The way she paused increased that eerie sense of other awareness. Then she lifted her gaze and stared into his eyes with this all-knowing look. “I think you can have secrets, but I’ll know you have them. Which means you may as well just give in and tell me everything. Because then? We’ll be together in whatever we’re doing.”
Jared sighed. Damn it. Great way to start a forever relationship, based on him being a fool. Excuses spilled out. “I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
Her fingers tightened around his, eyes sympathetic. “Sometimes things happen we don’t intend.”
Relief edged up slightly as he considered he’d avoided the terrible possibility of her going ballistic at his deception. It looked as if she was going to understand. “They do. It’s like one thing leads to another, then another and before I knew it, poof, I was on the ship and I had no idea how to deal with the situation.”
Keri nodded slowly, but didn’t speak.
Blast. He wished she could actually read his mind. It would be easier than confessing. The upside of getting this over with now? He wouldn’t have to listen to her call him by the wrong name during sex again, because that had really given him the skeevies.
“I’m not Mark.”
The solid eye contact remained, but the understanding smile pasted on her face faded a little. Her lips twitched. “What?”
Okay, as a confession, let alone an explanation, that one really had sucked. Jared wrinkled his nose and tried again.
“When I came on this ship and said I was Mark? I lied. I was—” Oh man, good thing she was a shifter and should be cool about the sex thing, but still… Telling her he’d gone from someone else into her direction? Dangerous territory. He swallowed hard and spat out the rest in a rush. “I was running away from a lover’s family and the ship seemed a good place to hide. Then Chad cornered me and I said yes, I was Mark, and—”
“You’re telling me your big confession is that you’re not really one of the officially hired staff?” She wiggled back, the furrow between her brows deepening.
Silence echoed.
“Umm, yeah?”
“That’s it?”
Jared rocked for a moment. The unexpected disappointment in her voice was more than a little confusing. “That’s not enough? I’ve been impersonating one of my pack mates. I think he might have been drunk and…”
He stuttered to a stop. She had one brow raised so high he was worried she’d get a cramp. Jared slid his hands around her torso and tugged her into his lap. He buried his face against her neck and breathed deeply. Only the faintest of scents reached him, but with her taste still fresh in his mind, and this really cool sensation tickling the back of his spine—the sense of her—he was surrounded and content even though they had so much more to figure out.
He squeezed her until the tension eased, her shoulders softening, body easing against him. Her breathing picked up and his body reacted to every little nuance.
When he turned his head toward hers, their lips met. Slow, easy, then more and more needy. It was no use. The draw of their wolves was too much to ignore, and further discussions would have to be put aside for a while. He took her down the mattress and settled in for an extended lovemaking session.
Chapter Seven
Keri sprawled on her back, one foot hanging off the edge of the bed. She’d dragged a pillow over her face to stop the light sneaking in the small portside window from shining into her eyes.
Thoroughly satisfied. Boneless relaxation. She considered rolling over and looking around the room, but she didn’t have the energy to even do that.
Mark, no, Jared—her mate—had started with a slow seduction of her body that had gone on for hours. Speeding up, slowing down. They’d basically covered the entire room and the bath before the last time when she’d buried her teeth in his neck to stop from screaming during her orgasm.
There was no doubt about the physical connection between them. Maybe a couple of wolves farther up the hierarchy would have been able to hold off their animal sides to get to the bottom of the talking they had to do. For them, both firmly mired in the middle of the pack? Their wolves were stronger than the human side when they wanted something, and they’d both wanted their mates, badly.
She wiggled her fingers across the mattress in search of his warm body. Her inner beast stirred with more curiosity than lust, and Keri was both happy and sad. It wasn’t every day a girl got mated, but they really should do something other than burn up the sheets. It would be good if the animal side allowed them to take a short breather.
Her hand found nothing—not even a warm patch on the empty sheets—and she shoved the pillow away from her face as she rolled sideways and searched the room.
There was a note lying beside her and she grabbed it, collapsing back as her stomach muscles protested. Hmm, that bit of reverse cowboy had worn her out more than she thought.
She lifted both hands in the air and stared skyward at the writing. His letters were strong and bold and definitely masculine.
Hmm, masculine.
She beat down her inner husky to concentrate on the words.
Hi lover.
My phone went off while you were still sleeping like an angel, so I went to grab a few things. We’ve been invited to dinner. Kind of have to go—I’ll explain later, but in the meantime, rest up. We’ve got a lot to talk about.
You look delicious asleep, BTW.
Jared
Keri padded to the bathroom to soak her head and get fully awake. The clock over the dresser said it was five p.m. already, and the first dinner settings were at six.
A dinner invitation they had to meet? Her confusion returned fourfold. She really hoped this had nothing to do with the stolen jewelry. Oh God, she couldn’t stand to have just met him and have him taken away.
All kinds of scenarios raced through her mind. Him being blackmailed to steal. Him as the linchpin of a shifter mob who infiltrated shifter-only events and…
“Arghhhhh.” She rubbed her hair in an attempt to rid herself of the circular logic racing through her brain.
The towel covering her head must have masked the noise of the door because the next thing she knew there was a set of gentle hands assisting in drying her long hair. Jared slipped the towel away, and the light shone on his strong jaw and gorgeous brown eyes.
“Hey. You okay?”
Those eyes—those couldn’t be the eyes of a criminal. It would be such a rotten shame. Instinctively she stepped against his body and accepted his embrace. Not a word until the opportune moment. “Hey yourself. Light sleeper?”
“Only when there’s this really hot woman cuddled up to me so tight I’m unable to breathe she’s turning me on so hard.”
The tension in Keri’s belly wiggled off the cool setting onto the burner set to high, and she whimpered in pain. “Not fair. Your note said eating, not crawling all over each other for another four hours.”
His hand cupped her face, thumb gentle over her bottom lip. “It is rather bad timing, isn’t it? Can’t be helped. We’ll have to work together to convince our wolves to act politely for a couple hours while we dine, and then I promise we can come back here and continue until you can’t stand me bringing you to another climax.”
Another whimper escaped as she pictured returning to the room. “We need to change the topic. This isn’t helping.”