“Well, um, it already has…happened. I think it was the storm that did it.”
Paul stared at Lori and she hoped it was good news for him, because she was thrilled.
“You’re saying…?”
She grinned. “You’re going to be an old papa wolf.”
“Hell, Lori, when did you know?”
“When you were on the mission. I couldn’t get hold of you. Then I couldn’t talk to you right afterward because you’d been injured and were so out of it. And well, I wasn’t sure about doing it even now because I wanted to really celebrate that you’re home, more than anything.”
Grinning, he kissed her soundly. “The storm had nothing to do with it.”
She laughed.
Paul had reacted just the way she had hoped he would—accepting, admiring, and accommodating.
He dumped her on the bed, and she thought it was because it hurt too much for him to bend down, but she had every intention of riding him so he wouldn’t have to put pressure on his injured leg. He yanked off his shirt, and she kicked off her sandals. Then she was on her knees on the bed, unfastening his belt and unzipping his zipper. He was already full to bursting.
She glanced up at him. “It looks like you’re eager to see me.”
“Hell, yeah.”
She loved his enthusiasm and intended to help him off with his pants, forgetting about his sandals. “Sit,” she said, and he gave her a cute raised-brow look. But she wasn’t having him make love to her while he was silently suffering. She wanted to make this as easy for him as possible so they could both enjoy the connection between them again.
He sat down on the bed and she pulled one sandal off, then the other, then his jeans shorts and boxers.
“Just the way I like you,” she said when he was completely naked. Then she encouraged him to lie down.
“Ditto here,” he said, eyeing her tank top and shorts.
She moved his legs apart, careful not to hurt his wounded leg, and took a moment to admire his whole, hot, naked body.
He grinned at her as his erection jerked from her perusal.
“Hmm,” she said, then slid her body over his, rubbing her soft shirt against his hard erection. He ran his fingers through her hair. She wanted to smell him, feel every bit of him, and taste him as she licked a nipple, then kissed his mouth.
She pressed her breasts against his chest while she slipped her hands between them and unzipped her shorts, the whole time rubbing against him. His eyes had taken on a lustful cast.
She loved when he looked at her like that, the way his body smelled so sexy, a wolf’s way of ensuring that her own pheromones were kick-started. Not that she hadn’t been wanting this from the moment she had seen him and his wolfish smile at the airport.
“Lori,” he said, her name sounding like he was both in agony and in ecstasy.
She was afraid he was in pain, so she was ready to make love to him in more of a rush and then let him rest. But he reached up and tugged at her shirt. She pulled it over her head, and then she slipped off her panties. In a hurry, she unfastened her bra and threw it aside. She was going to line herself up and ride him, but he pulled her closer and began stroking her between the legs as if it didn’t matter that he was hurting, as long as she was pleasured.
She arched back as his fingers connected with her nub, his other hand on her thigh, keeping her in place. He continued to stroke her as she closed her eyes and savored the feel of his touch on her aroused flesh.
She groaned and spread herself further, wanting him inside her now, but when he pushed a finger between her feminine folds, she about came unglued. She rode on top of his finger, wanting more, wanting to find the peak. He began to stroke her harder, then softer and faster, watching the way she reacted, moving slower, then faster, then nearly there, slowing down and…
Crying out, she exclaimed, “Holy cow, Paul!” as the need and pure enjoyment rushed through her—her mate’s gift to her.
“Wolf,” he said.
She laughed.
He quickly seated her on his rigid cock, and she began to rock against him, wanting him so badly, as she had every minute of every day that he’d been gone. She hoped he wouldn’t tire of making love to her because she had every intention of doing this every chance they got.
“Beautiful,” he said as she rose up on his cock and slid back down it, her body soft, tan, and stunning. He’d had to keep his mind on business while he was in the jungle, but on the way home, all he’d thought of was making love to his mate.
He loved her.
She rode him, clenching her inner muscles around him, her heart pounding, her skin lightly moist with perspiration, her nipples dark and rigid, just beautiful.
He slid his hand between her legs as she rose again and coaxed another climax out of her. She looked wrung out, like she could collapse on top of him and cuddle for hours, but he wasn’t finished with her yet. He wanted her to know nothing would stop him from pleasuring her, so he turned her over on her back, careful to remain seated deep inside her, and continued to pump into her. Her hands slid up his chest, her thumbs caressing his sensitive nipples, and he moaned with her touch.
How he’d missed this—breathing in her sweet, feminine, wolfish, and very sexy scent, touching her soft body, and feeling them joined. He leaned down and took one of her nipples in his mouth, tugging gently with his lips, rolling his tongue around one nipple and then the other. Her hands combed through his hair, and then he began to thrust harder, feeling the end coming, and wanting it to last forever.
With a final push to reach that end, he came deep inside her. He was completely sated, and yet not. He had every intention of waking her for more after they slept for a while.
Curled up around her, his loving and lovely wolf mate, he couldn’t imagine why he had waited this long. He realized then he should never have let her avoid him when he’d returned home for the last couple of years.
“Do you have any regrets?” Paul asked her as they cuddled together.
“Only that I didn’t insist we do this years ago,” she said.
He loved the way she’d taken over the pack and increased their numbers, and he knew without a doubt they were going to be better off for it.
But then she said, “Be nice to Everett Johnston, by the way. Rose needs him for her mate.”
Paul grunted. Being nice to the man wasn’t on the agenda.
Chapter 20
Two weeks later, when Paul was feeling a hundred percent, Lori and he got out of bed and dressed late in the morning. Lori’s eyes sparkled with impish delight, and Paul knew she had some kind of scheme in mind. “I’ve been waiting for things to settle down a bit, but I have to take you out for your bachelor lunch or dinner. We sort of forgot that part of the honey-do bachelor auction.”
“I’m no longer a bachelor,” Paul said, interested, “but what did you have in mind?” This was so different from when he usually came home from a mission. He loved being with Lori, with a pack.
“Well, how would you like something Italian?”
“The Italian restaurant, Fame del Lupo, owned by our own pack members?” He’d heard about it when he was waiting to be released from the clinic.
“That’s the one. We’re all eating there from time to time to get their business off to a good start.”
“Good food?”
“The best. We’ll have a late lunch there and then I need to teach some classes.”
“I’m ready.”
“Do you know what their name means?”
“Lupo, something to do with wolf?”
“‘Wolfish appetite’ in Italian.”
“Love it.”
* * *
When they walked into the brand-new restaurant, Italian songs of amore were playing overhead. Statues of curly-headed angels and paintings of the Leaning Tower of
Pisa, the Pantheon, Pompeii, the canals of Venice, and the vineyards of Italy decorated the walls. The aroma of Italian seasonings, wines, and spicy sausage scented the air.
The couple that owned the place were so pleased to have the pack leaders eat there that they greeted them personally. Fred Garafalo and his wife, Ginny, gave them the special table that would be reserved for them anytime they wished to eat there, overlooking a small patio garden.
Two of the waitresses serving at other tables smiled at Paul and Lori, and he realized that pack-run businesses would help to provide employment for their pack members. Something that Lori could also use in her dojo and Rose in her shop. Lori had done a super job while he’d been gone.
Paul felt like royalty as the Garafalos fawned over them while he and Lori took their seats, then hurried off to fetch Italian rolls, wine, and salad.
Nearly everyone eating there was a wolf. A woman and her twin girls were eating pizza with a lone male wolf who was checking out the pack. He bowed his head a little at Paul and Lori to acknowledge them. Even Emma was sitting with a couple of friends at a booth.
The Garafalos set a basket of buttered rolls and a large glass bowl filled with salad on the table, then returned with wine for Paul and glasses of water and left them in peace.
Paul switched his attention to Lori. “I can’t believe how much you have done for the pack while I was away.”
“Teach you to leave me in charge of it in your absence. But I think everyone’s happy. Oh, there will be some discontent. There always is. But generally speaking, everyone’s thrilled to be here.”
They ordered, finished their rolls and salad, and before long, the lasagna was served.
“I thought we’d go to the movies tonight. I know you want to speak with Everett Johnston first. Then when you’re done with that business, we could have a movie date.”
“The last time I had a movie date with you, I learned Rose was pregnant.”
“Right. So we’ll have a nice movie this time, no interruptions, and cuddle. That will be your bachelor auction date. After that, no more bachelor stuff.”
“I was truly through with the bachelor business years ago. All I ever needed was you.”
She drank some of her water. “You need to go away more so you’ll return and keep saying such nice things to me.”
“I have no intention of going anywhere else anytime soon. If I did, our pack could explode until it was as big as the population of the state of Montana.”
She laughed.
They finished their plates of lasagna, and Lori knew she’d eaten way too much.
“Cuddling at the movie might even lead to something more tonight,” Paul said, setting his plate aside.
“I’m counting on it.”
When they went to pay for the meal, the owners held up their hands, saying no. “Our treat. We are happy to be here.”
“Okay this time, but next time we pay,” Paul said. He escorted Lori outside and gave her another hug. “I can’t believe it. We’re going to have our own pup or more.”
“Are you happy about it?”
“Sure as hell am. Couldn’t be happier.” He gave her another hug and kiss. “The pack is going to be too big before long.”
“Never.”
“So what’s playing at the theater tonight?” Paul asked as he drove them back to the cabin.
“Action, adventure, fighting, car chases, killing, that sort of thing. Strictly silly humor. An animated feature. Or a romance.”
“What do you want to watch?”
“The romance. You’ve had enough violence to deal with lately.”
“Sounds good to me. Have you got any more classes to give today?”
“I do. So I’ll meet you at the cabin in a couple of hours.”
“All right.”
When they reached the cabin, before she left in her car, with one last parting kiss, she reminded him, “Be nice to Everett. I like him. And Rose loves him.”
“We’ll see.” Paul kissed her, wanting to forgo meeting with Everett and the movie, and take her back to bed with him.
Instead, he headed inside while she drove off. Everett was there promptly at three, which immediately made a good impression on Paul.
He had to learn what he could about Everett and the bind he was in. Paul sure hoped that Catherine, Lori, and Rose’s faith in the man was warranted.
He was blond, tall, and muscular, and Paul could see how the man could have appealed to Rose. He wondered what kind of work Everett did.
“You want a cup of coffee?” Paul asked, motioning with a mug.
“No, thanks.” Everett took a seat in one of the chairs while Paul got a cup of coffee and rejoined him. He hadn’t cared about the coffee as much as he wanted to put Everett at ease. He didn’t want to give the man the impression he was out for blood. Not when Rose seemed to really care about him.
“First, what do you do for a living?”
“Build log cabins. I was building them in Seattle. I…was with a gray wolf pack there.”
“Okay, so what’s the deal with the bank robbery?”
“Well…like I told Rose, I didn’t do it. I have some extra money, sure, because I’ve been doing some honey-do projects on my own. Lots of older women need some trim work or repairs done that are too small for most builders. But the women and sometimes older couples, or really just anyone who doesn’t have the skills, need the help. Like I told Rose and the others, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. My motorcycle helmet was stolen, used in the bank robbery, and then tossed later.”
“How did anyone know it was yours?”
“My helmet had a picture of a gray wolf baring its teeth on it. One of my pack members works at that bank and saw it and knew it was mine. Why in the hell would I wear a helmet that was so recognizable to commit a bank robbery?”
Paul sipped some of his coffee. “Would-be robbers can pull some pretty stupid stunts. The police caught a guy pulling a ski mask over his face before he held up a convenience store. Only the camera caught him on film while he was in one of the aisles before he put on the ski mask. Another case was a man trying to rob the money from an electronics store that had more than ten security cameras going. They had his picture from every angle. In another case, a man tried to steal from a mirror store.”
“Mirror store?”
“Yeah. He thought there would be money left overnight in the store. The only things there, other than mirrors, were two Doberman pinschers. He was terrified of dogs and ended up calling the police from inside the store to come and rescue him.”
Everett smiled.
“The police, thinking that the man was dangerous, sent in a SWAT team, but when they realized he was just an idiot, they laughed as they rescued him and hauled him off for booking.”
Everett laughed. “Yeah, I get your point.”
“I’ll have some men look into this. About the time you came here and were seeing Rose, there was a bank robbery.”
Everett’s eyes widened.
“He was wearing a motorcycle helmet.”
“Not me. After that happened, I stopped riding my bike. At least for the time being.”
“You don’t have to ride a bike to have a helmet with you.” Which made Paul wonder if the motorcycle bandit even rode a bike. “If someone was using that MO and it was successful, they’d continue to use it. Were you the same build as the robber?”
“You know how it is. If you always wear something and others saw that identifier from a distance, they’d think it was you. Doesn’t matter if they don’t see the face, or the person doesn’t have the same build as you. Anyway, this guy wore blue jeans, like I always wear. He wore work boots like I always wear—the protective steel-toe kind while I’m working on the job. A lot of men wear jeans and heavy boots out there. So, no, it wasn’t me, but it could have ‘l
ooked’ like me.”
Paul could see the logic in that. “So one of your wolf pack members, the one working at the bank, believed it was you?”
“I’d been in the bank earlier. My scent was recent. She didn’t get close to the guy when he was armed and potentially dangerous. I leaned on that same counter. Saw the same clerk. So it was a given. Circumstantial. She was wrong.”
“No coincidence that you were at a bank that had been robbed, and then another was robbed where the guy used the same MO?”
“Copycat? Hell, I don’t know. The other man had robbed six banks in the Seattle area.”
“Do you have alibis for them? Any of them?”
“For four of them.”
“Witnesses?”
“I was up working on a log cabin three of the times. So it couldn’t have been me. I was visiting my mother and sister another time. But you probably won’t believe anything they say.”
Paul nodded. “I’ll have it looked into. What about this situation with Rose? You know she’s pregnant, right? And she’s having triplets?”
Everett looked a little pale. “Triplets?”
“And that you had sex with her.”
“Not all the way.”
“Well, here’s the thing. Your ‘almost sex’ with Rose produced triplets. Rose is like a sister to me. I don’t want to force her into anything she doesn’t want. But if the two of you care for each other enough, we can clear your name with regard to the bank robbery here in town, and if you’re both willing, you can stay with the pack. I’ll settle things with your last pack. As long as I know you’re innocent. So that brings us back to Rose. What are your intentions toward her?”
“I wouldn’t have done that with her, given my current situation. I wanted to see more of her. I wanted to make sure my mother and sister were all right. But I couldn’t quit thinking about Rose.”
“That’s a good start.”
“I only left because I knew the other wolf pack would be looking for me. I was trying to clear my name. I had to talk to the crew I was working with, to ensure they could vouch for the times I was working with them on the job sites when the bank robberies went down. I didn’t want Rose involved in this. She didn’t tell me we were having triplets.”