“I understand.”

“You do? Really?

He wasn’t happy about it, but he understood. “Yeah. Of course.”

“Good. Because for the first time in years, since I left my daddy’s house when I was eighteen, I feel like I’m home. And I’m happy. And I’m safe. And that, Egbert Ray Smith, is because of you.”

Darla placed a white paper bag from the Smithtown Pharmacy on the table. “Picked that up when I was out with the girls.”

She walked back to the counter, faced him, and said, “I love you, Eggie Ray.”

Eggie nodded and waited for more—because there was always more when it came to Darla Mae and that’s where he was expecting that damn hammer—but after nearly a minute she shrugged and said, “That’s it. I love you. I’ll always love you.”

Darla looked off and suddenly added, “And I like pie.”

Relief washing over him, Eggie grinned and asked, “You like pie?”

“Yes. I think pie will end up making me a decent amount of money. So I like pie. I’m a big fan of pie.”

“That’s good. It’s good to be a big fan of something.”

“I think so.” She nervously combed her hair behind her ears. “So . . . am I supposed to make a run for it and then you catch me? Or just put up a fight?”

“Do you feel like making a run for it?”

“Not particularly.”

“Putting up a fight?”

“Pacifist.”

“And I fight all day. It’s my job. So I’d rather not start off fighting my mate unless you want me to.”

“Well, it’s just the two of us here. I mean, can’t we do this however we want to?”

“As far as I’m concerned, Darla Mae, we can do whatever we want whatever way we want and however many times we want to.”

She smiled, appearing relieved. “Good.” Then she pulled off her T-shirt, tossed it aside, and shimmied out of her cutoffs. She kicked those and her panties away, turned from Eggie to face the counter, and pulled her long hair over to her left shoulder, leaving her right bare. She rested her hands on the counter, bent one knee, and leaned forward a bit.

Darla looked at Eggie over her exposed shoulder, her smile so unbelievably sultry that he became instantly hard—so hard it hurt.

“What are you waitin’ for, Egbert Ray? Come on over here and make me yours.”

Eggie’s growl was so low, Darla didn’t hear it but she felt it. It was like it rumbled through the kitchen, through the floor, up her legs, shooting through her body.

When Eggie reached for his jeans, Darla faced forward, her hands gripping the counter. It took Eggie only seconds to strip off his clothes and find the condoms she’d purchased from theSmithtown pharmacy. Of course when she’d picked them up—much to her sisters’ giggles and the disapproval of the maned wolf pharmacist who clearly hadn’t attended the feminist seminar Darla had gone to about women owning their own sexuality—Darla had thought of them only for emergency purposes in case Eggie ran out. Now she was relieved because she didn’t think she could wait until he went upstairs and got his own.

When Eggie moved up behind her, she felt the heat pouring from his body. His arms reached around her, his hands bracing on either side of her own. His chest pressed against her back and his mouth against her neck.

Darla closed her eyes, leaned back against the wolf behind her.

“I love you, Darla,” he growled against her throat, making her smile.

Eggie gently dragged his right hand across Darla’s hand and up her arm. Then he reached under her arm and pressed his hand against her stomach. Her breath caught when his fingers eased down, the tips caressing her. Her toes curled against the floor, her hands gripping the counter tighter.

She trembled as his fingers became more insistent. Eggie’s other arm went around her chest, the hand gripping the opposite shoulder. He kissed her beneath the ear and moved down her neck to her shoulder.

While his fingers stroked her and her body trembled, her knees weakening, Eggie pressed his mouth against a muscle on her shoulder blade. He kissed the area, licked it. Darla began to pant, her entire body shuddering. And when she cried out, Eggie bit down hard, and the feel of his fangs sliding past skin and muscle, scraping against bone, had the power of her orgasm doubling, tearing through her. It felt like she exploded from the inside out.

When the roaring in her head stopped, she heard Eggie’s voice. He spoke to her in between kissing her neck.

“Darla? Are you all right?”

She really couldn’t imagine anyone taking such care with her the way Eggie did. It always seemed as if her happiness meant everything to him.

Maybe that Arctic fox yogi she’d met in France—who’d turned out to be not from India but from Queens, New York—had been right when he’d said karma would take good care of her. Because how else did she get so lucky?

“Finish it, Eggie,” she told him, breathless, desperate. “Finish it now.”

Eggie tried not to scare her. But her desperate plea, the way she leaned against him, the scent of her lust, all conspired to rip away his control. To bring out the wolf that he barely kept reined in as it was.

Gripping her hips, Eggie pulled her back a bit and pressed his condom-covered cock against her pussy. She was already wet and open, her muscles relaxed.

“I love you, Darla,” he whispered against her ear. “I’ll always love you.”