“Claim her?”
“Mate.”
Huh? Ohhh.
Chloe looked at her and winked. “Wolves mate for life, you know.”
“The wolf is a hunter, the rabbit its prey… I will catch you.”
“And what happens then?”
“I get to keep you.”
Gina grinned.
“Anyway, Kelsey had been rude all evening, so things were tense between her and Dillon, which made it uncomfortable forthe rest of us,” Chloe said, and then shrugged. “Matt was just trying to lighten things up a bit. He gave her a growly.”
What the fuck is that?
“She lost it, then.” Katie glanced at the woman, her nostrils flaring. “Called Matt ‘Fido’, like he was some mangy, flea-infested dog.”
“He set her straight, though, didn’t he?” With a toss of her long beach waves, Chloe giggled.
“I was so fucking proud of him.” Turning to Gina, Katie held onto her arm and smiled. “You’ve got such a good man, Gina. Arealman, unlike the lame excuse for one Kelsey’s got with her now.”
Oh, I know.
Dressed in golf shorts and a polo amidst the throng of concert-goers, the man standing with thatputtanaappeared uncomfortable in his surroundings and woefully out of place. He tugged at his collar. Sweat beaded on his brow. Balding, and his features nondescript, Kelsey latched onto the guy like he might take off if she didn’t. Gina almost felt sorry for him.
Matthew McCready wasn’t just a gorgeous rock star. He was beautiful inside and out. A man of integrity, she’d describe him as kind, confident, and funny. Honest, authentic, and unapologetically himself, he was comfortable in his skin. An alpha through and through, the man who commanded her body with the slightest touch could never be anyone’s bitch boy.
Gina dipped her head into Teo’s ear. “What does primal mean?”
“Huh?” Dark eyebrows pulling together, his head flinched back. “That’s random. Basic urges. You know, instinct.”
“Not the general definition, silly.” She bit her lip. “Say you were at the Red Door.”
“Primal sex?” A pink hue crept across her brother’s cheeks, and unable to meet her gaze, Teo furtively glanced around, thencleared his throat. “Chrissakes, Gina, don’t be asking me about that shit.”
“Jeez, I was just curious.”
He expelled a loud breath and lowered his voice. “The definition still applies. Primal is savage and raw—unrestrained, unfiltered, uninhibited.”
“Like animals?”
His lips parting, Teo hesitated. He turned toward her, pupils dilated. “In a sense. But then, that’s what we truly are, isn’t it?”
The kabuki dropped.
And as the fog lifted from the stage, Matt saw her.
Bathed in flashing technicolor light, her pretty white dress glowed in red. With those beguiling eyes fixed on him, Gina looked up at him eagerly, and so adoringly, but not in the crazed fangirl kind of way he was accustomed to. In a sea of unknown faces, their heads banging, hands held high in the air, her intimate gaze screamed unspoken words deep into his chest.
I love you.
Matt knew that look. He’d seen it between Chloe, Jesse, and Taylor. Bo and Ava. But he’d never had it directed at him before. And for the first time in his life, the adrenaline rush of performing on stage was eclipsed by something even more profound and wondrous.
She loved him.
