Whatever she planned on telling him was lost as his lips covered hers.
The taste of her? Ambrosia. The feel of her against his body? He’d died and gone to heaven. She nestled in tighter and her breasts rubbed his chest. His wolf nudged him harder, and he was powerless to resist the command, tangling their tongues until air became a dire need.
But the idea of stopping was unthinkable.
His wolf wanted more. Forget making it into the house and a bedroom, the beast wanted him to pick her up and wrap her legs around his waist. Lean her back over the car hood and take her right there. Strip her down and wallow in her scent and sex it up until they were both too sated to move.
Mark’s human side figured most of that was dandy as well. He was far enough gone in lust that even the sex-in-public bit didn’t sound like too bad of an idea.
Two cool hands cupped his burning-hot cheeks as Tessa managed to disengage their lips and wiggle away until her face returned to view. She was smiling, but confusion clouded her pretty eyes. “Hi. I think we should start this again. I’m Tessa Williams. I sent you a proposal to buy your house.”
Shock was a good mood killer. Icy-cold restraint returned. “You’re T. Williams?”
She wiggled out of his clutches and straightened her sweater. “I am. It’s a beautiful place. We’ll need to make a few changes though, but if you don’t mind me looking around, I’m sure we’ll be able to come to an agreement.”
Mark pulled his mouth shut. This was the person who wanted to purchase his home? “You’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow.”
“I was too eager to see the place to hang out in Whitehorse overnight. We can wait until the scheduled time for the meeting if that’s better for you.” Tessa pulled out a small mirror and lipstick, and touched up her lips with a fiery red colour he was tempted to lean over and lick off. He battled his wolf into submission. Stubborn beast didn’t want to talk. Wanted to take.
Mark got the sentiment, but… “We can discuss the house in a minute. First…”
His wolf poked him again, and this time he wasn’t too distracted by lust to get the message. He took another breath, running his gaze over her entire body. Analyzing the way she stood, the way she’d moved.
Tessa crossed her arms in front of her, which only framed those flawless breasts a little more. “Yes?”
“I’m a wolf.”
She nodded slowly. “I figured that out about two seconds after we met. And this is important…why?”
“You’re a cat.”
A cute pout appeared on her succulent lips. “You have issues with that?”
Mark shook his head even as he wondered how in the world this was going to work out. “You’re perfect.”
Light laughter escaped her. “Thank you, but I’m not sure what brought that on.”
Good grief. If she’d been a wolf, he wouldn’t need to have this conversation. They would have met and known they were the one for each other. As it was, his wolf continued to do the lupine equivalent of pacing, and it was a pretty damn uncomfortable sensation.
There must be more logical ways to approach this, but his logic meter had gone out of whack at the first sniff. The words blurted from him like homing missiles.
“My wolf says you’re my mate.”
Tessa’s eyes widened. “Oh, really?”
He nodded. “That’s why I kind of attacked you back there. The kiss and all.”
“Okay, I wondered about that.” Tessa glanced him over then shrugged. “Well, that’s interesting. So, do you want to meet regarding my proposal now, or tomorrow?”
Confusion swirled with need, making his brain foggy. “That’s interesting? That’s all you’ve got to say about me telling you we’re mates?”
She raised a brow. “No, your wolf said we’re mates. My cat says you’re kinda cute, but we don’t do mates like you guys. We’re not into the insta-just-add-water thing.”
He was going to fall over. “You’re saying you don’t want to be my mate?”
“Are you saying you love me?” she snapped back. “As in, you know all about me. What my hopes and dreams are. What makes me smile and what makes me cry, and you want to spend the rest of our lives together because I complete you?”
Mark stuttered to a stop. “Well, no. But that will come. It always does, for wolves.”
Tessa stepped closer and laid her hand on his arm. “But I’m not a wolf. I want to be in love before I mate anyone. That’s important to me. We make a choice, our humans and our animal sides. I’m not trying to be cruel, but I’m sorry. We’re not mates. Not yet.”
Chapter Three
She felt horrid. A terrible big bully who had taken away a child’s favourite toy. Seeing Mark’s face fall as she pulled back was like watching the rain clouds roll in and soak a picnic.
But darn it all. This was important to her as well.
Mark rallied himself. Coughed a couple times. Took a deep breath, his nose wrinkling up immediately.