It took a moment to spot his mystery woman. She wasn’t where Mark had expected. For some reason she’d crawled on top of her car hood and was up on her tiptoes examining his house.
He’d never had a peeping tom like this one. He stepped across the lawn space. “Hello. Can I help you?”
She landed on her heels, her brilliant smile dazzling him. Bright green eyes snapped to meet his and somewhere deep inside his wolf rumbled awake.
“Are you Mark Weaver?”
“I am.”
She clasped her hands together and bounced, literally, setting the entire car into motion. “Awesome. I’m Tessa, and I’m so glad to meet you.”
Tessa. The name didn’t register, but he automatically accepted her outstretched hand intent on helping her down off the hood.
Only instinct kept him vertical as she jumped lightly and landed beside him. The rest of him was a bundle of unplanned reactions, his wolf lurching to the surface and damn near howling in delight. The wind caught her hair again, ruffling it around her face. The breeze also brought her scent to him, and his mouth watered.
His body grew tight with need. His legs quivered.
“Ahem.”
Mark jerked to attention. Tessa stood in front of him, her fingers caught in his, their bodies nearly touching. Sometime in the past ten seconds, he’d lowered his head toward her neck and taken a good long sniff.
It was like shooting a bottle of moonshine except the hangover kick arrived simultaneously with the pleasure buzz.
“Mark, if you don’t mind, I need my hand back.” She grasped him around the wrist and tugged herself free from his clasp.
Embarrassed and yet excited at the same time, Mark let her go and forced himself to stand in place rather than crowd forward. There had to be a protocol he wasn’t aware of that explained how you were supposed to react upon meeting your mate for the first time.
Mate. Yeah, his once-and-forever, fated-and-soon-to-be-mated woman. Once he found out a few minor details, like who she was, they could get down to the important stuff. Like him carrying her inside, finding a bed.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and batted her lashes, and his heart raced. Patience, Mark. Patience…
“Tessa. What brings you to Haines?”
“I’m here—”
He meant to give her time to answer. Meant to ask her in. Meant to do all sorts of things, actually, but what he did was lose control. He closed the distance between them, cupped his hand around the back of her neck and dragged them together so he could kiss her.
Whatever she planned on telling him was lost as his lips covered hers.
The taste of her? Ambrosia. The feel of her against his body? He’d died and gone to heaven. She nestled in tighter and her breasts rubbed his chest. His wolf nudged him harder, and he was powerless to resist the command, tangling their tongues until air became a dire need.
But the idea of stopping was unthinkable.
His wolf wanted more. Forget making it into the house and a bedroom, the beast wanted him to pick her up and wrap her legs around his waist. Lean her back over the car hood and take her right there. Strip her down and wallow in her scent and sex it up until they were both too sated to move.
Mark’s human side figured most of that was dandy as well. He was far enough gone in lust that even the sex-in-public bit didn’t sound like too bad of an idea.
Two cool hands cupped his burning-hot cheeks as Tessa managed to disengage their lips and wiggle away until her face returned to view. She was smiling, but confusion clouded her pretty eyes. “Hi. I think we should start this again. I’m Tessa Williams. I sent you a proposal to buy your house.”
Shock was a good mood killer. Icy-cold restraint returned. “You’re T. Williams?”
She wiggled out of his clutches and straightened her sweater. “I am. It’s a beautiful place. We’ll need to make a few changes though, but if you don’t mind me looking around, I’m sure we’ll be able to come to an agreement.”
Mark pulled his mouth shut. This was the person who wanted to purchase his home? “You’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow.”
“I was too eager to see the place to hang out in Whitehorse overnight. We can wait until the scheduled time for the meeting if that’s better for you.” Tessa pulled out a small mirror and lipstick, and touched up her lips with a fiery red colour he was tempted to lean over and lick off. He battled his wolf into submission. Stubborn beast didn’t want to talk. Wanted to take.
Mark got the sentiment, but… “We can discuss the house in a minute. First…”
His wolf poked him again, and this time he wasn’t too distracted by lust to get the message. He took another breath, running his gaze over her entire body. Analyzing the way she stood, the way she’d moved.
Tessa crossed her arms in front of her, which only framed those flawless breasts a little more. “Yes?”
“I’m a wolf.”
She nodded slowly. “I figured that out about two seconds after we met. And this is important…why?”
“You’re a cat.”
A cute pout appeared on her succulent lips. “You have issues with that?”
Mark shook his head even as he wondered how in the world this was going to work out. “You’re perfect.”
Light laughter escaped her. “Thank you, but I’m not sure what brought that on.”
Good grief. If she’d been a wolf, he wouldn’t need to have this conversation. They would have met and known they were the one for each other. As it was, his wolf continued to do the lupine equivalent of pacing, and it was a pretty damn uncomfortable sensation.
There must be more logical ways to approach this, but his logic meter had gone out of whack at the first sniff. The words blurted from him like homing missiles.
“My wolf says you’re my mate.”
Tessa’s eyes widened. “Oh, really?”
He nodded. “That’s why I kind of attacked you back there. The kiss and all.”
“Okay, I wondered about that.” Tessa glanced him over then shrugged. “Well, that’s interesting. So, do you want to meet regarding my proposal now, or tomorrow?”
Confusion swirled with need, making his brain foggy. “That’s interesting? That’s all you’ve got to say about me telling you we’re mates?”
Return to Wolf Nip
