as he hauled the desk over in front of the door. “Oh, now you’re being ridiculous. Don’t you think that’s a little over the top?”
“With those kids?” He stood back, surveying his impromptu barricade with an expression of mild disgruntlement. “Not even remotely. I’m only sorry I haven’t got time to put up an electric fence.”
“Come back to bed, Buck.”
“Couldn’t keep me away.” Despite his words, he hesitated. “We’re both meant to be howling at the moon right about now. If anyone does come snooping around, we want it to look like nobody’s home. Much as I want to admire every damn inch of you, we should turn off the light.”
She would rather have been able to admire him too, but he was right. With a pang of regret, she nodded agreement. “Good thinking.”
He gazed down at her for a long moment more, as though trying to imprint the sight in his mind. Then he flicked the light switch.
“Well now,” he said in the sudden darkness, sounding both surprised and pleased. “Never thought I’d say this, but this damn curse is good for one thing, at least. Forgot I could see in the dark.”
“I wish I could.” Even knowing exactly where Buck was, she couldn’t make out as much as his silhouette. “I can’t see you at all.”
A whisper of movement. His hands closed over hers. Gently, he guided her hands up, flattening them against his body.
“I’m right here,” he whispered.
Hard muscle flexed against her palms. Tentatively, she moved her hands across the planes of his chest, still hardly able to believe that this was happening.
Buck’s hands stayed spread over hers. Not guiding her exploration, or urging her downward; just keeping her there, pressed against his skin.
His mouth brushed her cheek. She turned into the kiss, opening to him as she learned the shape of his body. She followed the line of his collarbone to the hard swell of his shoulder. Her fingertips brushed his scar, and she felt him flinch.
She pulled back immediately. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Buck drew her back to him, returning her hands to his torso. “And don’t stop.”
She let her hands slide lower. He sucked in a sharp breath, abs clenching tight under her touch.
“I knew it,” she teased him. “You are ticklish.”
“Not even remotely.” His hands left hers, finding the edge of her t-shirt. “And I’m not patient, either. Take this off.”
She obediently raised her arms. Soft cotton slid over her skin as he pulled the t-shirt over her head.
“Damn,” he breathed, making the curse sound like a prayer. His fingertips skimmed down her waist, her hips, tracing her outline. “Honey.”
Her eyes were starting to adjust to the faint moonlight filtering through the closed curtain. She could make out the line of his shoulders now, and a little of his face.
“I wish I could see you properly,” she murmured.
“Next time.” His hand ran up her spine. “Believe me, you’re going to have plenty of opportunity.”
He pulled her closer, finding her mouth again. She gasped, pleasure shooting through her as her nipples brushed against his chest. Buck made a low growl, tongue thrusting into her with greater urgency.
His hand moved lower, gripping the curve of her ass. He pulled her tight against his body, dragging another gasp from her lips. She could feel how hard he was through his jeans. His hips flexed, grinding against her, and a fresh wave of need clenched her core.
She was too impatient to fumble around in the dark for his fly. Instead, she hooked a finger into the waistband, tugging. Buck didn’t need any further encouragement. Never breaking the kiss, he stripped off so fast, she wondered for a split second if he’d made his clothes vanish with shifter magic.
The thud of denim hitting the far wall showed he hadn’t. And then all thought disappeared, because he was pressing against her again, bare this time, so she could feel his whole glorious length.
“Honey,” he gasped, his slick tip sliding over her belly, the base of his shaft grinding in just the right place to make fire shoot through her veins. “I wanted to—do this slow, but— fuck .”
“Next time,” she gasped, already almost over the edge. “Oh God. Now, Buck, please. ”
His hands curved under her thighs. She’d expected him to push her back onto the bed, but instead he lifted her, effortlessly, as though she weighed nothing at all.
Her back hit the cabin wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist as his length slid through her slick folds, searching. And then he was there, inside her, filling her at last.
She cried out, clenching around him. He made a guttural, wordless noise, fingers digging into her thighs. He drew back; surged forward, slamming into her.
“Honey.” His mouth was at her throat, hot and frenzied. “ Honey .”
She clawed at his back, lost to the same animal need. One more thrust, and she was shattering around him, biting his shoulder to stop herself from crying out.
His teeth pressed into her neck as she fell apart. The pinch of the bite increased, teetering on the edge of pleasure and pain—and then he wrenched his mouth away from her skin with a snarl.
“No,” he gasped, forehead pressed against her shoulder. And then, straining into her, “Yes. Fuck, yes. Honey!”
With one final shudder, he went still. Honey collapsed against him, limp and panting.
“Don’t put me down,” she mumbled, aftershocks still sparking through her. “I can’t feel my legs.”
Buck shifted his grip, holding her more gently. “I have no intention of ever putting you down, woman.”
Nonetheless, he carried her over to the bed. Still locked together, he managed to maneuver them both down to the mattress, him on top. Honey let herself sink back under his weight, feeling deliciously languorous.
Buck pushed her hair back from her neck. His fingertips traced the place where he’d almost bitten her.
“You’d better not have given me a hickey,” she murmured. “There’s a limit to how much I want the kids to know.”
“You’ll be all right. There’s no mark.” He pressed a kiss to her neck, in a way that felt curiously like an apology. “I’ll be more careful next time.”
“You’d better not,” she told him sternly, and felt his laugh whisper across her skin.
“Careful. Wouldn’t want my masculine pride getting over-inflated.” With a sigh, he pulled out at last, rolling off her. “Much as I’d love next time to be right now, I’d better go find my handcuffs.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Not that I’m objecting, but I think that’s the kind of thing we should discuss first. Ideally while fully clothed.”
He swatted her thigh. “Not for you, woman. Me. I’ve still got a motherloving monster in my head, remember?
After tonight, I’m pretty sure the damn mutt isn’t going to be satisfied with just hanging out on your roof.
If I don’t chain myself to my bed, you’re likely to wake up to find it draped across you like a giant furry blanket. ”
Privately, Honey thought that sounded rather nice. She knew better than to say that to Buck, though.
“I can’t go back to my cabin yet,” she said. “We’re meant to be frolicking in the moonlight, remember?”
“Good point.” He sank back to the bed, drawing her against his side. “Kids and their motherloving schemes. I don’t know whether to tan their hides or send them a gift basket. Damn it, woman, I can barely keep my eyes open. You wrung me out like a rag.”
“I could say the same.” She rested her head on his chest, drowsiness making her whole body heavy. “I suppose we shouldn’t take a nap.”
“I’d better not, or else this bed is likely to become abruptly overcrowded.” His arm tightened around her. “You go ahead and get some rest, though. We can stay like this for a while.”
She closed her eyes, listening to his slow, steady heartbeat.
It couldn’t last, she knew. The relationship might be real, but only within the bounds of the camp. They still came from different worlds. And she would never belong to his.
But still…
“Yes,” she whispered. “Just for a while.”