Page 19 of Cherished By Her Guardian

He mock wiped his brow. “Whew. I thought you were having second thoughts about me.”

Her mouth fell open as she let out an exasperated gasp. “Absolutely not!”

“Good.” He gripped her hips a little tighter and pulled her against him. Her eyes darkened and the sweet scent of her arousal spiked in the air between them. Holy hell, she smelled amazing.

Dark brown sugar and sweet cream.

“I just don’t want you to think that I’m dead set on being a Guardian. We can live wherever, I only care that you’re with me. Plus I’ll point out that you’ve spent only a little bit of time in Northernmost. You might really love Howling Creek.”

“I only care that we’re together too,” she said. “But I don’t know, I just feel like Northernmost is the right place for us. At least for now. Maybe we’ll change our minds in the future when we’ve got kids, and they need to be around their wolf peers.”

Her eyes got a faraway look and her lush mouth pulled down at the corners.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just wondering if mybrokennessis hereditary.”

“You’re not broken, you’re perfect. And whether our kids shift or not, they’ll be accepted by us and the family no matter what.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and kissed her. “I swear to be the best mate to you and make a home that you’ll be proud of, no matter how long we stay in Northernmost or when we go to Howling Creek. Okay? Trust in me to take good care of you for the rest of our lives.”

Her eyes glistened and she gave him the sweetest smile.

“You’re really a wonderful guy. I’m just wondering how I got so lucky to find you.”

“Believe me, Winterlyn, I’m the lucky one.”

When the last of the things they’d been able to collect from Winterlyn’s were in the spare bedroom of his apartment, he stared at the boxes, bags and suitcases, feeling supremely happy to see her things in a place that hadn’t ever felt like home to him.

But it did now. With her here.

“Declan?” she called to him from the master bedroom.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” He left the spare bedroom and walked into the master, where his beautiful mate was standing in front of the bed that he’d failed to make that morning.

The lights were low and Winterlyn looked like a goddess in the long, flowing dress she’d worn to dinner, her long, blonde hair like a halo around her.

He growled softly and joined her, inhaling the sweet, deep scent of her arousal.

“Sweet mate, what are you thinking of?”

“You, Declan. I want… you.”

Winterlyn had never been very bold or really put herself out on a limb. But she was already head over heels for Declan. He’d asked her to be his mate, gone with her to meet her parents, and then helped her pack her apartment and brought her home with him. He’d opened his heart and home to her so easily that it was hard not to find herself falling for him.

There was just one thing she needed, and that was to be his mate in truth.

He caught her around the waist and turned them together, falling to the bed so that she was straddling him, and he was spread out below her, his eyes glowing with heat and passion.

He slid his hands up the edge of the dress, pushing it up her thighs. She’d decided against tights or hose under the dress even though it had been cold out, and she’d also gone without…

“Naughty vixen,” he said with a purr in his throat as he found the apex of her thighs and the missing panties.

She leaned forward, bracing her hands on his chest. “You could have had fun at dinner, but you didn’t even try anything.”

“It was our first date,” he said, skimming his fingers up her belly, the dress riding up high on her waist. “I wanted to be a gentleman.”

“Gentlemen don’t finger their mates at dinner?”

He grinned, his eyes flashing amber. “I will from now on.”

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