Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild)

4

Lily stepped out of her thong panties and shoes and put them next to her wrap on the front seat of Sebastian’s car. Then she slipped her dress over her head and tossed the small handful of silk on top of her shoes and panties. Cool air swept over her bare back, lifted the tendrils of her long hair, and gave her a perfect excuse for her taut nipples and aching breasts.

She leaned over the hood of the car, watching with unabashed desire while Sebastian removed his clothing. Need that had simmered slow and steady deep inside throughout the evening blossomed into an all-consuming ache. She wanted him, and she’d not even shifted. Generally this level of arousal came after a run, not before, but she’d gone without for much too long.

Even that wasn’t the whole truth. It wasn’t merely the fact she’d had no opportunity for sex. No, Sebastian was beautiful beyond belief. His body was strong and hard, his mind sharp, his sense of humor unabashedly fun. Everything about him attracted her. For the first time, she looked at a man and wanted the whole package.

She found it hard to believe he wasn’t Chanku. He had the tall, lean build she associated with their kind, the broad shoulders, strong thighs, and, now that he’d slipped his pants off, the most perfect ass she’d ever seen on any man.

He turned to throw his clothes in the car, and she caught her breath. He was fully erect, his long, thick penis rising high against his perfectly muscled belly. Again, graphic proof of his similarities to the Chanku males she’d known.

Lily realized she was licking her lips, but damn. This was even better than that perfect butt.

He caught her staring. Again, that smile—that absolutely devastating smile—and it was all for her.

“Oh.” He honestly sounded surprised. “I thought maybe you’d already shifted.”

Lily straightened, aware she was giving him a visual feast with her bare breasts showing above the roof of the low-slung car. “I was waiting for you.”

She walked around the front of the vehicle and stood close. Most of the Chanku women she knew were dominant alphas. She felt no shame in wanting this man, and even less in showing him how she felt. He didn’t seem to mind her attention a bit. Heat radiated off his perfect body, and he made no attempt to hide his interest. The visual of him, hard and ready for her, had her licking her lips, fighting an urge to touch.

She imagined him taking her here, now, over the hood of his car or against the wind-worn boulders at the side of the lot. Erotic visuals cascaded through her mind, a slide show of images, each one hotter than the last, until she consciously shut them down. What if he saw them? It could be embarrassing, showing him so graphically how she lusted. Later. She would know him better after the run, after she got to know his feral side.

He held her gaze for a long, breathless moment. Then he took a deep breath that expanded his chest in a most enticing manner. She wondered if he might kiss her, touch her somehow to let her know he was interested. Then she felt like an idiot. Evidence of his interest couldn’t be more blatant.

He grabbed the keys he’d left on the hood of the car, clicked to lock the doors, and then walked to the edge of the parking lot. She watched as he stuck the keys in the crotch of a small tree to hide them. Then, standing in the cold moonlight, he raised his arms and faced the looming mountain and the moon hanging overhead.

Lily felt the rush of energy as he called the power to him. Whatever spell he invoked was silent, but energy was growing, gathering around him. She felt the power rising from the ground beneath her feet, from the mountain before them, from the air itself. Tiny hairs stood up on her arms and along her spine.

She tried to read the energy, to figure out what sort of spell he used, what entity aided him, but there was a sudden shimmer of light, a soft glow that seemed to come from within the man. Fascinated, Lily watched as the light grew until it covered him with a golden aura so bright it cast a shadow. The light swelled and then burst.

She blinked, and blinked again. In the place of the man stood a beautiful black wolf. It turned and gazed pointedly at Lily. Smiling, she called on her wolf, felt the frisson of her own power, and shifted.

Not nearly as dramatic, though definitely effective. Trotting across the asphalt, she met Sebastian nose to nose. Sniffing, growling softly, the two of them went through the typical routine of two feral creatures meeting for the first time. His scent was rich with the power of magic and something else. Something familiar.

He’d said he wasn’t Chanku, but his wolf told her otherwise. Yet he’d called magic to change.

So many questions when her wolf wanted to run. Questions could wait, and the night was waning. She yipped and spun about, nipped his flank, and took off.

Sebastian was right behind her. Jaws gaping, ears forward, and her tale waving like a flag behind her, Lily led him up the rugged slope of the mountain. Her senses hadn’t felt this alive in ages. All of her senses—both wolf and woman.

Alert to the world around her, she raced the night and the alpha male that ran close behind.


Her scent drew him on, the rich, musky scent of female arousal, of wolf, of woman. He’d always run alone. Not once had he run with another wolf, never with a female, and the intensity, the pure exhilaration of the chase thrilled him.

He’d never acknowledged this side of his beast, this sensual, sexual creature that wanted the female. Blood pounded in his veins, and arousal powered the wolven creature he’d become. Running behind Lily enthralled him. His focus narrowed until all he saw was the plume of her tail and the welcoming gash of her sex. His nostrils filled with her scent and his arousal deepened.

Lily spun to the left. Alert to the night, Sebastian scented the jackrabbit before he saw it. Lily took off after their prey, body low and sleek, her ears laid back, all four feet kicking up dust and pebbles as she ran.

The rabbit slipped into a thick tangle of old blackberry vines. Lily skidded to a stop before tumbling into the briars, turned and looked at Sebastian with absolute disgust, and then yipped her challenge.

He had no time to think, to consider the fact he was running as a wolf, thinking like a wolf before they were off again, racing through thick grasses and over rocky trails. Lily Cheval was beautiful. So sensual, so alluring that his body thrummed with need. He ran faster, closing the gap between them.

Something buzzed in his mind. He sensed a presence, a familiar other, but he brushed it aside. Nothing would come between him and the glorious bitch he followed.

She was his. Not prey. No, she was so much more. She was destined to be his mate, and he would have her. His gaze narrowed until all he saw was Lily, all he wanted was Lily. His sensitive nostrils filled with her scent, and he drew closer, crowding her now along the narrow trail.

His wolf was larger than hers. More powerful. More commanding. His focus narrowed further until the world around him disappeared. She ran in moonlight, this female he hunted, but the light couldn’t penetrate his darkness.

The female glanced over her shoulder without breaking step, but there was no fear in her eyes.

She should fear him.

He sensed her confusion. She wondered why he pursued her in deadly earnest. Wondered what he wanted.

It was so simple really. He wanted Lily Cheval.

They ran through the night, and he harried her. Nipped at her flanks, bumped his shoulder against hers, forced her to race toward a narrow canyon that had trapped him once. She thought she’d escape him, but he knew this place.

He knew better.

She was his, and he would have her.

If he’d been human he would have laughed when she raced through the opening to the canyon, heading in exactly the direction he wanted her to go. He knew there were tumbled rocks and a sheer wall at the end.

Knew she wouldn’t be able to escape him now.

He cornered her against a fallen tree, brushed her shoulder with his front paw, and pressed close with jaws open wide, going for the thick skin at the back of her neck.

If he could hold her, restrain her, he could have her. He growled deep in his chest as he closed in, as his strong jaws clamped down on the loose folds of skin around her neck. Blood coursed through his veins, hot and powerful. Arousal grew until the need was a thick, all-consuming shroud covering him, filling him with strength. Images and sensations battered his feral mind—the soft welcome of her body, the slick slide of his wolven cock, the clasp of her warm sheath. Wanting, needing, he tightened his hold.

Growling, she twisted her entire body and snapped at his face. One sharp fang slashed his sensitive nose. Surprised by her strength, he yipped and released his hold on her neck. She twisted away, snarling as she broke free.

She slipped into the shadows, and her dark coat helped her disappear as she scrambled through a narrow crevice between two large boulders. It didn’t matter. Her scent told him exactly where she hid.

He stopped at the entrance to her refuge. Blood dripped from his slashed nose, but it was nothing. A small price to pay to be this close. She was trapped here, surrounded by blocks of stone on both sides, the mountain at her back.

He heard her low growl, edging into a vicious snarl. Felt her thoughts pounding at his mind, but he refused to lower his shields. There was no need to listen. No, the darkness was all about, and he had her now. His cock swelled beyond the tight lupine sheath; his muscles tensed.

He saw her eyes shining amber-bright in the darkness. She faced him without fear and snarled again. Deeper, angrier. This was no longer a game, now that she realized the serious nature of his chase. Good. She should know. Know, acknowledge, and accept his superior strength.

The deep timbre of her growl raised his hackles. He lowered his head, faced her in the shadows, and waited. Her angry voice pounded against his brain, but words meant nothing.

Humanity meant nothing. He was bigger, stronger, faster.

He would wait.

And then he would have her.


Sebastian! Listen to me. What in the f*ck do you think you’re doing? She wasn’t sure when she’d first noticed the change in him, but something was radically wrong. This wolf was not the same as the man, unless Sebastian Xenakis had a seriously split personality.

She thought of Alex’s warning, the fact that the vicious murders had occurred in both Montana and San Francisco on the days when Sebastian had been in those places.

This was not looking good, except that none of the victims were Chanku. And she’d been certain that more than one wolf had been at the site of the last killing.

None of them had smelled like this wolf, but she sensed a similar darkness.

She thought of calling out for her father, but there wasn’t a damned thing Anton Cheval could do for her now. She’d gotten herself into this mess, and it was up to her to figure a way out.

She stared at the wolf crouched just outside her refuge. He growled deep in his chest. There was no sense of humanity in him. Was it the magic? The fact his change was forced through a spell and not by his own inherent genetic ability to shift?

He was bigger than her. Stronger, but she was faster. Much faster, and she knew her wolf. Knew this body as her own, while she had the feeling Sebastian was still learning how his worked.

How the wolf thought.

Not very well, as far as Lily could tell. Sebastian? Listen to me. Drop your shields, damn it, and listen.

He didn’t respond. Not even a glimmer of response. She crouched, ready to spring, to defend herself. Did he think to force a mating on her? A true mating only occurred when Chanku mated as wolves, but the female had to be receptive. It couldn’t be forced, though she’d heard the older generation talk about that, how in the beginning they didn’t know it was all up to the female.

She’d heard the story of how her uncle Jake had tried to force a mating on her aunt Tia, and just about ended up getting his throat torn out by Uncle Luc.

He hadn’t realized it didn’t work that way, but they’d known so little about their birthright in those early days. Maybe this guy believed the old stories. Maybe he just didn’t know.

He said he wasn’t Chanku, though she was almost positive he either lied or didn’t know what he was talking about. Whatever. This was wrong. Entirely wrong.

Sebastian growled, snapping her back to the present. Damn him. She’d so hoped he was someone special. Someone she might actually have a relationship with, maybe learn to love.

That lost potential was absolutely infuriating!

Sebastian! Listen to me, you bastard!

Obviously, things were not working out the way she’d hoped.

A new scent tickled her nostrils. Lily sniffed, opened her senses. A shiver raced along her spine and raised her hackles. Wolves. Unfamiliar wolves, and definitely more than one.

Unfamiliar to her, though she recognized their scent.

It was the same stench she’d smelled near the garden in Golden Gate Park. The same sense of something terribly wrong.

And it was coming closer.

She pushed, mentally. Could she at least force Sebastian to acknowledge the newcomers? Something moved in the shadows, behind him and to his right, slipped closer, and disappeared once again.

She heard gravel shift. On the left, this time, but it was so damned dark here in the narrow canyon, and Sebastian’s crouching form blocked much of her view through the narrow crevice between the rocks.

The scent was stronger; the wolves obviously closer. She was certain there were two, but could there be more?

Sebastian! Pay attention. They’re going to attack, damn it!

This time he blinked. Shook his head and gazed at her as if he were just waking up.

She snarled at him. What the hell is going on with you? There are at least two wolves out there. Behind you. Are they your friends? Because if they are, buddy, you are in deep shit, because I’m gonna put you there.

Lily? What . . . ?

The nearest wolf charged out of the shadows. It was huge—almost a third again larger than any Chanku or natural wolf Lily had ever seen. Sebastian turned at the last moment and countered the attack. He was large, but the pale gray wolf that attacked was even bigger than Sebastian. And he had surprise on his side.

It missed the killing bite on Sebastian’s throat but managed to clamp down on the loose skin above his shoulders. Sebastian yipped, twisted, and bit down on the wolf’s front leg.

Lily heard the bone snap and winced at the gray’s sharp howl of pain, but she didn’t wait to see the results. Instead, she charged out of her refuge, leapt over the two wolves rolling in the dirt, and hit the second wolf as it raced to help the gray.

Her attack seemed to surprise the beast. He pulled back, but she hit him hard, slashing his muzzle with sharp fangs, rolling him off his feet, and clamping her jaws down on his throat.

He clawed at her with his hind feet, ripping dark fur out of her soft belly as he twisted and turned, struggling to break free. Then Sebastian was beside her. Lily almost lost her grip. Who would he side with—the other males or the female he’d somehow decided to claim as his own?

He bit down hard on one of the wolf’s flailing hind legs. Again, that sickening snap, a howl of pain, and the animal’s attack turned to a mad scramble for escape.

Lily turned the beast loose and backed off. The gray and his darker companion limped away snarling with ears back and tails tucked. They paused in a shaft of moonlight just at the entrance to the canyon, heads down, sides heaving. Blood speckled the muzzle of the gray, but Lily couldn’t tell if the other one bled or not. He did, however, hold his left rear paw off the ground.

The gray favored his right front leg, but he stared at Lily and Sebastian through eyes filled with rage. After a moment, Sebastian snarled and charged the two.

They turned and raced away, each on three legs and limping badly, but still managing a fair burst of speed.

Sebastian slowly turned and walked stiff-legged back to Lily. His eyes were narrow slits, his ears back. Would he attack? Even now, after they’d fought together, after he’d helped her defeat her assailant?

He went flat to the ground, belly pressed to the dirt, and bared his throat. A totally submissive gesture. She’d not expected this, but she’d be damned if she wasted the opportunity. She closed her jaws over his throat, clamped down hard enough to make her point, and then turned him loose.

Lily, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Did I hurt you?

What do you mean, you don’t know? You son of a bitch! You tried to mount me. You chased me here and wouldn’t let me out. Not the best first date I’ve ever been on, that’s for sure.

Oh. But . . . shit.

He looked honestly perplexed. That didn’t make sense. He shook his head, a terribly human act that looked almost comical in the big black wolf. Who were those guys? I’ve never seen them before. Why would they attack us? Were they after you?

I’ve never seen them, either. But I recognize their scent.

How?

I smelled it a couple of days ago in Golden Gate Park. At the scene of the latest murder attributed to wolves.

Crap.

Exactly. Now, are you going to tell me what happened tonight?

He sat back and stared at the ground between his paws. I have no idea. My last memory is running behind you. You scared up a rabbit. I remember losing the rabbit in the brambles, racing after you . . . and then nothing.

She stared at him, searching his mind for any sense that he lied, but all she felt was his confusion. What the hell had happened ? We need to get back. Breaking their mental connection, Lily trotted a few steps, looked over her shoulder, and waited. Sebastian sat in front of the tumbled boulders where he’d held her captive. She sensed his confusion, his need to understand what had happened to him. What he’d almost done to her.

She turned and followed the trail that would lead them to the parking lot. After a moment, she sensed Sebastian following.

This time she recognized the Sebastian she thought she knew.

But there was another side to him, a dark and dangerous side. She had no idea where it was hiding, or when or if it would break free again.


Trotting along behind Lily, Sebastian couldn’t recall ever feeling as much shame as he felt at this moment. Shame and fear, and an overwhelming sense of confusion. What the f*ck happened back there? He’d never before lost himself in the wolf, never once had his sentient human mind disappear during a shift.

Until tonight. Tonight there was nothing but a huge black hole in his memory. Tonight, when he’d finally met a woman who could matter to him, who might understand him, he’d totally f*cked up any chance with her. He’d be lucky if she’d let him give her a ride home after this.

The parking lot was as empty as when they’d left it over an hour ago. The moon had settled a bit lower over the ocean, but the shadows were as dark and the night as still. Sebastian trotted over to the tree where he’d hidden the car keys, rose up on his hind legs, and snagged them with his teeth.

Lily waited for him beside the car. She hadn’t shifted yet, and he searched her mind, expecting anger. Disgust, maybe, though he hoped there was no fear. He hated to think he’d frightened her, but there was none of that. No, the only thing he felt was her arousal, strong and rich, drawing him close. Teasing him with her ripe scent, her beautiful dark eyes.

It was too much. He drew inside himself and called on the magic. After an interminable wait, he felt the shift take hold and he stood in the darkness, a tall, naked man staring at a wolf bathed in crimson with strong shafts of iridescent pink.

All colors of sexual desire. A powerful, driving need to mate. His breath caught, stuttered in his chest. Her aura hadn’t been visible to eyes seeing with the wolf’s visual spectrum, but his human eyes now registered the colors, the beautiful aura he would always associate with Lily Cheval.

Damn.

He unlocked the car and reached for his clothing, turned his back, and pulled his knit boxers on, then his slacks. He almost laughed. He’d been hard and aroused when they’d first started out. Shame had left his dick entirely flaccid. He wanted to howl his disappointment, but his wolf had gone silent.

The night was warm, and his body hot from the run. He picked up his shirt and stared at it a moment, debating whether to put it on.

“Leave it off.”

He jerked his head up at Lily’s soft comment. He hadn’t even been aware of her shift, and jealousy spiked through him, that she could do this so easily. She’d slipped that beautiful dress over her head, and somehow she actually looked more naked wearing it than when he’d seen her earlier, unclothed.

Then her words hit him. “This?” He clutched the black shirt in his hand. “You want me to leave it off?”

“Oh, yeah.”

She winked. Lily actually winked at him? She should be furious. Disgusted. She . . .

“Less to take off when we get to my place.”

With that, she slipped into the seat on the passenger side. Sebastian just stood there, feeling like an idiot. Then he leaned over, grabbed his shoes and socks, his tuxedo coat, and his shirt, and threw them all into the back.

He wished he had a clue what she was thinking, but she’d blindsided him with her invitation. Did her body clamor for sex after a shift the way his always did? Imagining Lily Cheval hot and naked and willing was almost more than his libido could handle. What the hell was going on? His thoughts spun and his hands shook as he started the engine and pulled back onto the highway.

They were only a short drive from Lily’s home in the Marina District. He hoped like hell she wouldn’t change her mind before they got there.


The slick fabric sliding across her nipples sent an electric pulse directly to her *. Lily tightened her shields to keep her traitorous thoughts away from the man beside her, well aware she had to consciously force herself not to look at Sebastian. Not at his gorgeous chest with its perfect dusting of dark hair, an insidious lure that made her want to bury her fingers in its crisp texture. And she knew she’d be caught like a mouse in a trap the moment she focused on the rhythmic bunch and stretch of his powerful arms.

And, of course, like that stupid mouse drawn to the cheese, she realized she was staring, and yes, she was caught. There wasn’t an ounce of fat, not a blemish anywhere beyond a small cut across his very fine nose where she’d marked him when he tried to mount her. No flaw in that coal black widow’s peak over his forehead, or the darkly defined trail of crisp hair disappearing beneath the flat waistband of his black slacks.

Her vaginal walls tightened, clenching against emptiness, flooding the car with the ripe scent of her need. She wondered if Sebastian was sensitive enough to pick up a scent that was embarrassingly strong to her, one she knew a human man wouldn’t even notice.

She clenched her fists and let out a deep breath. Damn it! She had no reason to feel embarrassed. She could no more deny her needs than she could refuse her wolf. She was Lily Milina Cheval, an alpha Chanku bitch, and her libido was part and parcel of the whole package.

If she were mated, if sexual release wasn’t something she only prayed for, it would be different, but she hadn’t had sex in much too long. The last time had been with Alex, and it had been wonderful as always, but it would never be enough because Alex wasn’t enough. She loved Alex Aragat, but he was little more than a precocious child when compared to Sebastian Xenakis.

Lily had always been a stronger wolf than her lifelong buddy and best friend since birth, and both of them knew it.

She needed a man. One who challenged her.

A man like Sebastian, with all his quirks and his strange aura of darkness, with the mysteries she itched to unravel. She wanted his arousal, his sharp edge of danger, and his powerful hunger.

Hunger focused solely on her.

She studied his strong profile, and a shiver ran along her spine. There was something about him that might have frightened her had she been a little less sure of herself, but Lily knew and trusted her strengths. Where her magic might not be enough against a wizard as powerful as Sebastian, her wolf would always protect her.

She turned away and stared out the window as the massive struts of the Golden Gate Bridge flashed by, thinking of Alex, the one constant lover in her life. Where Alex was home and safety, unconditional love and acceptance along with a certain amount of hero worship, Sebastian was dark shadows and danger. Mystery clung to him, a subtle sense of peril that Lily found as arousing as the man’s body.

No, there was nothing safe about Sebastian Xenakis. He’d tried to mount her tonight, but then he’d turned and fought wolves much larger than himself to protect her. He had her so twisted up inside she wasn’t sure what she wanted or what she really believed about him, but one thing was certain.

She wanted him in her bed. Not as a wolf, at least not until she trusted him, but as a man. And she wanted him tonight. Her gaze was drawn once again to his strong profile just as he shifted his eyes in her direction. Even in the reflected lights from the dash, she could tell they were an inhuman shade of teal blue. Nothing of the wolf about them at all, but the slight crinkle at the corners as he smiled at her dissolved the danger, chased the mystery aside.

Was the mystery all in her mind? Was he merely a very sexy, very nice man who just happened to use magic to become a wolf? But, what if . . . ?

“Have you ever been tested?” she asked.

He frowned, but his concentration was on the bridge and the traffic slowing for the automatic tollbooth. “Tested? For what?”

“To see if you’re Chanku.”

He shook his head. “No. No reason. How’s that work?”

Lily shrugged. “You take a capsule that’s filled with specific nutrients for a couple of weeks. Either you shift or you don’t. If you have the right DNA, you can become another creature. The first shift is generally a wolf, but some people do other predators.”

He laughed. “I can already shift, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

She punched his arm. “I noticed. Trust me on that, but I also think you could shift without the magic. Just a feeling. If I give you the capsules, would you take them?”

“I guess. No reason not to.”

He took the exit that led to her home before Lily even thought to give him directions. “You know where I live.”

“Busted,” he said. He glanced her way. “I’ve wanted to meet you. I’ve heard of you. We’re neighbors in Montana, but you’re never there.”

“Rarely. The job keeps me tied here more than I like. I prefer Montana.” She stared out the window as he followed the road to her house. Her mom’s uncle Ulrich had owned the place for many years, but all the family had settled on the compound in Montana years ago, when the world of man first learned that shapeshifters lived among them.

Luckily, the expected backlash hadn’t been nearly as bad as they’d feared, but Tia and Luc, along with the rest of the pack, had decided they preferred living a communal life. It meant the kids could grow up with others like themselves, but it also meant the parents weren’t alone raising children with powers even the adults didn’t always understand.

It was almost funny, now, to think of everyone’s shock when she and Alex and then the others had shifted while they were still so young, but they’d been exposed to the nutrients since conception, and then through breast milk. Unlike the older generation who hadn’t discovered their Chanku heritage until they were already adults, Lily’s was a generation born Chanku.

Precocious didn’t come close to describing them, and they hadn’t necessarily chosen wolves as their creature of choice, though Lily would always prefer that form.

She glanced again at Sebastian and wondered if he’d tried other creatures, and then she tried to imagine him shifting as easily as she did. None of them truly understood how the shift occurred, though Lily had been the one to discover that it entailed manipulating time in another dimension.

Which led to thoughts of what she was going to say to Sebastian as he pulled the car into her driveway. Her thoughts were still shielded, as were his, but she turned to him.

“Thank you, Sebastian.”

He raised his eyebrows and then slowly shook his head. “For what? For trying to rape you? For losing control? I only hope you’ll accept my apology, Lily. I am so sorry. I don’t know what happened, but I swear it won’t happen again.”

His look was direct, his apology heartfelt, but then he turned away and stepped out of the car, walked around, and opened Lily’s door. He took her right hand and helped her out of the car. She hung on and lightly touched his cheek with her left hand, cupping his jaw in her palm. “Will you come inside?”

He went very still. She caught the flare of his nostrils, the slight widening of his eyes and knew that he was well aware what she was asking.

“Are you sure? After what happened?”

She shrugged. “We ran as wolves. You chased me. I got away, and then you protected me from two wolves intent on doing harm.” She laughed, as much at the surprise in his eyes as the fact it felt so damned good to stand here in her driveway, flirting with a sexy, mysterious man. “Don’t look so surprised. As far as I’m concerned, it was one hell of a first date. I’m a wolf, Sebastian. I always enjoy a good fight.” She winked. “A pretty good time was had by all, don’t you think? Well, except for the two who will probably be limping for a few more days.”

When he stared at her as if she’d sprouted horns or something worse, she laughed, clasped his other hand, and drew both of them close against her breasts. “I am Chanku, Sebastian. After a run, I really want to f*ck. No strings. No ties. I just really, really want sex. Are you up for that?”

He shook himself, and she thought of a big dog coming out of the rain. But then he glanced down at the front of his slacks and raised his head and one eyebrow. “I guess I am.”

This time, when she tugged his hands, he followed her into the house.