She gazed out to the darkness of the surrounding woods. “And I’m glad that out of anyone who could have found me out there, it was you.” She faced him again.
His gaze dropped to her lips. Shiny. Parted. Calling to him.
Kiss her, his wolf stirred, practically ready to burst.
“I think we can make this night better still.” He raised his gaze back to meet hers and caressed her cheek.
Her body trembled slightly, and she released a sigh. He was all but shaking himself. Wanting, needing. He’d never yearned so much or felt more vulnerable in his life. If she rejected him…
Enough of the brooding. Kiss her, you damn fool, his wolf demanded.
“How so?” Her voice sounded throaty. Her lids lowered and her pupils were wide.
Damon took her glass and put it near his at the edge of the hot tub. He leaned closer to her. “With a kiss,” he all but growled. “I want you, Sophie,” he softened his tone, but it still came out gravelly and full of the ache he couldn’t suppress.
A sigh slipped from her lips. “Yesss,” she purred. “Kiss me.”
Damon’s body hardened. He cupped her face with both hands. Her cheeks were as soft as snowflakes, but the heat from it would melt ice. Her scent wrapped around him, inciting him with desire that hummed in his blood.
He bent his head and brushed his lips against hers.
The fire in his veins raged higher. All his senses seemed to detonate when he touched her.
His wolf pranced with satisfaction. Mate. Mate. Mate.
Damon attempted to ignore his wolf, but deep down he knew he couldn’t fight it much longer. Not when all he wanted to do was feel, touch, taste…
Sophie tasted like champagne and sunshine on a bluebird day. Intoxicating. He deepened the kiss, wanting to savor as much as he could of her, and prodded his tongue in between her lips. When she opened to him, their tongues tangled.
He all but plundered her mouth as his cock throbbed in his swim trunks. He traced his fingers along her neck, over her collarbone, down to the globes spilling out the top of her swimsuit.
She reached behind her neck and untied the bikini top. With how she stretched her arms, her breasts were exposed over the surface of the water. Her dusky rose nipples were tight. A desperate need to taste them rose. She dropped the top next to their champagne glasses.
He covered her mouth with his. “You’re killing me, Sophie.” He reached out and traced over one of her soft, heavy breasts. “You’re stunning.”
He claimed her mouth again and ran his thumbs over her hard nipples. She moaned against his lips.
Pulling a hair’s width away, he murmured. “You have me aching hard.”
“Oh?” She feigned innocence. “Let’s see about that.”
When her hand stroked over his fully erect shaft, he dropped his head back and released a guttural groan.
“Now this feels promising.” Her voice lowered, husky with need. “I wonder how it would feel inside me.”
He growled. “Good. So fuckin’ good.”
The sound of a snapping twig nearby bolted him right out of the tub.
Her eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”
All his senses were attuned. It could be a small animal, but Damon knew, he just knew that something was off.
Someone was out there. Were they watching them? Watching her?
His protective instincts took over. He handed Sophie her bikini top. “Go inside, Sophie.”
“Damon.” She huffed. “What is it?”
“Probably nothing. I’m going to check.”
He kept his eyes attuned for movement in the woods while he helped her put on her top. After they climbed out, she gave him a questioning glance all but asking what the hell is going on?
“Hurry in. I’ll be right there,” he said.
She wrapped her towel around herself. “You can’t go out there alone.”
“That’s what I do, Sophie. My responsibilities include keeping everyone safe.”
She gestured toward him with a shaky hand. “But you have nothing. No weapon.” Her bottom lip trembled.
“I’ll be fine,” he placated her.
Her expression remained worried as she walked to the glass door leading inside. He watched her go, eyes lingering, before he turned his attention to the forest.
Once he stepped onto the path he’d cleared into the woods, he shed his trunks and shifted to wolf form. He let his wolf and his primal instincts take over and he bounded over the fern-covered forest floor in the direction the twig snapping had originated.
He caught a scent that made his fur stand on end. It was absolutely unwelcome in Franconia territory, especially so close to Damon’s home. And Sophie.
It was that of the Sacco wolf.
Chapter 9
Damon
In wolf form, Damon tracked the Sacco wolf’s scent. It had retreated back to its territory. Sonovabitch must have been spying on him.
His wolf prowled with agitation inside. We should tear the intruder to shreds.
Damon grunted, noting the appeal of that suggestion, but it was out of the question. He had to notify his alpha.
After sharing the development with Rafe and Grayson, Damon’s muscles were tense. He yearned to return to Sophie and ensure she was safe.
Almost an hour passed before he returned to his cabin. When he opened the door and found her sitting on the sofa, he exhaled.
Sophie held a mug of tea in her hands and wore a worried expression. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” he assured her and sat beside her. The scent of her soothed him after that ordeal.
“What was it?”
“Nothing,” he lied. What else could he tell her? “Just an animal passing through.”
She didn’t appear convinced. “Why were you so worried? Aren’t you used to animals passing through?”
He ground his teeth and swallowed. “We don’t get along with those who live over on Sacco Mountain. I had to make sure it wasn’t anything more.”
Her questioning expression indicated she still didn’t buy it. “Why does it seem like you’re keeping something from me?”
Damon ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. Nerves? I’m sorry if I spooked you.”
She pursed her lips and then carried her mug into the kitchen.
