“No, I actually really like those.”
“It’s because my ass is too wide.”
“No, you idiot. Your ass is freakn’ amazing. No, the reason why I avoided you was because deep down inside, when you told me we belonged together, a part of me knew it was true. And it scared the fuck out of me. I honestly saw you as a little sister, so when I started feeling things for you, things you expected and accepted, I freaked and ran.”
“Mitchell?”
“Yes.”
“You are an idiot,” she solemnly stated. Not an easy feat given her heart raced a mile a minute and her body tingled all over with anticipation. Her inner bitch had no such restraint and yipped at her, demanding she bite him before he changed his mind.
A rumble shook his chest. “I know I am, Red.”
“So now that we’ve ascertained the fact that I am the smart one, what happens next?”
“I claim you, that is, if you’ll still have me, dumb genes and all.”
“And Alejandro?”
“Yeah, well, I won’t say that I’m happy about sharing you with a feline, but so long as he keeps out of my face, I’ll deal with it. For you.”
Okay, so it wasn’t as warm and fuzzy as she would have liked. It was still more than she could have ever expected. She’d finally gotten her man. “Kiss me,” she demanded.
At her request, he immediately shifted her in his lap to face him, and she tilted her chin up, welcoming the soft touch of his lips, instant heat warming her. Then giddy joy-mixed with relief-flooded her. Mitchell’s going to claim me! The dream of so long would happen.
Her arms crept up to lace around his neck, her fingers toying with the ends of his hair as she opened her mouth before the probing insistence of his tongue. Wet, wild, and filled with the promise of pleasure to come, it figured someone would interrupt it.
“You owe me twenty bucks,” Naomi exclaimed from right behind them. “Told you he’d come to his senses before Alejandro came back.”
“Ha. He hasn’t marked her yet, so no money,” retorted Ethan.
Mitchell and Francine broke apart and turned to peer at Naomi and her mates.
“What?” her best friend asked, trying to look innocent and failing.
“You wagered on me claiming Francine?” Mitchell asked.
“Well, yeah. If it makes you feel better, I knew you’d come to your senses. Javier here thought you’d hold out a while longer.”
“Are you sure you want to belong to this family?” Mitchell whispered to her loudly.
“Yes.” More than anything.
Intimate moment interrupted, Francine let Naomi take charge of getting her townhouse cleaned and her stuff replaced. Thankfully, her insurance, a small company also run by shifters, would cover most of the costs, with Mitchell insisting on covering the difference. Apparently, living at home, he’d managed to save up, which would come in handy, because as Francine peered about her small living space, it quickly became evident that living here with two larger than life males would have its challenges, especially with Mitchell only accepting Alejandro’s role grudgingly.
But she’d deal with that hurdle when they came to it. First, she needed to get Mitchell alone so he could mark her before he got cold feet and changed his mind again. Okay, that’s a lie. I don’t think he’s going to be running again. She, on the other hand, had a fire in her pussy that needed tending, and she knew just the man to put it out.
Chapter Eleven
The moon had just begun to peek over the tree tops when Francine finally convinced Mitchell to go for a run in the woods. He tried to talk her out of it, arguing for the last two hours that he wanted her to go back to bed and rest. She ignored his order. Actually, she laughed at him, and in the face of her giggles, so much better than her moroseness of earlier at her town house, he couldn’t say no. Nor could he throw her over his shoulder caveman style and drag her back to bed. Although, that idea did have merit, especially given the ropes they’d used to tie him down when trying to keep him abed still remained attached to his broken headboard and footboard. However, the walls in his house were thin, and he somehow doubted he’d be able to keep his hands off her if he had her trussed spread eagle on his bed. And while he didn’t know if she was a screamer or not, Mitchell already knew he was noisy. Besides, knowing his mother, she’d be so happy he’d finally given in to fate, she’d probably stand outside his bedroom shouting pointers to make sure he didn’t disappoint her new daughter-in-law.
So it was the woods, or…the woods. She left him no choice with her insistence that she needed to let her beast stretch.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Mitchell asked once again, unable to completely curtail his concern that Francine would over tax herself. Ever since he found out she’d gotten shot, he’d lived in a state of anxiety. Knowing how close he came to losing her made him realize so many things, like how he didn’t want to go a day without seeing her anymore. Actually, in an abrupt one-eighty, he didn’t know if he could go a single day without having her smiling or teasing him. And he knew his body would probably explode if he didn’t get to sink into her soon.
Knowing she got shot because of him…God, the guilt. He now understood Alejandro’s need to make things right. The same feeling made him want to hunt Jenny down and make her pay for her actions, girl or not. But at the same time, he couldn’t leave Francine alone without protection. He’d have to bide his time until Alejandro returned. However, before the cat did, he needed to do something first. Something long overdue.
Their recent time together made him realize so many things; first and foremost, he loved her. Loved the feisty girl he’d known as a child, and loved even more the fiery woman she’d become. No longer did thoughts of her as a sister plague him, because honestly, seeing Naomi alongside her as they organized the clean up just showcased the differences. Buried deep inside, he discovered the real reason he ran all those years and it wasn’t because he had brotherly thoughts. It was because he didn’t and he feared what that meant.
Turns out I am a big, yellow-bellied coward. Because of his unwillingness to accept the truth, he forced her to turn to other men, men she slept with, who touched that curvy body, a body that could have belonged to him alone had he owned the courage to admit his feelings. Fuck, that pissed him off. And explained even more things like why he got so mad at her prom when he caught her and that kid in his car, the windows fogged up. He saw the flush in her cheeks, smelled the virgin blood, and he lost his mind. He almost killed her boyfriend that night, not truly understanding his rage, attributing it to the fact she was like family. Of course, he never hurt Naomi’s first as bad. Nor had he gone after Naomi’s other boyfriends like he had with Francine’s when he came across them. Even then, despite not understanding why, he’d been jealous and freakn’.
The past couldn’t rearrange itself, even with hindsight, but he could affect the future, claim it and her, forging new and beautiful memories. It just sucked that his refusal to see what he had under his nose now meant he had to share and with a cat of all things. It made him wonder if he’d accepted her years ago, whether Alejandro would have ever stood a chance. Or was she always destined for two, the mating fever not truly affecting me until Alejandro came into her life. It would certainly explain a lot, such as how he’d managed to fight claiming her for so long.
A fight that stopped tonight.
Staring down at her petite frame, the pair of them alone finally for the first time-except for the curious eyes he was sure spied from the house-anticipation made his mouth dry-and his cock hard. At Francine’s behest, they were going to shift into their beasts and go for a run. What she didn’t know, but probably suspected, was somewhere in those woods, probably in that sweet clearing with the soft grass, he would make love to her, and claim not just her body, but her heart and soul. Maybe if he made her come enough times, she’d start forgiving him for acting like such an ass all those years.