It was only after she lay there for a few moments that she realized the cabin was oddly quiet. She scrambled off the bed, cheeks heating with the knowledge of what she’d done. She had to get back out there—and worse, face the man who had unknowingly gotten her off harder than she’d come in years.
Maybe a little picnic on the beach was what they both needed. And if things got too hot, they could always jump in the lake. At least now, there was a slight chance she wouldn’t molest Jaxon only an hour after having met him.
With a little giggle, she went to her dresser and pulled out her new bathing suit. She was about to pull the bottoms over her hips when a soft tap came at the door. “Yes?” she asked, her voice sounding much too breathless.
“Just letting you know that I got the fridge in. I unloaded your groceries and put stuff away, too. Is everything okay in there?” Jaxon’s voice was deeper, rougher somehow, which only made her still quivering body pulse to life again.
She nibbled on her bottom lip to keep from laughing at nearly getting caught with her hands in her pants. “Everything is fine. I’ll be right out. I was just changing.”
For a second, all was quiet. Then his heavy footsteps on the creaky hallway floorboards sounded as he went back to the kitchen. She’d swear she heard him chuckle as he went. Heat stole up her cheeks. So lost in her pleasure, she hadn’t even heard him come down the hall.
Eight
Jaxon leaned over the gate of his truck, his eyes screwed shut as tightly as he could get them. He clenched and unclenched his fists, drawing long, deep breaths. As many as he took, and as fresh as the air was, he couldn’t get the smell of his mate’s pleasure out of his nose. What he wanted was to bathe in it, but he had to gain some measure of control before he faced her again.
Had he been human, he would have been none the wiser, but his wolf’s sensitive hearing picked up the softest noise, his nose, the faintest smell. Her sweet sighs and moans teased him even now when she was busying herself in the kitchen. No, she wasn’t touching her lush body anymore, but he’d be able to replay the erotic sounds in his mind forever. He reached down, adjusting his jeans, desperate to ease the ache in his pounding cock. It had taken every ounce of his control to stay on the other side of that flimsy door as she’d brought herself to a shuddering climax a few feet away from him.
His skin burned as fur bristled beneath the surface from denying the wolf the shift, but he held it back. It had waited so long for its mate to return, and was growing more impatient with each passing minute. It didn’t care that she was human or that she needed to be treated carefully. It just wanted her. Now.
Fuck. He didn’t know if she was aware of the shifter world—not all humans were—and much less, if she was open to a relationship with one. He’d have to feel her out. Find out what she knew. One way or another, they’d make it work. There was no way he was letting her get away. Neither he—nor his wolf—would survive the separation again. He’d barely made it twenty years ago. Emmet and the rest of the pack had thought that he’d eventually gotten over losing her, but he never had. Jaxon had only become better at hiding his anguish and torment.
He straightened at the sound of the screen door opening and forced a calm he was nowhere near feeling to wash over him. There was no way he could get his cock to deflate with the spicy scent of her pleasure still clinging to her skin, so he didn’t bother trying. He turned to face her, and the breath he’d been trying so hard to regulate rushed out of his lungs.
She’d changed into a barely there bathing suit. Red triangles covered her breasts but did nothing to hide the hard peaks of her nipples through the thin fabric. The bottom hid the essential parts but left all the rest exposed for his perusal. Every glorious curve of her body was on display. He couldn’t contain his moan if he tried.
“Bringing that fridge in all by yourself had to be tough. I thought maybe you could take a break and have some lunch with me by the lake,” she suggested. “Since you’re not willing to take my money, the least I can do is feed you while you’re here.”
If she wanted to parade in next to nothing, he sure as hell wasn’t going to complain. Hell, he’d be happy to have her walk around naked all day as long as he was the only male around. “Thank you. I appreciate it.” He followed her back toward the cabin where she had set a basket and blanket on the step.
He should have been a gentleman and taken the blanket from her when she laid it on the soft grass at the
