“Never far away. You planning on doing anything with that wonderfully thick cock? Like say, putting it into me?”

“Like this?” he asked as he thrust into her to the root in one hard movement.

Her back bowed and her legs wrapped around his waist. “That’ll do quite nicely.”

They were nearly the same height so they stayed nose to nose while he began to move into her. Their eyes remained locked and it felt like she saw into his very soul. He felt exposed and wondered if she’d like what she saw there.

Her body embraced him, pulled him back each time he pulled out, she was so tight and hot that he felt like he’d lose his mind. He wanted to crawl into her and curl up. She was long and lean with a nice ass and it felt like she was made for him, to be beneath him, to receive his body this very way.

When she tightened her vaginal muscles around his c**k he grunted and his balls pulled tight against his body. She rolled her hips up to meet his thrusts.

“Baby, touch yourself. Make yourself come around my cock.”

He watched her hands as she pressed her br**sts together and pulled on the rings on her ni**les. He moaned as he felt the ripple of her pu**y around him and saw the way she’d caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

Down one hand went, moving between them, and he felt her pull her honey up and around her clit.

“Tell me how it feels.”

“Good,” she gasped. “My clit is so hard and your c**k is so hard and you’re filling me up. You make me so wet. Fuck me, Nick. Come inside me and mark me. Make me yours.”

Holy crap, the woman was so sexy it made his head hurt. His wolf was rolling through him, pressing against hers. His climax was building and suddenly it hurtled through him, the impact shocking and mind-numbing.

His head went back and a howl of her name ripped from his lips. Dimly, he felt her come beneath him, their bodies moving in and toward and away and against the other over and over until he collapsed.

“Ungh,” she mumbled and he nodded, his head on her shoulder.

* * * * *

She awoke some hours later to find herself alone in bed and sat up slowly, stretching. Grabbing a robe that she found hanging on the back of the door, she went out in search of him. He was in his office, on the phone. She heard his end perfectly. Her hearing was good enough to catch part of the other end of the call and she stood there, wanting to scream.

“I don’t know. I still care about you, but now that she’s here it’s not as strong. I love her. She’s my mate.”

“…love you still…not me…”

“No, she’s not you. She’s different. I’m sorry I called you. I just wanted to share this with you. But I see that it’s hard for you and not fair to her.”

Tracy stood in the doorway, waiting.

“I need to get back to bed.”

“…skinny…eyebrow!…”

“This isn’t…” he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “I need to go. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Or I guess tonight.”

The woman on the other end said something else and Nick sighed and hung up. He put his head down but looked up when he heard her move.

“Tracy,” he began, seeing her there.

“Sarah.” She said it simply.

“I…”

“Fuck you, Nick. God damn it. Fuck you and f**k her!”

“It’s not what you think.” He stood up and walked toward her and she scrambled backward, hand out to ward him off. He stopped, hurt. “Don’t run from me. Do you think I’d hurt you?”

“You already did, you bastard. You and that blonde bitch. God, how stupid am I? I come in here and your bed reeks of another woman’s pu**y! I should have known. I saw the way she looked at you.”

“Shelley has nothing to do with this.”

Incredulous, Tracy picked up a book on the table near where she was standing and hurled it at his head.

“No, you stupid ass**le! That bitch Sarah, not your f**k buddy.”

“Hey!” He batted the book away. “Nothing happened between me and Sarah. I just wanted to share this with her.”

“You called someone else’s wife at,” she craned her neck to see the clock, “four in the morning, Nick! I heard her, I’m skinny? My brow ring offends her? Fuck her! Her talking to my mate when he should be in bed with me offends me!”

“She wasn’t serious. It’s hard for her.”

“Oh you arenotmaking excuses for her to me, are you? I thought you said you had a lot of experience with women. Here’s a clue, don ’ t defend her to me if you want to keep your head.”

“I’m not defending her. I’m her anchor. For the last few years I’ve been sort of her husband too.

Platonic. Nothing has happened between us since the tri-bond. But it’s intense. A part of me loved her, felt mated to her.” He took a step closer. “Until you. Tracy, the moment I touched you that bond, or that part of it, weakened. She’s my sister-in-law and I’m her anchor and in that way, we’ll still be close. But I love you.”

She shook her head. “You said it yourself, Nick. I’m not her. And I wouldn’t want to be. And I don’t want to be with you knowing that when you close your eyes you’re thinking of her.”

“You aren’t her. That’s not an insult! You’re different. You’re full of life and you have an edge and

you’re more independent and you’re stronger in a lot of ways. And I love you. I swear to you that when I close my eyes I see you. When my eyes are open I see you. Why can’t you believe me?”