“As a werewolf,” she said.
“Yeah. I didn’t realize that’s what I was until I met Sergeant Dixon, though.”
“Why didn’t you stay with the Secret Service?”
“We got the bad guys, but the agency took a lot of heat over the body count—and the injured newbie. Even though I took full responsibility for things going bad, the task force leader was the one who paid with his job.” Becker sighed. “I was pissed that I’d gotten made, pissed that I’d gotten shot, pissed that I’d gotten the guy who’d given me a chance fired, and really pissed that no one even thought I had enough experience to warrant listening to me when I tried to take the blame. I said some things I probably shouldn’t have and was told to sit at my computer and be quiet. But I couldn’t see myself doing that anymore, not after everything that had happened. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do when Gage—Sergeant Dixon—showed up and offered me a job with SWAT.” He shrugged. “After that, it didn’t take me too long to get comfortable with being a werewolf. Who doesn’t want to be faster and stronger, right?” His mouth twitched. “I can’t turn into a full wolf yet, but I’m working on it.”
She blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, a full wolf?”
“You know, a wolf, with fur and stuff.”
She stared at him for a long time. “We can do that?”
He nodded. “About half the guys in my pack can.”
“Wow,” she breathed. “That’s kind of cool. I had no idea werewolves could do anything like that.”
He chuckled. “Finally something I know more about when it comes to being a werewolf than you do.”
Jayna laughed with him. “Well, as strange as it sounds, I guess I should be happy you were shot and turned into one, or I wouldn’t be here with you right now.”
Becker grinned back. “Being here with you makes getting shot worth it.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Does that mean I can go back to doing what I was doing before your heart started racing? Because I was really enjoying myself.”
He wanted to say yes more than anything. But then he’d be right back where he’d been—on the edge of losing it.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” he said. “I like to think that I have better control over myself than most of the guys in my pack, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you how difficult it is to keep it together when you start doing certain things.”
Her lips curved. “Maybe I wouldn’t mind you losing it…just a little.”
His heart started thumping again, and his cock hardened painfully. “But maybe that might lead to places you don’t want to go.”
Her smile disappeared, replaced by a serious little pucker between her brows. “I know you’re trying to be careful around me, and I appreciate that. But when I told you about my past, it wasn’t so you’d run around treating me like some kind of porcelain doll that has to be handled with kid gloves. When I said I had problems getting physical with guys in the past, a lot of that was because I didn’t feel a connection with them. They were just guys. That’s not the way I’m feeling with you, not even close. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to forget what I told you about my issues for the time being and let this go exactly where I want it to go—to your bedroom, where we might discover there’s something interesting in there after all.”
Becker gazed into her green eyes for a long time, trying to make sure he wasn’t misjudging what was going on here. But she never looked away, never gave a hint that she wasn’t one hundred percent sure of her decision.
He slowly slipped his hand into her long hair, then carefully pulled her close and kissed her. God, she tasted so damn sweet.
He carefully let his canines slip out ever so slightly. Jayna’s moan almost made him lose his tenuous grip on his inner werewolf, but he determinedly tamed the beast. This first time with her had to go perfectly, or there’d never be another.
Jayna broke the kiss, her eyes glowing. “Ready to show me that boring bedroom of yours now?”
This time, Becker didn’t even pause to think. He just slid his hands down to her ass, got a good grip, then carried her down the hallway and into his bedroom.
* * *
When Jayna decided to take Megan’s advice and get away from the loft for a while, she hadn’t really thought much about what she and Eric would do. She’d figured they’d hang out, maybe catch a movie or grab something to eat and just talk. She’d assumed there might be some kissing involved. Last night had been way too much fun to take that activity off the table. But the idea that the kissing would progress to anything else had never entered her mind until she climbed on his lap. She’d only done it because it was easier to kiss him that way, but when her bottom brushed against his erection, her inner werewolf took over.
At first, her intense arousal scared her. She knew Eric was just as crazy turned on as she was, but he was still in control enough to slow things down. Whether it was pulling off his shirt or checking to see if she was okay with his hand on her ass, he took the time to make sure they weren’t moving too fast. She simply couldn’t put into words what that meant to her.
She’d never been with a guy who was willing to let his own pleasure take a backseat to hers. Even when she made his pulse kick into another gear by leaning forward to kiss and nip at his delicious chest muscles, he hadn’t thought about himself and what made him feel good, but had put on the brakes to make sure she was okay.
It wasn’t until they were talking about how he became a werewolf that she realized they were going to sleep together before they left his apartment. That realization had made her feel amazingly happy—because she wasn’t doing it as an experiment to see if she was “normal.” She wasn’t even doing it because Eric had been so good to her pack. For the first time since she was a teen, she was going to make love with a guy simply because he was smoking hot and perfect for her.
So when his heart started racing again and the scent of his arousal grew so strong she was practically drooling from it, she refused to let him talk her out of going further. She almost cheered when he slipped his hands under her ass and carried her into his bedroom.
Jayna was so focused on Eric’s kisses, she barely noticed they’d reached the bed until he carefully set her on her feet beside it. She stood there gazing up at him, mesmerized by the heat in his eyes and the scent streaming off his body. She wanted him so badly that her knees actually felt weak.
