“Is that disdain I hear in your voice for my heartfelt symbol of commitment? You crush me to my very soul, Calla Allen.”
“I would never.” She held up the gold chain where she’d attached the can’s tab and grinned. “See? Always right next to my heart.” Calla patted her hand over her left breast then snatched it away just as quickly.
But Nash trailed a finger along her collarbone and down the line of her pink tank top. “Then no limb-ripping. Today’s Denny’s lucky day.”
She melted against Nash, reveling in the way her body absorbed his muscles, the way she felt every line of his abs, and delighted in his thighs pressed to hers. She let her lips graze his before asking, “So what time tonight?”
“What’s tonight again?” he teased, skimming her mouth with his tongue, creating ripples of hot need deep in her belly.
She tweaked his shoulder and giggled despite her nerves. “The chance for you to finally get laid.” The chance for you to prove you’re everything you claim you are.
Nash was being tested and he didn’t even know it. And it was totally unfair, but she’d been too insecure for full disclosure up to this point.
It had taken a little while for her to trust him, and now that she was almost there—so close she could almost taste it—Calla hoped she was able to go all the way.
Tonight was the night when she’d share her ugly secret with him. Something deeply personal—something she had to be sure he’d be okay with.
His head dipped low, hiding their faces with his black Stetson. He rubbed her nose with his, the length of his dark hair rustling over the collar of his black shirt. “Oh, yeah. Totally forgot about that. How remiss of me,” he teased, jutting his hips at her to reveal the rigid line of his shaft.
Calla snickered then sobered. “But we have to talk first.”
He mocked a sigh. “Lord, woman, are we going to have the ‘I’m a werewolf, you’re a warlock, some people won’t be happy about us dating’ talk again? Because I told you, I damn well don’t care what anyone wants but us.”
“I don’t either.” Her pack usually had strict rules about mating. But not for her. In fact, if she brought home an elephant and told them she was going to make little werephalants, they wouldn’t care.
Because she was deemed inferior.
His smoldering green eyes held concern. “Then what else is there, honey? I thought we’d talked everything out when we decided to wait on the whoopee and chose to really get to know each other first?”
They’d both agreed after meeting up again, they were at the stages in their lives where they wanted commitment, a future with someone, families, and they were willing to really get to the core of one another before they took the final leap to a deeper, physical connection.
But that wasn’t the only reason she’d wanted to wait.
Letting her hands fall, Calla grabbed his from their place on her waist, her eyes serious when she gazed into his. “Can you just trust me and wait until tonight?”
Nash smiled down at her, the grooves on either side of his mouth deepening. “Of course I trust you, and you do know, I’ve waited eleven years for this. There’s nothing you can tell me that will make me change my mind about tonight. Not even if you’re a serial killer.”
Nothing…
She hoped that was the truth, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer. Instead she said with a smile, “So tonight? Eight o’clock?”
Nash pulled her back in tight again, whispering his mouth over the side of her neck. “You’d better put your two-steppin’ shoes on.”
“You can two-step? Shut the front door.”
“Oh, the things I can do, Miss Calla. Just you wait and see, Beautiful.” He dropped a gentle kiss on her lips, a kiss that never failed to make her knees buttery soft, before giving her bottom a playful swat. “Eight o’clock sharp. I’m off to grab what I hope will be my last cold shower. See you tonight, pretty lady,” he rumbled deep and sexy before he strode off toward his truck, his low-slung jeans doing maddening things to her insides.
Tonight.
Three months of dating, and talking into the wee hours of the morning, and making out without passing first base, and laughing, and getting to know one another all over again had been so many things. Exhilarating, frustrating…but mostly they’d been blissful, and the slow simmer of their romance was all coming to fruition, and one thing was very clear to her.
She wanted Nash Ryder—forever.
Calla just hoped he’d want the same thing once tonight was all said and done.
Nash removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow, using it to shield his eyes from the glaringly hot sun when he heard a car pull up along the dirt road leading to the stables.
Denny Parks threw his long legs from his expensive Mercedes, slamming the ice-blue door shut and striding toward Nash, kicking up dust clouds with his pricey shoes.
Fuck.