Page 16 of Wild Fated Mate
Uh-oh. I was right.
We had just declared our love for each other. No matter how crazy-fast it seemed to anyone else, it felt right to me. He had made me come so hard I swear I felt like an animal was inside us both, roaring to get free. But we couldn’t move forward until everything was brought into the light.
“Do you collect creepy clown dolls?” I could live with it, as long as they were locked in a trunk the bottom of the farthest lake. “Is your cabin the really rustic kind, or do you have plumbing?”
“Sunshine.” He smiled. “Hell no, and yes, I have plumbing.” He laughed under his breath when he said it.
“I want so much with you, Serena. I want it all. But I owe you the full story, because there is nothing I want more than your happiness. And I would never ask you to be my wife until you knew everything about me.”
“Wife?”
“I said a lifetime, and I mean it.” He gently closed my mouth with a finger, a finger that had been inside me, drawing out the most intense orgasm of my life, only moments ago.
I closed my eyes for a moment, the forest air clean and fresh, mingling with the scent of our encounter, my heartbeat slowing and steadying with each breath.
My whole body was on board. There was no shame or embarrassment, like what we’d just done was only sex, and now entered the awkward disentanglement afterparty.
I nodded. “Wife. I like that.” I smiled at my future husband. Wow. “Although, you know, the hand fasting is like we’re already married?—”
“I like where you’re going with this.” His quick grin was full of promise.
He helped me fix myself, and only snorted at my plaid shirt, saying he’d get me the real thing, soon enough.
“Oh no! What about the scavenger hunt and the other games? Carrigan and Carissa?—”
“Will get over it if we lose.” He squeezed my hand and mumbled something about making it up to the twins with a trip to the happiest place on earth.
“But what if I wanted to do a sack race with you?” I teased him.
He grunted. “Can you see me fitting into a sack?”
His powerful thighs were hidden by dark denim, but I’d felt them under me. I’d stood between his large feet.
“Nope.” I smiled up at him. “How do you fit in a sleeping bag or tent, anyway?”
“Custom.”
Of course. Nothing about Gavin was standard-issue. There’s something wild inside him. I felt it when he had his fingers inside me, in the way he kissed me. It’s like animal instinct tempered by his surroundings. What was he like in the wild, in the middle of a fire?
The walk to leave the forest was powered by excitement, a far cry from when we’d entered. Gavin walked beside me, matching his stride to mine, though I could feel the anticipation vibrating through us both as we ignored our team flags.
I didn’t care about points in this game. As far as I was concerned, we’d already won.
We emerged from the edge of the woods, next to a field full of people watching some of the competitions that were part of the annual festival.
Normally, I loved festivals, the food and games, watching the crowd, and marveling at the crafts. But today was different. My body still vibrated with the aftershocks of my orgasm, the intimacy of the moment in the forest wrapped around me like a golden bubble. It was as if Gavin and I were invisible, slipping through the throngs of people and around the tents on our own trajectory.
His hand engulfed mine, and though he smiled down at me, there was a tightness to his lips, and a tension in his body that hadn’t been there in the woods.
“It’s not you, Sunshine,” he said, correctly interpreting my look. “I don’t like crowds. They get too loud, too close. And with you to protect, I dislike them even more.”
“I am an adult. I can take care of myself. I always have.” I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice. He was talking to me about his feelings, what he was thinking, instead of just turning away like before. It was just as new to me to feel loved this way, as it was to think of someone other than only myself to take care of me.
“I know you can, but you don’t have to.” He raised our tied wrists and kissed the back of my hand. “I need to protect you. I want to take care of you. Please, let me.”
Huh. He was asking to take care of me.
“Okay,” I said.
