Page 68 of Claimed

“Why didn’t you?” I ask, tonguing her mark and pulling a full body shiver from her as my hand tightens.

“I… I dunno what I’m doing with sex. I’m sorry I’m so boring at it. But… I, uh…” She stiffens. “I like your sister. She’s really n-nice.”

I lean back and make eye contact, not hiding that I notice how she’s trying to deflect. She looks a little distraught at her admission and she’s trying to hide it. She’s trying to paint on a fake smile now.

“Nothing about sex with you is boring, Stace. Not remotely.”

Her expression falls. Yeah, major confidence issues. I’m gonna fix that.

“But… I just lie here and let you do it all,” she reasons. “It’s because…oh wait, I’m not gonna saywhybecause you’re gonna get upset if I talk aboutthatstuff and ruin this moment so… oops, forget I just said that. I just wish I knew what I was doing.”

I cup her jaw, pushing away the irritation at the idea of her sex life before me. I need to change the course she’s on.

“We’ve only been at it a couple days and babe, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Best sex of my life. You feel really fuckin’ good. I love fucking you; it’s my new favorite hobby. Feel free to lie there. You can feel free to participate, too. I’m happy to take thelead; it’s how I like it. You want… I can give you some direction so you learn what I like and build confidence.”

Her eyes light up. “Yeah, that. Teach me. Teach me what you like. I’ll be the best student ever.”

She’s so animated. It’s very fuckin’ cute.

“Happily,” I tell her. “But don’t feel self-conscious about our sex life. So far it’s awesome. You’ve got nothing to feel bad about.”

“Being drunk seems to make me chatty.”

“I can see that. I like it. Hope you get to where you’re comfortable getting chatty with me every day. Not needing alcohol to fuel bravery. How about we strike while the iron’s hot?”

She gives me a look loaded with sensuality, like she’s about to jump my bones, but a tremor of panic hits my chest from the inside as her facial expression changes.

“I’m so scared that Wyatt’ll ruin everything. I don’t want him to ruin everything. He always ruins every th-thing.” She bursts into tears. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want anyone to take you away from me. For you to decide to send me away. I want to be in this moment with you, in all these beautiful moments with you, but he’s out there.” She points. “He’s out there making his plans. His ugly, horrible plans. And maybe doling out revenge on me for not coming through, though of course it won’t be me that feels it yet. And here I am with all this wonderfulness around me and, and the people back home are suffering, and your water is so clean and clean water isn’t something anyone should even have to notice…” She sobs and buries her face.

“Look at me, babe. Look.”

She moves her hands and stares into my eyes.

“Nobody’s gonna come between us, Stace,” I tell her, looking deep. “You’re mine, I’m yours. Forever. Let me worry about Wyatt. I promise I’ll do my best to make it work out for everyone.”

I spin around to pull her on top of me, gathering her close. She clutches my shirt and cries into my chest, so I rub her back and purr for her.

She’s immediately sinking in, relaxing.

My phone sounds off with a text. I ignore it.

“Booze made me giggly and gooey and now it’s making me weepy and sleepy.”

“That’s okay. We’ve got tomorrow.” I press my lips to her hair and pull her scent deeper into my lungs. “We’ve also got forever.”

“I really want forever with you, Greyson,” she says.

“That’s exactly what you get, sweetheart.”

She burrows deeper into me, squeezing me tight while I continue purring until she’s cried herself to sleep.

Feeling her breaths even out, feeling her body meld into me, I allow my mind to wander through the day’s events.

They didn’t bear much fruit. The Silver Hills pack has stayed pretty well under radar.

We’re taking action with the help of Jared Stone, a lone alpha we’ve known a while who works with Linc sometimes on cases and he’s agreed to head down there and do some investigative work for us while Joel continues doing his internet research.

Silver Hills is a good few hours drive from here and Jared is scentless so nobody there will know an outsider is sniffing around.

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