Page 81 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

Cam

The sun’s just starting to spill through the blinds when I wake up. It’s soft and low—barely light enough to see by—but I don’t need light to know exactly where she is. She’s still in my arms, tucked against my chest like she was meant to be there, her legs tangled with mine and her breath steady against my throat.

And I’m still knotted inside her.

The thought alone sends a flush of heat through me.

And underneath the vanilla and sterile notes of pharmacy-grade denial, I can smell her.Us. The match is always there, andfuck, I could stay here forever.

My hand finds her waist, then slides over the curve of her back. She stirs just slightly, nuzzles in closer, and I swear, something in my chest cracks wide open.

Having her in the house recently has felt like waking up to spring. The whole place has shifted. There’s laughter now— the real, belly-deep kind. Glitter in the hallway. Cupcakes with flirty and funny little messages written in icing. Music playing fromthe kitchen while she cooks, and the scent of her shampoo lingering on my hoodies even when she pretends she didn’t borrow them.

She’severywhere, and I love it.

She brings a kind of chaotic softness we didn’t even know we were missing until she arrived. Jace and I—we’re better with her here. Calmer and lighter, like she took all the sharp edges and sanded them down just by being herself. Even Wes—grumpy bastard that he is—feels morealivearound her. Tense and infuriated, sure, butalive.

I know things are complicated between them. There’s still tension, still heat, still wounds that haven’t fully healed, but I believe in us. We’re a good pack, and we’ll figure it out.

For now, though… she’s mine.

I shift slightly and kiss her shoulder. She curls around me as my knot begins to soften, then she stirs with a sleepy sound that makes every nerve in my body tighten.

“Cam?” she whispers.

“I’m here,” I tell her. “Still got you.”

Her arms loop around my neck, and for a second, I think she’s drifting back to sleep; but then her hips shift.

I groan before I can stop it, already hard again, already aching.

“Is this okay?” I ask, even though every part of me is already answering for her.

She nods, her legs sliding higher around my waist.

“Yeah,” she breathes. “I want you.”

That’s all I need.

I sink back into her with one smooth, steady thrust, swallowing the broken little sound that escapes her throat with a kiss. Her lips part beneath mine, and her hands grip my shoulders tightly. I kiss down her neck, across the curve of her collarbone as my fingers tighten around her hip.

She moans again, and her scent slips through the cracks in her suppressants like a siren call.

Sugar and spice andmine.

“Still so fucking perfect for me,” I whisper. “Tight and warm and sweet—and your body knows who it belongs to.”

She shudders as I move deeper, slower, angling my cock until I feel her clench with a gasp that goes straight to my spine. Her nails dig into my back, her head tipping back and her mouth falling open.

“Cam,” she whispers.

“I’ve got you,” I promise again, biting it out against her skin. “You don’t have to think. Don’t have to pretend. Just let go for me.”

Her hips roll up to meet mine, chasing it now, greedy for every inch. Her scent is thick between us, fogging the room, bleeding through the layers she tries to hide behind. I feel my knot threatening, swelling at the base as her walls pulse around me, but I grit my teeth and fight it back.

I can’t get stuck—not when I’ve got work, not when my classroom will be full in less than an hour and a half—butfuckif it doesn’t take everything I have to hold that instinct at bay.

I speed up just slightly, chasing that final crest, holding her tighter as I bury my face in the crook of her neck.

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