“None of your beeswax!”
“Probably not, but I want to know. I assume you’re not hooked up with someone now, or you wouldn’t have given me the green light a while ago. But I’ll bet there’s been a guy. You’re too beautiful to stay celibate.”
“Thank you for that. I was beginning to think without my carving I’d have no sex appeal at all.”
He laughed. “Oh, my God. You’re kidding, right?”
“You have been raving on about that carving and the effect it had on you.”
“Then let me set your mind to rest on that score. The carving is the icing on the cake, but the cake is plenty rich without it. Sad to say, I’m on a sugar-free diet.”
She polished off her ale. “Aren’t you the least bit curious about how sex with a human would be?”
“Oh, I’m very curious, but I’m also not a fan of hypocrisy. I’ve set myself up as the standard-bearer for the cause. All my traveling since last October has been to promote the organization I founded, Werewolves Against Random Mating. That’s why I was in San Francisco, on business for WARM.”
“Warm?”
“It’s an acronym.”
“Oh. Like Duncan MacDowell has WOOF, Werewolves Optimizing Our Future.”
Jake frowned, clearly unhappy that she’d brought Duncan into the conversation. “Yes, he does, damn it. Plus he wrote a book that I felt compelled to buy and read. If you hadn’t found it in my nightstand drawer, you’d still be in the dark about all this.”
“I guess you don’t believe that things happen for a reason.”
He gazed at her. “I guess you do.”
“I take after my Grandpa Ike, and he was a big believer in that. I’m sure he’d say you were supposed to be my first customer and that we were destined to have this connection.”
“Are you saying he would have been happy that you’re connected to a werewolf?”
“He might have, if he’d had enough information. Don’t think I’ve forgotten your promise to tell all. You still have a lot of ground to cover.”
“I’ll tell you more after you’ve answered the dating question you’ve continued to dodge. I’m sure you could have your pick, so do you go for corporate types? Other artists? Jocks?”
She thought about how to answer. Maybe, all things considered, he deserved the truth. “I haven’t been dating.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. At first I was too busy with work, and then I was worried that someone would be attracted to the fame and fortune instead of me, personally. So at the suggestion of my girlfriends in Fairbanks, I signed up for a couple of online sites about six months ago.”
“And?”
“Nada. Can’t get worked up about any of them. I’m dateless in Polecat.”
“Damn. That sucks.”
“Fortunately I have an active fantasy life involving my neighbor.”
Jake’s eyes widened. Leaning back in his chair, he raised both eyebrows and pointed a finger at his chest.
“Yes, you, Aquaman. Thanks to your regular skinny-dipping schedule and my grandfather’s excellent binoculars, my fantasy life is doing fine.”
Adorably, his face turned red. “Didn’t know I had an audience.”
“A very appreciative audience, I might add.”
Jake scrubbed a hand across his face, as if he could wipe off the embarrassment. When he finally looked at her, chagrin had been replaced with the ever-present glow of desire. “Ah, Rachel. What are we going to do about this crazy situation?”
She’d been thinking of little else all through the meal. “Well, I’m already the keeper of one big secret.”
“Right.” His green eyes grew wary.
“Why not make it two?”
He took a shaky breath. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“Were you afraid, or were you perhaps hoping I would?”
He hesitated. “Probably both. Ever since I walked in and found you in my bedroom, I’ve wondered how the hell I’d make it through this without cracking. And now I discover you’ve been fantasizing about me, too.”
“So are you about ready to crack?”
“Yeah. ’Fraid so.”
Her pulse skyrocketed. “Oh.”
“And now that I’ve admitted that, it’s time to take this discussion inside.”
Heat danced through her veins as she helped him gather up the dishes. They’d found no long-range solutions, but they might have hit on a short-range one.
• • •
Jake wanted to blame Rachel’s confession for sending him over the edge, but then again, it wouldn’t have taken much. He’d been teetering for a long time. Now that he was about to fall, he couldn’t wait.
Carrying the empty meat platter and their ale bottles, he followed her into the kitchen. “Just dump everything in the sink. We’ll worry about it later.”
She followed his instructions and turned back to him. “I forgot the place mats.”
“Let ’em blow away. I don’t care.” Shoving the platter and bottles onto the counter, he pulled her into his arms.
Incredibly, she put her hand to his mouth, halting his forward progress. “Wait, Jake.”
Capturing her wrist, he tugged her hand away. “I’m through waiting. I want you so much I’m dizzy.”
She started to say something else, and when her mouth was open he took it as a golden opportunity to kiss her. Ahh. Warm, moist, soft . . . a velvet playground.
The thought that she was human, not Were, drifted through his mind and was gone. She was . . . Rachel, and kissing her felt like coming home. He groaned with delight when she pressed her fingers into his scalp and kissed him back.
God, she felt great pressed up against him, her breasts tight against his chest, her pelvis cradling his erection as they undulated together, two halves of a whole. He began undressing her without thinking about it. All he knew was that her clothes were in the way, and he wanted them gone.
She seemed to want his gone, too, and that was fine with him. She kissed him with even more urgency as her fingers flew down the row of buttons holding his shirt together. The kitchen filled with the sound of rapid breathing and soft murmurs of joy.
Then came Jake’s muted oath of frustration when he realized he had to deal with her running shoes before he could slide off her jeans. Grasping her hips, he hoisted her up on the counter. The platter and bottles he’d put there earlier tumbled with a crash into the sink. He ignored them and dropped to his knees so he could yank at the laces of her shoes.
“Forget untying.” She gulped for air. “Just . . . pull them off.”
He did, followed by her jeans and her gratifyingly wet panties. As he stood, he realized he loved having her at counter level. Extremely convenient. Cupping her face in both hands, he leaned in to kiss her again. He already knew he’d never tire of doing that.
Once again she tried to say something, but it was muffled against his questing mouth. Moving aside the lapels of his shirt, she flattened her palms against his chest and began a sensuous massage. Her touch was heaven, but he wished she’d unfasten his jeans and unzip his fly. He could do it, but then he’d have to stop stroking her silky breasts, and he was entranced with those.
Cradling their sweet weight, he kissed his way down the smooth column of her neck and over the slope of one breast. When he circled her taut nipple with his tongue, she gasped with pleasure. That tiny gasp made him eager to create more like it.
Closing his mouth over her nipple, he rolled it between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. He was rewarded with a soft moan. That moan, predicting more to come as he continued to love her, sent a message straight to his cock. It swelled painfully inside its prison of briefs and denim.
