Jared (River Pack Wolves 3)(31)

“Tell me about it, Grace,” he said softly.

“It’s not like I’ve never…” She swallowed.

He waited. His body was still dying to ravish hers, but he would wait forever for her to say what she needed to. And if this really was her first time… there was no way in hell he was rushing any part of it.

She laid a hand flat on his chest, over his thudding heart. “It’s not like I’ve never climaxed before… if making love to my vibrator counts. But somehow that’s different.”

He smiled. “Well… I’m glad to hear that, actually.”

One side of her mouth quirked up, and she snuck a look at him, then went back to staring at his chest. Her hands were in motion now, and it was driving him crazy.

“When I’m with a man,” she whispered, “it’s too intense. Too exciting. My wolf wants to come out.”

“And you have a hard time controlling it in the first place.”

Her eyes were soft and round when she looked up. “I didn’t want you to be surprised, you know, in case I shifted in the middle of…” She swallowed. “I’ve never gotten very far with a man before. A few times… well, it just scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t take the chance.”

He nodded, and a warmth spread through him. He was going to be her first, and not just with sex. With the freedom to embrace who she really was. He leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips, then pulled back, smiling. It was a strange feeling, this grin that she kept pulling out of him, but he couldn’t help it.

“Most wolves have to learn how to control themselves early on, when they’re teenagers,” he said. “But you haven’t had anyone to help you. Plus you’ve probably been trying to hold your wolf back most of the time.” He ran his finger along the edge of her hair to the knot in back. “Don’t worry. There’s nothing you can do that will hurt me. Or surprise me.”

“What if my claws come out?” Her breathing sped up a little as he started pulling pins from her hair, working the long spill of it loose.

His smile grew, both at the idea of having that gorgeous hair fisted in his hand as he made love to her and at the idea that she might be able to hurt him with her white-wolf kitten claws. He tipped her chin up to nibble at her neck. The delicious sound of her gasping breath came again. His heart hammered. He was going to do this—make love to her, help her embrace her wolf—even if it cracked him wide open and everything that he was tumbled out.

“Shifters have incredible healing powers,” he whispered along her sweet, tender neck, then down further to her delicate collarbones. “Let your wolf loose, sweet Grace. I promise there’s nothing you can do that wouldn’t just turn me on even more.”

She gasped as he laid a line of wet kissed down to her breast. “I don’t… I don’t want to hurt you.” But her hands were deep in his hair, urging him on.

“Trust me,” he said, taking a quick taste of her nipple. “Pain is not what I’m going to feel.” He lifted her bottom so he could unzip and slide off her skirt. Her delicate, white panties were practically see-through with the wetness already gathered there. His mouth watered, and that unbalanced feeling came back—only he wasn’t teetering on the precipice any longer. He had taken the leap and was free-falling down. He was going to make love to this gorgeous woman, and it would break him open. There was no going back, and most strange of all... he didn’t want to.

He edged her panties down, gently at first, then ripping them with a slightly shifted claw just because he was impatient to have her. She sucked in a breath, watching him as he kissed a line across her sweet belly straight down to her sex.

“Jared.” She said his name like a plea, so he picked up his pace. One hand cupping her deliciously tight breast, the other sliding along her thigh to open her up to him. When his tongue reached her sex, she gasped his name again and clutched his shoulders with both hands. She trembled underneath him, and he hardly had time to settle in and enjoy her before she was bucking her hips against him and moaning his name. She was already so wet, he stopped tormenting her nub just so he wouldn’t get her there too quickly.

“Goddammit, Jared, don’t you dare stop!” Her words were half gasps.

He just chuckled and thrust two fingers inside her, using his thumb to give her nub the attention it needed. She shrieked and bucked again. He lifted himself away from tasting her sex, running his tongue up the length of her body, tasting there instead. He was still fully clothed in his dress shirt and pants, and that needed to change. Soon. But for the moment, he was going to give Grace a hell of a warmup—he wanted her first time to blow away every other experience. She was panting when he reached her lips, so he just nibbled the side of her jaw. Her gorgeous hair was spilling all over her body as she bucked against him.