“Ivy,” he breathes and then he’s kissing me again.
And now he’s purring.
And I’m melting.
He’s kissing me again and I suddenly don’t care about oxygen. It feels like everything I need… I can get from him.
I’m kissing him. He’s kissing me. My hands are on his shoulders, then in his hair and he’s groaning, liking the way it feels.
Wait.
Wait a freaking minute.
“Wh-what are you doing?” I pull back, ready to show how hurt my feelings are, though I’m relieved that he’s suddenly all about showing affection instead of roaring in my face like an angry monster. “Two seconds ago you were fuming. Now you’re… what?”
“Your note. You weren’t just… you didn’t just want to forget what we shared. I’m …” He stops and licks his lips.
“Sorry?” I ask, haughtily. “Are you about to say you’re sorry for the way you’ve been behaving? Because what if I’m not ready to hear a sorry and accept your apology? What if I’m still upset about you growling in my face so much in the past twenty-four hours?”
He pulls me against him, squishing me to his chest. Then he’s maneuvered me over and into his lap, his arms around me, his nose in the crook of my neck, where his teeth prints are. He drags his nose up and down the crook, purring louder, and….boom… my panties are drenched. Completely.
“Damn it,” I whisper and then his lips find mine and his fingers tangle in my hair once again.
“I am sorry, my beautiful Ivy. You shouldn’t have left, do not leave again, please, please never. But that you left me your telephone number for your house line, whatever that means and the phone number for your store fills me with so much joy. Coming home to this house made nicer and now seeing you didn’t want to just forget me…” He lets that hang.
Yeah. I felt bad. I wrote that I had to go, that I was sorry if it hurt his feelings, but that my job was counting on me and that I couldn’t let them down. I told him to please phone me, that I’d really like to talk to him again. I underlined the word ‘really’ three times.
I almost crumpled up the note and started over, but it seems that the few lines on a piece of paper were enough to make his anger at me disintegrate.
That’s why he’s been so growly. He thought I left him without a backward glance.
“I left because I had to, Tyson. I had to,” I whisper. “I didn’t wanna hurt you. I kept trying to tell you that I had responsibilities and people would be worrying about me and you just wouldn’t listen…”
“I know. It still hurts, but it doesn’t hurt as much.”
Oh, my heart.
I snuggle into him, realizing how much I’ve missed him putting his hands on me affectionately in such a short time.
“I have, in a few days, had my life changed,” he whispers into my hair. “I’m not good with words, Ivy, but I’ll try to explain.”
“Okay,” I whisper against his shoulder.
He squeezes again. “I found you. You, who are already and always will be the most important being in the world to me.”
I bite my lip. He keeps going.
“I found out about family that I didn’t know I had. I found out a pack I thought was against me has instead mourned me. The man who raised me, who told me he did it to save me? Lied. He lied my whole life. And I’m piecing together many other things about my life with him that I hadn’t taken the time to think about, not really. I’m in a different mind state now. And all those people who want to know me. And Cat…”
“Your mom. Your mom that you thought was killed.”
“But she was raped, Ivy. By my uncle. I knew he went to the forbidden village and took a female against her will. I smelled the sex and fear on him when he came back. And when I was faced with the scent and the eyes of Catrina Savage I knew that she was that woman he did that to and that she is my mother. My mother who he said was dead. He told me he saved me. He threw that in my face many times over the years that I was alive because of him. No, Ivy. I was alone because of him.”
“Oh, Ty.” I put my hand to his jaw, and he stares into my eyes with a wondrous expression.
“She is nothing like I expected. None of them are. There are so many things happening, my Ivy. And you tried to leave me and you were nearly killed by a venomous snake and I had to take you to them, not knowing if they’d save you or if they’d try to harm us and doing that while worrying about you…”