Page 53 of Stripped

CHAPTER NINE

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Zane said when I walked into the kitchen the next morning. He was seated at the kitchen table, and he was filthy. There were twigs in his hair and dirt streaks on his face. His left eye was purple and swollen shut. “You hungry?”

“Starving,” I said. “Are you okay?”

He waved a hand in dismissal. “Axel needed to work off some of his frustration on me.”

“Because of me?”

“You and the fact that Julie is a month away from pushing out his kid and the pack's broke. I was an easy target, because I didn't bow down to him like I should have.” He stood and pushed back his chair. “Sit. I'll make breakfast.”

“You should go to bed. I can handle making my own breakfast.”

“You don't cook.”

“I'll just have cereal.”

He sighed and put a hand over his face like I'd said something insane. “Cereal, she says.” He dropped his hand and looked at me. “I don't keep that processed crap in my house, sweetheart.” He turned to the stove and started pulling out pots and pans. “I'd take you to the diner, but it's closed on account of the town being broke. You'd have liked it. Lots of cheese and bread.”

I took a seat at the table and watched as he moved around the kitchen, finding the fixings for a breakfast of grits, eggs, and toast. He hummed while he worked, though he moved stiffly enough that it was clear Axel had put a hurting on him.

Finally, he put a plate in front of me and sat with his own plate.

“How was the run?” I asked.

“Amazing. I wish you could experience it with me.”

My heart sank. He should have a girlfriend he could experience a pack run with. And he would. “When you settle down with another wolf and get married, that's something the two of you will be able to do together.”

“Or I could turn you,” he said.

My stomach roiled and, for a moment, I thought he was serious. It sounded so much like something Leopold would say, some sick attempt to own me, to make sure I never left.

“Shit,” he said. He pushed his plate away, picked me up and sat back down with me on his lap. “I'm sorry. I would never do that to you.”

“Why would you even say that?” I was shaking and my eyes burned. Why the hell was I so emotional?

He sighed. “Because I've been up all night and had my ass kicked. And because it hurt that you could imagine me with someone else when the thought of another man touching you makes me want to break a window with my fist. I reacted badly and I'm sorry.”

Complicated. This is why I never should have slept with him. “I don't enjoy thinking of you with someone else, Zane, but it's reality. I'm moving to Denver and you should be with a wolf.”

“I don't want to be with a wolf. I want to be with you. Wolf-human relationships work out great. We could even have kids.”

“Zane—”

“Maybe I'll move to Denver with you. I could get a job teaching at a university there and—”

I spun in his arms and pressed my lips to his to get him to shut up. He gripped the back of my head and kissed me back like he was starving for me. I straddled him and moved against him, going from worried about leading him on to only being able to think about sex in all of five seconds.

I bent my head and nipped at his collarbone and he groaned. He gripped my hips and slammed me down hard over his crotch. A move that had me moaning and him gasping in something not at all like pleasure. “You're hurt.” I tried to get off his lap, but he held me in place.

“I heal quick.”

“I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything,” I said. “Just, let's get you cleaned up first and then we'll find a softer place to—”

“Yep.” He stood with me in his arms and hurried back to his bedroom and the master bath. “Sounds good to me.”

He set me down on the tile floor and reached into the shower to turn on the spray. “Get naked,” he said. He leaned against the sink and watched as I pulled off my t-shirt and sleep pants. Then he dropped to his knees and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to my lower belly. He slid a finger into my core and groaned. “You are so fucking wet,” he said. “I need to taste you.”

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