Moonlight

described. It was unsettling and damned distracting.

“Thanks for introducing me to everyone.”

I nodded and took her hand, my fingers twining with hers as we started up toward the house. “I’m pretty sure the pleasure was all theirs.”

When I opened the door for her, the smell of fresh spaghetti sauce wafted out to greet us.

“Wow! It smells great. I didn’t know you could cook.”

I chuckled. “I brought you here for dinner, remember?”

“I know, but I figured you’d just grab pizza or something.”

“I don’t mind cooking.” I passed by her to enter the kitchen and lifted the cover of the Crock-Pot. Grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the bubbling sauce, I smiled over at her. “Just need to boil some spaghetti, and we’ll be ready.”

Chapter Seventeen Lana

While Adam cooked the pasta, I wandered around his living room. One entire wall was full of championship ribbons, photos of winning rides, and plaques. I guess it was like a resume for a horse trainer. When I took a closer look, I could feel the corners of my lips start to curl. Adam looked really good in a cowboy hat and chaps. Who knew?

I glanced back over my shoulder at him. He was busy putting Italian bread in the oven. How did I manage to run into a hot guy who could cook and ride a horse? Was there nothing wrong with him?

I turned back toward the photos and sighed. Well, during a full moon he did shift into a wolf, not to mention the fact that his family would kill me if they knew I was anywhere near him.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t so perfect.

I kept moving around the room, enjoying the peek at the real Adam, the one tucked under all the bravado that I met that first night at the cafe. His coffee table was home to five different remote controls, which made me smile. Even werewolf guys were freaks for technology.

He had a big flat-screen television and surround sound, a Blu-Ray player and a few other gadgets I couldn’t identify. Beside the TV was a shelf stuffed with CDs, DVDs, and pictures. I couldn’t stop myself from looking at them. Mostly of horses, and one picture of Adam with shorter hair in a college cap and gown. Strange. You didn’t need a college degree to run a horse ranch, did you? Then I noticed a younger Adam, grinning with a missing front tooth. He held up a string of fish beside an older version of himself. The resemblance was uncanny.

“Is this your Dad?” I called pointing to the photo.

He looked over and then came out of the kitchen. “Yeah, that’s him. His name is Malcolm. He’s our Alpha, the leader of our Pack, and also runs an investment company in the city.”

“You look a lot like him.”

He stared at the photo and then smiled at me. “I’ve heard that before. We do have the same color eyes.”

I’d never meet his father. Or anyone else he knew.

I moved away from the pictures. “Is dinner ready yet? I’m starving.”

He met my eyes. His expression made it clear he knew I was changing the subject. “Yeah, just about.”

“Perfect.”

I walked over to the dining room table and smiled. He had it set for two, complete with placemats and cloth napkins. Adam stood behind me, reaching over to light the candles. I closed my eyes, feeling his body pressed against my back. He smelled good, too, I realized. Not like cologne but clean, with a slight musky scent that was just pure Adam. Maybe all werewolves had it. Gabe had been too covered in blood for me to really pick up his scent.

Gabe.

I opened my eyes again, hoping to avoid seeing his mauled body flash through my mind. Gabe would still be alive if I had never stopped in Reno. Sebastian was tracking me. I’d brought him here. Not on purpose, but that didn’t change the outcome.

“Are you all right?”

The sound of Adam’s voice broke through my thoughts. I nodded. “I’m fine.”

He rested his hands on my shoulders gently and turned me toward him. His fingers slid across my skin, along my collarbone and up the curve of my neck until he lifted my chin. I stared into his eyes, and for a rare moment, I felt complete, accepted. I didn’t need to pretend to fit in or be someone else. He knew my parents abandoned me, that I had no family. All the secrets I usually did my best to hide from the world. But none of that was reflected in his eyes. All I could see was acceptance.

And, God, I never realized it could feel so good.

But I wasn’t worthy of it.

“You look sad.” His voice was low and intimate like his touch.

“I just realized it’s my fault Sebastian came to Reno.” My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes. “Your friend Gabe is dead because of me.”

I fought to blink them back, but a single tear escaped down my cheek anyway. Adam caught it with his thumb and brushed it away. His lips pressed against mine, hard. I skimmed my arms up his chiseled chest and around his neck, and he pulled me in closer until my body molded against his.

His hands roamed over me, one moving up between my shoulder blades while the other gripped the curve of my buttocks. Our tongues wrestled, tangling together with a passion I never knew I had inside of me. I couldn’t get close enough to him. Adam caught the back of my leg, pulling my knee up along his hip. I could feel him, rock hard against me, rubbing until my body was on fire.

I lifted his shirt, moaning when my fingers touched his bare chest. He growled into the kiss, his hips thrusting harder against me. If I could have made our pants vanish, I would have. I’d never wanted a man so urgently in my life.

His other hand roamed up underneath my shirt until he cupped my breast, kneading it in his large palm until my knees went weak with desire. My back arched into his touch, and I gasped as he kissed and nipped at my neck.

“Lana, I need you,” he whispered as my fingers tangled in the back of his hair.

“Yes,” was the only word I could find to reply.

He lifted me off the ground in an instant, and our lips were fused together once again. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me through his house. He laid me down on his large bed, and I moaned into his kiss when I felt his weight resting over me. My skin tingled, hot, eager, and aching for his attention. When he finally pulled back from the kiss, his hungry eyes met mine with an unspoken question.

“I want you,” I said, and the corner of his mouth curved up.

God, he was too sexy.

I smiled back at him, my lips pleasantly sore from the urgent kisses. He sat up and pulled his shirt over his head. His stomach rippled with chiseled muscles that dared me to touch them. I reached up to run my fingertips down his skin, tracing the fine trail of hair leading down past the button of his jeans.

He caught my fingers.

“Not yet,” he whispered, pinning my hands over my head as his lips claimed mine over and over, slowly lingering, tasting. Hot kisses melted along my neck, sending electricity all the way down to my toes. He slid his hands down my arms, my sides, and under my shirt again, pushing it up until he finally removed it. His eyes moved over me, and instead of feeling awkward or exposed, I felt sexy. Wanted.

Without a word, his arms moved around me, unclasping my bra as our lips brushed. He pulled back from the kiss, eased my bra free, and dropped it off the side of the bed. His chest felt hot against my mine, sending flares of desire licking through my entire body. My back arched as his hands moved to knead my breasts, his fingers sliding over my taut nipples. His mouth devoured my skin, moving along my neck and collarbone until I