“Why do you have to say anything?”

“Don’t I need to?” she asked honestly. “To entice you into bed?” She’d always had to work harder than the pretty full-human girls at school and in college. Toni always had to engage men first with her intellect and then let them find their way into becoming sexually interested in her.

But Ricky Lee only laughed. “Darlin’, you really have been hanging around too many full-humans.”

He slowly dropped to his knees beside the couch. “Do you know what I need to entice me to bed?”

“What?”

“You looking at me the way you’re looking at me and . . .” Ricky carefully pulled the towel off her body. “This.”

Toni knew she had scars. It was hard to grow up a predator and not have scars, but she also knew it was something fellow predators didn’t give a shit about. Ricky would never suggest medicinal pads she could place on her scars to make them fade or kindly suggest a good plastic surgeon who could help her out. Her scars didn’t matter to him, and that had her toes curling.

Ricky studied her body for a long moment, his gaze moving from head to toe and back again. When his eyes focused on hers, he said nothing because there was nothing to say.

Raising herself on her elbows, Toni leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. “I think,” she teased, “I’m still a little anxious. Being away from my family and all.”

“Really?” Ricky said, his grin wide. “You know, darlin’, I think I can help ya with that.”

“I really hope so, because I am desperate.”

“Oh, yeah?” He leaned in closer, but still didn’t touch her. “Then you better prove it before I get scared off and make a run for it.”

So Toni did. She proved exactly how desperate she was.

Ricky wouldn’t lie. He’d kissed a lot of women over the years. Many of them predators. Quite a few who were full-human. But there was something about this passionate, but shy kiss that made his knees weak and his heart race. Something he didn’t remember ever happening before. At least not like this.

Toni’s arms slipped around his neck and she pressed her mouth against his. Her lips parted and he felt her breath seconds before her tongue eased into his mouth.

Ricky melted into that kiss. He couldn’t help himself. It was such a sweet kiss. And somehow, supremely honest.

While still holding on to him, Toni got to her knees on the couch, her breasts brushing against him as she moved. Her hands slipped into his hair and her fingers flexed, massaging his scalp.

Growling low, Ricky stood and grinned down at Toni. “Now that was just mean.”

Toni’s smile was purely devious. “Not mean . . . just calculated.”

“I like calculated.” He wrapped his arms around her waist andpulled Toni up until they were eye level. He kissed her. Hard, pushing her, needing to know that this was what she really wanted.

She eagerly returned his kiss without hesitation, her grip tightening around his neck.

That was all Ricky needed.

He lifted her off the couch and took her to the bed. They fell onto it, Ricky’s body pushing her into the mattress.

Ricky Lee Reed was a big wolf with wide shoulders and muscular thighs. When she’d first met him, Toni had found them a tad off-putting. She kept thinking it was too much body for a woman to handle. Now, however, she knew she’d been wrong. Nothing felt better than having this wolf ’s narrow hips between her thighs, his strong chest pressing against her breasts.

Toni felt safe and turned on all at the same time.

Ricky dragged his fingers up her thighs, her hips, the sides of her breasts. Toni arched into those hands, her head thrown back. Who knew such big hands would feel so good?

Resting his hands on her hips, he leaned into her, taking her mouth with his. Claiming it as his own.

Toni reached between them with her right hand, lowered it until she could cup his cock through his jeans. Ricky groaned and buried his face against her neck. She tipped her head to the side, giving him better access as she found his zipper, undid it. She slipped her hand inside. He hadn’t bothered to put his boxer briefs back on when he’d dressed by the car. She didn’t mind. It just made it easier to run the tips of her fingers around his cock.

Fangs grazed Toni’s neck before Ricky was kissing her again.

After several minutes, he leaned back a bit, gazing down into her face. His eyes had shifted to a vibrant blue, meaning the Reeds had some Arctic wolf in them.

“I can’t wait anymore,” he told her plainly. There was no smirk. No easy patter. Just a desperation in those Arctic wolf eyes.

“Me, either,” she admitted.

“Thank God.” He got up and reached for his jeans.

“Wait,” she said, and she almost laughed when he stared at her in abject horror. “Tell me you have condoms.”

“Condoms?” He acted like he didn’t even know the word. Then he blinked, nodded. “Right. Condoms.” With his cock hanging out of his unzipped jeans, he tore across the room and began tossing clothes out of his luggage. He finally held up a box of condoms, facing her with a huge, triumphant smile.

When Toni frowned, Ricky quickly added, “I was hopeful is all. Just hopeful. A man can be hopeful.”

Knowing that he’d brought those condoms for her didn’t upset Toni nearly as much as she’d thought it would. So when he just stood there, cock hanging out of his jeans, his blue eyes silently begging her, Toni could only ask, “Are you just going to stand there or get over here and do me?”