Page 19 of Caught By the Wolf

“Careful.”

“Of what?”

“Waking the beast.”

That got her fully awake. She propped herself up on one elbow, hair everywhere, looking entirely too pleased with herself for a woman who’d almost denutted him ninety seconds ago. “Was that a threat, Matthews?”

“That was a public service announcement.”

She laughed, which made the man and the wolf fall just a little bit more in love with her.

In love. Yes. His wolf walked in a circle until he found the perfect spot to lie down inside Roman’s chest.

“Roman.” Her fingers found the healed-over place on his shoulder and traced it, not quite meeting his eyes. He covered it with his own.

“Ella.”

“I’m not nervous.”

“You’re lying to a man with a superior sense of smell.”

“That’s cheating.”

“That’s biology.” He drew her hand up, pressed his mouth to her knuckles. “Tell me what you’re nervous about, or I’ll just keep guessing, and I guarantee you I will guess the bite.”

Her breath caught. “Okay. Fine. The bite.”

“I figured.” His thumb traced slow circles against her palm, grounding, patient—the same patience he’d spent over the years, building a whole life around, and he called on all of it now. “When we make love, I’ll do my best not to bite you, Ella. At least not on the neck.” He let that sit a beat, watched her work out what he meant, and felt his mouth curve when the color came up in her face. “Other parts of you aren’t off-limits.”

“That is not reassuring.”

“It wasn’t meant to be reassuring. It was meant to be honest. And hot.” He rolled, careful, until she was under him instead of sprawled over him, framed by his arms, and made himself hold still there and let her see him—all of him, wolf included, sitting close under his skin and roaring at him to claim their mate.

“The wolf wants the claim. He’s wanted it since the second he caught your scent in those woods, and he is currently telling me, very loudly, that this restraint thing is a mistake.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead. “But it’s not his call. It’s not mine. It’s yours. Whenever that is. If that ever is. I meant what I said last night—I’ll hold on as long as I have to.”

“And if I ask you not to bite me at all? Ever?”

“Then I don’t.” No hesitation in his answer. “It’ll cost me something. I told you that. But you get to decide, not me.” He kissed her then, unhurried, the opposite of everything roaring under his skin. “Right now, the only thing I want you to decide is whether you’re going to let me finish what your knee started.”

She laughed, her lips curling into a huge smile. And something in her eased—he felt it, the way her spine relaxed against the mattress, the nerves bleeding out of her under his hands. She hooked a leg back over his hip, deliberate this time.

“Okay, let’s finish it,” she said, and pulled him down.

His mouth claimed hers, tongue sliding deep, devouring the little gasp she gave him. He rolled his hips against her, savoring the way she arched up to meet him—hungry and unashamed.

He drew the sheet away and had to stop and just look at her, all that creamy skin, the full, heavy curves of her breasts, the generous swell of her belly and her hips, everything he knew she’d spent a lifetime trying to hide, to be different, there, just for him.

“Roman—” And there it was, the flinch, her arm moving to cover herself out of an old reflex some other man had told her was what she was supposed to do. He caught her wrist. Moved it. Pinned it gently to the mattress above her head and looked at her until she looked back.

“No,” he said. “You don’t hide from me. Not this absolutely fucking perfect body that makes my dick swell every time I see it. You have no idea what you look like right now, do you? I’m going to worship every perfect part of you—and there’s a damn lot of fucking perfect parts— until you believe me. However long that takes. We’ve got all morning, and I have a lot to prove.”

And he did.

His big hand cupped the full, heavy weight of one, thumbs brushing over her nipple until it tightened into a hard peak. He lowered his head and took it into his mouth, sucking slowly and deep, tongue flicking the tip. Ella arched, a broken sound spilling from her throat. He didn’t let up. He just changed his moves. When he sucked it into his mouth again, he scraped the thick nub with his teeth, then bit the very edge hard enough to make her gasp.

He gave the other one the same thorough attention until both nipples were red and wet. He eased his body away slightly. “Now don’t you look pretty, like that?”

Next, he dragged his mouth down the valley between them, kissing the underside of each breast, then lower, over the swell of her stomach. When she tensed, he splayed one hand across her side and squeezed gently.