“But as long as I live and breathe,” I growled, “no other fucking man willeverget within two feet of you. NEVER. Not Sam. Not Damien. Not anyone. They’ll have to go through me first, and I promise you, they won’t survive the attempt.”
Her hands slammed onto my chest, not shoving me back but clutching the fabric of my shirt, nails scraping through to dig into my pecs as she yanked me closer.
“What the fuck, Caelan?” Her voice was breathless. “I’m not a possession.”
“You’re not.” My lips brushed hers as I spoke, the barest touch. “But you are mine, Riley. Just as I’m yours. And there’s nothing either of us can do about that.”
She made this sound, half-moan, half-gasp, that hit me straight in the gut. My wolf surged up, howling inside my skull in triumph.
I hooked my hands under her thighs, fingers sinking into the soft flesh just above her knees, and hoisted her up onto the table with one smooth lift. The wood creaked under her weight as I stepped between her legs, forcing them apart with my hips, dragging her forward until her ass perched on the edge and her core pressed right against the bulge in my pants. She gasped, eyes widening at the sudden shift, then gasped again deeper when my cock throbbed against her, the thick length trapped in denim but pulsing hot through the layers.
Harder than steel, it strained there, desperate to bury inside her, and now she felt every inch of it, the ridge of the head nudging her clit through her clothes. I didn’t give a damn about hiding it anymore; let her know exactly how bad she wrecked me.
“Do you feel that?” I ground forward, rolling my hips in a slow circle, the friction dragging my shaft along her seam, pressure building on her mound until her breath stuttered. “That’s what you do to me, Riley. Every goddamn minute of every goddamn day. I walk around this way constantly, thinking about you. Wanting to pin you down and fuck you senseless. Dreaming of your pussy clenching around me.”
Her head fell back, exposing her throat, and I could see her pulse hammering under the surface. The wolf in me snarled, wantingto sink our teeth into her perfect skin, bite down and claim her as our mate. But I clamped it down hard. Not yet.Not yet.
“Do you understand, Riley?” I pressed my forehead to hers, our breaths mingling and noses brushing.
Her hands ran up and down my chest, tracing the ridges of muscle under the shirt, thumbs circling my nipples through the fabric until they peaked. “Yes.” Then a smirk curved her lips, one that was fucking wicked, her eyes gleaming with a mischief that made my blood boil. Made me want to devour her mouth or flip her over and spank her ass red. “But you’re wrong.”
My pulse skipped. “What?”
“I didn’t know Sam before tonight.” Her grin widened, all teeth and promise, as her fingers kept roaming, dipping into the valleys between my abs. “I’m not interested in him. Never was. I was annoyed that he kept sitting too close.”
“Then why...”
“I panicked. When he asked about us.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know what to say. So I said the stupidest thing possible.”
“Very stupid.”
“Very stupid,” she agreed. “But Caelan?”
“What?”
Her smile grew even wider. “This shirt that has you salivating? I wore it for you.”
“Fuck it,” the words ripped out of me in a growl, and I surged forward, finally closing the fucking distance between us.
The moment my lips touched hers, the world ended.
Or started. I wasn’t sure which.
Her lips parted under mine and we both moaned at the contact. I couldn’t help it, and apparently neither could she. The mate bond in my chest went absolutely insane, blazing into a wildfire, every nerve ending alight with the rightness of this moment.
This. This was what I’d been waiting for. This was what my entire existence had been building toward.
I kissed her like I’d die without it, tongue thrusting past her teeth to stroke hers, tastinghermixed with the sweet tang of wine. My hands were in her hair, tugging strands to angle her head, then dropped to her waist, gripping hard enough to bruise, thumbs pressing into the dip above her hips. I couldn’t decide where to touch, so I touched everything. My palms slid to her shoulders, kneading the tense muscles, then down her back, fingers splaying wide to pull her closer. Over the swell of her ass, squeezing the firm cheeks, then up to trace the curve of her spine…
Then her thighs. Fuck, those thighs, parting wider to let me in, inner muscles flexing as she hooked one leg behind my knee, heel digging in to lock me there. Her fingers fisted my shirt, yanking until seams strained, dragging my chest flush to her breasts.
She tasted like everything I’d craved, home, heat, need. I broke from her mouth only to trail bites down her jaw, nipping thesensitive skin under her ear, sucking hard enough to leave red marks but holding back the full claim.
“Fuck, Caelan,” she gasped as I dragged my tongue up her throat, flat and wet, from collarbone to jaw, lapping at the salt of her skin. She shivered hard, a full-body quake that made her pussy grind against my cock, the heat of her seeping through our clothes, dampness blooming on her pants.
Gods, I wanted to strip her bare, spread her wide on this table, and lick her until she screamed.
“I don’t think this is how friends behave,” I growled against her skin, grinding my hips forward. We both groaned, the sound raw and synced, friction sparking heat that shot straight to my balls.
