Four Weddings and a Werewolf

his thrusts, her body a perfect fit, a warm, sensual mold that seemed to be made for him. He couldn’t catch his breath. Couldn’t see straight. Her supple lips blinded him. Her creamy skin drugged him. Her thighs wrapped around him, cradling him in an exotic embrace. He couldn’t hear anything but Veronica’s ragged breathing and the drumming of his heart.

“Logan, holy heaven, you’re going to drive me…” She screamed as her core convulsed over his shaft, squeezing and releasing in erotic little pulses.

His release was there…right there. Painfully close. His balls seized. Air froze in his lungs.

The urge to claim Veronica as his Luminary and life mate decked him across the face. The human part of him wanted to release the tension balling at the base of his spine, but the werewolf part wanted to bond with Veronica and seal their fates together for the next thousand years.

He stilled. Forced the werewolf part of him to cool it.

“What’s the matter?” Veronica’s body rocked in an undulating rhythm beneath him. “Logan?”

He’d never felt the blistering sensation before—the uncontrollable urge to bond with someone—but he knew that was the feeling he’d just experienced. He felt leveled. Flattened. As though everything he had was about to be given to the woman beneath him.

A human woman.

He unsheathed himself from her center and rolled onto the hardwood so that they were lying side by side. He was wet. Covered in his sweat and her scent. The taste of her was still on his tongue. And he had a serious case of blue balls.

Veronica rolled over and propped herself on her elbow. “What is it? What’s the matter?”

You. He put his arms behind his head, craned his neck around, and looked at her. Really looked at her. She was gorgeous, there was no doubting it. And from what he’d gathered from following her around the last couple weeks, she was smart, too. But was his wolf form nuts? Bonding for life? With a human? This so wasn’t in the cards for him. This wasn’t happening.

He didn’t want anything long-term, and the werewolf act of bonding was about as long-term as you could get. Not only did the act bond a wolf to his mate, it lengthened both their lives to about a thousand years. A thousand years with one person? Nothing against Veronica, but he hadn’t planned on spending that amount of time with anyone.

He wished the feeling had struck him when they first touched, rather than now, when they were naked and lying on her living room floor. It would’ve been easier to stay the hell away from her. Luminary bonds revealed themselves differently depending on the position of the werewolf in his or her pack. For Alphas and other top- ranking positions, the spark of bonding appeared at first touch. For others, it took more time or closeness with the fated mate for the awareness to set in.

Damn fine timing.

Logan couldn’t breathe. Stifled. Damn. He was going to have to chew off a limb to get out of this mess. How could he bolt without hurting her?

“Nothing,” Logan said, getting off the floor. “I just remembered…” Problem number five million and one: my fated mate loathes werewolves. Fucking peachy. “…I have an early start tomorrow.”

Chapter Five

“Where are you going?” Veronica asked, slipping her dress over her head. “If something’s wrong, we can —”

“There’s nothing wrong.” Logan cut her off and shoved his legs into his pants. He snatched his shirt off the couch, picked up his shoes, and hightailed it to the door. “I just have to go, okay?”

This couldn’t be happening. Did she do something to stop him cold? Scream too loudly and embarrass him? Her mind was numb, so she couldn’t quite remember, but did something slip out of her mouth when she was in the throes of passion?

He’d had one-night stands before, she reminded herself with chagrin. Maybe what she felt wasn’t chemistry between them, but the effects of being with an experienced lover.

Maybe she wasn’t what he wanted.

“Logan?” She didn’t want to sound weak, so she pushed out the words harshly. “Did I do something wrong?”

He spun around, catching her off guard, and cupped her face. His hands were warm, causing a blush to fan across her cheeks. “No. You did nothing wrong. It’s just that…”

A switch flipped. He’d been harsh. Cold, even. Now, the gleam in his gray eyes was yielding. Hollowed out.

“It was a one-night stand.” He brushed his thumbs over her cheek, and her heart gave a hard clench. “It had to end sometime.”

“But—”

“Veronica, we have to stop before we make this ten times more complicated. You have no idea what it’s like for me.” He dropped his hands and turned out the door. He swung it open wide and marched onto the sidewalk.

She followed him. How was this night changing so quickly?

“This wasn’t exactly how I saw the night ending,” she said.

“Sure it was.” He strode across her front lawn and then turned back. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?”

Her cheeks heated. “Of course I did.”

“Didn’t we say it was only one night?”

She nodded.

“There you have it.” He held her gaze, shook his head, then slapped his hands against his sides. “I can’t jump through these damn hoops anymore. You need to know.”

“Need to know what?”

Logan strode past his truck and into the street. “I don’t usually work this way. I should’ve told you from the start.”

He wasn’t making sense. And he was going the wrong way.

“You’re walking home?” Following him to the edge of the lawn. Veronica brushed her hands up and down her arms. The rain had stopped and a harsh chill had taken its place. “You’re gonna leave your truck here?”

Logan strode onto the sidewalk across the street and hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m not walking home…I’m already here.” He fished a ring of keys out of his pocket and gave them a good shake. “I’m renting here for a few weeks, at least until Jake and Leah’s wedding.”

Wait…

She stepped into the gutter, her head filling with questions. Even though the street was narrow, barely big enough for two cars to pass with ones parked on each side of the street, it had never seemed so wide. “You know Jake?”

“We were in the Marines together.” He unlocked the front door and pushed it open. “And I’m the best man in their wedding.”

No…way. Couldn’t be possible. Could it?

She hadn’t met the new neighbor across the street. She’d seen the moving van and the boxes. She’d seen cars come and go, and had heard an annoying dog bark every morning, but had yet to see the animal or its owner. “I would’ve seen your truck or something. Why haven’t I seen you?”

“I park around back and come and go through the alley.” A huge golden retriever bumbled out the door and jumped on Logan, its paws reaching all the way to his chest. Logan shook his hands down the dog’s coat and grinned. “I like to keep to myself. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

“Why didn’t you say something when we pulled up to my house? No, there’s more to it than that. You know Jake, you know he’s marrying my sister, so you had to know who I was when you saw me at the wedding.”