“Isn’t your mom going to take care of him?”
“Her exact words were ‘Leave his big drunk ass right there.’”
“Oh.” Her head cocked to the side as she stared at him. “Did you know someone scrawled ‘Omega’ on your forehead?”
He growled. “Damn, Mace.” He rubbed at his forehead, which only managed to smear but not wipe away the wolf-offending words.
“Did I get it?”
“Sure,” she lied.
“So,” he said, still swaying, “my daddy says I ain’t good enough for you.”
Jess blinked in shock, her hackles rising. “He said what?”
“He says you’re a nice little gal with a lot of class. He says someone cultured like you deserves better. He says—”
Fed up, Jess cut in, “Your daddy fucked your momma on the hotel staff kitchen floor.”
Smitty stared at her for a very long time. She stared back.
“I’m sorry?” he finally said.
Jess leaned forward a bit and slowly repeated, “Your daddy fucked your momma on the hotel staff kitchen floor.”
Another long silence, then, “And you know this because... ”
“Sabina saw them. My Sabina is many things, but a liar is not one of them. Besides, I don’t think she could make that up. Do you?”
“Nah.”
“So I wouldn’t really worry about whether your daddy thinks you’re good enough for me. You should only worry whether I think you’re good enough for me. And I don’t. But I’m willing to lower my standards.” She gave him a big, cheesy grin. She’d perfected it over the years.
“That’s real big of ya, Jessie Ann.”
“It is, isn’t it? ’Cause that’s how cultured and classy I am. I’m all about the class. And don’t you forget it.”
He glared down at her, or the tequila was hampering his eyesight. She couldn’t really tell.
“Why ain’t you naked?”
“I could be.”
“Get naked.”
Jess pulled off her T-shirt, the only thing she’d worn to bed. “This work for ya?”
“Yup.”
Smitty proceeded to start stripping off his clothes. When he got his elbows caught in his sweater and started to turn in circles, Jess sighed and crawled to the edge of the bed. She grabbed hold of Smitty’s sweater, trying to get it off him. Whatever the man was doing, however, was not helping. And when she finally yanked the damn thing off, they both fell back on the bed, Smitty on top of her.
“Ain’t you just the prettiest little thing?” he mumbled, gently pushing her hair off her face.
“Thanks. You’re not half bad yourself.”
He kissed her, lips moving slowly over hers. She knew she’d never get tired of kissing this man. When he pulled away, he asked, “Jessie Ann?”“Yeah?”
She never heard what he had to say, though, as the wolf dropped his head in the crook of her neck and started snoring instead.
Smitty woke up with a dog on his chest. Not a wild dog, but a mutt he did not recognize. For some unknown reason the damn thing seemed real comfortable lying on Smitty, staring at him like he held the keys to the universe.
Hell, he didn’t even hold the keys to getting rid of this hangover.
“You mind gettin’ off me, hoss?”
The dog “moofed” at him but didn’t move.
Smitty patted Jessie’s bare thigh. She was naked. Good. He liked that. “Could you call off this animal?”
Jessie’s eyes slowly opened. “Which one?”
“Do I throw him across the room or do you?”
“Okay. Okay. Calm down.” Jessie reached over and picked up the dog. He clearly liked Jessie too. Couldn’t blame him, though, with the way she seemed to enjoy cuddling the little bastard.
“Where did he come from?”
“Found him behind the hotel last night digging for food in the trash. I couldn’t leave him.”
“You and strays.”
“Yeah. Look at you.”
Smitty bared a fang and sat up, dropping his legs over the side. Immediately everything in the room spun and he carefully stood, heading toward the bathroom. He managed to use the toilet, brush his teeth, and not throw up, but that was about it.
When he returned to the bed, he sat down on the edge and placed his head in his hands, moaning in defeat.
“Oh, my poor baby.”
He thought Jess had been talking to the dog. She-wolves had no sympathy for drunks. But then Jessie’s arms went around his shoulders and she kissed his neck. “I’m so sorry you feel miserable.”
Smitty tensed, waiting for it. He didn’t know what, but “it.” She-wolves came to you with sugar, but then made sure you ate a mouthful of salt. But Jessie simply rested her head against his and her soft hands stroked his chest. Then he looked down and saw the mutt had placed his head on Smitty’s thigh, staring up at him with big eyes, not expecting anything but giving himself completely. Just like Jessie.
Putting one hand on her arm and the other hand on the dog’s head, Smitty said, “Marry me, Jessie Ann.”
The stroking hands stopped and Jessie pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “Pardon?”
“Marry me.”
She scrunched up her face in that way she had when totally confused. “I thought you were dead set against it. Something about ‘not as long as I breathe’ was muttered.”
“I did not say that.” Smitty brought Jessie’s hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.
“Then why?”
“Two reasons. One, because you deserve everything you want.”
She shrugged. “All I ever wanted was you.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “And you’ve got me, darlin’. You’ve always had me.”
Smitty kissed her. She groaned and pressed her delicious sheet-covered body against him.
“And the second reason?” she asked, breathless.
“Because you’re crazy about me and I’m afraid it’ll crush your delicate little heart if I don’t marry you.”
“You are such an arrogant ass—”
He kissed her again, both of them laughing.
“Marry me,” he repeated, against her lips. “Marry me, Jessie Ann.”
“Okay. I’ll marry you.”
“Good.”
Smitty slid his hands around her waist, pulling her toward him, when the sound of bodies colliding with the door cut into his next move.
“Auntie Jess! Are you up yet? Mom said to come for breakfast.”
“O—”
Smitty covered her mouth with his hand.
“Tell your momma we’ll be down later.”
Jess pulled his hand away. “What are you doing?”
“Gettin’ my morning Smith greeting.” He tugged on the sheet covering her body and Jess slapped at his hands.
“Stop that! They’re right outside!” she squeaked.
“Y’all get away from that door!” he yelled.
“They must be tusslin’,” a pup complained.
“Well, hurry up,” another barked.
“We’ll be down in a minute,” he promised, giving her a healthy leer as he went to his hands and knees and rose over her. “As soon as we’re done tusslin’.”
Jess slapped at his hands again. “Tussling? Have you been teaching them that?”
“Oh, you want me to be more specific?” he asked, finally snatching the sheet from her body and sighing happily as he stared down at her. “Lord, you look good in the mornings.”
“I thought you had a hangover.”
“It’s gone,” he said, pushing her onto her back. He brushed his fingers against her mark, unable to stop touching it. She arched into his touch, her arms reaching out for him.
“We can’t do this now, Smitty,” she protested, even as she opened to him. Even as she took him into her body. “They’re waiting for us for breakfast.”
“They can wait,” he groaned against her neck.
Poor thing, she had no idea he’d be waking her up most mornings like this.
Jess wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He rocked into her slowly, taking his time, his lips resting against her temple.
“Mornin’, Jessie Ann,” he murmured against her soft skin.
He felt her smile, her breath catching in her throat. “Mornin’, Bobby Ray.”
EPILOGUE
It was bad enough he was in a tux. It was bad enough they made him cut his hair. But the sobbing had to stop, and it had to stop now.
Smitty started to stalk across the room, but Mace stepped in front of him and held him back. “No, you’ll regret it in the morning.”
“But it’ll make me happy now.”
“As soon as the wedding is over, I’m sure he’ll stop.” They both looked at Smitty’s father. Bubba had been crying for nearly two days straight. He said it was because the “boy” was bringing shame on the Smith Pack by actually marrying someone. But at the same time he clearly adored Jessie Ann. He kept hugging her, telling her how pretty she looked. Then Jessie assured herself the lifelong love and protection of Bubba Smith when she asked him to walk her down the aisle because her own daddy wasn’t there to do it. After that everything had to be perfect for Jessie Ann, and anyone who looked like they might even think about annoying her had to face off against Bubba Smith. They’d already changed caterers three times. At least one was filing charges for assault.Lord, the man would be an absolute mess during the ceremony.