Page 67 of Claimed

There’s no answer so I wander up a flight of stairs and peer down the hall toward the kitchen and see the makings of the snack platter on the island. As I loop my big bag over my shoulder, I hear Stacy giggling upstairs.

“Ah, I see. Goodnight,” I say loud. “Hee hee. Honeymooners.”

I twist the lock for the door on my way out and find Jason Creed, the super alpha of my dreams, looking broody in the driver’s seat of my car.

Suddenly, my palms are sweaty and my belly is wobbly. I get to be alone with him in a car. It might only be for the one and a half minutes it takes to get the car swung around and down around the corner to get to my house (which would be faster to walk to than to drive to), but it could be something else that happens. Something I’ve wanted for a long, long time.

I square my shoulders as I open the car door feeling a little lightheaded, either because of the booze, the possibilities, or maybe because my bra is a little too tight.

16

Grey

When I got into the kitchen, my mate spun around to face me. Her eyes were glassy. She smelled like rum and fruit.

“You’re back!” She looked excited. “Is it okay that I’m making a snack?”

“That’s a question you don’t have to ask,” I told her. “Not ever. This is your home, Blossom.”

“Oh. Right,” she said, looking embarrassed but flashing a shy little smile with that cute dimple of hers. “But this is a big snack.”

“And?”

“And…” she pondered it a second, and shrugged, “Having this much food, enough to feed half a village? It’s…” She shook her head, left that hanging, and gestured to the platter filled with slices of cheese, a fan of crackers, some grapes and berries, a handful of nuts, and some pretzels, but my eyes quickly moved from the food to traverse the length of her, from her bare feet, up her slim, long legs and her torso, up to her face. Her hair was over one shoulder, hanging in soft waves over her breast. She held a jar of pickles in her hand.

“Put the pickles down, sweetheart,” I said, voice coming out gruff.

This was when I heard Jase tell my sister he’d drive her home at the same moment as I caught the scent of Stacy’s arousal, so the second my mate set the jar of pickles on the counter I lunged,bending to put my shoulder to her belly so I could haul her up in the air, balancing over my shoulder.

She squeaked in surprise as I made my way for the stairs. The scent in my nostrils made my mouth water; the scent of her wanting me.

***

I belatedly hear my sister come in as I shut the bedroom door. If my sister weren’t drunk, she’d catch the scent in the air and fuck off.

“What about Bailey?” Stacy asks.

“She’ll get the message,” I reply, letting her drop on the bed.

She bounces and lets out a giggle.

It’s music to my ears. It’s a sound I want more of. It’s a sound I want a lifetime of.

She swallows down a gulp as I climb her body from the bottom of the bed. When I’m hovering over her, I ask, “A little drunk, wife?”

“Um…” She looks thoughtful as she considers my question, adorably so, “Yu-huh. Never been drunk before so dunno if this is a little or a lot but it’s definitely one or the other.” She loops her arms around my neck and adds, “I’m glad you’re back. I like it when you’re close.”

“Oh yeah?” I inquire. “How close?”

“I like it when you are…veryclose,” she replies and fists the front of my shirt, pulling me even closer.

I run my nose up her throat and kiss her mate mark. “Good. Because close to you is where I plan to be.”

Her nose runs along the crook of my neck too. “I like when you put your mouth on the mate mark,” she advises huskily. “It tingles in a very nice way.”

“Mm,” I react, running my hand up her torso to cup her breast.

“It makes my nipples tingle. And it makes me tingle between my legs, too. I wanted to bite you back when you bit me.” Her voice is husky, filled with arousal. And it shunts through my dick.

---