Tessa shivered. “Firewood. Lots and lots of firewood stockpiled, right?”
“Of course.”
Dinner passed comfortably, her satisfaction rising at every sound of enjoyment Mark made. Suzy-homemaker she wasn’t, but feeding him? Whoa, she’d never imagined how gratifying that could be.
Or how erotic. Mark scooped up a spoonful and scarfed it down happily, a tiny smudge of gravy clinging to the corner of his mouth. Tessa reached out without thinking and touched her finger to the spot, cleaning it away.
He caught her wrist, holding her in place until her gaze met his. Then slowly, deliberately, he licked her finger clean.
Tessa swallowed, hard. A buzz shot from where his tongue contacted her through her body all the way until she swore he had licked her clit.
Oh boy.
Where was this leading? They’d played around a couple days ago, but with her strange case of the sleepies, Mark had been left hanging for far too long. She wouldn’t mind a little more action, either, even if it was far too soon to be committing to anything like being one true loves yet.
Mark released her hand, refocusing all his attention on scraping the remaining bits of food from his bowl.
Tessa hesitated, not quite sure what his withdrawal meant. “Mark? Did I do something wrong?”
“You’ve done nothing but be yourself, and it’s killing me.” He lifted his eyes again. “I want you.”
Instant shiver—full-body, all-out physical response from head to toe. “I’m good with that.”
“Only, I don’t want just part of you.” Mark stared past her shoulder, his gaze unblinking as he continued. “You’re my mate, and my wolf thinks I’m nuts, but until you’re ready to accept me completely, I can’t… I thought I could, but I can’t make love to you without going too far.”
Her blood raced so hard a blackout seemed possible. “Too far?”
“Marking you. Mating you.” He pushed away from the table, opening space between them. “I know I said we could fool around, but I wasn’t aware how much being mates would get to me. Maybe if I were a stronger wolf I could handle it. Maybe if you weren’t right here—but don’t suggest you go anywhere else, because that would only be worse.”
Her mouth had gone dry. “You don’t want me around, but you don’t want me to leave?”
Mark rubbed his forehead. “I’m saying this all wrong, and I’m sorry. I’m trying desperately to give you what you asked for, which is time for us to fall in love. So we’re going to have to find ways to spend time together that doesn’t involve getting hot and heavy.”
Something twisted inside, and it wasn’t just her libido complaining. “Oh. Okay, that makes sense.”
Only having made Mark uncomfortable made her uncomfortable, and a change of mental game plan for the evening, well, sucked. While playing Parcheesi or working on a puzzle wasn’t what she wanted, she had to respect his honesty. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Yeah.” He smiled wryly. “Want to go for a run?”
***Wednesday
Tessa had deliberately set the alarm to make sure she’d get up in time. When it went off, though, she rolled over, on the verge of falling asleep again as Mark’s scent lingering on the sheets made happy little hormones dance in her veins.
At least until she remembered the reason she could smell him had nothing to do with wild romps. It was his bed, ergo, it smelt like him. No late-night orgasms, screaming out in pleasure or even basic cuddling had brought them together.
She forced herself to crawl out from under the covers, wondering what on earth was causing her to be so sleepy these days. Only, it wasn’t like exhaustion-tiredness, more as if she was too relaxed to want to bounce from task to task in her usual way.
The sounds of banging led her to the main floor where she found Mark swinging a hammer. Shirtless, his muscles flexing as he moved efficiently again and again, a light sheen of sweat slicking him up.
She clung to the raw wood two-by-four at the entrance to the room to stop from bounding in and jumping him, literally and otherwise.
Instead, Tessa cleared her throat. “You want some breakfast?”
He paused, lifting his head to flash her a wonderful smile that made her heart lift. “Good morning. Breakfast would be super. Hey, I picked up a new coffeemaker—one of those just add water ones. Give it a try. There’s a whole box of the decaf thingies it uses on the counter.”
“Thank you.” She shuffled awkwardly before turning away. Coffee, breakfast. Then, damn it, she was going to muster up the energy to help hammer boards.
On the second floor one of her sticky notes caught her eye, and she moved in closer to discover he’d written a comment below her suggestion for lighting.
Excellent idea. That will highlight the seating in this area. Well done.
Tessa stared for a moment before wandering the entire floor and reading the comments he’d added to each and every one of her notes. She carried this warm glow with her as she forced herself to keep moving into the day.
***Thursday
Mark built five walls, three door casements, a couple of bathroom subfloors and roughed in the plumbing for the family guest bathrooms.
In the afternoon he split a cord of wood and stacked it in the woodshed.
Every time he rounded a corner in the paddlewheel and spotted Tessa hard at work on the to-do list they’d put together at breakfast, his need for her flared again, and every time he somehow managed to turn away.
Lying down for the night on the single bed in his Gramps’ room was a special kind of torture, knowing she was there, right on the other side of the wall.
Being noble sucked.
***Friday
Mark finished the framing on what should have taken at least three weeks, and started on the wiring.
Tessa read through four different manuals regarding cooking for groups, planned sample menus for the B&B, took a nap, put together a couple of different promotional brochures, washed all the sheets and linens, took another nap, scrubbed and polished all the windows including the ones way up high that required her to balance on the top platform of the stepladder.
The email announcing her best friend would be back in town the next morning was the only thing that stopped her from going nuts.
Mark being noble? Sucked.
Chapter Eight
They stepped through the doors of the pack house, Mark a little wary about the upcoming meet-and-greet. Tessa held his arm, staying right beside him. The fact she was touching him, sticking close to his side made it easier.
I love my pack. I trust my pack.
Mark repeated the words mentally as loud as he could to drown out the internal voice that whispered taking his unmarked mate, his beautiful, impulsive and sexy mate, into a place with a lot of shifter males was a bad idea.
The issue of her being a cat was high on the list as well, but his wolf was far more concerned about the other problem, go figure.
Tessa squealed with excitement, jiggling on the spot as her arm shot into the air, and she waved frantically. “Keri. There she is. Woohoo.”
A rush of relief struck at her enthusiasm—it was the first time in the past couple days that Mark could say Tessa had acted her normal energetic self. His mate was gone like the summer, vanishing between one blink and the next. Keri raced to meet her as well, the two of them tangling together in a huge hug as Keri’s mate, Jared, looked on.
Mark crossed the distance more sedately, but in time to hear the start of the conversation as the two friends curled up on the nearest couch and began catching up.
Jared stood behind them, leaning his hip on the couch. He poked Mark in the arm. “Well, fancy this. Keri told me everything, by the way. You and Tessa, mates, the cat thing.”
Drat. “Yeah.”