Which made no sense, considering he had no intention of letting his heart fall victim to the deception he and Lilly were perpetrating.
Shane’s chuckle jogged Dante from his silent musings. “Somehow I can’t picture Lilly letting you be on top long enough to mark her.”
Dante mentally rewound to yesterday’s wild ride in her bed. His silence must have clued Shane in on his train of thought because his cousin shook his head and laughed. “Well shit. Guess I’m wrong again.” Just as quickly as it’d surfaced, Shane’s humor vanished and was replaced by a solemn look. “I’ll support you no matter what, you know that.”
“But?” Dante prompted, filling in the tangible blank suspended at the end of Shane’s declaration.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Dante took another fortifying swig from his bottle. “Don’t worry. I can handle my old man.”
“I wasn’t referring to him.” Shane’s focus drifted toward the living-room entrance. “Marriage isn’t something to play at or enter into to get out of a bad situation. You might end up in even deeper water, with no way to save yourself from sinking.”
Dante’s beer went down bitter as he stared at Shane’s profile. He didn’t know what was more disturbing—the fact his cousin had possibly seen through the charade…
Or that Shane might be right.
Chapter Eleven
The second the last of Dante’s cousins said their goodbyes and disappeared out the door, Lilly breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed into the couch cushions. Dante shot the deadbolt home. Leaning his broad shoulder against the doorframe, he offered her a wry look. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
She snorted. “Clearly you’ve imbibed a little too much werewolf moonshine this evening.”
His incisors flashed with his grin. He strode toward her and plunked his beer bottle on the coffee table, his eyebrows cocking in challenge.
“Hmm, did your still run dry?” She bit her lip to keep her smile from slipping free.
He chuckled. “Sassy pussy. I’ll get even for that later.”
Her clit tingled at the smoky promise in his gaze. Ignoring his deliberate bait with the word pussy, she crossed her legs to ease the ache. “So do you think your cousins bought our act?”
Dante gave a negligent shrug. “For the most part. Bottom line, they’d rather you be at my side than Anna. That’s all that matters.”
Nibbling on her bottom lip, she considered his words. “You’re sacrificing a lot for them. You could have always said no to getting married and mate-bonded, period.”
“Not an option.” His tone held no trace of regret or doubt.
“It’s that important for you to be their alpha?”
“Not because I get off on a power trip, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
She scooched onto her side and tucked her knees beneath her. “Then what is it?”
Dante was quiet for a long moment. Dragging a hand through the shaggy ends of his hair, he studied the rug beneath his boots. “They need someone they can trust. Someone who will look out for the best interests of the whole pack.”
“And that can only be you?”
“It falls under the jurisdiction of my father’s bloodline. If I don’t do what’s necessary to keep the title, he has the power to overturn my rights and reassign another as my replacement.”
“Judging from your guys’ conversation earlier, I assume that by necessary, you mean you getting married and mate-bonded.”
Dante nodded. “The only reason he hasn’t revoked my title sooner is because he’s been using it as leverage to get me to wed Anna so he can get his damn merger.”
“You mentioned before that the merger wouldn’t be a good thing. Why, exactly?”
Lines of tension bracketing his mouth, Dante made a fist and dropped his hand to his side. “You know those two werewolves who got physical with you earlier? They’re Anna’s brothers. Trust me, despite being wealthier than God, the rest of the Giffords and their pack are no more enlightened or civilized than those pair of yokels.”
She shuddered at the reminder of her encounter at the Bowl ’N’ Brew. “Why in the world would your father want to invite them into your pack then?”
Dante’s mouth twisted into a travesty of a smile. “Remember me mentioning the wealthier-than-God part? It’d be a nice payday for good ole Foster.”
“That’s despicable.” She couldn’t imagine a parent using their offspring for their own selfish advancement. Dysfunctional as her upbringing had been, at least her mom and dad hadn’t tried bartering her off to the highest bidder. No, if anything, Rob and Chloe had given her every reason to back away from the sanctity of marriage like a vampire avoiding garlic. Still, she’d rather take that than what had been shoved down Dante’s throat. “Man, it must have felt pretty satisfying to deck Foster.”
“Yeah, it did,” Dante offered reluctantly.
Sympathy and compassion welled inside her. Unable to resist, she jumped to her feet and stood on tiptoe so she could kiss Dante’s cheek. “You’re a good man. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
He pulled back and their gazes locked. “Some would say what I’m doing is dishonest. Not exactly honorable or decent of me.”
“You’re doing what you think is best. That isn’t anything to beat yourself up over.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybe about it.” She offered him a cheeky grin. “If I say it’s so, it must be right.”
That earned his chuckle. Wrapping his hand behind her head, he pulled her flush against him. “I’m probably gonna regret admitting this, but your sassiness turns me on like crazy.”
“Really?” She wiggled. “And here I thought that was just a spare beer bottle in your pocket.”
Gusting a laugh, he hauled her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and rubbed suggestively against his erection. Groaning, he cupped her buttocks and massaged her flesh through the thick wool of her slacks. “I’ve been fantasizing about this ass for the past hour and a half.”
“You don’t mind that I’ve got some junk in the trunk?”
“Shit no. I love it. In fact—”
“So help me, if you quantify that with ‘more pushin’ for the cushion’, I will refuse to have sex with you.”
“Not what I was gonna say at all.”
“Yeah? Then what?”
His eyes sparkled. “It’s slipped my mind.”
“Likely story.”
“Hell, I’m no idiot.” His lips brushed hers lightly before his tongue coaxed its way inside her mouth. He teased the edges of her teeth in a slow, exploratory glide. A moment later, he gifted her tongue with the same lush treatment until she was gasping and writhing in his arms. Without warning, he broke the kiss and set her back on her feet. “I forgot to grab something from my truck.”
She gaped at him as he pivoted and strode toward the door. “What the hell could be so important to leave me hanging like this, wolfman?”
“You won’t be hanging for long, pussycat.” With that intriguing promise floating in the air, he escaped outside. Less than thirty seconds later he returned and paused just long enough to stomp the snow from his boots before moseying toward her.
She eyed the paper bag he carried. “What’s that?”
“An experiment.” Saying nothing more beyond his cryptic statement, he snatched her hand and led her toward the hallway.
Before now, she’d never made it past his living room or kitchen. He didn’t allow her much time to sightsee though, instead striding with purpose to what she assumed was the master bedroom. Dante flicked on the overhead light, and they stepped inside the large, masculine space. He placed the mysterious bag on top of the moss-green quilt covering the enormous log bed. Once he had his hands freed, he reached for her sweater and tugged it over her head. A second later, her pants, bra and panties joined it on the floor. Despite the heat beginning to purl through her bloodstream, she shivered.