Henry directed her out of the den toward his room.He shouldered open his bedroom door and closed it after them.
“They’re right.I am tired,” Maia said with a yawn.
“Then come to bed.”
“It’s still early,” she complained.
“I want to be with you,” Henry said, halting further protests by kissing her.
“Mmm,” she said.“Perhaps I’m not as tired as I thought.”
Henry drew off her sweatshirt and the T-shirt she wore beneath.Soon, she was naked, and he lifted her, carrying her to the bed.He scrambled out of his clothes, tossing them on the floor, which he wouldn’t normally do.Right now, he craved touch.He wanted Maia in his arms.Reassurance they trod the same path.
Maia ran her hands over his shoulders and kissed his neck.Every part of him pulled tight at the innocent touch on his marking site.If Maia had been a wolf, this was where she’d bite to claim him as his mate.Eventually, he’d claim Maia in this manner once he’d told her about his otherness.
“I like your muscles,” she said with another yawn.
“I like your curves,” he countered, and she laughed.
They kissed lazily, their mouths mating and tongues tangling as their passion rose.Henry caressed her body, savoring every possessive stroke while his inner wolf reveled in touching and taking on her scent and her taking on his.
Their lovemaking was languid, with no urgency, just a shared need for each other.After ensuring she was ready, he grabbed a condom from his nightstand and rolled it on.
“Thank you,” she said.“I’m on contraception but appreciate the extra safeguard.”
He kissed the tip of her nose.“Protecting you is no hardship.I want you to return to the team and earn your place in the starting fifteen.We want nothing to impede that.”And he meant every word.No matter how careful a couple was, an accidental pregnancy was always a possibility.He didn’t want that for them.He wanted Maia to follow her dreams.It was the least he could do.
Henry parted her legs with his knee and kissed her deeply before he situated himself and pushed inside her searing heat.He set a slow pace, savoring her and the way she clung to him, making him feel as if he were the most important man in her life.
The only man.
His wolf’s growl rippled through his mind, loud and possessive.For a moment, he wondered if the sound had been audible when Maia’s nails dug into his shoulders.She trembled, and his strokes faltered.
“Henry, don’t stop.Please.”
His next kiss was fierce and full of yearning.He wanted this woman at his side.Maia was determined, and his grumpy nature didn’t faze her.She challenged him, made him want more.She filled the dark places in his soul.
He resumed his rhythm, taking cues from how she moved against him.He kissed her neck, his teeth grazing her skin, and this time, it was he who trembled when she dragged her tongue over the mating site.He wanted to claim her with every fiber of his being.Henry forced himself to lift his head and kiss her shoulder instead.
He’d never dishonor himself in that way.Maia needed facts and, at the right time—the truth.
“Henry, where is your mind drifting?Focus.”Her eyes were enormous and almost black in the room’s darkness.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he confessed, because that was the root of his thoughts.He’d lost Jenny and couldn’t lose Maia to a madman as well.“Recent events have me concerned.”
“They disturb me too, but let’s make love and forget our problems.”
He kissed the spot between her eyes where worry dug into her forehead.“Sorry.I won’t let it happen again.”
“See you don’t.”
Henry claimed her mouth, kissing her slowly and thoroughly.She sighed, her fingers digging into his biceps.He surged into her, this time allowing the sensations to sweep him away.Her touch.Her heat.Her decadent scent.He adored everything about this woman, and she seemed to return the sentiment.
His measured thrusts into her body stimulated her pleasure.This time, they both shuddered, and Maia gasped.Her warm flesh clung to his cock, clasping and clenching as she hurtled into pleasure.She arched into him, letting him slide deep, and then he was gone too, incinerated and turned inside out, his growl of satisfaction more wolflike than he preferred.
Maia stilled against him, and Henry tensed, waiting for questions.Instead, Maia laughed, her body shaking against his.
“You’ve been spending too much time with your dogs.You even growl like them.”
