“Maybe.” He caught her lower lip between his teeth with an amused noise.
“It‟s okay. You‟re cute when you‟re presumptuous.”
“Mmm, but will I still be cute when I‟m an old married woman?”
“Nope. You‟ll be mine.”
It didn‟t get any better than hearing him lay claim to her the way she had with him. Nick held his gaze as she gathered the papers and tossed them on the nightstand. “How tired are you?”
Derek stretched his arms over his head, then rolled from the bed. “You owe me a run. A race. To the creek and back, and the winner gets whatever they want.”
She reclined there on her side, crossing one leg over the other as she pretended to consider his proposition. “When you decide to embrace your inner wolf, you don‟t mess around.”
“I don‟t have to hate it anymore.” His smile lit up his whole face, even those bright blue eyes that watched her like she was the best thing in the world. “You made it okay. You made it fun.”
His happiness matched her own, and both warmed her so thoroughly she probably could have braved the icy chill outside the guest house without the benefit of fur. “We made it fun. We‟re crazy in love, remember?”
“In love and crazy,” he agreed, backing toward the door. “Come on, Nicole Peyton. Get wolfy with me.”
She climbed off the bed and followed. “I‟m smaller and faster, so I‟m bound to win. Or is that what you‟re counting on?”
“Maybe I‟m counting on the fact that you like getting caught.” Derek hauled open the front door, letting in a burst of cold air. “Run.”
Nick knelt and shifted, using the bump of magic to fuel a charge past Derek and out the door. It would take him precious moments to secure the door and follow, but she knew he would.
She did, after all, love getting caught.
THE END