Jessica Sims - Must Love Fangs

I smiled. “You are?”

“You had him all tangled up,” she said. “Every night he came in, he was stressed out about you. Said he couldn’t charm you like he charmed everyone else. I never saw him so flustered over a girl.”

Well, wasn’t that adorable? I laughed. “Oh, he’s just saying that. I’m sure he tells you that about all the girls he brings here.”

She shook her head and gave me a sharp-eyed look. “You’re the only one he’s ever introduced me to, honey. When I saw him come in with you, I thought, he’s going to marry this one. He’s asked you, hasn’t he?”

Jeez, she was sharp. I felt myself blush and resisted the urge to touch the mate mark on my neck. “More or less.”

“That’s good,” she said, patting my hand. “That’s very good. You make him happy.”

“And he makes me happy,” I said softly.

It was true. When he emerged with that box of menus and shot me a cocky, confident grin, my heart melted all over again. I adored the hell out of that overconfident, arrogant, loving, caring guy.

And I planned on spending the rest of my life proving it.

Wake up, sleepyhead,” a voice murmured in my ear, rousing me from the most delicious dream.

I snuggled deeper into the pillows and didn’t open my eyes. I mumbled, “Five more minutes.”

There was a soft chuckle, then a hand pulled me against a large, hard male body. I felt Josh lean over me, and felt his warm breath on my ear a second before he began to nibble on it. “You naughty minx. You’re always sleeping late, aren’t you?”

“Mmm,” I said, sighing with pleasure at a good night’s sleep—and the delicious man teasing my ear. “I love sleeping.”

“It’s time to wake up,” Josh murmured, then kissed my neck. “You know what today is?”

It took a moment for it to register in my sleep-groggy mind, and then I realized. My eyes flew open. “Oh, jeez. My picnic!”

He chuckled. “That’s right.”

“Oh, heck, I’ve got to get up,” I said, all sleepiness vanishing from my body. Today the were-cougar clan was gathering in my honor. It promised to be a big party, and it wouldn’t do if I showed up late. Plus, I’d promised Bathsheba that I’d bring a few dishes to help out with the picnic part of things . . . and I hadn’t started. I’d meant to cook last night, but Josh had distracted me with flirty kisses, and before I’d known it, we’d fallen into bed early, though sleep had come hours later.

I tossed the covers aside and rolled away from Josh, intending to get out of bed . . . only to be snared at the waist and dragged back against him, my sleep tank top riding up to expose even more of my skin.

“Where are you going in such a rush, gorgeous?”

“ Tête de cochon, ” I said affectionately. “I need to shower and start cooking.”

He kissed my bare shoulder, sending shivers through my body. “You can do that later.”

“But—”

He nipped my flesh, then stroked it with his tongue to soothe the ache.

A low heat pulsed in my belly and my limbs immediately went liquid. I whimpered. So unfair of him to play dirty. But when his hand slid to my panties and began to edge them downward, I leaned back against him and sighed with pleasure. “Think we’ll be late if we stay in bed for a bit longer?”

“Definitely,” Josh murmured, his fingers sliding under the silky fabric.

About two seconds later, I found that I didn’t care.

• • •

We showed up to the Russell house about an hour after I’d promised Bathsheba that I’d be there. She didn’t say anything when I showed up in the kitchen; she just gave me a knowing look that made me blush bright red.

Her scent was something I recognized instantly. The oddly unfamiliar tang of human, plus a slight undercurrent of the more familiar—and more comforting—were-cougar. There was an enormous mate mark on her neck, visible right under the strand of hair that she tucked behind her ear.

Josh kissed my cheek and moved toward the stove that Bath hovered over. “Anything I can help with?”

She turned to face him, a look of surprised amusement on her face. “A Russell offering to help in the kitchen? Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Hey, my favorite ladies are in here right now,” he said easily, taking the bowl I was carrying from my hands and heading to the fridge with it. “You just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it.”

“You can head back to town and get some extra beer. We’ve got a few extras coming today.”

“Extras?” I gave her an odd look. “I thought this was just Russells. Were-cougars.” Of course, she was here, so it wasn’t like we planned on sticking to that rule fast and hard. Beau wasn’t about to have a clan get-together and not invite his own wife.

“It started out that way,” Bathsheba said, pulling a list from under a nearby plate. “But then we didn’t know what to do with Lily, since she’s still under surveillance, so Ryder volunteered to watch her if she could come, too. I couldn’t exactly refuse that. And of course there’s Sara and Ramsey, who are always included even though they’re not cougar. Jeremiah’s bringing Miko and Sam. And Savannah asked to bring Connor.”

Josh scowled. “Did you tell her no?”

“I told her yes,” Bathsheba said in a pert voice. “Now please, we need a few more six-packs of beer. Would you mind?”

He snagged his keys back off the counter and moved toward me, giving me a quick, hot kiss full of promise. “I’ll be back soon, baby.”

“Got it,” I told him with a soft smile, resisting the urge to swat his ass when he walked away. I watched him as he left, then turned back to Bathsheba once he was gone.

She was smiling. “So . . . how are things with you and Josh?”

“Good,” I said, though the word didn’t seem to encompass quite enough. Life was incredible, and wonderful, and so full of wonder and hope and happiness every day that I pulled out my mother’s Virgin Mary figurine and kissed it in gratitude every time I woke up. I couldn’t ask for a better life.

And it was all thanks to Josh, that wonderful, beautiful man.

“Mmmhmm. Can you start making the potato salad?”

I moved to the small mountain of potatoes on the far end of the kitchen table. “So why is it that we got stuck with the cooking?”

Bath pulled out a bottle of barbeque sauce from the fridge. “Because if I let one of the men in the kitchen, they’d eat everything before it ever made it to the table.”

“And you like being in charge,” I teased, grabbing the potato peeler and attacking the first potato.

She gave a small sniff. “That’s not it. I just—”

“Like being in charge,” Sara chimed in, walking through the back door, a bag of groceries in her arms. “Marie had it right the first time.”

I caught the waft of wolf-scent and resisted the urge to wrinkle my nose. I was still getting used to all the different scents.

“You hush,” Bath said to her sister with a mock scowl. “Did you bring the dessert?”

“Three cheesecakes,” Sara announced proudly. “All fresh from the bakery. Ramsey’s carrying them in. He says I’m too small and they’re too heavy.” She rolled her eyes.

“It is a bit of a pain in the ass that there’s no road,” I mentioned.

“Beau likes his privacy,” Bath said simply. “If there was a road nearby, someone’d be driving down it constantly. He doesn’t mind a little walking to get here.”

I supposed he had a point. “Here” was Beau’s cabin in the midst of the woods, with no roads, no trails, no nothing, for at least a square mile. It had been quite a hike for me and Josh, since we’d been carrying food as well, but I’d felt healthy and strong and alive—and my shifter strength was quite a bit stronger than my wimpy human strength. It had been a long walk, but not a hard one, and I was pleased at that.