The wolf let out a little yip so Maya raised her hand then stroked it over the fur of the wolf’s head. It was softer than it looked. The creature closed his eyes as if he was in seventh heaven and each time that Maya tried to take her hand back, he would nudge her gently again to get her to resume the strokes.
Maya chuckled. “Haven’t you had enough yet?”
As if she’d said the magic words, the air around the wolf shimmered and right before her eyes, Cole shifted back into his human form. His very naked human form.
“Wow,” Maya said, with a little shake of her head. “That was unbelievable.”
Cole chuckled. “My wolf is smitten. He didn’t want me to shift back—he thinks you might prefer that form. I had to fight with him for a moment there.”
Maya grinned, but then the reason for her visit came back to her and she checked Cole for injuries.
“Are you okay? When she said you were shot, I was terrified. I thought...” A lump rose in her throat, and she struggled to swallow it down. “I thought the worst.”
“I’m fine,” Cole assured her. He leaned over and showed her his hip. “See? It’s already healing.”
Maya sucked in a breath. “Who shot you?”
“One of Tony’s bodyguards. We surprised him when we burst through the door to Tony’s office and he fired his weapon.”
“Oh, my,” Maya breathed.
There was a large, angry looking dent on Cole’s hip that hadn’t been there before, but it looked like recent scar tissue rather than an open wound.
“How has it healed so quickly?”
“We have very fast metabolisms,” Cole explained. “Which means we have ravenous appetites, but also that we heal much more quickly than humans. In a few days’ time, this will be barely noticeable.”
“Have you been shot before?”
“No, thankfully. I gotta say though, it hurts like a… Well, I won’t say like what, let’s just say that it’s painful. The doctor said if the shot had been an inch to the right, it would have shattered my hip bone.”
Maya choked back a sob. She was right. He could have been killed. Because of her brother. Because ofher.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Cole said soothingly, reaching for her. “I’m fine, honestly.”
She slapped his arm. “You scared me!”
“Babe, come here,” he said, drawing her closer. “I’m all right, see?”
Maya nodded against his chest. Her breath hitched as she lifted her head to meet his gaze. “But what if you weren’t? We’ve only just met, I don’t want to lose you.”
“You’re not going to lose me, I promise. I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Cole leaned down and placed a kiss against her lips that had evidently meant to soothe. It started out a soft, gentle caress, but soon morphed into something far more intense. The kiss sent shockwaves of desire burning through Maya’s body and, as if he could sense the change in her, Cole growled against her lips and deepened the kiss until their teeth clashed, and Maya wasn’t sure which way was up. Cole forced her lips open with his thrusting tongue then the kiss became almost savage in its intensity.
“Maya,” Cole breathed against her lips. “Need you, babe.”
“Then take me,” she responded.
Another growl, this one more animal in nature. Cole ran his hands down her sides until he reached her ass then grabbed her cheeks and pulled her up against his straining erection.
When they’d had sex before, their lovemaking had been passionate but also gentle and romantic. This time was going to be nothing of the sort, and Maya didn’t want it to be. She was desperate to have Cole inside of her, desperate for the visceral undeniable proof that he really was alive and well.
Cole reached between them and pulled open the button on her jeans. He yanked down her zipper, and before she could move a muscle to help him, he had slid his hand into her briefs and was rubbing his fingers against her clit.
“Oh!” she gasped, her head falling back on her shoulders as Cole worked her body like a musician worked a prized instrument.
Just when Maya thought she couldn’t take another moment of friction without exploding, Cole lowered his fingers then slid one inside her, thrusting deep.
