His balls drew up, and he felt that telling tingle in the base of his spine. Dominic snapped his hand around her throat, snarling against her mouth. “Come for me, Mila.”

It was the damn snarl that somehow did it. Mila’s lips parted in a silent scream as white-hot pleasure rippled through her body, sizzled its way up her spine, and shattered her from the inside out.

Dominic swore as her pussy squeezed and contracted around him. Jamming his cock impossibly deep, he came so fucking hard it almost blew the head off his dick, jetting rope after rope of come inside her. Marking her.

As the strength left them both, he released her legs, letting them slide to the mattress, but he didn’t otherwise move. Just lay over her, his face buried in her neck while her fingers lazily danced over his back. He had to be crushing her with his weight, but she didn’t complain.

“Wasn’t kidding about the plunger, GQ,” she slurred.

His lips curved. “Such a vicious little thing; I like that.” He licked over the none-too-subtle bite he’d left on her neck, his smile widening at her little shudder. “I’ve never marked anyone before.”

“Neither have I.”

“Good.”

“What triggered the whole ‘we’re gonna see where this can go’ thing?”

Bracing himself on his elbows, he breezed his thumbs over her cheekbones. “It was always going to happen—Tate’s phone call just sped it up. His first words were, ‘Don’t go postal.’ I got this sick feeling in my gut, and my imagination went haywire. I knew you weren’t dead because Tate would have begun the conversation much differently. But dozens of other scenarios played out in my head in mere seconds, although it felt a fuck of a lot longer.

“And it hit me that we’d wasted so much time dancing around this thing we have—and we do have something here, Mila—rather than just accepting and exploring it. Life’s too short for that shit. I’m not wasting any more time. I’m too old to bullshit myself about what I feel and want. And I’m done trying to rationalize it.”

Satisfied that this hadn’t been some spur-of-the-moment thing that he was likely to regret later, Mila nodded. She could tease him a little, though, right? Glancing at the wall, she blew out a breath. “I guess I’ll have to tell my uncles to postpone the arranged mating.”

He stiffened. “Postpone?”

“Well, this might not work out. I need to keep my options open and—”

Grabbing her wrists with a growl, he pinned them above her head. “You better be fucking kidding me.” But he was smiling because the little witch was laughing. “You’re gonna pay for that, Mila.”

“What, you gonna spank me, GQ?”

“As a matter of fact . . .” Dominic withdrew his half-hard cock, flipped her over, and brought his hand down hard on her ass. The little witch was still laughing.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A god-awful beeping sound woke Dominic. Beside him, Mila reached over to the nightstand and turned off the alarm. He was just about to snuggle up to her when she fluidly slipped out of bed and stood tall, as alert as a fucking marine. He blinked. “Were you already awake?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

Pulling on an old flannel shirt, she said, “Nope. I was having a really strange dream that I was playing poker with Wonder Woman.”

He flicked a quick glance at the digital clock. Only 7:15 a.m. “Come back to bed, baby.”

“Gotta be at work at nine.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t come lie with me for a minute,” he pointed out, but she’d already disappeared into the bathroom. She returned after only a few minutes, looking fresh as a damn daisy. Then . . . it was like she was on fast-forward mode as she moved around the room, brushing her hair, changing into fresh clothes, and dabbing on a minimal amount of makeup without even looking in a mirror—he’d never seen anything like it. Honestly, he was tired just watching her.

Shaking his head, he asked, “How can you go from a deep sleep to wide awake, and then be completely ready in a matter of minutes?”

She shrugged. “Call it a leftover from my childhood. And adolescence.”

“A leftover?”

“I lived with two wolverines, GQ. If you didn’t get to the breakfast table fast, you didn’t get breakfast.”

Huh. He hadn’t thought of that. As she went to walk past him, he snagged her shirt, yanked her close, and then rolled her onto her back beneath him. “Better.” He took her mouth in a long, lazy kiss. “Good morning.”

She combed her fingers through his hair. “Good morning. Bet it feels weird waking up in someone else’s bed when it’s not the middle of the night,” she teased.

“I did wake up, remember?” Spooning her, he’d played with her clit until she was dripping wet and then fucked her right there, like that, before they both fell back asleep. He hadn’t felt even the smallest pull to leave. “In the past, I always went home because I didn’t want to lead anyone on.”

She looked at the ceiling. “You know, I’ve never understood why some guys worry that if they stay the night at a woman’s house, she’ll think it means something. Honestly, if a guy fell asleep in my bed and didn’t leave before morning, I never thought it meant something. I figured he was fucking tired. And since I very much hoped he had worn himself out making sure I had had myself a good time, I didn’t see it as a bad thing.”

Well, Dominic supposed that was indeed one way to look at it. “I don’t know anyone like you.”

She sniffed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Good. It was meant as one.” Nuzzling her, he yawned.

“Go back to sleep if you’re still tired.”

Drawing back, he brushed his nose over hers. “I want another kiss.” She lifted her mouth to his. Smiling, he began to slide down her body. “I didn’t say where I wanted it.”

After making her come with his mouth twice, he fucked her hard into the mattress. Ignoring her bitching about how he should have done it before she’d washed and dressed, he slapped her ass and headed into the bathroom. He did his business, brushed his teeth with a spare toothbrush he found in a drawer, then pulled on his clothes.

Checking his phone, he noticed a text message from Taryn asking how Mila was doing. The nosy she-wolf was also poking for information on how Mila had responded to his insistence that she was now his. He rattled off a quick reply, assuring her that all was well, and then went in search of Mila. He found her sitting on the living room sofa, sipping coffee while reading something on her cell phone.

“Coffee’s in the pot, if you want me to get you some,” she said without looking up.

He dropped a kiss on her head. “I’ll get it.” When he returned from the kitchen, she was still preoccupied with her cell phone. Mug in hand, he settled on the sofa next to her and nipped the tip of her ear. “What are you reading?”

“The numerous texts I received from my pride mates this morning, asking how I was feeling. Many of them are also fishing for details on whether or not you stayed.”

Marveling at how it didn’t feel the slightest bit weird or awkward to be waking and spending his morning with Mila, he said, “Taryn, my Alpha female, wanted to know if you were okay and whether you’d accepted that you’re mine. The pack is going to want to meet you.” He splayed his hand on her thigh. “I want them to meet you.”