“Of course you didn’t.” He held me tight, groaning into my skin. Then he slapped my backside and said, “All right then. On your way. Pay no attention to the trail, and if a wolf tries to eat you, well, I can promise it will work out very well for you.”
A giggle slipped over my lips as he smacked me again, pointing to the trees beyond the paved walking path. I had no idea what was happening. “Wait. What are we doing?”
“You have five minutes to get lost. Three if I remember that I haven’t woken up with your ass in my lap for days.”
I flattened my palms on his chest. “That sounds a little”—I swallowed an entire stress boulder—“risky.”
He brought his hands to his waist as he stared down at me, tapping his fingers against his belt the way he always did when he needed a minute to think. I liked that I knew his mannerisms now, his quirks. Like the way his brows arched and his lips curled and all his different smiles. The way his scruffy jawtightened and clenched and the way it felt under my palm. The way his entire expression could shift from light to dark, and all the things that meant.
“If you don’t want to get lost in the woods, Whit, you shouldn’t go in there.”
I took a step back when his words sank in. I nodded, shoving my hands in my jacket pockets. “You’re right.”
He understood my boundaries. He respected my limits. He heard me when I spoke. He cared about the things that were important to me. And that was why I walked right off the trail and into the woods.
It was a damn good thing I’d chosen running shoes this morning because I never would’ve made it in booties or anything with a heel. A real wilderness rescue would’ve been required within a minute.
It was darker in here, the canopy letting in fingers of light where the trees had given up their leaves. And it was quiet, the hum of the city fading away even more than on the trail.
I didn’t have a lot of experience with outdoorsy things, especially of the walking-in-woods variety, but I kept going. We were in the middle of Boston after all. There had to be a street on the other side of this.
While I was busy wondering where I’d end up if I did wander all the way through these woods, I failed to notice my wolf sneaking up behind me.
His arms came around my waist, pressing my back into his chest while I let loose a startled shriek. A hand covered my mouth and he leaned down to speak into my ear. “Can you be quiet for me?”
My pulse was hammering in my throat. I nodded. I didn’t know what I was agreeing to with that, but I knew I was safe with Henry—and that realization hit me harder than anythingelse that happened today. I trusted Henry, just as he’d told me I could.
He dropped his lips to my jaw and I stopped thinking. “That’s what I thought,” he said, his words growled into my skin. “You’re coming with me.”
He led me deeper into the woods, my hand swallowed up inside his. “Is this your kink? Chasing people through a forest?”
“My kink is doing anything to get you alone,” he said. “And I didn’t chase you. I found you. There’s a difference.” He pulled me behind a huge, grand tree. The trunk was so wide, Henry wouldn’t be able to get his arms halfway around. “Now, come here.”
My back met the bark and I reached for him, but he was already there, gathering me up and holding me close as our lips met. It was frantic and a little violent—I nipped him twice without meaning to—but I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop this any more than I could stop the final leaves of autumn from fluttering down around us.
“I’ve missed you,” he said into the corner of my mouth.
“I’ve missed you too.” I shoved my hand down the back of his shirt, trailing my palm over the muscles bunched and coiled there.
He scraped his teeth over my bottom lip as he rocked into me, his shaft thick and hard against my belly. He reached under my jacket and sweater, tracing the waistband of my leggings. “Missed talking to you,” he said between kisses. “Missed seeing you when I wake up. Didn’t even see you in the elevators this week.”
“Those elevators. They’re going to get us in trouble one of these days.”
“That won’t happen.”
“You’re going to start taking the stairs?”
He shook his head against my shoulder. “I won’t touch you there. You’ve worked too hard and everyone respects you too much. I’m not going to fuck it up like that.”
“That’s the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“Haven’t you noticed? Everyone admires the hell out of you.”
“Not everyone,” I murmured, running a hand down his torso.
“Because they’re intimidated. You get that, right? I’ll explain it if I have to but I’d rather do disrespectful things to you.”
I knew I had to tell him about the weddings today though there was no reason the cringey confession couldn’t wait until after the disrespectful things.
