Mark her, my wolf growled.
I took a step back. I couldn’t mark her. Why had I not considered that until this moment? Oh fuck. She wouldn’t survive a mating bite. I could sever an artery, and she could bleed out. Even if I didn’t, it would be painful for her and would leave a terrible scar on her delicate human flesh.
I looked down at her. So small. Fragile. Perfect. She wasn’t a twig like most women who crossed my path. No, she had some meat on her bones. To my wolf, she was healthy to rear pups. To me, she had something to grab onto, to sink into when I fucked her until she screamed my name. She was all female. Her breasts were small beneath her cute top, but real. I wondered if her nipples were tiny or large, pink or coral. Upturned or flat saucers to be licked.
My wolf and I knew her pussy. Her scent, her taste, the hot, wet clench. So fucking tight. Musky.
She was staring up at me with those fathomless blue eyes, such a contrast to her dark hair. The lenses of her glasses only amplified their size, how open and trusting she was. Innocent. Perfect.
Marking her was out of the question. I could never do such a violent thing to her. I scrubbed my hand over my face. No mark, no mate. No mating, and it would just be fucking. Just what she didn’t want. I couldn’t fuck her and not mate her.
Wait. Something was wrong here. Why would my wolf want to mate a human? Why was he so fucking insistent that she was the one? No other wolf I knew was mated to a human.
It just wasn’t done.
This didn’t make sense.
But Audrey hadn’t noticed any of my mental mind fuck. She stepped into my space. “I know I said I didn’t want a fling, but… God. I owe it to women everywhere. Are you coming in?”
Yes, growled my wolf.
My dick surged against the zipper of my jeans.
But for once in my life, I wasn’t going to screw this up. I moved slowly, so I could keep control. I didn’t want my wolf to take over, and fates knew I felt him scratching right at the surface, ready to show his fangs and embed my scent into her skin forever. I cupped the back of her head and leaned down, brushing my lips across hers lightly.
“I want to,” I murmured. “Fuck, I really want to. But you need your rest. And this is me showing you I’m interested in more than sex.”
The disappointment on her face nearly killed me. Or maybe that was the throbbing in my balls. Either way, I was dying.
Even with only the glow of the street light, I could see her embarrassment. She’d told me no earlier, that she wasn’t like the Karens out there. Now, she’d offered herself up, and I turned her down. I was an asshole no matter what I did here.
“Give me your phone,” I said, my voice gravelly with need. And frustration.
She handed it to me, and I called myself with it and handed it back. “Now you have my number. Let me know if you have a sweet baby to deliver, otherwise I’ll be here to pick you up at three. Got it?”
I didn’t give her a chance to answer because kissing her hard suddenly became way more important. I wrapped my lips around hers, claiming that mouth like my life depended on it. Like this was the way I marked a human. My tongue swept between her lips, tangled with her. Gripping the back of her head, I angled her as I wanted, drinking from her.
When I broke the kiss, her glasses were crooked, and she wore a dazed expression. Her fingertips travelled to her lips, as if feeling to see if they were still there. Or how swollen they were.
Yeah, I knew just how she felt.
I took her keys from her and opened the front door of her small but sweet cottage. She lived a few blocks off Main Street in the older section of town. Trees and plantings were well established, and I scented honeysuckle along with her peach essence. I guided her through the doorway.
“Now get some sleep,” I said, slapping her ass.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, looking over her shoulder with a startled but pleased expression.
I grinned and made a note: likes spanking.
Well, that was good because I fucking loved her ass.
“Goodnight, darlin’.”
“Goodnight, cowboy.” Her breathy voice made it so fucking hard to back away and leave.
But I did.
Because Audrey Ames mattered to me. And I was going to prove it to her.
14
AUDREY
There was no way I was going to be able to sleep. I rolled over, tugged at the blanket that got wrapped around me. Groaned in frustration. I’d showered and got ready for bed. Analyzed every second of the night. Jett Markle. Using Boyd as my fake date. God, I’d ridden a mechanical bull! Boyd’s goodbye kiss. All of it.