“Then you walked in the door that day, a Jane in a magical world, starting over and facing an uncertain future with a broken smile… It touched me. It blew something sweet and soft into a hard, desolate place. Your fresh take on the world, your courage, your insight—it revived me. I think I knew then that I’d care for you more than I’ve ever cared for anyone. That I’d want to protect you in a way that felt wholesome and good. That felt—feels—like what I’m designed for. You make my world make sense. I never knew what peace and happiness would feel like, until you.”

I blinked away tears, not trusting myself to speak, my middle throbbing.

Silence passed between us and we sipped our wine. Through the link he was peaceful, content in the moment.

“Having a man cook for me has always been a dream of mine,” I murmured. “You pulled it off to perfection.”

“Thank you. And I knew that, about it being your dream.”

“Oh? I don’t recall mentioning it.”

“You didn’t. Jimmy did, before he left.”

Jimmy approved of Austin. He must’ve, if he’d told him that. He’d wanted to help Austin woo me.

My heart warmed in an unexpected way, as if it beat in tandem with another. With Austin’s. I blinked away tears. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was express myself to him. With him. I didn’t want words. I wanted action.

“What does this view look like in the morning?” I asked quietly.

“Would you like to stay and see?”

“Yes, please.”

He set his glass down and rose. I expected another flurry of nerves, but deep, throbbing desire pooled inside me instead. He put out a hand, and I took it, letting him pull me to him. We left our glasses and entered the room, Austin closing the glass door behind us.

I reached up for him, unable to wait any longer. His lips found mine, and he backed me toward the bed.

I worked at his first button and he pulled back, his hands on my shoulders, watching me as I tugged the button free. The moment slowed, the tone turning languid instead of urgent.

I pulled the second button free, and our gazes locked, my heart throbbing with his.

“We’ve started the slide, haven’t we?” I whispered, pulling the third button free, spreading his shirt and revealing his delicious, muscled chest. “That’s what your brother was getting at.”

“Yes,” Austin said softly, running his thumb across my bottom lip. I leaned forward and took it into my mouth, sucking on it. “It started a while ago for me, I think. It’s been so slow, so gradual that I didn’t notice at first. I thought it was attraction and deepening feelings, not this. Not when I’d sworn myself to solitude.”

“I’m just starting to feel…weird, though,” I said, the last button opened. I pulled his shirt out of his pants and gently pushed it off his large shoulders. “The thing with Kace was the first time I really noticed.”

“It is not unusual for one to feel it before the other. Usually that halts things. Or slows it. Maybe that’s why it was so gradual for me, I don’t know. I don’t think anyone really knows until it happens to them.”

He closed his eyes and breathed out when I ran my palms over his pecs and then his shoulders, leaning forward to kiss his skin.

“It worries me, Austin. I’ve just promised the rest of my life to Ivy House. I’m not ready for…a mate. For mating…”

“We’ll take it slow.”

My hand on the back of his neck, I pushed his lips down to mine, saying one thing, desperate for another.

He sucked in my bottom lip before opening his mouth, eliciting the same response from me. He swirled his tongue with mine before pulling back to suck on my lips again.

I let my fingertips glide down between us and circle his belt and buckle. Desperation overcame me, hard and heavy, yanking a moan from my lips. I pulled at his belt, fevered, incensed.

Mine.

I ripped open the button and pushed his jeans away, his boxers with them. I’d seen his hard length many times by now, but this was the first time I’d gripped it. One stroke, and the wildness in me calmed down. Looking into his heavily lidded eyes, with his hands squeezing my shoulders and his precious commodity in my hands, I felt…settled.

“I’ll probably dig in my heels,” I said, lowering onto my knees, burning alive. “I’ll probably freak out and push back.”

“That’s okay,” he whispered, watching my progress. “I’ll wait as long as you need. Forever.”

When he couldn’t keep his hands on my shoulders anymore, he roughly grabbed my hair. The middle dropped out of me in excitement, and right then I knew I was in good hands. He could do anything—I knew he’d never hurt me. I trusted him with everything that I was, a trust we’d been building since we’d first met. A trust I knew we each held sacred.

“Sometimes I might tease you.” My voice belonged to a stranger, husky and wanton. Desperate. I licked the end of his shaft. “I might ignore you to try to get a handle on my feelings.”

His breathing hitched as I sucked in his length.

My lips moved against the tip. “I might not give in…”

I held his eyes as I took him in again, his hand tangled in my hair.

In a rush of strength and power, he reached down under my arms and ripped me up to standing.

“You’ll give in to me eventually.” He ripped my dress away in one harsh movement. My body both tightened up and loosened, and I hooked my hands around his neck. Wanting him hard. Wanting him now. “You’re mine,” he growled. “You will come to me eventually.”

The alpha had taken over.

He ripped away my panties and sank down in front of me, stopping to suck in a budded nipple on his way down. I hooked a knee over his shoulder and feathered my eyes shut. He licked up my middle before feasting on the collection of nerves at the top. His fingers entered me, one at a time, before working a fast rhythm.

An orgasm shattered me as I moved against his mouth, shuddering. I moaned, rolling my hips in little circles as the waves of pleasure washed through my body.

He stood, his touch against my fevered skin, cupping a breast as he kissed me on the lips. He backed me over the bed and lay with me, spreading my legs around him, my thighs over his hips.

He bent to flick a nipple with his tongue. I moaned, rubbing my hand over his back. He moved to the other nipple, his fingers working me again, knowing exactly where to touch and how hard—or softly in this case, because he was deliciously teasing me.

I’d meant to say I’d definitely—probably?—need time, and would definitely—maybe?—push back against any permanent kind of commitment, but words escaped me. He kissed up the center of my chest and lightly dragged his teeth over my throat. I shivered.

His kiss increased in urgency, his tongue plunging in and retreating, his body hard against me. Breathing faster, he reached down between us and massaged me while his tip kissed my opening.

He nipped my neck with his teeth. His thrust stole my breath.

I arched and squeezed his body with my legs, filled to bursting, my heart still throbbing in time with his, my body rising and falling, banging against him with each thrust, retreating in delicious sensation.

“Take as long as you need,” he growled. “But when you come to me, I will claim you, body and soul.”

His final thrust sent me over the edge. I cried out, clutching him, squeezing my eyes shut against the tidal wave of pleasure. He shuddered over me, groaning, holding me tight.

As an aftershock rolled through me, he kissed me languidly, not taking himself out. In a moment, I realized why. He was starting again.

I slid my knees up his sides with an appreciative mew when reality struck.

I froze, pushing at his shoulders.

“Oh God, Austin, we didn’t use protection. I have it in my clutch—I don’t know if I can still get pregnant, but I might be able to, and—”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he said, no longer moving but still inside me. “I took care of that shortly after the fight with my brother. After my niece stopped me from killing him. I got a vasectomy so I wouldn’t pass on what I was to anyone else. The madness ends with me.”

My heart broke into a million pieces for the self-loathing he must’ve felt to do that as a young man. For the crushing judgment he’d levied on himself.

Austin was truly the best man I’d ever known, something I’d seen evidence of from the day we met. He’d never let me down. He’d always built me up. He had always been there for me, and given himself for me, even when he didn’t want anything in return. Especially when he didn’t want anything in return. All the men in the world, and I had lucked out by finding him. What kind of an idiot would push that away?

I placed my palm against his cheek and kissed him again, circling my hips and delighting in his growl of pleasure. “I will come around eventually,” I murmured, getting lost in his body. In the feel of him. “After you work for it.”

Twenty-Eight

The next three weeks passed in a blur.

With the new direction for Ivy House, using staging furniture, which was much faster than choosing a household full of new stuff, I was able to get the house ready in a couple weeks (the old stuff was in storage). The representative from the company had helped me pick out the latest looks. It didn’t look as good as Austin’s place, but it would work. When this all settled down, I’d force Austin to help me redecorate. I would never admit it to Ivy House, but I liked his house better. It really did look and feel like home. I loved watching the sunset with him from the deck, soaking in the sweeping views of the valley.

I’d stayed there a few nights, drooling over him while he cooked, letting Kingsley spoil me by doing the dishes, and ending the night by twisting in the sheets with Austin. The man was an absolute legend. He could evoke sensations in me that I hadn’t even known were possible. He was relentless, fully ensuring my satisfaction over and over. With some guys, “all night” could be tedious. Not with him. I couldn’t get enough. I’d become insatiable.