Page 29 of Stolen Mate

“Don’t worry, Deputy Grayson, your virtue is safe with me.”

Derek snorted, and headed toward the bed, grabbing pillows out of the antique storage trunk he used for a coffee table. Tess liked hers better, but basically their styles were very similar. He lay the pillows down the middle, dividing the bed in half. As barriers went, it wasn’t much, but Tess could kind of appreciate the effort.

It seemed even sillier when she climbed into bed—Derek on one side of the pillows and her on another, but when she thought of it, the fact that he was doing his best to protect her was sweet and very kind. He probably believed there was a lot going on in her head, and there was, but most likely not in the way he thought.

Derek’s gift of telling her what he knew, offering to introduce her to others who might know more, had allowed her to settle a lot of the things that had been flying around her head. Her poor birth mother had endured so much and had given her life to ensure Tess’s safety, and then her parents had picked up the torch, so to speak, and spent their lives giving her a family and a happy childhood. Most people might not agree, but Tess felt blessed.

Derek turned over on his side so he was facing away from her, giving Tess an unobstructed view of his strong, muscular back all the way down to where the covers had scooched down, and she could see the top of his ass. It was a truly magnificent piece of work. She couldn’t wait for the day she could gaze, touch, and kiss every single bit of his gorgeous body.

Strangely, she knew there would come such a day.

Soon, the deep, rhythmic sound of his breathing told her he was asleep. Sleep was far more elusive for her. Tess knew it was insane, but she found herself falling for the polar bear shifter who had come charging to the rescue and into her life. But hey, if she could believe in a polar bear and a reindeer shifter, named Dash, why not love at first sight? And Santa Claus. Definitely Santa Claus.

CHAPTER 12

DEREK

Derek wasn’t sure who had removed the pillow barrier, when it had been removed, or where the pillows had gone. All he knew was that instead of waking up sleeping on his side, his body using his cock for a kickstand and wishing like hell Tess was curled up with him, she was simply there. Sometime during the night, they had each gravitated toward the other.

As he opened his eyes, he found the pillows. They were on the other side of Tess. Somehow, she had wriggled between them, and he was glad of it. He laid on his back. Her head rested on his shoulder, her hand on his chest. His arm was curled around her, holding her close. His erection was snuggled between them.

It would be so easy to just roll her onto her back and ease into her pussy before she even knew what was happening. That would be a terrible violation of her trust, but his cock didn’t much care. All it knew was that her warm, wet pussy was tantalizingly close, and it wanted inside. It would be a much better way to start the morning, not that the night had ended badly. Tess had seemed to take the whole “you’re a shifter, your mother killed your sire, and my sire will be out to get you” thing rather well.

“Good morning,” she said sleepily.

He couldn’t resist the temptation to push her long, dark curls off her face. “Good morning.”

“You moved the pillows.”

He chuckled. “You’d best look again. You’re the one that crossed over into my territory.”

“I don’t suppose we could just lie here in bed and hope the world will go away and leave us alone, can we?”

“I wish we could,” he said, giving her a squeeze as he rolled up off the bed.

He hadn’t bothered with clothes last night so pulled on a pair of sweatpants. He looked toward the bed to find Tess sitting upright, her knees pulled to her chest, the bed covers caught between her legs and breasts, but still leaving a lot of side boob showing.

“You seem to have lost your sweater, or rather my sweater.”

“I prefer to sleep naked, and figured as you were naked and had our trusty bundling board between us…”

“They were pillows…”

“You get the idea. Anyway, I wanted to be comfortable so pulled it off.”

“We need to get the rest of your things from Trudy’s.”

“That sounds good, but don’t you think we ought to invite the guys who were out there all night in for breakfast?”

Derek chuckled. “You’re going to be really popular among our clan members. How about you get dressed, and I’ll go round up the boys. I’m sure we have enough to feed them something.”

“Will do.”

He gave her a last look, thinking how right she looked in his bed, and headed out to gather Zak’s men.

Recognizing his brother’s second-in-command, Derek extended his hand. “Wyatt. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Zak was putting together the team, and I wanted a chance to check out your place. Zak called. He’s already heard from Henry. That bastard Reynolds must have told him.”

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